How to Write a Press Release

Follow these tips to craft a powerful press release and reach all the right audiences.

Make Sure Your Press Release Contains Actual News

Put yourself in the position of your audience — media, consumers, industry peers, bloggers and other readers. Why would they want to read this press release? What information does it provide for them, or what problem does it solve?

Focus Your Most Important Messages at the Top

Not only do many readers only skim the headline, subhead and first couple of paragraphs of a press release, but search engines focus almost exclusively on this early content to index your release.

Provide a Concise, Compelling, Clear Headline

For press release SEO purposes, the ideal length of a headline is fewer than 23 words. Also, search engines don't understand puns or plays on words, so straightforward headlines do a better job of making sure your release is properly indexed. People are sometimes drawn in by a clever headline, so yours should be both compelling and clear to cater to both audiences.

Consider Including a Subheadline

A subhead provides valuable supplementary guidance to readers as they consider whether to continue reading your release. From a press release SEO standpoint, it's also a terrific place to incorporate keyword phrases you can't squeeze into your main headline.

Link Early and Often

Hyperlinks and anchor text help search engines better index your release by associating its content with other sites. It also helps provide context for readers. Be sure to link the first instance of the brand and/or product name to the homepage of your website. Link the names of spokespeople in your release to their company bio pages or even their LinkedIn profiles.

Make Your Plain Text Stand Out with Formatting

Bold, italic, underlined or bulleted text helps emphasize key points in your release, breaks up your content into easily digestible sections and provides visual cues for skimmers to quickly pick up the gist of your news.

Include Photos, Videos and Other Multimedia

Reporters and consumers tell us and our research supports it: visuals increase interest in your news . According to our research, press releases with multimedia are more than five times more likely to become top-performing releases.

Include Your Company Logo

Build recognition by including your logo at the top of your release. It's free with any Business Wire circuit

Include Complete Contact Information

Make sure to provide up-to-date phone numbers and e-mail addresses; reporters tell us that omitting these is one of their main pet peeves. Always include a way for media to follow up with any questions. Consider including a Twitter handle or other social media profile. Do not include contact details for communication tools you do not monitor regularly.

Include Identifiers for Publicly Traded Companies

If your company is publicly traded, include your exchange, stock symbol and International Securities Identifier Number (ISIN). These maximize access and search functionality of your press release in financial databases and news systems.

Share More Company Details

Don't forget to update your Company Information in My Account and complete a Company Profile in Connect. These features are free and enhance your release as it appears on BusinessWire.com.