Interviewing others for blog posts is a fantastic way to leverage current business relationships, start new relationships and drive new traffic to your blog, but the best part is you get to exchange ideas with absolutely brilliant people. It also gives the blog a more conversational flavor and helps broaden the scope of the content.

If you’ve been considering beginning an interview series on your blog, here are the Top 5 tips that I’ve learned along the way:

1. Brush up on your journalism skills:

Do a little research on each of your interviewees before putting together your questions. It will show that not only do you know your stuff but also that you are truly interested in what they have to say.

2. Don’t limit the subject: Let your interview topic be broad. Don’t limit questions to your area of expertise or even to the theme you’re focusing on. Often, an interviewee will move off-topic slightly, but, remember, this is natural and it is ok. If you can, even add a personal question or two.

3. Get ready to share yourself: Often, once you strike up a relationship with these folks and have earned a bit of respect, they’ll ask to interview you as well or write a guest post (like this one). Be ready and willing to share.

4. Provide feedback and promotional information: Make sure that you properly promote the post once you’ve posted it. Share the link with the person that you’ve interviewed, and don’t forget to remind them to share it with their friends and family and via social media channels. Also, if you’ve learned something particularly useful or have more questions, don’t be afraid to ask. After all, this might be your only chance to speak with the “greats” of a particular discipline.

5. Keep the conversation going: Time allowing, try to keep the conversation going after the interview via e-mail or on social media networks like Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Friend or follow them, and make the effort to maintain the relationship if you can.