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Targeted News Distribution and Newswire Services since 1983

Common Questions, Help and Information
This page contains helpful information about Send2Press' services.
You should review this information prior to starting the order process.

2005 Help Topics
Please NOTE we are in the process of updating this info for 2006, and so there may be some mention of old part numbers (e.g., B-1, B-2, etc. which are no longer valid).

Click a topic link below to "jump" to the information: NOTE: You may "jump" between topics using these links, or you can simply scroll down on this page to view all information in order.
» Requirements for all News Releases » Daily 'Cut-off' Times for Submitting News » Understanding Word Length Limits » Free and Paid Image/Photo Options » Free and Paid Report Options » Where Do I Submit My News? » What is Best Day/Time to Send News?	» What is Difference: Silver/Blue Plans? » Example Press Releases » How to Order Writing/Editing Services » New vs. Old Service Code Numbers » Using Another Person's Credit Card » International Orders (outside US/Can.) » Privacy Statement
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Our Customers Say It Best...
"I would recommend the Send2Press service to any small business, over going directly with BusinessWire, PRnewswire, or any other of the so-called 'newswires.'"
—Mukesh Lulla; TeamF1, Inc.

Want to know more? Read Testimonials or View Success Stories

Updated June 4, 2005. Find a mistake? Let Us Know

What is the Difference Between Send2Press 'Silver' and 'Blue' Targeted News Distribution Plans
Send2Press has two service "tiers" for news distribution. Our "Silver" plans are the standard level, while the "Blue" plans are the premium level services.

CLICK HERE FOR UPDATED 2006 PRICING SCHEDULE AND COMPARISON CHART

The primary difference between our "Silver" and "Blue" news distribution plans, is that our "Silver" plans utilize only the services and solutions provided by Send2Press Newswire, based on our 22+ years of delivering news directly to editors and journalists — this includes direct delivery by e-mail to "targeted" contacts (meaning, we target only those interested in your news, we don't send cooking news to car magazines), article version of news on our Web sites posted to search engines and clipping services, inclusion in online news sources like Moreover, MSN Newsbot, News.Google, Lycos News, NewsNow(UK), and more than 100 others, RSS and headline feeds, and more.

Our "Blue" plans include guaranteed distribution via additional wires, including Reuters, LexisNexis, Comtex, Thomson-Dialog, and PR Newswire, plus free expert profile in ProfNet, and two readership tracking reports — these services are in addition to service features provided with our "Silver" level plans above.

We call our news plans "targeted" because we don't press a button and "blast" the news to everybody, but are highly selective of where it is sent. For instance, we don't send cooking news to car magazines. This keeps our news more "credible" and is not perceived as "news spam" by the receiving journalist or news desk.

Simple Chart of Send2Press Silver and Blue Distribution Plans and Pricing
CLICK HERE FOR UPDATED 2006 PRICING SCHEDULE AND COMPARISON CHART

Requirements for All News Releases
All press releases sent through the Send2Press News Network, as well as through other sources like Reuters, Comtex and PR Newswire, have specific requirements that must be met in order to distribute your news announcement.

We Cannot Accept "Advertorial" Content
All press releases must be written as news announcements, and not advertisements (or "advertorials"). This means you cannot write content that tries to sell something to the person reading the news release. Remember: a press release is sent to somebody in the media, who may then write about you in their publication or other media outlet (TV, radio, blog, web portal, etc.), which may then be seen by your potential customers. In your text you cannot say things like "You will be able to..." or "Your company can..." or anything specifically directed to the reader. In some cases you may include this type of text if it is in a direct quote from a company spokesperson and attributed to that person by name (example: "You really can see an improvement in track times, with these new tires," said Jane Smith of Racing Rubber Co.). If you submit a release which appears to be advertotiral in nature, you will be required to revise the text before it can be disseminated to the media or posted online.

What is the Basis for These Requirements?
Some of our requirements are to meet "AP Style" and others are to meet FCC and/or SEC requirements for news accuracy. Some requirements are for compatibility with online data sources and RSS/XML feeds pulled into other Web sites and databases. We've distilled all of these varied requirements into a fairly simplified list of "what you must do" in order to send a press release. Press releases which do not meet these requirements when submitted, will be held until they do.

Remember we are not a free news service posting "news spam," nor do we push a button to send out your news after you submit it to us. All news content is personally reviewed by a professional journalist and copy-editor on our team who determines if it meets our editorial criteria — if it does not, we contact you to make corrections to meet these requirements.

All Press Releases Must Contain the Following:

• A headline summarizing what you are announcing as news.
  Generally not longer than two 80-character lines. You may have a longer headline, but many online data sources will truncate this at about 120 characters in length. Similarly, sub-headlines will not show in most online news summaries. (Both of these issues are true for News.Google, My Yahoo!, and Send2Press XML Feeds). Since many online sites show only headlines in summaries (e.g., NewsNow[uk]), it's wise to make sure your headline says what you're announcing as clearly as possible. (See special note, below, regarding headlines and News.Google.)
  » See the example press releases, below.
  
  
• First paragraph, with attribution, city, state and date.
  All news releases must contain what is called "attribution" in the first paragraph OR the headline. Simply put, attribution is the source of the news, which is most often the company or organization who is announcing something in the release. Without proper attribution, nobody can tell from the headline and first paragraph (also called the "summary") who is announcing what. No release will be distributed without attribution. The first paragraph should begin with your city, state abbreviation, and the month and day the release will go out (we will change as needed) — example: TORRANCE, Calif. - Jan. 1.
  
  
• Contact information for media and/or public:
  All releases must have a media contact person. Primarily a news release is sent to the media, so it stands to reason they need to be able to contact you for more information. This information is placed at bottom of the release, not the top, and comprises a person by name, then a line with "of company name" to indicate which company that person is with or an agency, then a line with telephone number, and finally a line with e-mail address. With the "Blue" plans you do not need to provide an e-mail address for the wires, but you must have one for the Send2Press distribution.

  Example:

   Media Contact:
   Jane Smith
   of Smith and J. Company
   +1-555-555-1212
   press@sandjcoWebsite.xyz
  

  
  
• Note for Image(s) and Captions
  A caption is required for each image, except a logo. You cannot attach business cards, fliers, PDFs, reports, or other promotional materials. See notes below under image options for examples.

NOTE: The above required elements all count toward the word length limits of your release. Everything from your headline to your media contact info count towards the word length. With "Blue" plans, when you code your contact info as "public" the contact info is counted twice (double the words used for contact info). See the example press releases, below.

Special Note for Long Headlines and News.Google
Please note that with headlines longer than two 80 character lines, the News.Google "newsbot" may not retrieve your news from our system. We have no control over this issue, other than to recommend you avoid extra long headlines and perhaps break a long headline into a main headline plus subhead. A practical headline length limit might be 130 characters in length, if you wish to better ensure your news appears on News.Google.

Here is an example of a long headline that News.Google did NOT pick up (162 characters):

Makeup Artists from Southern California Agency Donating 100% of Earnings for Services Provided at The 2005 Grammy Awards and Academy Awards to the Tsunami Victims

When the above headline was reworked and republished, it was picked up:

Makeup Artists from Calif. Agency Donating 100% of Earnings for Services Provided at Academy Awards to Tsunami Victims

Special Note for Using Stock Tickers in a Release
Per FCC/SEC requirements you may not use a stock ticker in your news release unless your news is "material" to that company. An example might be a strategic partnership with a company that has a ticker symbol. In many cases, to include a ticker symbol, you would need to provide proof of permission from that company to use their ticker symbol in your release. This is because your news will "attach" to that ticker symbol worldwide in literally a million sources where somebody could type in the ticker (e.g., Quote.com, Yahoo!, etc.) and see your release related to that ticker symbol.

Special Note for Legal Matters Such as Lawsuits
If you are announcing a court-related matter such as lawsuit or similar, you will need to provide proof of the action by fax. This fax would contain a copy of the court-stamped cover sheet to the docket showing case number and filing date. Announcing a "pending" action which has not yet been filed with the court is not allowed.

Special Note for eBay Auction Items
Please note that because auction items sold on eBay® are typically of short term interest, there are several rules to be aware of. First, Send2Press will not "hot link" to your auction item from our permanent "article" page created from your release, because the link will be invalid within a few days. We will include the link, but it won't be "live." This does not impact your release when posted online with our "Blue" plans, where the link will be live on hundreds of sites the same day — this only impacts the Send2Press "article" version of your news. Second, you must include verbiage to the effect "Visit eBay.com and search for item #000000" which is your auction item. And third, be advised that most media do not wish to receive direct releases covering "nacho chip that looks like the virgin Mary" since this has become an epidemic of "food that looks like Elvis" type items. Finally, remember that we do not distribute "anonymous" news — this means you MUST adhere to the attribution rule, and clearly identify WHO is announcing the auction item in either headline or first paragraph of release (e.g., if it's your family you might say "Andrews Family"). Releases will be held until the above requirements are met.

If you are confused by these requirements in any way, please feel free to contact us for help.

Example Press Releases
These are practical examples of actual news releases, and include the requirements noted in the above help sections. You may also wish to see the article by Christopher Simmons, originally published in 1999, entitled "How to Write a Press Release."

Example #1
This is an actual 633 word release (counts as 700 words), with a headline and sub-headline.
» Click here to view example press release #1

Example #2
This is an actual 628 word length release, with a single headline.
» Click here to view example press release #2

Example #3
This is an actual 400 word length release, with a single headline.
» Click here to view example press release #3

Other Examples from Our Archives
You can view hundreds of example press releases by looking in our text archive. The versions in the archive include additional content not counted in the word length such as "Of Interest To" and copyright notices and references at bottom. Your release should be formatted per the above three examples. However these examples may be of interest for reference, as to content and style.
» Click here to view example text archive
 

Best Day or Time to Send News Out
Historically, one of the questions we're asked most often is "what day is best to send news." A few years ago, this might have been more of an easy answer. Today, with many news systems being "immediate" like News.Google, and the popularity of clipping services that deliver a clip the following morning to interested editors, the specific day or time (hour of day) is no longer quite so important. However, we do have some guidelines based on practical experience, and feedback from media professionals.

Some media outlets like the Los Angeles Times receive thousands of news releases per week, and so it can take them a week to even read your release (smaller newspapers often read news more quickly). Our news is usually seen online via News.Google, Lycos News, NewsNow(UK), RSS/XML Feeds and other news feed sites within anywhere from 5 minutes to 50 minutes of when we publish it in our system. So, this means if you have a news story that pushes Thursday afternoon, it can be found "right now" online, even though a journalist might not read it directly in their mailbox until Monday.

With our "Blue" news plans, your news is also available within the hour to media worldwide via Reuters, LexisNexis, Comtex, and Thomson-Dialog/FirstCall.

Please also see our daily news "cut-off" times, below.

Best Time to Send News (examples):

Public Company News
Generally the next morning at 6-8am ET for when the markets open is recommended. If the news is important to get out to help stock price related to a major company or world event, then "right now" is always advised. We can get out the OTCBB news plan within the hour.

Local/Regional Event News
Event news should go out ASAP because most newspapers want event news up to three weeks in advance, and most TV stations want news two weeks in advance. So, the sooner you can get it out there the better. You should also fax your news to your local TV station "news tip line." Travel and Tourism magazines need festival and event news two months in advance. An example strategy used by many event planners is to do first release two or three months in advance for magazines, then again one month in advance, then 7-10 days prior to event.

Industry and Product News
If you're announcing general business or product news, then any time between 8am and 5pm ET works fine, and any day of the week is fine. Since most industry trade magazines have a 1-3 month lead time (meaning, most publications are put together a couple months in advance of the cover date), the specific day is not so critical.

Friday Versus Monday
The only compelling reason to put out a news release Monday morning versus Friday would be that clipping services which deliver a clip summary of daily news the following morning might be more likely read on a Tuesday morning versus a Saturday morning.

Daily 'Cut-off' Times for Submitting News
Please be aware that we have daily "cut-off" times to submit news for it to go out the same day. A cut-off time is essentially the same as a deadline, or the last time of day you can submit news to go out the same or following day. This varies by service plan. "Blue" service plans always take priority over "Silver" plans in our system.

We are closed weekends and holidays and do not distribute news on Saturday or Sunday.

We have these deadlines because all news must be personally reviewed, and with "Blue" plans we have to verbally confirm news with a counterpart at certain of the wire services (we don't have to verbally confirm with you).

All Cut-off times are based on receipt of news information form, not time order is placed ("checkout").

"Blue" News Distribution Plan Cut-off Times

The latest you can submit a release to go out the same day or the following "early morning," is 7:30pm Eastern Time (4:30pm Pacific Time), Monday through Friday. Orders and news forms received after this cut-off cannot be pushed to the media earlier than 11:30am Eastern Time the following business day. With all blue plans you may specify an "exact" time your news will push to the media (e.g., 6am Eastern Time).

Examples:

• If you submit an order and news form prior to 7:30pm Eastern Time, you may choose to have the release go out immediately, that evening between 8pm and midnight Eastern Time, or anytime the following business day from 6am to 11:59pm Eastern Time (midnight), or any later date/time in the future.
  
  
• If you submit an order after 7:30pm Eastern Time, the soonest it can go out is 11:30am Eastern Time the following morning (if Friday night, earliest would be monday morning), or any later date/time in the future.
  
  
• If you submit an order on Saturday or Sunday, the soonest it can go out is 11-11:30am Eastern Time monday morning, or any later date/time in the future.

"Silver" News Distribution Plan Cutoff Times

News releases received after 3pm Eastern Time (12pm noon Pacific Time) will not go out earlier than 11:30am Eastern Time the following business day. All "Silver" distribution plans may only be distributed between 11:30am and 8pm Eastern Time (8:30am to 5pm Pacific Time), Monday through Friday. With the S-2 and S-3 plans you may request a distribution time, but this will only be a "window" of up to two hours before or after that time.

Examples:

• If you submit a release before 3pm Eastern Time (12pm Pacific Time), you may specify that you wish the release to go out the same day, or you may specify any future date/time.
  
  
• If you submit a release after 3pm Eastern Time (12pm Pacific Time) or on Saturday/Sunday, you may specify that you wish the release to go out the next day at a preferred time between 12pm and 8pm Eastern Time (9am to 5pm Pacific Time), or you may specify any future date/time.

The Silver S-1 "online only" service plan can be published either "ASAP the same day," "ASAP the following day," or any future date. You may request an exact time with the S-1 plan, but no online-only release will be published prior to 12pm Eastern Time, and this will be a lower priority than all other news plans.

IMPORTANT NOTE: For all plans it is very important to note that in instances where you have placed an order from an international location, or have used another person's credit card, that we cannot send your release until we receive the required Fax Authorization Form from the card holder. If we have not received the fax form, the cutoff times noted above would be irrelevant until we receive the fax.

If you are confused by our cut-off times in any way, please feel free to contact us for help.

Understanding Word Length Limits
One of the more confusing aspects of ordering press release services is understanding how word length limits work. Basically, each news plan has a "base word count length limit," which means there is a limit to the length of the press release you can send for the standard plan price, based on how many words long the release is.

Base Word Count Length Limits
With all plans there is an added cost if the release is longer than the base limit.
• All "Blue" plans have a 400 word base length limit.
• All "Silver" plans have a 700 word base length limit.

How to Determine the Word Length of a Press Release

All word processors, whether you use Microsoft Word, OpenOffice, WordPerfect, or older applications like Xwriter, all have the ability to count the number of words in a document. For instance, in MS Word, under "Tools" there is an option called "word count" which will tell you how many words there are in the press release. At Send2Press, we use MS word to check the length of your news release.

The trick is to remove unnecessary elements from your release, while keeping the requirements. You should also see the example press releases. above.

You must have a headline; a first paragraph that starts with city, state, and date (month and day); text of release including any hot link to your Web site or image; any boilerplate (such as for a public company); then contact information (name, company, phone and e-mail) at bottom. All photos must include a caption. All of this counts toward the length of the release.

Because you must have a media contact person by name, company and phone regardless of coding for "media only," or for the "public," this can cause confusion in word lengths with our "Blue" plans. The simple fact is this: if your contact info is going to be coded "public" and appear on ALL Web sites visibly via Comtex, PRN, etc., it must be counted twice. The easiest thing to do is paste your contact info in twice and note one is for the public, like so:

 (public)
 Contact:
 Jane Smith
 of Smith and J. Company
 +1-555-555-1212

 Media Contact:
 Jane Smith
 of Smith and J. Company
 +1-555-555-1212
 press@sandjcoWebsite.xyz
 

In the above example you may notice that we left off the e-mail address for the "public," but left it on for the media. The issue with public vs. media only coding of contact info is that some sites like Yahoo! Finance don't post the contact info unless coded "public," while sites like CBS MarketWatch will post the contact info even if it's coded "media only." You would not count the entire block above twice, but by putting the info as shown the extra words are counted in your word processor when checking length.

If your primary interest in having contact information visible publicly is for Yahoo! Finance news, another way of presenting your contact info so that a portion is both for the public and for media only would be like so:

Smith and J. Company has been a leader in the Six Sigma service arena for more than fifty years, and has offices in over 100 countries and cities worldwide. For investor relations or company information, contact Jonathan Doe, of Doe Partners, at (555) 1212, or at doedoe@doeanddoedodoe.cyz.

 Media Contact:
 Jane Smith
 of Smith and J. Company
 +1-555-555-1212
 press@sandjcoWebsite.xyz
 

In this example above, the contact info in the "boilerplate" about the company would be public on all sites posting the release, including Yahoo! Finance news, but the "media only" contact info for Jane Smith would not appear on Yahoo! or the majority of Web sites. The industry standard coding for contact info is "media only," and when you fill out the Send2Press news information form in our Support Center, you will have the option to change your contact coding from media only to public; however, unless you change the default to "public," it will always be coded "media only."

With all news plans, if your release is longer than the "base word length limit," you may order an add-on option for the additional words. In particular, for our "Blue" plans, the reason there are these added costs is due to the fact that the numerous wire services we submit your news through charge us for each 100 words over 400. With our "Silver" plans we have length limits due to e-mail transmission times, and file sizes when sites pull dynamic feeds of full-text (e.g., MSN Newsbot, and clipping services like CyberAlert and eWatch) which use substantial Web server resources.

If your release is longer than the base limit of the news plan you've ordered, you will have two options: 1) either trim your release to the length required by cutting out words, or 2) order the necessary add-on option(s) for each 100 words for that plan.

Examples:

• If you order the B-1, B-2, or B-3 plan the base word length limit is 400 words. If your release is 454 words in length, then you would need to order one unit ("1") of the #OPT-P1 add-on option for the "Blue" distribution plans. If your release were 789 words, you would need to order four ("4") of the add-on option. There is no upper word length limit for any "Blue" service plan (we have sent 3,200 word releases).
  
  Specific Example for 'Blue' Plans:
  If you ordered plan #B-1, and had a 600 word release, you would need to order (1) of plan #B-1 for $299, and two (2) units of the add-on extra 100 words option #OPT-P1 at $45 ea., and then your total cost would be $389 to distribute your news release.
  
  
• If you order the PRN "US1 SuperPack" which combines the PRN "US1" plan with the Send2Press Newswire services, the cost for each 100 words over 400 is notably higher than the regular "Blue" plans. Be careful to order the correct #OPT-P2 add-on option for words over 400 on this plan.
  
  
• Of particular confusion with the "Blue" plans is the special CanadaNewswire add-on option. With this option, all words over 400 are counted twice since it's going out through both the Newswires and CN system. So, a 500 word release would actually be 200 words over (100 over 400, plus 100 over for CN).
  
  
• If you order a Send2Press "Silver" plan, the base word length limit is 700 words. If your release is 858 words, you would need to order two ("2") of the #OPT-AS1 add-on option for the "Silver" distribution plans. The maximum length allowed for any "Silver" plan is 1,200 words.
  
  Specific Example for 'Silver' Plans:
  If you ordered plan #S-3, and had a 900 word release, you would need to order (1) of plan #S-3 for $149, and two (2) units of the add-on extra 100 words option #OPT-AS1 at $5 ea., and then your total cost would be $159 to distribute your news release.

CLICK HERE FOR UPDATED 2006 PRICING SCHEDULE AND COMPARISON CHART

Free and Paid Image/Photo Options
With all Send2Press news distribution plans, you have several options for including either a free Web-resolution image and/or logo, or a high-resolution image at additional cost. A photo caption and credit is required with ALL images (except logos). We cannot include a banner, flier, business card, or similar.

The technical differences are that a Web-ready (or "Internet") image looks good online but is not high enough quality for printing. A high resolution image could be printed in a magazine or newspaper. Specifically, a Web image is 72 dots-per-inch (dpi), where a print-ready image is 300dpi.

Free Image Options for all Send2Press News Plans
With all Send2Press news plans you may include two free Web-ready images (only one with the S-1 plan). Both images combined cannot be more than 15K in file size (e.g., you could have one image no larger than 15K, or two images no larger than 7K each). Remember these images are intended to be seen online, not printed. Generally you should only have one image and a caption (see News.Google note, below).

Each free image counts as five words in the word length limits of all plans. A caption is also counted in the word length (a photo caption and credit is required with ALL images).

For all "free" images, because we host the image(s) on our Web server, we may add a white bar below image with the line in very small type "www.Send2Press.com." This is to prevent other Web sites from loading the image from our server on theirs and eating up our bandwidth and system resources. Legitimate news sites can simply crop the line off the bottom to use the graphic on their own site/server. This is not added to logos. We reserve the right to minimize over-large graphics as necessary without providing prior approval.

Since the image is only a link in the body of the release (the actual image is not visible to the media unless clicked), you can as easily host the image on your own site/server and simply put a link to the image in the body of the release, after the first paragraph like so:

*(Photo: http://www.yoursite.xyz/pics/productxyz.jpg)

*(Photo Caption: Bob winds up for the big pitch. Photo by Jane Smith.)

With our "Blue" plans you may instead choose the Total Photo Archive (TPA) option for $395, which posts your high-resolution image in both the NewsCom and AP (Assoc. Press) Archive retrieval services where editors seek content. The TPA option is not available with "Silver" plans.

Total Photo Archive images should be saved as RGB Photoshop-JPEG (not Web .jpg) at a quality factor of about "7" (or in comparable imaging application, save as true JPEG with quality factor of "70%"). Image must be 300dpi, and 8-inches in at least one dimension. With the TPA option, a caption and source for the image is required, but does not count against the base 400 word length limit for the "Blue" distribution plans.

With all high-resolution image options, we create a Web-ready version automatically to use in the Send2Press online versions of your news. For those not in a hurry, we can assist with image conversion, cropping, or optimization at no added cost. Images which must be conformed to meet the above requirements may delay the distribution of your release.

Photos and News.Google
In most cases a supplied photo will show up on News.Google along with the Send2Press version of your news release (see screen shot, below), however it is not guaranteed. Because Google still calls their news system a "beta" venture, there are inconsistencies outside our control. If you wish your image to appear on News.Google, you should ensure your headline is no longer than two lines, and choose a single image over multiple images for best results.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not e-mail images prior to ordering our services. All images are sent to us by attaching them to the proper news info form in our Support Center, after checkout. We cannot use images "embedded" into a word processor document — they must be provided as separate image files.

If you are confused by these photo options, please feel free to contact us for help.

Free and Paid Reporting/Tracking Options
Send2Press offers various free and paid reporting/tracking options with our news distribution plans. In this section you will also find some explanations of what reporting and tracking actually includes, as well as some valuable information about the misconceptions on media response and pick-up.

Free Basic Send2Press NetwireWatch™ Reports
Our "Silver" level distribution plans (except #S-1) include one basic tracking report, which simply shows examples of your news appearing online the same day including on the Send2Press site(s), News.Google, etc. Our "Blue" plans include additional reporting that show an extended sampling of your news appearing online through automated "news feeds," plus additional reports which show you example tracking of how many journalists actually read your news release within the first 24 hours and within the first seven days on both the Send2Press and PRN for Journalists (PRNJ) Web sites . If you order the OTCBB plan you also get a list of links to major ticker look-up sites and how to find your news there. If you order the PRN "US1" SuperPack(s), you get a list of the US1 distribution list.

Paid Reporting and Tracking Options
If you wish to have a report of which print publications, daily newspapers, and TV stations your news was sent to, you may order our Basic Distribution Report ($29), which gives you this information. Note that this report does NOT include contact information for follow-up (we do not give away our media database). A simple version of this information was provided free prior to 2002, but our costs have risen more than 20% since then and we've not increased our news distribution plan pricing. The Basic Distribution Report is provided ONLY as an encrypted Acrobat/PDF document, which does not allow copy-pasting of the contact info, but can be printed. The report is intended to be a reference/confirmation tool and is not intended to be the basis for you building your own distribution list. You may also find the majority of this information free of charge in our Media Lists directory. The report includes daily newspapers, TV stations, and trade/consumer publications. It does not include radio stations or opt-in lists. The report is considered a "target list" and not a "confirmed delivery report," meaning that publications may appear in the report which did not actually receive your release due to technical issues on the receiving side (e.g., mailbox full, server offline, etc.). The Basic Distribution Report does not include state/local media from PRN's database (they do not provide this info). The report cannot be ordered AFTER a release has gone to the media.

Media Monitoring and Tracking Options
We also offer eWatch™ media monitoring for $199 per month. This special price (save $200 per month) includes up to three boolean search strings (like "company name" + "CEO name" but "not company nameX" — would be one string). Our media monitoring tracks over 7,000 electronic news services worldwide and provides a daily summary in your e-mail box, as well as online clip book and reporting tool to generate reports. This service is primarily of use to those who send frequent releases or who wish to monitor their industry, competitors for "business intelligence." This system does NOT track broadcast or print media, and there is no provision to retrieve or order clippings from TV shows, newspapers, or print magazines.

The Facts of Reporting and Tracking
It is important to be aware that any reporting system is only a "sampling" of potential media reads or pick-ups. We consider media "reads" or "responses" to be as valuable as a "pick up" (publication). No legitimate news service can guarantee any editor or journalist will use your news — "guaranteed placement" would be an advertisement. However, there is some confusion about how news is automatically republished online, which may appear to be a "pick up" and is, in fact, simply an automated mechanism. Some media tracking systems can only track online placement of news, and the accuracy of this varies because some news is republished automatically verbatim, while legitimate magazine pick-ups may not appear on a magazine's Web site for one to four months from when a release goes out (if ever).

Note that in all cases it is almost impossible to know who has read your news based on a dissemination, or from where it appears online. You might have 200 journalists read your news in the first week, and not get a single phone call. Up until a few years ago, you would always get a direct call from an editor to "fact check," if used. Today, facts can be checked more quickly by simply visiting your Web site, and so you may have an editor using a news item, and there was no call or e-mail to you directly. Thus, your news may appear in a print magazine that comes out two months later, and you would not know about it until a potential customer sees the article in print. No form of tracking would see this instance until perhaps the print magazine posted a version of the news item or article on their Web site, two or three months later. So, any tracking system/mechanism would not be accurate for this kind of "pick up" until perhaps months later, if ever. We've seen this happen with increasing frequency.

Online Web sites and Automated "Pick-Ups"
Technically, although your news may appear automatically on hundreds (if not thousands) of business news sites worldwide, these are not actual pick-ups by the media, and are simply automated re-publication of your press release in a "news section" of a Web site. For example, a Web site like Yahoo! or the LA Times may pull news from Comtex or PR Newswire, and automatically post the headline on a menu, and in their financial news sections with your entire release — this does not mean a human at the LA Times read your release and chose to post it. Similarly, headline feeds from Send2Press appear on numerous Web sites, that link back to our article version of your news, and we have no way of tracking how many "eyeballs" saw your headline, but we can track how many clicked through to actually read your news.

Realistic Expectations for Media Response
It is important to be aware the Send2Press is a delivery mechanism to get your news out direct to editors, to online sources, news databases, clipping services, syndicators, search engines and the like. We have no control over whether any media source chooses to use your news in any capacity. Media response is an intangible thing, and varies wildly depending on the value of your news, whether your news is of interest to a specific editor or publication's audience, world events, local events like extreme weather, and the like. You should expect to have "realistic" expectations for any news distribution which are directly proportional to the value of and appeal of your specific news announcement to any audience. Your effort is not a failure if your phone does not ring off the hook in the first week.

We have seen our clients get immediate media inquiries, we've seen clients get response three months later, and we've seen clients get no media response whatsoever from a specific release, but then get investor funding or appear in a film documentary. So, reporting options provide some measurement, but only to a limited extent since there is no way to measure how many eyeballs have truly seen your news and whether this may result in something positive at a later point in time, which may be unrelated to a journalist or publication.

Note About Your News and Clipping Services
Some of our clients over the past five years have been confused by the term in our service descriptions: "your news 'clipped' by clipping services and delivered to their subscribers." Specifically, what this means is that various online news clipping systems like CyberAlert®, eWatch®, and the like automatically "clip" a copy of our releases, and then deliver this as a clip summary to their subscribers, who are usually journalists who no longer wish to receive news directly, and industry professionals who monitor online content for business intelligence (hence the term "media monitoring"). This does NOT mean that a free media monitoring clipping service plan is included with your news distribution plan. There is a distinct difference between your news "being clipped" by a clipping service, and a media monitoring service which clips news for you at a cost per month. While it would seem to be self-evident that you don't get a free $199 per month media monitoring service plan when you order a $99 release distribution, a few folks fail to read the disclaimers which spell out this clarification, and so it is being repeated here.

If you are confused by these report options, please feel free to contact us for help.

Where Do I Submit My News?
All press release information, such as the news release itself, image and/or logo, desired publication categories, and the date/time you want the news to "push" to the media, is provided on a specific news information form found in our Support Center — after checkout..

Our Order Center and Support Center are separate, so that you are not required to provide everything at one sitting, and because in many companies one person may order the services through our system, while another person provides the news information. This flexibility allows you to also use the Support Center without going through the order system, if you have pre-paid for plans (such as with our Agency/Volume Discount Plans).

You cannot go to the Support Center directly from our Web site navigation because it is not a "public" area — meaning, it is intended only for our customers, even though a password is not currently required for access.

After you checkout, and complete the payment process for the services you wish us to provide, the "Thank You - What to Do Next" page allows you to click-through to the Support Center. If you close your Web browser for some reason, the "What to do next" e-mail sent to you by our system also provides the hot link to our Support Center to provide your news.

How to Order Services with Send2Press

1. Choose a service "aisle" from tabs at top of Order Center pages
2. Click "Order" next to desired service to add to your cart
3. Go to "Checkout" and pay for services with credit card
4. After checkout, provide news release information

Send2Press Concierge Service
Customers using our Concierge program do not need to use the Order Center, or fill out a news information form in the Support Center. If you sign up for our "concierge service" you can place orders simply by sending us an e-mail with the last four digits of your credit card on file, security code, push time of news, and attach news release as MS Word file. We then manually bill your card and review your news from the MS Word file. The Send2Press Concierge Service is only available for Blue plan levels, and a set-up form must be filled out and faxed in advance.

Confused on How to Submit Your News Information?
If you get lost, you can always contact us for help, or to send you the hot link to the Support Center to provide your news release information.

New vs. Old Service Code Numbers
In January of 2005, we updated our order system and service codes (or "part numbers") for the first time since October of 2002. These changes are intended to simplify many things based on valuable customer feedback over the past year. In January of 2006 we went back to having more plans, by popular demand, and thus came up with something of a hybrid of the old and new.

CLICK HERE FOR UPDATED 2006 PRICING SCHEDULE AND COMPARISON CHART

How to Order Writing/Editing Services
We consider press release writing and editing services to be "add-on options." You need to order both a news distribution plan, and a writing plan if you wish Send2Press to both write and distribute your news to the media.

You can choose either our $79 editing/rewrite service, or our $199 full writing service. (See our main Web site for more information on our writing services, and our professional writing staff.)

Example of how to order writing and distribution services:

1. In our Order Center, first choose the "Silver" or "Blue" distribution plan you wish, such as plan #B-1; this is the plan fee for disseminating your news direct to the media, online, and to wire services.
   
   
2. Once you add a distribution plan to your cart, you may click "continue shopping" button, or use the navigation at top of Order Center screen, to return to the Order Center from the cart view.
   
   
3. Now, simply choose either the editing/rewrite plan (#WRI-3) or writing service plan (#WRI-2), and add to your cart.
   
   
4. In your cart view, click the "Checkout" button, provide payment and complete your order.
   
   
5. After checkout, continue to our Support Center and provide information about your news on the appropriate news information form. For the editing/rewrite service you must provide a full release as our revision will be based solely on what you provide. For the full writing service, you need simply provide a general note about what it is you are announcing as news (we cannot "invent" your news for you).
   
   
6. We will personally review your information and schedule one of our staff to start your project. Allow one full working day for revision projects. Allow two full working days for full writing projects, which will vary depending on your response and interaction.

Notes About Editing/Rewrite Service
Please note that our editing/rewrite service ($79) will entail our providing you with a single draft re-write of your supplied news release. It does not include research, phone interview, or multiple drafts. We will revise your release based on our experience, and then you may choose to approve as-is, revise further, or throw out entirely. If you make any changes or choose not to use our version, you will need to forward us your version as the "final" to be released. If you need more involved composing of your news, such as research and multiple drafts to refine your message you should choose the full writing plan ($199) and not the revision service.

You may order the full writing service alone, but you cannot order the editing service alone. Our "Silver" and "Blue" news distribution plans do NOT include the cost of writing or editing your press release.

If you are confused by how to order our writing services, please contact us for help.

Using Another Person's Credit Card
Because of credit card rules for "card not present" transactions, if you place an order and use another person's credit card (such as company partner card, spouse's card, client's card, etc.), you will be required to have the card holder fax us a signed authorization form. This simple form requires the signature of the card holder, and security code from card, and authorizes you by name to use their card for a purchase with Neotrope/Send2press.

International orders (outside of US/Canada) have special requirements, see below.

This requirement is for both the protection of us and the card holder from fraud. Orders with another person's card will be HELD until the form is filled out, signed, and faxed to us.

For agencies or representatives, you should order using your own card, then bill your client for services. If you use a client's card, BOTH you and your client are agreeing to abide by our service terms and conditions (TOS), which are agreed to during the checkout process, related to non-refundable credit card purchases.

You only need to fax the form once per calendar year per card and card holder. So, if you place an order in February and then again in April, you do not need to send another fax form in April.

» Click Here for Fax Authorization Form (PDF)

You may optionally sign-up for our Concierge Service which means you need not use our Order Center or Support Center for future orders. Inquire for more information.

All credit card statements will show a charge from "NEOTROPE" and not from "Send2Press."

International Orders (Outside U.S. and Canada)
We accept orders from international businesses, provided that: 1) we can verify an active English-version Web site, and 2) the card holder must fax a signed authorization for the charge AND a photocopy of front/back of credit card. The numbers on card must be visible in fax, and written on the fax along with full billing address of card holder with phone number.

Agencies or PR representatives must use their own credit card and then bill their client directly. You cannot use your client's credit card, or that of anyone outside your own company, to order our services.

This step is required for international companies because most international credit cards do not pass "AVS" (Address Verification) used to validate the card information is correct and not fraudulent. Please remember that card holders are protected from fraud, but merchants are not.

Our DotComMojo™ and SEO+PR™ Web site promotion services are only provided to U.S.-based companies.

» Click Here for Fax Authorization Form (PDF)

All credit card statements will show a charge from "NEOTROPE" and not from "Send2Press."

Disclaimer
Information on this page is believed accurate but is not guaranteed. Refer to our live order system for current pricing of Send2Press Newswire services and all add-on options.

Note: All Neotrope/Send2Press services are subject to our terms and conditions. Mention of any of the companies on this page do not imply a partnership or endorsement by said companies. All trademarks acknowledged.

Send2Press® is a unit of Neotrope® - established 1983 in California, USA.
Copr. © 1983-2005 Neotrope®  •  www.neotrope.com