Press Release Help Required ?

Not necessarily... on both fronts

There are some good free PR sites out there. Personally, I use PRLog's free option whenever I need to publish a press release. (Last time I checked, the main difference between the paid and the free service is that you don't get to use anchor text on the free version. Instead, you have to use the traditional "http://" link. Still, though, you're getting your link in there. That's good enough for me )

Whether you decide to go with a free or paid PR site, check out their distribution list first. That's the list of people *they* send your PR to after you've published it on their site. If their distribution list doesn't include news outlets you've actually heard of, they're not worth your time. (I can't tell you how many times I've seen a PR site brag about having 1,000's of distribution outlets, only to find that most of them were things like "Bob's News".)

Even after you've found a good PR site, it's not guaranteed that your PR is going wind up on Google News (or *any*) news outlet. They have the option to pick up your release, so if it's not particularly newsworthy (or just not written very well), they'll pass right by it.

I am not interested to get it from SEO point of view. So you are suggesting not to spend money on paid PR, if I am not keen on SEO but just to get to the distribution lists

- as someone who used to work at a newspaper, here are two great resources:

1. How to Submit a Press Release: 10 Steps - wikiHow

2. Guidelines for Submitting a Press Release - latimes.com

I would not make it more than 1 page - they usually get trashed.

Make a list of the newspapers you want to submit to and google things like "submit press release la times" or whatever like the link #2 here and find out their PERSONAL guidelines.

Tiff

Thanks for it
I got the concept now. So the gigs being offered are just that they will be sending it to multiple newspapers

Don't submit a press release to one of the paid search PR companies if you wanted to be listed in the mainstream media. The chance of success is VERY low. The trick is to get in touch with the relevant people at the newspapers. Feed them a story which has been tailored for their specific take on the news. Do not send out general press releases if you really want to get noticed.

For example, if you are a company that is changing the way it operates for the better then this may work:

1. Business Magazine - Send a press release out to a specific magazine which deals with business on the creation of new jobs.

2. Technology Magazine - Send a press release out to a specific magazine about new technology that you are starting to incorporate into your company.

You will find that it is MUCH EASIER to get picked up if you go down this route, and the only cost is the time and money that you spend on the press release. The 'narrowing' down I took above is rather a simplistic view on things, but I promise you, it is a great deal more effective like that!

If you are trying to get in touch with a mainstream newspaper then maybe talk about something a bit more controversial i.e. new findings your company has ORRRRRR don't do a press release at all. Instead look for newspaper articles that are related to your niche. You can them become a commentator and contact a journalist with a quote about that! I have got into the mainstream media a lot via that method, and even managed to promote a gaming website that I used to own (offered a quote on how I felt the industry was going to develop over the years).