The most important part of your press release is the headline. Do not take it lightly. If your headline doesn't work, that poignant quote from your CEO in paragraph three — or even the big announcement in your first sentence — barely matters, because far fewer people will read it. Readers and search engines have very limited attention spans. If you don't grab their attention with your headline, your release won't get the visibility you're after.
Here are the six biggest press release headline mistakes, and the best practices to fix them.
Mistake #1: No keywords in the headline
You didn't include relevant keyword phrases. The little-known power of Google News is that it pulls keywords from the first 65 characters of your headline and then shows your release when people search for those phrases — in Google News, and often in web search too.
Include the right keyword phrases and you have a chance to jump in front of hundreds of millions of results. It's very hard to rank for a single keyword, so think in terms of a relevant three-word phrase.
Weak: "Acme Corporation Announces New Product Line for Fall 2014" — you might show up for your company name, but there are no other specific keywords a searcher would use. Too general.
Strong: "Boston Startup Acme to Launch Solar Smartphone at XYZ Tech Conference" — now there's something specific for search engines to grab: "solar smartphone," "XYZ Tech Conference," "Boston startup," "smartphone startup."
Mistake #2: Too long
Google only shows and indexes about the first 65 characters of your headline, so ideally keep it within that length. If you go up to 100 characters, make sure your most important keywords land in the first 65. Readers tune out quickly with long headlines, so use your best wordsmithing on those opening characters.
Mistake #3: Boring
Your headline doesn't grab attention. Don't assume a reader will keep going to reach the interesting part in paragraph two. Imagine you have ten words to get someone's interest — if you were pitching your announcement to a writer at the New York Times, or even a friend, what would those ten words be? That's close to your headline.
Weak: "T-Rex Inc Announces New Theme Park for Kids" — nothing to get excited about. What kind of park? Where?
Strong: "Life-Size Dinosaur Theme Park for Kids to Open in Central Park from T-Rex Inc" — now we know it's about dinosaurs, it's in Central Park, it's for kids, and the dinosaurs are life-size.
Mistake #4: ALL CAPS
You wrote your headline in all caps. It's true that headlines were traditionally fully capitalized, but online, all-caps is frowned upon and can even get your release blocked from Google News. Capitalize the first letter of each word if you like — just not every letter.
Mistake #5: Unknown sender
You didn't include your company name, spokesperson, or product in the headline. Most press release requirements ask that the issuing company, product, or spokesperson appear in the headline — it's what distinguishes a release from a regular news article. Don't burn valuable keyword real estate on your full legal name, but get a name in there.
Weak: "New Book Analyzes Reality TV in Japan" — sounds like an article or review, and may not be picked up as a release.
Strong: "Real Tokyo, a New Book by John Yoshida, Analyzes Reality TV in Japan" — it identifies the issuer and adds good keywords.
Mistake #6: No location
For locally based news, you didn't include the location. Your release will be found all over the web, so if your announcement is location-based — an event in London, a spa in Los Angeles, a concert in Sydney — include the city in the headline to show up in local search and catch local readers' interest.
Weak: "Fifth Annual 'End to Cancer' Charity Gala Set for Fall 2014" — where is it?
Strong: "Fifth Annual 'End to Cancer' Charity Gala in Dallas Set for Fall 2014" — because it's a local event, your chance of catching a local reader or editor goes way up.
Fix these six mistakes and you're going to see a lot more views for your press releases.