The Traditional Press Release Is Dead!

The traditional press release is dead. What’s needed is a made-for-the-Internet format that can make its point in six
lines on journalists’ e-mail screens. Otherwise, your news is history faster than you can say “delete.”

The new report, Reality PR by Internet PR consultant B.L. Ochman explains how to write a made-for-the-Internet press release:

* The lead paragraph of the new Reality PR release states its point in 40 words or less. Of those 40 words, no more than six words are used to describe what the company does.

* Examples of excellent leads can be found on the home pages of the online New York Times; interactive Wall St. Journal or Yahoo! News Alerts. They all manage to explain what each story is about in a sentence or two. So can you.

* Make the body of your entire release 300 words or less, in 5 short paragraphs.

* Consider using the bulleted points “Who? What? Where? When? Why?” as paragraph headings.

* Write only two to three short sentences in each paragraph.

* Above the headline and/or at the bottom, be sure to provide a contact name, phone number, e-mail address and URL for additional information.

* Never send your release as an attachment. Send the lead in an email with a link to the full story on your site.

For more information at http://www.whatsnextonline.com