Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Writing and Sending Your News Releases
Part 1: Editorial (write your release in a crisp, clear style)
= Your writing should begin with the fundamental basics of good journalism: who, what, when, where, why or how.
= Try to lead the first paragraph with a strong quote from one of the persons involved with the story.
= Write in short sentences. Figure that your release should be five or six brief paragraphs.
= Take note of any recent news or news story that involves your expertise and enterprise. By using a new peg ? as editors call it ? you connect your release to the mix of stories being read concerning that recent news or event.
= While you write, refer to the Associated Press Stylebook and to ?The Elements of Style.?
= Always use a dateline -- the city and state of the release -- and have at the bottom of the release the same city and state. (An address is not needed.)
= Identify each person with full name and title. Lower case titles ? unless clearly a proper noun. (Note that upon second reference, in news stories, it is often ?the president? or ?the pope?; not capital Ps.) And upon reference, simply write the last name of the person without an honorific (Mr., Mrs., Miss).
= Remember that the release should not be about you first; it should be ?news-you-can-use? of practical and immediate value and information to the editor or producer ? for the reader or the viewer. It should be something where the average reader can learn a new fact. Explain what you do simply; assume that the reader does not know your industry very well.
= Review your previous news releases and others? releases in the system.
Part 2: Technical (send your release through ExpertClick.com)
= Here?s a video that shows the step to send a news release: http://www.NewsReleaseWire.com/31625
= Limit your headline to between 50 and 62 characters, including spaces. This allows your keywords to be part of the search display.
= Always enter at least 300 words of text in the news release.
= When entering the copy onto the release form, make sure you have converted your text to plain text ? to ensure you do not enter corrupted code.
= Always include a graphic (square is best). You can also link to a video. In fact, you can also link to your book title. (However, this graphic step in the process is not required.)
= Be sure to include the appropriate links to the story; your contact info is autopopulated by the News Release Wire system.
= If you wish, enter your news release text at: Google Keyword Tool to find out what Google thinks about your text -- https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
= Here?s a video on how to choose keywords: www.NewsReleaseWire.com/27380
= Link to several of your subpages within your website.
= Provide an opt-in box for readers to receive a regular e-mail from you.
Share this news release at: http://www.NewsReleaseWire.com/31899
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