A press release is a document issued to media and consumers to announce yourself and your product.

A well-written release can dramatically increase your sales, expose your company to the masses, and greatly enhance the image of your business or products. A professionally written press release can make the difference between a successful press release and an utter failure.

Your release must have a general interest to the target audience and a strong news angle. In addition, your release needs to be written in journalistic rather than marketing style. It should be objectively written and needs to inform people, not just sell them something.

The focus of your story should not be on the subject of the product itself but on the creator of the product. A human-interest story or a hint of controversy helps create interest.

Preface the opening sentence of the release with the place and date of the release. At the end include a fairly standard paragraph about Lulu and your contact information.

Aim for absolute clarity and avoid all "spare fat," including too many adjectives or adverbs. Consider using bullet points where appropriate. Both the headline and the first paragraph should summarize and sell the story. Accentuate what is new, unusual, different and extreme.

The headline should be 20 words or less and should answer the questions, "So what?" and "Why now?" The introduction should stand on its own, tell the whole story and tell why you have written the story.

Remember to always include: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How in all the press releases. If you answer these basic questions, your press release will provide all the information that the reader will need.

• Who did the event or Who said what
• What was said and What was done
• Where did the event take place
• When did or will the event occur
• Why did this event happen
• How did this happen

This Is Your Breath-Taking Headline, Within 100 Characters

A summary paragraph follows your headline. One or two sentences briefing the story are good. City/State, Country (iPressClub.com) June 5, 2008 -- A well written leading sentence of 30 words or less works great to grab peoples' attention.

And here comes the detailed story. Keep them within 800 words and get rid of grammatical errors. And here comes the detailed story. Keep them within 800 words and get rid of grammatical errors. And here comes the detailed story. Keep them within 800 words and get rid of grammatical errors. And here comes the detailed story. Keep them within 800 words and get rid of grammatical errors.

And here comes the detailed story. Keep them within 800 words and get rid of grammatical errors. And here comes the detailed story. Keep them within 800 words and get rid of grammatical errors. And here comes the detailed story. Keep them within 800 words and get rid of grammatical errors.

And here comes the detailed story. Keep them within 800 words and get rid of grammatical errors. And here comes the detailed story. Keep them within 800 words and get rid of grammatical errors. And here comes the detailed story. Keep them within 800 words and get rid of grammatical errors. And here comes the detailed story. Keep them within 800 words and get rid of grammatical errors.And here comes the detailed story. Keep them within 800 words and get rid of grammatical errors.

The final paragraph contains restate the headline of news story together with the main newsworthy material.

About Company Ltd.
Include a short introduction to your company.
Phone number: 888-888-8888

Contact:
Your Name, director of PR
pr@company.com Company Ltd.
888-888-8888
http://www.iPressClub.com

When we talk about content, we refer to the news story you are telling. Keep the following points in mind when writing your press release.

Is your news "newsworthy?" The purpose of a press release is to inform the world of your news item. Do not use your press release to try and make a sale. A good press release answers all of the "W" questions (who, what, where, when and why), providing the media with useful information about your organization, product, service or event. If your press release reads like an advertisement, rewrite it.

Start strong. Your headline and first paragraph should tell the story. The rest of your press release should provide the detail. You have a matter of seconds to grab your readers' attention. Do not blow it with a weak opening.

Write for the Media. On occasion, media outlets, especially online media, will pick up your press release and run it in their publications with little or no modification. More commonly, journalists will use your press release as a springboard for a larger feature story. In either case, try to develop a story as you would like to have it told. Even if your news is not reprinted verbatim, it may provide an acceptable amount of exposure.

Not everything is news. Your excitement about something does not necessarily mean that you have a newsworthy story. Think about your audience. Will someone else find your story interesting? Let's assume that you have just spent a lot of effort to launch a new online store. Announcing your company's opening is always an exciting time for any business, but the last thing the media wants to write about is another online store. This is old news and uninteresting. Instead, focus on the features of your online shopping experience, unique products and services. Answer the question, "Why should anyone care?" and make sure your announcement has some news values such as timeliness, uniqueness or something truly unusual. Avoid clichés such as "customers save money" or "great customer service." Focus on the aspects of your news item that truly set you apart from everyone else.

Does your press release illustrate? Use real life examples about how your company or organization solved a problem. Identify the problem and identify why your solution is the right solution. Give examples of how your service or product fulfills needs or satisfies desires. What benefits can be expected? Use real life examples to powerfully communicate the benefits of using your product or service.

If you are reporting on a corporate milestone, make sure that you attribute your success or failures to one or more events. If your company has experienced significant growth, tell the world what you did right. Show the cause and effect.

Stick to the facts. Tell the truth. Avoid fluff, embellishments and exaggerations. If you feel that your press release contains embellishments, perhaps it would be a good idea to set your press release aside until you have more exciting news to share. Journalists are naturally skeptical. If your story sounds too good to be true, you are probably hurting your own credibility. Even if it is true, you may want to tone it down a bit.

Pick an angle. Try to make your press release timely. Tie your news to current events or social issues if possible. Make sure that your story has a good news hook.

Use active, not passive, voice. Verbs in the active voice bring your press release to life. Rather than writing "entered into a partnership" use "partnered" instead. Do not be afraid to use strong verbs as well. For example, "The committee exhibited severe hostility over the incident." reads better if changed to "The committee was enraged over the incident." Writing in this manner, helps guarantee that your press release will be read.

Economics of words. Use only enough words to tell your story. Avoid using unnecessary adjectives, flowery language, or redundant expressions such as "added bonus" or "first time ever". If you can tell your story with fewer words, do it. Wordiness distracts from your story. Keep it concise. Make each word count.

Beware of jargon. While a limited amount of jargon will be required if your goal is to optimize your news release for online search engines, the best way to communicate your news is to speak plainly, using ordinary language. Jargon is language specific to certain professions or groups and is not appropriate for general readership. Avoid such terms as "capacity planning techniques" "extrapolate" and "prioritized evaluative procedures."

Avoid the hype. The exclamation point (!) is your enemy. There is no better way to destroy your credibility than to include a bunch of hype. If you must use an exclamation point, use one. Never do like this!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get Permission. Companies are very protective about their reputation. Be sure that you have written permission before including information or quotes from employees or affiliates of other companies or organizations. Any dispute resolution will favor the other company, meaning that your press release may get pulled.

About your company. Your press release should end with a short paragraph (company boilerplate) that describes your company, products, service and a short company history. If you are filing a joint press release, include a boilerplate for both companies.

News is anything that other people are interested in. Being newsworthy consists of letting editors and reporters know you're doing something of interest to other people. Have an event, tell a story, create or participate in any occurrence, support, oppose, or even merely observe a trend or activity.

Editors and producers have the tremendous challenge of coming up with new stories to fill their pages and air slots-day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. It isn't always easy to fill all that space. Therefore, you become their ally. Your achievements--along with your ability to publicize them properly and work cooperatively with media people--will cause local editors to welcome you with open arms. Not only will you have a very good shot at getting your press release printed (perhaps several times in different sections of the paper), but a reporter might even arrange a more in-depth story. And that is pure gold for you!

1. The first lines of your press releases shall include:
   "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" (or FOR RELEASE Dec 25, 2002) and "For more information, contact:" followed by your contact information.

2. Craft a compelling headline. The headline makes your release stand out. Keep it short, active, and descriptive. If you don't know how, read a number of compelling headlines till you get some idea.

3. Hook reader with the first paragraph. A first paragraph shall summarize the five W's: who, what, where, when and why. In fact, most readers will give up if you haven't "hooked" them in the first few lines.

4. Put the most important information at the beginning. This is a tried and true rule of journalism. Never hide golden points to the end.

5. Don't sell but answer questions! Making over-inflated statements is helpless to your business. Write a release that answers questions about your business, rather than piling flowery adjectives without saying why.

6. Don't say it, show it. Avoid saying something is "unique" or "the best". Instead, show how people will benefit - i.e. save time, save money, make their life easier, etc.

7. A 'non- biased' source like university professor or software reviewer is very helpful.

8. Provide all possible contact information including mail address, telephone, fax, e-mail and web site (especially for online business).

9. Proofread & Proofread! Do remember to proofread your press release for typographical errors before you send them out.

10. End your press release with "###" (without the quotation marks) after your last lines of text. This symbol lets the editors know they have successfully received the entire release.

iPressClub.com has been the No. 1 in the press release distribution service area since 2005. Thousands of media editors, broadcasters, press journalists and freelancers come to this site for fresh news stories everyday. Any business can benefit from the potential media coverage generated from a well-structured press release. With the help of iPressClub.com, your release will be sent directly to thousands of important members of the media community without the high costs of hiring a PR agency.

Our editors are monitoring all press releases. To keep us a valuable media source, we reserve the right to remove press releases of the following types without warning:

1. Too short;
2. No actual content but meaningles keywords;
3. Contains of adult/mature content;
4. Copyright infringement;
5. Denigrate other's fame;