Web Writing: How to Do an Interview

Occasionally people will ask me how I do an interview for a story and I have to tell them each one is a little different.

How to get the information

I have a 50% hearing loss so my situation might be a little different than yours. Because I struggle to hear people on the telephone, I tend to shy away from phone interviews, or if I do them, I always make sure I send a draft copy of the article to the person I'm interviewing and ask them to check names, cities and other technical details to make sure I don't embarrass myself or them with inaccuracies.

Determine topic or subject

The first step in interviewing someone is to decide on the subject or article content. If you know someone who has something interesting to say, you might ask them if they would consider sharing their story through you. Other times you may have a specific topic you want to write about, but providing an expert opinion within your article will give it more credibility.

In certain freelance web-writing situations, you might be given a contact name, and asked to interview them for a specific cause. Most likely you will have to find the people on your own. I use Twitter and Facebook first.

Other times, you might see a request for an article, and not know anything about the topic, but you might know of someone who could give you the information you are seeking. Ask them to give you a line or two about whatever it is you are writing about, and use their expert point of reference for the "voice" of the story. In some cases if I am looking for data or an expert source, I use "Help A Reporter Out" (HARO) thanks to my friend Karen, who wrote about it here.

Determine main points

Just like writing any other article or paper, you typically have 3 or more main points. If you have more than that and are writing for the web, the experts will tell you to consider doing a series or splitting the article up.

Think about how you will present the material. Will you add pictures, videos or links? What is the best format? For web writing, a 3-5 page article is about the average, but if your topic is broad, and well written, or if there is a lot of conversation within the article, you might go with a 10-to-20 pager.

If people respond well, saying they couldn't stop reading it, then you've done a good job. If you get the sense that people are struggling to get through what you wrote, consider this the next time and cut it back, or if you published it for display only, edit the existing article and split it out into segments.

Do you have different audiences on this topic? Focus on whoever might search for your article and write it based upon what those folks might be looking for or interested in. Consider several types of articles if you have different readership.

Length of articles

I've seen a lot of discussion in the forums over the ideal article length, and in my opinion, the ideal article covers the topics with enough information to be valuable, and without so much that it makes it hard or boring to read. I'm a newbie around here, so take this with a grain of salt.

Upfront payments or Pay-Per-Views

Some topics are unique and some people are famous; these are the interviews you might consider submitting for up-front payments. Other topics and people are fairly run of the mill and probably won't bring in the hits enough to justify getting paid for the interview other than PPVs unless you find something unique about the topic and how you present it - precision and a tight subject is better.

Rights and permissions

I always explain to whomever I am interviewing what my payment rate is because I don't want it to come back and haunt me later. I also discuss rights for the material including gaining any permission's I need to include their photos. In most cases, the publishing house such as AC will want people to use their real names. If this is a problem for the interviewee, find out why and include that in your text in some way so that it is obvious to the editors and readership what the intent is of their pseudonym.

Develop questions

After you think about the topics you want to target, come up with a list of questions that are related - usually three or four questions for each subject so you can get enough material to write about.

If the interviewee uses words or subjects you are not familiar with, get more information through them or additional research on your own and spike out these details as separate articles that link into the main story. This way you can build on the topic, and use those articles as reference to similar work.

My background is extremely varied, but I like to interview people who have overcome obstacles and achieved success on something that was important to them, to the community, and/or to their life. Passion and achievement are things that drive me; you will find all of my interviews have these common themes.

Time management

Manage time wisely by making appointments with your interviewees at their convenience, noting time zone differences when scheduling when necessary. Write-up what they told you as soon as possible after the interview, or re-write/edit what they sent you in response to an emailed question list.

Some people use tape recorders, but again, my hearing loss just makes that difficult. I start with my list of questions, and as I ask them, I type verbatim what the person says as best I can in my laptop. I type about 95 words a minute and can keep up with most speakers but if not, I ask them to pause, clarify where I am at, and then we continue when I'm ready again. This might not be your best option, but it works for me. I save the document frequently, and then I edit it when I'm done.

Edits and SEO

During edits, I look at the story and make sure it flows. If it doesn't, I regroup things so that I have an introduction, my main points and a closing statement, question or promise for more.

Think about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and key words while you are editing. These key topics or sub-headers should be used to separate content, and tie in the paragraphs to the sub and macro topics.

Some publishing companies will require a minimum and maximum key word density if they are giving you an up-front. Generally you can be safe if you repeat the key words every 100 words or so, and you can do this with headings, and synonymous text. (Example: Cystic Fibrosis, CF, medical care and CF, Cystic Fibrosis meds, CF daily health maintenance, CF and Ports) - CF and Cystic Fibrosis are my key words in this example, but meds/daily health maintenance/ medical care and ports are my sub-key words that folks will search for- these tie in with text and headings and are listed on my "tags" and "photos".

Deadlines and due dates

When sending a draft of your interview, if you have a deadline, let them know in advance so they can tell you if there will be any problems early on.

Don't be intimidated and have fun during the interview

Most people like to talk about their accomplishments if they feel comfortable with you. Introduce yourself if they don't know you, tell them what your intent is, who you are writing for, and why. Then have fun and don't be afraid to add more questions, or flush something out that piqued your interest.

If they said something that made you smile, laugh out loud, gave you a cause to gulp or made you cry, capture it and share it because chances are your reading audience will appreciate it too.

After publication, marketing

After an article is published, I send a link to the person that gave me the interview as common courtesy, and because they usually want to be able to promote the interview, too. I also promote my articles on Facebook, Twitter, Stumble, Yahoo, Google, and other specific locations based upon the content.

Source:Personal experience

Examples of some interviews I have done: AmbeR Rubarth, Cystic Fibrosis and Ports, Rocket Scientist Danielle Taft, and Mike Cady, Anti-Bullying Mural