PRWeb.com and the like - how much traffic can you expect?

[tomfra]

I've been considering submitting a press release and was wondering what kind of traffic one can expect from PRWeb.com or its free alternatives. I have yet to try press releases so my experience with them is none so any stats as well as tips & tricks will be appreciated!

Tomas

[tomfra]

A little bump...

[ryanman]

Yup just a wee bit...Not much.

[KirkMcD]

You're not really doing it for the traffic as much as for the link.

[FrankRumbauskas]

My experience with PRWeb and press releases is that they're like rolling the dice - it's completely by luck and chance. I've had several press releases go nowhere, then one was picked up and run by every CNN-affiliate station in the country!

On backlinks, that depends on your goal. If you put hyperlinks in your release, it will not be picked up by news outlets. So decide if you're doing it for backlinks or for the hope of getting picked up by news outlets, and take it from there.

Good luck!

[tomfra]

Thanks for the suggestions! Right now I am mostly interested in the traffic part and perhaps in "credibility increasing", not too much in the backlinks. I guess I will need a press release sooner or later anyway.

Tomas

[madison_avenue]

Around 2005 Press releases were all the rage, everybody raved about them , everybody started doing them. They were then shown not to produce instantaneous results so they rather dropped out of fashion. The truth is if you story is good they can still be very cost effective, sure they're no quick fix but don't underrate them, you can still get some nice links.

[Mark Riddle]

A recent promotion for one of my sites I created a special URL that I only used in press releases, I got the $19 package from webwire.com

The text stated the main domain the link went to a specific page that is a copy of the main page.


With a 14 day test The main url (showed up as text) received 4821 hits (which means it was typed in from the press release as not all sites does the link show as a link) The special link received 8492 hits, all in all the new site got 13k+ hits for $19.00

I have tested with free sites as well they all generate some traffic.

For me PRWEB at $80 didn't perform 4 times better than webwire although it does generate more backlinks and more traffic.

I wasn't doing this promo for SEO purposes (although SEO is always a part of the thought proccess)

Write a press release for people to read and you will get traffic, be too concerned with key words and you will be dissapointed with your traffic.

Mark Riddle

[EndGame]

This is really interesting stuff.

I am trying to build a good amount of quality backlinks to my site. Its nice to get traffic with that, but its not essential.

Which would be better for this task?

A press release from prweb or webwire?

Or

An article marketing campaign using articlemarketer or isnare? Anyone have any thoughts or experience to share?

[tomfra]

netmalls: Those are some interesting numbers! 13K uniques for $19 is a truly great deal. Did you hire someone to write the press release for you? I plan to hire someone but since my product is a bit more "technically complex", finding the right person could become a long process.

Tomas

[TheRichJerksNet]

Excellent thread, I have been wondering this myself.. I dealt with a few of the free ones that really did not produce much.

I was planning on doing prweb also since I know they have been around for years.

But now Mark Riddle, you bring up some very interesting numbers for a measly little $19.. May be a good thing to try before paying that $80 to prweb.

I am looking to submit a press release not for building backlinks but for the site being picked up by the news so any other suggestions Mark ??

James

[warrior2008]

OK, here is the deal. I have never paid or asked anyone to pay more than $80 at PRweb(out of Ferndale, Washington, My State . I have a way that has helped me a lot.

First what I did a while back, (which landed me on the Rich Jerk's Infomercial/Testimonial page writing a release for the Jerk in 12/2005 with 195,000 downloads/views within 30 days before he was seen everywhere). I set up a journalist profile to see what admin controls they had and noticed that they can set their profiles to ONLY receive 5 star releases/RSS feed to their email/sites. I was shocked and realized that if that was the case, then a 3 star or 4 star rating from PR staff would not cut it. So what I did was send my pr release to my buddies to do a spell check/grammar on it as an extra set of eyes, got their opinions, made the changes, and sent it to PRweb for review. It takes 2 days for the release to go live and every edit causes delays so I set the release to go live Sunday evening and set it up Friday evening, as that day works great for me with the Monday traffic online through the rest of the working week. I then call up PR web on the phone if they give me a 3 or 4 rating and ask why? Then I ask what I need to do to make it a 5. They usually tell me but sometimes say the heck with it and make it a 5. It is a MUST that the first letters of every word in your title is capitalized and that the title has a hook and is short and to the point.

Yes, it can be hit or miss here but this gives you the best chances ever. I also search my release in Google/news to start and find those sites that steal my release by putting their URL there instead of mine. PRweb gives journalists the boot out of their network if they do not fix that ASAP. The I try to scare them a bit for doing that by saying that I will tell PRweb if they do not change it and replace my URL ASAP. Then I ask for something FREE from them in exposure on their sites for doing if they have a lot of traffic, and trust me some will give you free exposure on their sites for what they did. So search daily and use this as an opportunity.

Oops did I say too much! I just had a real good go around here many times

I hope that helped a bit.

Stay Golden,

Warrior2008

[Mark Riddle]

Tomas,

With a technical product you may have less overall general interest, that is a part of the reason for the high numbers, the site had wide appeal.

I did write the release myself, but I also have to say that I have had years and years experience reading press releases in my days as a broadcaster so I pretty well knew what was needed to be readable.

Also like I said in the original post that I didn't focus on keywords. (I have had keyword focused releases that were much more targeted, had less traffic but did lots to boost my site rankings.)

When finding a writer I would suggest someone who has actually worked in either newspapers or in broadcasting. General circulations.

These people have read literally tens of thousands of press releases and can spot a good release before they have taken time to read it.

Mark Riddle

Originally Posted by tomfra

netmalls: Those are some interesting numbers! 13K uniques for $19 is a truly great deal. Did you hire someone to write the press release for you? I plan to hire someone but since my product is a bit more "technically complex", finding the right person could become a long process.

Tomas

[Mark Riddle]

James,

Wanting to be picked up for distribution is entirely another game.

Paul Hartunian who is here on the warrior forum has a course that teaches how to get your press info into hands of real people who are looking to do interviews and write feature stories.

A thumbnail sketch of what he teaches is the entire reason for the press release isn't to get in published word for word, its to generate interest for the media to call YOU.

His Focus is on sending media releases directly, by fax, mail, drop it off etc.

What I have done in the past (not with a website but with a retail business) is send the press release to weekly papers, and some of the shopper papers.

You don't think that they have any interest in anything because they are full of ads, and mostly that is true, but you will find little weekly / and shopper papers that will publish your release as filler for their ads, and you can imagine the good response rate that you get.

Remember shopper papers are being read because the reader is looking to buy something.

Weekly papers pull simply because they have a longer retention time, people feel the urge to throw the daily away the next day, with weeklies they hang around at least a week ~!

Mark Riddle

Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet

I am looking to submit a press release not for building backlinks but for the site being picked up by the news so any other suggestions Mark ??

James

[TheRichJerksNet]

Originally Posted by netmalls

James,

Wanting to be picked up for distribution is entirely another game.

Paul Hartunian who is here on the warrior forum has a course that teaches how to get your press info into hands of real people who are looking to do interviews and write feature stories.

A thumbnail sketch of what he teaches is the entire reason for the press release isn't to get in published word for word, its to generate interest for the media to call YOU.

His Focus is on sending media releases directly, by fax, mail, drop it off etc.

What I have done in the past (not with a website but with a retail business) is send the press release to weekly papers, and some of the shopper papers.

You don't think that they have any interest in anything because they are full of ads, and mostly that is true, but you will find little weekly / and shopper papers that will publish your release as filler for their ads, and you can imagine the good response rate that you get.

Remember shopper papers are being read because the reader is looking to buy something.

Weekly papers pull simply because they have a longer retention time, people feel the urge to throw the daily away the next day, with weeklies they hang around at least a week ~!

Mark Riddle

Hi Mark,
Thanks for the information, much appreciated. Very informative reply, I will look into what I can find out on Paul.

James

[tomfra]

Originally Posted by netmalls

With a technical product you may have less overall general interest, that is a part of the reason for the high numbers, the site had wide appeal.

Well, the product itself (see my signature if interested as I do not want to spam the forum) does have mass appeal, but the press release author should have good understanding of the technology used in it and be able to explain it in an easy to understand way.

At the WebWire.com website they suggest very short articles - around 250 words, for the "News Release" format so I may be able to write something myself. I mean, what am I risking? $20?

Tomas

[Mark Riddle]

Tomas,

It is a good skill to develop, and you're right its only $20.

What I would suggest is go and create a free account at PR.com if they think the release is at all spammy or poorly written they will reject it. and its FREE.

A press release has to be news worthy and not like an article or a feature story.

Keep the release as free of jargon as possible, and write the release and submit it to PR.com first, When they approve it (might as well let it get some attention for you too) then send it to webwire

Mark Riddle

Originally Posted by tomfra

Well, the product itself (see my signature if interested as I do not want to spam the forum) does have mass appeal, but the press release author should have good understanding of the technology used in it and be able to explain it in an easy to understand way.

At the WebWire.com website they suggest very short articles - around 250 words, for the "News Release" format so I may be able to write something myself. I mean, what am I risking? $20?

Tomas

[LisaM]

Wow this thread is very useful. I've been thinking of using press releases, but just didn't know whether it could be effective. Or how to structure one whether for backlinks or traffic.

I'm definately going figure out how to use press releases

[TheRichJerksNet]

Thanks Lisa..

I have been looking for this thread.. it got lost and I had a hard time finding it..

James

[TheRichJerksNet]

Just remembered also .. This may help, but I can not take credit for finding it. Another Warrior posted a link to this. If I could remember her name I would give her credit.

Anyways have a look here for help with your press release if you already have it written. It's not perfect but it should give you some helpful tips.

http://pressrelease.grader.com/

James

[Dana_W]

First of all, here's the list of free press release sites that I submit to: http://www.thepressreleasesite.com/l...ase-sites.html

Secondly...it is really hit or miss with submitting press releases, I have been surprised by what press releases get picked up by the main stream media and by what press releases didn't, although as a former reporter I can give you a hint as to why - it's pure luck. If it's a slow news day, and a story comes across our path that fits what we need at the moment and has a good news angle, we will grab it.

But I will also tell you this - if you want to ensure that your story gets picked up by local media you need to do more than write a press release and send it to the free distribution sites. You need to call the newspaper, TV station, radio station, whatever, and find out who to send it to, and send it to that person - giving them enough lead time to get the story in, as in, don't send a story in that is only timely if it runs tomorrow -

Because there are a huge amount of stories competing for a newspaper reporter's attention and if you want to stand out you need to work at it.

As for traffic---so far my clients say PRWeb sends them the most, then Webwire, then the free sites - but I submit to 24-25 free sites.

[Loren Woirhaye]

If you pay $100 or whatever they charge to get it promoted
these releases ca send you traffic for a long, long time.

Pay the money and start a backlinking campaign for the
press release and watch your PRWeb release and the URL
it goes to climb in Google.

Free press releases - you get what you pay for.

[angela99]

PRWeb is great; look for traffic which is steady over time. I call press releases "the gift that keeps on giving", because when I look at site stats I can see traffic from press releases I wrote years ago and posted on PRWeb.

Although I've tried the cheaper alternatives, I've noticed that PRWeb traffic is steady, whereas with the other sites, it's a flow of traffic, and then nothing. No real idea WHY this is so.

I wouldn't rely on press releases for traffic -- use Pay Per Click.

However, you can and should look to press releases for:

* Credibility. Post your releases on your own site(s) too, in a Media section;

* Keeping current, former and prospective clients up to date with what's happening in your business;

* Branding your business, and building a reputation for whatever it is you want to build a reputation for; :-)

* Building relationships. Press releases are excellent if you want to build long term relationships with the media. However, do realize that one release won't do it, you need to develop a campaign which goes on for three to six months.

Cheers

Angela