Publish press releases for free at Viral Press Releases

Journalists read hundreds of news stories every day and most of them spend a few seconds deciding whether a news story is interesting or not.

Your press release headline should say, ' somebody does something worthwhile' or 'somebody helps overcome a major problem' or ' a major problem solved by someone'.

Examples of good headlines:

Sandwell Council approved the construction of waste to energy plant to generate electricity to more than 90000 homes.

Wolverhampton Lexus dealership gives festival visitors chance to win RCF Track edition.

New Core and Cover Technology deliver improved total performance and softer feel.

Identify your hook and add it to your headline.

Use action words.

Be direct.

Be specific.

Be straightforward.

Be short and up to the point.

Be comprehensive.

Make the headline clear, captivating and jargon-free.

Focus on the message you want to convey.

Aim for 5-15 words.

A headline that starts with how great a company is will automatically turn off most journalists' interest.

The ideal press release headline formula is: [ new thing ] [ Hook ] [ Company] as in ' Cryptocurrency could become mainstream payment solution within few years, finds new eToro report.

Think of a newspaper headlines, blog headline or email subject : a good headline will encourage you to read on.

We suggest leaving the headline for the end and don't waste your time thinking about crafting the right headline at the beginning. It's much easier to come up with a headline once you are done with the whole content of your press release.

Bear in mind that most journalists will change the headline to suit their readership.

At Viral Press Release, the headline length is limited to 150 characters. HTML tags are not allowed in press release headline.

If you want to grab the attention of your target audience and journalists, you need to think like a journalist. Before starting writing, they have to find the news hook, the most newsworthy element of the news story.

The hook is the critical piece of newsworthy information that is supposed to ensnare and trap your unsuspected audience and journalists and make them share your news story.

Ideally you should include your news story hook in the heading and lead paragraph. Formulating the right hook requires familiarity with your target audience and a good grasp of what makes your news story newsworthy.

Make your point early in your press release: the most engaging, important and exciting information should be at the beginning of your news release.

Answering the who, what, where, when and why questions will help you nail down the hook of your news story:

Who is referenced in this news story?

What is the news story about?

Where is the news story happening? Is the story relevant for national or regional press coverage.

When did it happen? is it still current?

Why is the news story worth covering?

Adding details helps transform a news story from vague idea into a strong message:

This is a raw idea: Acciona to build a waste to energy plant in West Brom.

This is the same raw idea with details: £1b investment to create 300 highly skilled jobs in West Brom by Acctiona for Enfinium.

Always try to add numbers, figures and location.

There are many variations of news hook that help grab the attention of the reader:

Timeliness: A timely response to something that's currently affecting your target audience.

Relevance: People are always attracted to news stories they can relate to.

Proximity: Most people care about things close to them - whether it's physically or emotionally.

Impact: How will your news story affect your audience? Journalists are always interested in how a potential news story impacts their target audience.

Human interest: Try to draw emotion from the audience by including real people in your news story.

Prominence: Prominent members of the community are natural draw for the media, including celebrities , media personalities and politicians.

Magnitude: Magnitude hook adds the element of quantity to the story, such as announcing a large number number of athletes running a local marathon or large amount of state funding for a local project.

Conflict: Conflict hook promotes issues , such as increased need for cycling path or the importance of enforcing speed limit in the neighbourhood.

Oddity: Oddity hook adds an odd element or unusual twist to the news story.

The final question you should ask is, Would you be interested to read your news story? If not it may not be worth your time.

The body of press release describes all the relevant details of the news story and the brand's involvement using the inverted pyramid formula.

Put the most newsworthy information at the top and the rest of information follows in order of importance, with the least important information at the bottom of the press release.

Bullet points for skimmers

A great way to "hook" readers' attention is by listing key points using bullet points. Bullet points are meant to summarize the news story. From the toolbar of rich text editor, select list icon to create a list.

Bullet points make it easier for readers to skim for important and key details quickly.

Insert relevant quotes

To add colour to your news stories, include quotes. Journalists are always interested in hearing from experts, key decision makers or company executives.

If it's a merger or partnership news story, you should add quotes from both parties.

You can also add quotes from customers, volunteers or attendees at an event.

Quotes are not meant to provide information. They should be used to provide insight and opinion and they should sound like as if a real person said them - not as if they' ve been written by the PR department.

Make sure included quotes are relevant and you have permission from whoever you are quoting, and also make sure you don't quote people who aren't available for interviews.

Try to limit quotes to 1-2 sentences.

Embed images and videos

Adding images, screenshots, videos , diagrams and head shots can help your press release stand out. Images and videos are important if you are showcasing a project or work.

Make sure that images are compressed to less than 2MB.

Just state the facts

Most journalists won't be interested in press releases claiming a product or service is the best . State the facts and avoid using hyperbolic language. Sounding self-congratulatory won't add any value to your news story and it will only make journalists ignore your press release.

Eliminate industry jargon

Some of the industry jargon doesn't mean anything to the average reader. If in doubt, ask a friend to read your news story. If they find it complicated and boring, you should edit for more clarity and conciseness.

Write in 3rd person

In other words, never use 'I' , 'We' or 'You'.

You are not writing to your target audience directly. You are writing it from your client's or organization's point of view.

Keep it short

The same as resume, the body of your press release should be concise and engaging, packing a short, yet powerful, informative punch. The ideal size length of a press release is about an A4 side - no more than 400 words. If your press release is longer than that , you've probably got unnecessary content that doesn't add any value to your news story.

Keep your press release body short and concise:

100% read the headline;

70% read the lead paragraph;

50% read the second paragraph;

30% read the third paragraph;

and only 10% read the fourth paragraph.

Your press release body length shouldn't more than 5 paragraphs - including the lead paragraph.

At Viral Press Release, the press release body length is limited to 600 words, including the introduction paragraph. Only Bold, Italics, H2, H3 , Unordered & Ordered List, img and video embed HTML Tags are allowed in press release body.

At Viral Press Releases, we approve and publish only newsworthy and meaningful news stories. Submitted press releases should have original content and a news 'angle' to get published and featured in the front page.

We don't publish adverts, personal opinions or views , explicit content, spam, blogs, already published news stories, fiction, Cryptocurrency assets or anything related to cryptocurrency trade, duplicate news stories, harmful content, news intended to harm an individual or organization, gambling news, e-liquid, e-cigarette, or vapor news, loan services news, weight loss products adverts, health supplements adverts, sexual enhancement products adverts, overnight get-rich schemes, advice regarding stocks and adverts for black hat SEO services.

These are the guidelines to get your press releases published at Viral Press Releases.

Make your news hook obvious. Without news angle your press release is just an advert. Formulated news angle must be relevant to your target readers.

Craft a catchy, clear, captivating and newsworthy headline. A good headline will encourage your target audience to read on. Without it there is no reader.

Add details and context to your press release headline by adding a sub headline... details you didn't manage to include in the headline.

Get straight to your point in the introduction or lead paragraph, answering these the five questions:

Who is involved in the news story - person or company?
What 's happening? What's it about?
Where did this news story take place?
When things happened / will be happening?
Why this is important and why this matters to your target readers and journalists?

Your press release introduction or lead paragraph can make or break your news story. By the end of your lead paragraph, your target readers should be able to understand the gist of your news story.

In the second and third paragraph, expand your news story and give more details using the information pyramid. Explain the why and how behind the who and what.

Stick to one news story per press release.

Add media contacts for journalists to get in touch with you. Add a phone number - not just hide behind an email address. Email addresses must be valid and the phone number must be answerable.

Be concise and eliminate fluffs. Press release body length at Viral Press Release is limited to 600 words. Wordiness will dilute rather than add more value to your message. Try to limit your press release to 5 paragraphs - including the lead paragraph.

Write in the third person. don’t use “I”, “we”, or “you”. Write your news story from your client's or organizations's point of view.

Just state the facts and be honest. Don't suggest a product or service is the best.

Eliminate industry jargon that doesn't mean anything to the average reader.

Use bullet points to summarize your news story for skimmers . List all supporting data and numbers.

Insert only relevant quotes from key decision makers, public figures, celebrities, experts, reputable organizations, or company executives. You can also use quotes from event attendees, customers or volunteers.

Spell-check your press release and eradicate spelling and grammatical mistakes before you request to get your news story published. One single spelling mistake or broken URL can destroy all your credibility.

Break long chunks of text into smaller paragraphs. Each paragraph shouldn't be more than 2-3 sentences to make your press release content digestible to your target readers.

If you are announcing an event or new product or service, include a call to action at the end of your press release.

Boost your Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) by adding the relevant keywords, especially in you press release headline, sub heading and the lead paragraph.

If you reference any legal action in your press release, you'll need include to full case details.

Press release content at Viral Press Releases shouldn't contain any link. The only link you can add to your press release is your website URL as part of 'Media Contacts'. If it's a partnership or a merger announcement, you can add the websites of the two parties.

Before you start submitting your press releases, you have to create a business profile for your business or service to use it as news source.

A well optimized press release can be a valuable search engines optimization tool for organic search, you domain authority and online visibility.

Back links

At Viral Press Release, we don't allow any links in press release body. All relevant links are included in 'Media Contacts' section. Overly optimized press releases and unnatural linking can only harm search engine ranking for a business.

These are the only links ( nofollow) you can include in 'Media Contacts' section:

Facebook page
LinkedIn page
Twitter page
Instagram page
Youtube channel
Tiktok channel
Google Map page
Call to action link
Link to LinkedIn page of new hire.
Link to a booking page for an event .
Link to the launch page of a new product or service at Angellist.
Link to the launch page of a new product or service at Product Hunt.
Link to the fundraising profile of a new product or service in a crowdfunding/seeds website .
The new website URL for a re branded business.
The website URL of the merged, acquired or partnered with company.
Link to a research paper.
Link to the awarding body for an award .

All the above links are nofollow so search engines won't count them are part of your SEO and domain authority. We also make sure the above links stay nofollow when the press release is distributed and published in other news websites.

Try not to use your target keywords as anchor text . Use your company name or call to action terms, such ' Find out more'. or 'Learn more'.

Press releases are still an effective tool for marketing strategy but they shouldn't be used as part of links building strategy.

Keywords

Keywords play an important role in every business SEO strategy. Before you start writing your press release, identify your keywords.

Targeted keywords should be included mainly in press release headline, sub heading and the lead paragraph while maintaining a natural flow in your press release. Avoid stuffing your press release with keywords at the expense of clarity.

Don't choose keywords based on high volume usage. Use a keyword research tool, such as Google Analytics, Google News Autocomplete, SEMRush or Google AdWords to discover the search terms you should be targeting.

Concentrate on search terms that already show up strongly in search results - not the most searched for terms in your industry.

Ideally you should target no more than 3 keywords or terms that your target audience are most likely to use to find a brand, service or product like yours.

As for repeating the same keywords in your press releases, these keywords shouldn't be more than 2% of your press release content. Press release body length at Viral Press Releases is limited to 600 words, so you should repeat each keyword about three times in your press release body content.

Think about your target keywords in context of your target readers, not search engine bots. Consider what people look for - not what search engines prefer to index.

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