Kathy Sheehan Appointed
PR Web Managing Editor
Ferndale, WA (May 1, 2005) — Sheehan World publisher Kathy D.
Sheehan has accepted a job as managing editor at PR
Web, one of the largest
distributors
of
news releases on the Internet.
 Sheehan is a former newspaper reporter, journalism instructor
and publications editor who will oversee editorial services and standards
for PR Web, PR
Web Direct and eMediaWire.
At
a time when "senior citizen" pals Ruth
Harvey, Bill Dingée II and Alice Cranston have retired and even
Jim Martin and Jo Collinge are eligible for Medicare, Sheehan is taking
on several
new challenges, including
learning search engine optimization and starting a new part-time business, Photo
Synergy, with her husband, Chuck Dingée.
"I am excited to have the opportunity to lend my writing, editing,
Web and other creative skills to such a top news and PR
organization," said Sheehan, who hasn't even turned 50 yet.
"PR
Web is committed to providing excellent and innovative service, and I
am
just
delighted
to
be selected as managing editor." After 10 weeks on the job, she already
knows how to pronounce SEO three times fast and has added SEM, PHP, XML,
RSS,
ROI
and other terms
to her geek vocabulary. (Not to mention white balance and
F-Stop as part of the wedding photography business.)
Begun
in 1997 by David McInnis as a free newswire, PR Web has since become
the top online newswire for small- and mid-sized companies and expanded
to include PRWeb Direct, a service bureau offering premium search engine
optimization
and
press release writing
services. PR Web also distributes news releases on eMediaWire and targets e-mail
distribution to some 100,000 media outlets, industry analysts and free-lancers
who have opted in to the eMediaWire service.
 PR
Web was cited in the April 2005 issue of Entrepreneur magazine and the
March 14 issue of PRWeek as one of the more effective distribution
resources for public relations
professionals because of its search engine optimization.
Every press release distributed through its network is optimized for maximum
organic search engine inclusion, which is vitally important as search
engines have redefined the Web and our lives. (See The Seattle Times series about search engines.)
Sheehan brings experience as an award-winning daily newspaper reporter and
editor for some 20 years in Philadelphia, Boston, Atlantic City, N.J.,
and Bellingham,
Wash.
She
was most recently employed as an editor for several print and online publications
at Western Washington University in Bellingham where she was a part-time
journalism instructor and editor of the alumni newsletter, "Window on Western."
Sheehan has been publishing The Sheehan World continuously since 1995.
In 1997, she began developing several Web sites at WWU, including one
publishing
WWU news
releases issued
by the
Office
of
University
Communications,
WWU's public relations office formerly called the Public Information
Office.
In this new position at PR Web, Sheehan's role will be to lead a staff
of editors to stronger journalistic standards and streamline the editorial
review
process for hundreds of news releases on PR Web's newswire every day.
Sheehan is also
a successful free-lance writer. She has a B.S. in journalism from
Boston University and an M.A. in communications from the University of
Washington where she focused her research on online
news.
PR Web currently distributes news releases in English, French, Spanish
and Chinese.
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