I get asked all the time if I can I provide a list of free press release distribution companies. Despite being antithetical to my business, which relies on reaching media directly by email and dedicated newswire feeds to newsrooms nationwide, I thought it would be worth venturing into this murky world to give you a comprehensive list of free press release websites. (Read more…)

eReleases’ Mickie Kennedy was the executive producer of the No Agenda podcast on Saturday, October 10, 2009.  Click the player above to hear Adam Curry’s and John C. Dvorak’s comments.

The concept of a free press release distribution service is a real head scratcher to most PR professionals because it removes “reaching the media” from the equation. Free press release websites are recommended by SEO professionals, webmasters and business owners for one reason: to get one-way links and traffic. A note of caution: the one-way links to your site are from a deep-linked page on the free press release website — not the homepage. (Read more…)

The purpose of a personal blog is to provide a forum where its writer can complain, praise, and pontificate. A lone personal blog is one of perhaps millions out there, but like everything else out there on the internet, what’s written on even a personal blog has a sense of permanence. As anyone with a website knows, drawing traffic to a new property is a difficult proposition. Most people who read my personal blog seem to be one-time visitors. (Read more…)

It’s time for another dip into the PR Fuel mailbag. This time around, readers have questions about job interviews with public relations firms; the pros and cons of media training courses; the potential public relations pitfalls of Facebook; and more. (Read more…)

A post on Kevin Dugan’s Strategic Public Relations blog (http://prblog.typepad.com) recently caught my eye. Dugan discussed an article longtime online marketing genius B.L Ochman highlighting ten “examples of sites, campaigns, and companies that are crying out for blogs.” The article got me thinking, once again, about how companies are missing the blogging boat. To this end, I’ve come up with my own list of five industries that are not capitalizing on the public relations opportunities presented by blogs. My hope is that my ideas will perhaps help foster some creative thinking about how your company or clients can use blogs as effective public relations tools. (Read more…)

Despite the fact that the government has thrown hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer dollars at banks, many businesses are finding that credit markets are tight and in some cases virtually non-existent. Home-based, small and medium-sized businesses are being hurt most because they don’t have the currency - common or preferred stock, or debt - to raise cash. (Read more…)

I recently received a breathless call recently from a former colleague. My friend explained that an entry on Wikipedia concerning his company had been “vandalized” and that the company was scrambling to come up with new copy. Wikipedia is a wonderful resource, a starting point for daily research. (Read more…)

My friend, whom I love dearly, believes she is the most unphotogenic person in the world. I beg to differ and when I tell her so, I offer up my own photographic evidence. It matters not; she scurries away when a camera is in sight and went so far as to vet her best friend’s wedding photos to ensure that only the best photos made it onto a photo-sharing website. Last week, my friend was very upset with me. (Read more…)

A PR Fuel reader writes: “With the CAN-SPAM Act in place, does a massive press release email blast to the media constitute spam? (Read more…)