Important News And Article Writers Interview Preparation Guide

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☛ Why it’s important to ask this: Content marketing is a lot more than writing; however, I consider this talent to be a foundational element of a superstar content marketer. You have to love what you do.
☛ What to look out for: Look for indicators that they have a passion for writing. Understand what drives their passion, what outlets they’ve used to express this passion, and what personal benefits they get out of creating content.

The best writers love to read, and not just blogs and e-zines. On my list of acceptable answers would be any marketing or general business book, as well as any book that shows your writer is a well-rounded individual.

Working with different clients often means having to change not only the topic of your work, but even the tone and style. This is where a very good writer is going to be your goal, and the research about the topic can be learned.

Savvy use of SEO best practices is vital if you want your company’s content to be found online, so you want to hire a content marketing writer who understands and knows how to do SEO and do it well.

☛ Why it’s important to ask this: I certainly want a content marketer to have an opinion about what works and what doesn’t work. However, it’s also important that they can accept critiques about their work and make changes as necessary.
☛ What to look out for: Understand what type of feedback they received, how it made them feel—and most importantly—what they did with that feedback.

The prospective writer’s answer to this question will help you figure out how she thinks and whether her thinking will work well with your industry, your company and the type of content you want to create.

For this job, it’s important to be happy working alone and setting your own daily goals.

A key part of building a strong, cohesive brand is establishing a style, tone and voice for all of the content you create. Some good writers can write well in a variety of styles, while others are more limited. It doesn’t matter which you hire, but you want someone who will be able to match the style, tone and voice you’ve decided on for your brand.

This one is pretty easy. Because I always felt writing is in my bones J I am an Engineering graduate and understandably this was a standard question in all interviews. I gave the same reply in all interviews and it worked just fine.

☛ Why it’s important to ask this: I certainly want a content marketer to have an opinion about what works and what doesn’t work. however, it’s also important that they are able to accept critique about their work and make changes as necessary.
☛ What to look out for: Attention to to detail and an understanding of proper usage of the english language is key elements of quality content. (Did you catch the three mistakes?) Follow-up questions could include:
► What are some of your greatest “pet peeves” when editing someone else’s writing?
► Which style guide(s) do you depend upon? See “Great Responses” in the Content Marketing Interview template.

As a successful writer possessing wide experience and ability to consistently write high quality write-ups that are relevant yet simple to grasp. Anything you might want to add here.

A good writer views his or her work as a business, one that is worth investing in—and part of that investment involves joining professional organizations. They offer the opportunity to keep up with trends, sharpen skills, and benefit from interaction with other professionals. And a good writer will find a way to come up with the annual dues.

Mediocre Response:
☛ Usually I just know if it’s done well or not.

Great Response:
☛ I look at Google Analytics after a few days to see how many page views it has received.
☛ I search on Google for the target keyword I was optimizing for to see if it ranked in the first page.
☛ I look at the Twitter counter on the post to see how many tweets cite this post.

As a candidate for content writing job this small test is to be expected. But don’t get nervous, remembering that you have written enough content previously (even if you have no formal work exp.) to write the small piece. Be cool and calm and take your time to write a good, simple, relevant article without any grammatical errors. Any error will definitely give a negative impression, so avoid it like plague.

Attention to detail is important in all endeavors, including content writing. While blatantly making up facts, figures or sources is an obvious no-no, a content writer should also be cognizant that not every source is as credible as the next. Looking over writing samples, are there links to credible sources (medical journals, direct quotes from experts, respected newspapers like the Wall Street Journal or New York Times, etc.), or are the links from user-contributed sites like Wikipedia where there is little to no oversight? Keep in mind that every word on your site is a reflection of you and your business, whether you wrote it or not.

There’s more to good proofreading than reading your content over and over again on the screen. A good writer will have a process (or several to choose from) for proofing each piece of content. Some of my tactics are reading the content out loud and reviewing a printed copy. Give bonus points if they mention my super-ninja trick for when it’s gotta be perfect: reading it backwards.

Probably not the first question that comes to mind, but an important one nonetheless. The old adage goes that if you keep doing the same thing, you’re bound to get the same results. There’s a reason you’re hiring someone else you want a different perspective, a different voice, right? This question can be answered by asking what blogs, books or magazines they read, who would play them in the movie version of their life, or what profession they would choose if they could start all over. You might be surprised by the answers, but what you’re really looking for is to be entertained by their responses!

This question is a bit tricky to get to know about the way the writer writes their content. Also you would come to know whether the writer is aware of the importance of using keywords. It would also help to know about the knowledge level of the writer especially the usage of appropriate words that is mostly in use. You would need to get them to speak about their examples and how they utilize their language skills. From such aspects it will help to know whether they are updating themselves.

Copy is sales-oriented, while content is value-oriented. Copy is the stuff you’d find in a brochure, while content is what you’d find in a bona fide newsletter. A good writer should know the difference between the two.

The best content writer in the world is of no use to you and your business if they never submit their work to you! Some people might worry if a writer has a full-time job in addition to freelance writing gigs, but if the writer is skilled at time management or realistic in what they can and can’t accomplish in the amount of time available, a full-time jobshouldn’tbe an issue. Instead, ask about theirprocess in completing jobs. Do they use the entire time available to them, or do they wait until the last few days to complete jobs. Have they ever turned work in late? If they have, did they let the client know ahead of time, or not?

☛ Why it’s important to ask this: Is the candidate really interested in content marketing? Do they take personal initiative to educate themselves and grow as a content marketer? Or will they only grow solely through your mentorship on the job?
☛ What to look out for: See if they mention specific blogs. If they just say, “you know, all of them,” or “the usual ones,” they are likely not reading any.

Although this question is normally asked in a written submission but it’s quite relevant as it can be used to convey a good impression when handled with tack. Obviously you will easily jot down your strong points like organic SEO writing, discipline, creativity, originality, consistency, team work and so on but what about the weak points. Aha..here lies the sticky point. Write the weak points in such a manner that they seem like your strong ones. For instance you may say/write that you are a stickler for deadlines, grammar, creativity and originality and so on. Just remember you should only convey such points which will either give a good or neutral impression and not any negative one.

A good content creator will be familiar with the basics of search engine optimization (SEO). Your ideal candidate will answer this question by describing how he or she (a) determines which keywords to focus on and (b) works those keywords into the content.

What you’re looking for here is listening. A good content writer will spend time with the client to get a feel for the brand’s personality as well as the needs of its target audience.

Mediocre Responses:
☛ I write my blog post in Word and then post it when it’s ready.

Great Responses:
☛ I write my blog post in Word, add hyperlinks to at least three other pieces of content on our site that we’ve published, and add at least one hyperlink to a third party resource.
☛ I ensure there’s an associated featured image for the post by going to a stock image site.
☛ I always make sure there’s a clear call to action at the end of each post.
☛ For quality control, I make sure at least one other person has proofread it before publishing.
☛ I optimize the title for a target keyword by looking at what terms people are searching for in Google.