Recently, I mentioned I’d be testing out some press release distribution sites. One free site, PRLog.org, has really stood out.
While not the most attractive, it is easy to use. And historically, the site has had high page rankings, which means users can easily find your press releases using keywords.
I just checked PRLog’s Alexa rankings. It’s U.S. traffic rank was 747. What does that mean? The site with the most number of page views and visitors is ranked No. 1… so PRLog in my book is pretty good for a free site. In addition, PRLog has well over 6,000 sites linking into it–which helps search engine rankings.
PRLog also has a decent Google PageRank–5–which is one of the highest I’ve seen for a free or low-cost PR site.
By comparison, another free publication site, 1888pressrelease.com, has a worldwide traffic rank of 7,169.
Other positives? PRLog does archive releases, which means it will live on month after month. Believe it or not, many sites don’t do this. As I’ve said before, what’s the point of publishing something online if it’s going to disappear in a few weeks?
PRLog Shows Where Readers Are Coming From
PRLog also distributes your releases to Google News and other search engines. Plus, inbound links are allowed. Also, you can schedule a release for later distribution.
One of the best benefits of PRLog is that it gives you basic, but free analytics tools. That means you can check out how many hits your releases have gotten as well as where readers were directed from.
In the image here are some analytics on a release for a Trio Media Group client of mine, the Marine Corps League. I’m helping to run a legislative campaign for the veteran’s organization, which has been remarkably successful. Using the tool, you can see where 1,000 unique readers came from to read this news.
On PRLog’s dashboard, you can also get a quick rundown of all your releases.
I’ve published about 20 releases on PRLog. Yet another benefit of seeing how many people read your material is figuring out what headlines work and which ones don’t. So…it’s a great copywriting tool, too. And no, it’s not just the nature of the content that means hits. I’ve published releases on simple awards with hundreds of hits and releases with decent news value that have gotten less than 100. The releases with 70 or 80 hits tell me I need to work on the headlines–which is what will ultimately get a reader to click-through.
What are some negatives of PRLog? It does not let you target keywords through anchor. In addition, it does not have many formatting options like bolded text. One of the biggest negatives is that it does not allow you to insert hyperlinks, which is one of the best ways to send readers to your site. However, PRLog does let you spell out the full Web address.
No free site will distribute releases to the news media. That’s for sites such as Marketwire, my favorite premium site, which I’ll delve into another time. However, nothing will ever replace a good old-fashioned call if you think your news is, well, newsworthy.
Bottom line, PRLog gives you substantial bang for the buck. Which, in this case, is no bucks at all.
-Justin Rubner
