Google has its own location product.  Interestingly, it’s called  Google Places.

Despite using the same names, Facebook and Google Places are completely different products.

Facebook Places is simply adding another way you can tell people what you’re up to, by using geolocation.

Google Places is a re-branding of Google’s Local Business Center.  It launched back in April, and included a ton of new features.  Its basic goal is to get local businesses to “claim” their Google Place page on the web, fill it up with information, use it to serve things like coupons, and then (hopefully) buy advertising with Google to direct people to it.  Geolocation is a feature, but it’s not even closely related to how Facebook is using it.

For Facebook, this new product is a great idea.  While squashing competitors Foursquare and Gowalla (I know those two companies are “partners” in Facebook Places, but that’s really only because they don’t have much choice but go along) a logical function is also being added to Facebook.  You can already tell your Facebook friends what you’re doing.  With Places, you can show them where you’re doing it.

Google Places is also a great idea.  It’s an attempt to expand its local search offerings.  Search and other Internet services are what Google does best.  There is no social aspect to Google Places, which is a good idea given Google’s lack of success in social media offerings.

We’ve determined that these two services are only slightly related … so, why do they have such similar names?  I can’t imagine.  Maybe all of the words that don’t mean anything (see also: Twitter, Gowalla, Foursquare, Vimeo) are already  taken?

When was the last time you “Buzzed”?  If you’re anything like me, you can’t remember the last time you logged on to Google’s attempt at a social media service. All evidence indicates that while Google Buzz does have its users, it doesn’t have anywhere near as many loyal users as Facebook or even Twitter.  Mashable noted back in April that 89% of the traffic on Buzz is automated.  That percentage is way too high.  Here’s another piece of evidence that Buzz isn’t a big hit:

The image above is clipped from the Techcrunch website.  As you can see, the article has been shared on Twitter 235 times.  It’s been shared on Buzz exactly once.  It hasn’t been shared many times on Facebook either, but that site doesn’t have quite as much tradition of sharing news articles as Twitter, and Buzz obviously wants to be more like Twitter.  Mashable, meanwhile, appears to have removed its Buzz share icon entirely … replacing it with one for Digg.

When it was (hastily) launched back in February, it seemed like it might be a good idea.  It seemed Twitter-like, without the limitation of 140 characters.  And, the integration with Gmail ensured it would get off the ground quickly.

However, I think it was actually the strengths I mentioned above that ended up keeping Buzz from being a huge success.  First, while the integration with Gmail did automatically bring the service millions of users, I think people realized they didn’t want close integration with their email.  Who wants an email every time something is posted?  Also, the fact that the service is similar to Twitter may be the other factor that kept it from being a Twitter killer.  We already have a Twitter … why do we need another one?

I’m planning to remove the Buzz share icons from EndGamePR.com and replace them with ones for Digg.  I’ll likely do the same for my client sites.  Honestly, I haven’t seen any evidence that the Buzz icons are being used.

What about you?  Are you using Buzz?  Are your friends and co-workers using it?

Before I explain my educated guess, let’s back up a bit and get everyone caught up.

There have been rumors for a while that Google is working on a new social media site.  Those rumors yesterday seemed to be confirmed in an article on Techcrunch.  The site is said to be called “Google Me”, and while Google seemed to have Twitter in mind when it created it’s Buzz service, Google Me is said to directly target Facebook.

Assuming all of this is correct, it means Google is trying to create a Facebook killer.  Will it succeed?  Obviously it’s too early to tell, but I’m going to go out on a limb anyhow.  If “success” is making a serious dent in Facebook’s dominance of the social media market, then I believe the answer is “no”.  Here’s why:

1. Google hasn’t yet shown that it can succeed in the social media space.  Buzz was Google’s best shot so far, and in my view it’s been a relative bust.  It’s hard to call it a true bust because Google can claim millions of users, but those numbers are a charade because the service is tied into Gmail, and Gmail users almost automatically signed up when the service became available.  I don’t see any signs that a huge percentage of those users are actually USING Buzz.
2. People’s lives are tied into Facebook.  Not only that, but their friends’ lives are tied into Facebook.  For Google to draw any significant number of Facebook’s more than 400 million users away, Google will have to demonstrate not only that Me is better than Facebook, but also that Me users will be able to find their friends there.
3. We don’t need another Facebook.  We already have one.
4. A large number of Facebook users have been pretty ticked off by Facebook’s well-documented privacy screw-ups, but those users haven’t left yet.  You could say it’s because there wasn’t an alternative, but I say it won’t matter because of point #2.

I’m not saying Google shouldn’t make the attempt.  Google has its own very successful advertising system in place that it could easily port to a Facebook-like site, so it makes a certain amount of sense to try to find new places to show those ads.  However, in my view Google is best at providing services, not destinations.  I am a a Google services “fanboy.”  I use Google Search (of course) and its daily alerts, Gmail, Google Voice, Google Reader, and Google Docs.  But, if you’ll excuse a reach on an analogy: Jjust because I like my cell phone provider, doesn’t mean they’re the best company to also provide my daily news.

Truth is, despite the fact that my profession is public relations, until a relatively short time ago I (and most of my peers) didn’t actually deal with the public all that often.  My job, and the job of most of the vast majority of PR professionals out there, was to either solicit media coverage, handle incoming media inquiries, or to manage the media in a crisis.  In each case, we didn’t take our news directly to the public. Sure … we would sometimes organize an event that was open to the public, but in most cases the main reason for the event was actually to draw news coverage.

It’s no secret that the world has changed due to the social media tools we now have at our disposal.  Now we can blog, we can grow an audience on Facebook or Twitter, we can create our own online videos, and we can even distribute our news release directly to the public rather than politely asking reporters to write about it for us.  While taking this news directly to the public, we’re actually communicating with them one-on-one in a way that wasn’t possible just a few years back.

While the media is still an important tool for disseminating news from my clients, it’s hardly the only way to go about it.  Now, it actually makes sense to call our profession PUBLIC relations.

Note: Part of what got me thinking about this was a blog post from colleague and friend Jon Newman, on how PR can capitalize on winning the “battle” over social media within organizations.  Good read.  Check it out here.

The Bedtime Stories Project has a goal of reviving a tradition that’s thousands of years old – the telling of stories at bedtime.  Unfortunately this tradition is increasingly being replaced by video games and television, but telling a story at bedtime is not only a great moment to share between a parent and child, it’s also a wonderful and natural way of helping the child relax and prepare for sleep.  These days, it seems no one, even children, gets enough sleep.  Studies have shown that children who don’t sleep enough have trouble learning in school and can even develop health problems.

There are a number of moving parts to the project:

• The team commissioned a national survey to determine America’s Favorite Bedtime Story.  Check on SleepBetter.org to see if your favorite bedtime story made the list.
• A writing expert is providing tips on how to write a great bedtime story.  Check out Hillary Homzie’s Five Tips to Creating an Original Bedtime Story.
• We’ve created our own bedtime story called Sleepy Tales, where famous fairy tale characters discuss their sleeping problems.  Read this fun book by using the link on the front page of SleepBetter.org.
• Emmy Award-winning Actress Betty White, who is just uber-hot right now, is partnering with us, and will appear at an upcoming event.  At the event, she’ll read America’s Favorite Bedtime Story to children, and will also read some submissions from members of the SleepBetter Community.
• As you may have guessed from the above point, we’re asking site visitors to submit their own original bedtime stories!  One of the interesting points from SleepBetter’s national survey was that we found out families are most enthusiastic about the stories they make up for their own enjoyment.  We’re gathering these stories and posting them on The Bedtime Stories Project web site (built, by the way, by EndGame PR).  As I mentioned above, Betty White will read some of them at the upcoming event, and we’ll also pick one to be illustrated by the internationally-known artist behind the Sleepy Tales Book, Bill Nelson.  You can submit your story at the submission page on The Bedtime Stories web site, or just use the handy-dandy submission form below!

No tags for this post.]]> http://www.endgamepr.com/blog/2010/05/04/endgame-pr-helping-to-launch-the-bedtime-stories-project/feed/ 0 http://www.endgamepr.com/blog/2010/04/27/godaddy-fails-crisis-communications-test/ http://www.endgamepr.com/blog/2010/04/27/godaddy-fails-crisis-communications-test/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:35:24 +0000 Steve Mullen http://www.endgamepr.com/?p=1571 I’m a huge fan of WordPress for building web sites.  I’m also a fan of GoDaddy, although I know many people don’t share my opinion.  If you haven’t heard, WordPress and GoDaddy are very much in the tech news these last couple of days after a massive weekend hack attack that infected untold numbers of WordPress-based sites that are hosted on GoDaddy.

To read more about what happened, check out the coverage on the WPSecurityLock.com blog.

This hack hit me particularly hard, affecting five client sites — three that were live and two more that were being built.  Fixing the problem was time-consuming but not terribly difficult once I figured out the problem.  I’m not writing this post to compete with other coverage of what happened or how it happened.  What interests me from a PR perspective is GoDaddy’s response to this attack.  Here’s the statement from them that has been posted in many places:

Measures are in place to protect the overall security of the shared hosting server on which your website resides. The compromise of your account is outside of the scope of security that we provide for you. Virus scans are performed on the content that is hosted, but they may not pick up everything, largely due to the fact that hackers tend to upload custom scripts which are not picked up by traditional malware scanners. However, if a virus is detected, you will be notified. The overall security of your password and the content within your account is your responsibility, as password compromises and compromises due to scripting can only be prevented by you.

I don’t know who crafted this statement or who it was even directed to, but it doesn’t appear to me that it was crafted by someone with much experience in crisis communications.  First, it’s all I’ve been able to find from them on the issue.  Second, it reads to me like, “We just host your site … we’re trying to figure out what happened, but it’s really your own fault.”

While I agree that, in the end, the security of a site is the responsibility of the site owner, to say that when hundreds of site owners are really ticked off is not a great idea.  Additionally, there’s nothing that can be easily found on the GoDaddy site that addresses the issue.  My experience with GoDaddy has been that their customer service is quite good and their downtime is minimal, but GoDaddy has many detractors.  Here’s an example of what you see on Twitter right now:

These comments are relatively mild compared to what you’ll see in comments on blog posts about this hack attack.

How would I have handled it?  First, a more sensitive statement would have been issued — something that addressed how the company values its customers and is working very hard to figure out how the sites were hacked.  That statement would have been posted on the front page of GoDaddy, as well as on the company’s popular Twitter account.  Regular updates would have also been posted, even if there’s really no progress to report.  Additionally, instructions like those found at WPSecurityLock would have been made available by GoDaddy.  This is all relatively simple stuff to do.

These days people understand that hackers are out there and it isn’t necessarily the fault of the company that made an operating system or is hosting a web site, AS LONG AS the company responds to it appropriately.

UPDATED 5/3/10: There was another attack this past weekend, one week to the day after the first one.  It hit (it appears) most of the same sites plus some non-Wordpress sites.  The word from GoDaddy is that the non-Wordpress files that were infected were actually part of a site that included some WordPress element.  That’s not the word (pardon the pun) we’re seeing, as many people have come out and said their sites got hit, and WordPress isn’t on their server.  GoDaddy HAS responded this time, with some infection removal procedures.  They’re recommending those who were infected back up their database and customized files, delete WordPress, and reinstall the software.  This doesn’t seem to me like a viable option, as all PHP files on infected sites were affected, and many of the customized files are PHP files.  That said, at least they’re responding publicly now .. however weakly.

We have Betty White and we’re not afraid to use her.

EndGame PR has been working with SleepBetter.org, a sleep advice and information site run by Carpenter Co., since December of last year.  EndGame PR is responsible for web site management, SEO, and social media activities for the site.  We’re part of a larger team that manages public relations.

Back in December and January, the PR team began working on a new project that would begin in the spring.  After tossing around a number of names for a spokesperson, they settled on Betty White.  This was after her appearance in the movie “The Proposal” but before she  truly broke back into the spotlight with the Snickers Super Bowl Commercial seen to the left.

That commercial pushed Ms. White back into the public consciousness in a way that may have never been seen before with an 88-year-old.  It shows that Super Bowl commercials are not completely dead as a social shared experience. It also shows how they can spark a viral sensation.  The YouTube video of the Betty White Snickers commercial has nearly 2.1 million views.  I call that significant.

Back to the client news, now.  We made the announcement at the end of last week that Betty White will be working with SleepBetter.  She’ll be assisting with a project that focuses on helping people, particularly children, get a better night’s sleep.  I invite you to read the announcement and keep your eyes on SleepBetter this spring!

If you look on the EndGame PR services page, you’ll see a pretty long list.  There’s a reason for that.  I want to be able to do everything I can to help my clients.  I’m talking about not only social media, social networking and traditional PR tactics such as media relations, but also search engine optimization (SEO), web content creation, and even web design.  Imagine these skills and tactics as part of a never-ending “circle of life”.  Quality media relations campaigns can equal links back to a web site, which helps search rankings, which in turn can help a social media audience find you, which in turn can help you promote your quality web content, which can add links back to a web site, which can help SEO …. lather, rinse, repeat.  All of these strategies and tactics work well together, and should not be stuck in silos, as they are in so many organizations.

Perhaps the best part of thinking about PR in this way is that you’re not reliant upon one single tactic. If your media relations campaign isn’t going as well as expected, perhaps another portion of the “circle of life” will kick in and help you.

While I’m not suggesting that all PR professionals should know what a 301 redirect is or what to do with the .htaccess file (I do, but I’m a geek), they should know the basics of SEO.  They should also know how (or have access to someone who does) to create a basic web video.  They should also have the writing skills to be able to write an entertaining and thoughtful blog post.  Feel free to judge whether I possess that last one or not .. I won’t assume.

I am going to assume, however, that most everyone reading this knows at least a little bit about social media.  You ARE reading a blog, after all.  Not near as many have knowledge of the SEO basics.  Here are a few, with an example at the end of how the circle of life works:

• Keywords: The basic strategy for figuring out which keywords to use is to think of what words you WANT web searchers to use on Google in order to find your content.  Then, work those words into your title and copy (in a natural way, please .. no keyword stuffing).  If you want to get more precise about which keywords to use, try playing with the Google Keyword Tool.  Most important, however, is that you include those keywords in the headlines and copy of your news releases and other online content.
• Backlinks are king: One of the most important things you can do to improve your site’s search ranking WITHOUT digging into web site code, is increase the number of other sites linking to your site.  From a PR perspective, this can be done two ways.  First, create original content that people will want to link to.  In other words, people will enjoy it and want to blog about it or post about it on Twitter or Facebook.  Another tool in the SEO PR toolbox is online news release distribution.  Check out my sort-of-annual review of online release distribution sites for more information about this.
• Promote your content on social networking sites: Obviously this isn’t ALL you should be doing on Twitter, Facebook, Buzz and all of the others, but it’s one of the things you should be doing.  Obviously, the more people who know about your unique content, the more people who could potentially link back to it from their sites.  See?!  Circle of life!

What it comes down to is that PR pros need to learn everything they can about these tools, even to the point of teaching themselves a little bit of HTML and even how to use CSS.  These skills come in handy much more than you would expect, and can improve the service provided to clients or employers.

And, don’t blame me if you walk away from this blog post humming an Elton John song from a certain Disney movie.  That’s your problem, and I accept no responsibility for it.  It’s less annoying than Hakuna Matata, at least!

Previous to the last handful of days, when I discovered something and then submitted it to StumbleUpon with a review, it would receive anywhere from 50 to 200 “views” by StumbleUpon users.  My network was growing on the site, and I was starting to stumble more and more content, including (of course) content that I didn’t write or own.  Essentially, I was doing what I suggested in my previous blog post.  In fact, I was sure that I wasn’t using the site improperly because I received this review of my previous StumbleUpon post from a community manager at the site:

A truthful and well-thought article from someone who understands StumbleUpon and how to properly use it.

Then … the bottom fell out.  I discovered a client article last weekend, and it received only one view.  I figured it was a fluke, because that’s happened before.  Then, I discovered and reviewed a client news release from PRWeb.  It received 12 views, which is well below average.  I still wasn’t worried, though.  The next three articles I discovered, stumbled, and reviewed received only one view each.  This included the post I wrote here about the new Facebook Weekly Page Updates, which was well received elsewhere.  Now I knew something was up.

These five stumbles I mentioned came from four different domains and covered four very different topics.  So, it’s obvious that StumbleUpon isn’t including my articles in their list of sites that can be stumbled, regardless of what they are or where they come from.  I posted a question about it on the StumbleUpon help forums, which received this answer:

Monica, Official Rep

StumbleUpon’s recommendation engine is built on complex algorithms that monitor user activity and connections to determine what users see while Stumbling. StumbleUpon does not disclose specifics about our recommendation engine, but you can see an overview of how it works here: http://www.stumbleupon.com/technology/.

StumbleUpon users may occasionally add their own content to StumbleUpon without running into system restrictions. Ultimately though, StumbleUpon’s Terms of Service prohibit use of user accounts to promote specific domains.

If you wish to promote your content on StumbleUpon (if most of your discoveries come from the same domain or a limited number of domains), you may do so with StumbleUpon Advertising: www.stumbleupon.com/ads. StumbleUpon Advertiser accounts allow you to actively and legitimately promote a site to a targeted audience within our community.

Hope this helped.

This is pretty much the answer I expected, because this is the answer they give anyone who questions why their service isn’t working for them.  I understand StumbleUpon’s desire to keep their site from being spammed, but it appears they’re willing to shut out users who are submitting quality content from different domains that isn’t selling anything or even showing advertisements.  Meanwhile, if you go to their site or use your StumbleUpon toolbar to stumble randomly, you’ll find a lot of useless junk. Yes, I was promoting my content and my client’s content.  Imagine how quiet and boring other social media sites would be if they shut out people for doing that.

So … what now?  I’ll probably stumble and review this post, and that will be it.  If you have a one-off blog post that you want to submit there, you’ll likely receive some views, but woe onto you if you submit the same domain to StumbleUpon more than their undisclosed limit.  They’re sticklers over there, I tell ya.

Here is this week’s summary for the Facebook Page: Sheltering Arms Physical Rehabilitation

+8 Fans this week (188 total Fans)

6 Wall Posts, Comments, and Likes this week (5 last week)

130 Visits to your page this week (101 Visits last week)

It gave similar stats for the fan pages for SleepBetter, EndGame PR, FightSMA, and all of the others I administer or co-administer.

I get a LOT of junk emails from social networking sites.  It’s nice to get one that, while unsolicited, is extremely useful to me!

Unlike other social bookmarking sites, such as the aforementioned Digg, Delicious, and Reddit, users of StumbleUpon don’t have to be looking for your content to find it.  I’ve often thought this was the downfall of trying to use Digg to help visitors find you.  Unless your content is tech-related or involves someone falling off of a donkey and hurting a sensitive part of the body, posting to Digg is often like whistling into the wind.  StumbleUpon is different.  In fact, the whole point of the site is finding random content that you didn’t know you were looking for. You click a button and “stumble upon” a site.  It’s much like channel surfing.  StumbleUponn can help you find random content that’s been submitted, or you can have it help you find random content within a category. Obviously, it’s an outstanding time waster.

StumbleUpon’s strength is it’s lack of the cliques found on Digg and other sites.  On other sites, it can be hard to generate interest unless you’re already well known.  In other words, if you’re well known already, you’ll get plenty of “Diggs”. Thing is, if you’re well known already, you don’t NEED Diggs to help people find your content.

So, what’s the strategy for using StumbleUpon if you’re hoping to generate interest in your site or your other content?  It’s pretty simple.  First of all, submit your content to StumbleUpon.  You can go directly to stumbleupon.com to do it, or you can download a toolbar for your browser that will help you.  Then, review others content.  Don’t give random reviews that are not well thought out.  Find good content relevant to your own, and write good reviews.  After doing a couple of reviews per day, if your content is good you’ll find that more people are reviewing and finding your content.

Pretty simple.

Happy stumbling!

EndGamePR.com has a new design!

The last version of the site was more than a year-and-a-half old, and I was tiring of its limitations. Mind you, I’m still rather fond of it. I’ve never seen a layout quite like it. However, I never liked the look of the blog page, and a few other things with it were rather ponderous.

Here’s a quick nickel tour of the new design:

• My favorite thing about it was a late addition.  Just yesterday, I decided to add the social media tabs you see on the right side of every page except for the front page.  If you slide your mouse over them, they pop out.  Pretty cool, huh?  I’d like to thank the Human 3rror Blog for the code used to make them.  I made a number of modifications to the original design, including the addition of the white shadowed tabs.
• Interior pages of the site actually have several layouts.  There are two versions of the right sidebar layout (with different text in the sidebar), and one of the left sidebar layout.  I made a page layout with only one sidebar, but so far I haven’t found a reason to use it.
• The new blog layout is MUCH neater and easier to read than the previous iteration of the Social Media PR Blog.  Despite the fact that I styled it myself, I never liked the way it turned out.

Last, but not least, one thing that remains the same: This site is built using my favorite software … WordPress.

Have a look around, starting with the home page.  Let me know in comments what you like and what you don’t like.  If you find a bug, I’ll be happy to squash it :)

This post has been a long time coming.  Client work and family life keeps getting in the way, but the online distribution universe changes so fast, and I’ve received so much goodwill as a result of the previous two versions of my online news release distribution reviews that I had make the time to write this update.

Let’s take a look at a some good reasons to distribute your news releases online:

1. By including a link in your release, you’re building inbound links to your web site.
2. Your news is being spread beyond the boundaries of your web site, increasing the odds of it being seen by your audience.
3. There is the possibility that it will be seen by new media or traditional media, leading to coverage from these outlets.  This isn’t something I ever count on, but it does sometimes happen.

Disclaimer: There have been occasions where I have been given free “try out” release distributions. I do accept these because they allow me to sample different services, but I do my best not to let them sway my judgment in the review.  I consider it the same as a product reviewer accepting a sample product.  Disclaimers about specific services can be found within their reviews.

So, which is the best place to distribute your news releases to reach your 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!

Premium News Release Distribution

PR Newswire (PRN)
Cost: Varies, starting at $170 for a 400 word release
Review: PR Newswire has been around in one form or another for more than 55 years.  They market themselves as being a mainstay among reporters and news organizations, and are recently pushing their ability to get news to bloggers via their opt-in distribution lists.  They also do a good job of distributing your release for use on other websites.  Your release will rank well on Google News for your keywords, and you’ll get plenty of quality backlinks.

The problem with PR Newswire has always been cost. They have a yearly fee that you have to pay for the privilege of paying more to post your releases.  They have been known to waive that fee for small businesses, so be sure to ask if you qualify.  Releases start at $170 for distribution on their city or state wire, with an additional charge for every 100 words after that. That’s for a short release of 400 words, though, and they charge you for each word after that.   At that price, the distribution to the media is limited.  If you want distribution to nationwide media, you’ll pay almost $650 for a single release.  With all of this said, I do think PR Newswire does a great job getting the word out to the media, and as I’ll say in a number of cases during this review — you get what you pay for.

BusinessWire
Cost: Varies, starting at $180 for the first 400 words, or $175 for EON distribution
Review: Business Wire has become my “go to” service for clients who have the money to pay for premium distribution. As with PR Newswire, their service is not cheap.  A basic citywide distribution will cost you at least $180 for the first 400 words, with an additional charge for every 100 words after that.

A basic release from BusinessWire will generate quality links for your release, and plenty of them.  The version of your release on the Business Wire site will rank on Google and Google News, but I’ve never been overly impressed with how well it ranks.  Generally speaking, the sites they distribute TO will rank better than the actual Business Wire version.  The good news is that Business Wire has a long list of sites that automatically will run your release, and after your distribution they will send you a link that will show you all of those sites.

One thing I should also note is that releases I have posted on Business Wire HAVE resulted in legitimate coverage on blogs and other new media sites.  What I mean by this is that rather than just posting the release verbatim, the bloggers or new media journalists have rewritten it or contacted me to learn more.

New for 2010 from Business Wire is a different pricing plan for their EON release distribution.  The EON platform, launched several years ago, is designed with social media and SEO in mind.  EON releases rank well on Google and Google News.  You can include images and videos, and style your release using HTML.  Previously, EON was an add-on to standard geographic distributions, but starting January 1, 2010, you can purchase it separately for $175.  A word of caution, however: with an EON release, your release is NOT distributed to Business Wire’s online partners.  It will only be posted on Business Wire’s site.

PRWeb
Cost: Packages range from $80 to $360
Review: When PRWeb was launched in 1997, its owners seemed to realize that releases would become more than a tool for sending news to the media.  They were correct, as releases are now a means of pushing news to your audience and pulling them back to your web site.

The two benefits of PRWeb are SEO and price.  Your release will rank very well on Google and Google News, and they do distribute to many of the same sites as PR Newswire and Business Wire.  While you may not receive as many backlinks as with the two services reviewed above, you also won’t pay as much.  Distributions on PRWeb start at $80, and range up to $360.  My personal favorite is the $200 package, which offers a nice mix of cost and features.  Additionally, they don’t charge per word, so a longer release will cost the same as a short one.

All PRWeb releases include live links, feature quotes, and a framed view of your web site below the release text.  Starting with the $200 distribution, you can also utilize anchor text links, which help greatly with your site’s search rankings.

Budget News Release Distribution

Online PR News (OPN)
Cost: $12 (free releases available)

Disclaimer: Since the last time I updated my review of online news release distribution, I have begun partnering with Online PR News on their podcasting service. I have also consulted with them on marketing in the past. In return for my consulting services, I receive complimentary distributions.

Online PR News is a relative newcomer to this stratosphere of distribution services.  Founded by two SEO content producers, the site naturally focuses on helping you publish a release that ranks well in the search engines.  The site has installed many upgrades for 2010, and has in turn raised its prices.  Free ad-supported releases are available that include one backlink, but with the low cost distribution beginning at $12, there’s no reason not to ditch the ads.

OPN has taken many cues from PRWeb in its release design, with each paid release receiving a pull quote and a frame below the release text that shows your web site.  Paid releases at the $12 level can also include user images, and releases at the $49 level and up can embed YouTube videos.  At the $349 level, you not only receive their maximum visibility and distribution, you also receive release editing services AND distribution via PR Newswire.

OPN does not yet have the push to other sites that Business Wire, PR Newswire, or PRWeb offer, but their prices are attractive and the OPN version of the release will rank very, very well on Google and Google News.  This service is definitely worth trying out.

PR Leap
Cost: Distribution starting at $49
Review: Started several years back as a free service, PR Leap has grown into a full service paid distribution site.  New for 2010 is a feature called PRTube that allows you to embed your release on a web site or blog using a code much like a YouTube video.  Additional services include Google News distribution, text links, and submission to (but not guaranteed usage by) outlets like the AP and UPI.  My previous experiences with PR Leap have been good ones, with their releases ranking well for my keywords.

PR.com
Cost: Distribution starting at $30 (free option available)
Review: The first thing you’ll notice about PR.com is the AWESOME domain name.  It doesn’t get any better than that.  The second thing you’ll notice is a slightly confusing web site set up.  I don’t normally distribute using this service, so I in writing this review I needed to go back to check pricing information. It took about 10 minutes to find the pricing page, which is about nine minutes too many.  The major issue is that the site has lost some of its focus on release distribution and is now also posting job listings.

Aside from the navigation and focus issues on the site, distribution from PR.com appears to be quite solid.  After running some Google searches for releases posted there, I found that the site does help spread your release to a number of other sites.  Distribution costs start at $30, but after perusing the options at that level, it appears that you’d really need to spend $50 to get much distribution to other sites.  A free option is available, but is ad supported.

PRUnderground
Cost: Distribution starting at $9.95
Review: PRUnderground is one of the more successful of the sites using a social media approach to distribution.  You’ll likely want to disregard the $9.95 package, as it doesn’t include much distribution and you will have ads on your release.  At the $29.95 level, the ads go away.

Distribution from PRUnderground focuses on channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and Moreover.  The technique seems to work, as the releases from PRUnderground that I tested by searching for them in Google did seem to get distribution beyond the PRUnderground.com site. You can also embed a YouTube video, and a preview of your web site is shown in a frame below your release text.

Other paid distribution services: Marketwire, PRBuzz, 1888PressRelease

Free News Release Distribution

Fewer and fewer sites offer quality free distribution anymore.  Here are some of the better options:

PRLog
Cost: Free (ad supported)
Review: PRLog has been around for years, and despite the unattractive layout of the site and its releases, it’s hard to beat the rankings they achieve for releases posted at this Romanian-based site.

A couple of years back, PRLog branched out from news releases and started offering job listings as well (is this a trend?), which cluttered up the site considerably.  Despite my cries that I’m going to stop using the site, I keep coming back.  If you can tolerate the look and feel of the site, it’s something worth considering.  It’s one of the last truly free release distribution services that isn’t neutered, as they include a user-uploaded image, some customization (bolding and italics), and the first three links included in your release will be live.

24-7 Press Release
Cost: Free (ad supported), with a $49 paid option
Review:24-7 Press Release is another of the sites with free options that I have on my roster for secondary distribution.  Generally for a client, I post on one of the premium paid sites such as PRWeb or Business Wire, and then I post versions of the release with different headlines on some of the free sites, such as this one.

One of the only major downsides to 24-7 Press Release is that they hold your release for a day or two before they post it on their site.  However, if you pay for immediate distribution, they review it pretty quickly.  Once live, your free release will rank well on Google and sometimes Google News.  Links in the release body are not an option unless you pay for the upgraded release, but a link is included in a small company profile box.  Their paid option of $49 includes enhanced SEO benefits such as anchor text for links within the release.

Wikio
Cost: Free
Review: Wikio is actually meant more for articles and for sharing links, but it can also be used to post your news release content.  A voting system similar to Digg is utilized.  When setting up your release, you can post anchor text links and format your release in many of the same ways you can when using a paid service.  There’s no additional distribution beyond the version posted on Wikio, but that version does seem to rank fairly well in Google.

I-Newswire
Cost: Free (ad supported) with paid option
Review: Going the route of many of the free release sites, I-Newswire has neutered its free options and increased its paid options.  Their free releases no longer include a link.  That will cost you $35.

The Open Press
Cost: Free (ad supported) with a $10 paid option
Review: This is a great free distribution site, with one downside — signing up is extremely ponderous.  Currently, you cannot sign up on the site.  Instead, you have to send an email and request to be registered. The explanation given is that they’ve had issues with spammers.  Once you go through that process, however, the site is very good.  It looks businesslike, and the releases posted there rank well in Google web search.  Tasteful ads are placed on your release.  They can be removed by paying $10.  The site’s owners truly review your release before posting it (unlike some sites who say they’re reviewing it, but really want you to pay for expedited distribution) and WILL reject releases that they don’t feel meet their standards.  I know this from experience.

PressReleasePoint
Cost: Free to post on their site (ad supported) and $15 to distribute elsewhere
Review: This site sounds good on the surface — they post your release on their site for free, and for $15 they’ll post it on 50 free distribution sites.  I have not tried this service, but it concerns me.  Google’s duplicate content rule may come into play after the same content is posted on that many sites.

Another problem is the site itself.  Previously, it had a number of layout problems.  Some of those have been fixed in the past year, but what hasn’t been fixed is that the web site itself is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors.  My suggestion to the owners is that they have a professional copy editor go through the site with a fine-toothed comb.

One thing I do like on their site is the comprehensive list of more free and paid sites than I can possibly list here.  The list is found here.

PitchEngine
Cost: Free (no ads)
Review: PitchEngine is a bit of a conundrum for me.  The site, which features a slick social media news release format, has numerous fans.  However, while the version of the release on PitchEngine ranks rather well on Google, there’s no Google News distribution.  The site has had it in the past, but has lost it several times.  Additionally, releases posted using the free option expire after 30 days.  To have them posted permanently costs $35 per month.  To get the full benefit of the site, with a custom newsroom and permanent hosting, will cost you $50 per month.  I’m not certain what happens if you pay your subscription for a year, post releases, and then decide not to renew.  If anyone can tell me whether those releases then expire or not, I’d be happy to update this review.

The bottom line is that while PitchEngine has many loyal fans, I’m not really one of them.

Other free distribution sites: PR-USA, PostaFreePressRelease, Express Press Release

The Best of the Best

So, which of these sites do I think are the BEST?

Premium Release Distribution: PRWeb and Business Wire (Tie)
It’s hard for me to pick between these two, so I’m taking the easy way out.  PRWeb does a better job of ensuring your release ranks well and generates some backlinks.  Business Wire, however, will make sure your release receives loads of backlinks.

Budget Release Distribution: Online PR News
With budget distribution services, you normally won’t get a lot of distribution, so I’m judging how well the version of the release on the distribution site ranks on Google and Google News.  OPN gets you VERY good rankings with both, and they’re continuing to expand their offerings.
(Honorable Mention: PRUnderground)

Free Release Distribution: PRLog
I keep trying to replace them on this list because I wish they’d do something to clean up their site, but it’s hard to argue with a free release service that offers their features, and will get your release excellent search rankings.
(Honorable Mention: Wikio)

Disagree?  Agree? Want to talk about another distribution service (preferably not one you work for)?  Please let me know about it in comments!

If you appreciate the work it took to compile these reviews, please be sure to “retweet” it using the button at the top of the page, or post it on one of the services below!

When you sign up for a podcast produced through OPN, you’ll be put in contact with me, and we’ll work out a time for you or your designated spokesperson to be interviewed over the phone.  Podcasts from OPN will be approximately five minutes long, and will be fully produced, including a short introduction and intro and outro music.  When completed, the podcasts can be posted as part of an OPN podcast, and will also be included in the Online PR News iTunes “store”.  Clients will also receive a copy of the file that they can post on their own web site.

To listen to a sample OPN podcast, click play on the flash player below.  For more information on this offering, visit the Online PR News podcast page.

When my wife and I moved into our last home, the previous owner of the house left behind a dresser.  It was in acceptable condition, but it was horribly out of style, so I ended up using it for tool storage in the garage.  This old dresser made its way to our new house, where it soon became the bane of my wife’s existence.  She finally convinced me recently to get rid of the old dresser and replace it with high metal shelves that use our limited space better.  The dresser is a very low and wide one (six feet wide at least) and wouldn’t fit into our car, so I decided to take it apart and cut it into smaller pieces that could more easily be taken to the dump.  Upon taking out the drawers, I made a discovery.

Under one of the drawers I found stacks of papers.  They included letters to girls (never finished or mailed), letters FROM girls, greeting cards, information about applying for college, report cards, a book of matches, an empty carton of cigarettes, some high school newspapers, a folded Styx poster, a picture of a guy with a mullet (the former owner of the dresser?), and two pay stubs.  After looking through the papers, I found that they belonged to a teenager named Randy, who lived in Missouri in the mid 1980s.

Understandably, I was excited about my find.  Being a child of the 80s, it was much like digging up a time capsule.  Reading through the letters, I felt like a combination historian/voyeur.  I even started to make plans to use social media to locate the owner of these treasures. My good friend Jeff Kraus suggested I start a blog to find the guy. I thought it would be a fun social media experiment (I bet you were wondering how social media played into this blog post!)

Unfortunately, the fun took a dark turn when I found a small stack of papers with information about teen suicide.  I told myself that it was possible the materials were left over from a health class in school.  Then, I looked on one of the pay stubs, and found Randy’s social security number (how times have changed!)  I hopped on my computer, went to the social security death index, plugged in the number, and found out Randy died in November of 1994.  I don’t know the cause of death, but given that he was born in 1967, it was certainly premature.

So, we’ve finally come to my quandary. With the information I have (Randy’s high school, age, where he lived, etc.) there’s a chance I could use social media to find someone who knew him.  The question is — do I try?  Do I try to find someone who might want these letters and other materials? If a brother or child of yours died prematurely (perhaps at his own hand?) and someone randomly found some of the remnants of his life, would you want them? Is it ethical to reveal details about a person (whether deceased or not) to the world via social media, just because you’re trying to find them or their family?

Let me know in comments.  I’d love to hear your thoughts!