Question

Topic: Website Critique

Feedback On Press Release Grader (new Free Tool)

Posted by Anonymous on 5/29/2008 at 3:51 PM ET 250 Points
I would love some feedback on www.PressReleaseGrader.com It is a new free tool that we are testing, and we could use some feedback from marketing folks.

Thanks!
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  • Posted on 5/29/2008 at 4:22 PM Accepted
    This is really a helpful site - I love the results of the report... especially the word cloud.

    I initially missed the demo video because it so far down the page, so I entered in a press release, etc. to see how it worked. It was very informative, however until I watched the video afterwards I didn't know what the word cloud was for.

    Perhaps move the demo-vid up towards the top right?


    I would recommend a good descriptive marketing text box on the homepage also, telling users briefly what this is all about. I know the name is self-evident, however I'd like to see a little more about what I can expect to see when using it.

    Simply describe the sections of the report that I can expect to see.

    This is really a fabulous application - I'm going to forward the URL to some of my friends in the press release business.

    I wish you much success!
  • Posted on 5/29/2008 at 4:30 PM Author
    Thanks for the feedback!

    @cpappas -- Good idea. We'll think about ways to maybe make it more specific. Also, in the future we'll probably have a more advanced version in the paid HubSpot software that might hav emore cool stuff, like you suggest. PS - Hope you are doing well...

    @dmull - Thanks! We'll take a look and see if we can move some stuff around to make it clearer.
  • Posted by melissa.paulik on 5/29/2008 at 4:33 PM Accepted
    That's a pretty cool tool. I can easily see how it would be highly useful to someone who may not be trained in writing press releases but finds themselves needing to get educated quickly.

    You might consider creating more links to the reasoning behind some of the suggestions. For example, on the press release I submitted, you suggested moving the first link further up the release. More details on the reasons behind some of these suggestions could make it even more beneficial to the new writer of releases.
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 5/29/2008 at 5:26 PM Accepted
    It looks like you have a winner. I tested it with a couple of sentence announcement just to see what happened. My score was 0/100 and I would agree with the score.

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 5/29/2008 at 7:18 PM Accepted
    It's a great idea. It would be nice if the word cloud is smaller and common words (has, may, etc.) aren't included. The fact that you can click the word cloud to see usage is cool. I'd like to see some tutorials that show how to improve your score. Also, since you're only scanning words and not "reading content", you can generate a high score and have a press release that's atrocious.
  • Posted by s.singh on 5/30/2008 at 4:56 AM Accepted
    Hi Mike,

    It is really a cool tool. I loved the websitegrader tool and it is really a great idea to move to grading press releases, as they seem to be the next "in" thing. In our website, we have a section called "news", which is not specifically written for the press. Should the same rules then still apply?

    Thanks for your feedback.

    S.Singh
  • Posted on 5/30/2008 at 10:48 AM Author
    @cpappas - You guys need to open up your network. YouTube videos are blocked? Crazy! There is a lot of usefull business content on YouTube. :) The word cloud shows the words that are used more often in the release as larger. Looking at it you can tell what words are most visible to search engines in the release (they will be the biggest). You can also click on the words and it will highlihgt them in the release so you can see where and how you use it.
  • Posted on 5/30/2008 at 10:50 AM Author
    @Jay Hamilton-Roth - Thanks for the feedback. Those are good ideas about removing common words and also giving more feedback. We'll see what we can do.

    You are correct that the language does not need to make sense to get a good score, but there are some limits to software today... :) That's why we still need humans.
  • Posted on 5/30/2008 at 10:52 AM Author
    @S.Singh - Thanks for the feedback. Actually, I think press releases today shoulod be written for buyers and end users, not the media. Check out David Meerman Scott's blog, he talks about this stuff a lot. www.WebInkNow.com
  • Posted by Tracey on 5/30/2008 at 7:05 PM Accepted
    Love it -- really nice tool!

    On the general statistics part of the report, it would be nice if "word count", "link count" and "readability" link to explanations of why those are important. For example "readability" might explain that the ideal readability level is 6th grade (or whatever it is), how you measure readability, and how to improve readability.

    I'll be using this tool in the future.
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