But what was your news? The type of site means nothing. It's about whether you have anything newsworthy to say or not. The truth is that most webmasters don't really have any solid news when they decide to use press releases. That's why they tend to get poor results... not because the tool doesn't work.
Sorry, I assumed we were talking about "new site announcements"... I did a write-up of one of my new sites, mentioning all the important aspects; why mine stands out from others in the genre. Was very excited, then very disappointed. I didn't expect to have the next yahoo, but 100 visitors (with only a few free sign-ups), was quite a let down...
New site announcements alone are almost never newsworthy enough to garner real attention (and the quality links and traffic that go along with it). Thousands (if not more) new sites launch daily. Journalists just don't have the time or space to write up every one, and if it's already "been done" the features would have to be pretty outstanding to be worth them mentioning. If you want to do a release on a site launch, the key would be tying it to a bigger news story. 1. Find something in the news that's worth mentioning (could be that a report or study was released within your niche, or something along those lines). 2. Make the press release focus mostly on that other news through the intro. 3. Add a quote from you, listing you as the "founder of xxxxx.com" or whatever, linking to your site there. Don't make the comment specifically about the site. The idea is to make you sound like an authority source on the topic of that other news, which then gives an air of credibility to your own site in the industry. 4. Go onto more information about your site after that intro, including how it's relevant to the news topic, how it solves that problem presented, etc. If you want to do a site announcement for a site that's been done before to any degree, that's usually going to be your best bet. And don't forget... it also has to do with how well the release was written, and how it was distributed. PRweb might be easy, but it's not usually the best option; especially alone. Not all journalists use it (I'd rather surely say that most journalists don't use it). If you decide you'd like to try one again in the future, give it a try without spending a dime, and with a stronger news angle. Here are some things that can help you do that if you decide to: Free press release template (I use this one in my own PR firm for my clients and make it available on my business blog.) Effective Free Press Release Distribution in Five Easy Steps More press release resources My PR blog