1. What you know about signs of good SEO writing?
SEO writing has to be informative and interesting to the visitors. It should also subscribe to certain norms that make it favorable for indexing by search engine crawlers. It is important that the writing is not artificial or contrived and stuffed with key words which do not flow with the text. SEO Content Copy writing specialists keep the overall theme of the website and the particular page in mind and maintain a balance between the two. Good copy is the highway to high SERP's.
2. What makes SEO content writing differ from the other writing?
SEO Content writing is a specialized art and its techniques differ from copy writing used for other media like print, billboard, TV etc. The contents have to be planned and structured with certain requirements in mind so that major search engines can find and list the pages of the website.
3. How does SEO content writing help a website?
Good SEO Copy writing raises the rank of the site in the search engine results as it complies with the algorithms that make it attractive to crawlers.
The answer here should jive with the sort of working relationship your marketing team wants to have with its content marketing writer. If you want to be the ones coming up with ideas, then you need a writer who is happy to take assignments as they come. If you don't have the time or inclination to come up with ideas, then you need a writer who is happy to take on that task. When there is a mismatch here, it will cause frustration on both ends of the working relationship.
5. Should I only hire a web content writer who has experience in my business or industry?
If your business or industry is highly technical then yes, you should consider a web writer with experience related to your field. If your business in not technical, then you should hire the web writer that best fits your project and has business-to-business or business-to-consumer experience, depending upon your needs.
6. Do I pay the web content writer directly?
No, you pay the company and they pay the web content writer. Once you choose a writer and sign our agreement, sub-contracts the writer to you. They will invoice you for the fees and/or hours. As soon as we receive payment from you, we pay the writer minus our fee.
7. How much does a web content writer cost?
The hourly rate for a web content writer is generally between $50-$75 with some specialized writers charging as much as $100 or more. A WAI web writer will review your project with you, determine the scope of work necessary, and present you with an estimate on cost usually determined by the hours the project will require. Some web content writers will work for a flat fee.
8. Why use Writing Assistance?
Quite simply, there is no other company quite like WAI. We are the freelance and web content writing specialists. We've been in this business for over twelve years. Each web content writer is pre-screened to make sure the writer meets our exacting standards -- talented, experienced, and committed to delivering your project on time and within budget.
9. Described some common characteristics you've noticed among your best customers?
Knowing your audience (core market/ target demographics) is important for so many reasons. To name one, it helps define the best tone, language, and readability to use in your content. A quality content writer should know when to use- or avoid- technical lingo.
10. What do you hope to accomplish by hiring a writer?
There are many ways to ask this question, but the point is to identify your goals. It is important to me, personally, that I only work on projects that I am qualified for. If I am not confident in my abilities to achieve your goals, I'll help you find somebody who is better suited for the job.
On the other hand, if your writer doesn't ask this question… they obviously don't care about your goals.
This is a great opportunity for the candidate to talk about Google+ and the importance of Google+. This network is only going to get more important as Google begins to alter SERPs based on connections and shares, and this is something a writer should be aware of when it comes time to get involved with authorship and social sharing.
12. What the heck is that thing used for?
We can't all be experts in everything, so it's important to ask questions that will help us understand what you do. Even if I do know what your product/service is, it still helps to hear your own description of its purpose.
13. Who are your top three competitors, and what sets you apart?
This is one of several questions I ask that are part of a SWOT Analysis, and it helps define your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
14. How you handle working with different clients?
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.
This is a tough question to answer, but most good candidates will explain that the target audience is typically small business marketing departments. This of course depends on the type of company that the candidate wrote for in the past (which might very well be slightly different than your current audience).
16. What tools or specific strategies you used when writing?
There are tons and tons of different tools that a writer can use. Mentioning any sort of social tools for promotion (Buffer, Social-bro, etc.) is a great way to show that he/she understands the industry. Any talk of using analytics and analyzing CTR is also a great (and fairly advanced) answer. This is one of those questions that you'll have a good feeling about right when it is answered.
17. Do you have any background knowledge working with ____ or related topics?
I typically go around to different blogs to find a topic, and then I take that topic and find a bunch of articles regarding that topic. I try to take bits and pieces of each, and the majority of the time a new angle or opinion will come to me through all of the research.
18. Do you prefer to work in groups or do you work well on your own?
For this job, it's important to be happy working alone and setting your own daily goals.
Creating content for marketing purposes requires a collaborative effort. You want a content marketing writer who is open to receiving feedback - both positive and negative - on their work, and who is willing and able to incorporate that feedback into their future writing efforts. A writer who gets defensive or isn't open to suggestions will just cause you headaches.
20. Tell me about your experience with SEO and social media?
Depending on your specific needs, you want to make sure your content writer can get you the results you're looking for. If you need someone with advanced SEO skills, or a social media guru, make sure they have these skills before work is done.
If you want your content to go viral, make sure the writer has a large Twitter following and knows how to generate buzz for your site or business. Ask to see successful stats from the writer's previous clients.
21. What different styles, tones and voices do you have experience writing in?
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.
22. Would you create content to appeal to our company's target audience?
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.
23. How do you apply SEO best practices to your writing?
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.
24. Which of your writing samples is most heavily edited and which is most lightly edited?
This will help you get a better idea of the quality of the writer's raw work. Every writer needs some editing, but you want to find a content marketing writer whose work will need as little editing as possible. The less time and money you spend on editing, the better.
25. What process you went through to create this piece?
As you look through a prospective writer's "clips" or writing samples, select one to ask about in detail during the interview. The goal is to get an idea of how they go about getting to the final product.
26. Have you a strong work ethic?
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 he or she can accomplish, a full-time job shouldn't be an issue.
Instead, ask writers about their process 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?
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 aware that not every source is as credible as the next.
28. Explain the difference between "there," "their," and "they're?
Yes, it sounds asinine. But I see this mistake All. The. Time. And I know at least some of those errors are the work of allegedly professional content creators. A good writer knows that a spellcheck program can only get you so far.
29. Are you comfortable with your writing skills?
This is perhaps the most important question, because if their writing skills aren't exceptional, your content writer might succeed in driving people away from your site, not to it.
While reading previous work will give you great insight into their writing level, also ask questions specific to online writing and your industry.
30. What operating systems and programs do you use?
On two occasions at my last corporate job, we hired writers who showed up on their first day, took one look at their computers, and said, "Oh, you use PCs." Yep, they'd only ever used Macs. Each assured us it wouldn't be a problem, but … yeah, it was. So if you're hiring a content creator to work on-site with your team, make sure he or she is hip to the program-literally.
31. How you cope with a difficult colleague?
► This really depends on what my co-worker is doing, the severity of their actions and the specific problems or disruption that they may be causing. Having said that no matter what the situation is, I would always remain in control of any situation and concentrate on my work. I would not take any arguments or heated discussions personally or hold grudges against work colleagues.
► I would avoid them and only talk to them or cooperate with them when required to in the course of my daily duties.
32. How do you optimize your content for search?
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.
33. What is your proofreading process?
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.
34. Would you like to tell us abput your current salary?
My present employer pays me well outside of the norm, however I would not like to limit my job prospects by using that salary as a comparison.
As a highly valued member of the company, I am paid on the very high end of current market rates.
35. Explain the difference between content and copy?
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.
