Online Press Release Distribution

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Online press release distribution sites have been available for quite some time, but now they’re more popular than ever. In addition to using press release distribution sites to announce news about a company, organization, or individual, many website owners are now using online distribution sites to bring better search engine placement and incoming pageviews to their sites.

The reason for this is simple: press release distribution sites are often large, constantly changing, and crawled by search engines much faster than an independent, small website. This allows website owners to optimize their press releases for certain keyword phrases, post them to the distribution sites (with their own site url included), and they tend to have a good chance of placing well in search results (which then allows people to follow that url to their own sites). Is it what press releases are intended for? No. Does it work? It can.

No matter what your reasons are for wanting to use online press release distribution sites rather than manually submitting your press releases to media outlets (or in addition to it), here are a few tips and distribution sites to get you started:

Online Press Release Distribution Sites

www.PRnewswire.com (paid)
www.BusinessWire.com (paid)
www.eReleases.com (paid)
www.USnewswire.com (paid)
www.EmailWire.com (paid)
www.PRweb.com (paid)
www.PRleap.com (free)
www.iNewswire.com (free)
www.PR.com (free)
www.Free-Press-Release.com (free)

Tips for Writing Press Releases (With Online Distribution in Mind)

Don’t write the headline / title of your press release in all caps; some online press release distribution services will reject your release if you do.

Don’t write your press release as though it were a sales pitch or advertisement. It should read like a brief news story that you might find in a newspaper. Avoid using words like ‘I’ that make it sound like you’re including testimonials. Some of the larger press release distribution sites will reject your release if it’s anything other than a straight news story.

Decide ahead of time what keywords you want to optimize your press release for. Work them in as well as possible, but don’t make the keywords overpower the release, or you’ll risk losing potential coverage. Media coverage has far greater potential for most businesses than search engine rankings for a release.

Jenn Mattern

Jenn Mattern is a professional blogger, freelance business writer, consultant, and indie author. An active digital publisher, she runs numerous websites and blogs including All Freelance Writing, Freelance Writing Pros, and Kiss My Biz.

Jenn has over 20 years' experience working as a solopreneur running a 3-prong business of offering freelance writing and consulting services, running digital publications, and operating as an indie publisher of predominantly e-books.

This experience includes 25 years working as a professional writer and editor, more than 20 years' experience in marketing and PR (specializing in areas like digital PR, online marketing, social media, and SEO), 19 years' experience as a professional blogger / online publisher (including web development), and around 18 years of experience as an indie author / publisher.

At Kiss My Biz, Jenn shares stories, tips, and tools from her own adventures in solopreneurship, while aiming to help fellow solopreneurs and creative professionals succeed even where it feels against the odds.

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