Businesses are happily discovering that hiring professional freelance press release writers to craft precisely worded press releases provides impressive and cost-effective exposure. According to one of the Internet’s most popular press release distribution sites, a press release containing a blend of text and images or text and video increases reading time spent by consumers by nearly half a minute, an amount of time that is considered exceptional in regards to the few seconds the average web user takes to scan web content.
What Exactly is a Press Release?
Press releases possess similarities to traditional content but with the following essential differences:
- Contains to-the-point information regarding who, what, where, when, how and especially why
- Writing style must be brisk and journalistic (no unnecessary, vague words)
- Press releases should read and appear as compressed and vivid as a newspaper story
- Press releases are always written in third person and provide at least one authoritative source or quotation
- The headline and first sentence is dramatic and attention-grabbing, usually announcing something new that the company is providing to consumers, whether it is an innovative product, service or information that is of great interest to the public
Unlike other content writers for hire, expert freelance press release writers know that the first paragraph of a press release always contains the name of the company and an email address or phone number if applicable. This gives consumers who are reading press releases immediate access to the information they need to visit the business online. A good press release will also avoid sounding promotional or “sales-y,” which can come across as unprofessional.
How Does a Press Release Benefit a Business
People generally do not read each word or sentence that constitutes most web content. Instead, research into the reading habits of internet users have found that most people scan an article for dynamic, animated words that are connotative rather than denotative. Readers want to be stirred emotionally when perusing content and make the decision to stop or continue reading within five to ten seconds of focusing on the article.
Affordable and effective, well-written press releases will drive traffic to a company’s website, establish the brand being promoted by your company, build the credibility of your company and lay the foundation for consumers and investors to begin considering your company as the expert in its particular field or industry.
Kimberly M is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
