Have you ever considered using a online press release to promote your blog? I decided to give it a try. I don’t profess to be an expert in writing press releases, but I have learned a lot trying. One of the great things about a press release is that in effect you are advertising for free. Press releases are picked up by different websites all looking for news in relation to their subject area. Some of the press release distribution sites also allow links to your website within the press release, and you can of course include keywords to increase search engine visibility. As far as I can see, there is nothing to lose and plenty to gain.
A couple of years ago I wrote a press release for a project (non blogging) that I worked on with a friend and was amazed at the response. At the top of the online press release I had included the county I live in and this was picked up by a couple of local radio stations who had set up to receive news alerts about the county. One of the radio stations came to interview us at my home and short snippets of the interview were played on the local news throughout the next day. The other local radio station invited us in for a short live radio interview, which was an experience in itself.
What to think about when writing a press release:
The story must be newsworthy -
Don’t just submit one of your blog posts, the story must be newsworthy - are you planning an event through your blog, are you holding a competition, maybe you have won an award, have you created a new product, piece of software, plugin etc?
Who is your target audience?
Tailor the way you write to your target audience. For example, if you are trying to promote a plugin useful for novice bloggers don’t get too technical, just write everything in layman’s terms.
The press release must be written in the third person
Write the press release like you are an outsider writing about your blog/blog event.
Include a quote
Include a quote within your press release, almost as if a reporter had asked you a question and you had given the quote as a response.
The Format of a Press Release
There are several good sites which have full instructions on how to structure a press release, I have listed some of them below:
http://blog.prleap.com/archives/sample-press-release-format/
http://www.samplepressrelease.info/downloads.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/A4288944
So you’ve written your press release, what now?
There are a lot of online press release distribution sites, most offer a free service, but you can pay extra if you want additional features, such as inclusion in google news. There is also nothing to stop you emailing/posting your press release directly to publications you feel may be interested in your news too.
Some free online press release distribution sites are shown below:
PRLeap - http://www.prleap.com
PRWeb - http://www.prweb.com
PR Urgent - http://www.prurgent.com
PR Newswire - http://www.prnewswire.com
PRWeb Direct - http://www.prwebdirect.com
TheOpenPress - http://www.theopenpress.com
Pressbox.co.uk - http://www.pressbox.co.uk
I-Newswire - http://www.i-newswire.com/
PR Free - http://www.prfree.com/
Free Press Release - http://www.free-press-release.com
URL Wire - http://www.urlwire.com/
Web Wire - http://www.webwire.com/
EMediaWire - http://www.emediawire.com
Press Release Network - http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com
David Culpepper | June 12th, 2007 at 11:36 am #
Thanks for the info. I plan to issue a press release to help promote my next blog contest when the time comes.
Kevin | June 12th, 2007 at 9:54 pm #
very good post Tara
have you used press releases much yourself in the past?
Jack Books | June 12th, 2007 at 10:49 pm #
John Chow has just posted about promoting your site offline too. good post Tara
Tara1 | June 13th, 2007 at 2:07 am #
Thanks David and Jack, I hope it was useful.
Kevin, I have just used a press release before as I mentioned in the post for a past project, which generated a couple of radio interviews. It was difiicult to tell how the press release worked this time. I had a lot of views or the press releases and a few mentions on sites I hadn’t heard of before which brought traffic to my site, but it is hard to tell where they found the information.
Success Online | June 13th, 2007 at 7:51 pm #
Thanks Tara,
Great information for new comers to the web.
Dave Starr --- Mr. GPS | June 15th, 2007 at 7:07 am #
Good tips, especially your first two. A press release can be very useful, but things like “I started a blog contest” is not news. I write a blog on the technical side of GPS. Every morning my mailbox is full of press releases from Google News and other sources I have set up. At least 9 out of 10 get the delete key before I read past the first paragraph … because the first paragraph is telling me how great xxyz company is, how long they have been i business and what a “market leader” they are, yada, yada, yada.
I suppose some folks read down a few more ‘graphs to see what the release is really about, but I don’t have the time.
Making money with a blog is a hot news item at the moment, you might make more headway if getting a local newspaper or TV reporter to write about you as a local story and then it will get picked up for syndication.
Lewis Empire | July 7th, 2007 at 11:53 pm #
I agree with Dave Starr. Nothing turns off a news publisher quicker than a press release that’s basically asking for a free plug. It can be perfectly written but it better be news…
PressAbout | December 5th, 2007 at 9:25 pm #
Another site you might like to check out is ours!
http://www.PressAbout.com - it’s a free press release site in the form of a blog.