Given that a rich and diverse panel of reporters from various industries use HARO, you'll never really run out of relevant queries, no matter your area of expertise. From healthcare to entrepreneurship, lifestyle to education, and even lesser spoken about niches like gaming and travel — HARO offers something for experts from every background which is a great opportunity to land reputed backlinks from relevant websites, further improving your link building strategy in the long run.
I signed up for a HARO subscription rather blindly, not really knowing what to expect, thus causing initial difficulties that were eventually resolved through experience and time. Unfortunately, HARO does not offer any tutorial on its use, leaving a new user to navigate the site on their own, yet eventually, it proved beneficial. Learning how to answer the questions, understanding what the journalist is asking for, and recognizing the proper outlets to respond to, were solved through trial and error. Yet, it is important to understand that using HARO is an acquired skill, and though it can be valuable in gaining authoritative backlinks, is something that requires time and effort to become so.
HARO is a service that is fairly niche but can certainly be worth the subscription if one is prudent and passionate about offering their perspective. HARO's weakness is that it sends avalanches of emails that quickly stack up in an inbox, and depending on your time zone, may include expired requests before one even gets a chance to open them. But therein lies HARO's strength: the sheer number of journalist queries they're capable of sending everyday, ensures that at least a small handful will be applicable and available every week. If one is dedicated to picking through the questions, it's easy to discover new opportunities to share knowledge and build brand awareness that couldn't be done through any other medium.
HARO can get you free PR with the bug fish in the market who might have not responded to your cold outreach campaigns. This service can prove to be the quickest way to brand yourself as an expert and get visibility in front of a new readership and audience. Additionally, the backlinks from high authority websites are an added bonus. From experience, getting recognized as an expert can be a huge boost to your content marketing efforts. However, it's not easy to get selected out of a sea of responses, each better than the other. Hence, you've got to be crafty in your pitch, answer the query directly, satisfy the journalists requirements, win their trust and stay true to your brand in signing up for a HARO basic plan.
Data Scientist, Digital Marketing & Leadership Consultant for Startups at Consorte Marketing
Answered 4 years ago
HARO is great if you can reply to journalist queries very quickly. As soon as you receive notifications, you should be crafting and submitting your responses for the best chance at success. If you wait too long, everyone else on the platform will get their responses in before you do. Consequently, you'll be buried and less likely to get published.
I have used HARO happily for years. HARO gives you three daily opportunities to send a piece of content to an industry powerhouse. When that journalist uses your content, you get a link from an authority website. That link tells Google you are an industry powerhouse yourself and you get a boost in the Search Engine Results Pages. The best part: HARO is free. For those of you operating on a tight budget, take advantage of these daily opportunities to build more links to your website for free. Look for the email alerts HARO sends you three times a day.
We have used HARO for years. However, something we're discovering is that more and more people are submitting replies to their queries. Our success rate has drastically decreased with getting quoted, and we have to be way more aggressive with our submission rate. We still use HARO, but have been looking for alternative link building strategies for our marketing.
It is easy to get trapped in our own bubble of thought, not seeing beyond our own market space, and this can happen with media as well, and a HARO subscription, from that standpoint, is worth it. Part of knowing what interests people, either in finance, health or a plethora of other topics, is what people are writing about. Seeing the queries that are put forth on HARO, is like a temperature gauge of trending subjects, that can impact your business, either directly or indirectly. By looking at HARO not simply as a platform for answering questions or a link building activity, but as a research lab to understand new business ideas and other trends, then it is worth it for that reason.
HARO is a worthy subscription due to the hundreds of opportunities that flood your email daily. There are so many relevant requests by reporters that any industry is able to respond to, plus there are so many different mediums and publications available to anyone. It is a great way to get your name out there as a smaller or larger company.
Even if you don’t often respond to reporters’ queries, signing up for HARO can be a fascinating and beneficial look ahead into the key questions of the coming weeks in the media. Seeing what reporters are researching before their articles come out can give you, and your business, a leg up on expecting what the conversation will be about in the coming days. For instance, a number of questions about AI, or about specific locations regarding real estate, can inform you as to what large publications will be discussing–and how the market might react as a result. In business, timing is everything, and HARO is an easy and clever way to get ahead.
Marketing & Outreach Manager at ePassportPhoto
Answered 4 years ago
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the value of HARO will vary depending on your individual needs and goals. However, in general, HARO can be a great tool for journalists and bloggers who are looking for sources for their stories, and for businesses that want to get their name out there. That being said, it's important to remember that HARO is not a silver bullet; you still need to put in the work to generate good content and build relationships with reporters. So if you're not already familiar with how the news industry works or you're not comfortable reaching out to strangers, then HARO may not be the right tool for you.
I signed up for a HARO subscription because I was interested in getting access to the many opportunities affiliated with it. Though there were some instances that had put me off, on the whole my experience has been positive and fruitful.
Co-Founder & CEO at Hoist
Answered 4 years ago
HARO is worth a subscription, though it can be overwhelming the amount of emails you’ll receive from them on a daily basis. When so many of our inboxes are already buried in daily avalanches of emails, sorting through HARO can be an additional, daunting process. To be honest, I’ve been increasingly enjoying Terkel as a replacement for HARO, just for the sake of keeping my inbox cleaner, though there are still great opportunities through both.
A HARO subscription is a good option if you have a wide range of insights that will enable you to respond to many queries. The interface and workflows are not as good as Terkel's, but it is a good supplemental service to fortify your PR efforts.
Yes, absolutely HARO is worth the subscription if you plan to truly utilize its functions. HARO can be a bit overwhelming with its three email briefs every weekday and long lists of journalist queries from various publications. But, if you're truly committed to using the service, whether as a way to promote your brand or simply to share your expertise, then you'll soon adapt to the influx of queries. For example, I now know certain days or times are more likely to have certain queries, and I'm able to filter through the noise for the topics that resonate with me. Not every submission submitted is published, but some make it onto major publications like the Huffington Post or CNN, a feat which feels highly improbable for most small business owners without the use of HARO. Because the service HARO provides is difficult to replicate with potentially large benefits, it is worth the price.
No, HARO is not worth a subscription because it's too saturated. HARO is a great resource for finding sources, but the sheer number of sources looking for mentions means that it can be difficult to get your pitch seen. And since everyone is vying for the attention of the same reporters, you're likely to face stiff competition from other sources.
HARO is worth a subscription for the simple reason that it provides journalists with a bevy of potential sources and it provides great exposure for those who want to put their name and brand out into the marketplace. Journalists who write for business, tech, real estate, heath and fitness, medical and general news publications are going to get a lot of responses from business leaders and other potential sources in those respective spaces. The upside for those answering HARO queries is that you can get brand exposure at various news outlets - large, small and niche. Journalists and readers alike what an expert source. HARO offers that.
CEO at Natural Patch
Answered 4 years ago
HARO is worth the subscription if you have the time or an expert research team to answer all of the queries. It can be time-consuming filtering the different questions and figuring out which ones are best to answer and which ones are not. Plus, it can be hard to know which are going to provide a high-quality backlink or a low.
Head of Customer Acquisition at MitoQ
Answered 4 years ago
HARO is worth the subscription at the end of the day. A majority of writers use it, it is free, it has a basic plan and a daily email list. Journalists and businesses are able to have an easy form of communication and a relationship without having to go through the stresses of finding the best candidates or reporters. It is all there within the one email list.
Journalists that sign up with HARO are looking for industry experts and thought leaders in various fields and industries. If your credentials fit the bill, it's an easy way for you to build your personal brand, gain visibility and carve an impressionable online presence simply by sharing your unique insights and industry experience.