Matt’s Mailbag

Q. I am only interested in getting my release to internet websites and internet news sites to get more of an internet presence. Long term presence is my overall goal.

Would you distribute the press release or would you go through PR Leap? Regardless, would it cost $49 to go through PR Leap?

Also, I have found sites where you can submit a press release and then they send it to other news outlets including press release distribution services.

Which services do you recommend besides PR Leap that will give me the best for my buck?

A. I would only submit your release to one site, such as PR Leap, to get your news out there. Yes, you could submit it to multiple places but when it comes to being indexed by Google, only one copy of your press release will be found online after a few days. Therefore, choose just one press release distributor (PR Leap, PR Newswire, PR Web, etc.) and find the best plan for you.

I still recommend and use PR Leap as I have found that they give the best bang for the buck. A basic submission costs $49 which will get your piece published to Google News while other packages with even more attractive options costing $99 and $149 may be worth it to you. Those extra features include tags, media attachments, Associated Press and United Press International submission and next-day service.

Finally, as someone who uses press releases to source a story, I prefer those which are five hundred words or less with one or two quotes contained therein. Make sure your contact information is accurate and relevant — if I need to follow up with a journalist, then I should be able to make a phone call to speak to the source.  I’ve canceled stories or have gone with a different source when the listed contact was unreachable or did not return my query.

Matt’s Mailbag

Q. My SU (StumbleUpon) traffic has been getting lower and lower over time, probably because I have the same set of people stumbling. How do you maintain healthy traffic levels from social media to all of your various sites? Do you have any SU or other social media tips that you’d be willing to share?

A. There are a number of things you can do to help your StumbleUpon traffic improve, though I cannot say for certain if you will reach the levels of traffic you are accustomed to.

That being said here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Submit only on occasion to SU (once weekly, perhaps twice per domain), preferably having someone discover and stumble the article for you. Follow up with your own stumble if you like.

• Change the people whom you ask to stumble on your behalf. If SU catches you forming a “band” of stumblers, you’ll see diminishing returns.

• I don’t usually get that much traffic with Digg, Reddit and Mixx. SU rules!

• Comment on other blogs — good, relevant comments in order to get the owner’s approval. Place your article’s URL where the URL is featured after your name and email address.

• Spend some time stumbling daily. I like to click on my friends favorites and run through 50 to 100 at a time. When you stumble, people stumble back and the traffic begins to flow. Leave related comments from time to time; add discoveries too.

As always, good solid content will help drive people to your site, whether you plan to rely on social media traffic or not. When writing articles, don’t forget to cite other people’s work and embed a link back to their article.

I’ve been using StumbleUpon for two years now and have seen my traffic numbers fluctuate dramatically. I don’t rely on SU alone, but it does remain an important source for helping bring traffic my way.