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PRINTER VERSION

DISSEMINATING YOUR WRITTEN INFORMATION

The major wire services are summarized below. There are a number of services which distribute releases by e-mail, etc.; however if you have researched companies at Yahoo, Hoovers, etc., you will have noticed that the releases which show up are from PR Newswire, Business Wire, Marketwire, Reuters, etc.

The wire services whose releases show up at major financial Websites are:

• PR Newswire
• Business Wire
• MarketWire
• GlobeNewswire (a NASDAQ company).
• Canada NewsWire -- CNW is affiliated with PR Newswire.
• CNW Group (based in Canada).
• Thomson Reuters ONE -- Thomson/Reuters bought the Hugin group which was, and still is, a leading European wire service. It is now a first-tier wire service whose releases will show up at Yahoo Finance and similar sites as "via Thomson Reuters ONE".

In an April, 2009 ": Yahoo! Finance Help Topic":, Yahoo said, "If you are interested in having your press releases show up on Yahoo!, contact Business Wire, PR Newswire, PrimeZone, or Market Wire. Canadian companies can also use Canada NewsWire .". (PrimeZone is now GlobeNewsWire.)

One big difference, for an IR person, lies in what the wire service charges for the longer wording you may feel necessary in order to incorporate "safe harbor" statements, etc.

Also, companies want to fulfill their obligations to the public and get the most bang for the buck by posting their releases on the major Internet financial centers such as Yahoo! Finance, CNNmoney and Microsoft Money. Web distribution may or may not be a separate charge. Some smaller, less expensive news distribution services specialize in Web distribution, Many of these also offer SEO services. Unfortunately the smaller services will probably not show up on the major financial sites like Yahoo.com.

Here are services on Comtex's list which we haven't seen at sites like Yahoo Finance. However, that does not mean their financial release won't ever show up there.

• Accesswire (BayStreet Newswire) -- A Canadian company serving all of North America. They advertise a pay-as-you-go rate for public companies and IR firms.
• The Newswire -- A Canadian company serving all of North America. They offer a choice of either a yearly rate or a pay-as-you-go plan for public companies.
• Eworldwire.com -- They offer a special rate for their Public Companies Disclosure Distribution service, which they say will enable companies to meet Reg.D requirements.
• PR News Channel -- Unlimited words and unlimited categories.
• PR Web -- Has grown from a free service to a reasonably priced service which has proved to be quite effective in having its releases show up on search engines. Is now a part of Vocus and is a bigger player; so no longer has a free option.
• Knobias.

The popular Website TopSeos.com identifies and ranks the best internet marketing agencies and tools. In the area of Press Release Distribution, the largest, oldest companies, PR Newswire, BusinessWire and Marketwire, do not show up as ranked number 1, 2 and 3 in their ratings, though they do show up in the top 10. PRWeb and Eworldwire, mentioned in the Comtex group above, also show up in the top 10. TopSeos.com covers about 200 release distribution services overall. Following are some additional distribution companies which have recently been on that list.

• PR.com
• OnlinePRMedia.com
• PR Leap
• eReleases
• InterfacePR.com
• PR Buzz
• 24-7 Press Release
• Web Wire -- Although not on the top 10 list recently, WebWire is one of the longest-established online distribution services. They offer a number of levels of distribution. Uses PR Newswire for wire distribution.

Remember, it is bad form to send a release to more than one contact at a magazine unless there are truly two versions of the magazine (for example "Barron's" and "Barron's Online Edition").

• Check out Newsletter Access. This site has over 5,000 newsletters in various subjects including over 430 investment newsletters. You can sometimes find their websites.
• The WSC Publications Page. To focus on many of the most important newsletters, look for the Hulbert List on this page.
• Who's Who in Investing (Online) by InvestorHome. Columnists, movers and shakers.
• The Paperboy
• PR Newswire's journalist profiles.

To avoid making mistakes when you start e-mailing, first read this article on e-mailing by IR101.