Tool · Ongoing (daily email queries you respond to)

Help a Reporter Out (HARO)

Featured.com · HARO (helpareporter.com) Free Beginner

When nobody has heard of you, a real quote in a journalist's story is one of the few ways to earn a genuine press link from a standing start. HARO sends out reporter queries looking for expert sources, and a sharp, specific answer from a founder can land a mention with a link back, no PR budget required. Founders building outside the big startup hubs can compete here purely on the quality of the response, since reporters care about the insight, not where you sit.

  • You reply to journalist queries with a tight, useful answer, and a good one can earn a real editorial backlink plus press credibility.
  • It is free to sign up and respond as a source, which makes it a rare no-budget press channel for an unknown startup.
  • Speed and specificity win: answer fast, answer the exact question, and skip the sales pitch.
Open on helpareporter.com ↗

The question it answers

  1. How do I get backlinks when nobody has heard of my startup yet?

Read with it

  1. This is the honest starting point when you have zero links and nobody knows you yet. Tim Soulo walks through a phased approach:... Ahrefs Essay · Long read, about 30 to 40 minutes Link Building for SEO: The Beginner's Guide Tim Soulo
  2. The most durable way to get links without an audience is to build something people actually want to cite, and this article... Search Engine Journal Article · Medium read, about 15 minutes A Guide To Linkable Assets For Effective Link Building Kevin Rowe
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