How to get media links without relying on HARO

[Strike]

For those in competitive niches, you probably use HARO or pay someone to use it.

The problems with HARO

• Doesn't really scale unless you're in a niche that gets asked about every day
• US only
• Full of terrible websites that aren't worth getting a link from

Not saying not to at least check HARO, but there are other ways to get these types of links. One method that's worked for me is to publish a consumer survey and then pitch it to journalists directly.

Go to Pollfish and pay for a 500 response survey about some consumer issue in your niche. You are aiming for the conclusion along the lines of "One in three Americans pay too much for pool maintenance".

Note: use YouGov if you want DR 90+ links, tier 1 media won't look at Pollfish surveys because they do not scrutinise the data they provide you or check your question design

Create a press release with results.

Create a website landing page with results. Obviously your website should be an actual website, not a pure affiliate website, the journalist will check your homepage and about page. You don't need to be a massive authority, they will not check your DR. Credible but not necessarily reputable

Email journalists, ensuring you're using a personalised, relevant pitch, and keeping in mind the value you are providing them. Bonus points if the journalist is on this particular consumer issue 24/7. This lowers the bar to getting a link considerably - they might just mention the research in an article they have planned, rather than having to publish an entirely new article about it, which is harder to convince them to do.

Has anyone else used this method, or one of its variations? Or do you have your own methods to secure top tier media links?

 

[janky]

This sounds like a pretty good way to promote your website and to get some decent links.
What is your success rate doing this? How many decent links do you get usually from a survey?

Looks like 500 responses cost ~$500, so even if you can get 5-10 decent links it might be worth working on this. Now if you could somehow scale it to get ~50 somewhat decent links for each survey this would be the bomb. In smaller niches 100+ ref domains can take your website to the next level (from $1K/month earnings to $5-10K/month).

 

[Strike]

This sounds like a pretty good way to promote your website and to get some decent links.
What is your success rate doing this? How many decent links do you get usually from a survey?

Looks like 500 responses cost ~$500, so even if you can get 5-10 decent links it might be worth working on this. Now if you could somehow scale it to get ~50 somewhat decent links for each survey this would be the bomb. In smaller niches 100+ ref domains can take your website to the next level (from $1K/month earnings to $5-10K/month).

Number of links is not the concern. Quality of coverage is. I once used it to get a mention in a top-tier newspaper, think one of the biggest ones. The journalist mentioned my data and a quote from me in an article they were already writing. No link, but I got 1000+ people searching my brand name in Google and exploring the site, which did wonders for organic performance over the next few months.

 

[Ryuzaki]

The best, most cost effective means of picking up the full range of quality of links (in my experience) is massive exposure on curated, moderated platforms. Hitting #1 on /r/all (the top post on all of Reddit) will snag you great links and lots of them. It’s all about sharpening your axe for a week before swinging. You need interactive data, professional web design, good writing, sources listed, conclusions given, microcopy for the reddit thread title, etc.

In the same vein, the best links I’ve ever gotten are from mass SERP exposure. Rank for enough stuff and you get a ton of human eyeballs sharing and using you as a source on articles, blogs, and forums.

 

[Philip J. Fry]

The best, most cost effective means of picking up the full range of quality of links (in my experience) is massive exposure on curated, moderated platforms. Hitting #1 on /r/all (the top post on all of Reddit) will snag you great links and lots of them. It’s all about sharpening your axe for a week before swinging. You need interactive data, professional web design, good writing, sources listed, conclusions given, microcopy for the reddit thread title, etc.

In the same vein, the best links I’ve ever gotten are from mass SERP exposure. Rank for enough stuff and you get a ton of human eyeballs sharing and using you as a source on articles, blogs, and forums.

In the same line as this, I'm trying to figure out types of data that journalists use often in my industry. Let's say I'm in heating and cooling. I'll produce stats such as "1 in 5 homes are lacking proper insulation." or stuff like that. Then I'll publish the findings. If they rank and get eyeballs, they might get backlinks. I'll also promote the findings to journalists too. In this type of backlinking, you're really just catering to the media. Give them what they want and they'll give you exposure. Now, obviously, you gotta fit with the narrative too. For me, that'll be promoting vaccination.

 

[Lowrider]

Email journalists, ensuring you're using a personalised, relevant pitch, and keeping in mind the value you are providing them. Bonus points if the journalist is on this particular consumer issue 24/7. This lowers the bar to getting a link considerably - they might just mention the research in an article they have planned, rather than having to publish an entirely new article about it, which is harder to convince them to do.

Has anyone else used this method, or one of its variations? Or do you have your own methods to secure top tier media links?

Thanks for sharing this great idea. Definitely something I will try and share my results here.

• Do you have a certain number of journalists you are aiming for the see some traction? 50, 100?
• Often, multiple journalists are writing for similar subjects in a media publication. Are you focusing on one journalist per publication, or are you contacting more than one in the same media publication?

 

[Strike]

The best, most cost effective means of picking up the full range of quality of links (in my experience) is massive exposure on curated, moderated platforms. Hitting #1 on /r/all (the top post on all of Reddit) will snag you great links and lots of them. It’s all about sharpening your axe for a week before swinging. You need interactive data, professional web design, good writing, sources listed, conclusions given, microcopy for the reddit thread title, etc.

In the same vein, the best links I’ve ever gotten are from mass SERP exposure. Rank for enough stuff and you get a ton of human eyeballs sharing and using you as a source on articles, blogs, and forums.

Reddit is great, especially for US niches. Do you have strategies for improving coverage of whatever you post? For example, using an aged account/sending a few upvotes to get it kickstarted if posting to large subs? This is a bit grey hat, maybe you just ensure the content is good.

Thanks for sharing this great idea. Definitely something I will try and share my results here.

• Do you have a certain number of journalists you are aiming for the see some traction? 50, 100?
• Often, multiple journalists are writing for similar subjects in a media publication. Are you focusing on one journalist per publication, or are you contacting more than one in the same media publication?

If the content is good enough you could do 10 and the others will begin picking it up after one publishes. Also depends on how good the pitch is. It's typically hard to find 100 that are relevant, doing so would take forever.

More than one.

 

[Bobish]

I'd avoid too much gray hat on reddit. They're tough with bans if you get on a mods shitlist. More info in this thread for ya:

https://www.buildersociety.com/threads/how-does-reddit-detect-previously-banned-users.5303/

 

[Pgbstacks]

This is a really good post. Lots of sites do something along these lines. For example Priceonomics.com has tons of 'data content.'

If you have an email list, you could also do a manual survey using SurveyMonkey or something similar. Just as scientific IMO and saves you $500.

 

[ari]

It can be hit or miss depending on how you design the study, how obsessed the media is with covid or the election.. but when it works, it works.

 

[Philip J. Fry]

Priceonomics.com

Never heard of them but their bootcamp sounds awesome. I'm signing up. If I learn anything, I'll update this thread.

 

[Lowrider]

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ is also offering a ton of data-driven posts with lots of visuals.

 

[Philip J. Fry]

The priceometrics boot camp is based off of a book they wrote. The book and cheat sheet are here

https://s3.amazonaws.com/pix-media/The+Content+Marketing+Handbook+Summary+Version.pdf

https://s3.amazonaws.com/pix-media/The+Content+Marketing+Handbook+PDF.pdf

 

[AlexR]

Note: use YouGov if you want DR 90+ links, tier 1 media won't look at Pollfish surveys because they do not scrutinise the data they provide you or check your question design

Can you share a bit more about using YouGov? Any tips?
Do you submit your surveys there and they reference you?

 

[Strike]

Can you share a bit more about using YouGov? Any tips?
Do you submit your surveys there and they reference you?

They're just another data provider, except they help you with survey design and cost a lot more. You still have to use their data and share it with the right people.