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The Internet has become a global bazaar with everyone hawking their wares.
Freebies are shrinking as we discover more ways to part with our dollars. As
author of the 2003 guidebook, Long Island Alive, I was heartened to discover
that www.longisland.com accepts press releases when the information pertains
to Long Island. Shortly after posting a press release about the publication
of my book, a Long Island radio station called me for an interview.
It should always be that easy! What if you’re a local business in New
Jersey or Iowa who wants to get the word out about a new product featured on
your website? In searching for sites that offer free postings of press releases,
I came across a piece by Marcia Yudkin, a contributing author at www.powerhomebiz.com,
which lists nine such sites. However, e-zine articles often lack datelines and
can languish at a site for years, so I decided to investigate.
Of the five extant sites, I found www.prweb.com among the best. One hopes PR
Web will continue to offer free press release distribution. It’s an easy
site to navigate and virtually every business is welcome to contribute its news.
You choose among a long list of industries and your release is placed with that
group – the most recent goes at top. Some industries draw many more releases
than others. One time there were 941 travel, 548 real estate, and 227 insurance
releases to weed through. Sometimes it pays to be unpopular! Two words of advice:
Register first at Member Login and examine the site carefully before submitting.
A scroll-down menu is at the bottom of the release page and is easy to miss.
Remember as a kid you were rewarded with a gold star for good deeds? PR Web
awards stars to its financial contributors. One star is placed beside your release
for a $10 donation; the bigger it is, the more stars. And the more stars, the
higher up the release. As a free site that keeps your release up for a long
time (some date back to Nov. 1999), $10 seems fair.
I tried submitting my press release ten times to Press Box, www.pressbox.co.uk,
before giving up. The “Timeout” message suggested that “there
may be too many people accessing this page.” But when I tried a few hours
later, it went through. This is a London-based website “used by thousands
of media relations professionals each week,” but it’s hard to know
if there are American journalists among them. The site has 20 broad categories,
such as sports, finance and health.
Click2NewSites.com, www.click2newsites.com/press.asp, also allows you to post
a press release according to your category. If you read some of the releases,
you’ll find news about new websites, research findings and promotions –
literally everything. Your release appears within 48 hours after acceptance.
Readers choose from among headlines that are linked to their respective releases,
or select “New Sites” and pick a category. The site claims to average
22,400 visitors a month.
www.ideasiteforbusiness.com/direct.htm was the most frustrating, but I was
impressed with the support system. After entering my ad (they’re actually
releases) and all the required information, the page would not submit regardless
of how many times I tried. I e-mailed them and shortly after received an e-mail
apologizing that their database was down. The writer, Mary Gillen, asked me
to replicate the ad in an e-mail, which I did. She couldn’t have been nicer
if I were a paid customer, even e-mailing a thank-you. There are 40 free categories
(and 80 for business advertising) but none for travel, so I chose “Pets/animals.”
My book has so much information on pet-friendly lodgings and pet stores that
I wrote a press release geared to pet owners and submitted it. If you don’t
find a fitting category, think about how you can relate it to an available category.
For instance, there’s no category for car dealers, but dealers who provide
parking and storage and have news about them can choose that category. Or perhaps
the dealer is also a musician – there’s a category for music/vocals/instruments.
It’s worth checking out.
http://books.dreambook.com/profitpoint/pressreleases.sign.html is entitled
“Las Vegas Comp Getaway’s Free Press Release Announcement Site.”
It’s easy to navigate but hard to know what the site’s all about,
except that the host, Dreambook, does web hosting. You get as much space as
you need and the releases appear immediately, but I can’t help thinking
that no one will read it. For one thing, the releases run into one another.
Also, there is no way to edit them or anyone to contact.
Are you in real estate, lending or banking? www.mortgagemag.com accepts all
types of releases pertaining to those industries.
So how did these freebies pan out? PR Web provides a record of hits to contributors
who pay $10 or more. In less than a week, according to the stats, my release
was read three times (probably by me); it was picked up by a media outlet four
times, forwarded to a third party seven times and printed nine times. Whether
these numbers are considered good, or whether my book will sell more copies,
is anyone’s guess.
The keyword here is “luck.”
About the Author:
Francine Silverman is author of Catskills Alive and Long Island Alive, guidebooks
published by Hunter Publishing and each exceeding 500 pages. www.nystatetravel.com |
