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April 01, 2014

One of the most commonly asked questions we hear at 24-7 Press Release Newswire is "How successful will my press release be?"

The nature of the media game is always unpredictable, but you can increase your odds of success by sending out a well-written press release.

Having seen thousands of press releases come through our system, the editors at 24-7 Press Release Newswire know what makes a press release more effective, and we have compiled the five pointers below for you to consider if you are writing your own press release:

1. Ensure there is a newsworthy element to your release, and capture that in the headline a long with providing proper attribution.
   
   
2. Try to include a quote in your press release from a named source. This adds a 'human element' to the release and, because they are named, adds credibility to your company.
   
   
3. Be concise. Readers won't want to read something if they open it up and it is thousands of words long. Try to stick to a length of around 250 to 500 words.
   
   
4. A press release is not an advertisement. Do not write it in an overly promotional way. It should provide some basic information about your company and/or product and get the readers interested, but not be overly informational (that would be an article) or a blatant advertisement.
   
   
5. Include accurate contact information. This seems obvious but many times a company will try and shy away from providing much more than a website. If readers, journalists or news editors are interested in your release they will often want to follow up. It is in your best interest to provide them with multiple options for getting in touch with you, including email addresses and phone numbers.
   
   

In addition, there are certain guidelines you need to abide by to ensure that we will distribute your release. These guidelines are as much for your benefit as ours - they help your release appear more credible, which will make consumers and news outlets more likely to consider it:

• Your headline must include attribution. Attribution means including your company's name in the headline in a way that clearly shows that it is your company that is putting out the release, not someone else.
  
  
• Make sure your headline is in capitalized case but that your subheading and body are in sentence case. Overuse of capital letters is commonly used as an attention-grabbing attempt but it often has the opposite effect.
  
  
• Limit the number of anchored text links in your release. We personally do not recommend using any anchored keywords within a press release, however if you must stick with only one or two. Our links are NO FOLLOW and do not offer any search engine value. Overuse of these links may appear as spam to your audience.
  
  

Following these tips will help to ensure that your press release has the best chance for success possible.