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Media Relations & SEO PR Blog
Review of Online News Release Distribution Services
I read recently that the online news release distribution business is booming, and that certainly explains the explosion in the number of companies jumping into the fray. Generally speaking, online release distribution services take your release, post it on their site, and then distribute it via RSS feed to other sites that use the releases for content. Other services also distribute your release directly to reporters via different means. Communications professionals use online news distribution for many different reasons, but they generally fall into two categories…
1) Media relations professionals want to put the release in front of reporters, via distribution service reporter feeds.
2) SEO PR professionals want to put the release in front of consumers and build backlinks, via distribution service news RSS feeds
So, which is the best place to distribute your news releases to reach the above goals? Below is a review of what I consider the best of the best, both free and paid. Feed free to add your own via comments!
PR Newswire
News feed distribution: $180 and up
Free option: None
PR Newswire is the granddad of the group, starting out more or less as a way to distribute your release directly to reporters via old fashioned newswires. They’re still the best at getting your releases in front of mass numbers of journalists. Releases placed on PRN not only appear online, but also are distributed via a portion of the Associated Press Newswire. PRN also has lists of reporters who receive news on selected industries via email.
Where PR Newswire falls short is search engine optimization. They just don’t seem to understand optimizing online news releases. They will still get you a number of links due to being an industry giant, however, they could be better. An option is available to have PRN optimize your release, but I wouldn’t recommend it. To take advantage you must first purchase their top distribution, which costs a minimum of $680.
PRWeb
News feed distribution: $80 and up
Free option: None
PRWeb was the first release distribution service to fully embrace news release optimization, or at the very least they were the one who promoted it best. Until last fall they had a free option that was outstanding, but it was eliminated shortly after they were purchased by Vocus. These days they have essentially three pricing levels - $80, $120, and $200. Different services are available at the different levels, but all three include some type of news feed distribution. A new product was announced last month that offers distribution via the same Associated Press wire that PR Newswire uses. This “Media Visibility” package includes online distribution as well as the media distribution, and costs $360.
Releases on PRWeb are more fully optimized for search engines and social media than any I’ve found. They include features such as links to social bookmarking sites such as Digg and Technorati, category listings, and a proprietary trackback system. If approved, your release appears on PRWeb’s sister site, eMediawire, which automatically gives you a second backlink. Their stats at the $120 and $200 level are impressive as well. One irritation I do have with them is that at the $80 and $120 pricing levels there is a two day delay before your release is distributed.
PRLeap
News feed distribution: $50 and up
Free option: Available
PRLeap essentially wants to be PRWeb. It’s not a bad thing to desire, as PRWeb has been very successful. However, they just don’t seem to get there. Their pricing is good, but my experience is that link building via PRLeap isn’t as affective as PRWeb. One huge advantage they do have is that they have a free option. I do recommend taking advantage of that, as posting is quick and easy. Free releases have reasonably unobtrusive ads placed on them. Anchor text links are available starting at $20, however at that level the release is placed on the PRLeap site, but not distributed via news feeds.
PRLog
News feed distribution: Free
Free option: Available (ads included on releases)
A new entrant into the field, PRLog is quickly making a reputation for a free way to create a quality backlink. My experience with the service is that releases posted on their site are always indexed very high by Google. Recently I had a free PRLog release actually rank above a paid PRLeap release on Google News! My theory on this is that it’s because PRLog has a .org URL instead of the .com you would expect. As you may know, .org addresses are automatically given special consideration by the search engines. Regardless, the site provides outstanding performance for a free service. I haven’t noticed a large number of additional backlinks created by using PRLog, but a top ranking on Google News will do that for itself for many searches.
With every release, PRLog includes links to bookmark on social media sites like Digg and Technorati. They also give you the option of linking to long URLs that include your release title, or non-optimized URLS that are slightly easier to remember. PRLog also allows you to upload a logo or image for your release.
[Updated August 13, 2008: I've posted a couple of releases on PRLog lately, and frankly I'm not liking the direction this service is going. The site is looking rather "spammy" these days, and they're now accepting job listings in addition to news releases. Not good. I'm still thinking about it, but it looks as though PRLog may be losing grip on their "favorite" status.]
Express Press Release Distribution
News feed distribution: Free
Free option: Available
Express Press Release offers free release distribution with no frills and no links included. They also have $29 distribution that includes link activation and improved placement on the site. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve never used the pay service. However, despite the lack of links I’ve actually found good search results for their free service. Two releases I placed their for my PR firm have popped up for my primary search target for months.
24-7 Press Release
News feed distribution: $45 and up
Free option: Available (ads included on releases)
Like Express Press Release, I have only used the free option on 24-7 Press Release. However, the results have been good. Generally my releases have been indexed on Google News, and some have ended up on the news site Topix. 24-7 is trying to nudge into the PR Newswire world by offering what they call “Mass Media Distribution” for $299 (releases with more than 375 words cost more). This service claims direct distribution to trade publications, as well as 80,000 individual journalists. If anyone has tried this out, let me know how it worked for you!
PR News Now
News feed distribution: Free
Free option: Available (ads included on releases)
I hesitated to include this one because it has the appearance of a spam site, to be honest. However, I’ve used the site and found that my releases there do rank for target searches. Releases posted on their site are littered with ads, and they don’t look terribly professional. But, for SEO purposes, they’re beneficial.
[Update from 2/14/08: I've been meaning to post for a while that you may actually find your PRWeb releases popping up on PR News Now, much to the chagrin of the PRWeb folks. PR News Now is apparently taking PRWeb feeds and reposting them without attribution and sometimes without even including the links. I've decided I'm staying away from this service.]
Others:
Wikio: A site built specifically for people to post articles and releases. It’s painfully easy to use.
SearchWarp: More for articles than news releases but, at least with the way I write, it’s not tough to turn a release into something that looks like an article.
I-Newswire: Another site much like PRLog, 24-7 Press Release, and PRLeap. I’ve had fairly good results posting free releases here.
There are many, many, many others. But, which are the best? Here are the Media Relations & SEO PR Blog Best Bets:
For reporter distribution: PR Newswire
Despite being chocked full of news releases, PR Newswire actually has a reputation among journalists as being a good place to find story leads.
For link building: PRWeb
No one beats PRWeb for the number of links generated from one release. Period.
For free release distribution: PRLog
I’ve been extremely impressed with the tools offered by PRLog, and the results I’ve gained by using them. I have a sneaking suspicion they’re going to launch a paid service soon, and I’ll be trying it out.
As I said earlier, I’d love to hear about your success stories using services I didn’t mention. Lay them on me in comments!
April 14th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Of course, after I create a list like this, I learn about another service that I should have mentioned. I just read a post from the other day on PR Squared talking about PR News Network. PRNN is just coming out of beta. They have a $25 distribution option and claim to have great feed distribution. Also (and this is cool), every new account gets its own hosted social media newsroom (example) where you can host bios, images, and video. This sounds like a service that’s definitely worth checking out.
April 17th, 2007 at 3:29 am
[...] You can visit Steve’s blog below: Review of Online News Release Distribution Services Related posts: [...]
April 17th, 2007 at 9:58 am
[...] Steven Mullen from EndGame Public Relations has posted a really great review of current online press release distribution services out there. Now, I may be a little biased, but I can’t help but want to drive down to Richmond, VA and drop off a cake at Steven’s house like Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite: [...]
April 17th, 2007 at 11:03 am
Thanks for doing such a great job of putting this all together Steve.
Let me add one more item for those interested in backlinks. Blogging or linking to a press release at PRWeb that shows the “Trackback URL” below the body of the press release is likely to provide a reciprical link back. Choosing news releases that are relevant with your blog content will really will pay off. Read more about this at http://www.volodymyrzablotskyy.com/prweb-trackbacks-loophole-or-great-strategy/
Thanks again!
Joe Beaulaurier
PRWeb
April 17th, 2007 at 11:15 am
Thanks Joe … means a lot to get feedback!
I wanted to mention that trackback strategy but, to be honest, the blog post was getting too long
I have done that with my own releases and with other people’s. I’ve found it’s a great strategy to search around PRWeb and look for releases about new products, etc. that impact media relations or SEO PR, and then blog on them. It helps PRWeb because, obviously, I’m linking back to the release. It helps me to get that trackback link. Honestly, I hadn’t thought about emailing the author of the release, though. Great idea. I actually learned about this strategy from David at Affiliate Profit Center, who is linked from the blog post you referenced. I’d been doing it for my own PRWeb releases, but hadn’t though about other people’s!
April 17th, 2007 at 11:25 am
I guess I will have to learn from this and make my posts shorter.n The reason it was so long is that I wanted to right down (mainly for my own use in the future) what I have discovered both as blogger and as author of press releases. Sorry
April 17th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Nooo… yours is fine. There are no hard and fast rules on post length for blogging, so far as I know. Mine was getting to be longer than I like, which is why I didn’t include in the information on the PRWeb trackback strategy.
April 17th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Sorry, I misundertood. In any evnt the PRWeb trackbacks can really help. Here is in example if you Google “Yugster YouTube” a post from my site should be somewhere in the top results. I achived that i relatively short time (about 5-10days). I think the main reason for it was that I got a trackback to that post from PRWeb
April 17th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Pretty cool. I think even though the topic has been covered, I may wade into the conversation with a blog post tonight about using trackbacks both in blogs and on PRWeb. Stay tuned!
April 17th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Have any of you used PR News Network? I know you probably haven’t, Joe, but maybe you have an opinion. I’m curious about backlink results. I generally use PRWeb, but if I have two releases going out at nearly the same time from the same client, I like to use different services. I thought my backup service was going to be PRLeap, but I wasn’t impressed with the results I received from them.
April 17th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Steve,
The trackbacks from PRWeb birng such effect (mainly in Google) only because that they do not use “nofollow” attributes in those links. Majority of blogs outhere have “nofollow” by default and I am guessing most woners don’t even realize that fact. Following may give you a better understanding what I am talking about:
http://www.volodymyrzablotskyy.com/pink-pink-pink-pink-pink-pink-pink/
April 20th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Update: I checked into PR News Network. I didn’t like it. It wasn’t near easy enough to send a release, and I gave up. It seems like they might have come out of beta a bit soon. Their system of entering a release is awfully clunky.
April 21st, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Hi Steve!
This is an excellent review of the top online press release distribution centers. PRWeb.com and I just released an opportunity you and your readers will *not* want to miss: a FREE $200 PRWeb.com press release. I referenced this post in my follow-up post here.
As part of the offer, you must register for PRWeb.com’s New User Webinar. Mario does an incredible job describing trackbacks, and I’ve seen great success with this too. I’ve used PRWeb.com for over 2 years, and only until I attended the Webinar last month, did I realize I still have a ton to learn and implement.
I created a list and only offered all the reasons PRWeb.com is my #1 Top choice. So, I thank you for your efforts in reviewing each service in detail.
A colleague of mine likes PRLeap second to PRWeb.com. I haven’t used them nor PR News yet. I reviewed numerous free distribution centers though.
Looking forward to sticking around here more often, because with the ‘boom in Online PR’, a ton of my freelance writing work has been directed in this one specific technique.
Thanks again Steve!
To our success & empowerment,
Ponn
April 21st, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Thanks for the offer, Ponn. I’ll check it out. I’m always happy to get something for free!
September 24th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Thanks for creating a really concise yet highly informative overview of the current news distribution picture. I have used many of these services in the past, and it has oftentimes been frustrating to actually get a read on how good or “bad” the service is until you go through the process with them.
I tend to specialize on the SEO optimization side for my clients, and ideally I want embedded links and photos to go out with the release.
The frustatration–and this seems to apply more when they are “free”–is the editorial conditions that some of the services impose. I know that PR Leap, for example, used to be much more liberal in the form in which they would allow us to send out a release. We used them as a secondary send at a big PR firm just to give our clients a bump after the initial release went out over the wire (our primary choice was PR Web-which is indeed excellent). Those releases had more of a news or jounalistic feel to them and were not as “press release” oriented. For awhile they did not stop our releases from going out, but then something changed and they no longer allowed us to send the out releases unless they conformed to “traditional” press release standards (and, ironically, PR Web continues to allow them without a peep).
One company that I was hoping to see some feedback on was Marketwire. I’ve used them in the past at prior companies and they seem to be excellent. I did not control the account, soI did not have access to their internals, so I was wonderiing if you had any info on them.
At any rate, thanks for the great review.
Thomas
September 25th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Hi Thomas,
Glad this was helpful for you. I’ll be honest, I’ve never used Marketwire. Judging by the VERY brief review I just did of their website, they appear to claim to put the news directly in front of the reporters, a la PR Newswire. But, they also have a section where they talk about SEO. I didn’t see anything on the site about prices. Do you (or anyone else reading this) know how much they cost?
Thanks again!
-Steve
September 30th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
This is exactly what I was looking for. Someone to save me a bunch of time wading through all the Google Search Results. This article is like the Consumer Reports version for press release distribution services. Hopefully, you will update it once per year.
October 30th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Hey I just wanted to say thanks for compiling all this. I run an internet travel company (www.travature.com) and we are always looking for was to make sense of all the PR sites out there.
This page is by far the best synthesis of PR sites that I have stumbled across. Thank you for your time and effort!
November 28th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
I wish I had something constructive to add besides “great article,” but I couldn’t just leave the site and not tell you how useful it has been to me!
Have any thoughts about PR.com?
February 15th, 2008 at 12:16 am
I just came across your review — great insights. I came across Mass Media Distribution http://www.massmediadistribution.com/. They make some pretty inflated guarantees. Is there truth to their advertising?
February 15th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Thanks for the tip, Nora. They do make some interesting claims, but I’m having a hard time swallowing them. There are large PR firms that would love to be able to claim the kind of success they’re offering for less than $400. One thing that jumped out at me immediately is that their press release page has no Google pagerank. It doesn’t *necessarily* mean anything, but it’s not a good sign.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:48 am
Note for readers: I just went through and made a few minor updates to this post, including an addition to the PR News Now information.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Hi Steve,
I had to let you know I’ve found this info so helpful! Thanks so much for all this great information. I will definitely by trying out PRWeb and PRLog after your recommendations and really appreciate all the research time you’ve saved me. Keep up the great work, and I’m sure to be checking back in with you.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
[...] Media Relations & SEO PR Blog [...]
April 10th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
[...] There are many other online news wires, as well. On her Naked PR blog, Jennifer Matten provides a Big List of Free Press Release Distribution Sites here. Steve Mullen gives his evaluations of some of the more popular online news services on his blog Media Relations and SEO PR . [...]
April 24th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
There’s also http://www.PRunderground.com for free releases. I used them this week with good results.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Thanks for the tip, Stephen. While my sceptical underbelly is wondering whether you work for PRUnderground, I did check out the service and it seems legit and pretty damned good. Here are the particulars, which I will likely add to the review once I’ve had a chance to actually use the service:
PR Underground has a free and paid option. The paid option is $59.99 and … get this … your release is also posted on PRWeb at the $80 level. I’m not sure how they’re doing this (and I’m going to inquire with my contacts over at PRWeb because I’m highly curious) but it’s an awesome deal.
One tip if you choose to use the paid option — make sure you spell out the URL of the site you’re promoting at least once in the release. PRUnderground allows anchor text links, but PRWeb does not at the $80 level. So, if you use only anchor text for your links, your release on PRWeb will have NO LINKS. I saw this on a couple of releases I checked out.
Thanks again for the tip, even if you do work for them
-Steve Mullen
April 27th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I did some research on PRUnderground and asked around. For now, I’d recommend avoiding them. I’m told the distribution on PRWeb is NOT what it claims to be. I can’t say more than that right now.
April 28th, 2008 at 2:47 am
Hey Steve, Stephen doesn’t work for PRunderground, but I do… In fact, I own it. I’m guessing you saw the words “a service that costs $80 by itself” and that’s what you have a problem with? I’ve actually taken that down after being contacted by PRWeb, which is funny because my old site had those words on the main page for 4 months without issue.
Basically it comes down to this… when someone orders a release for $59.99 it does in fact get distributed on PRunderground and PRWeb. It’s not at the official $80 level, but there’s not really much difference between that and a donation plus a 4 star rating. It still get’s live links, eMediaWire distribution, file attachments, etc… and it still appears in Google News, Yahoo News, Topix and (sometimes) Ask.
The only difference between what we do and the $80 level is the addition of 4 industry targets, page 2 status and the iFrame feature. As far as backlinks, views, reads, etc… go, I’ve never once seen an $80 release do better than a donation with a good rating.
I hope this clears some things up.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
[...] showed up in a couple of searches, and it jumped out at me like it was in red blinking letters. My Review of Online News Release Distribution Services, which is easily the most read post on this blog, has a pagerank higher than the front page of the [...]
May 28th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I’ve just started looking at ways to do PR and stumbled on this post. What an awesome find! Thanks for taking the time to research and update it too. Much appreciated!
May 28th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
So glad it was useful to you! If you happen to work for a large national firm with an unlimited PR budget, be sure to contact me!
:O)
-Steve Mullen
June 30th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Hi Steve,
Just wondering, once I choose a press release distribution site, do they provide the tools to track the success of my release? Or is that something I have to figure out on my own?
Thanks!
Jenny
June 30th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Hi Jenny,
Most of the pay services do have tracking of some kind. PRWeb does a fairly good job of tracking how many hits the release has gathered. They have three price levels ($80, $120, and $360) and they provide more tracking data at the higher price levels. PR Newswire used to (I haven’t used them for a while) send you some links and give you some tracking data as well.
Steve Mullen
July 10th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Hi you can you please review http://www.pressbooth.org and add it in your list? It is a free PR Distribution site catering Media, Communication, Advertising, Marketing, Technology companies.
July 10th, 2008 at 11:36 am
I just took a look at it. To be frank, the layout is a little confusing to me. And, I wasn’t really thrilled about the shaking, jittering, and beeping advertising banner that was at the top of the page.
Steve
July 11th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Might I suggest you add prnewschannel.com (http://www.prnewschannel.com) to your list. We are not free. But we are relatively inexpensive. And every press release we distribute is carefully reviewed by our editors to make sure it’s grammatically correct, meets style requirements and conveys a message clearly and in an objective fashion. We offer free editing services. It’s the only press release distribution company run by former journalists. Thank you!
July 19th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Thank you guys for GREAT info… I’m a little confused about the difference between PRWeb and PRWebDirect. Also, which of the 4 PRweb packages is of great value. I understand the basic differences, just need a little input if the PRWeb Media Package is worth the investment or their basic package actually offer better value to investment. I’ll appreciate your input. Thanks in advance
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Akbar,
PRWebDirect is our service bureau that has editorial assistance built into the pricing. PRWeb is our do-it-yourself site. Use our entry level service at $80 and learn how it may help your business.
Steve, great post and it still being found a year later! I asked a caller how he had heard about us and he sent me the link to your post. Solid insights that are unique and cover the subjects that people are looking for will live online for a long time to come.
Mario Bonilla
PRWeb
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Thanks for the insight, Mario. I never in a million years thought this post would be so popular!
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Do you have any updates to share since it’s been over 15 months since your initial post?
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Actually, the post HAS been updated since its initial writing. I went through it in February and made sure it was as up-to-date as I could make it. Read through it. If you do, you’ll see a note in italics right about the middle that pertains to PRNewsNow.
August 13th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Post updated: August 13, 2008
See the update about PRLog.