Writing News Advice

When it comes to getting your news items seen online, the rules for writing may be different from what you've practiced in the past.

1. Choose and use your keywords. Think like your reader: What words are most likely to be searched for by people looking for what you want them to find in your release? Choose/use those words multiple times.

2. Use bold, italics, headlines and subheads to make key phrases and keywords more visible. Emphasised text may help your release stand out and can positively impact search engine results.

3. Keep your headlines short. Google recommends headlines between 2 and 22 words for optimum visibility and search results. And Google results display only the first 63 characters of each headline.

4. Keep it readable. While your goal is to appear high in search engine results, don't miss the mark by writing copy that's overly repetitive, spammy or unreadable. You want search engines to find you and for readers to click through to your text. Strike a balance.

5. Be careful with puns, innuendo and double meanings. Search engines, spiders and robots have no sense of humor. Keep this in mind when trying to attract their attention.

6. Write timely content that provides useful information to readers. Provide tips, advice, or analysis in your press release that is relevant to your industry or your customers' interests. Search engines are more likely to include releases that are honestly useful in their results.

7. Utilise hyperlinks and anchor text, but don't overdo it. Too many links can flag your release as spam and get you kicked out. One link max per 100 words is recommended. Choose relevant links that direct traffic to the specific pages you are promoting rather than generic company links.

8. Be consistent. Some words have multiple spellings— such as "t-shirt" and "tee-shirt," or "email" and "e-mail." Stick with one spelling to avoid appearing illiterate, preferably choosing the more frequently searched spelling.

9. Keep it fresh. As releases age, they tend to drift lower in the search engine results pages. A campaign of several releases is more likely to drive results than a single press release.

10. Publish on your own website. Be sure to publish releases on your own site first work with your Brick Internet Marketing Manager to make sure your site is optimised.