PRlink 101: Writing tips for optimizing your press release through PRlinkPLUS

When you place a paid press release through PRlinkPLUS, your press release will be available to a wide audience on the internet. These tips are to help you create a web-optimized press release. Take advantage of the traffic you can generate to your website by spending time to create a press release that has the best chance of being seen by as many people as possible.

Headline- Headlines should be no longer than 22 words, and they usually include the business’ name. Write your press release in upper and lower case with the first letter of each major word capitalized.

For submitting a press release through PRlinkPLUS: Your press release may be found by search engines as it is on the Tampa Bay Times’ website. Any headline over 60 characters will be truncated by google and other search engines. A minimum of two words is required. There is no need to worry about formatting; PRlink automatically creates a bold headline for you that may help you score extra points by search algorithms.

Summary or subheadline- The summary is an important part of your press release. It summarizes what will be written about in more detail in the rest of the press release. It is the “tell them what you are going to tell them” part of the story. The first sentence should contain the primary message of your press release.

For submitting a press release through PRlinkPLUS- In search engine queries, the summary or subheadline appears as a “snippet,” the preview text that appears under your headline. If you do not know what to write for a sub-headline, you can use the first paragraph of your press release as your sub-headline.

Here’s an example of a good sub-headline:

2nd Quarter Results Show Significant Increases in Projects and Staffing

The Tampa Bay Times continues to grow readers and subscribers, holding its place as Florida’s leading newspaper. Among the country’s top 25 newspapers, the Times has moved up to become the 11th largest on Sunday and advanced in the rankings to 15th largest daily.

Body- This is the part of your press release that answers the questions, “Who,” “What,” “When,” “Where,” “Why,” and “how.” Think like a reporter and answer these questions in the body of your press release.

Quotations: Quotations from business owners, customers, prominent individuals in your company add interest to press releases. No more than two quotations per press release are recommended, and be sure to identify who made the statement.

Keywords- (Not applicable for free press releases submitted to the newsroom.) Please use keywords sparingly to avoid “keyword stuffing.” Many search engines including google will not give good rankings if your story is loaded with too many keywords. It is considered an unethical SEO technique. Choose the most important keywords for your business or topic. You can use free keyword search tools to determine the best keywords for your press release. Free keyword research tools include wordstream.com/keywords, freekeywords.wordtracker.com, Kwmap.net, and Adwords.google.com.

Keyword Tip: Go to google.com. Enter the keyword or keywords that are most relative to your business in the search box. Example: ‘plumbing.’ Google Suggest will let you know what other search terms people have entered recently related to plumbing. For example, on the day these guidelines were written, other related keyword search terms included ‘plumbing supplies,’ ‘plumbing problems,’ ‘plumbing questions,’ and ‘plumbing tools.’ If the suggested keywords are relative to your business, you might want to consider adding them to the body copy of your press release, or in the description of your business.

Photographs- Make sure photographs are good quality, not blurry, and identify who or what is in the photo. Acceptable file types are .jpg, .tif, .png, and .gif.

About your business: This is a paragraph that gives the reader a bit of background for your company as well as contact information. Include it at the end of your press release. The same ‘about your business’ copy is usually used with each press release.

Example:

About the Times - The Tampa Bay Times is widely considered one of the Top Ten newspapers in America. The Times has won eight Pulitzer Prizes, including two in 2009. The Times is produced by the Times Publishing Company, which also publishes Tampa Bay’s largest local news Web site, TampaBay.com, the free daily tbt* Tampa Bay Times, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Web site, PolitiFact.com, special events, specialty publications, and targeted advertising programs.

Additional information: See also “Getting Your News into the Times,” written by the Tampa Bay Times Newsroom. More information is available by reading our standards of acceptance.

Thank you for visiting PRlink. We appreciate you considering us for you press release dissemination needs.

The PRlink Team
Tampa Bay Times

The New World of Press Release Creation and Distribution

Press releases have always been powerful communication tools help media outlets, news writers, bloggers and business experts learn more about your business. Now, they are recognized as being important marketing tools that allow you to connect directly to business and private party customers. No longer are press releases used simply for announcing promotions or changes within a company. They can and should be used to communicate what’s going on at your business at regular intervals, so your community can be made aware of the vibrancy of your business and engage with you more frequently.

And, with the advent of the internet, press releases can be seen by a wider geographic audience than they have in the past. With online press release optimization, you can drive traffic to links on your website that will allow customers to connect with you more quickly, or fulfill requests to purchase your products or services more conveniently.

Frequency for creating press releases

As a communications professional, your calendar of events for your business is likely full of many opportunities. Begin asking yourself this question: “Which events would be important to tell our customers about?” A good rule of thumb is you should plan to release press releases at two to three times a month to inform the community about activities within your business.

Topics for creating press releases

To help you think of new ways to promote your business, here are some topics for press releases for you to consider.

Events- (Please submit at least ten days before the event.)

• Grand openings
• Classes or workshops
• Announcing a contest
• Exhibiting at a trade show
• Holding a press conference to make an announcement
• Holding an annual meeting or conference
• Meetings open to public
• Demonstration of products, ‘test drive’ a product
• Speaking engagements
• Fund raisers
• Lecture or speech
• Party or celebration
• Recognition or awards ceremony
• Sign up to attend future event

Post-Event Details

• Who was there?
• Announce award winners with photographs
• How successful was the event?
• Will you hold the event again next year, next month?
• Who will attend the event the next time you hold it?
• Comments from event participants

Products and Services

• Introducing a new product or product line
• Introducing a new service
• Announce research that shows how your products work
• New location for offering your products or services

Technology

• New technology being put in place
• New technology developed by your business
• New online technology service offered

New business relationship

• Let the public know if you acquire a new account or client
• Announcing a new partnership
• Announcing a joint venture

Announcing an award

• Won a prize
• Received funding
• Won a bid
• Won a grant
• Special community recognition earned
• Industry recognition
• Employee receives a scholarship

Customers Satisfaction

• Customer service award
• Conduct a customer survey and report the results
• Customer satisfaction survey results from an independent company
• Reaching a significant customer service score or goal
• Compile findings from customer experiences and write a report
• Testimonials from customers
• Report good feedback on your social media page

Reaching a significant goal

• Sales goal
• Funding goal
• Fund raising goal
• Customer performance goal

Community activities

• Sponsor a sports team
• Make a contribution to a charity
• Create scholarship program
• Create a sports team with your employees
• Contributions towards a community event or activity

Significant milestone

• Business Anniversary
• Business Birthday

Research and development

• Pilot study underway
• Pilot study findings
• Outcome of research program or efforts

Business announcements

• Planning an IPO
• Announcing quarterly results
• Changes in hours of operation
• Temporary service outage
• Change in service terms

Publishing

• Publish a book, white paper or e-book
• New study, findings, industry insight
• Article published about your company

Launching a campaign

• Marketing campaign in association with an agency
• Marketing campaign created in-house
• Fundraising campaign

Special guest appearance or guest speaker at your business

• Celebrity
• Author
• Specialist
• Industry expert
• Designer
• Autograph signing
• Photo opportunity

Employee announcements

• On-boarding a new employee, executive, notable individual
• Notable person will chair a committee
• Notable person will attend an event
• Notable person will speak at an event or conference
• Notable person will volunteer their time, join a board of directors, or create a charity
• Company employee quoted in article or web article
• Employee will be featured on television, radio or podcast show
• Employee promotions

We hope these ideas have given you a lot to think about. If you planned to publish two press releases per month for your business which activities would you like to tell the world about? How much more would your business grow if you planned to publish two press releases per month a year in advance?

The PRlink Team
Tampa Bay Times