Over doing it on Press releases?

[sportsman87]

How often is too often to submit a press release? Is there any benefit to using multiple press release websites to submit the same PR?

Appreciate your thoughts!

[AlanMosley]

I dont think they have much value at all. If any one can get a link buy having a press release then i doubt that SE's give them much value if any.

If you were anouncing the new release of the latest iPhone in a place where not anyone gets a press release and it gains plenty of links them it will have value, but 99.995 of press leases are just not going to do anything.

[SCL-SEO]

PRWeb still works for me, though not as good as it used to. As long as it is just one part of a wider mix of link building activities, it can help - especially in low-medium competitive markets. Submitting the same release to multiple sites doesn't sound like a good idea, I'd focus on using one service, the higher quality the better. PRweb still seems to hold weight with Google, as the high price tends to keeps spammers away.

And btw, I have no affiliation with them whatsoever

[loopyal]

Hello Benjamin.

Yes, press releases are completely useless - unless, of course, you look at this evidence:

The numbers next to them are the number of visitors this month:

6827    http://shar.es/qlHSv

1436    http://shar.es/qlbWJ

1159    http://shar.es/qlbq3

Our Most Read page holds these, so you can go back in time and see  what they did in previous months.

Of course, since google crushed us with panda, things haven't been as good as they used to be, be even so,

These are pretty good for a (if you believe in PR) PR2, PR5, PR4 pages.

As people are always telling me: You can talk to someone who has never ridden a motorcycle and they will tell you those things are dangerous, noisy and the cops will put you in the slammer just for sitting on a bike, or you could ask the old harley rider and he will tell you life on a bike is great and you only get into trouble if you upset the cops.

You have to look at real evidence. If you write a press releases that has real value for readers, that has a great headline, that is structured well, that you link to, that is good enough to get other to link to, then you did a great job. If you write crap, have nothing to say, nobody links to it, you put it on a useless site - or many useless sites, then you get nothing.

Diversity of quality effort is what works (and quality incoming links, which really are votes of confidence)

As Alan Mosley says, you can generate no value, but to do that you would have to have a bad attitude about your press releases. If you spend 2-4 hours writing an amazing story or page, but only 10 minutes on a press release, your response will be in direct proportion to your effort.

[bronxpad]

It's been said that content is king for a website and the same holds true for Press Releases. From my research ( not Experience ) I've read that the benefit of online press releases are not good by themselves but are good when the story gets picked up by an online newspaper. My advice would be to first have a great story to right a press release about, then spend quality time writing your press release and then choose a site that has high domain authority and page authority. You can use the link analysis tool on this site to determine which site is best. Then once you have your press release done blast email it to everyone you know and distribute it on all social networks. You will want it on Digg and Stumble Upon and other similar sites. You can also run a search on google for journalists who are in your target market and make sure they get a copy of your release. Email them, Call them, contact them by any means so that they can then use your release in their next story.

[AlanBleiweiss]

I'm in the "yes they have value" camp. We belong to the Vocus small business service and thus send out releases several times a week when we have valid things to share from a non-SEO press release perspective on behalf of our client. Yet we take full advantage of the SEO functionality that comes with it.

Like has been said, as part of a larger PR and SEO strategy, they definitely have their place in the mix, because in spite of all the "junk" scraper sites, a quality release will definitely generate links, views, clicks and even contact inquiries.

We even use them for our own company, not just clients.  http://www.click2rank.com/press/

[sportsman87]

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond. I found your opinions extremely helpful! I think I know the direction I need to go in now.