My First Experience Submitting a HARO Query

I recently signed up for (three-time) daily emails from HARO, trying to score some backlinks.

After receiving the emails for a week or so, I wondered if I could instead use HARO to score some content instead. You see, unlike this site, I struggle a bit for content on my other blog Puppy Snuggles.

So I decided to submit a HARO query as a blogger.

What is HARO?

HARO - or Help a Reporter Out - is a service that sends out emails three times daily with requests from journalists, writers, and bloggers for information from “experts” - really just the general public - for responses on a variety of topics.

The current HARO logo.

Here’s how HARO touts there service on their website:

HARO provides journalists with a robust database of sources for upcoming stories and daily opportunities for sources to secure valuable media coverage.

How I used HARO

HARO’s rules for journalists, bloggers, and writers gave two specific conditions for a website to use the service:

1. It’s Alexa ranking must be under 1,000,000 (that’s one million).
2. It must be launched for at least one month.

Well, I launched Puppy Snuggles in February 2017 - that’s almost three years ago!

Puppy Snuggles’ Alexa rank seems to dance around the one million mark. At the time of this writing, it’s sitting at 956,258.

Confident I could submit a HARO query, I thought up a puppy-related question that I thought might get some responses.

So, on Monday, October 28, 2019, I submitted the following to HARO:

Title: hat is the cutest thing your dog has done?

Query: I’m looking for dog owners to tell me in one or two sentences what is the cutest thing your dog has done.

Requirements: All dog owners, preferably those with blogs themselves. Please also provide a link to an image of your dog, your dog’s name, and your name. Thank you!

On Wednesday, October 30, 2019, I received an email stating that my HARO source request had been approved! My query was to go out on the Morning (5:35 am ET) HARO daily update email on Thursday, October 31, 2019.

Pitches

I received 13 pitches directly via the HARO system. I also received another seven via a Google Form that I advertised outside the HARO system.

I used them all, although I did have to respond to some of the pitches for more information. This was mostly for pictures - people tried to attach them in the email, but HARO stripped the (cute doggy!) photos out.

Also, I should have specified that I wanted the names of their pooches as well, although most people provided this in the pitches anyway.

Want to see the finished product? Check out the post on my other site - 20 Dog Owners Reveal the Cutest Thing Their Dogs Have Done!.

Conclusion

Making the HARO query wasn’t that hard, however, receiving and parsing the pitches was a little more work than I anticipated.

It was worth it, though.

Have you used the HARO system before? How was your experience? Comment below!