Hi, I have a popular press release site and I am thinking of offering a service to my "PRO" customers where their press releases will be blogged about. If you have a blog (either a general news blog or an industry specific blog - see list below) and you are interested in earning money per post, then please contact me including the URL of your blog and how much you would charge per blog entry. Thanks, Gary Industries: Advertising Aerospace and Defense Architecture Arts and Entertainment Audio and Video Automotive Baseball Basketball Beauty Beverages Business Chemicals Christianity Communication Computers Consumer Crops eCommerce Economy Education Employment Energy Environment Events and Trade Shows Fashion Finance Food Football Forestry Fundraising Golf Government Hardware Healthcare Holidays Human Resources Immigration Services Information Technology Insurance Internet Investment Services Legal Leisure Lifestyle Linux and Open Source Maritime Media Photography Plumbing and Heating Politics Public Relations Railroads Real Estate Religion and Faith Restaurants Retail Science Society Software Sports Technology Television Toys Trade Transportation Travel and Tourism Trucking Volunteer Waste Management Water
Hi, I am having blogs about - 1. Money (e-making-money-online.blogspot.com) 2. Pets. Are u willing to send me your clients details?
Tying press releases to paid advertising will basically take away all legitimacy your site has. If you're running a site on press releases, you should already know the two don't go hand in hand. With any legitimate site in this industry, coverage has to be based on the merits of the release and its news... not on a pay-per-post model.
More simply put... if the releases are getting blog coverage because the poster is paying for it, as opposed to blogs covering it because they come across the release and find it newsworthy, you have an untrustworthy site. Press release coverage can't be paid for and still be called press release coverage. No honest press release distribution site would do anything like that, so I certainly hope the OP changes their mind. If people aren't covering the press releases posted to this site, the problem is either with the press releases (meaning the site needs to improve its editorial standards) or with the site's own marketing not being able to draw a solid user / reader base.
Jenn, You are of course absolutely right but I think we were talking about different things here... Rather than falsely blogging about a press release to increase coverage I was talking about increasing the channels of distribution. ALL press agencies offer different paid models of distribution including the position of the story on the website, RSS channels and the more traditional news wires. If you pay PRWeb lots of money they will distribution your press release in more ways and position it better than if you don't pay them at all. By using a published list of blogs I was hoping to increase distribution not falsely create media coverage. Am I wrong? Is the blog the wrong tool for this? Thanks, Gary
Paying the bloggers to cover any stories submitted to your site is an unethical practice. And considering the huge ethics debates and blog debates in the PR industry at the moment, doing something like that would just make you a sitting duck asking to get pounded publicly... probably not the best move. Paid models of distribution are completely different than what you're talking about here. For example, with PRweb, you have to pay more if you want to get sent to Yahoo News. But PRweb isn't then paying Yahoo News to post those releases. The same if you want AP distribution through them. The Associated Press isn't going to get paid for each release they pick up. In your case, you're talking about actually paying the end publisher, which means there's no assumption of it being unbiased. Keep in mind... things like Yahoo News and AP aren't end publishers. They're just other distribution models to get the release to end publishers (media outlets, blogs, etc.). Those are the people who need to see the release and decide independently if it's newsworthy and relevant to their own audience. Otherwise coverage from them means absolutely nothing, other than that it's a paid post. I hope that clears up the issue from the PR standpoint. I think if you put some thought into it, you'll be able to come up with creative (or even not-so-creative) ways of monetizing a service like you're running, without running a risk of bad PR for your own site. I'd suggest brushing up on the industry ethics issues though to begin with. We're a fickle little bunch, and if the idea of asking colleagues to comment on blogs was hammered as hard as it was recently, I can't imagine the noise over something like paid press release placement in blogs.
OK, Jenn, you put over a convincing argument... Where I see distribution channels you see unethical behavior... and if for no other reason than if YOU see it that way, then others will see it likewise and that would be bad for me... So I am dropping the idea. Now that is true... Do you know how hard it is to break into the Press Release Distribution business. My web site is in the top 10 for Google searches on "Free Press Release" but yet people like yourself don't include me. You haven't listed my site in your "Big List of Free Press Release Distribution Sites" for example. Google News hasn't included me as a source but other press release sites which carry much worse press releases than mine are included. All press releases on my site are approved by an editor and many are rejected not because they are spam but just because they stink. My site has quality content, high traffic, RSS feeds, PDF versions of the press releases and automatic SEO but yet the PR establishment gives me the cold shoulder... I wasn't intentionally being unethical... I am trying to be innovative maybe even daring... What am I to do... Is there a secret hand shake? Gary
Actually, I did include you. Your link was in there alphabetically already, which I commented on on the blog as well. You must have just missed it. The fact that I included you is why I took note of this thread when I saw it in your sig, because if you went along with a model like that I'd have to remove it (hence why I kept watching the thread to see if you moved forward with it or not). I do know how hard it is to break in. I've been building a similar site slowly for nearly a year now, and it will likely be another year before I'm ready to even think about launching it. But that's because mine's going to be intent on competing with the "big guys" (as in PRweb, PR.com, and actual newswires) as well as dealing with other media relations issues (possibly offering newsrooms, media kits, etc., and I'm still gathering a lot of feedback from journalist friends on how to make it as media-friendly as possible). You have to keep in mind... anyone can throw up a press release distribution site. In the next year, I'd imagine you'll see plenty more in that area. As for Google news, there's not much you can do but submit it, and contact them. As for the PR establishment... what have you been doing to get their attention. Your sig says you're a freelance Linux and Web consultant... that's a far stretch from being in the PR field. You have to remember, PR is all about image, reputation, and exposure. If you want their attention, you'll have to show them that you understand the industry enough to understand their clients' needs. I'm not saying you don't... only that you have to demonstrate it. Do something the other sites aren't doing. Get attached to a real newswire on top of other distribution outlets. Set up your own press kit or press room to field your own company questions. Right now your site seems to focus on press releases and SEO. SEO is one very small part of press release distribution to people serious about it and getting coverage. You'll need to appeal more to the media relations side to really get an "in" with the PR community, get their endorsement, and get their recommendations to clients (meaning bigger companies submitting, and adding more legitimacy to the site in the eyes of other potential users).
if still available, i can blog about business, money, design for 10$ per post if i write, 5$ if you give it to me, pagerank4, check the second link in my sig.
Now I feel really stupid... Sorry about that! Just so we are clear... I have abandoned this idea... Thanks, Gary