Today, content writing is among the most sought-after job profile by the millennials and generation Z. Irrespective of age or experience, the number of content writers is booming in the market every day. Some are happily earning big being a freelance writer, while others are glued to one organization.

Whatever be the case, in both scenarios, the person who hires a writer prefers to get answered to some or all of the questions mentioned below. For freelance writers, this interview session is more interactive and hence of very short duration. Whereas, when a prospective writer is approached by an organization for full time, the grueling session is quite intense.

Therefore, here are some common questions that often pop up during the interview of a content writer. A thorough understanding of these 20 questions is sure to level up the preparation of the writer for his upcoming interview session.

So, let’s begin!

Job Specific Interview Questions for Content Writers

 

1. What are the key components of good content?

Good quality content is the one that fulfills the purpose for which it is curated. Also, it has all the major components comprising:

• Title and subtitle
• Search Engine Optimization
• Images
• Valuable information

However, there is another way of answering this question, too. Therefore, some candidates may proceed by saying that components of good content are:

• Value
• Clarity
• Optimization

The term ‘value’ here refers to the credibility the content adds to its brand. Also, how far the target audience will benefit from the content.

Clarity means that the wordings of the content should be easy to comprehend. The language should be simple and clear. Use the images whenever needed.

Optimization means making use of SEO practices to better the page loading time and the ranking on any search engine page.

2. How to determine the target audience for your content?

An outstanding writer should always be clear about his audience. For this, a systematic approach is followed, to filter a large group of people into a specific set of audiences. The writer thus questions himself regarding –

• What sort of people will read his content?
• What category of people will find his writing beneficial?
• What is the profession, background, education, and personal profile of interested individuals?
• How does the target audience reach your content?

A complete sum of all these answers helps a writer map his target audience precisely.

One another way of profiling the target audience is to analyze the competitor’s readers. Or visualize an ideal reader for your content and then search for a particular genre with all the expected traits.

3. What all information is needed by a content writer before he starts a new project?

The quality of the content brief is a key determinant in getting valuable content as an output. Therefore, a content writer should ensure that the brief given to him has the essential information like:

• The content length in terms of word count
• Suggestive topic
• Suggestive keywords
• The tone of the content
• Purpose of the content
• Target audience
• Number of links or statistical information needed
• Competitors
• Example of published content set as a benchmark
• Any specific site, to extract visuals
• Format of the content/ template

4. How to know the tone of a particular content?

Similar to the tone of how we speak, the tone of content determines how the readers react to it. So, if a writer wants a particular response from the audience, he needs to keep the tone of the content accordingly.

This means the structure of the sentence, choice of words, use of adjectives, and adverbs need to be done accordingly. Sometimes, it is not the presumed reaction of the audience that determines the tone, instead; it is the brand personality.

For example, a parenting brand will have an empowering tone, whereas a brand like LinkedIn will have a more focused and formal tone.

5. Is there a difference between a blog post and an article?

Blogs are informal and opinionated keyword-rich posts. Whereas articles are a comprehensive formal set of information that gets published after an intense process of writing, editing, and proofreading.

6. What are the different types of content writing?

The most common forms of writing undertaken by any content writer are inclusive of blog posts, social media posts, technical writing, emails, and marketing collaterals or copywriting. Apart from this, the other form of categorization is technical and non-technical content writing.

Not all content writers are comfortable executing their skills in all the categories of content writing. For this reason, the recruiters need to be clear about the purpose and need behind hiring every writer. A person good at blog posts might not come up with sales-driven marketing collaterals.

7.   What are keywords? How do you use them?

Keywords are the spine of any content. These words or phrases are the most searched-for items on any search engine. For this purpose, keywords are often referred to as the key to reaching a maximum number of the target audiences. The maximum and appropriate use of keywords ensures that the content becomes popular on search engines and ranks on top of the popular SERPs.

Today, there are multiple software tools to help you identify the most appropriate keyword or key phrases for your to-be-written content. However, one needs to check the credibility of the keywords before incorporating them into the content. For this, a procedure comprising the following steps is to be taken up.

• Research for the most appropriate keywords
• Testing of the keywords based on their PPC, competitiveness, and amount of search traffic pulled in by them.
• Placement of keywords in the meta title, meta description, body copy, and anchor text.

8. How do you get the most appropriate headline/ title for your post?

Catchy headlines are the first impression of any content. People decide to go ahead with content reading, depending on how convincing is the title of the content. For this reason, content writers need to act smart and work hard to curate the best title for their write-up.

Although there are multiple software tools to help a writer come up with the title. One needs to keep in mind a few points like those mentioned below, for the best result.

• Keep the headline crisp, clear, and concise
• Identify and reveal the biggest USP of your content
• Titles in form of questions rank higher.
• Make the title that suggests some action to be taken up by the reader.
• Make use of numbers in the title. Like: 10 helpful ways, 5 best tricks, etc.

9. How do you make your content SEO optimized?

To make the content, SEO optimized, any content writer should know the following facts:

• Make use of keywords
• Curate impactful title/headlines
• The word count should be well optimized
• For location-specific content, make use of geo-specific terms
• Introduce strong links in the content
• Write the content from the reader’s perspective
• Make use of relevant images and statistical information
• The content format should be mobile friendly

10. What metrics are used for content evaluation?

Metrics used for evaluating the effectiveness of credible content can broadly be classified based on:

• User behavior
• Engagement
• SEO
• Revenue

In user behavior, the number of page reviews, the total number of site visitors, number of repeat visitors, average time spent on page view, the source of traffic, the bounce rate, and the number of pages viewed in each session are to be considered.

In the engagement metrics, the number of likes, shares, comments, quotes, referrals, etc is the key consideration.

The SEO outcome metrics measure the keyword ranking, backlinks, dwell time, and organic traffic generated by the content.

The company revenue metrics consider the number of visitors who get converted into customers, the number of existing leads who read your content, and the cost of acquiring one customer as a result of the content marketing.

11. What is Content Management System or CMS?

CMS or content management system is a software application that automates content creation, management, and modification. With the use of CMS software like WordPress, one can create website content with no requirement of codes.

A CMS application helps the writers to draft and save their content for others to review, edit and post content as per the schedule.

12. What, according to you, are the three prime qualities of a good content writer?

• Ability to research
• Creative and unique writing skills
• Acceptability of feedback and suggestions

Individual Specific Interview Questions for Content Writers

 

13. How would you introduce yourself as a content writer?

In this section, the writer should communicate about the number of years of experience he has in writing, what is writing he has done to date, what is his most preferred form of content, and what are his USPs as a writer.

In the USP section, he may talk about his research method, his non-plagiarized writing talent, how he prefers the inclusion of statistical data in the content, and his flow of writing.

14. Are you an excellent reader too?

Surprisingly, not every talented writer is a wonderful reader too. Therefore, if you have this exclusive trait within you, express your reading preferences to the interviewer.

Tell the interviewer how, being an expert reader, you are more able to relate to the reader’s perspective while writing.

15. What is your content writing capacity on a per-day and week basis?

Every topic is unique and so is the time involved in curating its final content. For this reason, it is difficult to give even a rough estimate about the number of topics a person can write in a week or month. Therefore, you, as a writer, can play safe by answering your average word writing capacity daily. For example, you may state that daily you can write 3000-3500 words.

16. What are your key skills, strength, and weaknesses as a content writer?

Through this question, the interviewer wants to learn about the confidence and soft skills of the writer. So instead of just talking about your professional expertise, you should also talk about your inner attributes.

Tell the interviewer that you are confident enough to work as a solo writer and a team person. Talk about your ease of writing on topics belonging to different genres. You may also refer to your research abilities and creative writing skills.

In the weakness section, present your weakness as an area where you are struggling to get better. For example, being unable to keep track of sources of references can be one weakness of any writer.

17. How do you conduct your research?

Research is the first step in content writing. And how you execute this step will let the interviewer know and get an idea about your talent and experience in writing. Therefore, you, as a writer, should tell the interviewer that you filter the results from reputable sources only.

Tell them how you make use of advanced search, statistical insights, news, and articles to compose the content. You may also tell the interviewer about the reliable sites from where you take reference images.

18. What is your knowledge and experience in SEO?

Every content writer should have a basic knowledge of SEO, if not complete expertise. It supports the writer in penning down interesting, informative, and non-plagiarized content.

Instead of simply penning down the words in any language, an SEO experienced writer writes content that is credible, keyword-rich, written from the reader’s perspective, and quality-driven.

19. What all tools are used by you for content writing?

Today, there are multiple tools categorized under research tools, writing tools, and editing tools. Therefore, being a content writer of the 21st century, you should have the name of tools like Grammarly, ProWritingAid, Answer The Public, Hemingway, Copyscape, etc on your fingertips.

Remember that the interviewer might ask you about one particular tool in detail. So don’t just give a random name of the software, for the sake of naming it. Be well prepared for the tools you talk about.

20. What is your writing style?

Every writer has a specific style of writing. Some have a descriptive flair for writing while others are more persuasive or narrative writers. Identify your style of writing before entering the interview room, and be confident in justifying how your writing style generates traffic, engagement, and revenues.

Platforms To Hire Content Writers

If you, as a content writer, wish to market yourself, you need to promote yourself. For this, your presence on some of the top content writing platforms is a must. On the other hand, if you are the one looking to hire a good content writer, the below-mentioned platforms are your marketplace.

These platforms let you filter the writers based on their charges, ratings, type of content, experience, the scope of work, etc. Our chosen list of content writing platforms is carefully tested and reviewed. So, if you are a freelance writer looking forward to adding more clients to your kitty, or an avid finder for writers, these platforms are a place to be.

Top 5 Platforms To Find And Hire The Best Content Writers

 

1.   Upwork

Upwork has thousands of proficient content writers from across the globe. Over here, the freelance writers explore multiple writing opportunities as per their proficiency. Those looking for hiring content writers also visit this platform. Writers are reviewed based on their sample work, client testimonials, and charges.

2.   Express Writers

Express Writers is a leading solution provider for content writers. People seeking professionals in writing visit this platform in search of refined writers from multiple industries. Over here the writers are pros in delivering content for SEO blogs, social media posts, emails, landing pages, and more.

3.   WriterAccess

Writer Access is a full-fledged content writing platform for hiring the best of talent. Over here, the massive pool of content writers, editors, translators, proofreaders, and content strategists. WriterAccess guarantees quality content to its clients with 24*7 hassle-free assistance.

4.   iWriter

iWriter is a famous platform for content writers and marketers. Professionals can use it to hire experienced writers at a fixed price. It bridges the gap between those providing and those hiring the writing services. It is considered being the fastest and most reliable content writing platform.

5.   Fiverr

Fiverr is the most sought-after platform by writers who want to earn money fast. Over here, writers can shortlist job opportunities for thousands of options available. The writers here are available in multiple language options, with varied expertise, experience level, and charges.

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