Blog Interviews

Photo from Three Girls Media

Including interviews in a blog is a great way to diversify your content, make connections, gain new readers and reach a wider audience.. Here, I am sharing some tips for conducting interviews for blog. 

Deciding who to interview

When deciding who to interview for your blog, look at the topics you have written about such as music, health, lifestyle and YouTube and pick someone in those industries you could possibly get. Think about who you are a fan of and who's work you admire. It could be a musician, a mental health expert, someone who makes YouTube videos or someone who works in the same field as you. Whoever it is, make sure they a relevant to what you usually write about and are interested in. Write down a list of all those people you want to interview. You most probably won't get an A-list celebrity, not right away. Start with people in your local community or who you have already made contact with somehow.

Contacting potential interviewees

In my opinion, social media is the easiest way to contact someone you want to talk to or you could send them an email but keep in mind that everyone is busy and may not be on social media or check their emails regularly so you have to be patient when waiting for a reply. Look at your potential candidates social media pages to see how regularly they post and respond to comments. 

Keep your message as short as possible. Start by introducing yourself and your blog, how you know who they are, why you're reaching out to them and how to move forward with the process. You could use an interview request template to make this task easier.

Receiving a reply 

It's normal to be nervous when reaching out to potential candidates, especially if it's your first time, but nothing bad will happen. They will either say yes or no to your request. If they say no, don't stress about it. There are a lot of reasons why they are saying no. Maybe they don't have time or they only do interviews with more established and well-known blogs and media. Whatever the reason is, don't take it personally. The person doesn't have anything against you personally. If they say yes, great! You can now move forward. 

Set up a time, place and method for the interview

Try to work around their schedule. Consider time differences if they are in another country or state and if you are planning to meet up in person for the interview, you should go to them. Choose a place where you both are comfortable. If the interview is over Skype or Zoom, make sure you have the apps downloaded and your computer and web camera are working properly. 

Prepare the questions

I think 10-15 questions are a good amount. Write down all the questions you can think of and narrow the list down to the most interesting ones. You will want enough questions to get all the information you need from the person. Some people like to send the question to the person beforehand but I think that might make the interview sound rehearsed and you want them to give you more authentic answers. You could tell the person what types of questions you are going to ask so they know what direction the interview will go. 

Get into the interview mindset

Set aside half an hour before every interview to freshen up, go through your notes, and practice your questions. Consider meditating for two minutes before the interview to clear your mind. You should also make sure you have a glass of water on hand, as talking that much will make you thirsty. If there are other people around, such as family members in your house, let them know that you will be conducting an interview so there are no interruptions. 

Conduct the interview

Try to match your interviewee’s energy levels and use similar language to help them feel comfortable.

Practice active listening. Focus on what the other person is saying instead of your next question.

Wait an extra few seconds after you think the interviewee is finished speaking before answering new questions; you might be amazed by what comes out with some extra space

Be prepared to drop your original questions entirely and pursue more interesting topics if any come up.

Remember to thank them for their time and let them know when you plan to publish the interview.

There are advantages of doing an interview for both you and the person you are talking to. As mentioned before, you can diversify your content and gain more readers. For them, it's a chance to promote their work and gain new fans and followers.