One of the best ways of link building is to use a particular type of service called a Press Release submission services. Using a press release to spread the word about your brand or product has been very effective. Press release is also a great way to get in the process of building links. The fundamental aspect of press release is quite simple to understand. By releasing your product or website information to a particular press release service, your release gets out on the wire and gets broadcast on various news sites where your site address is linked and thus spread across the web.
Check out this excellent video to get more clarity on the use and effectiveness of ‘Press Releases’.
There are many PR sites available today and I have tested several of them for different campaigns. The three sites listed below have given me an excellent ROI.
PRLOG:
PRLog is a free online press release service. It allows its users to submit their articles, websites etc free of cost. To submit a press release with PRLog.org, creation of a Press Release account is necessary, which is a free process. Once signed up, a user can submit his content to various news sites such as Google News.
PRLOG.org allows users to submit their releases with a preview and the releases are published within 24 hours. Along with these features, PRLog.org also allows for submission of company profile, its logo and tags, URLs etc. A free, automatic PDF version of your release is also generated.
Being a free service, it is very beneficial for people to spread word about their products or websites.
PR:
PR.COM is another popular press release website which provides press release services in two flavors – Free and Paid. Both versions require users to sign up on the site by filling out a simple form.
With a free account, one is allowed to distribute press releases and job opportunities only. Free users are not allowed to include their company profile and are imposed with various other restrictions.
Paid users are allowed to have their company profile included in their release and their releases are included in various listings. Directory listing service is also provided which ensures that the release finds maximum number of audience. Paid users are also allowed to include one URL link for their website in their releases.
Paid releases come in two flavors – Gold plan users are charged $199 per year while Platinum users are charged $499 per year.
1888PressRelease
:
They are another press release service providers who also distribute releases to various search engines, news wires and websites. They provide you with two options – Free and Paid.
Paid users benefit from the fact that their submission is optimized to improve visibility in search engine listings thereby providing maximum publicity. Such an optimization is not permitted in a free release service.
One feature of this service which sets it apart from most others is the fact that 1888PressRelease has editors who manually review and approve each press release so that they meet the formatting, content and grammatical standards.
The paid press release service from starts from $15 which does not include a release to Google news, while the other plans which cost $25 and above include such a feature.
Bonus Tip: Google News is one the best resources of getting traffic. The problem is, Google has a stringent criteria for accepting sites/blogs into their system. Well, fret not, here is a roundabout and a simple way to get going. Go to Google News , enter your keyword(s) and look for the PR sites that shows up there. Go to that PR site and submit your release. In all probability Google News will index your article that you submitted through PR. Enjoy the increased flow of traffic!
Check out PRLOG.org, PR.com, 1888PressRelease
Ankur Jain is a Software Engineer in Test Automation. After a 5 years stint with Accenture and Oracle, he started his eLearning company. A long-time blogger and proud owner of the "Learn" series of websites. 