I always pay $200 for mine anymore on PRWEb. they seem to get more reads and picked up a lot better. They don't seem to bring "good" traffic, more tire kickers than anything else.
No, it's not. A press release submitted to a real journalist is free. If they cover your news you can get a link to your site from a super authority news site and massive exposure for free. News outlets are starved for good content. They depend on it for their business to continue. Believe me when I tell you this because I've milked them for free exposure via press releases for a decade. Journalists want your release. Forget the little league stuff and talk directly to a journalist! Are press releases worth it? Put it this way, last year I got coverage that would have cost me hundreds of thousands of dollars to get the same if I was an advertiser. It is totally worth it if you have the guts to engage the real media and talk with a journalist.
I've used PRWeb a few times, and plan to continue using it. The actual release hasn't produced to much in terms of traffic, but then I start getting the phone calls from journalist who find the press release. That is when I get the traffic. I have had my site mentioned in several newspapers, and I have been on the radio a couple times for short interviews. Got a lot of traffic from the newspapers ones.
I think it is better to check the response after releasing it in some of the free PR site/few forums that have news section, before you try to publish it in paid one.
It's not ideal, but yes, it can be worth it. Without them, I've gotten clients into major newspapers for huge stories and interviews, live interviews and even performances in major radio markets, and even huge niche magazines and TV news coverage for events. However, you're probably not promoting an event (in which case you'd be sending a media advisory, not a press release, anyway), you're likely promoting a website. In that case, most site owners are looking for BOTH media coverage and increased traffic. Not only that, and I've said this here before, but you can't afford to forget bloggers!!! Too many PR people aren't catching on, and I find that kind of sad. But the PR community as a whole is finally waking up to the importance of blogs and alternative media sources in generating buzz. You also have a much better chance of getting high traffic blogs to pick up your news than most print or broadcast media outlets, who care much less about websites unless you're already huge. Paid placement in the newswires is a good way to get your news out there in front of online media sources. However, paying for placement on more than one newswire is just silly. Focus on the big ones (PRweb.com or PRnewswire.com if you can afford the subscriptions). Along the same lines, you really can't assume that every site or business owner can handle contacting the media themselves. Sure, you can probably get placement in your local paper or maybe even on smaller radio stations. But most simply aren't going to get massive exposure. A lot of people don't know how to find current editors or other direct contacts or even pick which one to send a release to. That's not even to mention that it takes time. Even to get picked up in as many small media outlets as you might have been picked up online w/ a paid release is going to take hours of your time. Personally, I have some clients who pay me upwards of $500 / hr for certain work I do. So spending $200 to get a release sent over wires with good placement is enormously cheaper than spending hours on the phone with the media for minor placements instead of doing paid work. Even though I run a PR firm and have fantastic contacts, I usually go with the wires for my websites, and then target only a few hand-selected larger outlets when something particular newsworthy comes up. And working with major media is not an easy thing to do. You've got a matter of seconds to get their attention, especially if you don't know the journalist personally, and most people don't know the first thing about pitching a story over the phone. It takes more than simply sending a release to outlets like those. And to pay a PR pro to do a massive campaign for you is far from cheap. Heck, even a small campaign isn't cheap... certainly more than $200. But people do it, because we have direct contacts and "ins" with outlets they might otherwise never hope to be featured in, and because we know how to make any story actually appealing and relevant to the various media sources we contact. So to sum it up, if you write an effective release and you actually have something newsworthy to say, then yes, paid placement can be a great idea, especially for website owners. You need to consider the value of your time and how many hours manual distribution (especially when you don't know how to do it properly) will take you versus what you'd spend on the wires. Jenn