Hi there, I have limited experience in doing press releases. I've done a few which I thought were successful, but looking at other peoples results perhaps they're nothing to write home about. I've done a cursory search for good press release websites and thought prnewswire.com might be pretty good, Is it best to release to as many as possible, or just a select few? Thanks for your advice
None are the "best." They depend entirely on what your motivations are. If you're looking for real coverage, PRnewswire and similar sites (businesswire, marketwire, etc.) are better than simple distribution sites (like PRweb, PRleap, etc.). But again, if you're looking for legitimate coverage, it's better yet to submit the release manually to specific journalists and editors (and bloggers) who have a direct and influential reach with your target audience, or submitting to actual newswires like AP (www.ap.org) to try to have it picked up.
I'm looking into this as well. Trying to figure out this "trackback" stuff on PRWeb. Anyway, what do you all mean by success? I see four plans at prweb from $80 - $300. What kinda of traffic/backlinks have you guys seen?
If you're defining "success" with press releases solely (or even mostly) by traffic and backlinks, that's your first mistake.
Nope...no mistake. I don't have to be an expert on press releases to know that. I guess I could put a phone number in the press release, then measure success by incoming calls. Anyway, anyone have any valid traffic/backlink estimates for their press release?
You'll never really get "valid" estimates or even results regarding traffic results from a press release. That's because the most valuable traffic will be a result of any actual coverage you get (meaning traffic won't be coming from PRweb or other sites with the actual release, but rather from the stories published as a result of releasing it). The traffic directly from press release sites is much lower quality the majority of the time. Focus your evaluation efforts on whether or not you're getting coverage (doesn't have to be from phone calls... most actually won't even take the time to call you if they cover you online unless they want a new interview).
Thanks, but...GAAAAH! Either you see traffic/backlinks increase or you don't. Perhaps you have other techniques in play as well, which would mute the results. But...in general you hopefully see some change, or whats the point? You say . question:How are you determining "coverage?" answer: in terms of BLs and/or traffic. Yes I realize all traffic is not created equal. Yes I realize not all PR traffic will come from PRWeb. Yes I realize creating happah customers is more important than PR8, alexa 1. Yes I realize that gas mileage may vary depending on what you're writing about, and how you write it. Yes i'm only asking for estimates.
Well, I run a PR firm, so I definitely know how to gauge effective press releases. Their primary purpose (if you know what you're doing when you use them) is never backlinks and traffic. Those are both simply side effects of effectively using them as they're intended... for legitimate and relevant coverage. The exposure is "the point." Traffic and backlinks don't determine coverage. Media clippings, alerts, and interviews are how you measure coverage. And like I've said.... there's no way of even beginning to get accurate estimates when it comes to press releases. That's a reality of it, and specializing in online PR, it's a reality I live and work with every day.
Since we're apparently not talking about internet marketing (because then you'd see BLs/Traffic increase/decrease), what are we talking about....newspaper clippings? Sorry if i seem irritated. It's not you. I just grow weary asking something like "hmm...what estimated results did you see by doing X" and some joker chimes in with "pagerank doesn't matter." Is it required to preface every question with 2000 words of qualifying mumbo-jumbo? Anyway...I asked because for example..I read somewhere about how a press release could generate 1000s of backlinks. I took that "with a grain of salt" and wanted to see what DPers were finding. Now I've found the right thread...with estimated results. They got the $230PRweb service, and after one week ~50 visits. I suspect abit more, and watching the thread to see how it plays out. Thankz
Press releases aren't Internet marketing... they're a PR tool. A lot of internet marketers have started using them without knowing how to get the best results. They've always led to great traffic, and backlinks if you have something worthy to begin with. But even if you get traffic doing it the IM way, you'll never get the best possible results for your return if you don't take advantage of them for what they are... a PR tool targeting exposure and awareness. The traffic a press release gives you directly is generally pretty poor quality. That traffic is most often people peeking at the site to see if the news is worth covering or not in their blogs or publications. It's not the kind of traffic that will often convert well for you (with very limited exceptions depending on the audience being targeted). The fact of the matter is that most people using press releases don't know how to use them, so their results are absolutely worthless in measuring the success or failure of the tool.... and they're not something you should be looking at when trying to decide whether or not to do one for your own site or company. Even the big sites like PRweb can't give accurate stats for measurement. Most people simply aren't going to dig through their site stats beyond the level of seeing who came directly from a PR site (the lowest quality traffic you'll get out of it). They don't take the time to really calculate what they have from the trickle-down effect that they lead to (again, if they're used right... which most aren't). Press releases can lead to thousands of backlinks. But they're rarely the kinds of backlinks you should spend your time trying to get. Those numbers of links only come from one of two things: 1. The majority of cases like this would be from people who mass-submitted their press release to every free PR site they could find, on top of the scrapers who pick up all of those feeds (lousy links, some not even permanent, rarely staying on high PR pages, and rarely on relevant pages). - These are the ones not worth the effort. 2. If you put the effort in, you can get 1000s of backlinks doing it right too.... but you'd better have something pretty newsworthy to say to pick up natural links like that. Most people don't.... but if you do h ave something extremely newsworthy, give it a shot. You certainly don't have to spend hundreds to get there if you have a quality story.... submit it to a few key niche sites and to the associated press (www.ap.org) for free.