I first learned about this website when I read Ryan Holiday’s Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator. He talked about how he was able to reach out to many media professionals and promote his clients by lying. These media professionals include many major networks.
I have been incredibly busy with a few side projects since I read the book. Finally, I took the time to register and start receiving updates. Each day, I receive numerous emails from HARO. In these emails, it lists many media companies (magazines, radio stations, websites, newspapers, television etc) looking for a source in their story.
How does HARO work?
First, you receive an email from HARO that includes numerous journalists’ requests. One of their terms is not to post an actual request on blogs, but you can email it to a friend privately. With that said, I’ll give you an example without the actual information:
Name: Editorial Team YFS Magazine
Category: Business and Finance
Email: query-123456@helpareporter.net
Media Outlet: YFS Magazine
Deadline: Time/Date
Query: Looking for this information for my story.
All you do is respond back to that email with whatever the journalist is requesting.
Why use HARO?
Since there is no actual money in exchange, why would you want to help this person out? Simple.. In exchange, this reporter can state you as the source in their article or use a quote from you. In addition, this also means more exposure for a business and/or a nice quality backlink from a high profile website.
If you have worked in SEO, then you can agree with me how tedious linking can be. I am sure you can especially agree with me if you are still building relationships in the industry with high PR websites. This is not easy and it takes a lot of time.
What if you could get a quality backlink on a site like Yahoo! in exchange for an interview or a paragraph about a topic that you are familiar with?
I recently signed up on here, and it seems fantastic so far. If you are looking to gain exposure for a brand or company (or yourself), I definitely recommend signing up for this. Oh and it’s free!
