Press Releases - who reads them and how do they help?

Hi

There has been a lot of talk on this board recently about Press Releases and sites like PRWeb. Looking at the website, I see loads of people advertising products and so on through press releases, but I do not see who would read these releases. I was wondernig whether anyone knows where these releases go after you publish them and who reads them.

Is the benifit that of having real people read your releases (and hence organic traffic), or in having your link posted on many sites (and hence more PR and crawls).

Thanks

Zach

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Theoretically, media people will go there and scan for news of interest to their particular publication.

Might be true for some smaller media outlets, or on very slow days, but anyone wanting to do a true press release needs to contact their target media directly.

What is the url for this site?

So the goal is to get the media to include your site in their story..?



here: http://www.prweb.com/

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I think that is one of the goals. I know webmasters who have gotten media requests and tv and radio interviews because of them. Remember webmasters are not the only ones looking for content. Think of all the local news and talk shows on tv. Think of all the wacky radio talk shows all over the country. These all likley have news segments, and the can eat up an interesting story.

I'm on a couple of mailing lists for specific press releases, and I read them. Beyond the possibility of them picking up news articles, it's also a way that companies get new content through free lance writers who may have something to add to their company. I recently wrote a nicely paying article for a company I learned about through a press release.

I think these work because people are generally nosy and so press releases work.

Thanks!

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i think press releases probably work better on localised websites where the release targetted for particular events or products or services happening or avaialble in within that city or region. i have seen it work for a couple of events. a company i worked for. hosted - website got tons of hits in a very short span of time and where it didnt work when they tried to publicise an international conference in a similar manner. I think the increase in the target audience geography must have something to do with it.

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wizkid
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as a former journalist, i'd say that press releases can be really powerful tools if you know how to compose one properly.

the problem is that a lot of the stuff on prweb and other online agencies are pure crap.

hence any reputable news publisher (whether tv, radio, newspaper, magazine, or website like bbcnews.com or cnet) will throw most of it out.

if you'd like to see the power of news releases, do a google for thejapanesearecrazy.com.

my friend fired out those press releases and they were carried at quite a number of places.
some even as far away as eastern europe and south america.

so you need a combination of:
1) compelling content
2) interesting angle
3) colorful personalities

to ensure that your press release is widely syndicated.

too many press releases look like articles that you'd find in article directories which is a damn shame.

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