More and more bloggers are offering to interview fellow bloggers. Here’s a video blog post of me being interviewed.
Why?
Well…it can bring you more traffic.
Think about it…the interviewer and the interviewee are both going to promote it. That means you could both be exposed to each others regular visitors.
But interviewing is not easy. You have to put in a lot of preparation.
Interviews are as nerve-wracking for the person conducting the questioning as the person being interviewed. In any interview scenario, there are always two people on show simultaneously, and both can be either judged or praised for their performance.
Some of the best interviewers in the media manage to make themselves almost invisible while they allow the full focus to rest upon the subject of the discussion.
However, most of us don’t have the innate skills necessary to do a great job, and we need to practice for interviewing just as much as we do for being interviewed.
A great interviewer has the following qualities:
- An ability to make the subject feel at ease and comfortable immediately
- A strong knowledge of the person being interviewed, and the industry being discussed
- A great sense of humour, which makes for great entertainment
- A sense of ease with the material and the person being interviewed
- The ability to facilitate through any potential awkwardness.
When we interview a fellow blogger, we may have to overcome various issues including a sense of being out of our depth (depending on how great they are!) and a fear that we won’t understand their industry well enough. Follow these tips to make sure that you make a really great job of your next interview…
Understand your audience and what they want to hear
- Learn the portfolio of your subject and their back catalogue so you can refer to it
- List questions to ask to stop any awkward silences that could occur
- Read up on their field of expertise so you know what you are talking about
- Imagine what your readers may want to ask, and then ask the right questions
- Remember the objectives of why you are interviewing and keep them at the forefront of your mind, steering your interviewee to give great responses
- Let them know a little about you and what you want to achieve beforehand, so you are both starting from the same objectives
- Have a good conversation with them – don’t let shyness or the camera put you off from being yourself and letting your personality shine through
- Send them a list of prepared questions so they have a chance to prime before the interview
- Let them guide the conversation, as this makes things more natural and dialogue will flow better
- Ask open questions, giving the opportunity for the subject to expound on any themes that they warm to, which brings them out for your interview
- Set the scene and provide a strong introduction before you start the interview, making sure that your audience will know who they are and what they have done
- If they have a product, make sure you have it to hand so you can hold it up if videoing the interview, so it gives a sense of product placement for potential buyers who watch the video
- Check the background if you are filming – lighting needs to be right and you need to remove any objects that might detract from the interview before you kick off
- Take it slowly, to make the end result easy to understand and follow
- Provide a summary at the end and next steps for the viewers, including any actions needed to buy a product (where they can get it, what other products are in the pipeline) and invite people who watch or read the interview to give feedback and comment on what has taken place.
What have I missed?
What preparation do you do?
Please share your views in the comments below.
By interviewing others, one thing for sure, is that you learn something new, I haven’t interviewed as many people as I would like too, but the few that I have, I have surely learnt something new, as you get to learn different styles, new techniques, and how others carry out certain tasks. As not to forget many bloggers work from home, and its not very often that we get to chat to colleagues, and other business owners.
Wasim
Same here…I need to do more interviews. You can certainly learn from them…the trick is to delph deep!
Andrew
Interviewing another blogger on video may not be easy, as you say, but there’s a couple of things – off the top of my head – to be gotten out of the process:
1. The ability to transcribe the interview into words, which equals search engine fodder;
2. The cross-appeal factor. Not only do you bring your own regular readers/viewers to your site, but also that of your subject.
Sonny
I agree about the transcript unless you have a Google Video sitemap generator plugin.
If you have your own hosted videos…it certainly worth having one.
Andrew
Well this is a good guide because Im getting sick with generic interviews that some bloggers just send to tens, if not hundreds of other bloggers. I would say that there are very few people who do interviewing with other bloggers well. A lot are just spitting out same and same questions.
Melvin,
I like what you say…have you come across anyone who does interviews really well?
Andrew
This is the first time I’ve ever heard of doing interviews to get traffic. Is this something that’s widely known about and used? It seems like such a clever way to get promotion since, like you said, the other party will also be promoting the interview. Might give this a shot after a couple practice takes of course.
Max,
I suppose it is a bit like guest posting just via a video.
Worth giving it a shot.
Andrew
Great information. My question is, do you think this would work across all niches and businesses as long as the other people have a blog or good business presence. I guess my concern would be they would hold out.
John,
I think it would work in any niche that has an on-line demand.
Many of us want to hear from experts in the niche we are interested in.
Andrew
I agree that Interviewing is one of the best ways for getting traffic as it gets promoted from both the parties. But lately I’ve noticed that some people are now setting up blogs especially for such interviews and trying to earn some quick bucks through the same set of questions. Isn’t that messing up the purpose?
Sagar
As the interviewer you have to find the right questions. I don’t think you can have a standard set. I often ask follow-up questions based upon what the person has just said.
You have to dig deep.
Andrew
it seems like a good idea, is important to speak clearly and not be nervous because it is a video involved and viewers must be captivated not bored 🙂
True and be passionate!
Andrew
Excellent tips Andrew. I haven’t started interviewing yet, but I certainly will use this as a guide.
I’ve had a unique idea for interviews for a while now. I plan to implement as soon as I can work some details.
Dennis,
Sounds intriguing!
Andrew
I’ve even coined a new term…Intereviews…I may have said too much. 😉
Great idea but you need to consider that not every blogger is good at visual presentation.
Thanks, Corinne.
I like the way you got straight to the point…no small talk…just straight in.
Nice approach.
Partner?
Andrew
Andrew,
Thanks for posting these tips!
I have been doing interviews for my podcast show for couple of times already.
There are many points to remember, and one important thing I have found is that you should have at least a basic understanding of your interviewee’s industry or niche he/she is in. This makes it possible for you to ask questions (during the interview), that you didn’t plan before the interview.
Watch out … I might ask you for an interview at some point 🙂
Timo
Timo,
You can ask me anytime…I’d love to.
Andrew
Interviewing fellow bloggers is great advice… And I never would have thought of half of these tips about understanding the audience and the interviewee – thanks for all of the great info! 🙂
Natasha
You’re welcome (again!).
Think you will start doing interviews?
Andrew
“Do you have a blog that is going nowhere? We have help for you today. Andrew Rondeau is here to touch on the most important points from his blog – We build your blog – and how to make income from it.”
Max,I suppose it is a bit like guest posting just via a video.Worth giving it a shot.
Nice read. I am thinking these days to conduct few of the interviews. What would be your suggestion for newbie blogger who would like to conduct interviews?
Cheers,
Joydeep