Free Press Releases at PRLog: Benefits and Drawbacks
I have learned about PRLog years years ago, maybe two. If my memory serves me well, I received some marketing materials from them regarding the launch of PRLog and their sister site Article Library at http://artilib.org/. While the idea was interesting, did not look further into using PRLog because I did not believe they will be able to compete with the websites like PRWeb – another leading press release distribution website. PRLog has improved since, and I have been using their services for the last two months.
The PRLog review by Janet Meiners Thaeler inspired me to take another look at their services. But today I would like to list a few benefits along with drawbacks of my own about using PRLog.
The Benefits:
It’s Free
To submit a press release to PRLog does not cost you a penny. In today’s economy it’s a plus I suppose.
Your Press Releases at PRLog go live with a click of the button.
I have used the PRLog for 5 press releases so far- all of them went live right after I clicked the “publish” button. This can be useful if you need to get your news out fast and do not have time to wait through the approval process other website have in place.
PRLog is ranking well in Google and their traffic is on the rise.
I have noticed that all of my press release were crawled by Google within minutes of them going live. One of the press releases has a Google Page rank of 3 while four other press releases have page rank of 2. According to Alexa PRLog’s traffic has been rising steadily over the last several months and according to Compete they are averaging about 1 million visitors each month.
The Drawbacks
Poor click through to your website.
Press releases at PRLog seem to get more views as the “age” – considering that one of the goals of a press release is to “announce” news, it is somewhat backward. Even as the views of your press releases increase I also find that click through to your websites do not.
No control over the anchor text in your links.
When publishing a press release at PRLog, your links are just converted to a clickable URLs. Considering the possible SEO value you maybe able to get from using PRLog, the ability to have control anchor text should be considered by PRLog developers.
PRLog press releases do not get republished on other sites as much as one would wish…
In comparison to other similar websites, press releases from PRLog do not appear to draw much attention from publishers and webmasters. EzineArticles.com will get you better results as far as this goes.
To conclude I wish to say that PRLog has come a long way. If your advertising budget does not allow you to purchase press release services, PRLog should be considered as an option- you can’t beat the free price tag. However you should not expect great results on a single press release at PRLog.
Similar Posts:
27 Comments
Other Links to this Post
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
By mike, May 23, 2010 @ 3:50 am
well i have not used any sort of pr till now.But it looks like you are really into it.You have some good information on this matter.
By Glenn in Naples, July 17, 2010 @ 8:12 am
Your observation about the hits as the page ages is interesting, because as you say it is a press release and press releases usually represent which is current not history.
By Vlad Zablotskyy, July 17, 2010 @ 5:51 pm
Glenn, I think this is unintentional “benefit” of free press release websites. If you use PRWeb instead generally the first few days traffic flows the strongest. I would rather “get killed” by one huge way of traffic if I am serious about press releases.
I think in the case of PRLog a link has more value than the traffic, to be honest. Thanks for stopping by, it’s nice to hear from you!
By Heidi Mueller, September 30, 2010 @ 10:26 am
Before you spent money on press release services – why not try prlog.org and Widepr.com (incl. free distribution services) first – they are easy to use and you will gain at least some backlinks for free.
The main thing that anyone – who does press releases or articles for webmarketing – should care about is a catchy headline (and add some eye-candy (image or logo) to your press release – will be shown with the teaser of your press release for free on widepr.com) and useful content to attract even readers that are currently not after your product or service. Do so and a boost of traffic will be unavoidable
By Vlad Zablotskyy, September 30, 2010 @ 12:11 pm
Heidi,
I can appreciate your astroturfing efforts on behalf of Widepr.com, I would appreciate your read the articles before leaving your comments. Your comment was edited accordingly- hyperllinks removed.
By Heidi Mueller, September 30, 2010 @ 1:04 pm
Dear Vlad,
I wonder were the problem is – weren’t we talking about free press releases sites e.g. prlog, free article sites e.g. EzineArticles and press release services like e.g. prweb – that charges a fee of at least 80$? And isn’t a free service like widepr.com worth to mentioned in a discussion about links and traffic within a internet marketing tip site?
Best,
Heidi
By Vlad Zablotskyy, September 30, 2010 @ 1:38 pm
Heidi,
Unfortunately your first comment came across as an advertorial. To be honest this is the first time I hear about Widepr.com.
Are you the founder? If so, I would love to get your more attention in a separate post. Perhaps an interview?
By Ashish kumar, April 5, 2011 @ 3:14 am
Thanks for sharing the info regarding press releases. It was nice reading it…
By Yahoo store training, May 28, 2011 @ 9:35 am
I a piece to PRLog a couple days ago and it got 50+ views within the first half hour or so. I was so excited that I published a second and it never appeared on the list of recent submissions and it got no traffic. I submitted a support ticket and PRLog said that the second one was an article (not a press release) and that it belongs at artilib.org. when i look at the submissions at PRLog, many of them seem far less news-worthy than my submission but I’ve resubmitted it at artilib. What has your experience been with artilib? Any idea why some very blatant marketing pieces slip under the radar at PRLog? What is their criteria for news vs articles? (The only guidance I can find on the PRLog website is: “A press release is simply a statement prepared for distribution to the news media announcing something claimed as having news value with the intent of gaining media coverage.” Thank you for sharing your insight!
By Acmeous, July 15, 2011 @ 8:37 am
Hey Vlad,
. I have a question here. If PRLog can’t provide good traffic, at least initially, even though they have 1K Alexa, does they provide valued links, as they have now PR6?
Stumbled on your blog again after long time
My thought is of course it is free, but anything practically effective it does?
By Mack, October 3, 2011 @ 1:48 am
Hey Vlad, thanks for sharing a great points related to PRLog.
By Dhruv @ Technology of Future, November 19, 2011 @ 1:51 am
Useful post especially for cost efficient press release. But I wonder, the links on PRlog are do follow or no follow ?
By ilir konomi, January 20, 2013 @ 9:35 am
I have used PRLog few times before but I see that it’s worth investining morenl time with it.
On the other side why not spending few $ if the release will go to then top press releases?
I believe that PR should work better in the long term. And better than adverts. Isn’t it supposed to be this way anyhow?
By Al??veri? Kuponlar?, January 25, 2013 @ 11:22 am
I’ve joined them yesterday and I’ve submitted 2 press releases there. Thank you for these info on prlog hope this will work things out for me as am still exploring other free traffic sources.
By xbox live microsoft points generator, January 28, 2013 @ 12:01 am
It is not my first time to visit this web site, i am visiting this web page dailly and obtain good facts from
here daily.
By Forex Trading Alert Robot, February 3, 2013 @ 6:40 pm
you are in point of fact a excellent webmaster. The web site loading pace is amazing.
It kind of feels that you are doing any unique trick.
Moreover, The contents are masterwork. you’ve done a great job in this matter!
By weight loss food, February 18, 2013 @ 9:01 am
What a stuff of un-ambiguity and preserveness of valuable knowledge regarding unpredicted emotions.
By masticating juicers, February 19, 2013 @ 8:46 am
I have read a few good stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for revisiting.
I surprise how so much effort you put to create any such excellent
informative website.
By Continued, March 2, 2013 @ 11:17 pm
Hi, this weekend is good for me, since this time i am reading
this wonderful educational paragraph here
at my residence.
By Online Casino Bonus Spil i Danmark - Discovering The greatest Online Casino Perk, March 13, 2013 @ 5:39 am
I was wondering if you ever considered changing the page layout
of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so
people could connect with it better. Youve got an
awful lot of text for only having 1 or two images. Maybe you could space
it out better?
By http://www.121marketingpros.com/100aday, March 14, 2013 @ 5:02 pm
Do you have a spam issue on this website; I also am a blogger, and I was wanting to know your
situation; we have developed some nice procedures and we are looking to exchange solutions with
other folks, please shoot me an email if interested. http:
//www.121marketingpros.com/100aday
By how to get back your ex, April 9, 2013 @ 7:39 am
always i used to read smaller content which as well clear their motive,
and that is also happening with this post which I am reading now.
By Related Site, April 12, 2013 @ 5:48 am
This is the right webpage for anyone who hopes
to find out about this topic. You know a whole lot its almost tough to argue with
you (not that I personally would want to…HaHa). You definitely
put a fresh spin on a topic that’s been written about for many years. Excellent stuff, just excellent!
By faster loans, April 19, 2013 @ 2:38 am
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again.
Anyhow, just wanted to say wonderful blog!
By Delila, April 20, 2013 @ 1:56 pm
Woah! I’m really loving the template/theme of this blog. It’s simple, yet
effective. A lot of times it’s tough to get that “perfect balance” between superb usability and appearance. I must say you have done a fantastic job with this. Additionally, the blog loads super fast for me on Firefox. Excellent Blog!
By blanqueamiento dental precios, April 20, 2013 @ 9:07 pm
Hol dra gracias por tu comentario, estoy conciente de la desmineralizacion del esmalte provocada por blanquear
como sabras cualquier blanqueamiento causa? desmineralizacion que es
reversible ya hay varios estudios sobre ese tema, los abrasivos estan presentes
tambien en las pastas comerciales y en las que tu y yo usamos en profilaxis,
el problema seria usarlos en exceso, en cuanto al acido de limon
es un citrico que consumimos en la dieta normal y equivalente al fosforico q usas en
resinas saludo
By energy prices, April 28, 2013 @ 8:56 am
Hi there! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO?
I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good results.
If you know of any please share. Thanks!