Press releases, what are they about?

Like most things in IM, there are two ways to handle press releases : the right way and the wrong way.

Wrong Way:
Create a press release that is basically just a sales pitch for your site/product and then dump it on the free press release sites like PRLOG. Sit back and wonder why nothing happened.

Right Way:
Look at your product, figure out what problems it solves for the user and how it is a game changer for the market. Include a lot of information about how the old ways are not as good and how your new thing is going to make the world a better place. Use statistics or quotes from real people or experts claiming how the old way was unsatisfactory and then reveal how your new way is better.

Look at a few dozen press releases from large firms and see how they read. Study the style and voicing of those releases (or hire someone to help your do all this).

Find a good press release service that does real distribution (hint: not the free versions).

A press release is supposed to generate interest from JOURNALISTS (including major bloggers) who will then post the press release in their publications or contact you for more information. This will generate not only traffic from the publications reprinting your release, but also get you high quality backlinks from those publications.

If you go with the cheap and easy method and just throw out some nonsense and call it a press release, all that will happen is that your press release will sit on the press release site and (if you are lucky) get reprinted on a few low quality sites that are using the free PR sites as autoblog fodder.

GameVoid makes a lot of good points there. You might also consider a PR a better method for a serious local business or website along the same lines of a local business. Not a good method for promoting affiliate products or junk products like quickly thrown-together e-books.

Thanks for the advice so far.

I deal with a lot of press releases but for new products/releases etc. and all issued by PR agencies, for major players in the photographic world, I struggle however to see how you would do the same for a website? I'm guessing that is just me, so will look around and see what I can find of others writings. My problem is I guess that I see my site as basically an online magazine (we have articles as well as being a huge link site) and magazines don't usually release press releases, they publish them instead. They get the facts they have new information out by releasing a new mag and selling it to news agents etc. This is why I am finding PR stuff tricky.

Also is there a reason the free press release services are no good? is it simply that they do not attract the right clients or is there something else.

Again, thanks once again in advance.