Turn Your Blog Into A Press Release

If you are apro when authoring good topics for your blog, then a great press release is well within your reach. Press releases and blogs have some similarities like great titles and the important stuff is listed at the top. Press releases are an important way to publicize your blog and an efficient way to disseminate your message without doubling the content. Here are some simple steps to help you turn your blog into a press release:

It’s Gotta Be News

Press releases always publicize something newsworthy. On the other hand, blog posts are simply opinion, lists, or guides. So the subsequent blog topics will work excellently as a platform for a press release:

• Unveiling a new business
• Customer success stories
• Announcements of new products, services, and events
• Prizes that you won or you gave out to others (you can even make your own up!)
• Job changes in your company
• High-points of your business (five year anniversary, 100% client base growth)

It’s always okay to make up your own news to put out a press release. You can also put out a response to an array of the latest news.

Write the Blog in the 3rd Person

The entirety of the article and title should be in the 3rd person voice to make it a general news article and not an opinion piece.

Change Up the Title

Keywords are the centerpiece to a good headline in either a blog post or press release. The keywords draw the readers through to the rest of the article and your business. While most blogs do not have a subheading, press releases do to emphasize the headlines unique information. It can also provide a support for the headline with facts.

Here is the proper way to format the headline and subheading…

• HEADLINE (ALL IN CAPS)
• Use Title Case in Subheading

Reorganize the Blog to Comprise the Following Elements:

• Dateline: The city, state and date should all come before the article begins. The CITY NAME should be in caps, with the state abbreviation, then the date (Month Day, Year).
• Lead: It is okay to be creative with the intro, however it needs to be the main news right away. Get to the point. The who/what/where/why/when/how should be there right away. Also, the keywords from the headline should be in the lead.
• Quote: Having a quote can help to highlight the press release and give it some initial life. Typically a quote is placed successfully following the lead paragraph and stands on its own.
• Boilerplate: When the release is finished, place a few sentences about the business in the 3rd person. The company information and social media contacts should be here.

Know the AP Style

Follow the AP format for everything. Any questions you have about grammar and punctuation can be answered through these rules. The AP Stylebook can be found online in a variety of places. Use this and always edit your press releases to make sure they follow suit.

Do Your Press Releases Look Like Others?

Check out the PR Newswires to see examples of press releases. Some are not very good, so be cautious. Some may be in 1st person or not follow the AP Stylebook. Make sure to see the difference and follow the format of professionalism.