Tips to Getting High-Tier Links via HARO
Are you struggling to build domain authority and higher search rankings? You’re not alone. Millions of businesses struggle with this endeavor, primarily because the digital arena is highly competitive and securing high-tier backlinks isn’t easy.
Marketers and business owners have to dedicate ample time and effort to research, digital collaborations and PR initiatives. In the midst of all these complex and complicated backlink generation strategies, HARO presents an effortless, and streamlined solution.
HARO, an abbreviation of Help a Reporter Out, is a free database that allows journalists to connect with experienced professionals and business owners. Journalists venture out on HARO to obtain credible and compelling sources for their upcoming articles and stories. Business owners rely on HARO to obtain media coverage and secure domain authority with top-tier backlinks.
Indeed, HARO is one of the best strategies to generate top-rated backlinks from websites that command authority and popularity. You don’t have to invest extensive time and effort in outreach, and you can secure backlinks from prestigious publications, such as Forbes, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. These are just a few names, as HARO is immensely popular in influential journalistic circles.
Brands that use HARO
Reuters Fox News Chicago Tribune Time
Mashable Refinery29 The New York Times Wall Street Journal
However, securing top-tier links on HARO is not without its fair share of struggles. It requires a tactful and well-rounded approach. This article will walk you through some dynamic tips to secure high-tier backlinks and build robust domain authority to expand your audience reach and enjoy higher searchability.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Relevance is the Name of the Game
Relevance is of the utmost significance in all digital marketing endeavours, and HARO is no different in this regard. Responding to random queries will not get you anywhere. You see, journalists receive dozens and dozens of responses for each query, and they have to sift through these responses to find the most relevant one that satisfies their research. After all, journalists rely on HARO to collect compelling and credible quotes that best align with their upcoming stories.
So, it’s essential to respond to queries that fall within your realm of expertise, industry niche and skillset. For instance, if you run a pharmaceutical business, you can respond to queries related to the rising demand of medicinal drugs during the coronavirus pandemic. Likewise, if your retail business deals with organic cotton manufacturing, you can provide compelling quotes to satisfy the research of a journalist writing an article on sustainable retail practices.
Relevance is key, and it will help you connect with journalists and create a flourishing digital PR network. However, if you respond to queries that do not fall within your realm of expertise, it won’t serve any purpose whatsoever. So, be sure to streamline the posts based on their relevance to your business. We advise using GMAIL filtering features to filter out posts carrying keywords that are relevant to your industry and mode of business operations.
Perfect your Pitch
Writing a HARO pitch requires craftiness and creativity. You cannot expect a seasoned or even a newbie journalist to respond to a pitch that lacks clarity or industry jargon. Journalists seek quotes and comments to beef up their stories with expertise, knowledge and valuable insight. Therefore, perfecting your pitch is of the utmost significance.
Do you have a habit of pitching all the responses you receive in your inbox? That’s a mistake that will only result in a waste of time and effort. Before you start writing your pitch, take a look at the query and try to connect with the goals of the journalist.
Journalists rely on HARO to find stories and comments grounded in experience. They look for quotes to find and highlight leaders, and utilize their comments and experiences to create compelling pieces. They are interested in your expertise and insight as a professional working within an industry, navigating the challenges as the spearhead of a business.
If you’re responding to a query that has no relevance to your field, you’re trying your luck to no avail. Journalists are highly unlikely to respond to such pitches, and seasoned journalists are likely to screen you out on subsequent pitches. If you make a habit of responding with inadequate or irrelevant pitches, the journalist will recognize your name and credentials, and discard your pitches without giving it a read.
Coming back to writing the perfect pitch, it’s wise to avoid writing extensively. You see, journalists are looking for comprehensive, concise and clear responses. Essentially, they want clever phrases and sentences that align with their stories, and add a compelling factor to make their articles more interesting. They don’t want you to send a mini-novella that would require extensive effort to decipher the message.
So, keep your responses crisp, concise and comprehensive with a well-thought-out approach. Don’t write too much or too little.
Here are some tips to perfect your pitch:
Respond to the query using your email address so you can build a promising digital PR network. You can always respond through the HARO database, but it’s wiser and more convenient to engage via email. We strongly advise adding the query title to the subject to capture attention for your pitch.
Start with a brief yet attention-grabbing introduction to introduce yourself and your experience within the industry. Explain why you are the right professional to respond to the query and offer credible insight.
While compiling your pitch, keep in mind that the journalist wants your experience and insight as a professional. Avoid giving textbook definitions and concepts they can find elsewhere. Instead, make sure your response is grounded in your life story and experiences as a professional navigating the complexities of an industry.
Avoid overwriting, as the journalist isn’t looking for extensively long narratives. Instead, add crisp and well-rounded quotes the journalist can extract and easily incorporate into their piece.
Read the Query Multiple Times
Avoid responding to the query without reading it multiple times. It’s essential to pay attention to the query and its keywords, and find connections between the story and your expertise. Reading the query with diligent attention will help you understand the requirements of the journalist. In most cases, journalists provide very specific and precise questions to make sure the responders cover them in their pitches.
Be sure to read the query thoroughly and understand the needs and dynamics of the story. In certain queries, journalists ask responders to answer their questions in an interview format, while others require more extensive narratives. Rereading and understanding the query will help you understand the format.
If the format of your pitch doesn’t align with the journalist’s dictation, it will get rejected right away.
Do your Research
Before you respond to a query, it’s essential to perform ample research. We advise getting to know the journalist, and the media outlet the story will be published in. Explore the journalist’s existing work and try to understand their writing style. Reading through their published pieces will give you ample insight into the kind of quotes the journalist adds to his/her pieces.
Explore the media outlet and make note of the articles, topics, language and jargon used in their editorials and press releases. This information will come in handy when you start writing your pitch. Aligning with the journalist’s tones and examining the comments added in his/her article will help you imitate the same tone, increasing your chances of getting selected.
Think outside the Box
Don’t refrain from showing off your expertise, and trust your intuition when it comes to expressing your opinions. If you wish to talk about a particular issue that aligns with the journalist’s chosen topic, go ahead and do it. It’s essential to craft a response that is well-rounded and reflects your insight of the market dynamics.
You see, the journalist will have to sift through dozens and dozens of responses that offer the same run-of-the-mill comments. It’s crucial to think outside the box to make sure your pitch stands out and commands attention.
Maintain Readability & Comprehensiveness
Readability and comprehensiveness is of the utmost significance, especially while sending pitches to seasoned journalists working at prestigious publications. You cannot send a grammatically incorrect and flawed pitch to a journalist working for The Washington Post and expect a positive response.
It’s crucial to draft the written text carefully with diligent attention to detail. Once you are done writing, read through the text and ask yourself, is this response readable and insightful? Be sure to divide the content across multiple paragraphs, and run it through Grammarly to weed out all mistakes and errors.
It’s wise to work with Grammarly if you don’t trust yourself with spellings and grammatical perfection. After all, you want to make a good impression to make sure your pitch gets selected out of multiple responses. You can also add bullet points to further enhance readability, especially when dealing with complex topics that involve legal or financial jargon.
Lastly, be sure to cleverly insert a call-to-action to encourage the journalist to connect with you.
Ready to be Cut and Pasted
We’ve discussed this earlier but we feel compelled to emphasize it again: your pitch should be perfect and ready to be cut and pasted into the article right away!
You see, journalists come to HARO because they are always running short on time, and need instant responses to create and publish their stories. You can increase your chances of getting published and securing top-tier backlinks if your response is ready to be cut and pasted into their article. Naturally, to achieve this goal, you must hit the nail with a pitch that is too good to ignore.
Here’s an example of a snappy and concise pitch to the query “Domain Authority Secures Higher Rankings”
Hi, I’m David Thomas, Chief Marketing Executive at Pitch Boss.
Domain authority is the ultimate objective for any business to enjoy higher searchability and secure high search rankings. Without search rankings, content and copywriting initiatives serve little to no purpose. Businesses looking to expand their audience reach must invest in domain authority to expand their visibility and engage more and more consumers.
Winning over Google’s ever-changing algorithms is not an easy endeavor, and domain authority is the ultimate weapon to secure higher rankings. There’s an increased focus on securing top-tier backlinks to win over Google’s bot and crawlers by securing citations from authoritative and popular website.
I advise businesses to focus on building domain authority as part of a well-rounded SEO marketing campaign.
If you’d like to discuss this subject in more detail, feel free to get in touch with me at (insert details)
This example reveals a concise yet comprehensive pitch that offers ample information, incorporates my personality and ends with a compelling CTA to encourage the journalist to get in touch with me.
Do Not Follow Up
I’m a big fan of following up bloggers, marketers and influencers to boost collaborations and give gentle reminders to allow projects to materialize. However, when it comes to securing top-tier links on HARO, following up is not a wise decision.
You see, journalists are incredibly short on time, and if you haven’t heard back from them, you are not likely to get connected. If your pitch is chosen, you will get a prompt and speedy response. If you haven’t gotten a response, it’s an indication that your pitch has been rejected. So, avoid sending whiny reminders and follow-ups.
Connect with the Journalist
If your pitch is chosen by a journalist, be sure to take the initiative to thank the reporter and build connections. Connecting with the journalist will help you build a network and enjoy collaborations in the future. It’s also wise to connect with the journalist on Twitter and other social media platforms. This will build familiarity and the journalist will capture your name and credentials, building familiarity to encourage them to respond again.
It’s also crucial to promote your success on HARO and the journalist’s work on your social media platforms. Be sure to promote the article and the quotations you have given to bask in the glory of the top-tier link you have managed to generate. Besides, helping a journalist by promoting their work is an initiative that will help you build connections and enjoy reciprocation should you ever decide to approach the journalist for a media collaboration.
Wrap Up
Securing top-tier links on HARO isn’t as simple and easy as most believe it to be. It’s a strategy that requires creativity, tactfulness and extensive research. You have to prioritize relevance, and try to understand the needs of the reporters and the media outlets they represent. Most importantly, don’t lose sight of your goal, which is to promote your business and expertise, and secure higher domain authority.
Be sure to practice and build a voice that sets you apart as a corporate leader with valuable insight and helpful comments. Try to present your arguments in well-thought-out and well-crafted narratives that are ready to be cut and pasted into the article. Keep in mind that timing is of the essence when it comes to securing high-quality backlinks through HARO.
If you’d like expert help with securing HARO links, contact our team now and book a free consultation call.