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How to Write a Press Release Mini Series - Day One of Five

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with RE/Advantage

Press Releases can be a great way to get information about yourself or your office on the Internet. They are yet another avenue for the webmaster to build quality content. Press Releases for a Real Estate Office can announce new hires or large transactions. Remember all you need is a news worthy story to tell.

Why write one?

I guess the simplest reason is two-fold. For the sake of this article it is another venue to supply keyword rich content to Google in order to further enhance your SERP. Press Releases are a great alternate avenue to get content into the search engines. The other benefit is they are treated as news so writing about your business makes them great Public Relation tools.

Writing the actual Press Release

When writing a press release you should report the news in third person. You are essentially a reporter talking about the news. All press releases share the same parts;

  1. Headline - This is your title and should not be too wordy. Remember you are sending these to search engines like Google so keep them under 20 words. Google only reads the first 63 characters.
  2. Sub-Headline - Sometimes you might need to amplify your headline you can use a sub-headline. These go right after your headline and add additional detail needed that you could not fit in your headline.
  3. Scannable Content - Always write your content scannable. Use bolding, lists, headings, sub-headings, and short paragraphs so people can easily read your release. People tend to scan through pages and hone in on points of interest.
  4. Press Releases should be about timely material.
  5. First paragraph - This should contain your physical location (country, state, city), Month, Day, Year. Start with a strong intro statement to capture your readers attention. This paragraph should also summarize the whole release and entice people to read on.
  6. Additional paragraphs - This information should simply contain the detail about your release. Dive into the more specific details.
  7. How long? I suggest you try to keep your release under 600 words to keep the readers attention. Most releases contain several paragraphs with the final on summarizing your key points.
  8. Ending - End your press release with these characters ### immediately after your last sentence.

As the title suggests this is a multi-part mini series and since my main reason for writing about Press Releases is from a SEO stand point my next posts will dive into detail on how to enhance your SEO when writing a Press Release.

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RE/Advantage specializes in Real Estate Website Design, IDX Solutions, and Internet Technology. We have been working with the Real Estate Industry for over 10 years so we understand what makes a site work for you and your buyers and sellers. After all we have been developing real estate web sites, Internet tools and marketing strategies since 1997. No one provides a more comprehensive, well-thought-out site and tool set for your Internet presence. We provide you with not only the tools to manage and customize your site, but the peace of mind that comes from knowing we are here to help if you need us.

Comments (2)

Cindy Edwards
RE/MAX Checkmate - Johnson City, TN
CRS, GRI, PMN - Northeast Tennessee 423-677-6677

This is amazing stuff.  I'm going to read your 5 steps.  Thanks so much!

Jan 24, 2011 12:17 AM
Mark Menzella
RE/Advantage - Fairfield, NJ
We build websites for REALTORS®

Glad you liked it Cindy.

Jan 24, 2011 12:55 AM