PRWeb is the press release distribution service of choice for small businesses who want to make an impact online.

Their services are geared for dominating social media, boosting visibility in search results, and getting featured in online outlets.

Who it’s best for

PRWeb is ideal for small businesses who don’t need to appear in big name publications but want to increase their online presence. This can be useful for companies that:

• Make money online and depend on internet traffic for sales (eCommerce stores or social media marketing consultants)
• Want to build their online brand (fashion boutiques or influencers)
• Aim to raise awareness about their products or services quickly, as online is faster than print or broadcast, and it sticks around (local businesses like plumbers or electricians)
• Already have good offline marketing but have struggled to break through on social media and in search rankings (local theaters and art galleries often have this problem)

Check out our roundup of theBest Press Release Distribution Services

Features

Where do press releases go?

Where a press release is sent depends on different factors like:

• Your plan
• Your add-ons
• Your industry
• Your marketing and PR strategy

With the cheapest plan (basic), the release is just posted to the PRWeb site, although it is tagged appropriately to help people find it.

With the standard plan, PRWeb push out the release to over 1,200 websites in their Online Syndication Network.

The advanced plan and above give access to industry specific curated lists of subscribing journalists:

• Advanced plan: 1 lists
• Web Influence: 2
• Premium: 2
• Web Power: 3

At the time of writing, only the Web Power plan includes a placement on Yahoo and potential access to their millions of visitors. However, PRWeb plan to make this available as an add-on for advanced plans and above.

However, for businesses focusing on their online presence and not prioritizing traditional media, PRWeb’s online network and tools makes it a strong option.

How PRWeb helps social media marketing

All PRWeb’s plans give access to the Cision SocialPost add-on. This feature gives access to Cision PR Newswire’s industry-specific Twitter feeds, allowing you to:

• Push out your message to a large existing social media following
• Boost your ranking on search engines because they take social media mentions and links into account when deciding how high up to list your page
• Reach large numbers of industry specific journalists and outlets through another medium (social media, not just email) with demonstrated interest in similar press releases
• Tag releases with relevant hashtags to be part of and drive the conversation in your industry
• Mention your own social media accounts to direct interested social media users to them and build your following, making it even easier to get the word out in future

Can PRWeb help business show up higher in search engines?

Yes. Although the algorithms used by search engines to decide what pages to list for their users aren’t public, a lot of research has been done showing how they work (more or less).

Search engines like Google or Bing prefer to show pages linked to by other sites they trust, like reputable news outlets. It makes them think the information on them it reliable.

PRWeb can help small business websites get higher up in search results by getting press releases containing links to their sites posted on a large number of trusted sites.

If someone opens a vegan grocery store in downtown Detroit and puts out a press release about how they’re helping the area get back on its feet via PRWeb, more customers searching for ‘vegan stores Detroit’ are likely to find it in their results, which can mean more money for that business.

Pricing

PRWeb offers four per release plans:

• Basic $99 – Permanent tagged and linked placement on the PRWeb site
• Standard $189 – Basic, plus the Online Syndication Network (1,200+ sites)
• Advanced $289 – Standard, plus one industry curated list of journalists
• Premium $389 – Advanced, but with two industry lists and distribution through the Sovrn Content Recommendation Network

Customer service

PRWeb can be contacted by:

• Phone
• Email
• Online form

However, they lack a chat box to easily connect with service reps and response times are unpredictable.

It can also take an uncomfortably long time to get through on the phone.

Pros

• A unique social media facility to spread the word, build a following, improve SEO, and drive traffic
• A flexible pricing structure with plans suitable for almost any small business
• Strong editorial services to ensure only quality press releases get sent out
• A unique ‘call out quote’ feature to help press releases stand out from the crowd

Cons

• All users have to create an account, slowing the process and potentially leaving users feeling ‘locked in’ to using PRWeb for all their releases
• Press releases can’t be sent without review by the PRWeb editorial team, potentially leading to delays in important PR and marketing timetables
• Customer service not as easy to access as Newswire or eReleases. There’s no chat box, for example.