Ian and
Mark' Blog

If you have decided to use press releases as part of your online PR or search engine marketing mix then you want to know that your efforts are well spent. Making sure your press release has every chance of being published on the websites you post to is the first step in making sure you get the optimum results.

Writing a press release that is unlikely to get published is like writing a letter and never posting it. It’s just wasted time when you could be doing something else.

Worse still, if you keep on writing press releases that don’t get published, you will never increase traffic to your website.

Here are my top 10 tips for getting your press releases published.

1. Make sure the title has some kind of time related information.
Your press release should be talking about something that is current i.e. your press release titles should be specific to the present and not something generic. The more time dependant the better. e.g.

Fred’s Fishing Tackle offers Soft Bait for a super discount

This is not a good title, as there is no time dependant element here. A better title would be

Fred’s Fishing Tackle Launches August 2010 Charity Fishing Competition to Support Low Income Families

Here we are talking specifically about August 2010. Better still would be to include the actual day and time of the event.

2. Do not ask a question in the title of your press release.
If you ask a question in your press release it is more likely that what you are writing is an article rather than a press release. If this is the case then post the article on an article site. The reader of a press release site is different from that of an article site. Press releases are factual and event based, with readers looking for up to date information.

3. Try and make the title ‘event based’.
The title of your press release should ideally focus on a specific event that is happening that you want people to know about.

4. Do not use FREE in the title.
The inclusion of Free in the title usually signifies to the press release reviewer that your press release is spam and not a great news item for their site.

5. Make sure your title does not read like an advert.
If your title says something like ‘£5 off this weekend at Beautiful Bouquets’ then that is not going to get past the reviewer. You need to make it more relevant and put in more of a story. Try giving the sale a ‘reason why’ it is happening e.g.

Beautiful Bouquets Launches Spring Collection For Easter Weekend (£5 Off Purchases)

6. Make your press release location specific.
If you mention the location that your press release is relevant to then you are giving the press release more focus and letting the reviewer know that this press release is relevant to their traffic. e.g.

Manchester Piccadilly Branch: Beautiful Bouquets Launches Spring Collection for Easter Weekend 2010 (£5 Off Purchases)

7. Make sure your press release title has more than 20 characters.
Short titles usually indicate short and badly written press releases and so the reviewer might just give up at the title. No super long titles either, anything over 150 characters is way too long and will probably get you left unpublished.

8. Avoid unpublishable or offensive material
Most sites will not post releases referring to pornography, gambling, racism or other offensive topics. Most press release sites use Google adsense to generate some of their revenue and so are bound by Google’s terms and conditions which do not allow adverts to be placed on sites with such content.

9. Stick to the accepted format of a press release.
Title, Introduction, Body and then about us section. Many press releases fail to have the ‘about us’ section of the press release. This is not a reason for instant deletion but it doesn’t look professional.

10. Spell check and get someone to proof read your press release.
A press release reviewer is not going to think twice about deleting your press release if it does not make grammatical sense or if it contains spelling mistakes.

Ok I am going to tell you a shocking truth: most journalists will never notice or write about your company and its products and services. That’s just a pain in the neck but true.

Why? Well there’s just no news in your business! When I say news I mean something that people outside your company will give two hoots about.  Let’s face it if it were another company you would not read about them either.

So you have to try harder.  Rather than dogmatically creating press releases about marginal items just ‘to get something out there’ you need to come up with a good story.  One good story is worth a 1000 average press releases.

If you come up with a good story, do the work and write it properly then bloggers and journalists will love you because you have done their job for them.

My sister in law is a national journalist and most press releases she receives are just deleted or put in the bin. She just does not have time to figure out what the story is and certainly not time to rewrite it into something. So your press releases probably end up in trash folders or office bins. But there is another way – publishing online is easy and anyone can get published however it is not worth it unless you have a killer idea.

Top Five Press Release Killer Ideas

1. Work with a Good Cause
   The media is much more likely to look at your press release if you are doing something for a charitable cause.  You see these stories all the time in trade magazines and they are good fillers for journalists.  If someone on your team is doing something for charity then put out a press release.  E.g. Brian from accounts is running up a mountain dressed as a biscuit to raise money for the homeless.
2. Publish Data and Surveys
   Magazines and bloggers in your industry love to gossip about industry trends and data that makes them look knowledgeable.  If you have noticed something in your business or done a survey then expand the key findings and send it out.
3. Do a Top 5 List
   If you know your industry and know your customers then you probably know five – ten key things that every novice needs to know about your subject.  For example ‘5 common embarrassing mistakes men make when buying suits’ or ‘5 tips from Vin Deisel for getting bigger biceps’
4. Describe how a BIG news story is affecting businesses like you
   If there is some big news story going around that is affecting your industry directly then pounce on it and create a story.  If there is some new legislation that the government has passed that is hurting your business.  If global warming is affecting people buying your products.  What big stories are having an effect on any aspect of your business. Local papers love this as it gives them a local view point on a national story.
5. Seek out the Strange and Bizarre
   People love to read about the stranger things of life, so look out for strange things in your industry that you can write about.  You can find top topics here www.stufftotweet.com which shows you the top topics going around the different social media sites at the moment.  If you check back often you will find something relevant that you can write about.

The trick is to create more news about the stuff the media is already talking about.  Then you just become part of the conversation and it is easy to join.

If you do put out great stories like these then you will get noticed.  Just start to research your PR more and stop doing the boring stuff that you KNOW no one really cares about.  It is worth the effort – just consider the masses of people you could attract to your business.

Yes we are hiring, check out the job posting on our site here – http://www.smartebusiness.co.uk/index.php/jobs.html

Here is a brief video on how to use Magento, the admin area, ot see what areas to focus on.  I also talk about the reports and areas I look at day to day in order to drive more conversions.

This is split into two parts

How To Use Magento Part 1

How To Use Magento Part 2

Please let me know if you find these helpful.

With Internet SPAM becoming so much more of an issue and internet email filters becoming more and more advanced it is necessary to make sure the setup of your smARTmail account conforms to best practice.

Reverse DNS

To make sure your emails are recognised as coming from your company we recommend that you buy a branded domain name specifically for your emails.  If you use come website address it will not reverse DNs to our servers and therefore emails will be stopped by larger companies and ISPs such as AOL.  Once you have a domain name we will forward it to our servers.

Static IP

With a domain name specifically for your email marketing it allows us to create a static IP address for your emails to be sent from.  This way to the outside world it looks as though your emails are coming from a server that only specifically sends emails on your behalf.  This way you are in complete control of your reputation and no other account on the server can affect your ability to be delivered.  Also with a static IP address we can sign you up to various anti spam programs that the large ISPs run to help legitimate emails get through.  These services include Hotmail and AOL.

Feedback

Also with a specific domain name and IP address we can setup the required email address needed by the ISPs to monitor your emails.  We will then forward email address like abuse@ and postmaster@ to your email address so you can monitor any problems the ISPs are reporting with your mailings.  This way you can stop problems and take action before you get blacklisted from their network.

SPF

We will also setup your Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records so that mail servers who check for this information will let you through.  An SPF record simply stats that only a certain IP address is permitted to send email for a particular domain name.

Domain Keys

We will also setup Domain Keys on your account so that ISPs like Yahoo will be more likely to let your emails through.  A domain key is an encryption method that shows the recipient that you have the correct permissions to be sending an email from the email address that you are using.  It is used as an anti phishing measure.

Return Path

If email marketing is key to your success as a business you can invest further in your email reputation by signing up to the return path email service.  We will handle your application and process your subscription.  Return Path has strict requirements for entry and most of the above points when setup will allow you to apply.  What return path does is negotiate with the ISPs to let them know that your emails are legitimate and that you comply with the various rules and procedures needed to run email marketing legally.