Let’s face it, everyone’s always looking for a cheaper way to do everything. So I’ve decided to embark on a journey to try out most of the free press release distribution services to see what kind of results they produce. Are they worth my time as a PR person, or am I better to stick with the establishment?

I think it will be fun and interesting. I’ll report my results here when I’ve done a few field tests.

However, the best way to raise rankings without buying Google AdWords, is to simply have a lot websites linking to your site. This is a great differentiator for search engines like Google to be able to tell if a website is the real deal or not.

With a background in PR, I know how to get free publicity. And now, there’s even more avenues to get news published! Press releases are often published on the websites of publications, especially when they don’t have space in the print edition. This used to be a lesser thing in PR because everyone loves to see a printed clip. (The web can sometimes be a bit invisible to those leaders who like physical printed materials.)

However, now with SEO coming to the forefront, press releases offer companies with a cost-effective and powerful tool to send out a message AND raise the ranking of your website, as long as your press releases link back to your website. I’m going to using this approach with a few of my clients that I also have access to their web stats; it’ll be interesting to see if I can measure a correlation between web stats and press release distribution. It’ll be fun! I’m going to use this website as a guinea pig also.

Here’s 6 ways to create a press release that everyone will love:

1. Ask your self, “Who cares?” What is newsworthy about this topic? Make it relevant to your audience or postpone the idea until you come up with a good news angle.

2. Create an informative, benefits-oriented headline. This is the one sentence that everyone will read: make it good! For a product release, tell the reader how the product helps them. For any other topic, tie it in with a big picture issue or trend.

2. Simplify, condense, and streamline. Make it easy for people to read and understand what you are communicating.

3. Tell readers how to take action. If you want them to register for an event, buy a product, participate in a survey or call their legislator, tell them how to do it.

4. Use testimonials. Using quotes from customers or supporters brings other perspectives into your release, while also increasing the credibility of what you are saying. This takes extra effort, but is always worth it.

5. Provide a contact person’s name, phone number and email. I really dislike reading a release on a company’s Website, but not being able to find any way to get more information. I don’t want to call an 800 number; I want a person. Don’t block people from calling you.

6. Use AP style. Pros know the format of a press release and so do publication editors. Make it easy to copy and paste the text in your press release so you will get published more often.

The press release is under-utilized in marketing and sometimes mangled by those eager for free publicity. Regardless, it’s a great tool to get the word out!