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Post your Press Release - Free
by Francine Silverman
www.nystatetravel.com
The Internet has become a global bazaar with everyone
hawking their wares. Freebies are shrinking as we discover
more ways to part with our dollars. As author of the 2003
guidebook, Long Island Alive, I was heartened to discover
that www.longisland.com accepts press releases when the
information pertains to Long Island. Shortly after posting
a press release about the publication of my book, a Long
Island radio station called me for an interview.
It should always be that easy! What if you're a poet who
wants to get the word out about an upcoming reading but is
as poor as a churchmouse? I came across a piece by Marcia
Yudkin, a contributing author at www.powerhomebiz.com,
which lists nine such sites. Since e-zine articles often
lack datelines and can languish at a site for years, I
decided to investigate.
Of the five extant sites, I found www.prweb.com among the
best. One hopes PR Web will continue to offer free press
release distribution. It~s an easy site to navigate and
virtually every business is welcome to contribute its news.
You choose among a long list of industries and your release
is placed with that group ~ the most recent goes at top.
Some categories draw many more releases than others. One
time there were 6060 Internet, 1489 education,941
travel,and only 389 environment to weed through. Sometimes
it pays to be unpopular! Two words of advice: Register
first at Member Login and examine the site carefully before
submitting. A scroll-down menu is at the bottom of the
release page and is easy to miss.
Remember as a kid you were rewarded with a gold star for
good deeds? PR Web awards stars to its financial
contributors. One star is placed beside your release for a
$10 donation; the bigger it is, the more stars. And the
more stars, the higher up the release. As a free site that
keeps your release up for a long time (some date back to
Nov. 1999), $10 seems fair.
I tried submitting my press release ten times to Press Box,
www.pressbox.co.uk, before giving up. The ~Timeout~ message
suggested that ~there may be too many people accessing this
page.~ But when I tried a few hours later, it went through.
This is a London-based website ~used by thousands of media
relations professionals each week,~ but it~s hard to know
if there are American journalists among them. The site has
20 broad categories, such as sports, finance and health.
Click2NewSites.com, www.click2newsites.com/press.asp, also
allows you to post a press release according to your
category. If you read some of the releases, you~ll find
news about new websites, research findings and promotions ~
literally everything. Your release appears within 48 hours
after acceptance. Readers choose from among headlines that
are linked to their respective releases, or select ~New
Sites~ and pick a category. The site claims to average
22,400 visitors a month.
www.ideasiteforbusiness.com/direct.htm was the most
frustrating, but I was impressed with the support system.
After entering my ad (they~re actually releases) and all
the required information, the page would not submit
regardless of how many times I tried. I e-mailed them and
shortly after received an e-mail apologizing that their
database was down. The writer, Mary Gillen, asked me to
replicate the ad in an e-mail, which I did. She couldn~t
have been nicer if I were a paid customer, even e-mailing a
thank-you. There are 40 free categories, including
novels/poems/plays/short stories, but none for travel, so I
chose ~Pets/animals.~ My book has so much information on
pet-friendly lodgings and pet stores that I wrote a press
release geared to pet owners and submitted it. If you don~t
find a fitting category, think about how you can relate it
to an available category. Suppose, for instance, your novel
focuses on a character who lives for music. Why not gear
your press release to that trait and post it in the
category for music/vocals/instruments? It~s worth checking
out.
http://books.dreambook.com/profitpoint/pressreleases.sign.ht
ml is entitled ~Las Vegas Comp Getaway~s Free Press Release
Announcement Site.~ It~s easy to navigate but hard to know
what the site~s all about, except that the host, Dreambook,
does web hosting. You get as much space as you need and the
releases appear immediately, but I can~t help thinking that
no one will read it. For one thing, the releases run into
one another. Also, there is no way to edit them or anyone
to contact.
Are you an author of a book about real estate, lending or
banking? www.mortgagemag.com accepts all types of releases
pertaining to those industries.
So how did these freebies pan out? PR Web provides a record
of hits to contributors who pay $10 or more. In less than a
week, according to the stats, my release was read three
times (probably by me); it was picked up by a media outlet
four times, forwarded to a third party seven times and
printed nine times. Whether these numbers are considered
good, or whether my book will sell more copies, is anyone~s
guess.
The keyword here is "luck."
Francine Silverman is author of two New York State travel
guidebooks, Catskills Alive (second edition 2003)and Long
Island Alive (2003-583 pages), both published by Hunter
Publishing and geared to every interest, i.e., lodging,
dining, wineries, shopping, recreation, museums, parks,
wildlife and history. To learn more about her books and for
links to hundreds of attractions on Long Island and in the
Catskills, visit Fran's one-stop website at
www.nystatetravel.com.
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