10 Essential Tips to Ensure Your Press Release Drives Traffic to
Your Website
Copyright 2006 N N Mhlanga
If you are aiming to increase your sales, expose your business
and increase traffic to your website, a well-written press
release can help you achieve that.
What is a press release? A press release is a condensed article
that is written in a journalistic style. It is not a sales
document or an advertisement.
What is the purpose of a press release? Press releases provide
the publicity and traffic any online business needs. A
well-prepared press release focuses on what is newsworthy and
exciting about your company or product. The main objective in
writing an effective press release is to get it read and
published. Consequently, the press release must be written in a
crisp, clear and engaging style.
Now, let's look at the critical things to consider in order to
write an effective press release that will help you get free
publicity and drive traffic to your online business.
- Is your news 'news-worthy'? Do you have something news-worthy
to write about your company or product? Your press release must
be informative on the '5 Ws' of your organization, program,
product or service - providing answers for the questions: who,
what, where, when and why. Put yourself in your audience's shoes
- will someone else find your story interesting?
- Have a strong and captivating introduction. The heading of the
press release should capture the attention of the journalist and
the media. The title of the press release should be short and
snappy, and hopefully grab the attention of the journalist and
audience, impressing them enough to make them read on.
- Target your audience. In order to be effective, your press
release must target a specific audience. Provide the audience
with the information that is intended for them and tell them why
they should continue to read it. The more focused and targeted
your press release is, the more effective it is.
- Be factual and provide the facts about your news. Avoid making
fluffy and exaggerated statements. 'Too good to be true'
statements in your news reduces your credibility. Avoid hype and
jargon, provide the facts in plain and ordinary language.
Additionally, avoid using the exclamation point (!) where it is
not necessary. If you must use an exclamation point, use one.
Avoid doing this!!!
- Be economic with your words . Use only enough words to tell
your story. Avoid using unnecessary adjectives, flowery
language, or redundant expressions. Keep your news release
concise and make each word count.
- Provide some illustrations. It is important to use some real
life examples about how your company or organization solved a
problem. This helps increase the credibility of your news
release. Provide examples of how your service or product
fulfills needs or satisfies desires. What benefits can be
expected or what remarkable benefit did one get from using your
product?
- Select an interesting angle. It is important to make your
press release timely, and relate it to a news-worthy development
or event. If possible, try to link your news to current events
or social issues, to ensure that your release has a 'good news'
element.
- Keep your release simple and short. Press releases are not
meant to tell the whole story behind your news. They are meant
to give the journalist an idea of what's happening in your
business that readers need to know about.
- Provide your contact information. Provide full contact
information with your press release, namely a contact name,
address, web site address and e-mail address.
- Decide where and how to send your press release. Compile a
list of the media in the geographic range you want to cover.
Your choice will depend on the resources of the organization,
time frame of the news item and the segment under which your
press release falls.
Press releases have several advantages, namely, they are low
cost, they increase visibility for your company, they provide
added credibility for your organization and most importantly
they provide free publicity which can easily convert to more
sales. Use these tips and tap on the potential for news releases
to give your online business a dramatic boost through increased
exposure, traffic and sales.