Press Releases
A couple of things that I have noticed that make them more effective:
#1 - Try and have your release get published on a Monday or Tuesday. There is more activity on the internet in the beginning of the week and thus more chance for people to view your PR.
#2 - Build some backlinks to your PR... submit some similar/spun content to WP, Blogger Hubpages and have the links in those go to your PR.
#3 - Don't write a spammy PR and expect it to get published or if it does, do not expect it to generate much traffic. A professionally looking/written release does much better.
#4 - If at all possible, have a picture inserted in the release and make sure that the name of the picture is one of your keyword/keyword phrases.
#5 - Use your keywords in the title and pepper them throughout the PR. Many people write a PR and fail to take advantage of keyword's in the title and thus do not get the juice that you should get from a PR.
#6 - Do not write a 1000 word PR... make it between 250 and 300 words and keep it on topic. You are not selling anything here, you are just announcing to the world something new/improved/revised.
I don't use the paid services although I have had others tell me they work great... I use the free ones and get some nice benefits from them. If others have other ideas about how to benefit from a PR, I sure would like to learn from you as I am positive others I this forum would also.