Content writing is one of the best work-from-home career options nowadays. Content writing jobs even pay well. After you master your skills in content writing, it is time for you to monetize your work. When companies or clients hire you, they want to know what all you know about content writing. The basics, the best practices, your work nature, etc. that concerns content writing. You have come to the right place if you want to know what are the most common content writer questions. You can also find out how to answer such interview questions for content writing. So, let’s move on to see the common set of content writer interview questions and answers.
The List Of The Top 15 Frequently Asked Content Writer Interview Questions And Answers
Q1. Why did you choose content writing as a profession? What is the inspiration behind pursuing content writing as a career option?
You can expect such content writer questions at the very beginning of the interview. The client is always curious to know what inspires you to be a content writer. Whether you incline towards writing or marketing. Or any other interesting story that leads you to take up this profession.
The answer to such questions always comes from a personal space. You can be someone who has a flair for writing. You may have marketing experience and want to pursue content writing because of it.
You must in such cases genuinely elaborate your experiences. You may have a passion for writing, reading or marketing, or anything that you found interesting about content writing. You can speak about it in your interview to give them a clear idea of what inspires you to take up content writing.
Q2. How much experience do you have in content writing? Do you have any previous works to show?
These kinds of content writer interview questions measure the quality of your work. If you are a fresher in content writing, the quality would matter. If you have some years of experience, they would gauge both the quality and quantity of your work.
In such cases, you must highlight the best works in your portfolio. For a fresher, you can show the work you publish on your website and also the third-party websites. Guest blogging practices give you quality backlinks/ You can show such works to the interviewing person.
If you have years of experience in content writing, you can show your recent best works. The web content, blogs, articles, or web copies that you publish for various organizations or your website. You can speak about different areas of content you are currently exploring.
Q3. What are the content writing best practices you apply, to make your content credible?
The answer to such content writing interview questions is thoroughly on how you approach content writing personally. You need to give a very clear answer to such questions. It questions the nature of your work and how integrity works for your job as a content writer.
Answer: I believe in devoting time to research the content. Research from web resources and stating facts in the content is the best way to be of use to the audience. I make sure that the content that I provide out is informative.
I also do necessary keyword research to bring out my content to the audience. The information I provide, I see to it that it comes from a credible source. I give in facts and statistics, whenever it is of need.
I check the write-ups thoroughly for making them free of grammar and spelling errors. I also use a plagiarism detection tool for maintaining originality in the content. I use the necessary online tools to frame good-quality content.
Q4. What do you do to make the content SEO-friendly?
In this question, you must point out the SEO parameters that you apply while writing the content.
Answer: Putting in the SEO parameters can optimize the content. Such parameters can make web content accessible to the audience.
So, the things that need to be done right are
- Tracing relevant keywords and placing them in the content
- Not stuffing the content with dense keywords
- Incorporating images, infographics, or videos wherever necessary
- Putting in internal and external links to increase the traffic
- Quoting facts and useful data
- Giving credits to the source from where you get the images or data
- Use of keyword research tools and other online tools to optimize the content
- Editing the content before publishing
- Checking for plagiarism
- Providing correct and useful information to the audience
Q5. What do you know about content management systems (CMS)? Have you ever used any?
Knowing content management systems in the content writing field is a must. It is one of the most probable content writing interview questions. Questions like these test your knowledge about the basics of content writing and managing content. They want to know whether you can publish articles using CMS.
Answer: Content management systems are useful in creating and publishing web content. We can also update the web content and modify them using CMS.
I use WordPress for publishing and managing content. There are other CMS also that I know of. Like Joomla, Magento but my basic expertise is in WordPress. It helps me manage my content and is user-friendly.
Q6. What according to you is good web content? What should good web content comprise?
The interviewer wants to again test your basic content writing skills. They want to know how you treat web content and what do you do to make it good. Such content writing interview questions point to the technicalities related to the content writing process.
Answer: A good web content should
- Connect to the audience – The audience should find the content useful. The web content should provide solutions to the reader’s questions. The content should be informative.
- Content must bond with the audience – The information we convey should reflect an engagement with the audience. The write-ups should be conversational. Making use of images, videos or infographics can keep the content engaging. The write-ups should also have a flow and should be readable enough. Making use of simple language to guide the audience is also important in the write-ups.
- Good web content should have the facts right in order – While writing, we must make sure that the information we discuss is credible enough. Wrong information can mislead the audience and can result in loss of trust.
- Plagiarism free content – We should make use of tools to detect plagiarism during the editing phase. Plagiarism if found, harms, web content. Thus, maintaining originality is one of the best ways to make good web content.
- Mention of Call To Action (CTA) – Making all kinds of web content is generally for marketing purposes. Thus, planting a CTA link is important in any web content. The web content should guide the audience in using CTA with ease and no confusion.
Q7. What are the basic steps you take during content creation?
Content creation depends on the want of various clients. You need to rule out the basic steps that you indulge in while creating content. Such content writing interview questions judge the way you work and approach any content writing project.
Answer: Mapping out all the priorities concerning any content writing project is an important thing to do during content creation.
Step one: Study the marketing goals of the project
Step two: Study the target audience (age group, targeting points, their questions, their wants)
Step three: Rule out the strategies to introduce the brand in the market.
Step four: Think about ideas to create brand awareness amongst the audience. Frame topics for content creation on a brand marketing basis.
Step five: Make a framework of the marketing goals and modify them when it becomes necessary.
Q8. How do you think social media impacts the content writing profession? Do you use such platforms?
The interview questions on content writing about social media are to see how up-to-date you are in the digital space.
Answer: Social media marketing has a huge impact on the content writing profession. It is only because of social media that we can branch out to several platforms like them to showcase our work. It helps in bringing more organic traffic to the website.
Hence, I use social media platforms to share web content. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linked In, etc are extremely useful in promoting web content.
Sharing the content on social media is not the same as sharing on other CMS. The social media posts must not be very long and should be effective too. So, I am learning gradually to share my content I do so, by linking them and making short and engaging social media posts.
The use of reels, videos, and informal kinds of content is much more prevalent in social media. So learning to make such content has also become important. It enables us, writers, to gain visibility in the content writing profession.
Q9. What kinds of content writing formats do you have experience in?
Again, it is a question about the nature of work and the projects you take up.
Answer: “I am capable of writing blogs, articles, and web page content for clients. I also work on landing pages of websites. I know to write newsletters and professional emails.”
If you have experience in writing web copies or any other kind of content writing formats like white papers, ebooks, press releases, etc. then you must mention them. It tells about your experience in handling different kinds of content writing jobs. It also reflects versatility if you have talent in more than one style of writing.
Q10. What do you do to upgrade your content writing skills?
Answer: To hone the skills of writing web content requires a lot of writing practice. I get writing practice from writing blogs and articles on my website and taking up projects.
Moreover, I also read books on content marketing and writing. Brushing up the knowledge on the basics and modern tips prove to be quite useful.
I attend webinars and workshops on content writing to know more about the ongoing trends in content marketing.
Q11. Can you elaborate on your editing process?
Answer: Editing is the most important phase of any content writing process. Before publishing any content, it is a must practice to edit and proofread what you submit.
- Reading aloud the content makes me feel like reading from a third person’s perspective
- Elimination of grammar, spelling errors. The use of tools like Grammarly is very helpful
- Converting hard vocabulary if any, to simple ones for the majority of the audience to understand. Paper rater or Hemingway editor are some best tools to use
- I make sure of not over-optimizing the content through the use of a lot of keywords
- Checking on the structure of the content. Whether it is readable and understandable in general
Q12. How do you deal with deadlines?
Such content writing interview questions are challenging to a content writer. The answer you give evaluates your seriousness towards your profession. Deadlines are known to be crucial in such kind of work. Hence, it is a very common yet tactful question to answer.
Answer: I strive towards working on the projects keeping the time factor into consideration. I plan out my work and try to stick to them as ideally as possible. Planning and having a schedule in the content writing profession are very important.
For any project, I keep daily goals that I make sure to complete. So that, it doesn’t go to the pending lot the next day. Somedays, the workload is more than other days. In such cases, I see to it that I understand its importance and work accordingly.
Q13. Tell us about your strengths as a content writer?
In such content writing interview questions, you must express yourself confidently. You must put your perspective about yourself with clarity.
Answer: After a lot of writing practice, I have had a lot of exposure to researching any content. I like to have full knowledge before delivering the content. Observing many kinds of writing styles, has made me flexible in my writing approaches.
I like adapting to any kind of writing style because of such exposure. I like to experiment with different writing styles. I tend to convey the content in a simple and understandable language.
I like to complete my work within the given deadline. I like to convey content by adopting creative writing styles. I am open to exploring various kinds of content writing formats.
Q14. What are the different writing genres that interest you?
Answer: Since I like reading a variety of books, I like both fiction and non-fiction genres.
- Crime
- Magical realism
- Memoirs
- Thriller
- History
Q15. How many articles can you write ideally in a week?
In these kinds of content writing interview questions, you must not exaggerate your capabilities.
You must give a genuine reply, so that when they hire you then you can comfortably work on your set time limits. Based on your experience in writing you must give them the answer.
Conclusion
A content writer must know how to answer such interview questions aptly. These content writer interview questions can help writers mold their answering skills. So, think about what you can answer while in an interview. Prepare yourself according to such frequently asked content writer interview questions and answers.