The Press Release Wires: Detailed description of service

This service enables you to make announcements to the media quickly and easily. Response Source is a fantastic place to publicise your releases as the site is hugely popular among journalists from all sectors.

The Response Source Press Release Wire is an effective way to extend the reach of your announcements beyond your usual target press list, without having to spend time and money preparing a mailing list of your own.

Contents

• How it works
• SourceWire - reaching technology and business journalists
• Advice on release sending
• Adding web links and email addresses to your release
• Search engine optimisation and embedded links
• The importance of a good headline
• New! Add media attachments to your release
• Your own press release page and RSS feed
• How you pay
• Prices
• Submit a release

How it works

Press releases can be submitted using this online form. Simply input your contact details (for billing), headline and press release body text (don't forget to include contact details at the end of your release) and select the subject categories relevant to the release. Within a few hours your press release will appear on the Response Source site. The very latest releases are featured on the home page of the site. The last month's worth of releases appear on the press release section of the site and journalists using the search facility can pull up releases older than this.

Journalists who have opted to do so will get each release by email, adding even greater value to the Press Release Wire service. If you'd like to see a list of journalists getting releases under certain categories please email us on admin@dwpub.com. Many journalists also use the RSS 'really simple syndication' standard to receive releases. Our advanced RSS feeds allow journalists to get a feed of releases by subject category, submitter or keyword. Releases are also normally included in the Google News and NewsNow news aggregation systems, potentially giving you an even wider audience.

SourceWire - reaching technology and business journalists

You actually have the choice to access our two press release wire services. One on our Response Source site and another on our SourceWire site. SourceWire is our technology and business specific service, whereas Response Source covers all other areas. You can choose which you want to use by selecting the yellow (Response Source) and /or green (SourceWire) subject categories. How much you are charged depends on whether you select just yellow categories, just green categories, or some of each. You can also choose a 'priority' option if you wish us to process it quickly, normally within 15 minutes.

Advice on release sending

Getting coverage from press releases is not a given. The chances of getting coverage depend on a number of external factors - such as how much other news is going on, whether or not your target publications have a lot of pages to fill and what sort of stories are currently preferred by the press. Success can also depend on how the release is put together. There is not enough room here to provide a tutorial on good press release writing but you certainly need the following:

1. A good story - news is generally deemed to be something that is unexpected. Just because something interests you or your client doesn't necessarily mean it is a story. For example, a company launching a product is not news (it happens all the time), but if the product has a rare or significant quality then that could be news. Think of the impact and benefits to the audience of your target press.
2. A strong headline (avoiding all capitals as this is difficult to read online or in emails)
3. The crux of the story in the first paragraph
4. Some quotes that add colour
5. All the important facts included - what, where, when
6. Full contact details at the bottom of the release (you wouldn't believe how many people forget this)

Just using a press release wire service is not enough to ensure coverage. You should also send releases direct to key target media and contact specific journalists by phone (using a bit of charm and wit as they hate it when you just say 'did you get my press release' - they get hundreds every day).

If you don't get results straight away don't be disheartened. Sometimes it can take weeks or even months for coverage to appear - often material in press releases can end up in longer features articles that are planned far ahead. Also, it is easy to miss coverage unless you subscribe to a good cuttings service (though these services are all fallible themselves). If you get no results try again with a different angle on the story - sometimes journalists only respond after they've seen two or three press releases on a particular subject.

All in all a good approach is to think laterally about what is newsworthy in your company (or client), make sure you get the best bit of the story at the top of your press release and all the relevant facts further down, use the Response Source Press Release Wire in addition to targeting key press on the phone and then be patient. If it doesn't work, try again!

Adding web links and email addresses to your release

To include a web link , url or an email address in your press release simply type it as normal eg. http://www.dwpub.com , admin@dwpub.com . This will automatically link so there is no need to include any html tags i.e "<a href="url">web link</a>". Please note you cannot include web links or embedded links in the headline of your release. See below for further information about including embedded links and the benfits.

Please Note: The email version we send to journalists is in plain text. Embedded links will only be visible on our website. If you wish to include a link in the email we send please make sure it is a web link written in full (eg. www.dwpub.com).

Search engine optimisation and embedded links

An additional advantage of using the Response Source/SourceWire Press Release Wire is the way releases can help drive traffic to your company or client website. Including web links in releases can boost that site’s presence on search engines. This is known as search engine optimisations (SEO). The best form of link for this purpose is an 'embedded link'. This is where a word or a phrase is the actual link rather than just a plain web address. You can include these by following these instructions:

In the body of the release include embedded links by using this syntax:
[keyword or keywords|http://www.website.com]
* Note - If you leave a gap between the keyword and the vertical line and/or the vertical line and the link, then the embedded link will not work

Please note:
1. There must be no space at the beginning or end of the web address
2. The web address must include http:// at the beginning
If either of the above is not adhered to the link will not work.

Here is an example sentence including an 'embedded link':

"DWPub provides great products for [PR professionals|http://www.dwpub.com/products] that provide real results."
* Note - If you leave a gap between the keyword and the vertical line and/or the vertical line and the link, then the embedded link will not work

Please note that for really effective SEO the link should point specifically to a page where there is relevant information. Also, normal web addresses beginning with www and/or http:// will appear as links. These are valuable but not as effective for SEO purposes as embedded links.

The importance of a good headline

All press releases submitted through our Press Release Wires are sent through several channels to reach your desired target audience. One of these channels is through our own websites: Response Source and SourceWire. We permanently archive every single press release in prominent parts of these popular websites, and we use your Release Headline in the <title> tags of the HTML for that page.

Search engine robots (what they use to find websites) read the <title> tag and this is what you see when you find a website in the search engine results. Therefore these tags are arguably one of the most important areas for Search Engine Optimisation.

So the richer your keywords and more suitable your Headline is, the more chance it will appear on search engines such as Google for searches on similar keywords.

New! Add media attachments to your release

You can now add up to ten images and/or attach various other file types (eg. Word or Excel documents, PDFs etc..) to every press release. All media included is displayed with your press release on the Response Source and/or SourceWire websites. A release with a picture or file attachment will normally attract more views online and is more likely to generate media coverage. Please ensure you own the copyright for the file or that you have permission from the copyright holders to use it.

Available file extensions include: jpg, gif, png, doc, rtf, txt, pdf, xls, csv or tsv. Each file you attatch can be up to a maximum 5MB. The recommended minimum source image dimensions are 300 pixels x 300 pixels.

Your own press release page and RSS feed

By regularly posting releases to Press Release Wire you will build up your own press release page accessible from the 'View all releases submitted by...' link on each one of your releases. This takes journalists to a page comprised exclusively of your own releases. This page also includes an RSS feed link. This means you get your very own easily-accessed RSS feed without the time and expense of setting one up from scratch.

How you pay

When you confirm submission of your release the confirmation page will tell you the total you will be charged. Monthly invoices are raised and delivered by email at the beginning of the next calendar month. All releases submitted in the prior month will be itemised (including the date, headline and name of the submitter for each release) on a single invoice, making it easy for you to charge activity back to clients if this is required. If your company does not have an agreed credit account with us, you will need to pay for your press release distribution by credit card at the time of submission.

Prices

The price you pay per release depends on whether you select just yellow or green categories, or both, and whether or not you select the priority option. All prices exclude VAT which will be added at 17.5 per cent.

It doesn't matter how many categories you select within each group (yellow or green), the price is only higher if you select categories in both groups or if you select 'priority'. For example, if you select 'Men's Interest', 'Motoring' and 'Transport & Logistics' and do not select 'priority', you will be charged £45.00. If you select 'Consumer Technology' and 'Computing & Telecoms' and do not select 'priority' then you will be charged £45.00. But if you select 'Men's Interest', 'Motoring', 'Transport & Logistics', 'Consumer Technology' and 'Computing & Telecoms' and do not select 'priority' you will be charged £70.00. If you do all this and select 'priority' you will be charged £100.00.

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