10. 8 Things to Double-Check Before Press Release Submission
I know you are excited to submit your press release, but are you sure you’ve got everything covered? Sometimes we think that our press release is good enough, but it gets rejected. How do we know whether we’ve written a press release with sufficient appeal to the public?
The answer lies in double-checking. Yes, it’s tedious to read through your masterpiece again, but it does make a difference. Make sure you follow through with the list of things below and ascertain that your press release is good enough for submission. If you do not already, take the dos and don'ts checklist with you while going through your press release.
10.1 Newsworthy Headline and Summary
This is the first thing that caught your readers’ attention, so it should be the first item you check during proofreading and before submission. Make sure your press release’s headline and summary have all the necessary newsworthy elements for publication, such as the subject, the active verb of the subject, the outstanding news information, and the story’s recency.
10.2 Press Release Format
Most websites follow a standard press release template but just to be safe, always format your press release sufficiently so that it’s suitable for any website. Distribute your content neatly and strategically by putting your content into several paragraphs, using spaces and hyphens appropriately. Don’t leave extra spacing for no apparent reason, or you could risk coming off as unprofessional to your readers.
10.3 Details and Facts
Ensure that all your facts are substantiated with credible sources. Check all the numbers and statistics tally. Get names and brands correctly written and spelled. You don’t want to mislead your viewers and give them false information that could tarnish your reputation and credibility.
10.4 Clarity, Coherence, and Consistency
What you find easy to read and understand might not be accurate for everyone else. In fact, it could be the complete opposite, so find someone willing to take the time to proofread your press release and understand its content to its entirety. If they don’t get it, there’s a good chance that your viewers won’t either.
10.5 Anchor Keyword Links
We are not talking about including keywords and on-page optimization but whether your links work! Linking to a wrong page or a broken link will not do you or your viewer any good, so remember to test out all the links before you send your press release.
10.6 Beware Of Over-optimization
After all the hard work you’ve put into determining your keywords, ascertain that they’re neatly distributed and put into your press release for maximum on-page SEO. Check that you’re not keyword stuffing (keywords should only be 2-3% of total word count) and that you’re using a variety of synonymous keywords that your customers are searching for to find your brand
10.7 Spelling, Grammar, and Punctuation
It’s not a minute factor, so this isn’t worth overlooking because it sets apart the professionals from the amateurs. There’s no excuse for not using spell-check, and even if we aren’t all English majors, we can get someone with a decent grasp of the language or use grammar-checking tools like Grammarly to proofread your press release. Go through your press release from top to bottom and look for misspellings and grammatical errors. Don’t turn away readers because of this.
10.8 Contact Information
Did you make sure that your contact information is all correct? Remember to supply accurate contact details so that reporters can follow up with you and your story, or interested readers can reach out to you for your products and services.
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