If you are aiming to increase your sales, expose your business and increase traffic to your website, a well-written press release can help you achieve that.

What is a press release? A press release is a condensed article that is written in a journalistic style. It is not a sales document or an advertisement.

What is the purpose of a press release? Press releases provide the publicity and traffic any online business needs. A well-prepared press release focuses on what is newsworthy and exciting about your company or product. The main objective in writing an effective press release is to get it read and published. Consequently, the press release must be written in a crisp, clear and engaging style.

Now, let's look at the critical things to consider in order to write an effective press release that will help you get free publicity and drive traffic to your online business.

• Is your news 'news-worthy'? Do you have something news-worthy to write about your company or product? Your press release must be informative on the '5 Ws' of your organization, program, product or service - providing answers for the questions: who, what, where, when and why. Put yourself in your audience's shoes - will someone else find your story interesting?

• Have a strong and captivating introduction. The heading of the press release should capture the attention of the journalist and the media. The title of the press release should be short and snappy, and hopefully grab the attention of the journalist and audience, impressing them enough to make them read on.

• Target your audience. In order to be effective, your press release must target a specific audience. Provide the audience with the information that is intended for them and tell them why they should continue to read it. The more focused and targeted your press release is, the more effective it is.

• Be factual and provide the facts about your news. Avoid making fluffy and exaggerated statements. 'Too good to be true' statements in your news reduces your credibility. Avoid hype and jargon, provide the facts in plain and ordinary language. Additionally, avoid using the exclamation point (!) where it is not necessary. If you must use an exclamation point, use one. Avoid doing this!!!

• Be economic with your words . Use only enough words to tell your story. Avoid using unnecessary adjectives, flowery language, or redundant expressions. Keep your news release concise and make each word count.

• Provide some illustrations. It is important to use some real life examples about how your company or organization solved a problem. This helps increase the credibility of your news release. Provide examples of how your service or product fulfills needs or satisfies desires. What benefits can be expected or what remarkable benefit did one get from using your product?

• Select an interesting angle. It is important to make your press release timely, and relate it to a news-worthy development or event. If possible, try to link your news to current events or social issues, to ensure that your release has a 'good news' element.

• Keep your release simple and short. Press releases are not meant to tell the whole story behind your news. They are meant to give the journalist an idea of what's happening in your business that readers need to know about.

• Provide your contact information. Provide full contact information with your press release, namely a contact name, address, web site address and e-mail address.

• Decide where and how to send your press release. Compile a list of the media in the geographic range you want to cover. Your choice will depend on the resources of the organization, time frame of the news item and the segment under which your press release falls.

Press releases have several advantages, namely, they are low cost, they increase visibility for your company, they provide added credibility for your organization and most importantly they provide free publicity which can easily convert to more sales. Use these tips and tap on the potential for news releases to give your online business a dramatic boost through increased exposure, traffic and sales.