Excited about PRweb results for your press release; Not so fast

PRweb.com vs. PRnewswire - Here's the PRweb experience.

So I wanted to share my experience with a recent PRweb press release I did. I paid for the premium package and for the editorial service in which PRweb writes the press release.

At first I had some trouble getting the order all the way through their shopping cart process. Mainly because even if you pay for them to write your release their system expects you to Upload" a release and pick the release date. After making a phone call I was told to just upload a blank document. Once that was done it was assigned to a writer who contacted me.

Now I wasn't looking to publish a form letter business press release. I know that to get published you have to give an news publisher something they can drop in that is informative, news worthy, ready to go and that does not sound like an advertisement.  After expressing this and giving some detailed direction I got the PRweb written release. It was very much a form letter "business" release. Disappointed, I ended up writing the headline and meat of the release myself. Granted it's hard for a freelance writer to know all the details of your business so I ended up using the PRweb writers version as a guide or skeleton that cost me $350. Next time I think I'll use an outside freelance writer or just do it myself and pay the $99 for them to proof read it.

So the release is good, ready to go and it's off. Remember my goal is to get published, not so much SEO for my website. I realize that a visible website could help me but getting my message out to the AP wire was my highest priority.

At first I was excited, the results appeared to be really good on day one. Impressions (which I take to be someone looking at PRweb's press release list for the day) was 80,000. That's a nice big number. Reads (which means someone clicked on the headline to read the story) 450. Interactions: 16. Using google analytics I got 35 visits to my website from the release.  Ok but what about actual pick ups by the media?

In PRweb's dashboard they have a google search button that basically puts the majority of your headline in quotes in google search bar. So within 3 hours it appeared that some major TV stations had put up my release on their website. Great! By the end of the day about 8 tv stations had "picked up" the release. The next day PRweb has a list of publications that have "picked up" your story. It was a long list. Great!

But not so fast!!!!!!!!!!!!! So what I discovered is that if I went directly to these publisher websites and searched for my news story it was nowhere to be found, nor did it come up using the search bar in the website. That was the case on all the TV stations and major news publications. Why? Well it appears that PRweb pays to have your release published on the particular TV stations website but it's not part of the actual content being published by the organization. I later noticed all the "picked up" as PRweb calls it, had a little gray "advertisement" label on these sites. It also appears this is an advertisement network as they look identical. So this is all great if your goal is SEO as these back links are from major websites but it's misleading in my opinion to say you got "picked up" by these news outlets... because you DID NOT get picked up, it was paid placement.

I soon  received an email from PRweb letting me know my press release only stays on these "picked up" sites for 30 days and I should start thinking about my next press release. Sadly, this shows us exactly what PRwebs main purpose is and what service they excel at, SEO. They have a complex web of associates that are paid to "publish" your article for Google's sake. After coming to this conclusion it makes since why they have an annual package to constantly publish. You can pay google adwords to be at the top or PRweb but you're going to pay someone or pay in your own time.

Unfortunately, for those looking to get in a newspaper, on TV or a magazine; the initial results that PRweb sells you just aren't true. It's a fake out. In the long run, the online visability PRweb.com provides may lead to actually getting published but only time will tell.

I am fully aware that releasing the information is just one step in the process of public relations and that more leg work is needed. I also acknowledge that PRweb did in fact boost my websites position on Google. But buyer beware with regard to "getting picked up" as defined by PRweb.