Writing Press Releases

Writing press releases online requires more than good writing skills and knowledge of the event taking place. It even takes more than creating interest and presenting good information about the company in question. Effective press release writing involves thinking like a journalist and incorporating search engine optimization for best effect.

Writing Press Releases: What Do Journalists Look For?

One word: angle. Journalists want to know what makes your story newsworthy. Why should they present your story as news? How does it affect people in general and why would they want to know about it? You can help your press release writer by determining your angle before you send your information along. A good angle might include charity work, celebrity endorsements, family events, or free offers. You can also create an angle by building controversy and presenting your product or service as the solution. The key idea to remember is that most products or services do not in themselves constitute news. It’s the unusual or unique aspects about the product or service that make them newsworthy. Do you sell cookware? So do a zillion other companies. But maybe you’ve developed a new burn-resistant design or you’re giving away a free cookware set to a lucky winner. That’s your angle. Tell your press release writer what makes your story interesting and he or she will put it in a form that attracts the attention of journalists.

Writing Press Releases: How Do You Get Noticed?

You may have a great story and a riveting angle, but if no one ever sees your press release you’ve wasted your time. Getting noticed online means incorporating search engine optimization so that when someone types “burn-resistant cookware” into Google, your story pops up. A good press release writer will know how and where to incorporate keywords for best effect and can make sure your copy is interesting not just to readers but to search engines. Understand that simply stuffing an article full of as many keywords as possible probably won’t produce good results since search engines have become more intelligent. They now look for substantive use of those terms in order to determine which stories might be relevant to a given search query. Your press release writer should know how to incorporate keywords effectively so that your story receives as much exposure as possible.

In order to get news coverage for your press release, choose a writer who understands these two key concepts as well as the basics of good writing. If you don’t have a person like that on staff, you can turn to professional copywriting services that can team you up with writers with experience in writing press releases.