If you don’t have much money to advertise, using free PR marketing is one of the fastest ways to get your business off the ground. And thanks to the wonders of the Internet, it’s super easy to send out press releases and news releases. Even better… there are many websites that will distribute your press release for FREE!
A couple years ago I did a teleseminar just before World Hypnotism Day on how to use free publicity. In order to help everyone get their news releases out, I put together a list of the top ranking and high traffic free press release websites.
But things move fast in Internet time and I checked that list and found the sites I listed were no longer the top sites as measure by Google’s Page Rank rating or by Alexa’s traffic rating.
So, I put together this new list. I decided to sort it by Alexa traffic ranking instead of Page Rank because each Alexa number is unique. Then I wrote a little bit about each one so you can get an idea of how they might be different.
I also have noted if they require registration. When I have a little time, maybe I’ll add screen shots for each to this article.
The Metrics Briefly Explained
Google’s Page Rank goes from zero to 10, with 10 being the most authority (Google’s home page) and zero meaning brand new website. Page rank explanations can get complex, it’s easiest to remember a link from a higher page rank number is better.
For the Alexa rank, a lower number is better. A rank of “1″ means the most trafficked site on the Internet. As of this writing the top 3 sites were Google, Facebook & YouTube.
Note: The Page Rank and Alexa data are as of July 23, 2010. They will change over time so you may wish to check them depending on when you read this.
One more thing… this is important. If you are planning to use PR Marketing, you don’t need to use all 10. PIck 2 or 3 for any given news release. A good strategy to use them all would be to rotate where you put out you releases over time.
Now, here’s the list!
Top 10 FREE News Release Websites:
1. PRLog.org PageRank = 6 Alexa Rank = 943
PRLog was founded to help small, medium and large businesses and organizations in their online activities. In addition to a Press Release Directory, they offer a Business directory and Product Directory.
Ordinary looking website, but they deliver good results because they allow inbound links and are well optimized for the search engines.
Also You can schedule when news release go out, and you get distribution to Google News and other search engines.
2. Free-Press-Release.com PageRank = 5 Alexa Rank = 1,885
Offers free press release service and also paid release services. They also have a pretty comprehensive Tools and Tips section on writing and distributing Online News Releases.
Easy press release distribution service. You get more features if you have a paid account. Also, you can place a banner on your news release, which points to your website.
3. 1888PressRelease.com PageRank = 5 Alexa Rank = 6,928
This service allows you to distribute releases to search engines, newswires and websites to help increase awareness of your product, company, or self for free.
They also have paid services to help you target journalists.
This site allows you to attach files, logos or images to your press release so they’re ready for journalists and others who need the information for publication. Paid accounts get extra services.
Registration required.
4. PR.com PageRank = 6 Alexa Rank = 8,284
PR.com is a unique website where companies can promote literally everything about their business in a one stop shop business marketplace.
PR.com is a directory of businesses, products and services, a press release distribution service, job search website, and online publication of articles, reviews and celebrity interviews.
Their free press release service is pretty bare-bones. They also offer paid services starting at $199.
5. PR-Inside.com PageRank = 6 Alexa Rank = 8.466
One of the view high ranking free PR sites based out of Europe. Located in Austria they provide free distribution of news and press releases.
Not visually attractive at all, they are optimized for search engines, and thus their Pagerank of 6.
Registration required.
6. ClickPress.com PageRank = 5 Alexa Rank = 12,498
Provides “global news distribution” and free tools for PR. All submissions are free and news releases remain in their searchable database permanently.
ClickPress content is distributed by a number of world-class news services, including: Google News, Moreover, NewsNow, Topix.net, MSN News, Ask Jeeves News, Lycos News, NewsKnowledge and the IPD Group.
7. PressBox.co.uk PageRank = 5 Alexa Rank = 12,952
One of the top free press release distribution sites in the United Kingdom. They have been online since 1999 (which is like 117 in Internet Years).
Based out of London, they have a large journalist following who use the site to find news stories.
The also offer copywriting services if you need help writing a release.
8. OpenPR.com PageRank = 4 Alexa Rank = 17,144
OpenPR is based out of Germany, and distrubutes worldwide. They are in the top 10 of “most popular sites” in press releases for Germany, Austria & Switzerland.
This site is run by journalist Roland K. R. Becker and his team of editors.
Their mission is “to give smaller companies the chance to go public with their news at any time.”
9. PRLeap.com PageRank = 5 Alexa Rank = 21,699
PR Leap is a leader in online press release distribution. Over 30,000 companies have used our service to send out press releases embedded with videos, photos, and files, to bloggers, journalists, and knowledge workers
Registration required.
10. NewsWireToday.com PageRank = 6 Alexa Rank = 23,797
A press release news distribution network. Their stated mission is “to ensure that every organization has access to the media, regardless of size and geographic location.” They have both a free and paid distribution services.
Site design is not the best, but it’s hard to argue with their page rank when it comes to link juice.
Registration required.
Question: How can I get the most people to attend my World Hypnotism Day event?
Here is a quick list of what I would do to get the most butts-in-seats for a World Hypnotism Day event. 
- Getting free publicity will get you the most mileage.
- Using other people’s lists. Get businesses, non-profits, colleges etc. to promote you to their audience.
Example: You do a Stop Smoking with Hypnosis Seminar. If you partner with the American Lung Society, get them to promote your event to their list.
Example: If you are doing stress relief, call all your large local businesses to send a message to their employees.
- How many ‘events’ calendars are there in your area? TV, Radio, newspapers, etc. Get listed in as many as possible.
- Get a local proclamation from the Mayor, or City Council etc. This is an idea Tom Nicoli came up with last year for World Hypnotism Day. Full instructions are in the WHD members area. At least 14 people pulled this one off last year.
Here is an example of a Proclamation from WHD 2009:
- Post event announcements on free Internet event sites like CraigsList.org
- Partner with other hypnotists doing WHD events to put a large add in the local newspaper. List all the WHD events in different parts of the city in one HUGE Eye-Grabbing ad.
- Start a Meetup Group on MeetUp.com This is a social Media site so people will find you by searching for topics and keywords.
Note: You can get a lot of mileage out of using Meetup.com. You can also use it as a way to keep track of registrations and to send email reminders.
- Post ads on Facebook.com You can target ads by location, age, income and other demographics, so the ads are highly targeted. You can also create an event listing on Facebook that anyone can find by keyword.
- Post ads using Google Adwords. You can target by location and keyword search. Drive them to your meetup.com sign up page.
- Old School – visit all the businesses in your area and ask to drop off flyer and/or free tickets. Make sure you require them to register to activate free ticket. Send them to your meetup site.
By the way, there are 3-steps to ‘getting people to attend’. These are as follows:
- Find people who are interested
- Get them to register (you build a list)
- Get them to show up (you follow up with reminders of the benefits to showing up)
So you need a list or a tool for registration and follow up. This is why I suggested Meetup.com, but you can use an email system of your own if you already have one.
27 days left until the 5th Annual World Hypnotism Day.
(Sunday January 4, 2009)
World Hypnotism Day Resources you can use to make your event a success.
1. Articles, Podcasts, and How to get FREE Publicity
http://hypnosismarketingtips.com/category/world-hypnotism-day/
2. World Hypnotism Day Member’s Area – Resources for helping you with
your WHD event contributed by other hypnotists. These same resources have been used to create very successful events over the last 5 years.
http://worldhypnotismday.com/participant-signup-form.shtml
3. World Hypnotism Day group on Hypnothoughts.com – a special forum for WHD participants to share ideas and get your questions answered. Myself, the founder of World Hypnotism Day, Tom Nicoli, and others who have had past success doing events are all on this forum.
Hypnothoughts is the #1 social media site for Hypnotists and is totally free.
http://www.hypnothoughts.com/group/worldhypnotismdaygroup
