About the Client
Avito is one of Russia’s largest online marketplaces. Users make 120 transactions every minute and post 400,000 new listings every day.
The Challenge
Write several articles for sellers on the Avito blog. This involved interviewing experts, turning their insights into articles, and working with both the interviewees and editors to review and approve the final content.
Got Up to Speed on the Topics
I had only bought things on Avito twice. I'd never sold anything there. I'd also never built a house or a summer cottage. I hadn't even done any home renovations myself. But I needed to understand all of this to write articles about selling building materials.
I explored the building materials categories on Avito, watched a few videos about construction and renovation, and read market research on these products. Then I went through Avito's guides on selling through the platform and read case studies from marketers.
The biggest challenge was getting up to speed on an unfamiliar topic quickly enough to prepare thoughtful questions for an expert and reach out to them within just a few days.
Interviewed Experts
For each article, Avito’s editors provided me with contacts of experts to interview. I prepared around 15 questions for each expert to cover the topic in depth while keeping the interview within an hour. I sent them the discussion topics in advance and arranged video calls.
I explained the interview format to the experts in advance. During each call, we went through the questions, and I asked a couple of follow-ups for each one. Afterwards, I saved the recording and had it transcribed. Writing an article from a transcript is much easier than listening to the same hour-long recording over and over again.
Wrote and Finalized the Articles
The process was pretty standard: I put together an outline and sent it to the editor. Then I wrote a draft and sent that over too. After a few rounds of edits, the article was ready.
But there was one extra step: once the article was finished, it also needed approval from the expert. The challenge was finding a balance between the expert’s perspective and the editor’s vision.
This meant going back and forth between the two until everyone was happy with the result. And doing it quickly enough to meet the editorial deadlines.
5 Reasons to Sell Home Improvement Products on Avito [RU]
