Greg Heilers.pdf

How to build your brand
(and powerful backlinks)
with "HARO" outreach

Why “HARO” Outreach?
You Can Earn Awesome Backlinks!
P.S. If you don’t want to do the writing,
I’m also going to teach you how to recruit
a freelance writer.

"Jolly SEO is a pivotal, very important piece to
our SEO game plan, especially going into 2025
and beyond. Backlinks are just so incredibly
important, and they've been able to help us
land a handful of really, really high quality
backlinks. Couldn't say enough about Greg,
Morgan, and the whole Jolly SEO team."
Tyler Gillespie
Head of Partnerships & SEO, beehiiv

But, first, let’s be real.
Not every backlink is on
Business Insider or Forbes.
And, Business Insider & Forbes
do not always give backlinks.

Still…
Brand Mentions & Brand Backlinks
Are “Ranking Signals”.

For both SEO (Google)
&

GEO/AEO/AI SEO… LLMs like ChatGPT

Okay, so that’s why we do
“HARO” Outreach
Now…

HARO is Dead Back!
Today’s Landscape:

Platform Selection 101
Each platform has pros & cons to consider:
● UI/UX: Email vs Web App
● Difficulty vs reward:
○ Harder = higher quality publications
○ Easier = lower quality publications
● Paid vs Free: Spend money to save on labor?
Let’s look at the differences in 4 more slides:

What is the Quality Like?

1,000 Wins
in 2025

Platform Selection TL;DR:
1. Okay with business-related publications and articles?
● Get started with the free, email-based Help A B2B Writer.
2. Need wins that are hyper related to your business/niche?
● Try the free emails HARO & Source of Sources, or if you
have a budget the paid platform Qwoted.
3. Just want quick, easy wins, regardless of the publication
or article topic?
● Pay for the platform Featured. It’s worth every penny.

Email Newsletters: Source of Sources,
Help A B2B Writer, & HARO

Web Platforms: Featured & Qwoted

Not Every Outreach Pitch Works.
What is a conversion ratio?
We all have a “conversion ratio”:
● The number of outreach pitches you need to send
to earn a backlink or brand mention.

You can earn a backlink every 3 pitches…
… or you might average 1 out of 25!

Outreach Targets Pt. 1
Dofollow links only?

Or, are nofollows & brand mentions acceptable?
● If you actually want the DR 90+ wins, you need to
accept Nofollow links & Unlinked Brand Mentions!
● Plus, these are less competitive!

Outreach Targets Pt. 2
What is your minimum:

● Domain Rating or Domain Authority?
● Organic Traffic?

The higher the quality site, the harder it can get.

How the Media Sees You Pt. 1
Which gets more and better wins?
Website/Company
A. Taboo or obscure industry; or, even “mainstream”,
but low quality “first impression” on the home page
B. Mainstream industry with professional website

15-Minute Website Optimization
Your website is a journalist/marketer’s first impression of your business. Four quick tips to
optimize your website for outreach success:
1.

2.
3.
4.

First impressions. Make sure your home page isn’t just a “buy now” button, roulette
wheel, etc. If your business must have a heavily transactional home page, this may not
be the right outreach tactic for you.
Have a real, live human being on your ‘About’ page. Include a photograph. This
should be the same person who outreach is done on behalf of.
Link to socials: Your website should include links to the company’s LinkedIn page, at
the least.
Address: A legitimate business has a company address and contact information.

These simple things improve your outreach conversions & quality of wins!
The higher the quality a publication, the more a journalist or their editor vets potential
contributors.
Make sure that when they open your website, they are impressed.

How the Media Sees You Pt. 2
Which gets more and better wins?

Outreach Figurehead
A. “Outreach Specialist”
B. CEO

How the Media Sees You Pt. 3
Which gets more and better wins?

Email inbox
A. @hotmail.com
B. @yourcompany.com

Using an email-based outreach channel such as Help A B2B Writer, Profnet, or SOS?
Inbox setup is critical to increase your pitch conversion rates. Every inbox should have:

How the Media Sees You Pt. 4
Which gets more and better wins?

Writing Quality
A. Typos, poor grammar, too wordy.
B. Clean content, factual, and easily copy/pasted.

10 Slides on How to Write…
Remember, if you don’t want to do the writing yourself…
I’m going to teach you how to hire a writer after this!
Just pass these tips on to them ;)

1

"Copy and pasteable" quotes
My single best advice when it comes to media outreach:

Journalists and marketers want to quote experts in as little
work as possible.

Whatever you submit, make sure it’s easy for them to use…
no extra editing!

2

"Copy and pasteable" quotes

3

4

HARO / Help A B2B Writer / Source Of Sources

5

Subject Lines
Email-based HARO, Help A B2B Writer, and SOS
The Subject line might be the most important 20 characters.
●

Marry your credentials + the opportunity’s topic

Customize every subject line. Don’t reuse the same one over and over.
○
○
○
○

“17-Year Ecommerce Expert on [topic]”
“SMB Owner’s top tips for [topic]”
“Company founder’s trouble with [topic]”
“Culinary expert suggests buying [X]”

This is a huge part of the conversion copy element. Don’t lie.
Just create a clickable subject line!

6

"Copy and pasteable" quotes
Use bullet points or headers for your 2-3 ideas you submit.

Everything you write in a pitch must be a full sentence.

Eliminate the fluff, unnecessary transition words/phrases, etc.!

7

Don’t write novels! (Part 1)
Internet writing style:
● 10-15 word short sentences.
● 1-3 sentences per paragraph.
It’s easier for journalists to read and understand your ideas.

TL;DR: it makes your writing more “copy/pasteable”!

8

DON’T write novels (Part 2)

This pitch is so
long…
… you have to…
… scroll…
… to read it all.
Too long!

9

Average Word Count

Humans are on the other end of your outreach
They receive 50, 100, sometimes even 200+ pitches.

Use different pitching styles until you get your first wins.

See what works best for you, and the domains you target.

10

Introducing ChatGPT Into Pitching
Pros
1.
1.

Cheaper writing cost…

Cons
Needs heavy editing for all platforms, with
the sole exception of Featured.

2.

Without significant guardrails in place
(GPT Instructions), can fabricate, talk
about illegal/taboo topics, etc.

3.

Without consistent, skilled oversight, can
paint the outreach figurehead and/or
overall company in a negative light.

4.

Risk permanent account + figurehead
bans on HARO, SOS, Qwoted, etc.

ChatGPT for Rapid Research… and Some Writing
Using LLMs to directly write pitches is… dangerous. “Use at your
own risk”.

But, ChatGPT and similar LLMs are fantastic ideation tools.

ChatGPT for Rapid Research
Copy the opportunity, and paste into ChatGPT (or similar) with
the prompt:
● Hi there, I’m a [job title] working in [industry]. I need to
answer a journalist’s question, and I am having writer’s
block. Can you help me think of a couple of answers to this
question: [paste opportunity].
Don’t like the first answer? Ask it for more ideas.

ChatGPT for Rapid Research… and Some Writing
Important Caveat: Remember to always fact check anything
LLMs output. Hallucinations can kill your brand’s reputation.

To be clear: I do *not* recommend sending direct copy & paste
content ChatGPT generates!

Don’t Want to Do the Writing?
Try LinkedIn, Upwork, Fiverr, etc.
Search Keywords
●
●
●
●

HARO
Featured
Qwoted
Digital PR

Favorite Writer
Locations
● Philippines: Best balance of
affordability, quality, and
reliability
● Canada: Higher hourly rate,
can achieve top tier wins

Writer Recruitment Tips
Contract Structure
Pay for Links Only: I recommend a tiered approach:
●
●
●
●

$$$$$: Top tier publications, e.g. WSJ, NYT, USA Today
$$$$: High power corporate blogs, such as HubSpot
$$$: Mid-tier corporate blogs
$$: Lower-end blogs

At Jolly SEO, we pay by Organic Traffic tiers.

Writer Recruitment Tips
Additional Contract Structures
● Not every writer will go for 100% “Pay for Links”
$X per Pitch + $Y per Link
● This gives both parties security.
Hourly: $10-$75/hour
● Best for the writer. Vet them carefully if you go this route.

Writer Management Tips
1. Red Flags: Look for typos, cultural misalignment, lack of
subject matter expertise (where critical), etc.
2. Be Patient: Remember the TAT! Remember link hunting.
Don’t give up on the writer after 30 days… that’s when the
links might start going live!
3. Stay vigilant: That said… if you go the hourly route, make
sure they don’t start logging 30+ minutes per pitch!

Final Thoughts: Where Are the Wins?!
People regularly DM me to ask:
● “I’ve sent dozens of pitches, but I can’t get any wins. What
am I doing wrong? Is HARO broken?”
My first question: “Have you tried looking for them?”

Free Resources: YouTube + Newsletter

Free 55-Page HARO Guide

Questions?
Email Me:

[email protected]
WeChat



本文档为站内渲染。原始文件本地路径：saas/source/seo-llm/raw-seo知识库-TXT整理-PPT-2025-Shenzhen-SEO-Conference-Speaker-Sl-f0f91c.txt（仅本地保留，不入库不部署）