Has anyone done Press Release and has it been useful?

[2intrigue]

[Michael b]

2intrigue,

I use press releases quite often for many different niches. They are essential going to do 2 things for you. #1. If its really news it might get picked up by news sources and then it gets around the net rather nicely- if its not news but still a press release worthy its still going to gather a little bit of notice. #2. Press release sites sometimes have some good back links coming in so they rank well with search engines like google. This also means that you may be included into google news etc. I believe to get listed in google news you must list you phone number and country.

This also means extra traffic for you as many times if you target your keywords right in your press releases that you can also land a top spot in google.

So I think that press releases are worth the time. As far as FREE or PAID i use both, it just depends on how big I think the news or announcement is and typically how much money can I make off of it in the long run.

Its also depends on if I want to deal with ads being on my PR's as free press releases usually have ads in them.

In my sig I have a traffic tips sign up. its free I go over press releases in much more detail in there.

[RadioGirl]

I used to write Press Releases for clients (still do on the side when I'm asked, just not something I promote with everything else going on). They can be very effective depending on the results you want to achieve.

Online they're great for backlinks and can be optimized with keywords. Offline they bring media attention which brings in results that simply cannot be bought...

I had one client who I wrote a series of releases for. They were distributed both locally and online. With the first release, she was picked up in one newspaper. The second it was two papers and a radio station. The third she got in the local papers again, plus another three that were regional but not local to her for a total of five newspapers plus two radio interviews and one television interview.

For resources are you looking for distribution resources or learning resources?