Writing Tips for Google News and Social Media Releases

RushPR's Editorial Guidelines (per our terms and conditions, you must follow these guidelines to publish at RushPRnews)

Tips to Writing a Successful Press Release for Google NEWS & Social Media Sites

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1. ONE- Do not use all-caps in your TITLE field. That's considered screaming and is rude. Capitalize First Letter of Each Word. Keep title short (under 140 characters)

2. NO MORE THAN 4 HYPERLINKS PER RELEASE. (Google team recommended to us to keep it under 4 to avoid being flagged as spam)

3. Enter the date you wish to publish it. Remove previous date.

4. Enter THE CLOSEST MAJOR CITY IN THE CITY FIELD. NOT A COUNTY OR NEIGHBORHOOD.

5. Length, your release should be at least 250 words and no more than 900

6. DO not use THE SAME TITLE IF YOU PUBLISH YOUR RELEASE on different newswires. Change your opening paragraph- if you keep the same title and opening paragraph, Google NEWS will list your release as a duplicate.

7. For RushPR, REMOVE: "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE on top (if you don't, Google News may use it as the snippet ). Move contact information at the bottom.

8. Remove Dates from your title: Google will drop you much faster once that date is passed.

9. -Subtitle/header should be a compelling. The headline makes your release stand out. The subtitle may be slightly longer and more descriptive. Keep it short, active, and descriptive. If you don't know how, read a number of compelling headlines to get inspired. You can do a search on the Internet to find compelling headlines. Or ask us.

10. Opening paragraph -Hook the reader with the first paragraph. A first paragraph must summarize the five W's: who, what, where, when and why. In fact, most readers will give up if you haven't hooked them in the first few lines.

11. Keywords- place your most important keywords in the opening paragraph but don't overdo it. In other words, if you want to publicize your local bagel shop in Los Angeles, in your title use something like "Los Angeles Bagel Shop To Open Franchises", then again in the opening paragraph, use your keywords.

12. Hyperlink your keywords to relevant pages/urls.

13. Put the most important information at the beginning. This is a tried and true rule of journalism. Editors receive dozens of releases everyday and they don't have the time to go hunting for the important information.

14. Don't say it, show it. Avoid saying something is "unique" or "the best". Instead, show how people will benefit - i.e. save time, save money, make their life easier, etc.

15. Get a quote from someone who has reviewed your product or used your services.

16. Spell-check and spell-check! Do remember to proofread your press release for typographical errors before you send them out.

17. Bottom line: For more information, contact: followed by your contact information. Provide all possible contact information including mail address, telephone, fax, e-mail and web site (especially for online business).

18. Give credit to the photographer or illustrator, if using images

19. Submit your release to social Media and bookmarking Sites, such as Digg, Twitter and Mixx

20. Tell the truth, and just the truth. Do not make false claims. You`ll get busted

21. No profanities or adult content allowed

24. PLAIN FORMATTING, plain text - INCLUDING TITLE AND SUB-TITLE - then once it is cut and paste as plain text, use RushPRnews formatting tools.

25. CHECK YOUR GRAMMAR, AND PROOFREAD.

Thank you,

Anne Howard

Editor-in-Chief, CEO RushPRNews

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