Press Release or Article: Which One Should I Write?

This is a guest blog post from Alice Seba, the Internet Marketing Sweetie.

If you’ve had an online business for more than 5 minutes, you probably already know that writing articles is an awesome way to get more traffic. Adding press releases to your marketing plan can provide you with even more exposure. There is definitely a difference in formatting between articles and press releases. The good news is, you can make the most of your writing time because some of the articles your write can be tweaked into press releases…or vice-versa.

When you write an article, you are basically writing as if you were composing an email or a report. It has a title, an opening paragraph, a couple of detailed paragraphs and a closing followed by your author bio, or resource box. You are usually teaching your readers about a particular topic or showing them how to do something. Articles usually some more conversational a press release.

With a press release, however, things are a little different.

Media outlets have a specific format they expect. While some differ, for the most part they are all the same. There are 6 components that a press release should include and we covered that in an earlier post.

Although some traditional press releases are designed to give news about a particular company, releases that educate, just like your articles, are highly effective. For example, if you write an article to teach about a new container gardening technique and in your byline you promote your ebook, you can certainly turn this into an article that informs people of the new technique and its benefits. Of course, the format of the release is different, but the message remains essentially the same.

The question isn’t really whether you should write a press release or an article– do both! Learn how to generate tons of free exposure for your online business with a small investment of time.

If you’re ready to write your first press release and get it out to the media, sign up for the free press release course…and get started the right way. Click here to sign up.