I don't know anything about press releases and how to adapt my style of writing so I'm asking for help.

Here's what I came up with. Feel free to rip it apart. If I need to start over, I will.

Quote:

For Immediate Release April [last name] Advantage Virtual Assistant [phone] [fax] [email] http://www.advantagevirtualassistant. com Virtual Assistant Gives Busy Professionals an Advantage Omaha, NE - July, 1 2008 - Technology. Eco-friendly. Recession. These are three of the most influential factors in today's business world. The advances in technology, including Internet marketing and Web 2.0, have changed the way America does business. Being environmentally friendly or "green" now has the power to influence an entire target demographic. And talk of a recession is causing many business owners and entrepreneurs to rethink how they're spending their business dollars. Hiring a Virtual Assistant, or VA, allows professionals to address all three issues. With the use of technology such as Internet, fax by email, VoIP, and Blackberry, a VA can assist clients from anywhere in the United States and sometimes even internationally. By working virtually, a business can become more environmentally friendly by reducing the use of resources including paper, electricity, and gas for transportation to and from the office because VAs typically work from their own homes. And because a VA is typically self-employed and working as an independent contractor, they provide their own office equipment and supplies and their clients are not paying typical employment expenses like insurance, taxes, and holiday or sick pay. While most VA services provide general administrative services, many VAs address certain niche markets. One such VA firm is Advantage Virtual Assistant which specializes in legal assistant services. The owner of Advantage Virtual Assistant, April [last name], began her business after researching ways to balance both family life and a career. "As a single mom and a paralegal", said [April], "starting my own business as a Virtual Assistant just seemed like the perfect fit. It allows me to continue my career in the legal field, which I absolutely love, and still find time for my kids." With many businesses, including law firms and solo attorneys, switching to paperless document storage and electronic filing, Advantage Virtual Assistant has the ability to meet client needs from across the state or across the country, providing many of the same services as an in-house legal assistant. In addition to duties specific to the field of law, Advantage Virtual Assistant also performs general administrative duties including travel arrangements, correspondence and calendar management, and marketing services to other professions and businesses. Its no secret that most people, when asked what they wish they had more of, would say time and money. Advantage Virtual Assistant will help businesses save both of these. By allowing Advantage to handle time-consuming administrative tasks and eliminating expenses of hiring a full-time on-location assistant, clients will be able to focus more on the growth of their business which will truly give them an advantage. Advantage Virtual Assistant provides administrative support to attorneys, entrepreneurs, small business owners and other professionals located across the United States.

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April @ Advantage
Advantage Virtual Assistant

Hi April,

Have you had a chance to check out the PR section of this forum? Diana Ennen held a fabulous chat session in February and you can read the archived chat here

She's very thorough about the proper way to write a press release. Also, I just posted this in another thread but I'll post the link for you here. Hubspot has an archived one-hour webinar devoted to writing a press release to gain more traffic to your website. You can download it here

Take 2 hours to review the archived chat and the webinar. You'll feel more confident in your ability to write a PR.

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Shari Sultana
Online Business Manager (marketing for retail ecommerce)

Hi April
Shari offered up some excellent directives here.
I will say your writing style is quite nice - but this particular piece reads more like an article than a release.

Give Diana's chat a read and visit the Hubspot link - then please do post back with your revised version!

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So I'm way off, huh?

I did read the transcript of the chat session here and I used the template or generator from Duct Tape Marketing.

I just downloaded some ebooks from another site about PR that I'm going to read after my youngest goes to bed.

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April @ Advantage
Advantage Virtual Assistant

Thanks for these resources on how to write good PR! I have been asked recently by a client to write some for them and didnt know where to start - this saved me from looking like a complete idiot!

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http://www.TaylorResourcesWriting.com