I'm often a champion of using press releases to promote your goods and services. It make a nice change as I used to be a Magazine editor and would reject so many of them. If you've ever considered using press releases then please feel free to ask away. To get started here are 5 of the worst press release mistakes. During my 25 years as an Editor I saw some shocking press releases that immediately got rejected. Do your efforts make these five deadly mistakes or are you one of the 5% that succeed? Nothing but a sales spiel - This is last thing an Editor wants to see is a sales or selling pitch masquerading as a news story. It's attempting to cheat the system and ends up in immediate rejection of that release and potentially each future one that is submitted. The wrong people write it - I hate press releases that are by PR folk as they typically have one thing in common they know so very little about the service or product that they are describing that it shows. This phenomenon is so much worse if you are a tiny company hiring a third party PR company. Don't do it - There are those that have great stories to tell of innovative products or great services but keep them to themselves as they never release a press release. There can be many reasons for this and one may be because perhaps they don't realise that a press release is both one of the most effective forms of internet marketing but also one of the most cost effective. The worst and most common reason is that they feel that a press release is just for the big companies with big PR departments and not for them. Spend a fortune for nothing - Its a sad fact that too many people are being conned, scammed, over charged and generally ripped off throughout the internet and sadly the area of press releases is no exception. There are too many ways to waste money whether it be getting a press release written or submitted with extra or bonus options that eat up money but deliver very little. Your focus should not be on whats promised but on the results that are delivered. Bend the truth - No matter how tempting it may be you must never bend the truth to make a better story for your press release. Nor should you copy or plagiarise as you will be found out find that publicity harder to handle. Hope that helps Tony
I've been struggling with an issue with press releases for my site. I half heartedly created a press release about a year ago and sent it to all the free press release sites and I saw no SEO benefits at all, and I think it got picked up and republished only once or twice. I know part of the issue is that I did not spend any $$ sending it to the proper sites (prweb, etc.) but I think my real problem is that it wasn't very "newsworthy". I am in the process of rebuilding my site and it will be ready in about 60 days, just in time for the summer car shows, etc. (my site revolves around free classified ads for muscle cars, hot rods, etc.) and I plan on creating some press releases and spending some money and sending them to the proper sites. So, how do I market news for my site? Some key attributes are that my site is absolutely free, you can include up to 10 images with your ad, and interested buyers can contact the sellers WITHOUT them having the sellers email address (a nice privacy addition). Is this newsworthy enough? Any tips would be helpful, thanks!
Ok I see a few problems in what you've done and doing but you can definately use a press release but perhaps not as you think. Half hearted creation with no story is fairly typical - you must have a story and make yourself just part of it. The free sites aren't that great - I have a much better idea for you. But first we need the story. The story is that all these muscle cars etc get sold at the summer car shows and you're making it so much easier, making cars stand out from the crowd and made the process more secure. It wopuld be great if you knew or could find out how many get sold at this time and focus on the problems people have. Then your site makes it easier, cheaper, more secure etc. I wouldn't rush to spend a whole lot of cash in what seems a very narrow niche. I'd go for a webwire.com release at $20 plus spend some time between now and then make a list of blogs and websites etc in yor niche and send the release to them. Plus fire a copy off to local newspapers and radio (where the car shows are) and you may get some interviews. Hope that helps Tony
I'm doing the same as tyler_durden but different niche, as I'm revamping the website and adding much more content... it's already on the first page of google, one the second page at worst. But now I'd like build the brand when it comes to my niche and thought press release would be great for me widen the audience. As I work with stock brokers it's tough to come up with a breaking news. What do you think?
Thanks fo the tips Tony. Those are great ideas, not only for press releases but for the website/business in general. I plan on asking in forums and at car shows what are the biggest problems/complaints people have about selling their collector cars online, and designing my site to address those issues and market them accordingly!
It's always possible to come up with a story angle if you look for it. I would search in Google news and find how your website can be presented as a solution to a problem. An example I use in my course was a report how students had no money so I could create an IM for student story. Try not to think of just one release - a series of them has more effect,
Glad I could help - why not use a survey on your site - the results of the survey can become a story for a release.