I write and distribute online news releases for businesses that know exactly what they want to communicate, and that prepay the $130 writing and distribution fee. It can take additional time — and thus additional cost — if I'm not provided with enough information for the full news release, and have to ask questions to get enough information or to clarify anything that is unclear. For worldwide distribution, I use the service Free-Press-Release, which offers many features, including PDF files at no extra charge. Its press releases are picked up by the major search engines just as thoroughly and quickly as the news releases from more expensive services. It does offer paid services for distribution to media outlets, but those are of questionable value, since most people use search engines for finding things on the Web. Nonetheless, you may choose to manually send the news release to members of the media and related news distribution services, without charge. It may not result in a news article, but it certainly cannot hurt. Bloggers, reporters, and other writers are always looking for compelling new content.

Business owners are increasingly using a similar method for online marketing: They write articles, case studies, and white papers, for publication on their own websites or as guest posts on websites in their industries. The clients do the writing, and then I do the editing.