Online Press Release Distribution

If you have not written a press release before please read this before to make sure that you increase your chances of it being published.

Headline – the Title it Should be Capitalised on All Words Except Prepositions and Articles of Three Words or Less; it Should be Short Ideally not More Than 170 Characters and There Should be no Period

Summary – This paragraph is a synopsis of what you are saying throughout the whole press release. It should be in regular sentence form. It should not just repeat the headline or be the same as the opening paragraph it just tells the story in a very much foreshortened form.

Lead Paragraph – This is the first paragraph of your story, it must grab the reader’s attention, and you should never assume they have read the title or the summary paragraph. It should include any important information such as location and date, and it should stand on its own.

Remainder of press release – The remaining portion of the press release should be written like a news story, keeping sentences and paragraphs short. No more than around three or four lines per paragraph. The first paragraph or two should cover questions such as who, what, when, where, why and how.

Following on from here, you need to expound on the information provided in the lead paragraph. Include quotes from people involved in the story, or experts. Include more detail about the news you are telling.

If you can do so, you should include a quote to give your press release the human touch. Ideally the quote should be from someone closely related to the story.

Use your final paragraph to restate key points and summarise the story once more. Make sure you’ve missed nothing out, and re-state important information so that it sticks with the reader. This last paragraph can also include details such as availability of a product, or trademark acknowledgements.

When you send a press release you also need to include a short corporate background about the company or person that is featured in your news piece, along with detailing the contact person’s name and phone number. Your e-mail address should go in the ‘contact email’ box. This will not generally go out with the press release, but will be referred to via a special contact link that’s displayed with your press release if it’s to be published online.