Online Press Release Sites

[Scottish Business Owner]

I've been doing a bit of research on online press release sites. As SBF develops I really feel that press releases should be part of our strategy going forward.

The biggest one by far seems to be PRWeb Press Release Distribution Increases Online Visibility and Web Traffic and this charges $80 per release.

I've also came across pressbox - free press release distribution and news - press store - copywriting services which is a free UK based site but to be honest look full spam.

Coming closer to home I also found allmediascotland which is probably a better route intially for SBF.

I just wanted to hear anyone's experiences of using these sites both positive and negative.

I also know that we have a few journalists types on here and wondered if it's these types of sites where you would source stories from or is there others hiding that I haven't found?

:thumbup:

 

[Kevin]

We used to use PrWeb however we stopped using them as they were not very effective and not good at tracking how successful your press release was.

If you have the budget I would look at Marketwire: press release distribution, newswire, public relations, investor relations, breaking news, media monitoring and RealWire however they are more expensive than Pr web. But do have great reporting features. Moovin On Up also offer a press release service that we can offer at a discount rate as we submit hundreds of releases a month so we get great deals with the top press release websites.

 

[Mike Lewis]

,

I can't comment on those specific sites, except to say that, when I worked as a journalist, we never looked to any websites for obtaining press releases. We had all releases we could deal with that were sent to us by companies, PR people and other organisations. There was simply no incentive to go out of our way to look for further releases.

However, that was a few years ago. Things might well have changed since then.

Mike

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

Thanks for the replies

Mike - Would you say then that it would be better for me to try and maintain a list of relevant press contacts myself? I've always found in the past that they change very frequently so keeping up to date is a nightmare? Would journalists look at a story that has simply been emailed to them or is the technique to try and follow it up with them?

Kevin - Given that your submitting so many press releases every month whats the underlying strategy here? Is it purely getting done for back links? Given that Mike has said journalists dont use these types of sites I assume it's very unlikely that someone will take up the story and maybe look to develop it.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Would you say then that it would be better for me to try and maintain a list of relevant press contacts myself?

Definitely. And, not just maintain the list, of course, but to actively send them your press releases - rather than relying on them seeking you out.

It's true that staff writers move around, so you will need to work to keep your list up to date. One option would be to address your releases generically - to the science editor, or business editor, or whatever. It's not as good as a personal contact, but I'd think you'd have a good chance of them getting to the right people.

And don't forget freelancers.

Mike

 

[Kevin]

Thanks for the replies

Mike - Would you say then that it would be better for me to try and maintain a list of relevant press contacts myself? I've always found in the past that they change very frequently so keeping up to date is a nightmare? Would journalists look at a story that has simply been emailed to them or is the technique to try and follow it up with them?

Kevin - Given that your submitting so many press releases every month whats the underlying strategy here? Is it purely getting done for back links? Given that Mike has said journalists dont use these types of sites I assume it's very unlikely that someone will take up the story and maybe look to develop it.

Hi ,

The strategy as with everything begins with content. The press release has to have a good hook and be of interest to the market/people you are targeting. The main benefit of a press release is not an SEO one. The main focus of a press release is to increase your brand awareness. However we have seen strong evidence that a press releases does have good SEO benefits but that should not be the reason for submitting it. If you don't have anything worthwhile to say then don't do a press release.

Our services aims to get your press release picked up by the correct demographic whether that be industry journalists or geo targeting.

The three places that you would want to be placed are Google, Yahoo and Bing news. MOU are official news suppliers to Google. For example if you were to take a look in Google news you would find all our blog content has high visibility there.

 

[Former Member 1]

Have to say; I'm pretty much with Mike on this one...

 

[Canary Dwarf]

, presumably the $80 is for the distribution, not for writing it, which is really the more important bit because if you write a poor press release, distributing it well is going to have a negative effect.

What you might also find is that PRWeb for example might not include very relevant subscribers to your core market.

I think you should start with a hand-made list: Scotsman, Herald, etc. Your service has a boundary, so you have a limited number of contacts to gather.

Start with a good story that is almost certainly going to appeal, then you will have caught their attention.

Follow that up on a regular basis by commenting, welcoming and even disapproving of general Scottish business decisions.

Poll your members on these decisions and issue a release that says, eg, 75% of our member said blah, blah, blah.

Once you have that off the ground, I would suggest AllmediaScotland, which will get you noticed by the weeklies and locals.

But don't forget that content is king, and you need to write a good press release for it to appeal to the hacks.

And if you need any help with that side of things, let me know.

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

Thanks Marc and Matt!

I think your comments have given me a clearer vision of where I need to go with this. I guess the issue really is coming up with good hooks and of course writing it in a way that appealing. I'll start to prepare my distribution list straight away

The content/angle side I think I agree I will probably need some help.

 

[Adventurelife]

Last year I was having a drink with a couple of senior editors for national US based papers, New York Times, Washington Post etc.

They pointed out that the pressure they are under to turnaround things quickly in today's world is immense so the vast majority of contact they get about press releases just does not get read. They were talking in the 90% plus!

They mentioned the volume was just so overwhelming that they only went on two things. First did they know the person sending the info? Second did the title grab them to make them open and scan.

The third thing they mentioned was if the press release involved someone famous or topical they always read it!! Sad sign of the times if you ask me but there you have it.

I would suggest you need a multi-level strategy for this involving building up contacts in the press but also by doing releases through the online systems you mentioned in order to measure and learn.

As ever engaging content is the killer and we all fall into the trap of thinking our content is great but in reality the vast majority just adds to the pile of unread information bouncing about the internet.

Peter

 

[Mike Lewis]

Peter,

I'm sure everything you said is true. It certainly fits in with my own experience.

That said, it's worth remembering that that the more specialised sort of UK- or Scotland-based publications that many of us would be targeting are not in the same league as the NY Times and Washington Post. I don't mean that in a deprecatory way. But I can imagine that the pressures would be a little different with, say, a Scottish business journal or one of our city newspapers.

But, of course, it's absolutely right that the headline must grab the reader's immediate attention. I'd add that the first paragraph must contain all the salient facts that the reader needs.

In my own experience as a journalist (not recent),I'd say that the majority of press releases that landed on my desk were either so badly written that it wasn't worth the effort of reading, or they were wrongly targeted and of no interest whatever to me.

Press releases can do a lot to promote a business, but only if they are done right. It need care and perseverance.

Mike