What’s the Difference Between Writing Articles & Press Releases?
by Alice Seba

You probably already know that writing articles for website promotion is an excellent way to generate free exposure for your online business. Adding press releases to your distribution plan can provide with even more exposure. There is definitely a different in format between articles and press releases, but the good news is, many of your articles can become press releases…or vice-versa.

When you write articles, you are basically writing as if you were writing an email or a report. You have your title, opening paragraph, detailed paragraphs and a closing paragraph 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 also tend to be more informal than a press release.

With a press release, media outlets have a specific way they would like to receive press releases and though some differ, for the most part they are all the same. There are components that every press release should include. You can see a basic layout, along with a bit of detail about what to include in each section by reading the FAQ here.

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

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Tags: press releases, alice seba, media outlets, articles, website promotion