What is an expert roundup?
The most knowledgable and talented people in the world are those who will tell you that we are always learning no matter how far we get in life. An expert roundup is a way for you to feature the comments, thoughts, and ideas of people who are “experts” or key influences in the particular areas that you’re writing about.
Step 1: Start by Finding Your Question
Yes, you only get one question. It should be simple and easy to answer, keeping in mind that your experts are most likely on tight schedules with little amounts of additional time.
Tools to help you on your way:
You may want to start by using the keyword tools to figure out the broader picture of your article and then use Buzzsumo to find out what people are really interested in, with regards to your selected keywords.
Step 2: Define Your Experts
Your goal is to share quality content while adding legitimacy to your blog or company website. Bigger names in your industry will result in greater trust from your readers. However, you want to make sure that your experts are a good fit for your post and your readers. Consider making a chart with expert names, contact information, social following, industry, and main interests. When selecting the experts to contact, ask:
- Will they be truly interested in the question I’m asking?
- Is this someone my readers trust/respect?
- What kind of social following/online presence do they have?
Asking the above questions may help you to narrow down who to reach out, in the order of their “importance”.
Step 3: Make the ASK and then FOLLOW UP
Many writers will reach out to experts via email. If you are unable to find their contact information, try asking them on their most active social media platform. Be sure to briefly introduce yourself and the article you’re writing, then ask if they would be will to give you a brief answer to your question. I always like to assure people that I will include links to their site/blog/etc. so that people can easily find them online from the article.
Step 4: Put It All Together
When you publish a post of this size, you’ll want to break it up into sub-sections so readers can easily jump to the sections they’re most interested in. People generally don’t have a lot of time so if they can get the “gist” in a short amount of time, you’re already ahead of most. Include appropriate graphics and media to enrich your post and have short bios with head shots for all of your experts.
Other types of roundups include content roundups and opinion roundups, which don’t necessarily require you to reach out to others, merely site their work and be sure to let them know about it.
Happy writing!
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