The chat takes place today, Jan. 26, from 10 to 11 a.m. Pacific time on Twitter.  To follow along, use the hashtag #wclw.

To help prepare, here are the questions I’ll use to guide our conversation.

1. What’s your secret for getting the most relevant results from Google searches?
2. Do you use Twitter to search for sources, and if so, how helpful is it?
3. Besides Google and Twitter, what other online search tools do you recommend?
4. If you use Help a Reporter Out, what tips do you have for getting the best results?
5. What other methods do you use to track down sources?
6. Open discussion – what else do you want to know about search and story sources?

More on search - For background reading, here are a number of posts I’ve done on search and finding story sources:

• 8 secrets for getting better HARO query results
• HARO’s Shankman to reporters: We haven’t sold you out
• Goodbye Google: 8 Internet search alternatives
• Once a source, always a source
• New ways to use LinkedIn to find story sources
• Stalking the reluctant source – 10 secrets to getting anybody to talk
• HARO rescues writers stuck for sources
• How to keep track of story sources
• How Writers Can Use LinkedIn, Part I

Meanwhile, reporters and freelance writers continue to rely on HARO when they’re searching for story sources. I thought it would be helpful to share tips for getting the most out of HARO queries that Shankman walked me through when I interviewed him last week.

Here are Peter Shankman’s secrets for getting the most out of HARO:

1. Fill out the query form completely. Forms with missing data are flagged for review, which  means your query could go out later than you anticipated.

2. Make queries extremely specific. Not just extremely specific “ridiculously specific, obscenely specific,” Shankman says. The more specific you are, the more potential sources will know about what you’re looking for and whether they’re a match.

3. Keep queries short. HARO’s query form doesn’t have a maximum word count, but write too much and you risk potential sources not reading through the whole thing, Shankman says.

4. Include the name of the publication. Some newspapers and magazines don’t like staff writers or freelancers to reveal the name of the publication in their queries, for competitive or other reasons. But if they don’t, they risk having sources ignore them, Shankman says. His experience has shown that including the publication’s name works in a writer’s favor. “The ones from big outlets tell us when they include their media outlet they get 10 times the results as when they don’t,” he says. Some PR departments or agencies who track HARO queries for their companies or clients won’t respond to a request if they don’t know where it’s coming from, says Frank Strong, a Vocus spokesman who participated in the interview. “I am always hesitant when I see an unnamed publication, because you don’t know who it is you’d talking to, what their credibility is or who’s are the people behind it,” he says.

5. Fudge the query deadline. Yes, that’s right, the founder and manager of HARO suggests that writers cheat on the date by which they need to hear from sources. “Don’t put down the deadline of when your story’s due, but the deadline by which you want responses,” Shankman says. And if you’re on deadline, mark your query as urgent and HARO could end up sharing it on Twitter.

6. Don’t ask for free stuff. To keep amateurs and unscrupulous characters from misusing the service, HARO’s staff flags queries that include requests for free products or services, such as computer or video gaming equipment. You may review products for a computer magazine for a living and have a 100 percent legitimate reason for making such requests. But know that if you do, your query could undergo additional scrutiny, which could delay when it’s circulated.

7. Flag HARO staff about off-topic pitches. HARO’s source network now numbers more than 150,000, and writers I’ve heard from before and after Monday’s HARO post came out have said they’re getting more spam than ever, something they attribute to HARO but Shankman and Strong adamantly deny. According to Shankman, the best mechanism for policing sources who respond to queries with off-topic pitches or spam is to send an email to flag@helpareporter.com with the particulars of the situation. First offenses merit a warning; if they continue, HARO could ban an individual or the agency they work for. “There are two PR firms that can’t use HARO. It’s been that way from the beginning,” he says.

8. Manage your expectations. Although HARO has 150,000 sources, 75 percent of them are small businesses. If you’re looking for a source on an esoteric academic subject, HARO might not be the best place to find a source. “It’s a numbers game” like any other avenue you use to find sources, Shankman says. “If you want someone who’s visited New York it’s one thing, but if you want a biochemist who works with heavy metals you won’t get that many. In that case, you might be better off using ProfNet,” HARO’s more academically-inclined competitor.

Do you have your own secrets for getting the most from HARO queries? Please share by leaving a comment.

What’s that, the source won’t answer your email or phone calls? Don’t they realize what you’ve had to do to get this far?

Unfortunately, just because you need to talk to a source doesn’t mean that they need to talk to you. They’re busy, they’re press shy, they’re grouchy, they’ve been warned by counsel or their media relations staff not to speak to the press.

That’s when you need to use your writer’s ingenuity to figure out how to get a reluctant source to talk anyway – or how to salvage a story if they won’t.

(If you’re a source of mine, feel free to stop reading at this point.)

If and when you run into an uncooperative source, do a quick gut check or touch base with your editor. Do you really need that specific source? Or would another person, company or expert with the same credentials, background or situation suffice?

If you need a particular source who’s yet to open up, here are my top 10 secrets to getting somebody to talk:

1. Send questions via email. If a source won’t make time to talk on the phone maybe they’ll respond to written answers. It’s not the best way to go but at least you’ll have something. These days, try Twitter too – somebody who won’t sit for an interview might be OK answer questions 140 characters at a time.

2. Find out if someone else is available. Worst case scenario: talk to an organization’s spokesperson.

3. Do an end run around gatekeepers. Sometimes the source you’re trying to reach doesn’t know about your request because their secretary, PR department, spouse or some other handler hasn’t told them. In those situations, search online, in phone books or elsewhere for a direct number or email address you can use to directly plead your case.

4. Call at odd hours. If you need to talk to an executive or business owner, call before or after hours when chances are good secretaries and receptionists aren’t there and the head honcho will pick up the phone themselves.

5. Investigate association or board affiliations. Websites for professional organizations often list names, bios and contact information for their board members.

6. Go where they’ll be. They may avoid your calls, but they can’t avoid you if you show up at their monthly Rotary Club lunch or annual industry trade show. You might only get a line or two or a “No comment” but it’s better than nothing.

7. Talk to friends or business partners. If your story has to do with something a person or company did, bought or sold, find one of their friends, colleagues or business partners and get the details from them. Then contact your source again and ask them to confirm the facts.

8. Check what’s already been written. Look online for previous articles, white papers, analyst write ups or case studies about the source, their organization or company. That way even if you end up not getting an interview, you’ll have some background – just make sure you include an attribution to the original source.

9. Search social networks. Look on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook to find out if your source hangs out there. If they do, ask them then and there to answer your questions. Or let your network know that you’re trolling for Ms. ABC or XYZ Company to talk to. Or put out a general call for help.

10. Be empathetic. Sometimes, especially if you’re dealing with someone who’s never been interviewed before, all they might need is a little coaxing and an explanation of how things work – what information you’re after, what on the record means, etc. – to feel comfortable enough to talk.

What techniques do you use to get reluctant sources to talk?

If you don’t, it might be time to get acquainted. HARO stands for “If I Can Help A Reporter Out.” It was started by a PR guy and networking maven named Peter Shankman as a place reporters can turn to when they’re stuck for sources. Shankman started it as an alternative to ProfNet, which some writers have complained has grown so big the sources it nets aren’t relevant.

For reporters, HARO is easy. You don’t even need to register. Just go to the “Reporter” side of the service, fill out the request form and click “Submit it.” Your query will be included in an emailing of multiple requests for sources that Shankman sends out several times a day to a list of more than 23,000 PR representatives, company executives and other sources.

I’d heard a lot about HARO in recent months but didn’t give it a try until last week when I was hurting for sources for an IT industry story for IncTechnology.com that I was writing at the last minute. So I took the plunge and submitted a HARO request. Within 24 hours, I got about 40+ responses from PR reps, IT consultants and company presidents, etc. By the end of day two, I’d received close to 60.

HARO isn’t just for tech stories. I have freelance friends who write about all kinds of things, from green living to parenting to finance, and they all use it and rave about it. And they’ve been able to track down the hardest sources of all to get – real people.

HARO has grown so popular so quickly, it’s now got some of the same problems that plagued other source-finding services, namely too many off-topic responses, which you can read more about in this post about it on The Renegade Writer blog. Get around that by making sure your queries are as specific as possible. And state up front that people won’t hear from you unless you’re interested in using them.

If you decide to give it a try, I’ve got one more piece of advice: since HARO can result in inquiries from many more sources than you could possibly use, when you fill out the query registration form, give a very short time frame for people to get back to you, such as in 24 yours or less. Otherwise you could get bombarded.

And if you’re a PR person, read these great do’s and don’ts from Susan Johnston’s The Urban Muse blog about using HARO to pitch story ideas to writers.