I am also looking for the same info. I have seen PRlog.org being recommended commonly on this forum, so I decided to sign up today.
There are some conditions to be met otherwise the backlinks one or more of the backlinks will be automatically removed in the issued PR. The conditions are:
strict formating and positioning of hyperlinks towards the middle and end of the press release.
the first hyperlink is earned after 1000 characters, the second hyperlink after 1500 characters, and the final third hyperlink after 2000 characters, about 350 words.
no anchor text links unless you opt for the premium service at $50 per PR.
I have just submitted my first PR. I will be interesting to see the result.
Press Releases are only successful if they get seen and picked up so while we all want free you have to realize, that unless you have some strange goal of being able to show people reprints on obscure sites; everyone tried those “free tools” and therefore no one really benefits from free those tools. Free is not going to get you to your goal unless you have one heck of a logo.
Rather you need to look at PR as a combination of outreach and quality wire services.
As a marketer it’s your job to identify the top target sites / publications you want to be in and court the writers. Find out who does the right section, get to them via twitter or linkedin and pitch your story, not as a release, but as something that would get them eyeballs… that’s what they want and if you think about it in terms of anything else you will fail.
Once you have a few pitches in, and hopefully a story or two lined up, you can send your release out to the open wire if you so choose. The stories behind you will make it spread further, hopefully to more news desks from editors who see the other mentions, want a bite and do their own writeup.
I completely agree with Ted, the best way to gain any traction with publicity online is to approach quality (power) journalists that will take up your flag and champion your cause.
The only other way they will be interested is if they see enough of a correlation in what your pitching with their own ideas.
With the recent google algorithm update, the implications for many free PR tools and submission sites are that they now have limited/no value in terms of reach.
Press release must be presented in a way that it is needed. You must offer something very interesting about your business or you may write about the hot offers you are offering for a limited period of time or you can write about the milestone your business has achieved. If you are still looking for decent free press release website, here are some:
In what category? For what type of release? There are wire services but they just distribute… building placements is up to you as the marketer and that’s industry specific.