Is Vocus worth the $$

TravisPPN

TravisPPN

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Jan 7, 2009
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www.icyshout.com
I have been searching for a company / person that can managed all of the SEO, press releases, and reputation for my 3 technology companies for months now. A few weeks back I used PRweb to send a press release and was contacted by one of their sales reps who said he can run our press releases and more for roughly $4,000.00 per year.

Here is what his bid included:

  • Full year of service + 1 month free
  • 2 Profiles (I would need to add a 3rd one to this plan)
  • Priority distribution, 3 hour turn around, and priority placement on PRweb.
  • Unlimited Premium Press Releases for both companies
  • Included is iContact – Integrated E-mail Marketing Tool (Up to 10,000 contacts) (Up to 60,000 emails per month)
  • Buying Signals – Active leads to help you convert on
  • Social Media Management Tool – Manage your social media effectively and easily
  • Local Listings – Syndicated to over 100 different listing sites (Local Search)
  • Media Database press release targeting – Most extensive database of reporters in the country
  • HARO – Help you get organically featured in media articles across the nation
  • 2 hours per month of consulting

Supposedly the price is going to go up to $12,000 after May 1st... My guess is he says that to everyone.

When I look at what they are offering it seems like its a bunch of software tools with very little hands on time. I'd still be on my own to manage my campaigns which is not what I'm after. I already have accounts with Mail chimp, Microsite Masters and Linklicious.me, I own a copy of Scrapebox and have more servers, bandwidth and IP's than I know what to do with. My problem is not knowing which tools to use so much as it is finding someone competent to operate them. I have too many things to handle and cannot do this myself. Every time I talk to someone who says they do SEO they don't seem to really know what they are talking about. The first question I ask them is if they participate on the Wicked Fire forums? I usually get "never heard of it" or "is it like digital point?". I know right away that I need to keep looking.

So I have a few questions. Have any of you ever used Vocus and did you feel their services were worth the $$? Who else should I consider for managing our SEO, rep management etc?

Thanks for your help.
 


TravisPPN said:
I have been searching for a company / person that can managed all of the SEO, press releases, and reputation for my 3 technology companies for months now. A few weeks back I used PRweb to send a press release and was contacted by one of their sales reps who said he can run our press releases and more for roughly $4,000.00 per year.

Here is what his bid included:

  • Full year of service + 1 month free
  • 2 Profiles (I would need to add a 3rd one to this plan)
  • Priority distribution, 3 hour turn around, and priority placement on PRweb.
  • Unlimited Premium Press Releases for both companies
  • Included is iContact – Integrated E-mail Marketing Tool (Up to 10,000 contacts) (Up to 60,000 emails per month)
  • Buying Signals – Active leads to help you convert on
  • Social Media Management Tool – Manage your social media effectively and easily
  • Local Listings – Syndicated to over 100 different listing sites (Local Search)
  • Media Database press release targeting – Most extensive database of reporters in the country
  • HARO – Help you get organically featured in media articles across the nation
  • 2 hours per month of consulting

Supposedly the price is going to go up to $12,000 after May 1st... My guess is he says that to everyone.

When I look at what they are offering it seems like its a bunch of software tools with very little hands on time. I'd still be on my own to manage my campaigns which is not what I'm after. I already have accounts with Mail chimp, Microsite Masters and Linklicious.me, I own a copy of Scrapebox and have more servers, bandwidth and IP's than I know what to do with. My problem is not knowing which tools to use so much as it is finding someone competent to operate them. I have too many things to handle and cannot do this myself. Every time I talk to someone who says they do SEO they don't seem to really know what they are talking about. The first question I ask them is if they participate on the Wicked Fire forums? I usually get "never heard of it" or "is it like digital point?". I know right away that I need to keep looking.

So I have a few questions. Have any of you ever used Vocus and did you feel their services were worth the $$? Who else should I consider for managing our SEO, rep management etc?

Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

Can be done for lot less elsewhere.
 
They are a subscription service to PrWeb - that's it. If you want to write and submit your press releases yourself, more than just a couple times a year, then it's not a bad deal.

It's far from a hands off solution, that it seems like you are looking for.
 
We use Vocus for reputation management. We go with a $4500 package a year for unlimited press releases and distribution. All that other stuff sounds like fluff. There was an ORM guide done that talks about how to use Vocus for rep management as one of the techniques (http://www.wickedfire.com/enlightened-members/165738-online-reputation-management-hacker-style.html).

They recently started adding all those additional services, so be careful. They are the owners of PRweb.com, and have recently been attempting to turn into a SEO/Agency resource center.
 
TravisPPN said:
They maid it clear that PRweb.com is going away soon and anyone who wants to do business with them will have to buy one of their Vocus SEO packages.
Click to expand...

By doing that, they would be cutting off their grip into the market. For example, how they got you was when you dropped a press release and a sales associate followed up with you. I don't know how that strategy makes sense, cutting off their sales leads, but who knows...

They'll stop selling single PRs and only allow SEO packages? LOL That's crazy, but I've seen crazier...
 
Wait...

Short message since I'm heading out here soon, but PR web's salespeople told their prices are also going up* when I contacted them for year rates, lol.

Please ignore all of those sales tactics, we use the same shit in the car biz. (We'll I don't but other dealers do).
 
Dragonfly said:
They'll stop selling single PRs and only allow SEO packages? LOL That's crazy, but I've seen crazier...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll cut and paste his exact quote when I get back to my desk tomorrow but I agree it seems like a bad idea.

Regarding the price increase, I figured that was just a sales tactic. There's no way I would agree to buy something for 12k when I know that just a few weeks earlier it was only 4k. That said, it sounds like it might still be worth the money at $4k if everyone else has been paying $4500 for the unlimited release package. None of this fixes my problem of trying to find someone who manages tools like PRweb however. So with that in mind who are the well regarded SEO-managers-for-hire on WF? I would like to contact a few of them and see what they would charge to run press releases, link building, and PPC campaigns etc for 3 tech sites/businesses.
 
Yeah, looks like it's true, they'll be phasing out PRweb Press Release packages at the end of this month. Just had a long chat with 3 top guys there... I wished them good luck...
 
Their software and service is actually pretty nifty. I have sat through a couple of demos.

It's not worth the cost in my opinion though. Granted I haven't actually used it and incorporated into my business.
 
I have used them for the past 2 years.
It is not a perfect solution, but where else can you do 1 press release per day for any less...you can't, unless you go the free PR route.
Really all you are paying for is the PR service, all the other stuff is fluff.

They won't raise the price as everyone else has mentioned. You can actually get them to come done a little.
 
I PM'd the OP to discuss this privately but I will share that we're currently on annual contracts to do topic development, release writing and posting into Vocus/PRWeb on a daily basis with a couple of clients. They're on the abovementioned $4k annual plan, and they just handed us the keys and we write for them and get the PRs live.

If you've got the funds for it and your niche isn't restricted by the PRWeb editorial guidelines, it's a fantastic "set it and forget it" online marketing piece and it generates incredible amounts of qualified traffic over the long haul.
 
I've gotten a few PM replies, so thank you to those of you who offered suggestions. Keep'em coming!

BTW, here is the direct quote from my rep regarding the upcoming change: "Travis – We no longer sell the PRweb only packages. They have been discontinued. In terms of the packaging we talked about."
 
Hi Travis it's true! PRWEB stand alone is being phased out and prices are going up (of course you think it's a sales tactic, so would I if someone fed me that line) but packages are changing so think of it as getting less for the same price if you want to look at it that way. Bottom line is that next month the rep won't be able to offer you the same package, since this price increase and the package change is beyond their control.

Although - I do work for Vocus, with conviction I believe in the product and am actually a client myself....(haha I know what you're probably thinking..another sales tactic) but just do a couple of Google searches and you'll find what I'm talking about. Depending on your line of business, the buying signals technology is a good revenue driver. It's help me get a hold of some warm leads. The HARO feature is pretty cool too since you get alerts before everyone else (timing is critical with these since the journos get so many replies) and alerts when they're specific for you. If you add up the costs of the PRWEB premium ($369 each) alone then the price is worth it....and for the 4k he's charging looks he's already applied the end of month discount to it.

P.S: You forgot the 18 north social apps...you also get those in this package.

Anyways, whatever you decide to do I wish you good luck and PM me if you have any specific questions.
 
I just heard that it seems the Unlimited PR packages are going away on the 1st... Soo... I dunno. ORMs may have to make some adjustments to their strategy. I'll see if I can make updates to the ORM threads if I find a viable solution. Layered Links maybe the best route to continue for Rep Management. As usual, just PM Grindstone.

Carry on...​
 
They fed the same "price increasing line" to me last year when I signed up.

They fed the same line to a friend the year before.

I've noticed people are paying 4-15k per-year for "unlimited" depending how good the sales rep is.


YMMV but for 3-5k it's worth it if you can put it to use.

We were not sending enough and just go through 3rd-party at the moment.
 
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