Press releases are very effective ways of getting the word out that your online business is open for business. The whole purpose is to inform media sites that your business exists and what it has to offer to the public. This is one area that many online businesses fail to do and as a result, they miss out on some very valuable traffic and free advertising. By definition a press release is simply a statement prepared for distribution to the media.
By providing journalists, both online and off, with useful, accurate and interesting information about your business, you allow them to spread the word for you to the public at large. The most effective press releases actually follow a basic template that, once you get onto it, can be prepared very quickly by just filling in the blanks. Journalists receive so many press releases a day, they have set standards and expectations that you must conform to just to have your release read, let alone published. If your press release is printed ‘as is’, without changing even one word, then you know you have conformed to the journalistic standards and are doing a great job. Keep that format and use it for all future releases.
Below are a list of places to submit your press release:
PRBuzz.com – Completely free distribution to search engines, news sites, and blogs.
PRUrgent.com – Not only distributes your release, but attempts to teach you how to write one, and even offers downloadbale samples for you to work with.
Press-Base.com – Submit your release for free and get on their front page and the category of your choice.
PressAbout.com – A free press release service formatted as a blog.
PressMethod.com – Free press release distribution no matter what, but extra services based on the size of your contribution.
PRLeap.com – Free distribution to search engines, newswires, and RSS feeds. Fee based bumps get you better placement.
PRLog.org – Free distribution to Google News and other other search engines.
TheOpenPress.com – Gives free distribution for plain formatted releases, fees for HTML-coded releases.
24-7PressRelease.com – Free release distribution with ad-support
1888PressRelease.com – Free distribution, paid services gives you better placement and permanent archiving.
ClickPress.com – Distributs to sites like Google News and Topix.net, Gold level will also get you to sites like LexisNexis.
EcommWire.com – Focuses on ecommerece and requires you include an image, 3 keywords and links.
Express-Press-Release.com – Free distribution company with offices in 12 states.
Free-Press-Release.com – Easy press release distribution for free, more features for paid accounts.
Free-Press-Release-Center.info – Distributes your release, offers a web page with one keyword link to your site. Pro upgrade will give you three links, permanent archiving and more.
I-Newswire.com – Allows for free distribution to sites and search engines, premium membership differs only slightly in adding in graphics.
NewswireToday.com – All the usual free distribution tools, premium service includes logo, product picture and more.
PR.com – Not only will they distribute your press releases, but you can also set up a full company profile.
PR9.net – Ad supported press distribution site.
PR-Inside.com – European-based free press release distribution site.
By Cathy Henry