Are free press release posting sites worth it?

Posted on | July 23, 2009 | No Comments

I’ve seen many PR professionals comment that free press release posting sites are worth exactly what you pay for them. There are certainly some sites out there that I have found and used and not seen much point in continuing with.

However, I’ve had a couple of interesting experiences with one free site, www.PRlog.org. This is not an endorsement, and I am not affiliated with the site in any way. In fact, the site has an option to use to post articles, as well, and I’ve been frustrated that it has never worked or been functional for me when I tried it.

However, I posted one or more releases to PRlog.org for a client, a small local business that provides, of all things, portable toilet rentals for local events. In the last few months, I’ve gotten at least two calls from people looking to get pricing from Portable Rental Systems after seeking out portable toilet rental services for northern Colorado, and finding releases from PRS that I posted on PRLog.org.

I’m not sure why these people called me, since it is pretty clear in the release that the best contact would be the business itself; but the fact is, months after taking 10 minutes or so to post to this particular free news distribution site, at least two warm leads called me. Who knows how many folks may have called the client directly after finding a release.

I’ve used a number of other sites on occasion, including the free site www.24-7pressrelease.com, as well as the (formerly free) site www.PRWeb.com, as well as www.marketwire.com. I can’t specifically say that any of these have produced similar, if modest, results to the calls I’ve gotten from PRlog.org.

Leads from posting to PRlog.org may not make or break any given business, but a lead is a lead, a sale is a sale.

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