Something I don't understand about news releases.

Most of the press releases that I've seen are not "newsworthy" - meaning they're not going to wind up in an actual news story on TV or in the paper. When I worked in newsrooms, we got press releases emailed and faxed to us all the time; most of them touted a new company or new product. They were all promptly thrown in the trash.

Hello timpears,

unlike article distribution news releases can bring more traffic and backlinks (if we choose the distribution centers wisely). For example - I've this service release on bignews from where received more than 1200 visits. Can you believe it? I think this is why people do care about PR syndication.

But if your release seems like a promotional stuff it is not going to give you good results. Most of the releases are 'built news' they are not genuine. For the sake of news - they produce announcements, updates, some blah blah (oops.. I've done this more than a 100 times ) The result is entirely depending on the ability to produce the news. If you can write a 'fake' genuine looking press release definitely you will get the benefits.

Some times I'd forced to write press release where there was not even proper contact information. It was just for the sake of the links and traffic. But of course, I could do that.!

Nicole said it. Most releases are not newsworthy and the vast majority will not be picked up by anyone.

What do you mean, there is stuff in the news about losing weight, panic attacks, hemorrhoids, etc all the time...like every single day. You don't have to be writing a news release about your site, just about your niche.

For instance, if I had a site about losing weight, you could easily write a press release about any new research, ideas, etc that come out in the news about losing weight.

"Scientist say losing 10 pounds could extend your life 10 years..."
"Study shows average take out lunch has 1 billion calories..."
"Recent research discoveres we may be more obese than we thought..."

Whatever, any news that ties into your niche is, or course, fair game. Besides, if you are going to compete in a market, it doesn't hurt to take the time to stay up with the most current happenings in your market, so there is no reason why you should have any trouble finding news worthy items to write about. Then, you position yourself as being a potential news breaker (read: authority) in your market to whomever reads your release, and you gain potential backlinks, etc, etc.

You don't have to be the first to write about a news story, just do a bit of extra research, put a spin on it, and position yourself as the authority and resource in the PR.

Anther thing to consider is actually creating something newsworthy. For instance if you are in the weight loss niche, you could sponsor a 5K run/walk where proceeds go to help local schools keep or expand their physical education programs. I know that my sound a bit grandiose, but it was just an example and the more you can start thinking outside the box and make you press release more noticeable the better you off you are. Not to mention this type of exposure could lead to even more links to your site besides what the press release can actually do for you by itself.