Internet Marketing Blog » Online Press Release (PR) Writing

What Your PR Should Achieve

Susie — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:59:26 +0000

There is a fair amount of pressure on the average online press release to perform. All the traditional, off-line form of press release had to do was attract attention from media outlets. Online, your press releases should be doing a whole lot more.

*Attracting blogger attention. When it comes to journalism in the online world, bloggers are almost as powerful as traditional media outlets. Attracting the attention of a prominent blogger in your industry can net you as much attention as getting a front-page story on a mainstream news site. For this reason, you should research the various blogs in your industry and tailor your press releases to meet their needs. Talk to our consultants at Click Consult about research for press releases.

*Acting as a news outlet. The internet has made news a little more democratic. A well-written online press release can now attract as much attention as getting a story in a major paper. Being able to control the news released about your company is one of the benefits of a really good online press release.

*Exciting internet users. If your press release manages to get into a good position in the search engines or on a press release site, you can attract direct internet attention. This in turn can attract users back to your site.

*Attracting media attention. An online press release should still have the media in its sights as an audience. Media attention is an achievable and worthwhile goal. Focussing on the press will also help you get the right tone for an online PR.

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The Limited Attention Span Of Internet Users

Susie — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:01:55 +0000

There are a lot of things to be done in the preparation of an online press release. The idea, the internet marketing angles, the writing itself and the distribution are all very important aspects that require time and patience. One of the things that can sometimes get left behind is the consideration of what a target audience needs for engagement.

In basic terms, if you don’t figure out what your target audience wants to read, they won’t read it. Not only this, but if you don’t figure out what your target audience wants to see, their eyes will slide right over your online press release without really seeing it. It’s all about learning internet user reading patterns.

Reading patterns is something that the marketing branch of search engine optimisation (SEO) has studied closely and something that the rest of the internet marketing disciplines could benefit from. Something you might occasionally read around SEO circles is that information needs to be presented easily and swiftly to be effective with search engine traffic. Experts in this field have performed in-depth studies of internet user behaviour on web pages and discovered that internet users scan pages and make a decision to read within moments of clicking through to a web page. You can discuss this element of web marketing with us at Click Consult.

What this means is that your online press release has to grab the reader within the first two or three seconds. Titles and opening paragraphs may be what wins them over.

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Test For The Best Press Release

Susie — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:58:47 +0000

Good things usually only come with experience. You can’t ride a bike with confidence until you’ve been doing it for a few years. You’re unlikely to bake a cake to perfection on your first go. Similarly, you can’t guarantee that your online press release is going to do its work properly until you’ve done a few tests.

Testing is one of the areas of press release campaigns that many companies overlook. This is strange, because so many companies want miracles from their online press releases. Most companies who release a press release on the web are aiming to do several things at once. They not only want to tell the world about their news, they want to bring traffic back to their website and boost their site’s SEO as well. You can discuss these aspects of press releases with our team at web marketing company Click Consult.

When approaching your online press release, consider making even a few small tests to check whether your target audience will react well. At the very least, round up a few friends and gauge their reactions.

One of the ways to gain the right sort of experience is of course to hire a professional when it comes to crafting your online press release. This at least means you can be confident of hitting the right tone. Testing is still worthwhile in this scenario. Although you might be gaining the benefit of another’s experience when hiring a specialist to write up your online press release, they don’t have experience of working with your company.

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Don’t Cram Too Many Design Factors In

Susie — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:07:03 +0000

A press release, online or offline, is a limited medium. Certainly, online press releases have an advantage over their hard-copy cousins. With an online press release, you don’t have to stick to graphics and text; you can squeeze in some multimedia elements as well. When all is said and done, however, you are still left with essentially the same thing. Page or screen, all you have to work with is a limited area.

If you decide to go with the traditional forms of press release, namely sticking with a chunk of text that may or may not be accompanied by a photo, it can be tempting to jazz things up. When the press releases you’re competing with have access to so many impressive technologies, it can feel like a waste to send yours of in plain old Times New Roman. Many businesses feel that they would be more impressive if they added some personality and innovation to their design by using unique fonts and other components, but this can often only serve as an indication to the reader that the PR’s author is somewhat amateur.

This can be a mistake. Although the basic text format of the press release can seem a little plain, it’s also very easy to read. Add too many special effects and you risk making your press release look like it has been scribbled down as an afterthought. Worse still, you can make your press release harder to read.

Stick with the basics when it comes to press release design. Simplicity is elegant. Talk to us at internet marketing company Click Consult when you’re designing your online press release.

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Think Like A Journalist For PRs

Susie — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:23:45 +0000

For any type of writing, it always helps to know your audience. Any writer will tell you this, but professional internet marketing copywriters are the ones that know it most of all. For online press releases, your audience is a fairly broad one, but a main audience you should keep in mind is the press.

Writing for the press with your online press release is important because they’re a hard audience to reach. In keeping to a format they’re familiar with, you’re able to hook them and other audiences. In order to write a really effective press release, you need to think like a journalist.

Of course, having your online press release written by a professional can save you the hard work of writing, and you can discuss this with us at Click Consult. Even if you use the services of a professional writer, you should ask yourself these questions in the press release’s design:

*What is news? What sort of things are going to appeal to a journalist? If your subject isn’t newsworthy, then you are going to have to do some hard work finding a news angle.

*Will it sell to others? Journalists have their audience as well. Consider whether the world in general will be interested in your press release.

*When is it needed? Journalists are just like any other type of worker, and have their slow days. It’s a good idea to send your online press release when they most need news. Mid-week is known to be a fairly slow time.

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Press Releases – More Than A Marketing Tool

Susie — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:21:42 +0000

A press release is always going to be primarily a marketing tool, but online press releases can and do achieve much more. While traditional press releases were aimed at only the press, online press releases can be read by just about anybody, and usually are. Online press releases serve a broad purpose, which can be factored into their creation.

Looking at a press release from a purely marketing view puts a lot of pressure on it, and you can discuss the effect of this with our experts at Click Consult. Press releases, when angled towards the media, have a very specific form. This form transmits information in a way that the media is used to receiving it, presenting the piece of news in a nice little box for journalists to unwrap. Such press releases have almost a language of their own.

Even if you leave the media aspect out of your online press release, viewing it as a form of marketing document, certain restrictions are automatically imposed. The piece suddenly has to sell your product, or service, or bring in traffic.

With both of these approaches, the emphasis is on the wrong end of the equation. Online press releases don’t work if you can’t interest your audience. Starting out with your own needs in mind isn’t going to achieve this. The emphasis has to be on your readers.

So what to do? Give your online press release a break. Treating it as a news article is far more likely to produce the results you need.

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Optimise Your PR Summary For SEO Benefits

Susie — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 08:00:06 +0000

An online press release is designed to spread the word about your company, true. One of the other great things your online press release can do for you is support the popularity of your website. The way in which it can do this is by incorporating search engine optimisation techniques within the press release content.

A good copywriter will be able to include SEO techniques within the main body of your press release, and you can talk to us at Click Consult about using SEO in your online press releases. There are, however, other areas in your press release to think about when it comes to SEO.

When you distribute your online press release, a lot of distributors will be looking for a summary as well. This will need to be a couple of brief paragraphs describing the release. Use this opportunity to further optimise your press release by placing your keywords in the summary. Make sure to include keywords that are different to those in the title, to distribute as many keywords as possible in such a small space.

It's easy to forget with the press release format that your online press release is a computer file. Not only does its text content get read by humans, its codes are read and interpreted by search engines. Make the most of your press release by placing your summary in the meta code when posting it directly on a site. This will count further in the SEO of your press release.

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Play To The Audience With Online Press Releases

Susie — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 08:06:45 +0000

In amongst all of the SEO possibilities and general business opportunities of an online press release, it can be easy to forget your real target: your audience. Regardless of whether you aim to attract the attention of the press or the general public, at the end of it all there will be a human being reading your words.

Individual internet users need to be considered in a different way from internet users as a whole, although it can be hard to see the distinction. While people as a mass react to concepts, individuals require simplicity. It all comes down to the image in the writer's mind when the press release is being composed.

Picturing a single person reading the press release can be the biggest step to a well-crafted piece. If the writer imagines a sole reader, the words flow like a conversation. It gets easier to avoid jargon, because the individual might misunderstand it. Professional writers are adept at mastering these kinds of subtleties in tone and you can talk to our experts at Click Consult when it comes to writing your online press releases.

Thinking about the general mass of internet users is helpful when designing your online press release, but consideration for individuals has to come in at some point. You should research your target markets in choosing topics and picking a style for your press release. When it comes to the word-for-word content, however, think about a single person reading your document.

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Topics For Online Press Releases

Susie — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:05:54 +0000

Most people might think that the average business doesn't have a lot of exciting, newsworthy events happening every day. After all, news is about action, misadventure, or politics. The average business doesn't go through any exciting changes unless it's unlucky.

This perception of a lack of exciting news can lead a lot of businesses to hesitate when it comes to writing online press releases. Something what is commonly overlooked is that a newsworthy press release is 90% about perception.

News does not have to be world-changing to interest people. A glance at the daily papers will show you that most items are news simply because someone wanted to share it. News is not just exciting. It can be heart-warming, interesting, thought-provoking, funny, intellectual or challenging. It only has to be one of these things to catch attention.

It can be of great help to have the advice of a professional when drawing up ideas for press release topics, and you can consult with us at Click Consult for your online press releases. When you want topics for your online press release, don't just look inside your business. Some successful online press releases have involved nothing more than a little research and a bit of quirky reporting. This might be as simple as looking at your website traffic and turning it into an interesting story. Plenty of online press releases owe their success to nothing more than an observation of the current market.

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You And Your Press Release

Susie — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:09:59 +0000

Voice is an elementary part of a traditional press release. When it comes to online press releases, the tone of voice you use to convey your message is a little less clear. One of the best things about online press releases is how flexible the medium is, but this can lead people into a lot of mistakes.

Online press releases can reach audiences in so many different ways. No longer are press releases confined to the standard A4 page print format. As long as it can be sent and downloaded, an online press release can contain anything and can connect you with your target audience in ways that have never been dreamt of before.

This connection is where many people get into trouble. It can be easy with online press releases to be overly familiar, creating the wrong type of dynamic between your business and the reader.

Once the topic is straight and the content is nailed down, the mistake a lot of companies make is to simply write it up. The end result will contain keywords at appropriate places, and be an interesting read, but nevertheless give the wrong kind of message. A good example of this is the inclusion of the word 'you.' In many cases, 'you' comes in when the message is instructional, for instance 'You can find these recipes at our website'. This is perfectly fine for non-press release content, but it goes against the objective, article-like tone that a press release should have.

When composing your press releases, try to keep the tone as close to a journalistic tone as possible. If you would like advice on the tone of your press release, talk to us at Click Consult.

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