Editorial Guidelines

1. Why these guidelines exist

Every press release sent through PressFudge is read by a person before it goes anywhere. That review protects you as much as it protects the network: outlets trust releases that arrive clean, factual and properly formatted, and releases that meet these guidelines are approved faster and placed better. These guidelines tell you exactly what our reviewers look for, so you can get it right first time. They apply to releases you write yourself and, as the standard our writers work to, to releases written by our writing service.

2. What we accept

We distribute news: a genuine announcement that something has happened, is launching, or is changing. Product and service launches, company milestones and expansions, senior appointments, funding and financial results, research and data releases, event announcements, partnerships, awards, and substantive product updates all qualify. Write the announcement, not an advertisement - if the same text could run unchanged as a banner ad or a sales page, it needs reworking into a news story before we can send it. Releases must be in English, written in the third person (except inside attributed quotes), and ready to publish without further reporting by the outlet.

3. Headline rules

Your headline is the single most-read line of the release, and outlets judge the whole story by it. A good headline is a complete, factual statement of the announcement - who is doing what - in roughly 8 to 15 words. It names the company or brand where that adds credibility, and it could run as-is in a newspaper. Reviewers will send a headline back if it: is written in the first or second person ("We launch...", "You will love..."); reads as advertising ("Best ever deal - buy now!"); uses ALL CAPS, excessive punctuation or exclamation marks; makes a claim the body does not support; or is so vague it could belong to any company ("Exciting news announced today"). If we are writing your release, our writers draft to these rules by default.

4. Body and formatting rules

Length: aim for 400 to 800 words. Below about 300 words a release rarely gives outlets enough to publish and search engines enough to index; far above 800, editors start cutting - usually the parts you cared about. Opening paragraph: the first paragraph must answer who, what, when and where, so an editor who reads nothing else still has the story. Structure: short paragraphs of two to four sentences; subheadings are welcome (our step-3 editor supports them, along with lists and blockquotes); end with a short "About" boilerplate about the company and the contact details from your company block. Style: clean spelling and grammar; spell out an acronym the first time it appears; attribute opinions and claims to a named person or source in quotes rather than stating them as the narrator's fact; put dates, prices and figures in plainly and consistently. Releases are published as submitted once approved, so proofread the version you send - it is the version the world reads.

5. Links and anchor text

Include no more than three links in a release: your homepage or the announcement's landing page, and at most two supporting pages. Anchor text should be natural and descriptive - your brand name, your product name, or a short phrase a journalist would write - not a string of target keywords, and not "click here". Do not repeat the same keyword-heavy anchor across releases; that pattern harms the placements it is meant to help. Every link must be live, load over HTTPS, go directly to the page it describes (no URL shorteners, redirect chains or download links), and lead somewhere relevant to the announcement. Links to pages that are unsafe, deceptive or unrelated to the release are removed at review, and releases built mainly to carry links to unrelated sites are declined. Our editor lets you add keyword hyperlinks properly - select the words, add the URL, and keep the sentence readable with the link removed.

6. Images

A release may include a company logo and up to two further images. Images must be yours to use - owned by you or properly licensed - in JPG or PNG format, and genuinely relevant: a product shot, the person quoted, the venue, the chart behind your data. Do not submit watermarked stock previews, images carrying another company's branding, screenshots of text, or anything explicit, graphic or misleading. You can add images in step 3 of the order, by URL or by upload. If an image fails these rules we will distribute the release without it rather than hold the whole order, and tell you we have done so.

7. Accuracy, claims and documentation

You are responsible for the accuracy of everything in your release (see the Terms of Service). Superlatives and market claims - "the first", "the largest", "#1", record figures, growth percentages - must be true and supportable; if a reviewer asks, you should be able to show the basis. Health, financial and performance claims need particular care and, where the claim is regulated, the disclosures your market requires, inside the release itself. Announcements about litigation, regulatory matters or allegations against named parties must be accompanied by referenced documentation (filings, case numbers, official statements) and written neutrally; we do not distribute releases whose purpose is to harm the reputation of an identifiable person or company. Forward-looking statements should be labelled as such.

8. What we reject

We decline - and where distribution has not begun, refund in full under the Refund Policy - releases that: promote anything illegal, including narcotics, weapons, counterfeit goods, forged documents and unlicensed gambling; contain adult or escort content, hate speech, or defamatory or harassing material; advertise deceptive schemes, including get-rich-quick offers, miracle cures and guaranteed-return investments; carry links to malware, phishing or otherwise unsafe destinations; are plagiarised, spun or machine-generated text passed off as news; or are not news at all - pure adverts, link lists, or content-free announcements. Reviewers may also reject a release that cannot be verified against its own claims.

9. Sensitive topics: a stricter review

Some lawful topics sit under heavier rules at reputable outlets - licensed gambling and betting, cryptocurrency and blockchain projects, health and wellness products, financial services and investment products, alcohol, cannabis and CBD where legal, and dating services among them. These are not banned; they are reviewed harder, as our guide to press releases on sensitive topics explains in full. If your announcement touches one of these areas: declare it honestly when you order (reviewers always find out, and an undeclared sensitive topic found later stops the order); provide the supporting material requested - business registration and licences for the regulated activity, substantiation for factual claims, and risk disclosures inside the release; and understand that distribution will target the subset of outlets cleared for your category, that per-outlet checks make timelines longer than a standard campaign, and that some sensitive-topic campaigns are quoted as premium handling. The same content rules apply with extra force: no unproven medical claims, no promised financial returns, no targeting of minors.

10. How review works, and revisions

Review happens after your payment is verified and your details and release are submitted. Every order ends in one of three outcomes. Approved - it goes into production and distribution on the package's normal timeline. Changes requested - we email the company contact on the order with the specific points to fix (a headline that reads as an advert, a fourth link, an unsubstantiated claim); correct them in your dashboard and the release returns to review. Declined - the release breaches section 8 or cannot be made compliant; we explain why, and the Refund Policy applies. Minor presentational issues - a typo, a broken link, formatting - our team may fix directly and note the change to you, rather than delay your distribution. If you disagree with a review decision, reply to the review email and a second reviewer will look at it.

11. Turnaround expectations

Review itself is normally completed within one business day of a complete submission (paid, verified, with details and release in place). Distribution then follows the delivery time of your package - typically 2-3 business days for Basic and Core, 1-2 business days for Growth and Premium, and priority same/next-day handling for Enterprise. Complete, guideline-clean submissions move fastest: a release bounced back for changes restarts the clock at resubmission, and sensitive-topic orders (section 9) should be allowed additional days for the deeper review and outlet checks.

12. Questions

Not sure whether your announcement qualifies, or how to fix a release that came back? Email hello@pressfudge.com with your order reference (PF-XXXX) and we will tell you exactly what to change - or, if you would rather we handled it, our writing service can draft or repair the release for you.