I usually frown on free press release distribution services for three reasons:
1. They seldom “distribute” anything. Instead, they park your press release at their website, to be found—or not—by the search engines.
2. You can’t be certain that the releases are getting into the major news feeds unless you check.
3. It’s next to impossible to contact them if you notice an error, like a wrong telephone number, in your release after you’ve posted it to their site. So the incorrect release lives online forever.
Yet one of the most frequent questions Publicity Hounds ask me is: “Which free press release service should I use?”
I now strongly recommend you take advantage of the free press release service that comes with the free Press Room Page in the “Expert Book” at ExpertClick.com, published by Mitchell Davis of The Yearbook of Experts, Authorities & Spokespersons. Register here.
What You Get with the Free Service
I’ve been promoting Mitch’s paid service for many years because it allows you to post up to 52 press releases a year at no additional per-release charge. And if you notice an error in your release, you call his office. A human answers the phone and fixes the error. His releases are picked up by Google and LexisNexis. Until now, you had to pay for that service.
But not anymore. You get a very basic version at the “Freemium” level.
It gets you a News Room page, photo, profile and a link to your website. You can also post one free press release each month which will also show up in Google and LexisNexis.
Only the paid service has free telephone support. But theFreemium members are offered support via email with a 24- to 48-hour commitment to questions. You can email support questions to mitchell (at) yearbookofexperts.com and the answers will be posted at their customer support blog. Mitch’s staff will notify you to visit the blog to see the answers.
Other things you need to know about the Freemium level:
- You’re ranked in the topic lists and search results after the paid members, but you can include 39 topics for indexing.
- These free accounts are supported by contextual Google Ads, on their profiles and news releases.
- Freemium member accounts are not included in the printed Yearbook of Experts, Authorities & Spokespersons.
- Inactive Freemium accounts may be removed from the system, when members do not send a news releases at least every 90 days. (I like this feature because it forces you to send releases several times a year.)
- You can’t edit news releases once they’re sent, but you may cancel them.
The Paid Services
The other two membership levels are:
–Classic at $95 a month
–Club at $295 a month.
Paid members get telephone support at (202) 333-5000.
You can see the Member Handbook and the benefits you’ll get by becoming a paid member. You can also see how to send a news release. (Full disclosure: I’m an affiliate, and get a commission on any sales that result from the paid services through my affiliate link.)
A Note for PR Pros and Publicists
Participants may only send news releases about their businesses.
If you’re a PR person who wants to send news releases about clients, you’ll need to open additional unique accounts for them.
Why? Because the press room page system is what drives search engine optimization. That’s just plain smart.
Press Release Success Stories from Expertclick Members
Child safety expert Debra Holtzman knows journalists love Top Ten lists, and she has been invited to be on the “Today” Show, based on her child safety tips.
Here’s a sample of a recent Top Ten List News Release on Ten Life Saving Tips Every Mom and Dad Should Know.
You can see all of Debra’s releases here.
Ed Poll adds his HTML subscriber newsletter and his subscriber opt-in form. He integrated his Constant Contact system into News Release Wire.
Here’s an example of how he uses the archive feature in Constant Contact to get the HTML code, and then sends a news release using that code. And here’s how Ed had added the HTML code to get more opt-ins to his email list in his Press Room Page. If you have an email system, you can do this too, by logging into your email account platform to create the HTML code and inserting that code into your Press Room Page.
You can send many types of content via News Release Wire, not just news releases, and you can upload in many formats. They will push your content to your Press Room Page, via email, and to Google News and Lexis. Content can include:
- News Releases
- White Papers
- Blog Content
- Links to your website or subpages for SEO
- Your email newsletter
- Your opinions on news, many follow Google Trends to get ideas.
- PDFs of your brochures.
Hounds, this is a no-brainer. You’d be crazy not to sign up for at least for the free service.
Hi Joan – Thanks for the info. I’ll put my client on and we’ll see what kind of results we get. gm
Thanks so much, Joan. You’re the best. You work so hard to present us with the most up-to-date, ‘really’ good info. I’m always impressed at all the things you keep up with — and share with us !
Keep taking your vitamins! We need you !
Thanks, Lynn.
Drop me a line if there’s a specific publicity-related topic you’d like me to address, or a problem you’re having that you can’t solve.
Hi Joan,
I’ve been following you for years since having taken your terrific Publicity Hound course in 2006.
At your suggestion, I signed up at one time for ExpertClick’s free promotions. One of the problems I had is the heavy and persistent marketing campaigns by this company to buy a listing in the Expert Click book and to convert to a paid program.
For as much as I appreciate a good introductory offer, no one wants to be hounded to purchase the paid options. I remember receiving phone calls and numerous emails which eventually became extreme and annoying. I finally cancelled the account.
Perhaps marketing methods have changed at Expert Click since then but I am hesitant to sign up any of my clients for this offer.
Thanks,
Janine
Janine, I can understand your frustration.
Many companies offer free services and then try to upsell people to a higher-tier paid service, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Whenever what you described happens to me, I simply unsubscribe from the emails, or ask that I be put on a do-not-call list, and that usually solves the problem.
Few companies offer the level of customer support and service that Mitch Davis and his staff do. I’m sure he’ll be interested to hear your concern
I am an avid follower of your articles and just want to say thanks for providing for free information others will charge for.
Keep up the good work.
Joan, thanks for all the tips you share. I’ve been on your list for years and I now realize I must not only pay more attention to it, but use the great publicity tools and resources you share. Thanks for resending the link.
William Bell, author of the forthcoming book, “How to Write and Publish A Book in 30 Days”
Thanks for the idea Joan. I just signed up for an account, and will try one for one of my clients as well.
Melanie Jordan
Author of “What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know!(TM)”
Hello Joan:
Great stuff you have here. I’ve written and published several books, but I’m a dummy when it comes to navigating about all this blog stuff. My webmaster does it for me.
Can you tell me how do I register as an expert in my field (locates, uncovering faked death claims, etc) in the Yearbook of Experts, Authoprities and Spokespersons?
Go over to the site and sign up for an account and view your options.
still works – thanks for the great tip!