Blog Writer Interview Questions

August 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment

What makes a good blog writer?

Blog writing is not the same as press release writing.  Blog writers have to have a different approach.  However, blog writers are also not just anyone that can write on your topic.

The key is that a blog writer understands why businesses write a blog. The technology for posting is easy, but implementing your business blogging strategy is not so easy.

One strategy is to hire a couple of virtual buzz assistants to write a few blog posts each, then review the results from google analytics, from comments and based on what you like best.  Then hire the best writers on a monthly retainer.

Here are some interview questions you will want to consider using if you are interviewing a blog writer. 

1) What makes a good blog post?

2) How do you write blog posts that are good for people AND search engines?

3) Tell me about different types of blog posts?

4) How can a blog build a community?

5) Tell me about (or send me a link to) a blog post that kept generating long term traffic.

6) What social media tools can be used to increase blog readership?

7) Have you ever written link bait?

8 ) How would you find relevant news and information on our topic?

Sure there are more questions, but you are not going to ask too many.  Instead, check out their blog and their writing style.  Talk to other blog owners if they work with them.

A big issue I have found is that you need an incentive to keep the blog writer results oriented.  If you just count the number of blog posts each month, enthusiasm may wane and your quality of posts may go down.  To stop this from happening, send the blog writer some encouraging notes about their current work and possibly have a bonus if traffic increases by a certain percentage.

Don’t overlook the fact that it will be worth a little more to have the writer also spend some time promoting key blog posts on things like twitter, social bookmarking, etc.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

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