On September 25, 2009, I ran my second HARO sponsorship ad. Information on my first sponsorship (January 20, 2009) can be found here.
Did it generate traffic?
Yes. Website traffic increased more than tenfold on the day of my sponsorship, and has been cruising along at about 2-3x my pre-sponsorship levels for the past two weeks. I think it worked out to be something close to a 1% clickthrough rate. That’s not bad for someone who promotes her skills within a niche market.
I also saw a fairly significant spike in Twitter followers and blog subscribers.
Did you get any business?
I had about half a dozen serious prospects as a result of the ad. In one case, I referred a potential client to a colleague that I met through my last HARO ad.
So far I’ve sent a few proposals but as yet I’ve only received promises, not signed agreements.
What are the drawbacks to sponsoring?
Drawback #1: Spam, spam, spam, spam. I’d initially listed a phone number in my ad, one that went straight to voicemail for screening. Peter wisely advised me not to do that, and instead substitute my email address. What I didn’t realize until later was that he had used my personal email in the ad; my business email was linkable from my website contact information.
Within half an hour of distribution of the afternoon HARO, the spam started coming to my personal email account from places I’d never heard of before. There were solicitations for SEO services, website designers, public speaking consultants… and all people who had never bothered to click through to my website. My personal favorite was the one with the subject “Hi Alisa!” like it had come from a long-lost friend. The rest of the email was a one-line pitch from an “international full-service agency.” Guys, if you’re really that big, your email shouldn’t read like a college intern looking for work.
All of this actually turned out to be a good thing. The people who contacted me through my business email were those who actually took the time to click through and learn something about me. Every single contact that came through that way was a qualified lead.
Lesson? Use a hotmail account in your ad, and let the qualified leads find your “real” email through your website.
Drawback #2: My cell phone number is out there somewhere. My website does not list my cell phone, for obvious reasons. I’ve done Google searches for my cell phone number, and don’t see it, which makes me wonder if the sales reps who called me are seriously running those background checks that are advertised online.
I got about 10 calls from businesses that I have no interest in, each with reps who refused to take “no” for an answer. This didn’t happen the first time around, which leads me to believe that as the list has gotten bigger, there are now people who are subscribing only to mine for leads.
Would you do it again?
Based on the expectation of the work promised (come on, purchase orders!), I have every reason to believe that I’ll recoup the cost of my ad, not to mention the exposure that I’ve gotten on a list that reaches 100,000+ people.