Building online credibility is hard. That’s why HARO (Help a Reporter Out) has been such a valuable resource for small businesses looking to grow their visibility online.
But over the last decade, there have been several HARO alternatives that have emerged. What are those HARO alternatives, and how are they different from HARO?
Here’s a list of HARO alternatives:
- Terkel
- Qwoted
- ProfNet
- Quora
- Forbes Councils
- Business Journals Leadership Trust
- SourceBottle
- Twitter (#journorequests)
- GLG
- OnePitch
- SEO Companies + Digital PR Agencies
Let’s dive into these alternatives to learn how each service can help you build your online credibility.
Terkel
Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. The premise of Terkel is to answer questions and get published in articles published on one of Terkel’s partner websites.
With partners like the University of Arizona, Keap, and SCORE, the quality of Terkel’s publication partners is high. But how is Terkel is different from HARO?
The key difference from HARO is that Terkel provides full length content, not just quotes. Terkel receives a question from a partner, gathers and selects the best insights from the community, and then provides a final draft for a partner to approve for publishing.
In other words, HARO provides a piece of content with a quote while Terkel provides the whole article.
If you’re a publisher of content, Terkel may be able to better fill content gaps than HARO. If you are a business looking to get published, Terkel is one more resource to add to your list of communities to join and try out.
Sign up for Terkel to answer questions and get published.
Qwoted
Qwoted is a free tool that connects journalists to expert sources. Connect with industry experts instantly and diversify your sources all in one place.
Sound exactly like HARO? The value proposition is pretty similar. So how is Qwoted different from HARO?
The main difference is that journalists can spare their inbox from PR spam. Anyone who has used HARO knows that a query can clutter your inbox with submissions to review. With Qwoted, you can mute conversations when you have what you need.
In addition, another problem often cited with HARO are fake personas. HARO shifts the responsibility of verifying the authenticity and authority of a source over to a publisher. Qwoted has a private network of users that can be filtered by gender, geography and more to help ensure that the voices that appear in your work reflect your audience.
If you are a journalist, Qwoted may be a new platform to try for sources. If you are a small business, sign up for Qwoted to review media opportunities.
ProfNet
ProfNet connects you to journalists who are looking for experts in their news releases.
Like HARO, ProfNet is also owned by Cision. The services are essentially the same and they’re owned by the same parent company. So how are they diffferent?
Good question.
ProfNet is built for public relations professionals who want to find opportunities to pitch their organizations to journalists. Since the ProfNet site is now listed on a prnewswire.com subdomain, think of ProfNet as a place to get featured in a press release and HARO for stories.
Quora
Quora is a question and answer platform that enables users to ask questions, write answers, and connect with people who contribute unique insights.
The majority of answers submitted to Quora will live on the Quora platform. This isn’t a bad thing, as Quora is one of the top 100 most visited websites in the world. Including your insights on a Quora question can generate views through their platform and referral traffic to your website.
Plus, some Quora questions are republished on media partners like Inc.com. There’s a chance your insights could be featured in a republication of Quora content.
Forbes Councils
Forbes Councils is an invitation-only organization where top executives and entrepreneurs gain visibility on Forbes.com. Members are each grouped into a relevant council like the Agency Council, HR Council, Coaches Council, and more to ensure the maximum benefit for the community.
If you are a business looking to be featured in Forbes, this paid annual membership can get you there through either a community style round up article, or an article you can author yourself.
Business Journals Leadership Trust
Business Journals Leadership Trust is similar to the Forbes Councils in that this is an invitation-only organization where business leaders gain visibility on their local Business Journal website.
This visibility can be accomplished by being featured on an expert panel. Every month, the Business Journals Leadership Trust poses business questions tailored to your industry. These questions open and close on a rolling basis so everyone gets a chance to chime in. Once you’ve submitted an answer, the Leadership Trust content team chooses diverse answers to publish in a roundup-style post that includes contributor headshots and company links.
If you meet community criteria like having a minimum of $1MM per year in revenue or funding, then this is a paid annual membership that can help boost visibility at the local level.
SourceBottle
SourceBottle is a free online service that connects journalists with sources.
If you are a business, SourceBottle differentiates itself from HARO by offering opportunities around Giveaways and Case Studies. Giveaways are a paid subscription that allow businesses to find samples, giveaways, goody bag fillers and products to review. Case Studies provide PR professionals with an opportunity to find case studies to provide expert opinion to include in a media pitch.
One more differentiator from HARO on the publishing side is that SourceBottle allows small, independent media such as bloggers and podcasters to seek expert sources for quotes and for guest blog writers. HARO has minimum criteria that needs to be met in order to post a query, which is that your website Alexa ranking needs to be 1 million or less.
Twitter (#journorequests)
Search the hashtag #jounrorequests on Twitter and you’ll find some queries from journalists seeking sources.
This inspired the site Journorequests, which monitor and curates the best PR opportunities from Twitter to your inbox.
GLG
While GLG may not be viewed as a true HARO alternative, GLG is a knowledge marketplace that powers decisions with real-world expertise and insights.
The focus of GLG is on companies (clients) who are looking for expert feedback and market research. Clients identify a topic, design a plan, and then learn from the best.
As a GLG expert (council membe), you get paid for sharing your expertise. You can get paid for 1:1 phone calls and responding to client surveys.
While GLG is quite different from HARO, their platform is an outlet to share your unique insights. And if you are a company looking to do market research, the insights received from a service like GLG can be more reliable than a service like HARO.
OnePitch
OnePitch is a free service for connecting tech-savvy PR professionals and tech journalists to earn media placements and build relationships.
If you are in tech and looking for HARO alternatives, this niche site may connect you to relevant journalists.
SEO Companies + Digital PR Agencies
If this is all totally overwhelming, consider outsourcing HARO efforts to an SEO company or Digital PR agency.
There are plenty of companies who handle everything about HARO: identifying relevant queries, responding to questions, and getting published.
Many of these agencies charge on a per placement basis, meaning if you don’t get featured, you won’t get charged.
Bottom line: there are plenty of reputable HARO alternatives. Sign up for different services. Answer queries. And then see which service best helps you build your online visibility.
