Paid & Free Press Release Submission Sites (for 2021) | Publicize

Want to send out a press release? Read our 2021 guide to the best paid & free press release submission sites and distribution services.

Something we’re often asked is where do you send a press release and what are the best free press release submission sites and press release distribution services.

So if you’re reading this, the chances are you’ve already written one and now need to find out how to do a press release submission. That’s why we’ve fully updated our guide to the best press release submission sites for 2021.

If you’re still yet to actually write one though, you can learn everything you need to know about writing a press release in our

Ultimate Startup Press Release Guide

. You can also download our

press release template and examples

here, to make the process super easy.

First things first, we need to talk about SEO

As we were writing the updated version of this page, we did what all good copywriters do and reviewed the other page-one search results on Google. To our surprise, a lot of the advice around backlinking for SEO was way, way out of date. Some of the pages were dated as far back as 2009, and as SEO years are similar to cat years, the advice was from another era.

The

general consensus

within the SEO industry is that press release submission sites are no longer an effective means of

earning beneficial backlinks

. Long story short, a few years ago Google got

fed up

with people abusing these platforms to gain backlinks.

As a result most reputable press release submission websites now set all backlinks placed in press releases as

nofollow

by default. This means no

link equity

is passed onto the site that’s being linked to. While some paid and free press release distribution services still offer follow backlinks, the benefit is going to be negligible in 2021.

However, all this talk of using press release submission sites to earn backlinks slightly misses the point. If this is what you’re after, then these websites should just be seen as a means to an end. They provide a platform for journalists to look for stories. And if a journalist writes up one of these press releases as an article in a news publication site, the backlink in this article

will

pass link equity. So it’s through earned media wins that you can combine

PR and SEO

.

Here’s a

blog post

we wrote about this subject, which explains the history and the current state of play in way more detail.

What is a press release?

A press release is a document that communicates your startup announcements to journalists in an effective way.

Press releases have formulaic structures that are designed to get a company’s message across as clearly as possible.

We know, writing press releases can be tricky.

Yet, writing press releases is a valuable art that can propel your startup into the spotlight of industry influencers and journalists.

Where do I submit a press release?

While you’ve no doubt landed on this page as your looking for press release submission sites, it’s important to fully understand the context and process here. There are, broadly speaking, two main routes for sending out a press release:

Send a press release directly to journalists, in the hope they’ll write it up into an article. Our

Ultimate Startup Press Release Guide

provides a step by step guide on how to do this.

Publish a press release onto press release submission sites. This is what this guide focuses on.

Moreover, as the news industry has changed so much over the last decade or so, these press release platforms have also evolved in order to stay relevant.

Many of them now offer loads of other services such as contact information databases, social media influencer access, media monitoring and PR analytics.

For example, sites dedicated solely to video press release services are becoming increasingly popular with businesses big or small. Video press releases allow businesses to visualise their story,  tapping into the growing consumer desire for video-based content.

What is a press release submission?

Press release submission websites are platforms that allow you to publish press releases that you’ve written. These platforms then serve as useful sources of news for journalists and reporters who are looking for stories. [Dodgy metaphor alert] Think of them as wholesalers or stockists for the news industry.

Here’s a really good

video from Newswire

, who are one of the industry leaders, explaining how their service works.

What is the difference between a paid and a free press release submission site?

There are both fee-paying and free press release submission sites available.

The free online press release submission services are very basic as you’ll see from the below list. If your objective is to earn media coverage is recognized publications, then it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll achieve this using free submission sites. Therefore, set your expectations accordingly and just see these services as a way of getting a small bit of exposure at zero cost (although some question if this is even worth the effort).

It’s said that some free press release submission sites are great for technophobes given their easy-to-use interface. Trust us, though. Sacrificing quality for usability is a sure-fire way to condemn your press release to a journalist’s spam folder.

The fee-charging platforms, particularly the market leaders, offer enormous reach into major news and media outlets. However, these services can be very expensive and don’t guarantee results.


Publicize also offers a

press release submission service

, so check out how we stack up against our competitors

The pros and cons of press release distribution services

As discussed above, there are two ways of sending out a press release to get media coverage. One is to send it directly to journalists, while the other is to use one or more press release submission sites.

The

benefits of using a submission site

, versus sending a press release directly to journalists, are the following:

It’s super quick; you don’t need to find

journalist email addresses

nor write a personalized pitch to each of them

You can get instant access to the world’s largest media organizations

Some platforms allow you to target a specific niche or industry

Platforms often syndicate press releases, increasing your visibility

However, there are some

downsides to these platforms

, when compared to pitching press releases directly to journalists:

From our experience, we get better media coverage results when pitching a press release directly to a journalist

You don’t get direct access to journalists, so can’t build up relationships with the press

As discussed above, the SEO benefit, in terms of backlinks, is now negligible to none

How to do a press release submission

If you’re using one of these press release distribution services, then the actual submission is super easy. Most services allow you to simply copy-and-paste your content into an online text editor, then upload any multimedia that you want to include. You can then add hyperlinks and other functionality before you publish it.

And in terms of outreach, most of the premium services will let you choose which types of publications you want to target.

What are the best practices to submit news releases successfully?

Your submitted news release has the best chance of being successful if you take into account the recipient.

Think about the best time of day to send your news release to a specific journalist, relative to their timezone and schedule. Personalized emails, as well, go a whole lot further than copy-pasted emails, and journalists can see these coming a mile away. If your news release is submitted in a structured and engaging way, you’ll give yourself the best chance of being published.

What happens once I publish a press release onto a submission site?

Your press release will appear ‘as is’ (i.e. a carbon copy of what you wrote) on the platform that you submitted it to. It’s then distributed to relevant news and media organizations. This is when the magic happens.

If a journalist and/or publication is interested in the story, they’ll pick it up and run with it in one of two ways:

Publish it ‘as is’ on their own publication. This is literally a copy-and-paste of the press release that you wrote.

A journalist will write it up into an article, using quotes and other information contained in the press release.

Our list of paid press release submission websites 2021 (which we think are the best)


Name


Prices from


Description


Key Features


Newswire


$149 per domestic press release and $1,649 for per global press release

One of the

leading press

release

distribution

platforms,

offering

broadbased

newswise

distribution

and influencer marketing.

Can include

Google News,

Business

Journals

Network,

Reuters and AP outreach, as

well as the

ability to

include a range of multimedia

per release.

Analytics is also available to

track campaign success.


PR Newswire

Around $1,000

per press

release

Claims to have

the largest press release

distribution

network of

media outlets,

websites and

social channels, but with such

large reach

inevitably

comes a high

price tag.

Access to 4,000 websites, 3,000 media outlets,

and 550 news

content systems. Embed

multimedia

content

including

videos, photos,

infographics

and audio clips. And campaign

analytics to

track success


Business Wire

Around $800

per release,

upwards

Claims to offer

the largest

global coverage, reaching more

than 89,613

media outlets in 162 countries.

Aimed more

towards large

corporates who need to comply with regulatory requirements

around

announcements.

Distribution

options cover

193 industry

and trade

categories, along with a global

reach available

in more than 20 languages.

Specialist press release

distribution

service for small to medium-size businesses,

operating since 2004.

The cheapest

package just

posts a press

release to their website, while

the higher tiers distribute it

across AP, and

1000s of media

companies.

Multimedia can also be

embedded on

higher-level

packages.


MarketWired

Around $460

per release

MarketWired

provides a

flexible news

distribution

platform that

can be tailored

for any client

and any type of outreach.

Outreach can be targeted at

global news

media, trade

media or speciality media. Also

tailored towards investor

relations,

helping them

meet regulatory filing and

disclosure

announcements.


Globe Newswire

Data not

available

North American and European

focused press

release

distribution

service, focusing on media and

investment

outlets.

Allows a large

amount of

multimedia

content to be

embedded in

press releases aswell as media

monitoring and analytics.


Pressat

UK focused

press release

distribution

service, but

provides an

international

reach.

Targeted

distribution and guaranteed

syndication,

plus search

engine indexing and analytics.


PR Underground

Press release

distribution

platform

operating at the more affordableend of the market.

Releases are

sent to Google

News and 80

news sites

including

FOX/CBS/ABC/

NBC, as well as

being SEO

optimized.


eReleases

$299 to $499 per press release

Press release distribution site that tries to offer the best value for money. It offers all new customers a $100 discount on its Buzz Builder plan.

Releases are up to 400 words and are sent to over 4700 syndicated submission sites.

Our list of free press release submission sites (fully updated for 2021)


Company Name


Service


Description


Key Features


Moz Domain


Authority


Score


Online PR News

Probably the most established out of all the free press release submissions sites. They offer a freemium model, where the most basic press release package is free.

The basic

package allows users to publish a press release

for 90 days on

the platform.

56


PR.com

Similar model to Online PR News,where the most basic package is free.

The free

package

receives a

reduced

distribution on pr.com,

some third partyand news sites and RSS feeds.

69


PR Free

Another

freemium press release

distribution

service, with themost basic

package being

free to use.

The free service allows

hyperlinks,

search engine

indexing and

social share

buttons.

43


PR Log

It’s a pretty

retro looking

site (by which I mean very

dated), but it’s

free press

release

distribution

service comes

highly rated

from many

reviewers.

The free service distributes pressreleases onsite, across search

engines, social media and RSS

feeds.

82

As per the

above, this site

is now looking alittle bit dated,

but it offers a

free distributionservice.

The free service allows you to

distribute a

press release to 20 PR sites.

59


PR Fire

Allows any user to create an

account and

publish a press

release with it’s free press

release

submission

service.

The free service is pretty limited, as it only

publishes the

press release on its own

platform, which is then indexed by Google.

42


Newswire Today

The basic

package allows

free

submissions, but with very

limited features.

The basic

version only

publishes press releases onto

their site and

basic RSS feeds.

56


PR Sync

This service is

completely free, with the

platform relyingon its

community to

promote the

most relevant

stories to the

homepage.

This is a

community

platform, rather than a

distribution

service.

52

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