It’s easy to find influencers to help you promote your blog.
It’s frustrating isn’t it? Your attempts at trying to improve traffic have minimal results at best.
You’ve heard that you need influencers’ help to get more eyes on your blog.
You’ve heard that influencers have massive amounts of followers on all their social media. If they promoted your posts, that many new eyes on your blog could mean more traffic for you.
The problem is–you don’t know any influencers.
Why You Need to Write An Expert Round-Up Post
If, by definition, influencers have more followers than you on their social media, and they promote your blog links for you, your content will have more exposure, and the chances for increased traffic and readership will improve, and not just by drips and drabs, but by mass quantities.
The influencers are the experts. You are going to “round them up,” so you can interview them.
Let’s look at a case study. Who is the case? Why me!
Both my expert round-up interviews achieved favorable results. Expert round-up posts, in general, do well. Both interviews, my first, which included nineteen experts, and my second, which included twenty experts, achieved triple-digit page views within twenty hours of publication.
I am still a relatively new blogger, so I triple-digit views within the day of publication is an impressive result.
Within the day, eight of the twenty experts shared the post with their Twitter followers. An additional expert shared the post with both his Twitter and Google + followers. The combined result is that 151,899 additional people, their social media followers, had the opportunity to read my writing who would not normally have been exposed to it.
Blogging is the shot-gun effect. The more numbers have the chance to read your writing, the greater the chance that your traffic will increase.
How to Write An Expert Round-Up Post
Step 1. Think of a question.
I would advise you only ask one question. Experts are busy, and you want to make it easy and quick for them to answer.
There are many places you could look for a great interview question:
- Your readers’ questions to you in your comments section
- Questions in the forums you frequent. Facebook has many groups where bloggers go to ask questions. LinkedIn has a blogging group as well called The Blog Zone.
Step 2. Go to Google AdWords to check for interest in your question.
Google AdWords is a Keyword Planner. Look at my tags. Do you see one that says “blog promote”? Poor grammar, I admit. It’s awkward wording at best. However, Google AdWords told me that currently interest is high but competition low, so I used it. The Keyword Planner is a free resource.
I have never used Buzzsumo.com, but I hear it functions the same way, to ensure that there is interest in your topic. I have never used it since when I went there, if offered a free trial which means eventually I will have to pay to use it, so I am not interested.
Step 3: Pick the experts!
Go to Google. In the search bar, type expert round-up and your topic. Experts who have been interviewed in expert round-up posts come up in previous interviews they have participated in.
If they agreed to be interviewed by someone else, the odds are that they will say yes to you are favorable.
Step 4: Invite the experts to be part of your expert round-up interview.
Go to Twitter, and type in the experts’ name in the search bar.
Even if they don’t follow you, you can still send them a Tweet.
I find the following wording effective: I am conducting an expert interview and would like to include your insights.*
Then, ask the question and let them know when you need the answer by.
Step 5: Set up your post as the experts’ answers come in.
It is advantageous to include their photo, their website with a link back to their site, and their picture. I would also recommend a one-sentence explanation of what makes them an expert in your area.
My first expert interview had their bios while my second didn’t. I’ve read many round-up posts that don’t have the bios, so I didn’t include them the second time around. However, it makes sense to include them. How will your readers know they are experts if they have never heard of them?
Step 6: Get your readers excited!
Do you have an Email list? Send out the word ahead of time that an expert interview is in the works! Let them know when they can expect it to be published at your site.
I like to use the word “secrets” since people are curious about secrets.
Step 7: Create a professional-looking graphic.
This will make your interview memorable and can be easily shared on Pinterest.
Step 8: Publish your expert-round up interview!
Step 9: Write your participants, and let them know the link.
Thank them for their participation, and politely ask if they could share it with their followers.
Step 10: Write the experts and thank them for sharing.
It’s easy to create an expert round-up interview.
That’s it; ten easy steps. Is it time-consuming? Yes. Is it worth the potential for new traffic? Of course it is, so don’t delay–go generate your interview question.
Readers, have you ever created an expert round-up post? What were your experiences? Did it result in new traffic for you? I look forward to your views.
*Source: Brian Lang, Boost Blog Traffic
