7 common mistakes about pres-releases in digital era. For educational purposes only. All rights belong to their respective owners.

1. The 7 People Make When
DEADLY Mistakes
Submitting Press
Releases
...And How YOU Can Avoid Them
Avoid Pitfalls
and Learn How to
Write Press
Releases That
Rock!
PRESS RELEASES ARE A POWERFUL MARKETING TOOL...
When you Avoid These 7 Deadly Mistakes...
As the publisher of a press release that encourages readers to click
submission website, we have the through.
opportunity to see all sorts of press
releases submitted by all sorts of By applying just a few simple
people. changes, these so-so press releases
could be converted into real
We also have the opportunity to powerhouse press releases.
see which of those press releases
are more effective compared with We want to help you create the
all the others. most effective online press releases
possible. To accomplish this, we've
Approximately 83% of the press created a list of the 7 most
releases submitted are not as common 'deadly' mistakes that
Written and distributed
effective as they could be – either people make when submitting correctly, your press can be
in terms of search engine press releases online and show you seen and enjoyed by your target
audience, world-wide.
optimization, or in terms of exactly how to avoid them.
providing a compelling message
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2. DEADLY MISTAKE #1
Not Using Links Properly
Links are the currency of the web.
They are ultimately one of most Search engines are not
important parts of an online press humans, they can't use
release… yet most people aren’t human judgment to
using them anywhere near as decide if a site is valuable
effectively as they could be. or not. Instead, they rely
on algorithms to An
simulate human Example of
Linking for Increased
Smart Linking
Conversion judgment.
with Anchor
If your press release is well-written, it
Backlinks (or, links back Text!
should entice people to click An anchor text link is the
to your site from other
through to your website to read type of link that is embedded
sources) are a critical factor in this
more about your company or into a word, (this is an example of
judgment process. In simple terms,
explore your offer. Though most anchor text.) Search engines
the more sites that link back to your
people place a link to their site in 'assume' that the word used to link
site, the greater 'value' a search
the contact info of their press to the site must be relevant to the
engine understands the site to
release, it's a good idea to place site's topic.
have.
one to three links in the body as
well – especially if you're referring to This is why it is critical to turn your
What You Must Know About target keywords into anchor text
a particular offer or product.
Backlinks... links. This way, search engines will
Not all backlinks are created
Linking for Search Engine have a better understanding of the
equally… while URL links are
Optimization topic of your site – and will
important (the kind that look like therefore know to show your site
There's an equally critical reason to
this http://www.url.com), anchor when searchers browse for your
include links in your press releases –
text has far more value in terms of target keywords.
search engine optimization.
search engine optimization.
A Good Rule to Follow Choosing Anchor Text Linking to Pages
Did you know… some press It’s best to use about 3 anchor It’s a smart idea to link to your
release submission sites and text links in your press release. To homepage in your press
other online content publication many links will make your PR release, but don’t forget to link
sites do not convert the URL to a look ‘spammy.’ It’s a good idea to some internal pages as well.
live link unless you add the to choose 1-2 high competition If your press release talks about
http:// prefix! As a rule of thumb, keywords and 1-2 ‘longtail’ a specific product or event. be
always add the http:// to any keywords as your anchor text sure to link to the specific page
URLs you publish online. links. about the topic.
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3. DEADLY MISTAKE #2
Not Using Quotes, Or Using Them The Wrong Way
Quotes are an essential part of a too much like an
HOW TO USE QUOTES press release, yet most people don't advertisement.
WISELY WHEN USING A include them! While the majority of Several online press release
PULL QUOTE FEATURE a press release is meant to be submission sites like PR Web
factual, the quote is your chance to and Online PR News offer
pull quotes designed to help
Make sure that your present your opinion. Plus, quotes
you hook your readers and
quotes can stand alone – if are interesting! draw them into your
your quote was pulled out of
Some people don't use message. A pull quote is
the press release, would it
quotes at all in their press large, stylized text that is
make sense?
releases. On the other hand, pulled out of the main body
some people flat out abuse content – you've probably
Write quotes that are them! seen this technique used
quite often in magazines.
compelling – that either give
How to Abuse Quotes When using this feature on a
the 'gist' of the entire purpose press release site, any text
of the press release, or that Some press releases that we within double quotes will be
see submitted to Online PR randomly displayed in the
offer some sort of mystique or News are written as one pull quote box.
intrigue that makes readers gigantic quote. Every
want to dig in and read the paragraph is a quote, With something as powerful
concluded by "said so and as a pull quote in your bag-
rest of the press release.
so," or "explained so and so." o-tricks, it amazes me that
For one, this is just not the some people either don't
Preview your press release right format for a press include a quote at all, or
with the pull quote before release. Second, it just reads write quotes that don't offer
a compelling message!
you publish to make sure the
formatting looks great. You
don't want to use a quote
that is so long that it scrolls Here’s an
right on past the body of the example of a
press release. great quote!
Don't put anything in
double quotes that you don't
want pulled out! For
example, if you want to
'emphasize' a term by putting
quotes around it (like I just did
with the word 'emphasize'),
use single quotes.
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4. DEADLY MISTAKE #3 THERE ARE PLENTY OF
Not Using Images OPTIONS FOR IMAGES TO
USE IN YOUR PRESS
Pictures are a RELEASE:
As visual creatures, we are
attracted to images. I'll bet that if marketing tool that
Your logo
you were looking at a webpage, online businesses
the image would be one of the Your product image
shouldn’t treat lightly.
very first things you looked at
After all, connecting Website screenshot
after, or perhaps before the
headline. with your buyers and Your headshot
prospects is exactly
You'd be surprised at how many
people don't include an image
what you should be
when they submit to Online PR doing and using MANY PRESS RELEASE
News – even though images are pictures is another SUBMISSION SITES
free! (On sites like PR Web, you ALLOW YOU TO ALSO
have to pay a $140 upgrade fee
way you can do it.
INCLUDE A SUMMARY
in order to inset an image into --InvespBlog
BELOW THE PHOTO. IN
your press release!)
THIS PRIME REAL ESTATE
YOU CAN USE:
Great Uses of
A concise sentence
Images!
that explains the gist of
your news message
Your press release
summary
A quote from you or
someone in your
company
A description of the
photo
The name and
position of the person
featured in the photo
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5. SERIOUSLY... Use Short Paragraphs
Most of us are already
WHICH ARE YOU MORE LIKELY TO READ? suffering from information
overload. We have too
much to do, and too little
time to get it done. When
reading online, we need to
skim. If we see a huge block
of text that goes on and on
and on…. We're likely
to just ignore it –
right?
A Well
Formatted PR Is
More Likely to
be Read!
Use Line Breaks
Between Paragraphs
While some people get the
short paragraph concept,
they completely destroy the
logic behind it by not using
line breaks between the
paragraphs.
DEADLY MISTAKE #4
Poor Formatting
Formatting is not just a formality. Formatting plays a all in caps is as offensive as HAVING SOMEONE YELL IN
bigger role than most people realize in the chance YOUR FACE.
that your message will actually be read by real
readers or journalists. I prefer title case. I think it makes headlines and
subheadings stand out from the rest of the document.
Write Headlines in Title Case Your title and subheads are important, and using title
case sends an almost subliminal message of that
There is some debate among word nerds about
whether to use title case (where most words are importance.
capitalized) for titles, but most people generally seem
If you're unsure about the 'rule' of title case, it's
to prefer title case. Some press release submission sites
won't even accept a press release if it's not entered in become generally accept to capitalize the first letter
of all words. Or…
title case.
Many, many people submit press releases with titles in You can highlight your text in Word and, in the menu
bar, select "Tools" "Change Case" and select Title
sentence case (where only the first letter of the first
word is capitalized). But that's not as big a deadly Case. Or…
mistake as a title WRITTEN ALL IN CAPS. Online, writing
You can try this handy Title Case Converter Tool.
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6. DEADLY MISTAKE #5
Not Using Keywords in Your Title and Summary
One of the primary purposes of submitting press releases online
is to achieve online visibility for your keywords. The title and
summary are perhaps the most important places to use the
keywords, aside from your anchor text links.
Why? In a well-optimized online press release submission site, the
title of your press release often becomes the title tag of the
page on which your press release is published. The title tag is Keywords are
one of the most influential parts of any web page in terms of critical!
search engine optimization.
Not only does the title tag tell the search engines about the context of the page, the title tag most
often becomes the big bold link on the search engine results page.
For example – the title of a press release…
Becomes the title tag on the page...
Becomes the link you see on Google when you search for “fish cutlery”
This isn't always the case – it
Optimizing Your
depends on what the visitor LESSON:
Summary searches for. Sometimes the Use keywords in your title, in
You may also notice in the
search engine will pull a snippet your summary, and throughout
above example that the
of text from within the body of your press release!
summary of the press release is
the press release that contains
also the summary shown in the
the keywords the user entered
search engine results.
in the search.
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7. DEADLY MISTAKE #6 SOME EXAMPLES OF
Not Having a Newsworthy Angle PRESS RELEASE
Some people use our press release site to submit content that is clearly TOPICS:
an article. I'm not sure if they know the difference between an article
and a press release and are just hoping no one will notice, or if they really New product or
think the article is a press release. service
Either way, I always feel dejected when I have to send a submission back New hire or
promotion
to the submitter because it is blatantly self-promotional and written like
an article. Limited time sale
or Promotion
Here are some examples of article type stories Contest
(not press releases)
How To… Business donation
or partnership with a
3 Ways To… charity
Comparisons of 3 or more different products/solutions
3 Things to Consider Before… Reaction to news
4 Reasons Why… topic
A Unique Solution for…
A Guide to… New business
X vs. Y: Which is Right for You? partnership or client
Award or
A Press Release is Not an Article! accolade received
A press release talks about something that is timely, and most often,
Event or speaking
something that is new and current. engagement
In order for press release sites to keep their
reputation as a provider of quality press
releases, they need to submit press
A Press
releases that have some newsworthy
Release
Announces
value.
Something New
and Timely!
It doesn't need to be earth-shattering news
that will be picked up by the New York Times.
It just has to offer something new and timely.
There are armies of bloggers and website publishers that are
constantly on the lookout for new things to post about in their
niche!
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8. DEADLY MISTAKE #7
Not Promoting the Press Release Once It’s Submitted
Publishing your press release online is just one step in your promotional
PLACES TO PROMOTE campaign.
YOUR PRESS RELEASE: There are so many ways to easily promote your press release online such
as:
Create a "news" section on your website and posting your headlines
and summaries with a link back to the full published press release.
Bookmark your press release on your favorite social networking sites
such as StumbleUpon, Delicious, or add to social business sites like Ryze
and FastPitch Networking.
Send a tweet out on Twitter with a link to your press release.
Send an email to the editors at a handful of niche-specific magazines,
trade journals, and websites to make them aware of your press release.
When you do, never send an attachment. Instead, either copy the press
release text into the body of the email or provide the title and summary
with a link back to the published press release.
You can either spend a lot of money on newswire services that send your
press releases out blindly to thousands of publishers, or do a bit of simple
(and kind of fun) promotional activities. If you're the business owner,
doing this part yourself is time well spent. And that's because no one is as
vested in getting the word out about your business as you are!
You’ve spent
time, energy and
passion creating
news - now tell the
world about it!
On that note...
If you enjoyed this e-
book, be sure to tell
others to download their
free copy at
OnlinePRNews.com!
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