Have you had experience with Expertclick.com and the Yearbook of Experts?

Yearbook of ExpertsHave you had any experience with Expertclick.com, which publishes the Yearbook of Experts? If so, please tell me whether it was good, bad or indifferent.

Expertclick offers its paying members an opportunity to list their biographies and areas of expertise in a searchable database and a printed Yearbook of Experts. In addition, they also offer their paying members the opportunity to publish monthly news releases on a release wire which they claim is distributed to over 11,000 journalists. Finally, they claim more than a million hits per month on their website.
One of my clients has asked me whether he should pay the $2495 US listing fee to appear in the Yearbook of Experts and to use their weekly news release service. I haven’t used this service before. So, I’m hoping to get some feedback on whether the actual results justify an investment of this type.
If you have used this service, I’d appreciate it if you could leave a comment or email me to let me know if it met your expectations. Did it yield any real results for you or your clients? Did reporters actually use it to identify sources for articles?

Thank you to anyone who can help me with this research.

  • http://www.monroe-group.com Drosten Fisher

    Hi,

    Yes, I have used their service for about 8 months.

    They have some strong points. The most useful one for me is the ability for free distribution of press releases. You get what you pay for, however, and the two press releases I sent out sunk without trace… But they were picked up by Google News for a time, which was cool.

    They also appear to have international media reach; I was contacted by BBC World to appear to their news program discussing terrorism… However, I was out of town and couldn’t get back to the studio in DC in time to appear on the program…

    I have not found the service that useful in attracting queries from the press. That could be because I provide a somewhat specialized service (international political risk analysis for emerging markets) that is out of the mainstream for the journalists who use their service.

    My hunch is that, if you’re talking about how to lose weight, invest in real estate, or US business trends, you might get more interest.

    In summary, not a total waste of money, but I’m on the fence about whether to renew my subscription. Still 4 months to go, so things could change; it only takes one big ‘hit’ to make the investment worthwhile.

    Drosten Fisher
    Partner
    The Monroe Group LLC
    http://www.monroe-group.com

  • http://www.amxi.com Glen Boyls

    I read your request for feedback from ExpertClick members. I’m also considering joining. Would you share your findings?

    Best regards, Glen