Secrets to Writing Powerful Press Releases

There has been an increase of firms springing up online offering optimized press release services for individuals or firms wanting to get the word out about their web sites, newsletters, products or services.

Using press releases can be a very effective marketing tool if constructed properly. Learning to write a powerful optimized press release can often drive tons of targeted traffic to your web site.

The real secret behind writing any effective press release is to plan your release out carefully before publishing it.

A poorly constructed or planned press release is just a waste of your time and resources. You want to target the message of your press release for the purpose it was meant for.

So, the first thing you must do before writing your press release is to figure out just what do you want to accomplish with it?

Do you want to create some brand awareness for your site or products?

Do you want to add additional subscribers to your newsletter or ezine?

Or are you trying to promote a new product or service you have developed or are marketing?

Once you've decided what the most compelling reason is for your press release, you can then get down to the business of writing it.

Plan Your Release

The first thing you may want to do is sketch out a rough draft of your press release to see how it flows. Does it provide the needed information to get the word out and has it been properly formatted?

Most press releases have a certain format that they follow. If you're unsure of how to format your press release correctly you can view a sample press release template here.

The number one most important aspect of your press release is your headline.

Get it wrong and you will limit the effectiveness of your release.

Your headline is what the search engines are going to pick up on first. So make sure you use it advantageously. List any key points here, using your keywords or a catchy headline so that it will grab your reader's attention.

Again planning is essential. If promoting a new site include the URL in the headline. If promoting a product or service then include some keywords in the headline.

Some press release services use a summary box. I normally write a catchy one-paragraph recap of my press release using some of my targeted keywords.

Without being spammy, I will normally optimize my press release by using some of my targeted keywords in the first and last paragraph. I will also include some of them throughout the release for a keyword exposure of approximately 2-3% saturation.

Tip: if you're promoting a web site, I will normally mention my URL around three times within the release for the maximum benefit.

Examples of Effective Press Releases

One of the first questions I had when I first started writing press releases was what was considered a great release? What did it consist of and how was it constructed?

Being curious, I emailed my contact at http://www.prweb.com/ and asked them if they could show me a few press releases that they considered as excellent examples.

They sent me three of them for review and you can see each one of them here, here, and here.

Study each one of these against the press release template to see what is required for an effective release.

Note: to get additional exposure for your press release via www.emediawire.com you have to have an editorial score of 4 or higher. So it is to your benefit to write the best release you can the first time around.

Effective Press Release Services

Once you have studied the examples and want to try submitting your own press release, you need to know which ones are the most popular ones being used.

Here are some of the press release services I have used and found to be effective:

• http://prweb.com/
• http://www.pressbox.co.uk/index.html
• http://www.webwire.com/default.asp
• http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/

With most of press release services, you can submit your press release for free or via paid inclusion. Paying for inclusion gives you the benefit of faster indexing into the search engine news services and natural search engine result pages.

Normally your release will be picked up by Google news within a few hours after its release. From there it will normally show up in the natural search results within a few days or a week.

I have used both of these services in the past but have found that paying them at least the minimum amount allows me to view my stats online. It also allows me to choose different categories for my press release to be displayed in, giving my release a chance for wider coverage.

Conclusion

Using press releases can and is a very effective marketing tool that you can use for promoting your web site or affiliate products if done correctly.

By using press releases, I have been able to create a steady flow of targeted visitors to my web site and affiliate programs while generating dozens of backlinks to my web site.

Even though the effects of each individual press release may be short-lived, they still have provided me with both free and inexpensive ways for getting hundreds of new visitors to my site and quite a few top ten positions in Google for my targeted keywords.

So get to it and write a few press releases yourself and see what they can do for you!