Combining the Ingredients to Create a Great Press Release

The ingredients of a traffic-generating press release are useless unless combined in a specific way. So once you have a newsworthy story told in the third person using facts, figures and quotes, you need to put it in the right format.

The right format includes seven basic elements:

1. Urgent Notice: the words FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE should appear in the upper left-hand margin in all caps.

2. Headline: your headline should be in boldface type, summarize your story and grab the attention of the editor using 10 words or less. If the headline doesn't intrigue the editor, he won't read your press release.

3. Dateline: this includes the city you issue your release from as well as the date you mail it. It appears as the first part of your lead paragraph.

4. Lead Paragraph: this paragraph should summarize the entire press release by explaining the who, what, when, where, why and how of the story. The first sentence is the most critical and should hook your reader in 25 words or less.

5. The Body: write the main text of the release using the "inverted pyramid" strategy. In other words, report the most important information first. That way, if editors need to cut your release short because they don't have enough space to print the entire story, they can cut from the bottom without damaging your overall message. Also, keep your sentences and paragraphs short, using no more than three or four lines per paragraph. The overall text should be between 300 and 800 words.

6. The Closing Paragraph: this contains the least newsworthy information and summarizes your key points. You can also restate the specifics about your product here and highlight a launch date.

7. Contact Information: include the name of the contact person for your company, that person's title, his phone number, fax number and email address. And make sure to include a link to your site!

When you put it all together, your press release should look like this:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Headline Announcing Your Newsworthy Story

City, State, Date--Lead paragraph that summarizes the who, what, when, where, why and how of your story.

The body text comprises the bulk of the release and elaborates on the information presented in the lead paragraph. This is written like a news story in the inverted pyramid style and contains facts, figures and quotes about your company or product.

The closing paragraph summarizes your key points and highlights your product's features and launch date.

Company History (limit this to one short paragraph)

Contact Name and Title
Company Name
Phone Number
Fax Number
Email
LINK TO WEBSITE

Now that you have your press release written, submit it to the online press release sites and prepare for traffic to come your way.

About The Author-- Glen Hopkins specializes in teaching struggling entrepreneurs how to turn their small Online businesses into thriving money machines all while working less and earning more. To get more information, including Free Reports, Videos and CDs, visit: http://www.GlenHopkins.name

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