PR101 - Write Press Releases that Sites Will Publish

I get several press releases submitted to WWWCoder.com in the course of the week, and today I emailed someone to provide some tips on writing a press release. I figured the tips were pretty good and may help some of you out there as well. You should always prefix the article with a date and location of you business. Check out the following example: http://www.wwwcoder.com/main/parentid/282/site/6099/266/default.a spx San Francisco (March 11, 2006) - blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah When you title the PR, make sure it's short and provides a quick summary of what you want to say. Many people just read headlines, so this is your opportunity to get your message across. You can see in the example above how they tell you what is going on right in the headline about their company and the product they are releasing. Provide a short blurb to go along with the headline. You can only get so much of your point across in the headline. If you haven't lost the reader yet, make sure you get the point across in your leader paragraph. When you write the bulk of the release, remember you're not writing that next novel, this is PR. Provide the facts and don't embellish too much. Who wants to read in PR that your product is the best, even revolutionary is pushing it a bit. Tell me why it is good, do you have metrics on your product? For example, increases response times by 10%, or reduces code development by 20%. If you do have metrics, back them up, provide a link to more information on your lab results. Many people aren't even going to get this far if you haven't caught their attention in the headline or lead paragraph, but if you're aiming at a serious audience like developers and technicians they want to know facts, avoid the hype. Then when you finish the article you should include company and product information. This information should include a short summary of the services you provide.. ...organization information like formation date, specialties, etc. The product summary should include what your product does, the cost, where it can purchased, etc. About Company ABC Company ABC was started in 1976 and focuses on creating some solutions using some tools. About Company Product. Product provides developers with the ability to... Purchasing information: Can be downloaded at, or evaluation can be obtained at, or the cost of the product is and can be purchased from mysite.com.... Then at the bottom of the press release you should list company and contact information. Many sites or publications are going to want a contact in order to follow up and get more information about your product, service, or event. If you do not provide this information at the end of the article, it makes it look as if you're not a legitimate organization. You should include the following information with your PR: Contact: Name & Title Company Name Address Email Phone Website: Remember, writing PR is a bit different than writing for a Weblog, PR is going to be more formal in nature. If you want your PR syndicated to other sites expect that the site you submit it to is going to print the article in full or a summary. By using the formatting rules above you're more liable to have someone syndicate this for you. For example, my news feed is syndicated on Moreover.com and MSN.com providing you more exposure. I'm sure there are several technology sites that syndicate their content as well, so it's a good idea to write something up they'll post. Another tip for you is once you create PR using the above format, submit it to PRWeb.com. They have different levels of service but the free service is enough to get you some good exposure. I hope this helps you out, these are just some things I look for when posting on news section of WWWCoder.com. If you have PR, feel free to submit it to me at press@wwwcoder.com. Good luck in promoting your product, service, or whatever your need may be.