That's what the editorial scoring is for. A spammy release won't be in the same "class" as a good one, and therefore won't enjoy the same distribution benefits, and probably won't get noticed by the traditional media establishment. As always, IMO.
In theory, yes. But that's not how it happens. A lot of things that aren't all that newsworthy still get rated a 4. There are tons of samples posted even here on DP of simple site announcements and such. It's not newsworthy - which is why places like AP wouldn't give those releases a second look. But they still get rated a 4. It's a money issue. PRweb is out to make money on contributions. When they rate something a 4 for essentially following their formatting guidelines, they get to send off an email encouraging people to pay for new or bigger upgrades. It's just a marketing tactic on their end... kind of like how GoDaddy gives the messages saying you've found a great domain when you register certain ones - they're trying to seal the deal on you spending money with them and doing it quickly. PRweb does that by making people think their releases are in some kind of elite status by "offering" new upgrade benefits. If it's rated a 5, fine, there's probably some significant news value to earn that. But a 4 doesn't mean much imo, other than you're going to get their email sales pitch about how great it is so you should upgrade. You can't take everything at face value.
But then, why does your website list the following items under "25 press release ideas to get you started"? --You've launched a new business venture --You're offering a new product or service --Change of ownership of a company --You've launched a new website --Your website was redesigned --Your products have been upgraded or changed in some way --You're offering a significant discount on your products or services for a special reason BTW: It's a great list
Because if a company launches a new website, it's newsworthy if they can find an appropriate angle. For instance, Yahoo!'s redesign would be newsworthy b/c of the sheer size of the company. Any recognizable company's redesign is newsworthy b/c it potentially affects a lot of users, and any new site offering something signifcant of value is newsworthy (such as breaking into a new niche, offering features no competitor does, etc.). That's why I try to work with my clients to find newsworthy angles if they're launching a new site. And that's also why I turn down clients regularly who don't have anything newsworthy going on and who don't care to see if there's an angle. I try keeping article lists short. But if it would make you happy, I'll gladly go change the wording on "launched a new website" and/or "redesigned". As for the others I fail to see your point, since they have nothing to do with the original point of announcing a site.
Hi Jhmattern, no offense intended, but I think you would do better if you had some paragraphs or breaks in your posts. They hurt my eyes and I chose not to read them. These are the sort of posts or emails that I tend not to ignore. my 2 cents.
Really shot my rankings to No.1 in G00Gle! - http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/06/prweb400757.htm This was our first release on PR web, we had calls from USA film companies, and rankings shot through the roof! - unable to tell you how many readers / hits i had as i outsoured this to a pr company in New York ... i think i paid around 500$ for seo work and press releases... money very well spent
Looks like PRWeb.com has a G PR8 homepage now; heretofore the homepage was PR7. Good news if your press release has anchor text links.