This blog post is part of a 6-part mini-series on “Profiting With Interviews“.

Now that you know the power of creating instant content using interviews, let’s take a look where you can find those experts for the interviews and hopefully be able to develop a list of potential interviewees.

First off, I’m going to assume you have chosen a niche and have some sort of idea as to the product you want to create. Just to go over very briefly, these are the things you need to look for when picking your topic:

1. Is it something you’re passionate about? I stress very strongly about passion in the post “Do What You Love And The Success Will Follow”.
2. Is it something you’re knowledgeable about? In this particular case, this doesn’t apply as you’re leveraging your expert’s knowledge and credibility.
3. Is there sufficient demand? In other words, is there money to be made in that market? Is there an economic engine that will drive your business forward?

Generally, the more focused your topic is, the better the end result. Now, before we go out and find those experts, we first need to know what “type” of expert we need to look for.

(NOTE: Keep in mind that they may or may not have ALL of these features. It is more or less a list of things you should look out for.)

What Defines An “Expert”?

1. Authors. In fact, the word “authority” comes from author. Some one who have published books, created products, or written articles is generally a good choice
2. Publishers. As in somebody who operates a well-established blog in your niche, or publishes a weekly newsletter (digital or physical) with large numbers of subscribers.
3. Awards & Recognition. You need to ensure they have the right qualifications and is recognized as an expert in your field. For example, if your topic was about legal issues, you would need to find a qualified attorney.
4. Produces Results. Lastly, but most importantly, you need to make sure that your expert actually “practice what he preach”. You need to have actually taken what they’ve said, and produced actual results.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about where to actually find those experts. You see, experts don’t just come to you (unless you happen to be the expert), you’ve got to go out there, find them, and approach them.

In my opinion, there are 4 main “expert hangouts” (that’s places where experts chill out):

1. Forums

This is the most obvious place. The best people in your niche tend to hang out at the top forums in your niche. The reason is because that’s their passion. People hang out with people who share similar interests. That’s where they get to share ideas. That’s where they get to discuss about their topic. So if you want to find the best video guy, you go to the best video forums. If you want to find the best graphics guy, you go to the best graphics forums.

If you don’t know any forums in your niche, just go to Google.com and type “[your niche] forum”. For example, if you’re in the dog training business, then you type “dog training forum”. Once you’ve found the top 3 or 4 forums in your niche, look around and try and see who are the experts. There are 3 signs which you should look for:

1. Moderators. If they are one of the forum moderators, chances are, they know what they’re doing and they’re passionate about what they’re doing.
2. Look out for names. Look around for a few days and see what names come up in the discussions. See who people are talking about. Usually, those people are the well-known top guns in the industry. Heck, if you are really stuck, just go in there and create a thread titled something like “Which guru do you subscribe to?” or “Who is your favorite expert?”
3. People with quality posts. Look out for the people who post the best suggestions, people who provide the most value to the community. This usually suggests that they know what they’re talking about and they’re passionate about the topic.

2. Bookstores

Remember what I said earlier on about what defines an expert? Authors! Go to your favorite bookstore and note down the author’s name of books related to your niche. Or you can even go to Amazon.com and type in the keywords related to your niche and see which names pop up. Chances are, if they have published a book on that topic, they know what they’re talking about. You can also take a note at the Amazon.com rankings to see whether or not that book is a hotseller. The better the ranking, the more authority that the author has in your niche.

3. Website Owners

Identify website owners who are positioned as authority figures. Go to your favorite websites relating to your niche and try contacting those owners. You can tell whether or not that particular website is an authority in your niche by looking at the Alexa graphs over at Alexa.com.

4. Offline Events

Attend offline events and seminars in your field and begin networking with the people. You’ll soon find out who the experts are. Usually, the experts are the ones that are speaking on stage. Try approaching them at the event before or after they’ve spoken and see if they are willing to do a video interview.

From those 4 places, you essentially need to write down a list of at least 20-50 people. Obviously the more, the better. The reason you need AT LEAST 20 people is because not all the experts will say “Yes”. In fact, many will say “No”.

However, in the next post I’m going to show you some cool tips and tricks on how you should approach those experts and create an offer they can’t refuse. In other words, increasing the “Yes” rate