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Link building is still a powerful SEO strategy that can significantly boost your traffic and bring you a lot of notoriety.

One of the best ways to reach that in a relatively short amount of time is through an expert roundup. If you’ve never heard about it before, you are in luck because it will revolutionize your SEO strategies including your outreach.

If you have an idea about it, I invite you to find out how to successfully create an expert roundup.

What is an expert roundup post?

An expert roundup post is a type of blog post where you gather contributions from experts in your niche. You choose a question of interest and you invite them to share their opinion. Then you gather all their input and create your post.

Your benefits? You will have around 50 influential experts in one place, valuable content, backlinks, shares, traffic, new audience, better ranking and the list goes on. And of course, let’s not forget about all the relationships you’ll establish! This will pave your way perfectly for guest posting. So why not try it yourself? Let’s explore that in more detail.

How will the expert roundup help me?

• Authority – You will establish yourself in the blogging community of your niche. This is the perfect introduction because you will be linking and sharing their contributions so they will also want to help you at some point.
• Traffic – Because they will also want to share their contribution, your traffic will explode. Plus, the content will be so valuable that people will want to share it organically.
• Backlinks – It will pour with backlinks! Your influencers will also post about their contribution and will link to your post. But they will not be the only ones. The conclusion of your expert roundup will probably be used in other articles as a reference.
• Email subscribers – You can create a pdf file with even more details and send it to visitors in exchange for a subscription to your newsletter. Just imagine how much your list of subscribers will grow.
• Build relationships – I can’t stress enough how important this is. Think about your outreach strategy and all the opportunities this will bring. In the world of influencers, it’s all about connections and this is the perfect way to acquire them.

How do I start?

You already know that if you want quality you have to prepare thoroughly. Here are the steps you have to follow for a successful expert roundup.

1. Research

Find out what other roundups have been made in your niche, who participated and what were the topics. In this manner, you will be able to choose something interesting that hasn’t been debated before.

Fresh content is what the public wants. You will be able to create a list of experts that are willing to participate and also analyze the sites’ traffic before and after the roundup.

2. Prepare your site

Think about your website like your home. You’re inviting important people over and you want to make a good impression. Therefore make sure it’s clean, and everything works. Check it for broken pages or pictures. Be sure that your About us and Contact pages look good and your email address and social profiles are visible.

It is very important to have a hosting package that can support traffic spikes. Everything will be ruined if your website won’t be working or it will move too slow when all those readers will want to see your post.

Another important task is to be sure your site has recent posts because no hot-shot expert will want to contribute to a deserted site. It won’t bring them any benefits so ultimately you will have no roundup.

3. Don’t forget about social media

If your website is your home, then your social media profile is your porch. Everybody can see it and what’s on it. It doesn’t matter that you have a beautiful, clean house if there’s a mess in the front yard.

Depending on the niche, experts are active on Linkedin, Pinterest, Google+, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Be sure you are present on the platforms relevant to your niche and that your image is professional. Your participants are interested in relevant information and audience. As you already know, first impressions are crucial.

4. Professional email address

Giving the fact that you will be contacting the experts through an email, your signature should be professional. You should include your blog, social media accounts, website and even your last article. Influencers care for their image so they will not associate themselves with someone that might damage that.

So be sure to be transparent and to offer quality. Also don’t send them an email from an address like blogger_princess, underdog1 or money_rulez. They won’t even open that email.

What do I have to do?

1. Choose a good subject

It’s a given that it should be something interesting, relevant, original and useful. What is missing from your niche? Your roundup has to offer solutions, pieces of advice, tips or insights. Also, the question should be specific and easy, so that every busy expert can respond. If they want to elaborate, they will write their own post.

Here are a few general examples that you can adjust to your niche:

• List the top three tools or applications you are using.
• What are the current trends?
• What should we focus this year on?
• Best advice for newbies.
• Best way to solve a specific problem.
• What should you look for when you do or buy something?

Don’t forget to research what was done before. I’m sure you don’t want to waste time on something that has already been dried up. Plus, you might get some great ideas from those roundups.

2. Create a list of experts

Create a spreadsheet with the following fields: Name, Website, Email, Phone, Social Media Account #1, Social Media Account #2, 1st contact attempt, 2nd contact attempt, Answer, Contribution).

By staying organized, you will be able to keep track of your relationships and contributions. In time this list will become a gold mine so make sure you update it constantly.

Experts usually participate in roundups if the guest site has a lot of traffic and authority. If you’re new in the game, you have to expect some rejections. I’m sure you can understand why. Those people are on a really tight schedule, managing big companies, attending conferences around the world, or drinking cocktails by the pool. They don’t really have time for every roundup invite.

However, you should still give it a try because some influencers might surprise you and you will build some really fruitful relationships. If you find some difficulty in finding their contact emails, use Hunter.io. It automatically finds a website’s email address.

Where do I find the experts?

Personal connections

You certainly have some connections that will be willing to participate. You probably talked with other bloggers or you know someone who knows someone. Use every single chance you’ve got and don’t hesitate to ask around. This is the easiest way because people already know and trust you.

Social media

Put your detective hat on and start investigating on social media. Every expert is active on the relevant platforms for your niche.

Past roundups

Do you remember the first step in preparing for a roundup? The research. By now you know what was done before and you know who has participated even on small guest sites.

Most roundups list the experts’ sites and social media pages. However, if you encounter some that don’t, you can always search for their names on Google.

Outreach tools

Use tools such as Outreach.buzz to find experts and influencers in your niche. These people want to build relationships and an expert roundup is a perfect way to do it. Add all the experts that you’d like to participate in your roundup on your spreadsheet along with all the above information.

How do I contact the experts?

There’s an important factor you should take into consideration. Their participation is a favor to you. So don’t go asking favors from strangers out of the blue.

Make yourself visible first by commenting on their articles or social media posts, asking relevant questions or contributing with helpful information. That way, when you send them your invitation, they will have an idea about who you are and will be more willing to help you. Here are the ways in which you can contact them:

Twitter

Twitter is an awesome channel for contacting the experts because while you do this you also promote your roundup. People will know that you’re preparing something and will be expecting it. You should also follow the experts and if they follow you back, you can send them a private message for more details. However, don’t use direct messages for the first contact because they are mainly used for self-promotion and considered spams.

Email Outreach Tools

If you choose this way of approach, keep in mind the following tips:

• Use your personal email address and not the official one from your website. It’s more personal this way.
• Be sure not to forget to change the recipient’s name.
• Check your spreadsheet if you contacted that person before or your emails will become a spam.
• Choose a reasonable deadline within at least one week and a half from the moment you contact them. When the deadline approaches an end, you can send them a polite reminder that there is still time to participate. Maybe they wanted to reply but forgot.

Below you will find two examples of email templates. Choose the one that suits you best and change it according to your needs.

Example 1

Example 2

Email

Even though there are many tools out there that allow you to send a message straight from their platform, I don’t recommend it. As I have stated before, you can’t ask strangers for favours out of the blue. You need to establish a connection first. It is better to show that you made an effort to find their email address and create a message especially for them.

How do I create the roundup?

Now that you made contact and the experts have agreed to participate in your roundup, it’s time to create your post. You have valuable information in your hands and your mission is to make it presentable and accessible for all the visitors hungry for information. Here is what your article should look like:

• The title has to be attractive and SEO friendly. Include the number of experts and the question they answered.
• Insert an attractive image that will also be used to promote the content on other channels with the number of experts, their pictures and the roundup question. You can use Canva.com for that.
• The introduction in which you state why you asked that question and include the list of the participants.
• The answers you received along with the bio, picture and social profiles of the contributors.
• The conclusion.

Once the deadline has passed, you can compile your article, edit, proof-read it and finally publish it. It is also a good idea to create a pdf file for your visitors to download in exchange for a subscription.

Because you’ve just established a connection, you need to take care of it. The first step is to send them a thank you message and to announce them when you publish the material.

Also, update your spreadsheet so you keep track of who participated and who didn’t.

How do I promote it?

You’re not done yet. Now that you’ve published your roundup, you have to make it known. Here are the steps in your content promotion.

1. The first step is to inform all the participant that the roundup was published and can now be shared with the public. Send them a link to the article and create a ClicktoTweet link that will allow the expert to share the post immediately with a custom message.

2. Share the post on all your social media accounts and tag the contributors. On Facebook and Google+ you can tag them all in one place. On Twitter, you are limited to 160 chars so you will need several posts to include them all. You may also purchase Facebook ads. If you target well the audience, you can double your reach with less than 10 dollars.

3. Send a newsletter to your subscribers informing them about the roundup. Tell them the date of the launch and that they can prepare questions for the experts. Remind them about the launch a couple of days before you publish it. Then send them the big announcement email that you published the article.

4. Don’t forget to email journalists about the roundup and even send them the pdf with conclusions so they can create a press article. You may also send a press release with the conclusions of the roundup.

Conclusion

Congratulations! If you’ve succeeded to read through our expert roundup guide, you now know how to successfully create one that will help your blog stand out. Above all else, it can provide a ton of value to your readers and followers.

Even if it takes some time to create one, the benefits are tremendous. Valuable content, backlinks, shares, traffic, new audience, better ranking and valuable relationships.

When you’re starting out, writing great content isn’t enough to get noticed. This strategy will give you the boost you need.

You can also consider guest posting. Another great strategy that will greatly improve your SEO. Here is a guide on how to guest post.