Business Wire and Vocus Enter Strategic Alliance to Create A New Search Engine Optimized and...

EON: Enhanced Online Newswire to be Built on Vocus' Industry Leading PRWeb Distribution Service

LANHAM, Md. & NEW YORK -- Business Wire, the global leader in news distribution, and Vocus, Inc. (NASDAQ:VOCS), a global leader in on-demand software for corporate communications and public

relations, today announced that the two companies have entered into a strategic partnership in which Business Wire will use a private label version of Vocus' PRWeb press release distribution platform to provide a new search engine optimized (SEO) and social media distribution service. The partnership will utilize Vocus' proprietary PRWeb press release SEO methods and social media distribution channels to give Business Wire customers maximum visibility on the internet and in social media networks.

Vocus will create and host for Business Wire a co-branded version of the PRWeb direct-to-consumer and SEO service. Business Wire members may disseminate press releases so they will be indexed by major search engines, distributed to thousands of news sites, including Google News and Yahoo News, and delivered through more than 20,000 RSS feeds that collectively reach tens of millions of consumers and thousands of journalists daily.

"Vocus' PRWeb service is on the cutting edge of SEO and social media press release distribution," said Cathy Baron Tamraz, president & CEO of Business Wire. "Using the PRWeb platform to extend our already robust capabilities with search engine, blog, and online news site distribution will ensure that Business Wire remains the leading global provider of news to all types of media."

In addition to creating and hosting the new Business Wire service, Vocus will offer its PRWeb customers a convenient way to optionally distribute their press releases via Business Wire's proprietary global news distribution network, the most comprehensive in the world.

"Business Wire's selection of Vocus to create and host its EON newswire is an acknowledgment of the broad appeal and rapid adoption of the PRWeb service," said Rick Rudman, president & CEO of Vocus, Inc. "Business Wire customers will enjoy a measurable increase in their web presence and Vocus customers will have convenient access to Business Wire's comprehensive global wire distribution services."

About Business Wire

Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is utilized by thousands of member companies and organizations to transmit their full-text news releases, regulatory filings, photos and other multimedia content to journalists, news media, trade publications, institutional and individual investors, financial information services, regulatory authorities, Internet portals, information web sites, business-to-business decision-makers and consumers worldwide. With a news distribution network spanning 150 countries and 45 languages, Business Wire's multi-channel delivery network, has access to some 60 international and national news agency networks throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.