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Best Press Release Distribution: Cision PR Newswire VS Business Wire VS PRWeb VS Sitetrail

Want to find the best press release distribution and writing service provider? The press release buyers’ guide below compares PR platforms like Sitetrail, PRWeb, Cision, BusinessWire, PRNewswire and EINPressWire. To obtain maximum benefits from a good online PR strategy, the starting point is to choose a press release distribution provider with a unique reach and added SEO value. 

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When we think of the best  press release distribution services, fancy reports and long lists of sites are often a distractor. What experts know, is that duplicating your content across a long list of sites will remain hidden from Google, since only one unique result counts for both Google News, and Google Search.

If you know just how important it is that PR and SEO work hand in hand as a multiplier, then suddenly finding the best press release provider becomes tricky – and we can explain why: A a successful online PR campaign should also have ample DO-Follow linking for SEO, Google News indexing and to produce unique search results. To really make the best decision, it is highly recommended to quickly read “5 Reasons Why Press Releases Fail and How To Get Better Results”

The comparison of best press release distribution providers below, is based on this information that numerous review experts like The Chamber of Commerce, TRUiC (The Really Useful Information Company) and TechJury rated Sitetrail as the number one choice. 

Top 10 Press Release Distribution Services According To Impartial Reviewers

1. Sitetrail

It is the only SEO friendly press service with a special option that will not label editorial content as “sponsored” or “press release”. It is backed by a high number of Trustpilot reviews and strong case studies that shows strong customer performance in SEO and PR. The company is quite honest in their advise and upfront that it is NOT a “quick fix” magic bullet solution. It has an unlimited access pass for $199/month that beats the price of any other high volume service on white-label PR distribution. It also has a “premium brand awareness” package for $4950 that will get customers in some of the highest caliber news sites – with full feature editorials. Besides SEO, it also helps with video and image marketing. News interviews and all types of authentic media appearances can be arranged. 

2. Accesswire

This is a duplicate wire service that does not deal with editorial news. It has good reviews because it takes care of customers, is easy to use and fast. It will not help for anyone seeking to build DO-Follow links and will only produce content that is labelled as “press release”. The search result will appear as “AccessWire” in Google news. It can at least get videos indexed and at least to have one paid result in Google News. 

3. Cision

Cision actually owns PRWeb and PRNewswire. It ia also a duplicate newswire service that does hardcore distribution via duplication. The search results in Google will show as “Cision” and content will always appear inauthentic labelled as “Press Release”. It’s good for getting videos indexed and at least to have one paid result in Google News. Some users on Trustpilot call it a scam and reviews are quite negative, however to be fair: if you consider their low price, it is not fair to call them a scam. Users need to smarten up and realize that for a few hundred dollars, it is not realistic to think a single press release will have a huge impact. We think Cision is cool and criticism against them is too harsh for such a cheap service. Be realistic – don’t expect much from a duplicate wire. 

4. BusinessWire

BusinessWire is a bit more expensive compared to the usual “cheapwire” news service. The nice thing is you can appear in the newsfeed of a few top sites that are really strong. But if an agency say they can get you into “Businessinsider” via BusinessWire, it actually means that content will be dumped and duplicated onto markets.businessinsider.com via feed, marked as a press release, and not authored by the people who work for the publication itself. It has attracted mixed reviews on Trustpilot. 

5. PRWeb

PRWeb is a really cool platform and is easy to use. It can do the same as BusinessWire in terms of getting your content duplicated onto some big news sites, although the content is hidden. The problem is that by now, too many people went to Trustpilot and are upset that their news “did not go viral”. Again, we think this criticism is too harsh – because how could you possible think a viral campaign can be pulled off properly for just $400? However PRWeb does make it look promising in their marketing materials and the masses can easily spend a lot of time until they realize it’s limitations. 

6. Linking News

Linking News is one of the few platforms where the owner is making an effort to build their media relations for authentic content. It is a bit of a hybrid platform like Sitetrail: it has duplicate wires, but it also has a few authentic outlets where non-sponsored content can be added. Although they have one or two harsh critics on Trustpilot, their overall reviews seems to survive the views of a few uneducated clients with unrealistic results. 

7. EIN Presswire

EIN PResswire is called Everyone’s Internet News Presswire™ and looks pretty cool. It has a few ploys like a “world media directory”, but the sites owned by it’s sister site subsidiaries are nothing more than a few news sites with logos, which are kind of empty shells. Looking beyond that, they are connected to quite a few news sites, so it provides a good match for PRWeb in the area of duplication. How they managed to stay off Trustpilot is a mystery, especially after serving so many thousands of clients. So public reviews are lacking. We’d say they’re a better choice than PRWeb, but will not do the trick for SEO and proper referral traffic unless they can up their game and provide editorials with DO-Follow links to help rebalance the mix for their clients. Nice and cheap though!

8. BrandPush

BrandPush is a great company run by an amazing management team. They seem to try and move away from EIN and PRWeb in the sense that they have higher pricing and made an effort to connect to a few different news sites. That’s really good for someone who seek to avoid the same press release distribution pattern and pick up a few more NO-Follow links to diversify a link profile. But will it “go viral”, land you in Forbes, CNN and Mashable? probably not and neither will it help much with overall SEO and referral if you go with the standard packages. On their Trustpilot reviews, people describe them as honest and love the service. 

9. E Releases

E Releases are a great company who makes an effort with client education. They do both writing and distribution for reasonable prices. Their Trustpilot reviews are awesome. It is funny to see that less than 5% of users had a problem, for example, just one person complained on Trustpilot because they thought for $300 the Buzzbuilder package will help them to retire. Again, don’t expect to land in Entrepreneur, Inc or Forbes here: but do expect to get better customer care and help with duplicate wires, along with a good writing service. 

10. Newswire Jet

As a low-cost provider it is doing a good job of competing with both EIN and PRWeb, as the service and approach is a bit more personalized. There is a lack of online reviews on G2 and Trustpilot at this point in time, but nothing about the company says it is not worth a try. Again using another provider like this can help to diversify a PR distribution footprint.
 
 

With the above information experts are in a position to narrow down and compare press release distribution services and providers. In order to identify the best press release companies globally, a fine balance of pricing and visibility should be considered. Below we point out that Sitetrail is the only platform that connects businesses with unique editorial releases, which is endorsed by real journalist profiles. This means that the content is NOT merely tagged as “sponsored” or “press release”, thereby providing a more authentic and persuasive result. It is also the only service with in-house copywriting and an A to Z one-stop operation. It is also an “agency favorite” for unlimited press releases. 

In reviewing Sitetrail vs. Cision PR Newswire vs. Business Wire vs. PRWeb: It does not point out any flaws or bad business practices from any of the providers – and consider all of the reviewed press release providers to be good reliable companies. 

PR Newswire review rating:
5/5

VS

Business Wire review rating:
5/5

VS

PRWeb review rating:
4.9/5

Choose a Press Release package below:

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Cision PR Newswire vs. Business Wire vs. PRWeb: The Press Release Buying Guide 

Press release writing and distribution services get your brand message through to your target audiences and to different geographical locations through selected press releases. When press releases are distributed, journalists look for and find releases that are related to organizations and businesses that they are involved in. 

There are two primary ways to do this:

    *  Send the press release to your chosen press release distribution services

    *  Distribute to varying locations such as magazines, newspapers, etc. 

There are costs to both of these which do need to be considered. Although there are many press distribution services which are exceptional, we’ve decided to focus on four: Sitetrail, Cision PR Newswire, Business Wire, PRWeb 

Sitetrail is the only platform that offers Editorial News with genuine authorship:​

Trusted by 6000+ Satisfied customers
4.8/5

When submitting a press release, what many people hope for is to be seen in Fox News, CNN, Mashable, Forbes, BBC, Huffington Post, CNBC and Marketwatch. But how does it really work?

In reality, even if the news was sufficiently noteworthy to be syndicated by a variety of news sites, remember with newswires, it will still be labelled as “Press Release” without an authentic author. This is the case with all your content that is submitted via PR Newswire, BusinessWire, Reuters and PRWeb.

Sitetrail works differently than the above example. It is the only platform that has the option to go beyond these inauthentic and cold releases, by connecting brands with genuine in-house journalists at various news sites – who can release an editorial news article with authorship. In these cases it will not be labelled as “Sponsored” or as “Press Release”. 

They will be compared according to who is most likely to benefit from the specific service, their prominent features, their pricing, and their pros and their cons. 

We’ve found that each of them have unique attributes which endear them to specific business types. Choosing the best one for your business will be up to you, but we’ve listed what you should think about when deciding one a service to help you in your quest for the best option.

Sitetrail has in-house journalists who can do all your press release writing:

When using PR Newswire, Business Wire and PRWeb, you will need to write your own content. With Sitetrail, an in-house journalist will take care of all the writing as well as to help you conceptualize ideas to ensure the news is SEO optimized for better results. 

"Sitetrail journalists got us coverage with premium media outlets in a short time at an amazing price"

Why do I need Press Release Writing and Distribution Services? 

Over the past years, the press release industry has involved substantially and this is mostly because companies have come to realize how important press releases are. Having a good relationship with the press is essential in creating a brand which is not only well-known, but well-liked. 

The primary roles of press releases are to launch new products, increasing brand visibility, getting the attention and interest of target audiences, sharing messages instantaneously, providing more information about the brand, convenience, and search engine optimization (SEO). 

Press distribution services can especially help small businesses when they need to release information to the public. This is a very effective method of content distribution and is especially helpful to a business’s digital marketing campaign. 

As a client of a press distribution service, the PR distributor forwards your company’s press release to their affiliate media outlets on your behalf. 

Occasionally, journalists or media contacts in the PR company’s distribution network believe that their readers or viewers will find the information the press release contains engaging. This often results in their choosing to publish it themselves or developing their own content based on the press release. This has the consequence of very low-cost, or even free, media coverage for the company. 

This is referred to as “earned media” and it’s really beneficial to the business as the general followers of the outlet are expected to see it, as well as possible clients of the company who first sent out the press release. 

However, should there be no “earned media,” PR distribution companies do provide other advantageous services, such as:

     *  Writing press releases.

     *  Proofreading.

     *  Press release editing and formatting according to industry standards.

     *  Optimizing press releases for SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

     *  Tagging press releases to make sure they are accessed by the correct audiences.

     *  Providing access to industry specific social media accounts.

     *  Assurance that press releases will be shown on specific news sites and news aggregators such as Google News.

     *  Comprehensive media monitoring (offering reports and analytics on press releases and campaign execution.

     *  Unique targeting options according to industry, audience, or location. 

What to look for when choosing a press distribution service:

When you’re trying to decide on a press distribution company, small businesses should think about their unique needs and take the following into consideration: 

     *  Their target audience including the media outlets that the group prefers

     *  The budget 

     *  The distribution options available through the company

     *  The geographical locations the business wants to infiltrate (one particular city, a specific state, nationally, or even internationally)

     *  Specific features such as company employees with press writing experience

There are public relation companies which provide free press releases, however, these do tend to be inferior to those produced by specialist press release specialists. 

Cision PR Newswire reviews and comparisons

Cision PR Newswire is owned by UBM, a well-established and well-connected media company, and has set itself up as a high-level press release distributor which gives companies the means to get important information out to the public through its impressive network of journalists and media outlets. 

The company has been in the game for a very long time, and as such has gained a reputation amongst their exceptional client base for professionalism and successful press release distribution. 

Their customer support is exceptional, and they are conscientious of producing press releases that meet the highest standard, as required by their high-level corporate customers. 

Nevertheless, this expertise comes at a price and PR Newswire isn’t the cheapest option to be found. As such, small businesses or startups who don’t have extensive budgets may find themselves being unable to afford their services. 

It’s also important to note that additional features may cost you extra, even though other press distribution services may offer them for free. As an example, if you decide to add images to a release, it will cost you $325. 

When comparing PR Newswire to other services, this is a valid consideration to take: 

Seeing as they have an extensive network of national and international outlets, and that they come at a fairly hefty price tag, PR Newswire is great for small, digital startups who have the required financial backing to substantiate rapid growth. 

 

Businesses like these who have sufficient funding will benefit from PR Newswire’s broad network seeing as their services aren’t confined to specific geographical locations. 

 

However, PR Newswire is not without merit for more established local businesses who are profitable enough to pay for costly press releases and would like to make use of narrow local targeting in order to influence well-known news outlets in their local area. 

 

This has the potential to be beneficial in the following instances:

     *  To increase awareness when opening a new location

     *  Informing the public when there are important changes to the company 

     *  Providing important information to the public such as when there is a product recall

     *  Arranging a big event 

     *  Speaking to a local issue or debate

Biggest basic distribution

PR Newswire has spent decades establishing a good distribution network, and they are one of the oldest PR distribution companies conducting business. 

 

As such, they maintain that they’ve got a strong network in the market which includes:

     *  More than 4000 websites

     *  Approximately 3,000 media outlets

     *  More than 550 news content systems

     *  39,000 Newswire for Journalists members covering an extra 9,000 media organizations

 

Earmark specific cities

Most other press release distributors offer regional targeting to state level, PR Newswire are special in that allow companies to target individual towns and cities, no matter how small. 

 

For example, if you run a consultancy in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and you don’t really care about reaching the rest of the state, or you’d like to target different locations with other messages, then you have the ability to restrict your press release to the city you’ve chosen. 

 

Target unique niches

Most press release distributors offer ingress to professional media outlets of a particular kind, frequently with the chance to target specific industries such as financial news. 

 

PR Newswire, on the other hand, also provide distribution to extra niches which most others don’t cover:

     *  Public officials

     *  Charities

     *  Foundations

     *  Tapered online audience sections

 

As such, numerous public relations or marketing campaigns that aren’t possible with other press release distributors, can be done by PR Newswire.  

 

As such, should a business desire to donate to charities in their local area (not only in order to subsidize the local economy, but also to benefit from tax deductions), they are able to share their plans with third sector organizations in the area where they are and also request proposals from possible beneficiaries. 

This greatly enhances public perception of the business by establishing a positive atmosphere around the company. 

As we’ve already established, PR Newswire is one of the more expensive options when it comes to press release distributors. 

 

In order to have press releases sent out, clients are obligated to sign up for an annual membership which will cost you $195. More than the annual fee, clients have to pay per release.

 

Depending on what you need, there are three types of single-release plans that they offer:

     *  State and local ($350)

     *  Regional and top markets ($575)

     *  National ($805)

*NOTE that in all cases $200 should be added to write a good release – which really means that their entry-evel product starts at $550

 

What do the plans include? 

All plans include:

     *  400 word press release distribution

     *  Targeting by audience and industry

     *  A unique analytics dashboard that provides in-depth metrics

     *  A special publishing community for journalists with 20,000 views per day

     *  Well-established quality outlets

State and local

     *  Restricted to 400 words

     *  Distribution to 1,000 outlets

     *  Assurance of being posted on 125 release-only media sites

     *  Targeting according to local area

     *  Comprehensive reporting and analytics

 

Regional and top markets

     *  400 words are incorporated

     *  Distribution to 1,300 outlets

     *  The release is shown on 200 media sites

     *  There is a permanent live link

     *  State-of-the-art reporting and analytics tools

 

National 

     *  400 words

     *  The press release is distributed to 5,800 outlets

     *  The release will be shown on at least 250 sites

     *  There is a permanent live link which can be utilized for SEO objectives

After sign-up, Cision provides login details to their system where users can access their PR reports. Remember that the most important metrics, is your own analytics. The question to ask, is what level of referrals was obtained as a result of using Cision?

The world’s largest platform, connected to exclusive editorial content

The verdict on Cision PR Newsire?

Pros 

PRNewswire has very customer service support and can be reached by telephone, online chat, and email. They reply promptly to queries submitted via the online chat, and they also reply quickly to emails. More than that, the hold times for phone support is generally less than a minute.  PRNewswire reviews are more than acceptable on outlets such as BBB, Trustpilot and Google Maps. Consumer reviews is not the perfect indicator in an age where reviews can easily be altered, but it does carry some weight. 

 

Other benefits to PR Newswire is a big basic distribution; the ability to target specific cities; and the chance to target unique niches including public officials, charities, and philanthropists. 

 

Cons

Their biggest cons relate to price as multimedia such as video, audio, and images will cost you more, and you don’t have the ability to send a release if you don’t pay for annual membership. 

 

No authentic editorial news authorship: All submissions labelled as “Press Release”.

Business Wire - reviews and comparisons:

Business Wire is a Berkshire Hathaway Company which deals with public relations and helping companies get their press releases and disclosure targets right. 

 

Their range of services include investor relations, press release distribution, demographic targeting, geographic targeting, industry targeting, public policy services, and analytics. 

 

They stand out for being the site with the most inbound links, which stands at 983,154. All of their news releases come standard with free graphics and logos, something which many other companies charge for. 

They provide an EON service which basically entails having your press release accessible on their website forever. With extensive international connections, the company provides 1,674 varying delivery types and they also provide translation services for 50 different languages. 

 

They are known for the following:

     *  A great newsroom which especially targets your geographical location, both nationally and internationally. 

     *  A GMSM (global mobile social measurable) platform which ensures that your release reaches the most popular mobile apps which also improves your SEO. 

     *  Newswire services which consist of Dow Jones, the Associated Press, and Thomson Reuters. 

     *  Relationships with all of the most significant daily newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

     *  Full Text posting which consists of EON (enhanced online news) and your press release will be shown on thousands of different websites, and also numerous online news syndicators. 

     *  More than 150 vertical market trade media categories

Since it is not targeting many categories such as travel, tourism an and entertainment, it is a niche provider.

 

Business Wire is best for financial institutions and advocacy groups. For financial institutions, it makes sure that financial disclosures and other reports comply with the strict stock exchange disclosure regulations and are in accordance with United States Securities and Exchange Commission rules. 

Advocacy groups also benefit from using Business Wire as it provides public policy networks that allow the release of information to government offices and government decision-makers.

Online tools

Business Wire provides users with online tools to write their press releases which include templates that they can use to establish a comprehensive press release. Business Wire then forwards those press releases to media wires and news networks. Users then have the ability to track results and clarify messages on the Business Wire platform. 

 

Business disclosures

Business Wire is an acknowledged disclosure avenue for financial news in the US, Canada, and Europe. The company deals with forwarding of business disclosures through traditional print, broadcast, and online media depending on the user’s geographical location. More than that, the business provides full-text posting to important financial news websites and financial databases. 

 

Distribution lists

Business Wire has a broad selection of distribution lists which users can decide between in order to target specific geographic markets, audience demographics, and industry verticals. 

This gives users the ability to extend their reach to 18 full-service newsrooms in addition to news agencies in over 160 countries. Business Wire also provides its own patented NX Network high-speed system which has been developed in order to guarantee a broad distribution.  

 

Compliance filings

Business Wire makes sure that users comply with their statutory requirements. It provides a filing service that makes sure the press release that’s being sent out to investors is continually improved and that there aren’t any version control problems between the final press release and the Form 8-K or Form 6-K filings. 

Business Wire pricing: Remember that the biggest cost to any business, is the loss of time. In other words, when experimenting with a newswire service that does not deliver growth, the months you spend waiting for a miracle, represent the biggest loss. 

Whereas pricing isn’t really available on the website, most users report spending $400 for a 400 word press release per geographic area. Additionally, it will cost you an extra $195 for every extra 100 words per release. In essence, for the length of most successful press releases, the cost is $760. 

*NOTE that in all cases $200 should be added to write a good release – which really means that their entry-level product starts at $600

However, for specifics, you will have to contact Business Wire in order to receive a special quotation depending on your needs. 

As such, there are no plans to be shown as they are dependent on the specific requirements of the user. 

The world’s largest platform, connected to exclusive editorial content

The verdict on Business Wire:

Clients who are satisfied with Businesswire pricing and the fact that it would mainly provide duplicated content via syndication, tend to enjoy a few of it’s features. After signing up, a Businesswire login will enable users to submit press releases. Regardless of pricing, or how fancy it might seem once you have your login and reporting access, it still comes down to results. Therefore, companies who seek simple SEC compliance might enjoy the service, but growth marketers who require high quality backlinks and unique SEO results, may find it insufficient – and may lose a lot if time in learning this fact.

Pros

One of the primary benefits of Business Wire is the fact that it’s got a wide media reach and works with 60 news agencies nationally and internationally. Their list of media outlets currently stands at 89,000 addresses across 162 different countries.  They also boast 92,519 subscribers to their service. That said, don’t expect to appear in CNBC, Forbes or anywhere really credible – as they still reject paid press wires in favor of authentic editorial content. 

Especially useful to financial institutions and advocacy groups, they are recognized as being press release compliant with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

They provide varying tips and tools to help you write the perfect press release and it takes into consideration how to make sure the release is search engine optimized and really gets the reader involved and interested. With this, the company also provides social media monitoring reports so that you can see how social media is impacting your business. Business Wire reviews across a range of sites like the BBB and Trustpilot are quite good. 

Cons 

BusinessWire pricing VS results on ROI: One of Business Wire’s most important disadvantages is the fact that it’s quite expensive to “test”, with their lowest package costing $400. As such, it’s a better choice for bigger companies rather than small businesses with limited budgets. 

They also don’t provide full writing services, but they do offer editorial reviews. It also has quite a steep learning curve and most users need extensive customer support, especially in the beginning. 

The biggest drawback is that is zero authentic editorial news authorship: All submissions are labelled as “Press Release”.

PRWeb: Reviews, comparisons and alternatives

PRWeb is the press release distribution service which is especially popular with small businesses who want to improve their online presence. 

Their services focus on conquering social media, increasing search result visibility, and being promoted on online outlets.

PRWeb is great for small businesses who aren’t concerned with featuring in big publications, but rather focus on their online presence. 

 

This is ideal for businesses who generate their money online and are contingent on internet traffic for sales. These include eCommerce shops or social media marketing consultants. Other businesses which may benefit from PRWeb are those who’d like to grow their online brand such as fashion boutiques or influencers. 

 

PRWeb also works for businesses who wish to increase awareness of their products or services rapidly and online is the best way to do this. Print or broadcast tends to take much longer, and doesn’t stick around like online does. This includes local businesses such as plumbers or electricians. 

It cannot help businesses to get into spaces like Forbes, Businessinsider and Inc through press releases and has a slightly more narrow range of syndication outlets. 

 

If you already have adequate offline marketing, but you haven’t been able to really make yourself known on social media and in search rankings, then PRWeb could help. This is especially the case for local theaters and art galleries.

Choose where your press releases go

Where your press release is submitted depends on what plan you’ve chosen, what add-ons you’ve decided on, what industry you work in, and your marketing and PR campaign plan. 

 

If you choose the most inexpensive plan (basic), then the press release will only be shown on the PRWeb site itself, but it will be adequately tagged so that people can see it. 

The standard plan includes having releases forwarded to more than 1,200 websites in their Online Syndication Network. 

 

The advanced plan allows you to use industry specific hand-selected lists of subscribing journalists:

     *  Advanced plan: 1 list

     *  Web Influence: 2

     *  Premium: 2

     *  Web Power: 3

 

Currently, the Web Power plan is the only one that consists of a placement on Yahoo and the possibility of reaching their millions of visitors, but PRWeb do intend to release it as an add-on for advanced plans and above. 

 

PRWeb’s online network and array of tools for online marketing make it a great choice for businesses which are concentrated on their online presence rather than focusing on traditional media. 

 

Social media marketing 

All plans offered by PRWeb come with Cision SocialPost add-on. This tool allows you to make use of Cision PR Newswire’s industry specific Twitter feeds. This is an extraordinary feature which gives you the chance to:

     *  Distribute your intended message to a massive established social media following 

     *  Improve your search engine ranking as they consider social media mentions and links when determining how high up they’ll list your page

     *  Reach an abundance of industry specific journalists and outlets with special regard for related press releases through social media, rather than just email. 

     *  Tag press releases with applicable hashtags in order to contribute to your industry. 

     *  Bring up your own social media accounts so that those who are interested in your brand can follow you directly which enables you to get your message across even quicker in future

 

Ranking in search engines 

Despite the fact that the algorithms which determine search engine ranking aren’t officially public, there has been a good deal of research done into figuring out how they work and what can be done to rank well. 

 

Google and Bing seem to show pages which are connected to other sites that they find trustworthy, such as well-known news outlets with a good reputation. It sees the information that they share as being well founded. 

 

PRWeb has the potential to really help small business websites rank better in search results by distributing press releases with links to their sites published on numerous trusted sites. 

 

For example, if a business is established which operates as a vegan grocery store in Charlotte and publishes a press release about what they’re doing to help the area prosper via PRWeb, then more clients who search for ‘vegan stores Charlotte’ will see it in their results. This results in more money for the company. 

PRWeb has four normal available plans:

     *  Basic ($99) – Excludes writing worth $200

     *  Standard ($189)

     *  Advanced (289)

     *  Premium ($389)

 

*NOTE that in all cases $200 should be added to write a good release – which really means that their entry-level product starts at $299

 

However, they do provide two specialized plans namely Web Influence and Web Power for those users who require a four-hour turnaround. However, these prices aren’t available on their site and you’ll have to contact PRWeb directly in order to find out more. 

All plans can be improved by buying the following add-on tools:

     *  Priority distribution ($99 per release)

     *  Enhance placement ($40 per star)

     *  Targeted media email distribution ($199 per list)

     *  Targeted Twitter feeds ($99 per release)

 

What do the plans include?

 

Basic 

This is especially useful to businesses that simply want to start having their name known. These releases are hosted permanently PRWeb.com which improves their visibility on the most popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. There is no restriction on the amount of words that you can use on one release. 

 

Standard

This plan is great for brands that want to increase business. The plan includes permanent hosting on PRWeb, but releases are also shared across PRWeb’s online syndication network which consists of 1,200+ websites. 

Included in the plan is editorial feedback from PRWeb’s dedicated editorial team which means that you are ensured a high quality press release that meets editorial and industry standards. 

 

Advanced

This plan is a good choice for companies that really want to get media attention. All of the distribution networks featured in the Standard package is included, but the press release is also forwarded directly by email to an industry-curated Journalist List which the user decides on. 

This plan also entails having a 24-hour turnaround time, phone support, feedback from the editorial team, and proofreading by the editorial team. 

 

Premium

This is the best choice for businesses which want to go viral. This plan consists of all of the advantages of the Advanced plan, but releases are also forwarded directly to two journalist lists and they are dispensed through Sovrn’s content recommendation network.

The world’s largest platform, connected to exclusive editorial content

The verdict on PRWeb

Pros

In an attempt to make up for endless content duplication which is harmful to SEO, one of the benefits of using PRWeb is that they have unique social media networks to share your releases, create a big following, “claimed to improve SEO” (questionable), and drive traffic to your site. 

They also have varying plans with related pricing so that most small businesses will be able to find a plan that works for them. 

PRWeb has brilliant editorial services (checking content, not writing) which mean that only the best quality press releases are distributed to outlets. More than that, they offer a special ‘call out quote’ tool which makes sure that press releases set themselves apart from others. 

Another benefit is that they don’t restrict word count. Any negative reviews that PRWeb may have on TrustPilot, the BBB and Google Maps may well come from SEO clients who had unrealistic exptectations. We would not regard poor reviews of PRWeb to be overly valid – especially if you consider the high volume of releases they run each month. 

Cons

Every user has to create an account with them which does tend to delay the process and often has the effect of having users feel compelled to use PRWeb for all of their press releases. 

 

Further delays may occur as press releases won’t be distributed before being analyzed by the PRWeb editorial team. This may be a disadvantage for important PR and marketing timetables. 

 

The customer service isn’t as easy to access as some other press release distributors, such as PR Newswire, and there’s no chat box to straightforwardly connect to service reps. Although they can be contacted by phone, email, or an online form, their response times are random, and it takes a while to get through when using the phone. 

No authentic editorial news authorship: All submissions labelled as “Press Release”. 

The Best Premium Press Release / Editorial News Options:

Final Take:

There are definite merits to all of the above-mentioned press distribution companies and finding the one that works best for you will depend on your exact requirements, the unique features you might want, your industry, and, quite significantly, your budget. At Sitetrail we took the liberty of reviewing all our competitors honestly: and cannot really find anything “bad” about them: they are all doing a great job, just like us. The fact is that our press release writing & distribution service beats the competition in 3 areas:

* Writing by in-house journalists and copywriters,

* The only platform that offers editorial news access,

* Exclusive 50% discount on bulk orders – lowest price in the industry for loyal customers. 

PR Newswire is well known due to the Cision acquisition. They have years of experience to back up their services but still does not match the Sitetrail option of editorial non-sponsored appearance through our media connections. Sure, they also have massive networks so you know that your releases will be shared with top-notch journalists and outlets – just like we do at Sitetrail.

PRNewswire comes with a lot of upselling: they aren’t the cheapest and extra features, including video, audio, and images, aren’t included in the price. These are often desired by users so they’ll have to pay extra. 

Business Wire is still much more expensive than PR Newswire and Sitetrail, but they do offer specialized service relating to the financial industry. They are also very influential and are afforded the same regard as PR Newswire and Sitetrail for having been around the block a couple of times dealing with the same circle of media owners.

 

They have earned the trust of not only users, but journalists and news outlets for providing quality content. Their price is the major barrier between Business Wire and the average user so it’s best suited to large companies.

PRWeb does attempt to differentiate in one way: social sharing – albeit through Twitter accounts where we cannot really verify the validity of follower levels. The company is great for improving search engine visibility and for being promoted online, but has limitations due to the lack of authentic editorial – something that Sitetrail offers. Their prices are also reasonable and accessible to small businesses. Their primary disadvantage is really the fact that they do not write content – and and have no editorial profiles, slapping a “press release” label on all of the duplicated content.

Although we couldn’t provide detailed analyses of other notable press release distributors, we’d like to make honorary mentions of:

     *  Send2Press, eReleases, Newswire, KissPR, EINPRessWire, PR Distribution, PR Newswire, Reuters and Comtex. 

 

 

Suggested Reviews for Best Press Release Services:

EIN Presswire VS Business Wire VS Cision PRWeb: Review and Compare

 

 

Finally, just like travellers love to visit different parts of the world, so do business owners try out different media over time. To discover the best press release writing and distribution service: we suggest trying out Sitetrail AND all our competitors for your PR and measure the results yourself. It may well be that you end up using 2 or 3 providers throughout the year: Sitetrail should certainly be a part of your PR mix.