how to submit to press release

does your website have to be super-unique to submit to a press release? do you really have to get a pr firm to do this? has any of you got your press release published? tips pls.

 

Sites like PRweb etc. don't care how unique it is as long as you pay.

I've successfully submitted 3 releases. One wasn't that newsworthy at all. The 2nd was announcement of our new shop and a 3d some general promo.

 

Actually, I have submitted my site’s press release to Pr Web and sent them a contribution of $20 that has paid of immensely.
You can also submit for free but, in that case, they will not distribute the PR outside their site.
Try searching for "Free Press release submission services" on google and you will find lots of good resources. Your site does not need to be all special, but a killer press release helps it look like it is.

 

Anyone ever tried prleap.com ?

 

If you want to get a press release turned into a newspaper atricle i.e. free advertising, it's pretty easy just do some reading on how to write press releases and work out what angle and hook to use.

I've done a lot of print, radio and tv media - the exposure you get is the best kind of free advertising around.

Once a story goes in a newspaper they often have an online version too which are authority / highly trusted sites. Just include your website in the release if you want it referenced in the online version and if they don't, just email the journalist and ask if they can arrange for it to be added to the online version.

 

There is a series of stats and info on my recent prweb release on my blog (http://blog.bkweddings.com/category/bkweddings/marketing/ ). It's a little hard to follow, but read through it - there is relatively decent information there about the kinds of article reads, traffic to my site, etc. that I got from prweb and prleap. I think PRWeb is far more effective, but at least submitting a free one to prleap isn't a bad thing to do at all.

There's also a thread here on the subject: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=12752

 

I think PRweb is great. I suggest paying for the $30 option or higher.

 

thanks for the tips... i guess i better start making one for prweb...

 

Are there professional authors in the membership here ?

Authors who are capable of writing schmick press releases, and have a portfolio of examples from past clients would be helpful.

Pricing too needs to be clear.

In all honesty, I'd rather pay for a professionally written press release, but by someone who understands writing for the web, SEO issues related to stand-alone articles, and that which makes an article equally attractive to the media as it does the audience.

Ppl.. please be specific in your responses because I'll be taking notes for future reference. Whoever the magician turns out to be, you'll need to have an angle on everything

Cheers,

JL

 

I also need a professional press release writer. I signed up for prweb.com all excited to write a release then canceled it cause I didnt like it... out the money my own fault. I really need a good writer.

 

I don't want to sound like an evangelist here. I've only done one press release so far. But I thought I would share some knowledge that I do have...

PRWebDirect.com will write your release for you, re-write an existing one, or "polish" one that you are pretty happy with. The fees range from $69-$250 I believe. I used them to re-write mine. See the thread I referrenced above for the before and after. Personally, I was pretty happy with what they did, and the kind of service I received. I don't know if it is always like that, and you can certainly evaluate for yourself whether or not you think it was a good job.

Another option is www.seo-pr.com They have a relationship with PRWebDirect and they provide the optional SEO service that they offer. (if you don't pay for SEO, newscrafters does the release) From what I remember, they also offer writing service directly themselves.

There are templates and guidelines available at prweb.com to help get you started, but I was like you in that I lacked confidence in my own abilities - not that I can't write, but I have never written for that audience before. Looking through other press releases, I can definitely see the difference between one done by a pro, and one that was done by an amateur. I think it's worth saving a few bucks if you are going to do a $30 or maybe even an $80 release, but if you are going to drop the money for top placement you should definitely defer to the pros.

One thing you should do is look at releases and find out what you like and don't like. I found out after the fact that at the $200 level, you can use anchor text in your releases. If you want a logo image alongside your release, let them know too. I added my site logo uploaded as a jpeg, but it didn't appear. I don't know what you have to do to get that logo image up there, but it does help your PR stand out.

 

How so? I did a $200 release and I didn't get any option for anchor text? Do you have to edit the PR after you pay the $200 upgrade to PRWEB?

 

I found it somewhere in the help documentation. I'll find it again tonight and post it here.

 

I found it in the help. very nice. Thanks!