Some handy tips for small business owners, PR professionals, and those simply needing help in developing a professional, effective press release. These tips from PRbuzz are helpful and bang on...

WRITE THE HEADLINE FIRST:
The whole writing process starts with the headline. The headline is a single sentence statement that announces what the news is. Companies, organizations or individuals have thousands of opportunities to announce news. A company's news can be a new product or service, new feature, new website, new office location, new employee, new award... The headline should be 100 characters or less including spaces.

WRITING THE BODY OF THE PRESS RELEASE:

The body of the press release expands on the "Who, What, When, Where, How and Why" of the announcement or news. The details in a press release should be limited to the "facts" about the announcement or news. Opinion, fluff or hype is not appropriate. Statements about how the product or service is the most amazing innovation ever invented should not be included. It is important that readers form this opinion by themselves by reading the details (facts) in the press release.

IMPORTANT PRESS RELEASE WRITING TIPS:

1. Press releases should always be written in third person.
2. Press releases must be written with the "journalist" or "media outlet" as the audience. Never write a press release as if you are trying to sell to the reader. Press releases that resemble a sales letter are considered to be "press release spam" and will create more harm than good. Remember that the purpose of your press release is to announce your news, not sell.
3. Always include plenty of contact info. A contact name, email address, phone and at least three links to your web site should be included in every press release.
4. Company background info is very valuable. This is usually done by including a section at the bottom of the press release just before the contact info titled "About XYZ Company or Organization"
5. Send a new press release at least once a month. With the huge amount of information on the internet, news is forgotten quickly. Some organizations even send a new press release every day. It is important to constantly come up with new and interesting news to announce to the public. Writers can find ideas for new press releases by reading the thousands of press releases at prbuzz.com.
6. It is important for a press release to be new, interesting, unique and exciting. Only the most interesting press releases get noticed.
7. Keep your press release short and simple. 250 to 500 words is best.
8. Add ### at the bottom of each press release to signify the end.

Source: PRbuzz

Additional Tips:

Provide your PR via email to online journalists and be sure to include a plain TXT format inside the email, provide a link to the press release on the company website (or PR wire). It's always helpful to end with a suggested tweet that is clear, uses a bit.ly (or short link) and is under 140 characters in length.

See Also:

• Is Your GIS/Geo Technology Company Really Taking Advantage of Twitter and the Latest in Social Media
• 10 Things That You Should Be Including In Your Press Release  
• 5 Ways to Make Sure Your Press Release Doesn't Suck