Can a Blog Be a Referral Tool?

WIth an admitted nod to Keith Ferrazzi's fantastic book - Never Eat Alone and other secrets to success one relationship at a time, I want to reveal a networking/referral strategy that I have employed with great results for a number of clients. Blogging as a marketing tool is dynamite. But, you knew that already, right? What about using this same tool as a referral community building tool? Let's say you are an accountant. What if you went to an attorney, financial planner, insurance specialist and banker (all of whom serve your target market) and offered them a guest expert spot on your blog? First off, if you did this, your blog would get a lot better and lot more active but, you may also cement a relationship with these other referral sources and publicly be seen as the hub of a powerful network. There's no reason a plumber couldn't do this with an electrician, HVAC, painting and roofing network. If they did, they would quickly dominate their market. Most blog software makes the set-up and management of such a network of guest authors a snap. TypePad for instance has this feature build right into the dashboard of your account. (You can also set-up multiple blogs with a pro account.) If you already have this type of network built anyway you better add this strategy before one of your competitors steals your referral sources