PR Websites - Over fished?

Are articles submitted lost in 1,000s of submissions added daily?

[irldonalb]

Hi,

48 hours ago I submitted a massive press release for my client on PR Site X. A year ago a similar release would have generated a lot of interest and would have been posted around the web resulting in 100’s of back links.

I believe this no longer happen as there are too many news stories posted to the same press release websites. Most of the releases are extremely poor quality and wouldn’t get into a school newspaper. And journalists, editors and web publishers don’t bother threading through to find the good stuff.

Could the success of these PR websites could be their downfall?

Donal

[Rosalind]

It could just be that the PR site in question has gone downhill. But personally I've always found such places to be too crowded, and at the same time not specific enough to the topics that interest me.

What you really need to do is set up a specific opt-in newsletter, as well as announcing your news on a page on your website. You could also include your press releases in your RSS feed. Basically, just try to get your message out via as many channels as you can, so you make it as easy as possible for other interested webmasters to get the message without having to sift through lots of junk.

[ildarius]

If the Press Release is very good is there a chance it might end up in a bigname news paper like new-york times?

Is there a service that submits Press Releases to big time news papers?

[howardam]

The problem with most of the PR sites is that they are so general they get bogged down with masses of completely un-related Press Releases. Most major news companies ignored the stuff on press release sites now. It's time to go back to hands-on PR. I would suggest either getting someone in house to handle PR or hiring a firm that specializes in both print and online PR. (preferably that has worked in your industry before).

And, ildarius, I haven't hear of an online service that submits to the big time newspapers with any success rate. I think that without a hands on approach to PR, you don't stand a chance at getting into the big papers, no matter how good your press release is.

[ildarius]

howardam - thank you for the reply. When I call the Newspaper who is the person that I ask to talk to?
(what's that position called)
Don't tell me "Journalist", because I'll blush :)