Hi everyone,
In this post I’ll be dicussing another way to get some great backlinks to your sites, which is by writing and submitting press releases.
Press releases are very similar to submitting articles to article directories for links, however the angle is slightly different.
The idea behind a press release is that the content you submit, needs to have some form of news in it. I struggled to understand how I could write an article about my affiliate marketing sites and make it sound news worthy for a long time, so I just didn’t bother much with it.
However now, when I build a new site, I realized that in itself is kind of news worthy, even if only in my little world! So I write the article/press release explaining that a NEW site has arrived on the scene and is helping people to find the best deals on XYZ. That’s just one idea, I’m sure you can come up with other ways to write news into your articles.
You can creative with it, just make sure you don’t try and submit a regular product review style article, otherwise the press release site might just ignore it and not pubish it on their site.
My goal when submitting press releases, is to get backlinks to your web pages, so don’t forget to place anchor text links back to these pages somewhere in the press release.
In saying that I have actually made some sales, not many though, not enough to bother focusing on it for sales anyway, from submitting press releases, because sometimes other sites grab the press release and publish it also, and so you get more mileage out of each submission.
I’ve also noticed that not all press release sites have the same rules, much like article directories, so be sure to read the submission guidelines first and stick to the rules.
I don’t use software to submit to these kind of sites, because I simply haven’t come across anything decent that does the job I need, so my team and I just submit manually to sites we find. Here’s a few sites we are submitting to:
ADD PR (PR 3)
Press Expose (PR 3)
Health (PR 3)
That’s it for this week tip on submitting press releases.
Thanks
Matt
Related articles
im still struggling on articles lol i am new an between reading on everything i need to learn to make sales and get traffic i can’t really start writing articles i’ve tried but nothing comes to my head but i keep trying, i’ll start with articles maybe later i’ll do press release
Matt Carter Reply:
November 26th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Hey Alex
Sounds good, and yeah I know that there is a lot to learn and put into practice.
Keep up the good work
Matt
Thanks Matt
Looks like I have soemthing else to look into 🙂
Hope the Baby is doing well
Paul
Matt Carter Reply:
November 26th, 2010 at 8:41 am
Thanks Paul,
Nice to hear from you, and yes he is going very well.
Regards
Matt
Hey Matt, thanks for the tip! I was just discussing press releases with a family member who’s interning at an SEO firm in Austin, Texas. I have yet to try this, but will give it a go.
Thanks as always for posting excellent, actionable content!
– Devin
Matt Carter Reply:
November 26th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Hey Devin
No problem and great to hear from you again, you seem to be a regular commenter these days which is great to see, appreciate your participation.
Matt
Hey Matt,
Clever technique; I’ll incorporate it into my SEO procedure.
Cheers,
Brett
Hi Matt
Thanks for another down to earth, actionable post!
I have to admit that I too wonder how ‘newsworthy’ a niche and/or affiliate site would be so I haven’t used press releases yet but your comment ‘I realized that in itself is kind of news worthy, even if only in my little world!’ is very true. It’s all releative!
I was on a webinar yesterday (Ryan Deiss Black Friday Bootcamp) and they mentioned WebWire.com as a press release site that they were having good results with. Their testing had found that for $19 with WebWire they got almost the same results as one with PrWeb.com for about 1/10th the cost.
Have you had experience with either WebWire or PrWeb?
Libby
Matt Carter Reply:
November 28th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Hi Libby
Thanks for commenting and glad you liked the post.
I will have a look at webwire.com and see how it goes.
Thanks
Matt
Always is be difficult to me to use press release sites. Do you suggest a good book or site for Press Release tip and tricks?
Regards,
Mell.
I’ve used press releases in the past and it seems the one’s that always did the best were the one’s I actually paid for on prweb.com. Do you feel the same or do you get just as good of results from the free one’s?
Matt Carter Reply:
November 29th, 2010 at 10:42 am
Hi Shane
I haven’t used PR web for a while, I rememer about from Libby’s comment, so I might give it another crack. I do find that I get links from the manual submissions my staff do for my sites though.
Thanks
Matt
Hi Matt and Libby:
I have used Webwire a number of times. The $19 service is very good. If your press release is keyword optimized you’ll end up at the top of Google News within hours (as soon as they accept your submission). You can include active links in the main text of the press release, too.
In addition you can add 3 related links with anchor text at the bottom of your press release.
It seems that most free services I tried strip out the active links from the text.
Regards,
Kurt
Hi Matt,
Can I post press release of ONE site to the Press Release sites every few days (over and over) or what should be the approach ?
Thanks
Shahriyar
Matt Carter Reply:
November 29th, 2010 at 11:05 am
Hi Shariyar
I wouldn’t do that, as its much better to get your links from a variety of different places.
Thanks
Matt
Hi Matt,
Thanks for great tip. I didn’t think about PR yet. I tried to submit articles to eZi e but always there was so ethnic wrong and have been rejected. I would lime to avoid it. Could you give us some sample? When you submit to PR, you provide link to your sales page or website where you have review of let’s say Amazon products? I read PDF yesterday in which writer recommends Bookmarking Demon software. Have you or anybody here heard about it? If yes, what do you think?
Thanks
I used PRweb once and it took so much effort and so many rewrites to get them to accept it, in spite of the fact that you are paying them quite a large sum, that I never repeated the experience!
I feel about ready to try again so fired up by your post, Matt, I might give it a go. Webwire sounds as if it might be worth a try, too.
Always good info, Matt, thanks.
Mary
Matt,
In my post has too many mistakes. I wrote on iPhone. Can you delete it?
Here is again:
Thank you for next good tip. I didn’t think about PR yet. I tried to submit to eZine Articles but for some reason always my articles were rejected. I fed up and stop doing it . I’m sure is wrong and have to try again. I have a few questions. Is it easier to be accepted by PR than Artivle websites? Do you provide at the end of your PR link to your sales page or page with product review? Have you or anybody here heard about Bookmarking Demon software? I read about it yesterday but would like to know honest opinion. Spend $67 is easy for something it may not work.
Thanks
Adam
Yep, great share. I think I should be looking for some low PR sites to post th press releases since my writing is not that good. But of course, need backlinks like everybody 🙂 Pls let me know if you know such sites with minimal guidelines and maximum chances to get approved.
Excellent Matt, I never bothered with Press Releases for the same reason you mentioned, I figured, what the heck is “newsworthy”? But I just bought a couple domain names for a new niche I am going to try, so this tip is timely! Many thanks!
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the reply, couple of more questions,
1. Do we only publish 1 press release for 1 site to a particular PR site ? Or can we post “that” site to “that” PR site after sometime ?
2. Thanks for the 3 PR sites. Can you post some more preferable ones ? When I do this I would like do more in one sitting. 🙂
Thanks
Shahriyar
Thanks for your tips on Press Releases
Luis
Hey Matt,
Thanks for the actionable content. I have a question that is related to this, but maybe not quite on topic. I assume the PR for ADD PR (PR 3) is 3 at the TLD, and our articles will be inside the page. So, the PR is probably n./a. for our press release page, not 3.
My question is, how important is that? The juice passed down from the page our press release article is on will be a PR of n/a, but the TLD is page rank 3. In other words, does the page rank matter of the TLD at this point, because our physical page that our article is submitted to will be a PR of n/a.
In other words, is there any difference getting a backlink from a Page Rank “n/a” site at both the TLD and a webpage INSIDE the site, as opposed to getting a backlink from a PR 3 at the top level, but a PR of “n/a” INSIDE the page?
I hope this question makes sense.
Thanks!
Ryan
Matt Carter Reply:
November 29th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Hi Ryan
Yes it is very important what the home page page rank is, the higher the better, as this will make the new pages more powerful for backlinks.
Great question by the way
Matt
Press releases are great ways to drive traffic, and I’m really glad that you post this post for us.
But, one thing I was wondering, are those the top 3 press releases sites that we should submit to? Because different sites might require different press release, right…
Regards,
Dev
Matt, thanks for the post on press releases! I regularly work on articles but have never submitted any press releases. Per your recommendation, I will give it a shot! Thanks again and look forward to your next post!
Matt
For press releases, it is easier to look at what is newsworthy in your market. Write it up putting your own spin on it and then reference your website in the press release.
If a new book is being released, an event happening, somebody having a baby, these are all newsworthy events and you can have a link to your website for further information.
Must check this out but the different PR companies have different guidelines for submission so it can be slow..some don’t allow links.
Terry
Press releases are excellent way of getting your site known. Once it has been published, it can get picked up by hundreds of publishers around the world gaining really strong presence and foundation. I have been submitting same press release (not spun or re-written) to PR sites with link (or two) to main page. I don’t think page rank really matters here….
Cheers Matt
A
Hi Matt
Im actually developing my own news site.. http://www.pabnews.com and hope to offer a press-release service shortly…..
This might be another tool in one IM’s armoury…!
Does take quite a bit of work to get a news site build and accepted by Google though…
regards
Paul
Matt Carter Reply:
November 29th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Hey Paul
Great to hear, not sure how hard it is, but I’m sure it will go well for you!
I wll submit to it if you give me the details,
Thanks
Matt
Hi Matt
Great post. I have to say I also refrained from using Press Releases as I felt I was too small a fish to matter. Well, I do these days and its primarily for SEO purposes.
Also if you have your keyword in your press release title, it could rank on page 1 of Google easily.
I use pressexposure.com and prlog.org
all the best
Have been using articles to try and get backlinks to my site http://www.goscubadivingnow.com and have wondered if trying press releases would be more effective.
Thanks for a great post Matt.
I’ve always wanted to learn more about press releases, but never made the time.
So this past was very helpful.
Thanks
Hi Matt,
I have not tried a press release yet for IM. When I had my brick and mortar business I used them quite a bit. I will have to try one but yes they do have to be news worthy or they will not take them. Also a big thanks for your wp blog theme I used it the other day and it works great.
Thanks,
Michael
Nice post. When you include the link in the article do they add nofollow to it or let it go through?
Tried this a couple of weeks ago. I have a full report showing the PR submitted to 35 decent PR sites (I checked the links to these PR sites so I know they were published) but I see hardly any PRs indexed and no backlinks. Curious as to why !.
Any comments
Si
Thanks Matt for the addresses for the PR releases that you recommend. You share so much helpful info to other affililate markerters!
I appreciate your thoughtfulness and help.
Matt,
While I agree with the value of posting press releases, the PR of a particular press release site does not always translate to strong link juice. The Press Release is usually on a non ranked page so the link juice is less.
The benefit of submitting press releases is usually in the wider distribution you get. For example, we use PRWeb as one of the two submission sites that we focus on. It is expensive, but it gets a wide distribution on the sites that pull press releases from them. For example, many releases are picked up on parked sites from whypark.com. This is all automated so just by submitting the release you wind up with a larger distribution.
Just my two cents.
All the best,
Martin Greif
President
Privacy Partners, LLC
Matt Carter Reply:
November 30th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Hi Martin
Some great points here, however I do think the PR of the home page does play a role, as although the new pages are PR 0 they are more powerful if close to a high PR home page.
Thanks for a great comment!
Matt
Thanks Matt. I’ll try that.
I’ve been doing lots of articles but not yet press releases.
Great ideas Matt:
I have been using prlog.com (PR6) and free-press-releases.com (PR5) very effectively for some small business clients. They are both free with upsell services available.
Work well, have a great day mate
I’ve used Press Releases and actually got 1280 indexed backlinks from one PR – however, they don’t stick – that one site is now down to 149 after about 8 months.
You can find quite a few PR sites that are free and allow anchor text so for one article you can get some value out of it.
Stu
Nice refreshing post Matt. I still haven’t bothered with these also but interesting take on how to release your own site with a minor bang. Cheers
Nice refreshing post Matt. I still haven’t bothered with these also but interesting take on how to release your own site with a minor bang. Cheers
Thanks for the post Matt.
I’m very new to this whole thing. I just got my first site up, so right now I’m just trying to get a full understanding of backlinks and the best way to do them. I haven’t gotten any farther than social bookmarking so far.
I will definitely try this once I get more confident in my writing abilities and understand backlinks better.
how are you I was luck to search your subject in yahoo
your topic is impressive
I learn a lot in your theme really thanks very much
btw the theme of you site is really fine
where can find it
I’ve used Press Releases a couple times with a lot of success.. Although, I always linked back to a highly optimized Landing Page within the article submitted.
Cheers!
Hi Matt
thanks for your comment…
Once im up and running with press releases ill let you know.
Kind regards
Paul
Hi Matt – Can you please delete my first comment – It was sent in error, Thanks.
P.S – You, Duncan Cleaver and Gaugher Chaudrey are the top I.M Marketers in my opinion.
Why? Because you are reachable – Doing a great job – Thanks.
Thanks Everyone.
Thoughts on releasing the same PR piece on the same day to several PR distribution points? Seems to me this should be fine considering it is a press release “news” rather than an article.
Hey Matt!
Right on target as usual – press releases can be very effective… one thing, though…. i just submitted a release to press exposure.com, and it from the preview it looks like the links are going to be no follow…. just something to look out for…
I wish i had read this two days ago, because the first press release i submitt i not only forgot to put a link in my article, as i also didn´t know that i should write the article like you say.
Thanks for sharing that.
great post havnt tried this yet but will give it a go now thanks for another feather in my cap….
I had heard that press releases were very beneficial but so far had shied away because of the cost. I guess you get what you pay for though, and maybe that’s why the free ones don’t really give any noticeable results.
I think I will go ahead and try this on your recommendation. Thanks for the tip.
Angela Lethbridge
Matt,
Thanks for the info.
I’ve submitted a press release in the past, and I used Online PR media (formerly online PR news). I paid, but it’s much cheaper than PR web and you still get anchor text links, images and submission to Google news. They also have good resources for how to write an effective SEO press release.
Andrew Fields
I might have to try this method for backlinks one day. I’m fairly new to this game and have only done one site which I’m struggling to find time to do anything on it anyway but thanks Matt, I keep you on my list for a reason, that reason being I really appreciate your work and I like the way you put it across, regards…..Grant
Thanks for all your hard work Matt givings us all this useful info.
You have energized my drive to make my sites more profitable.
I’ve found that PR sites can be hit or miss. I’ve done a few press releases and didn’t see much of anything as far as results (especially in the search engines, although people claim that PR’s can give you instant rankings). Other than the few times I used them, I haven’t really done them since. The results just weren’t enough to make me want to continue.
Good post Matt,
one press release every three, four weeks keeps your site supported by new, quite valuable back-links,
Btw. I make great use of http://prsitelist.com/ list of sites. Maybe will be useful guys as well.
I always tried Press Release, but everything failed. I mean I have bought many automated PR submission software packages, but they never submit it with nice backlink to may pages, I do not know why, but the links were always broken, so I gave up. But I will try to pick 3-5 and submit the site manually, that should not take more than 20 minute, so I will keep you posted, Thanks a lot
Thanks for the great information, Matt. I always think you provide so much detail, things I never thought of before. I think I will try the Press Release with my new site (health- related). Thanks for the Health Link you mentioned 🙂
Ever grateful –
Ruth Martin
I just stumbled across this post while searching for marketing advice. I never knew what a press release was, much less how easy it is to do one. Thank you very much for the information, I will be investigating the rest of your site.
Tara
I’m having trouble getting my asbestos websites news approved by some of the press release sites.
Its just that i don’t think we have anything newsworthy to talk about.
What do you guys think should another medium of SEO would be more appropriate?
Thanks Matt, This is all new to me and your post is most helpful. I will now add making a press release to everything else I have been doing and hadn’t thought of it before. Thanks again!
I’ve used Press Releases and actually got 1280 indexed backlinks from one PR – however, they don’t stick – that one site is now down to 149 after about 8 months.
You can find quite a few PR sites that are free and allow anchor text so for one article you can get some value out of it.
Greetings from Poland!
Matt Carter Reply:
September 3rd, 2011 at 12:04 pm
HI Paul
Yeah they might not all stick, but still 149 is good from one press release.
Regards
Matt