Press Releases: Where to Start?

PR distribution sites and social networks are full of rubbish press releases that no one would ever really bother reading.  The truth is, every business has a story that is interesting enough to capture people's attention- but this required careful planning and close attention to detail.

Before embarking on your PR campaign you should first sit down and ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are you really a good enough writer to write your press releases yourself?  Can you write a press release that will really capture people's attention?  If you're not sure, ask a friend to read what you have written.  There are lots of cheap press release writing services out there that can assist you in providing a well-written story that will be of interest to people.

2. What about your story is actually newsworthy?  Why are people interested in what you have to say?  If you're only interested in selling something you may want to stick to advertising. PR probably isn't right for you.

3. How does your story tie into the bigger picture?  Can you link your story to current issues people are actually reading about and interested in?  Are journalists following your issue?

4. What results are you looking to get out of your PR campaign?  Are you just promoting your brand or do you expect your press release to directly generate sales?

5. Who is your audience?  What channels are you looking to distribute your press release through and who will be reading them?

Through careful consideration of the questions above you will have a much better idea of how to turn the story of your business or product into something people will want to read about.

Welcome

Welcome to PRontheCheap.  

There's no doubt that every business needs PR in a digital age.

What people don't understand, however, is that PR can be much cheaper and easier to implement than other forms of advertising.  This blog will provide you with a professional insight on how to distribute your press releases easily and cheaply.  We will provide you with sight reviews, hints, tips and more information to ensure your press release gets noticed.

Happy reading!

15 Free PR Distribution Sites

PRontheCheap decided to test out a list of free press release distribution sites.  Here are our findings and reviews.  Hopefully we will save you all some valuable time.  We advise you give anything with a score over 6/10 a try. 

24-7PressRelease.com - Free release distribution with ad-support. A well designed, free distribution site requiring sign up. The site allows hyperlinks. Press releases are reviewed before being published on the site.  24-7 Press Release seems to have quite high standards on what gets published and what doesn't.  The site also offers a variety of other paid forms of distribution which claim to offer you more exposure.  No statistics available on free accounts. Score 7/10. 

1888PressRelease.com – 1888PressRelease is a well-designed, easy to use free PR distribution site.  All press releases are closely reviewed keeping the quality of the site to a decent level.  Features such as availability to Google News and the ability to attach images and videos to the press release are only available in the paid membership levels.  No statistics and no hyperlinks. You really don’t get much for free on this site.Score 6/10. 

ClickPress.com - Distributes to sites like Google News and Topix.net, Gold level will also get you to sites like LexisNexis. ClickPress is just another one of those free PR distribution sites.  The site is full of press releases promoting loans and erectile dysfunction treatments. No analytics and no in-text hyperlinks allowed.  Score 4/10. 

EcommWire.com - Focuses on ecommerce and requires you include an image, three keywords and links.  There’s loads of junk on this site so not really worth going near if you have a decently written press release to submit.  No links, no analytics, bad layout, low Google PageRank. Score 3/10. 

Express-Press-Release.com – Free distribution company with offices in 12 states.  EPR is a very well-designed site with lots of free features.  All content is human optimized, monitored and edited ensuring the quality of the content published on EPR.  The site publishes over 10,000 press releases a month- so they can afford to be picky. Score 8/10.  (but don’t bother if your press release isn’t well written).

PressAbout.com – This is really just another free press release distribution site. We’re giving it extra points only because of it’s rather cool blog layout which makes all the content much easier to read.  They also score some points for keeping the design of the site clean and closely controlling what they publish.  Score 8/10. 

Free-Press-Release.com – This site is really easy to use with quick sign-up and fast publishing.  Unfortunately content isn’t monitored so there is really a lot of junk on this site.  In text hyperlinks are not allowed, but a link is provided in a separate section at the end of the article.  A good place to publish your article if you just want to publish it in as many places as possible, but I doubt anyone will read it. Score 6/10. . 

Free-Press-Release-Center.info - Distributes your release, offers a web page with one keyword link to your site.  In text hyperlinks allowed, no monitoring of the site’s content.  A bit junky, bad design.Score 5/10. 

I-Newswire.com - Allows for free distribution to sites and search engines, premium membership differs only slightly in adding in graphics.  Again, no monitoring of content here so there’s a LOT of junk. Score 6/10. 

PitchEngine.com – This one’s by far our personal favourite right now.  This site is wonderfully laid out and extremely easy to use.  Each page allows you to set up a ‘media kit’ complete with videos, images, and important links.  The analytics feature is great too, allowing you to track how many people read your press releases…and it’s all completely free.  It also got me into Google News.  A really great site. Score 10/10. 

TheOpenPress.com - Gives free distribution for plain formatted releases, fees for HTML-coded releases.  This site is OK but certainly nothing special.  No hyperlinks and no analytics.  I can’t see many people reading what is published here. Score 5/10. 

PR9.net - Ad supported press distribution site.  There’s way too much junk here.  I just can’t see anyone bothering reading what is published on this site.  Average design, low PageRank.  I wouldn’t bother. Score 4/10. 

PR-Inside.com - One of the few European press release distribution sites available in German and English.  It’s OK, but nothing to rave home about.  The content on the site seems to be monitored.   No analytics and no hyperlinks. There’s not too much junk here. Score 6/10.  

PRLog.org - Free distribution to Google News and other other search engines.  This one is good.  There’s a lot of junk but the site is easy to use.  The site gets you onto Google News Romania (I’m not sure how useful that will be to your business).  Analytics and hyperlinks are also enabled. Score 8/10.