I receive many press releases from various companies, but I don’t post a large percentage of them. I want to offer you my top 5 tips to getting your press release published on my blog and other websites. Keep these things in mind when you submit a press release to a blog or other publication.
1) Send press release to relevant sources. I wouldn’t post something about cars or clothing unless there was a domain name aspect to the news and I find it interesting and think that people who visit my blog will find it interesting, too. Submit your press releases and news articles to websites that cover the topic of interest. Blindly sending the news to unrelated websites is annoying and it’s unlikely that it will be published.
2) Make the press release clear and easy to understand. If the news is complicated or technical, you should make sure the summary is in layman’s terms and explain why the news, special offer, or product/service would be of interest to the audience you want to read it. Most publishers receive a lot of news releases, and by having a succinct summary, you’re more likely to get it published.
3) Give your top publisher(s) advance notice. Most websites covet the opportunity to be one of the first to publish news. If you send a website your news just prior to it being posted on a wire, it will give the publisher an opportunity to digest the release and offer personal insight.
4) Send a personal note with the release. It’s always nice when someone includes a personal note with the press release to tell me why they think I would be interested in publishing the news or asking me to publish the news story. Being nice counts for a lot and goes a long way to getting what you want. You may see more news stories from certain companies and in addition to the fact that the news is relevant, it may also be because the people submitting the news are nice to me and ask nicely.
5) Make sure your news is newsworthy and don’t post a press release about everything. You wouldn’t believe how many press releases are to announce something minor or not important in the least to anyone but the sender. I think I’m pretty generous when it comes to covering news stories that impact my business and the domain business, but if you send out press releases every other day, it’s likely I won’t even read them if they aren’t really interesting.
What are some of your tips and tricks to getting a press release published?
Great tips Elliot. Definitely agree with the fact that there are many that simply issue a PR just for the sake of it.