News coverage to boost rankings. Will paid or free press release help?

[AjiNIMC]

I have few friends who have very good financial websites doing extremely good in helping people. Many thousands are helped so far but news coverage yet.

We know google gives good weightage to authority sites (which includes news media). How to make news media cover a website.

Paid Vs Free
------------
There are some free ways (hiring a PR manager and all) and then impressing the journalists but there sore services that offer this as paid service close to $700 for new coverage across different news websites. Have you tried it?

Thanks,
AjiNIMC

[tedster]

An artfully done press release can definitely help to get coverage from the news media - and that can be a good tool to get authoritative backlinks that Google will value.

The value of an online press release, on its own, is rather limited in time. Google tends to cover it like part of the news cycle, and the release itself fades after 30 days. The long term power, in my opinion, comes from a cascade effect that can flow from the people who read the news coverage and then spread the word further.

I'm a firm believer in finding a real pro to write the press release. To get real mileage out of it takes someone who understands the press well: what they will gobble up and what they won't. Even in charitable situations, it's worth paying for a pro if there is no pro who is willing to contribute their skills.

Many so-called press release services never really reach the eyes of the real press - and that's who you need to move.

[reprint]

Build up a relationship with a reporter. That has worked for me. You will find many of them blogging and they appreciate leads for stories. Make their life easy and give them a story they can easily work. Give them a heads up on other stories before you push yours and good karma will help you.

[indias next no1]

that's right.
1st choice : contact a reporter of a newspaper, if they publish an article about your website, then you will be able to get direct visitors + a backlink & visitors from the newspaper website + blogers will write about your website after reading the news, so you can get more backlinks. triple benefits.

2nd choice : on the otherhand if you submit a press release through some online PR agency, it won't works. You can get some backlinks but will be of no value and can get a minimum of 10 or 20 visitors. that's all.

in my personal experience, i found the 1st choice worked better for me.

[bradjhonson]

Contact the reporter of the newspaper for the publishing of the website

Bradjohnson

[edited by: tedster at 6:38 pm (utc) on June 9, 2008]

[Syzygy]

The quality of the press release itself has been mentioned, but one aspect often overlooked is the quality of distribution.

Taking time to build your own (e)mailing list of useful sources is as much essential to the success of the release as the quality of the story. Of course, you can pay a PR company to distribute it for you, but what to do when you eventually terminate your contract with them?

Ultimately though, it depends on the scale of public relations activity you want to undertake.

Syzygy

[whitenight]

I'm a firm believer in finding a real pro to write the press release.

Ditto. Ditto. Ditto.

Find the best. Ask their price and then pay double to make sure they make it their priority.
The ROI is priceless, if your business is set up properly for it.

[AjiNIMC]

Where do you get the network of reporters or pro pr writers? how much do a pro pr writer charge? Is there a guarantee that it will get published across some good news website, as i will be spending clients money over here.

[tedster]

Most good Press Release firms can put you in touch with good writers. The best of them may ask to be paid by the hour, and $200 an hour or more is possible for someone with decades of experience and success to draw on. Worth every penny.

[edited by: tedster at 8:45 am (utc) on June 11, 2008]

[AjiNIMC]

thanks tedster