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Tutorial > Uncategorized > All about Interview Questions when hiring Content Writers OCTOBER 24, 2017

All about Interview Questions when hiring Content Writers

Rate the Article The Internet has kicked o some new career opportunities and one of the most talked about elds is Content Writing. Heck! Here is a recent message I got on LinkedIn.

Such confusion is understandable and made me think that this problem must exist from the recruiter’s side as well. Hence this post focuses on the Interview Questions you should focus on when recruiting a Content Writer. A quick note- This post does not only give you the Interview Questions but also takes you through the objectives and requirements to base these questions upon. Let’s get straight to it then!

Overview 4 Checkboxes to tick before you hire a Content Writer Objectives a Content Writer needs to achieve What do you need in an Online Writing Wizard? 18 Interview Questions for Content Writers

4 Checkboxes to tick before you hire a Content Writer Do you see every business hiring a content writer and feel the need for same? If you are thinking about adding Content to your web channel, you are de nitely on the right path. However, here are some of the checkboxes you must tick before you make this call:

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1. Find a competitor’s website This competitor’s website is not just for the sake of keeping a tab at their business model. Its for you to analyze where and what their readers & visitors are like. Moreover, this competitor doesn’t even need to be an actual competitor. It can also be an in uencer or celebrity in your eld. Apart from the website results you get when Googling your keyword, here is how to nd your competitor using your industry’s in uencer’s site: i. Go to Ahrefs.com ii. Enter the in uencer site URL or your site URL and head to the Competing Domains Section. iii.Competing Domains Section shows you your competitors or sites in nearly the same domain.

Ahrefs.com has a free 7-day trial. More than enough for your small research. Now don’t get too distracted with these sites. This step focuses on guring out the scope of work required by your Content Writer. Use this point to build your writer’s base and help him adapt to what’s expected from him. I would also suggest that you sign up to your Competitors’/In uencers’ newsletters. Finally, when the content writer gets to your doors, you need to give him a clear idea about what work would you like to see on your blog!

2. Mark your target audience The target audience is that niche audience that you want to sell your product or services to. And this is why the content you publish needs to be related to your product or services. Your aim is to help your readers and make your content the source of their knowledge, info or entertainment. Try to discover your target audience and how you can help them with your content. List down the questions they might have and help your writer answer them. When hiring, you need to communicate these details to your Content Writer. Which Content Type Attracts your Target Audience?

3. Find the ideal Content Type Content-Type is basically the medium you share your content in. Example – Videos, Infographics, Podcasts, Gifs, Short lms etc… And it is not only about which Content Type you should choose but also about where you should share it.

Writing forms the backbone of any content. Be it Text(Content Writers), Images(Copywriters) or Videos(Script Writers). Find where your audience resides and that will tell you the type of content you should invest in. I would suggest, you choose your content medium and social channel using Competitor Analysis. Analyse which social media channel works for them. And which type of content do their viewers enjoy the most? Ultimately it’s all about the viewers because their viewers are your prospective customers.

Here are the general guidelines regarding what to post on each social media platform: 1. Facebook: Videos and curated content. Videos have higher engagements than images and link. 2. Google+: Blog posts that you want to rank on Google. Content posted onto Google+ gets indexed immediately and shows up in search results soon after. 3. Pinterest: Infographics and step-by-step photo guides. The best aspect ratio for Pinterest images is 2:3, with a minimum width of 600 pixels, such as 600 pixels wide by 900 pixels tall or 800 pixels wide by 1,200 pixels tall. 4. Twitter: News, blog posts, and GIFs. 40% of people use twitter to nd about breaking news and 39% to keep up with news in general. 5. Instagram: High-resolution photos, quotes, Stories. User-Generated Content helps more here. 6. LinkedIn: Jobs, Company news, and Professional content. All About Di erent types of Content Writing Services

4. Figure out your Brand’s voice If you don’t have a website yet, I would suggest you build it asap. If it is taking long in development, at least just get your blog working. The taglines, images and other elements you use, will sum up what you want your audience to see. If in the worst case, you don’t have a website, I need you to jot down your company’s voice. Make a list of the things you support and strongly condemn. Communicate these to your new hire because this is the voice he/she needs to adapt for your target audience. We at Fauxboard, run our own Content Writing Services and o er some of these suggestions as a Free Consultation. Its not just a step in our sales funnel but an important list of prerequisites that makes you an intelligent

employer. If you intend to use our professional service, Use the chatbox to get in touch with us! If not, here are the Objectives you would want your Content Writer to achieve:

Objectives your Content Writers need to achieve

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Once you have gotten the prerequisites gured, next step is to understand the requirements and objectives your employee needs to achieve. Read this section carefully as this is the section where most of the recruiters make mistakes. They imagine content writers as merely the people who ll up pages for their website to make a place on Google. But no, you have to treat your Writer as a salesman and hire accordingly. The True objective of Content Writing is to attract visitors towards the services you o er. These pointers explain your Content Writer’s objectives in detail:

1. Producing Content for SMM(Social Media Marketing)

Social Media is where your content would be shared and reach people directly. It can be Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook or Youtube… Your content writer’s role is to make the users of these platforms STOP SCROLLING. The knowledge of Attraction and (a permissible amount of) click baiting plays an important role here.

When sharing on social media, a writer must understand the di erence between a heading and the selling line. You wouldn’t want a writer confused between the two because the Heading plays a major role in SEO. More about SEO in the next point.

2. Producing Content for SEO(Search Engine Optimization)

Social media posts have a lifetime and hence only get you tra c for just a few hours. For constant tra

c on your website

for days, your content writer needs to get it on Google’s Search Engine Results. This optimization of Blog posts or your website for Search Engines is called Search Engine Optimization(SEO). To achieve this, You need to get your articles or website ranked for a speci c query people type on Google. For example, the aim of the post you are currently reading is to appear on Google search result when people look for “Content Writer Interview Questions”. This step includes technical knowledge along with creative skills. We have one full article dedicated to the Complete Writing Process where we describe the technicalities in a step by step process. The Complete Online Content Writing Process in 1 Post

3. Build a Content Backlog When Starting, you should aim at a content backlog of 70 articles so that you never skip any future posting time. Get on this task even before you have a website or a product. You should have taken this step like Yesterday! A good content writer would suggest you this already as they know the value of on-time posting. Here is a Tip for when you go about this process – This backlog should ideally be a listicle or any other light and evergreen article. The main reason for keeping these articles light is that the quality of your content would increase over time. And when you evaluate, you would start focusing on the articles that worked for you. At this point, you don’t want your backlog to become obsolete. Don’t be taken aback by this number (70). In Content Marketing, it’s extremely important to build regular readers. And trust me when I say this, Maintaining regular quality posts is harder than it looks.

4. Put forward strong viewpoints There’s no doubt that strong personalities shine in debates. This is even more so on the internet. Supporters look for a strong voice that shares the same ideology. Your company can be that voice. Supporters and visitors form the base of Content Marketing and hence content writing. When putting up the interview questions, you need to make sure your Writer meets this Objective!

5. Engagement and Retention

It can be the way you write or the information you provide… A content Writer’s objective is to keep your visitor stick to your platform as long as possible. One of the crucial ways of understanding visitor’s interest is to see how long they have spent on your platform. A content Creator needs them engaged, attracted and make your prospective customer visit again and again. This houses the name of your brand in visitor’s brain and boosts your chances of making yet another sale. Moreover, these 2 terms are key metrics that Google uses to calculate your website’s authority.

A snapshot from Google Analytics Marked area shows that Retention is a key Google Metric for Analyzing Website Authority

6. Inspire Action Your content writer is a failure if he/she cannot inspire action. Imagine if he/she clears all the objectives above and doesn’t increase your sale at the end? What use is Content Marketing to you then? What was your Return On Investment? As a content writer, your employee needs to compel visitors to take action. What I mean by action is the ability to make a reader click the Sign-up, Newsletter, Buy this & Hire our Services buttons. This is the sole job of a Content Writer and exactly what you are paying them for!

What do you need in the Perfect Online Writing Wizard?

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1. An avid learner and reader of Content Industry’s professional blogs. Content Marketing is an ever-evolving industry because its dependant on where the people are. One day it’s Facebook, the other… It’s Snapchat. Such platforms would keep on coming and changing the marketing landscape. It’s not possible to stick to a single platform and that’s exactly why the rst requirement of an Online Writing Wizard is to be an avid learner! With new creative ways tried by professionals nearly every other day, only the one who adapts, survives! Moreover, the changing terms and updates to SEO algorithms by Google and Bing call for a writer that is Industry focused.

2. Find a writer that’s a marketer I can proudly say that this is the point that makes Fauxboard di erent from most content writing rms. We train our writers to think like a salesman. Its true – Content Writers are the hustlers of 2017. And this is how we de ne the Perfect Online Writer. A Perfect Online Writer = Salesman thinking + Writer with Artistic Approach.

Why? Because things and tools can be learned, but developing the tendency to sell comes from within. I cannot emphasize enough on the Heading skills. These are not the things you can mug up but the ones you learn from experience and audience reviews. And even when you think you have mastered it, the results will many a time shock you. When hiring, Find someone who knows attraction! Your writer should never forget the end goal and that is to sell your company’s product and services.

3. In Content Marketing, Blog posts de ne User Experience Your website’s design is amazing, the home page looks really cool! But do you know, 70% of new visitors discover your website via your blog? This should easily get you to the conclusion that the writer you hire, controls your customer’s user experience. And this is where knowledge of design and attraction comes in. Look at this post for example. The graphics, banners, colors, all need to complement each other to form continuity and enrich user experience. The perfect Online Writing Wizard should be the mastermind of post image and Colors. He doesn’t only need to understand writing but all the Attraction Points such as – Headings, Designs, and things like what colors will make your post stand out? We prefer a brand due to a psychological angle and the ‘color factor’ de nes that aspect to a large extent. KISSMETRICS, an online analytics website, has some interesting facts about how colors have an e ect on our purchases:

4. Not afraid of technical jargon like SEO, Backlinking & Keyword Competition We looked at this point when going through the Content Writing Objectives so there shouldn’t be a doubt as to why it made it to this list too. Artists are generally afraid of technicalities of things. I was too and did not jump into the technicalities of SEO initially. I learned these things slowly by experience and diligent reading. But if you are looking for an expert, you are looking for someone better than me. If you can nd him, great! If not, I can guarantee that Fauxboard’s Content Services are top notch in this regard. Heck! Have a look at the amount of Content Writing knowledge we share on regular basis.

5. Accustomed to WordPress – what plugins work Lastly, your Professional should be well versed with the CMS platform you would use for your blog. It would be great if he/she has a running website such as this one. Their ability to make crowd reach their blogs would let you know that they can do the same for you. Such websites allow content writers to understand how and which plugins actually help. Utilizing the available tools is one of the responsibilities Pro Content Writers don’t shy away from.

6. A vocabulary that’s understood by all An online writer’s Strength & Knowledge of vocabulary should be re ected when you talk to them but not when they are writing for your audience. Over the top vocabulary doesn’t work as your company’s intention is to capture maximum audience possible. Meanwhile, a strong hold of Grammar is important as every reader is a critique and they won’t miss a chance to pick out your mistakes!

18 Interview Questions for Content Writers General Interview Questions: 1. Which blogs do you read? Employer Guide: Test if they sharpen their skills regularly Good Answer: Moz Blog, CopyBlogger, Neil Patel, Quicksprout, Content Marketing Institute, Joe Pulizzi

2. Industry related relevance & Educational base (why the switch to writing)? Employer Guide: More the knowledge in your eld, the better! Good Answer: Combination of interest or research-oriented mindset.

3. Describe your Research Process while Writing Content for Google Ranking. Employer Guide: Keyword research, competition analysis, sources and fact-checking. Good Answer: Mentions of tools like MOZ, Google Keyword Planner, Similar Web, gives you examples of competitors and how to analyze them, how to see tra c using tools like Ahrefs.com

4. Describe the Technical & Creative steps you take when Writing for the web. Employer Guide: The length of each piece, Creatively capture and retain attention Good Answer: Google likes long 2000+ words articles, puts up facts, divides the articles and paragraph into 10 sentences max, Uses a tactic in rst few lines itself, Interlinking the previously written articles.

5. Describe your Technical & Social Media Process when publishing for the web. Employer Guide: CMS(eg. WordPress) plugins, Social media posting times, selling lines Good Answer: Interlinking between articles, Yoast or any other SEO plugin, Shares at di erent speci c times on di erent platforms.

Content Marketing Essentials for Online Writers 2017

Questions for Testing the Writer’s Control over Words: 1. Give 2 examples of both Content Writing & Copy Writing? Employer Guide: Copy Writing examples are Billboard One-Liners and Content Writing is Blog writing, Listicle etc. Good Answer: Any example form Ads and popular blogs.

2. Di erence between Content & Copy? Employer Guide: Copy is the stu you’d nd in a brochure, while content is what you’d nd in a newsletter. A good writer should know the di erence between the two. Good Answer: A Copy is sales-oriented, while content is value-oriented.

3. Where does a Content Writer use Copy Writing Abilities? Employer Guide: Copy Writing is oriented towards selling and summing up a topic in a line. Headings and social sharing lines are a good use of Copy Writing Abilities in Content Writing. Good Answer: Copy Writing Ability is used in making Headings and Selling lines on Social Media Platforms.

4. If I give you a paragraph, can you convert it into a line? Similarly, convert a line into a paragraph Employer Guide: A content Writer needs to have good control over words. He should be able to expand and concise points but always remember the end point of any task is selling. Good Answer: Try and sell the paragraph in a line showing the crux of the topic.

5. How many sentences should paras be in an online article?

Employer Guide: For easy skimming and ow of visitor’s eyes, paragraphs are kept short on Blog posts. Good Answer: 10 sentences. All Vocabulary tools for Online Writing – Pick your Favourite

Interview Questions for Testing the Marketing Skills: 1. Notify writers who your business’ Target Audience is. Ask them what would attract your audience? Employer Guide: Your aim is to know if your writer can gure out the ingredients of his write-ups. Good Answer: Figure out the keyword your employer should target and reach the competitor’s/In uencer’s blog to nd what works for their target audience.

2. Make them understand your company voice. Ask them how they can make use of it Employer Guide: This is more of a personality test question. See if they concentrate towards expressing strong opinions or not. Good Answer: Try adding your debating voice to the company voice. Remember, debating does not mean ghting. Avoid the Arnab Goswami inside you.

3. Use 4 vocabulary words, ask them which word they will use when writing a blog post? Employer Guide: Your writer should use a simple to understand language Good Answer: The simplest or second simplest out of the bunch.

4. Which tool would you suggest for graphic building? Photoshop, Canva, Skitch? Employer Guide: Test speed and tool knowledge Good Answer: You cannot expect to use Photoshop for graphics building. It’s a full-blown tool that consumes more energy and time. Canva is the best answer.

Will your Business bene t from Facebook or LinkedIn?

Interview Questions for Technical Skills: 1. Which keywords would you target as blog topics for our business and why? Employer Guide: See if they use low competition keywords that your website would be easy to rank with Good Answer: Try out niche Long Tail Keywords and use Moz toolbar to check the competition.

2. How will you nd our website’s Competitors? Employer Guide: In uencers are also your Competitors. Good Answer: If you know the keyword, save time and help with a quick Google search. If not, nd the in uencers using Buzzsumo and use Ahref.com to search similar sites.

3. What do you do to make your writing more SEO-friendly? Employer Guide: Below are the modi ed Google Webmaster guidelines for On-page SEO Good Answer: Below are a few pointersHeading should match user query Meta description should contain target keywords Hyperlinks should be mostly text-based and images should have Alt text Content should be 1000-2000 words

4. If you need to con rm an SEO insight shared on a blog is true or not, which web portal would you visit? Employer Guide: Google’s Webmaster guide is built for helping site owners understand their Search Engine’s Guidelines. Good Answer: Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

Google New SEO update! How important is Fred?

This is all you require to build the best Online Marketing Content. Let’s see if you can add another question to this list. If so, put it down in the comment section below!

Related Posts: 1. Guide to Content Marketing Essentials for Writers 2019 2. Courses, Eligibility & How to Kickstart Content Writing Career

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