Press Release Writers and Distributor Recommendation

Just like everyone else on this forum, I am looking to do a little bit of advertising and marketing on a blog I am about to release here sooner or later. But I need some recommendations of some PR writers and PR distribution services.

I know some but I want to hear recommendations from people who's actually experienced a writer or a distribution company and get their .02 cents.

If you could please help me out here I'd really appreciate it.

BTW... how much traffic have you seen with the release of a PR?

 

I've been doing PRs for a while (today I'm offering PRs for $20 btw), and from my experiences, you can actually make yourself a name with a couple of good PRs.

Although it is a lot better to submit everything yourself, as you would know your niche better than me (the writer).

 

I plan to distribute it myself but I mean, I need to know which distributor is best in terms of features and pricing. I have enough money that next month I plan to release 1 or 2 PR's. But the real question is this, when else should you release a PR besides a big event or something. I thought of doing it to gain some extra traffic.

One distributor I am looking at is 24-7 Press Releases... here are the features they offer for $50:

Sound good for $50 ???

Also, I like your rate, not bad. Although I'm sure I'll get a very good PR for $100 or whatever, I'm not looking to pay that much for a simple PR...

 

Duh. I usually charge from $80. I just feel cheap today, lol. PM me if you need it done by a professional.

As for the "package", I think you could get it a bit cheaper. Try posting in the advertising forum - you'll get dozens of offers.

 

If they can get me in some good spots like Yahoo News, Google News, etc. I'll take the distributor on, if not, I'll pass, lol.

Just for the record, can I see some of your samples?

 

If you're going to hire someone to write a release for you (as opposed to learning how on your own), make sure you hire a real PR professional. A lot of people call themselves press release writers when they have absolutely no credentials in the field. Here are a few tips, and things to look out for:

1. Most professional press releases are around $250 and up. You can find them cheaper if you look for people specifically targeting small businesses, webmasters, etc. For example, I target those markets, and I write them for $179 per release (and have a true PR background to back them up). The lowest I've seen any really qualified writer offering them for in the last year is around $75. If the price looks too good to be true, it likely is. I can't tell you how many people here come to me with those poorly-written cheap press releases, ending up paying more to have me "fix" them than they paid to have it written in the first place. If you can't afford a professional, you should either look for tactics that are a better fit for your budget, or you should save the money by trying it yourself (I have free tips on press release writing if you ever decide to give that option a try).

2. When possible, look for a release writer who's familiar not only with working with webmasters, but with your specific niche. Ask them if they have samples in that niche that they can send you.

3. Understand that simply launching a site isn't always newsworthy. Any reputable release writer will tell you if your idea isn't newsworthy enough instead of simply taking your money and throwing a release together. Run your idea by them first. If it's not newsworthy, ask if they have suggestions for a news angle that might work. Chances are that if they're really well-experienced in the field, they'll be able to brainstorm something with you (unless your site is really just yet another site in an over-saturated market).

4. Don't just ask about things like Google News. Anyone can get a release there even using free distribution outlets. It means absolutely nothing in terms of the quality of the writer. Instead, ask what kinds of media outlets, major blogs / sites, etc. some of their clients were featured in. Not every release gets picked up in the media, but if none of theirs have, you should steer clear.

5. You won't become an overnight success with a press release (or even likely with a few of them). Press releases are a single tool in a larger, long-term PR strategy / campaign. You need to use them regularly (not on a certain "schedule," but whenever you have news to share). The idea is to build exposure, and maintain that exposure. One release doesn't do that. A lot of people mistakenly give up on them if they don't get miraculous results. (I actually just wrote about this on the Redfly Marketing blog in A Press Release is NOT a PR Campaign.) If a press release writer you're talking to makes promises of grand exposure, they're either a complete amateur or they're flat out lying to you. No respectable PR person makes promises of coverage or exposure, because we know it's impossible to guarantee (because we can't control the actions of the media, and we can't control the other news your news is up against in any given day).

6. Don't write releases just for traffic. You'll be sorely disappointed in the majority of cases. The key is having something really newsworthy. Traffic can come if you have that, but most wanting to do it for traffic really have no news... they just put out releases hoping to pump up stats (know that traffic is temporary, and not generally well-converting - they're usually people looking at the site to see if you're worth mentioning and not your end target audience). The higher quality traffic comes from the legitimate pickups reaching your audience for you (for an example, your release alone can't compare to an authority site in your niche publishing a story about you and sending traffic). Again, that's why real pickups are key.

Hopefully that will help you out in choosing a release writer. As for distribution services, the best options depend entirely on your specific target audience. They don't all reach the same types of people equally.

 

^^ I agree with what your saying but I think in a very small thought that anything above $150 is really expensive. I mean, how many words would that be and for that much I'd expect the press writer to be submitting the article as well. I'll try and learn how to write a press release myself and we'll see where it goes from there. If worse comes to worse, I guess its all about getting it professionally done.

Thanks Jenn...

 

I just wrote about this on my blog - Why $5 or $20 or $50 won't get you an effective press release.

Public relations is a trained skill. Would you have an untrained accountant do your for books $10? What about an untrained sales person selling your goods? Why would you want a press release from someone who doesn't have training or experience? If you need proof that not everyone can write, just take a look around the Internet. Public relations is specialized writing - like technical writing, like advertising copy, etc...

You get what you pay for.

 

^^ Yet does it require it cost $150.00 for all that somebody could buy some books and write them themselves. Why pay $150+ for a simple writing that:

1. Is usually not over 500 words
2. Won't gain much traffic (or so some says)
3. Requires more money to publish it (assuming the writer doesn't publish it)

I don't mind paying between $50-$150 article but anything above that is really ridculous unless there is more to the press release writing then just the writing of a simple article.

 

It sounds like you are looking for something that will help your SEO and give you a little boost in traffic (as opposed to trying to get some media coverage). For that I wouldn't go with anyone other than PRWeb.com, they'll give you the best bang for your buck.

As an example, take the title of any given press release on any given site and search for it in Google. A release from 24-7pressrelease.com might appear 5-10 times.

Now take a look at a press release from PRWeb in Google... they appear 1,000's of times because of all the webmasters using their RSS feed for content.

I do this everyday. If you're going to spend the cash, use PRWeb (Shameless plug: or hire me to write it and distribute it for you... one time special: $65 total for creation and distribution)

 

^^ Sounds like a good deal. Will you submit via PRWeb? Also, 24-7PressReleases submits the entry to Google and Yahoo News. Either way, I may take you up on that offer though. Do you have any samples?

 

Yeah, I submit it to PRWeb and it's guaranteed to appear in Google News, Yahoo News, Topix, etc... If you go here: www.subnixus.net - you can check out my portfolio (link on main page). It doesn't have any samples from 2008 yet, but I've done over 20 for DP members in the past 2 weeks alone. Maybe I'll update the portfolio with some of those tonight.

 

Not trying to be funny but I would recommend subigo.

He did a good press release for myself (Zyas.com) and I was happy with his services. My release was top spot in Google News at that time.

Have a look at the video from www.Zyas.com homepage and you will see some screen shots with my press release in Google News. That was possible thanks to subigo!

Not trying to influence your decision but this guy did a good job.

Thanks again

 

For a really high quality release it usually costs much more than that. Just because you read tutorials or books, it doesn't mean you'll be able to write effective press releases. I encourage people to try, because a few can teach themselves the skill. Most can't. It's not about putting an article into a template. It's about understanding what motivates people to click on a headline, what motivates a journalist to choose a specific story to cover when they have hundreds (or more) releases in front of them, and how to get your point across in a non-promotional way that creates or maintains a positive image with your key audiences (and honestly, most businesses struggle to even identify who those audiences are, because they stop thinking at the target market).

So no, it's not ridiculous. Article writers serve the role of writer. PR writers serve the roles of both writer and consultant (to what degree depends on what you contract them for), and they charge accordingly. If you're not prepared to have it done professionally, that's fine. It's not for you. But if SEO and immediate traffic are your primary goals (and not that media coverage and exposure), your press releases will usually just amount to PR spam (which is something that can easily damage a site's reputation later when they do have something newsworthy to say). There are also usually more cost-effective marketing tactics that you can use for those results, if you're looking for them alone. The best traffic, backlinks, etc. from press releases are what come from the media and niche site pickups... not from the press release distribution sites, contrary to what a lot of unqualified "PR writers" will tell you.

Do some reading on how press releases are really designed to be used, and what you can really get out of them, and try your own before spending the money if you're concerned about the financial commitment. You may be one of the few that can teach themselves to write an effective release (in which case you won't have to spend a cent on writing to reach your goals). And if not, it's certainly a worthwhile learning experience. They may be a specialty, and they may not be easy to write well, but they are fun to work with.

 

Hi all,

Good topic.

Got a quick question. I am developing Links.com, and am seeking partnerships. Is it better, from a Press Release point of view, to wait until everything is in place and make the announcement, or is it better to slowly release announcements in order to develop momentum and visibility in the marketplace.

Thanks for your comments.

Rich

 

I doubt you'd get much benefit by doing several pre-launch releases unless there's something big to build anticipation about (usually works better for events or highly-anticipated products). I'd suggest doing just one shortly before the actual launch, and then plan a separate news angle for shortly after the launch.

 

I usually charge around $100 for writing a one-page news release, and yes, I'm a professional.

And Jenn touched on the biggest thing here. If you don't have anything newsworthy (to someone), don't do a news release. It would be wasted money.

I know saying this could be wrong or mean, but I want to make a point. I just looked at someone's sample (will remain nameless) and this is their lead:

The names where changed to protect the innocent.

That's a very poor lead. And the rest of the release doesn't get much better. So, as you can see, it's not so easy.

While she might not say anything, I know Jenn has to agree.

The release also had other errors.

Friendly reminder to news release writers: use AP style.

 

Guys, you're getting it all wrong. Listen to jhmattern.

Think about it this way. Google and other news get thousands (probably 5 digit number) of press releases each day. How many of them appear in the news each day? That it why you should hire a professional.

 

Hi Jenn,

Thanks for the advice.

Rich

 

Actually I don't. It's pretty traditional PR writing, and like it or not, it does still work (at least for my clients). There are two basic camps: the ones who keep releases to giving the facts, and those (often the journalists or journalists-turned-PR folks) who instead believe press releases should already be a fully-compiled story with a more story-centered lead. I subscribe to the first camp, and as I said, it works well for my clients. In that case, the first paragraph is all about laying out the who, what, when, where and why as briefly as possible. Writing the "story" is the journalist's job (actually, there was a bit of good discussion on this issue in the PR blogosphere recently). Anything else would constitute something closer to a feature than a release. I've also found that trying to be too catchy and too involved with the story as a PR writer contributes to the "spin doctor" image and a lack of trust. Journalists (and even bloggers) are smarter when it comes to hyped up language than they used to be... it may still work, but so does my approach.

As for AP style, true (in most cases). It's not something I used to focus on heavily as much when targeting a blog-style audience as opposed to back when I was writing releases predominantly for newspapers (and frankly, it isn't necessary for that audience). Over the last few months though, I've been using it more consistently myself.