1. The first lines of your press releases shall include:
"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" (or FOR RELEASE Dec 25, 2002) and "For more information, contact:" followed by your contact information.

2.Craft a compelling headline. The headline makes your release stand out. Keep it short, active, and descriptive. If you don't know how, read a number of compelling headlines till you get some idea.

3.Hook reader with the first paragraph. A first paragraph shall 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.

4. Put the most important information at the beginning. This is a tried and true rule of journalism. Never hide golden points to the end.

5. Don't sell but answer questions! Making over-inflated statements is helpless to your business. Write a release that answers questions about your business, rather than piling flowery adjectives without saying why.

6. 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.

7. A 'non- biased' source like university professor or software reviewer is very helpful.

8. Provide all possible contact information including mail address, telephone, fax, e-mail and web site (especially for online business).

9. Proofread & Proofread! Do remember to proofread your press release for typographical errors before you send them out.

10. End your press release with "###" (without the quotation marks) after your last lines of text. This symbol lets the editors know they have successfully received the entire release.