We're a UK based IT consultancy. I was wondering if using a press release distribution service was a valid approach, and if so, what are the merits of a paid service versus one of the free services?
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In my experience it's not worthwhile. Human editors get deluged with automated PRs, so it's not a good way to reach them. Some automated services pick it up, but few people read that. You might get a little Google help, but not much because Google knows those are automated websites. Your time is better spent getting even just a few people to talk about it. That means personal outreach. |
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Paid press release services are definitely a lot better than free services in my opinion. I've used both and the traction I've received from paid press release services are substantial. The release gained a hundred times more pickups and thus drove more traffic to the our site. I was also able to SEO optimize it whereas free services limit the number of hyperlinks you can include. You also have access to reporting so you can do your own follow-up afterwards. It was a HUGE pain to find the free services (esp. because most of them turned out to have hidden fees) and it took hours to submit to all of them. In the end, it wasn't worth all the effort. I've used businesswire.com and I've been happy with them. They review the release before launching it to check for spelling and grammar errors - they even call you to verify everything. Also, you get to pick free trade publications to submit to. Hope that helps! |
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It depends on your goal in posting the release. If you want to use the press release for "legitimization" purposes - to show prospects etc. - then you may want to use a distribution service, because you will certainly be able to provide a link to a Yahoo! News site (and Google results). If, however, you're hoping to generate buzz/prospects from the release itself, you probably need another strategy. Simply spewing out your release - whether via free services or a paid distribution service - is not likely to result in a lot of interest. You may want to review this post for additional thoughts on publicity |
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There's nothing wrong with posting your press release out on the web and using that to help drive traffic back to the release - and also your website. In fact, if that is your primary goal, the posting on one of the free press release distribution sites might be feasible and worth your time. Here's a list of 28+ Press Release Distribution Services Sites |
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If nothing else, it's a good way to seed some inbound links to your Web site. Just make sure to use a service that lets you include links with keywords in your PR. For example, see the link in the opening paragraph of our last release. It's keyword rich and points directly to an URL on our Web site, not to some redirect script. That would cost you though - I am not aware of a decent free PR distribution service that would let you have such links. |
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