Are Free Press Releases Worth Doing?

I'm thinking about doing a press release.

I'm trying to decide if I should test the process first with a free press release distribution site or if I should just shell out the couple hundred of bucks to have my press release distributed in a professional way.

My main goal is to get traffic, attention, and links to one of my websites. I know the traffic would be a short term thing, but hopefully the links will raise my link status in the search engines and increase my likelyhood of getting better organic rankings.

I want to make sure I do this right. I know a couple hundred bucks insn't a lot of money to some companies, but I like to make sure every dollar is spent wisely. I also don't want to do something that send a signal to media outlets that I don't know what I am doing.

The first thing that will probably happen is reporters and bloggers will probably check out my site. I need to make sure my site is ready before I do my press release. I don't want it to be just ready, I want it to be functioning on a consistent level that will impress any potential visitors.

I'm not sure what the topic of my press release will be. I figure it makes most sense to do a "launch" press release first with a statement of purpose and a claim about initial growth. Follow-up press releases could talk about new features or sections of the website, continued growth, new developments in the industry, new employees, etc...

I found a few resources for writing a press release so I will try to write a keyword rich and captivating press release. I want to read as many press releases as possible so I get a general feel for how these things are done.

I wonder if doing a free press release could hurt my site? I know that submitting my link to a few spammy directories could lead my site to be penalized. I wonder if free press release services basically just add your link and release to a directory that could be viewed as spam.

I think I will end up paying the oney to release my press release through a professional service. I'm not sure when I will do it, but I'll try to post results here when I do.