ROCHESTER, NY (September 8, 2009) -- NY Newswire, a website for journalists and internet news junkies, marks its 12th anniversary on Sept. 12. The site has evolved and prospered during that time from an events calendar to a sophisticated news dissemination service for corporations and small businesses to present their news to editors in print and broadcast media, and to allow consumers and business-to-business customers direct access to information.

NY Newswire is the brainchild of “internaut” Kerry Gleason, president of AdWorks and Gleason Public Relations since 1994. Businesses using NY Newswire over the past 12 years have benefited from Gleason's abilities as an award-winning journalist to identify valuable news stories, to write them as effective press releases and to strategically write them for the benefit of internet search engines.

The main objective, Gleason says, has always been to obtain coverage in mainstream media, but given their limitations in covering small-business news, to put the information directly before the eyes of the consuming public. In 2007, he devised G-Chip technology, a proprietary design element that embeds a small program in NY Newswire pages that give search engines the information they require to boost page rankings.

“I've always viewed public relations as a stage in the journalistic process, where PR experts refine company news and present it to news gatekeepers for eventual dissemination to the public, or publics,” Gleason explains. “In essence, we are partners with the media, who are searching for stories of innovation, success and achievement. The better we target our news release, the better the media serve their audiences. In theory.”

His agency was the first Rochester ad agency to begin placing clients on the internet back in January of 1995. Before that time, only software developers and a handful of HTML code writers were designing web pages for dial-up connections in the area. The sites were crude by today's standards, but Gleason saw the internet as a communications vehicle that would be infinitely valuable for his small-business clients. He taught himself to design HTML pages and has since advanced to more sophisticated internet programming and promotion, including social media like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

NY Newswire's introduction was wrought from necessity. When Gannett's award winning Rochester Times-Union published its final edition June 26, 1997, Gleason recognized a niche for an internet-based news service.

“Even though the Democrat and Chronicle morning newspaper and the afternoon Times-Union were both Gannett publications housed in the same building, they competed for stories, and each had a different personality,” Gleason says. “Like many other mid-size markets, Rochester had several local TV newscast, one news-gathering radio station, a business journal, a chain of small weeklies, alternative media and the daily newspapers. Much of the coverage was 'rip 'n' read' journalism from the daily paper, which at the time did a poor job of covering small, local businesses.”

Gleason's vision for an internet news release site included all of upstate New York from Syracuse to Buffalo, and the Southern Tier from Binghamton west to Jamestown. The process was simple. Provide a press release, or let NY Newswire write it for a base fee, and it would be published online. Then, Gleason used his veteran PR savvy to generate targeted lists of more than 500 media email addresses and fax numbers.

“The internet was so new that some media did not even have their own websites or email capabilities,” Gleason said. “So we used a combination of technologies to deliver our press releases direct to newsrooms at about 100 media outlets.”

The AdWorks' client list peaked at about 150 in 2000, and Gleason says most of those businesses were not churning out news, but focusing on daily business operations. Those who utilized the service benefited greatly. Gleason says that nine times out of 10, a NY Newswire press release will climb above the search engine rankings and often remain perched at or near the top for years.

NY Newswire claims dozens of successes for clients, generating international press coverage for inventors, entrepreneurs and small businesses. In 2007, NY Newswire planted PMQ Pizza Magazine and the NY Pizza Showcase on Live with Regis and Kelly through some well-thought Sunday afternoon placements, and two days later achieved widespread coverage throughout Europe when an entry from Finland outscored Italy in the America's Plate competition. Previously, NY Newswire set the record straight after a State Street shooting where the victim crawled to a restaurant to ask for help. Early TV news reports claimed the victim was shot in the restaurant. The proprietor called NY Newswire, which wrote an official statement and released it to every local news outlet in minutes, quelling false reports and allowing all reporters a better chance to provide accurate accounts of the incident.

Gleason sees potential upside for NY Newswire and similar services along the Eastern seaboard, citing the shrinking size of newspaper staffs, as well as the actual newspapers, and their abilities to research and cover local business news. He has formed a business plan for the News Now Media Network, which will be an extension of NY Newswire. But he's cautious, because as newspapers fold or go to internet-only publishing, NY Newswire will find it hard to compete in terms of staff and promotion. Another factor is what Gleason views as the do-it-yourself mentality of internet public relations without regard for internet marketing experience or expertise, which he pinpoints as the main reason for sluggish business over the last two years. He takes a wait-and-see attitude toward the online news industry pending shake-outs and newspaper industry decisions over the coming year.

Like his other inventions and innovations, Gleason believes that the key is using entrepreneurial skills to venture beyond the status quo.