In Business Since 2001 We accept Paypal
Home for Writers for Publishers Article Directory Article Search Contact
Directory of Ezines  
Products & Services
Article Distribution
Ghost Writing Services

Multiple Traffic Streams Report
Redneck Product Creation

Article Marketing Ebooks now available at: WritingPuzzle.com

Site Navigation
Home
+ FAQ

FAQ

+ Contact Us
+ Article Software

Use one of our Software Plugins to receive Articles from our site:

WordPress Content Plugin

Article Dashboard Content Plugin

+ About Us
+ Ebooks
+ Blogs
+ Social Media
+ Extra Pages
Search Tools
+ Search Our Articles
Article Directory
+ Authors
+ Articles
thePhantomWriters Blog
Get RSS Feed

Did Google Finally Kill Article Marketing Forever?
Early Indications Are That Google Farmer Update Loves Quality Syndicated Content
Detailed Insight into the Cooks Source Magazine PR Debacle
Increase Your Profits From Google Page One
Understanding How To Be Successful With Article Marketing
Temporary Issue with Article Distributions
Computer Upgrade
New Service Upgrades in Place
Are You Paying Too Much For Traffic? Increase Clicks 40-Fold With This PPC Strategy
How To Use Disinformation To Foul Up Your Competition In The SEO Game
Recommended Sites
Live Marketing Chat (Free) Saturday 8pm EST
Register for Notifications

 

 



Blog Management - How to Work Interviews Into Your Blog

Copyright (c) 2011-2012

Being a subset of journalism, it is no surprise that blogging shares many traits with its parent. In particular, blogging strongly resembles the feature or editorials pages of many newspapers. Not beholden to quite the same rules of timeliness or AP style guidelines as the news sections, these sections focus on matters of personal interest to the writer, or on a specific topic of particular relevance or human interest.

So, given that blogging tends to be derived from these sections, it is reasonable to look into the tactics that bring traditional journalists such success in their writing and to borrow the best ideas from them. In particular, many bloggers have discovered the value of including interviews in their publications.

An interview is fairly straightforward: a conversation between the blogger and another party, generally about a topic of mutual interest to the blogger, the subject and the readers. Some interviews are scripted, some are more extemporaneous, but at their heart they all have the mission of illuminating the thoughts of the interviewee to the audience of the publication in order to shed some extra light on the subject being discussed.

In the world of blogging, there are generally three approaches to integrating an interview into a blog.

The Writeup

This is the general, news-story style form of an interview. The blogger contacts the subject, does their interview, then writes a story around the interview using the subject's quotations as a framework. It tends to look something like:

Recently I spoke to branding icon John Doe, asking his thoughts on the importance of personal identity. "You really need a strong name, something people can get ahold of and never forget, that's the first thing." When I asked him for details, John commented, "Well, if you don't have a name that people remember, they'll just refer to you as 'that one guy' or any old thing."

The structure is easy to follow, and very much suited to blogging as a style of writing. It doesn't have to be in first person; it is easily adapted to any blogging style. It has the value of letting the blogger do most of the writing. This way, their style remains intact and the interview is presented on their terms to the readers, maintaining a unique voice.

The weakness of this style is that it tends to raise questions. Did the blogger use the whole interview? Are they editorializing in their choice of quotes? and so on. For example, in the choice above, When I asked him for details could actually have played out as "Well, that's obvious. Could you be more specific?" and our imaginary blogger simply rephrased to make himself look less confrontational.

The Reprint

The alternative is simply to reprint the entire interview, without editing other than to remove little asides such as "um" and other verbal tics. This tends to look as follows:

BenjaminBrandBlog - Hello, John.

John Doe - Hello. Thanks for interviewing me.

BBB - Glad to talk with you. So, what would you say is the first thing that comes to your mind when talking about branding?

JD - You really need a strong name, something people can get ahold of and never forget, that's the first thing.

The reprint is rather an unusual choice, very rarely seen in blogging or in print journalism. This is because it has some obvious weaknesses. For example, not every question in an interview ends up being relevant. Not all interviews follow a particular script; some go down tangents, interesting or dull asides, and so on. It is the job of the journalist to edit the content so that the material that stayed on subject gets to the readers.

However, there are some cases in which reprinting an interview is an interesting alternative. If a conversation was purely illuminating, if it covered some amazing grounds that people didn't expect, and the writer wishes to share it, then by all means share the interview itself.

The Podcast or Video

Similar to the reprint, this is the process of using recording equipment to make an audio podcast or videoblog of the interview in question. This has a number of advantages over the simple reprint, because it allows the personality of the two subjects to shine through in a way that text doesn't always quite capture. Sarcasm and wit come through a bit more readily when tone of voice or body language are added into the subject matter, making the whole process more dynamic and interesting.

The difficulty of these formats is in their complexity. The logistics of getting recording software to work, of cleaning up audio and video for proper use on the net if they aren't your blog's primary medium, etc. can all make this a bit out of reach for the average blogger. They require the dedication of actual time and effort to produce, share and refine as a series. Further, not everyone is as suited for speaking as they are for writing; some just aren't as comfortable in a spoken medium, and a skilled writer isn't always a stunning speaker.

That said, there is strong value in this type of process, as it can add variety and interest to the usual presentation of a good blog.




About The Author:
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the "voice" of our client's brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit http://www.iBrandCasting.com/

Follow "The Phantom Writers" on Twitter (@phantomwriters)
to be notified when new articles are made available.


VOTE ON THIS ARTICLE
Needs Work >> 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 << Excellent Article

Tell our authors what you think about their article.


Top-Level Category: Business Online Articles

10 Most Recent Articles Written by Enzo F. Cesario

Leveraging the Social in Social Media
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-21 | Word Count: 907 | Page Views: 393 | Votes: 1 | Rating: 1.00
Social media marketing is about the conversation, not the pitch. Having conversations with people is nice, but the goal of a brand is ultimately to get people interested in spending their time or money on the brand, after all. What does having this conversation accomplish, and just how does a brand use that conversation to get the critical conversion from conversation to customers?

Blog Writing - Finding the Right Person
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-21 | Word Count: 884 | Page Views: 629
There are a host of articles and sites covering advice on how to address various topics, but one area that doesn't get a lot of attention is what "person" to write the blog in. Each linguistic person has its own strengths and weaknesses, depending on the message that needs to be covered. Ultimately, most will simply write in whatever person is most natural to them, but there is some merit in taking a bit of time to think about the implications, advantages and disadvantages of each.

That First Impression: Title Considerations
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-19 | Word Count: 860 | Page Views: 355
While it certainly isn't as much work as crafting the body of a superior article, selecting a title for a piece is definitely an important element of the entire process of content creation. Here are some thoughts on crafting a perfect title.

Dynamic Content: Using Analytics to Write Your Blog
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-16 | Word Count: 873 | Page Views: 424
The role of web analytics in setting useful metrics for a site has been discussed in-depth in any number of places, but this is far from the only useful function that web analytic practices can offer. As in any field, a little thinking outside the box can offer extensive rewards to the creative researcher. Perhaps most usefully, creative cultivation of web analytics can help conquer blogger's block and help a good writer come up with some unique angles for content they thought they had peaked out on.

Social Media Marketing Tools – Putting Your Finger on the Pulse of the Web
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-14 | Word Count: 856 | Page Views: 342
Social media marketing is the home of successful brand promotion, and finding the right mix of tools to take advantage of it has become the defining issue of the modern brand. Knowing the focus of each of these tools and the best way to use them is the key to bringing all this power under control and using it to help promote a brand to its full potential.

Trans-tangental: The Value of Off-topic Blogging Posts
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-12 | Word Count: 863 | Page Views: 444
Brand-oriented blogs by necessity have to focus on a particular topic. People are coming to the blog because of the brand, and they want content related to the brand in most cases. However, there are many very good reasons to go into off-topic posting as well. The trick is to balance the needs of on-topic commentary with the occasional bit of off-the-wall entertainment that brings some lively discussion with it.

Press Preferences - Blogging Software Explained
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-08 | Word Count: 881 | Page Views: 286
Understanding a few of the more common blog creation software programs can help any blogger make an informed choice about their particular needs and get their message out in the most efficient way. Here are a few of them.

Blog Writing - Ghostwriting Dos and Don'ts
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-06 | Word Count: 879 | Page Views: 304
There are still some misconceptions about ghostwriting that pop up from time to time. To that end, it can be helpful to clarify the nature of ghostwriting and how it relates to creating a high-quality blog, particularly through examples of some of the best and worst practices that can pop up when employing a ghostwriter.

Beyond Expectations - Getting the Most out of Like and Share
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-02 | Word Count: 860 | Page Views: 312
What started as socialization programs only slightly more complex than the average e-mail client has grown into one of the newest and most promising marketing niches in the entire world. Taking advantage of this means familiarizing oneself with a few surprisingly simple concepts that have unusually far-reaching implications. In particular, marketers are finding that the "Like" and "Share" features on Facebook have become the newest and best tool in the online marketing arsenal.

Four Types of Blogs and How To Use Them
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-08-31 | Word Count: 930 | Page Views: 323
Blogging clearly has arrived and is here to stay, according to the buzzword-slinging set. It's the “next big thing” or the “wave of the future” - even a “revolution.” Still, most of the people commenting on the blogging trend aren't sure exactly what it is, how it works or even what the different kinds of blogs are. Here are a handful of blogging types and what sets them apart from the others.

All of Author's Articles on this site:

Most Recent "Business Online" Articles

Sell Yourself, Not Your Products or Services
Written by: Bill Platt | Distributed: 2012-01-02 | Word Count: 989 | Page Views: 2754 | Votes: 5 | Rating: 4.00
Sell yourself, not your products or services. The point we need to make is that your products and services will change over time as your business adapts to the realities of the marketplace.

Work From Home - Make Money Online With EBay Store
Written by: David Miller | Distributed: 2011-12-12 | Word Count: 2105 | Page Views: 351 | Votes: 1 | Rating: 2.00
Find out how to present your items, as well as other key factors to profit from your eBay Store.

Bring Your Photography To Life With Stunning Video
Written by: Adam Harding | Distributed: 2011-12-12 | Word Count: 684 | Page Views: 456
I want to let you in on my little secret. It is about how I bring photographs to life by creating professional video slideshows that look like they cost hundreds of dollars.

Leveraging the Social in Social Media
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-21 | Word Count: 907 | Page Views: 393 | Votes: 1 | Rating: 1.00
Social media marketing is about the conversation, not the pitch. Having conversations with people is nice, but the goal of a brand is ultimately to get people interested in spending their time or money on the brand, after all. What does having this conversation accomplish, and just how does a brand use that conversation to get the critical conversion from conversation to customers?

Blog Writing - Finding the Right Person
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-21 | Word Count: 884 | Page Views: 629
There are a host of articles and sites covering advice on how to address various topics, but one area that doesn't get a lot of attention is what "person" to write the blog in. Each linguistic person has its own strengths and weaknesses, depending on the message that needs to be covered. Ultimately, most will simply write in whatever person is most natural to them, but there is some merit in taking a bit of time to think about the implications, advantages and disadvantages of each.

That First Impression: Title Considerations
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-19 | Word Count: 860 | Page Views: 355
While it certainly isn't as much work as crafting the body of a superior article, selecting a title for a piece is definitely an important element of the entire process of content creation. Here are some thoughts on crafting a perfect title.

5 Tips For Writing Great Content For Your Blog
Written by: Lee Dobbins | Distributed: 2011-09-16 | Word Count: 987 | Page Views: 404
If you want people to come back to your blog over and over again, then you need to provide great web content. This may seem like an impossible task if you aren’t a natural born writer. Here are 5 tips that will help even the least experienced writer create blog content that will entice even first time visitors to become frequent readers.

Understanding Cloud Computing for SMBs
Written by: Audre Hill | Distributed: 2011-09-16 | Word Count: 449 | Page Views: 512 | Votes: 2 | Rating: 5.00
The buzz about cloud migration, or taking your business to the cloud, is all over the internet. But the geek speak and sales hype make understanding the cloud difficult for small and mid-sized business owners. Read this to clear up your cloud confusion.

Dynamic Content: Using Analytics to Write Your Blog
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-16 | Word Count: 873 | Page Views: 424
The role of web analytics in setting useful metrics for a site has been discussed in-depth in any number of places, but this is far from the only useful function that web analytic practices can offer. As in any field, a little thinking outside the box can offer extensive rewards to the creative researcher. Perhaps most usefully, creative cultivation of web analytics can help conquer blogger's block and help a good writer come up with some unique angles for content they thought they had peaked out on.

Social Media Marketing Tools – Putting Your Finger on the Pulse of the Web
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario | Distributed: 2011-09-14 | Word Count: 856 | Page Views: 342
Social media marketing is the home of successful brand promotion, and finding the right mix of tools to take advantage of it has become the defining issue of the modern brand. Knowing the focus of each of these tools and the best way to use them is the key to bringing all this power under control and using it to help promote a brand to its full potential.

Most Viewed "Business Online" Articles

Attracting Readers to your Book
Written by: Alastair Hall | Distributed: 2006-05-18 | Word Count: 708 | Page Views: 42520 | Votes: 9 | Rating: 2.11
One of the common and obvious ways to market a self-published book is having your own website. The harder part is how to attract your target audience and then convert the sale.

How To Make Visitors Bookmark Your Site
Written by: Cheryl Miller | Distributed: 2006-10-10 | Word Count: 536 | Page Views: 34815 | Votes: 13 | Rating: 2.38
When visitors bookmark your site it is a sign that you have built a great website and are pleasing them. Visitors think highly enough of your site to want to return and possibly tell others about it. You are not only increasing traffic from your existing clientele you are encouraging new traffic by means of viral marketing.

Treat Online 'Guests' With Respect
Written by: Rick Sloboda | Distributed: 2007-07-27 | Word Count: 472 | Page Views: 27199 | Votes: 25 | Rating: 3.76
Does your website show your customers lack of respect? Review the following checklist to find out.

How I Got 70,000 Useless Visitors To My Site In One Day! (One Internet Marketer's Analysis of Social Bookmark Traffic)
Written by: Titus Hoskins | Distributed: 2007-11-06 | Word Count: 1545 | Page Views: 23761 | Votes: 8 | Rating: 2.13
Is social bookmark traffic useless? Is it even worth cultivating for your site? Can it be used from an online marketing perspective? Read to discover one Internet Marketer's analysis of social bookmark/media traffic...

Successful Article Marketers Help Readers Solve Problems
Written by: Bill Platt | Distributed: 2008-10-29 | Word Count: 816 | Page Views: 18812 | Votes: 23 | Rating: 3.26
Every week, I have the opportunity to speak with people about the benefits and challenges of using article marketing to promote an online business. Article marketing is about getting your sales message in front of potential customers and to get links to your website. Many interpret this to mean that an article should directly promote a website within the article, but that approach is wrong and will reduce one's success using this methodology.

Tips For Building Your First Website
Written by: Benny Tsabba | Distributed: 2007-05-30 | Word Count: 1511 | Page Views: 14632 | Votes: 9 | Rating: 2.00
New people are coming online everyday. And many of those people desire to turn their spare time into spare cash. So begins their journey.

Successful Forum JVs and How To Get Them
Written by: Diana Barnum | Distributed: 2006-06-15 | Word Count: 648 | Page Views: 6635 | Votes: 11 | Rating: 2.18
The forming of common alliances, also referred to as a joint venture (JV), happens nearly every day in the business world. One of the most popular means of linking people up online of so that they can work together on their projects is via forums, where people of all levels of business and expertise post in common threads.

Increasing Productivity In Your Online Business
Written by: Willie Crawford | Distributed: 2006-06-14 | Word Count: 1407 | Page Views: 4327 | Votes: 32 | Rating: 3.72
Running an online "empire" of approximately 1600 websites and blogs, selling a variety of products, services and ideas, I have to be much more productive than the average person in a "regular job."

Who Else Wants to Know How-To Write an Effective Advertisement?
Written by: Bill Platt | Distributed: 2011-08-25 | Word Count: 1431 | Page Views: 4296 | Votes: 22 | Rating: 2.59
Webmasters struggle everyday with the question of how they should advertise their website. There are so many advertising venues; it is hard to know which is the right venue or the right combination of advertising venues.

A Recent Issue Of Playboy Revealed...
Written by: Bill Platt | Distributed: 2010-01-19 | Word Count: 1658 | Page Views: 4214 | Votes: 1 | Rating: 4.00
If you have ever spent money trying to use article marketing, and you failed to generate any measurable success with your articles, then this article will show you why you most likely failed to see your articles generate a solid return-on-investment for your online business...

Highest Ranked "Business Online" Articles

What Kind Of Backlinks Are Best At Helping Your Website In Google?
Written by: Bill Platt | Distributed: 2009-11-09 | Word Count: 439 | Page Views: 1819 | Votes: 5 | Rating: 4.80
I was in the Warrior Forum, and someone asked what kinds of Backlinks are worth pursuing. This is my answer to that query.

How to Keep Your Article Content Fresh and Interesting
Written by: Craig Ritsema | Distributed: 2006-08-29 | Word Count: 699 | Page Views: 2155 | Votes: 17 | Rating: 4.18
Webmasters everywhere are constantly on the lookout for fresh and interesting content for their website. Along with these content qualities is the requirement that it be unique. Everyone wants their website to stand out above the others in the search engine results. So what is the trick for you to keep a steady supply of this quality content coming your way?

Is Your Business 'Out Of Site'? Employ The Ultimate Marketing Tool
Written by: Rick Sloboda | Distributed: 2007-01-09 | Word Count: 445 | Page Views: 2200 | Votes: 19 | Rating: 4.16
With the rapid expansion of the digital economy, the web site is conceivably the most powerful marketing and sales tool you can employ. Find out what a web site can do for you.

How To Use Your Race To Get Rich
Written by: Herbert Harris | Distributed: 2009-07-07 | Word Count: 1407 | Page Views: 2572 | Votes: 40 | Rating: 4.05
Amid recent news reports that there continues to be an ongoing and substantial gap between the net worth of Whites and other racial groups, it is easy to be distracted and overwhelmed by the raw data. However, I am immediately reminded of a quote offered by an economic expert from the past... "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics!"

Secrets of Domain Parking - An Innovative and Easier Way to Make Money
Written by: John Khu | Distributed: 2009-02-27 | Word Count: 484 | Page Views: 1392 | Votes: 7 | Rating: 4.00
Using a good domain parking services to monetize expired domain names seems to be a neglected aspect with a number of domain names traders. Domain parking is also an unfamiliar concept to many inexperienced domain name traders. Read this article to better understand domain parking and how it can be of benefit to you.

Expired Domain Gains - Simple Ideas to Create an Income Base
Written by: John Khu | Distributed: 2009-07-31 | Word Count: 549 | Page Views: 3231 | Votes: 14 | Rating: 4.00
You can use a number of simple methods and plans to create a solid income base that earns a monthly ongoing income base. For many expired domain entrepreneurs (both full-time and part time), expired domains offer an opportunity to supplement their current income with money earned out of dealing with expired domains.

Sell Yourself, Not Your Products or Services
Written by: Bill Platt | Distributed: 2012-01-02 | Word Count: 989 | Page Views: 2754 | Votes: 5 | Rating: 4.00
Sell yourself, not your products or services. The point we need to make is that your products and services will change over time as your business adapts to the realities of the marketplace.

The Most Important Ingredient for Info Product Success (is You)
Written by: Judy Murdoch | Distributed: 2008-04-15 | Word Count: 981 | Page Views: 1428 | Votes: 13 | Rating: 3.92
Last week I was attending a conference and mentioned to someone I help small business owners create information products. The other person was very friendly until I said "information products." Then the temperature in the room dropped about 10-degrees

How To Build A Website That Will Rank Well In The Search Engines?
Written by: Fred Schebesta | Distributed: 2007-04-23 | Word Count: 1064 | Page Views: 2129 | Votes: 9 | Rating: 3.89
Redeveloping your website can be a real challenge when you assume your web designers and developers understand search engine marketing. Unfortunately this is not usually the case. Most designers are great at making pretty pictures and developers are great at making great technology. But pretty pictures and great technology don't necessarily give you great search engine results.

How to Prosper Beyond Virtual Real Estate
Written by: Kamau Austin | Distributed: 2006-10-17 | Word Count: 1263 | Page Views: 1593 | Votes: 7 | Rating: 3.86
We explore virtual real estate (VRE) sites as sites primarily embedded with Google Adsense(tm) or Yahoo Publisher's Network (YPN) ads.







Article Reprint Rights
Creative Commons License

This work is
licensed under a
Creative Commons
License


You are not required to show the creative commons license notice when you reprint this work.
Article Publishing Tools
Print Article
Email-to-Blog
HTML Source Code
Text Newsletter Format
Link Back HTML

Blog Publishing Tools

Internal ID: #7705
Article Statistics
Word Count: 873

Total Views: 321
Views This Month: 19
Views Last Month: 28

Article Rating: Not Yet
Votes Cast: 0

Author Overall Stats:

Times Viewed Overall: 66169
Author Rating: 2.52 of 5
Votes Cast Overall: 164

More Articles By Author:




Article Title Search:

Widow Search
Right Blinker
Google
Yahoo!
Zuula
Bing
Cuil

Last Distribution Date:
2011-07-31 10:00:00






All Articles are Copyright © 2001-2012 of the Defined Authors.

All other material and images on this site are:
Copyright © 2001-2012, ThePhantomWriters.com

Local Marketing Consultant