One of the things I love the most about my job as Content Creator here at Low End Box is doing some of our Interviews! It’s really fun for me to meet our friendly members and providers. I like getting to know folks a little better.
The procedure I use for doing the Interviews has changed somewhat as I have gained more experience. Initially I ruled out phone or video interviews because these, while nice, do not fit well with the Low End Box written blog format. So, at first, I did interviews by drafting a set of questions and sending the questions to the interviewees.
Sending a set of questions seemed a bit stale. The process didn’t seem like real contact. Also, from an Interviewee’s perspective, seeing a long list of questions probably looks like a lot of work. A few interesting interviews didn’t pass the challenge, but a few hard working interviewees came through wonderfully!
Next, hoping for a better sense of connection and more spontaneity, I tried asking the Interview questions within the context of Low End Talk Private Message (“PM”) discussions. Right away this caused problems! As soon as I showed interview drafts, several interviewees objected to my including certain portions of our PM dialog. Wow! The objections were strong even though I always said that the draft could be changed. Despite saying the draft could be changed, taking pieces of PM conversations and moving the pieces into a draft seemed to trigger resentment. I learned that even what appeared to me as the most vague, general, and seemingly harmless comments might be viewed by the interviewee as super private!
Here follows an example short Interview about my current LEB Interview procedure, possible changes, plus more. Maybe even including a Special Offer to collaborate on your Interview.
Interview
Hi Tom! What is your current Interview procedure?
Hello Tom! The current procedure evolved as an attempt to resolve the above mentioned PM privacy issues. What I do now is ask initially for two images: one 300×300 px and the other rectangular with the long dimension 1200 px. I also ask a preliminary question, something like “What do you want your Interview to accomplish?” Then I immediately set up the Interview here on WordPress and also send a private preview link to the Interviewee. With the PM conversation now separated from the Interview draft, the interviewee and I have full opportunity to discuss all items prior to inserting them into the draft.
What does drafting an Interview look like inside WordPress?
Here’s what I was seeing inside the WordPress editor as I was writing this post. I am using Google Chrome’s Accessibility Extension, set to reverse color.
What about the Interview process might be changed?
LEB Interview questions traditionally have been published in bold face and the answers in normal font. To me, somehow, sometimes, the interviewer speaking in bold might make the interviewer seem more equal than the interviewee. I tried a format with both onterviewer and interviewee in normal font. I also tried a format with the questions in normal font and the answers in bold. Neither of these seemed to work well. So I’m still looking for ideas on how the format could make the interviewer and the interviewee seem more equal while still remaining easy for readers to differentiate the questions from the answers.
Of course, there probably are many additional ways the Interview process could be improved. Please help by contributing your suggestions. Thanks in advance!
Who determines the publication schedule?
@jbiloh and @raindog308 set the publication pace. There is no set rule of which I am aware. Usually it takes a few days for Interviews to be published. So, if you want your Interview’s publication to coincide with an event, it’s a good idea to get the Interview done a few days in advance.
What about the Special Offer link?
Usually I try to persuade provider interviewees to include a special offer. It’s Low End Box, so including a special offer for a cheap VPS or dedicated server is what we are here for. If the interviewee wants to include a special offer, we will include offer links and sign up links in their Interview. Please remember, in every Interview there always might be a special offer.
What do you hope to get out of this interview, Tom?
My goal is to get to know and be friends with everybody here on our beautiful Low End. That includes all the providers and all the customers too. If I haven’t met you yet, please feel free to say hello!
I would be really delighted if showing the Interview process gains more interviews, and, thereby, both more friends for me and also a closer community all around.
If you are a Low End Boxer or a Low End Talker, you have the opportunity to increase our sense of community by contributing your Interview. Even if you imagine yourself here in isolation, please consider that the very existence of LEB and LET proves we all are interested in each other.
Something else I hope to gain is suggestions for how to make everything better. Specific, positive ideas always are welcome.
This is the next question, isn’t it?
Here’s the next answer. Lorem. . . .
Featured Image
Here’s an image that a well known creator sent to be used in his Interview. 😸 For your interview, we’d like to use at least one rectangular image in addition to the square image. The rectangular image can be a picture of you, a picture of your work, a picture of a view you love, or anything else that is relevant to your Interview.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Special Offer
Want to be interviewed by Low End Box? Please PM @Not_Oles over at Low End Talk and we’ll set it up! Alternatively, please feel free to use the email on @Not_Oles’ profile. We’re especially interested in every Low Ender, regardless of country and culture, including providers, customers, professionals, amateurs, students, retired folks, and even those just here for the LOLs. Thank you in advance!
Here’s Tom’s LEB Pre-post Checklist. Neither the checklist, nor anything below the two lines normally would be published. But this time, to show the procedure and hoping to get suggestions for making it better, I’m publishing the checklist.
Offer Link
Sign-Up Link
Contact Link
categories 1 max
tags, not too many
set featured image
first, square image tag substitute: width=”300″ height=”300″ align=”right” hspace=”20″
alt (replacement text), title tags in images
read more tag:
set focus keyphrase
set meta description
split long paragraphs, sentences
title suggestions:
purchase word,
keyword phrase in title
emotional words, numbers, trigger words
benefits, not features
Related Posts:
My Low End Adventures started here at LowEndBox, when just a few years back, I found the perfect deal on a dedicated server from OVH!
These days I own my own gorgeous antique server named Darkstar. She is colocated in Dallas, Texas USA at LevelOneServers.com.
Besides writing for LowEndBox, helping as a moderator at LowEndTalk and running Darkstar, I'm trying to learn a little about programming and networking.
All these years, and, still, so much more to learn! So many people here who can teach me!
It's very, very fun here on the Low End, isn't it? :)
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