Theres a plethora of website traffic analysis tools that you can take advantage of to better understand your audiences behavior on your blog posts. For this example, well use under sink plumbing (1.4K monthly searches). Your readers wont trust you or return to you unless you actively help them solve a problem. Sometimes, Ill put several days into a post, polishing every corner, and it wont go anywhere. If you already have a pre-existing portfolio to look back on, it would benefit you to pull from those brainstormed post ideas or previous content strategy. How will your readers be using it? As such, having a website with a responsive design is critical. Starting your title with How-to is also a great way to appear well in Googles search. Consider the term under sink plumbing bathroom (30 monthly searches). When I talk to people who want to start blogging, this is often their main blocker. Since the job involves communicating complex concepts in simple and straightforward terms, you must be well-versed in the field you're writing about. Technical writers are lifelong learners. Let us quantify by thinking about how success is measured. 11+ Technical Writing Jobs That Pay Well (Even for Beginners) This is only one example of how to choose a technique. Write your own and share it online for feedback. What will resonate with them? Try another search, and we'll give it our best shot. Centering also looks better when translating from PC to mobile devices. The main thing to validate from the feedback is: will this post achieve the goals you decided on in step 2? Source: Apple. If you dont know where to start, start by telling a story. What Are Common Examples of Technical Writing? Your reader will enjoy visiting a blog page with images, videos, polls, audio or slideshows as opposed to a page of black and white text. This way, before you start writing, you'll know which points you want to cover and the best order to do so. Some tips on how to choose your blog name include: No need to get complicated at all with your name, though it might be tempting, since there are so many blogs out there. So those images you centered earlier, make sure you have descriptive alt text for them, too. Since publishing my first blog post ever in 2014, Ive ended up writing 68 posts so far here on Medium, some with over 50k views and 1000 fans, and edited many posts for my friends and coworkers. There are tons of resources only a Google search away for you to consume and get deeper insights from. A List Apart. If you can make your URL shorter and more keyword-friendly, go for it. Here's an example of an intro we think does a good job of attracting a reader's attention right away: Blink. 1. If you still need more assistance, try using a blog name generator. What is a blog post? While meta descriptions no longer factor into Google's keyword ranking algorithm, they give searchers a snapshot of what they'll get from reading the post and help improve your clickthrough rate from search. You can make a tax-deductible donation here. If there are opportunities to incorporate keywords you're targeting, and it won't impact reader experience, do it. Remember, the simpler your language, the better! It doesn't have to be polished; a few section headings should suffice. The biggest factor to consider when you're writing a technical article is your intended/expected audience. These errors might seem obvious, but it's not always easy to spot them (especially in lengthy documents). 11 Examples of Flawless Technical Writing - Unmudl 5. Otherwise, you run the risk of writing content for topics that are already over-saturated. HubSpot Slides is a presentation tool that helps publishers package a lot of information into easily shareable slides. User experience is just as important in a technical document as it is anywhere on the web. If you choose a general and highly searched topic thats been covered by major competitors or more established brands, its unlikely that your post will rank on the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs). HubSpot uses the information you provide to us to contact you about our relevant content, products, and services. Alt text conveys the why of an image as it relates to the content of your blog post to Google. Also, make sure to share your creation on your own social media accounts, like Twitter. And when you have another idea, go do it again! Chances are if the blog post was written effectively, you came away with helpful knowledge and a positive opinion about the writer or brand that produced the content. Chemistry. They can also help you build an appealing portfolio for future employers to check out. What does success look like? The format Im suggesting here isnt the most creative, and there are certainly other ways of doing it. I love technical blog posts, especially those that can take you through the entire process of building an app, A to Z. If you're looking to brush up on your self-editing skills, turn to these helpful posts for some tips and tricks to get you started: When you're finished checking for grammar, shift your focus to adding other elements to the blog post than text. Think about when you last read a newspaper or an online article. Pull from your content strategy and/or brainstormed topics. Displaying this in a blog is an easy way to showcase this skill or improve on if you are lacking. For digital mind mapping, my current tool of choice is MindNode on Mac OS X and iThoughts on iOS. You can keep your readers on track by giving your post a comfortable structure. Need some slideshow ideas? A great analogy is to think about when people read the news. 7 best technical writing examples to improve your skills Technical writing is a form of writing that translates complex technical topics into easily digestible and understandable content. For instance, your introduction should hook the reader and make them want to continue reading your post. Dont just taper off into the void at the end of the article. and "What makes our audience come back for more?". Tweet a thanks, Learn to code for free. When I first started writing blogs I actually went through a lot of different ones related to my field and studied the various structures, cover photos, common topics, and writing styles. If youre an expert in your field, it can be easy to use jargon you're familiar with without realizing that it may be confusing to other readers. One easy way to choose topics for your blog is to simply learn what other blogs are writing about. What is technical writing? 10 Tips to Stop Your Emails From Going to Spam, Email Bounce Management: Soft Bounces vs. Hard Bounces. Planning out your blog will give you a greater sense of its structure, making your writing that much easier. When the reader finishes reading my post, what will they have gained? Ill leave you with one last bit of advice. This rings true even in technical writing. His mission is to help SendGrid live up to its slogan: "Email Delivery. If you already own a cooking business at www.yourcompany.com, you might create a blog that looks like this: blog.yourcompany.com. Ive found that relatively concise posts with a 5 - 10 minute read time are the most successful. Its okay if your blog name feels too straightforward. Straightforward names accurately communicate what youre about and effectively attract the right audience. We already told you how to build out your outline earlier in the post, so we'll quickly go over the main points once more. And of all times for it to occur, it seems to plague us the most when trying to write an introduction.. However you choose to keep your industry knowledge sharp, doing so is critical to producing useful technical blogs. The fun bit! The topic can be pretty general to start as you find your desired niche in blogging. For example, it might look like this: yourblog.contentmanagementsystem.com. Try something for free or discount to convert readers to customers. For example, a blog titled 5 Hacks to Help You Succeed as a Developer will tend to get way more engagement. It also helps readers remember the information long after they leave your website. Our mission: to help people learn to code for free. It also leads readers to your blog post if the keywords included are what they searched for in the first place. If you lose the reader in the first few paragraphs or even sentences of the introduction, they'll stop reading (even before they've given your post a fair shake). Doing this is not cheating, in fact, you are saving yourself precious time going this route. This is why when youre coming up with a blog post title that you should brainstorm multiple ones instead of just one. When outlining, you need to center your main ideas with keyword-rich H2s and H3s. Understand your audience Knowing who you're writing for is important no matter what you're writing, but it's especially pertinent when producing technical content. Think of it as defining your scope of work. Proposals. The freeCodeCamp article about getting published also has some great tips about writing style and formatting. A domain is a part of the web address nomenclature someone would use to find your website or a page of your website online. If you already manage a website and are writing the first post for that existing website, ensure the article is consistent with the website in appearance and subject matter. Some documents address a general audience by boiling down complex information. And to make things even easier, you can download and use our free blog post templates, which are pre-organized for six of the most common blogs. If you've completed all these steps, writing should become a lot easier. . 5 excellent examples of technical writing Table of contents Heading 1 Heading 2 March 10, 2021 4 minutes to read Article The gold standard for good technical writing isn't entertainment value or clever phrasing or even intelligence. Finding your "flow" can be challenging for a lot of folks. Then, tell your audience what they will get out of reading your article. Translating technical information into accessible and readable to a broader range of audiences is technical writing. Or be willing to learn about it. You could even briefly discuss how the problem came about or what inspired you to write the blog. If your blog is about marketing trends and your goal is to keep marketers up-to-date on the latest changes, then your editorial approach should be journalistic in nature. Post to the following social websites (those that make sense for your particular post): Email (or otherwise contact) people who you know will definitely benefit from the content, Post to the relevant groups in your internal company chat systems, Add a link from your companys documentation and/or website, Link from your own personal blog if its published on your company blog. User manuals or instruction manuals come with various products, such as consumer electronics like televisions, consoles, cellphones, kitchen appliances, and more. Equally, if the blog your audience lands upon uses unexplained nomenclature, they could bounce off your site and search for an easier to read blog instead. It also lets you organize your thoughts and achieving your goals for your writing. This organization can take multiple forms sections, lists, tips whatever's most appropriate. Once Ive determined I will expand the topic into a blog post, the workflow begins. Come up with a great title and subtitle, and make sure your post has at least one image. A listicle uses sub-headers to break down the blog post into individual pieces, helping readers skim and digest your content more easily. As social networks treat content with images more prominently, visuals are more responsible than ever for the success of your blog content. For instance, if youre creating a blog about sustainability, then you might help readers learn how they can compost organic materials in their home. I'd Rather Be Writing. This includes access to built-in security features and a content delivery network. Rather than write out a whole separate explanation to something that ties into what you are talking about or backs it up, its best to insert a link. Now that you've decided to take up technical writing, here are some good platforms where you can start putting up technical content for free. I typically define we as the stakeholders, which include your audience (be sure to get specific), your company (what do they expect to gain? If you found the perfect topics that are the perfect cross between your expertise and your readers needs, youve struck gold but the gold will have no value unless people are searching for those terms. Blog posts don't have to be strictly informational, they can be filled with interesting anecdotes and even humor if it serves a purpose in expressing your ideas. In the example above, we turned our company's "Culture Code" into a slides presentation that anyone can look through and take lessons from, and then promoted it in a blog post. A technical writer might create content to provide instructions or explain technical concepts regarding environmental regulations, computer applications or medical procedures. They're like a cookbook for your industry, walking your audience through a project step by step to improve their literacy on the subject. What did you study in college? List-based posts are sometimes called "listicles," a mix of the words "list" and "article." While choosing a unique name is essential, its also important to choose one that is easy to memorize for readers. These are going to be your headers and subheaders that readers typically search for, and the information that Google crawls when indexing and ranking content. And the final title ended up being "How to Choose a Solid Topic for Your Next Blog Post.". ", people gain understanding 60,000x faster from images than words, East Throp House Paddock Road Caversham, Reading RG4 5BY, What are they likely to know already? While I could write a lengthy exposition about my childhood, that history isnt essential unless Im launching a blog about raising children. Where might the gaps in their knowledge be? If you have a friend that is great at spotting small details, ask them to read it over before publishing. Add calls to action to guide your audience to take action. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(398024, '04291759-d2c1-4946-9cf2-64df61661985', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); No matter how technical your topic or knowledgeable your audience, everyone values simplicity. It seemed like a perfect fit because it had low monthly searches. Setting up a blog on this platform is also easy and fast. As formatting transitions to small screens or windows, a centered image will remain the focal point. Unlike blogs, slide decks don't often rank well on search engines, so they need a platform for getting their message out there to the people who are looking for it. And if youre still stuck, lets take a look at some first blog post idea examples. This is what I call the final goodbye part of your blog. You can use these five technical writing examples to help you do just that. To jumpstart your keyword research, first begin by identifying the general topic of your blog. Be sure to account for your start and end dates. Get started, freeCodeCamp is a donor-supported tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charity organization (United States Federal Tax Identification Number: 82-0779546). If you see a major brand, consider writing about another topic. Hashnode is my go-to blogging platform with awesome perks such as custom domain mapping and an interactive community. Search LinkedIn for industry voices who may be able to lend you their wisdom or better still a quote you can use in your blog. Here are some organizations that pay you to write for them, like Smashing Magazine, AuthO, Twilio, and Stack Overflow. Only then can you capture the audience that is waiting out there. I hope this was helpful. Free and premium plans. Dont worry about your first one being absolutely perfect, as with anything new, practice makes perfect. Technical Communication Center Doing so will set you on the right track to writing an excellent technical blog. When you address your reader, it feels more personal and as if you are actually talking to them. Bolster your knowledge further with research. (Want to learn how to apply blogging and other forms of content marketing to your business? Plot twists can be a big benefit in fictional short stories, but its easier to consume a technical article if you get exactly what you expect. The point of this technical blog is to make it easy for anyone to understand and grasp the concept with as little effort as possible. The editorial approach you choose will in part be informed by the topics you cover on your blog and the problems youre helping your readers solve. What perspective do you bring that makes you stand out from the crowd? There are a number of free tools like Grammarly and the Hemingway app that you can use to check for grammar and spelling errors. Best 6 Technical Writing Style Guides + Examples - Archbee Technical Writing 101: Examples and How to Become One (2023) - Fiverr Including You in your title will also get more viewer recognition. Lets dive in. Rather than sharing tips or methods for doing something, this type of blog post shares a list of real examples that all have something in common in order to prove a larger point. After all 90% of information sent to the brain is visual, and people gain understanding 60,000x faster from images than words. Link to other relevant blog posts within your content. Blog Post Examples How to Write a Blog Post Let's get started with an important question. Is it easier to just point to someone elses post? SMTP Relay Service: What Is SMTP Relay & How Does It Work? When I talk to people who want to start blogging, this is often their main blocker. The newsjack example above was published by Houzz, a home decor merchant and interior design resource, about a new mobile app that was launched just for interior designers. Each next action has a name that is defined as if I were outsourcing the task, a GTD style context and an estimated duration. With this in mind, SlideShare blog posts help you promote your SlideShare so that it can generate a steady stream of visitors. Most likely you will include code, images and possibly video in your blog post. Technical Writing Examples in Three Major Categories - Udemy Blog Some CMS platforms offer subdomains as a free service, where your blog lives on the CMS, rather than your business's website. When you begin working on the body of your blog post, make sure readers can clearly understand what youre trying to accomplish. Don't over-complicate your title by trying to fit in keywords where they don't naturally belong. Another way of building your credibility is by employing the help of external industry experts. Air Fryer vs Convection Oven: Which One is Best for You? All of HubSpot's handcrafted email newsletters, tucked in one place. And here's an example of active voice: Every web developer should read this documentation 6 times a year. Precision and accuracy are important in any type of writing but are particularly important when writing about technical matters. Technical information can be difficult to convey in text alone. That is why its important to define your buyer personas before taking other steps in the blog creation process. Ive been working in the open source community for almost 5 years now, building and promoting developer tools including Meteor and Apollo. Once youve brainstormed and carried out market research, its time to create formal buyer personas. There are a number of open source projects on GitHub that you can check out and add to their documentation. Learn who you are as a writer and then add your flair to your technical posts. A blog . That seems unintuitive, right? First, grab the reader's attention. 11 Technical Writing Examples & Samples in 2023 - Whatfix Use fewer words and write in a way so that any reader can understand the text. Avoid big lengthy words. Top 7 Inspiring Technical Writing Examples to Know - Archbee These are articles that deliver information in the form of a list. Mazda Miata vs Toyota Supra: Which Sports Car is Best for You? Usually, they can get this done for you in a reasonable amount of time, but I would suggest giving them at least a weeks notice. Then, describe the purpose of your post and explain how it will address a problem the reader may be experiencing. Written in plain English and layman's terms wherever possible, Structured logically with clear sections and subsections, Kept short and sweet most people looking for technical blogs are looking for swift answers, have the blogging skills necessary to streamline complexity. Outlining the content of your document before expanding on it helps you write in a more focused way. You can opt to post your content immediately, save it as a draft, or schedule when you want it to be posted live in case you adhere to a posting schedule. Your blog's domain will look like this: www.yourblog.com. Keeping simplicity in mind when writing your technical blogs will ensure they're easy to digest, enjoyable to read, and genuinely helpful. For example, you may decide to narrow your topic to "Tools for Fixing Leaky Faucets" or "Common Causes of Leaky Faucets." Hopefully, there is something useful you can take away from this when you set out to write your tech blog. A promotion strategy is your master plan for how you create, post, and engage with your social media content. Get expert marketing tips straight to your inbox, and become a better marketer. This is a great opportunity to put some of your work out there to the public. Once youve actually published the post, youre not done! Sometimes words will not do enough justice, and it will be a lot easier for your reader to understand at a glance. While the guide primarily focuses on writing about code, syntax, and technical notation, it also highlights the importance of putting readers first by using inclusive language. Similar to the "leaky faucet" examples above, you would "iterate off old topics to come up with unique and compelling new topics.". This is your opportunity to get creative and make a name that gives readers an idea of what to expect from your blog. You can choose to start with any of the platforms I listed in this section to stretch your writing muscles. Ive also personally gotten a ton of benefit out of writing: it has helped me organize my thoughts, teach people about technologies I love, and get my name out there. Here are a few resources to help you get started: What better way to draw inspiration than to look at your well-established competition? "Newsjacking" is a nickname for "hijacking" your blog to break important news related to your industry. Your credibility hasnt been established yet. By adding alt text correlating to the topic clusters and keywords of the post, Google can better direct users searches to you. The brands message is all about delving deep into ones writing practice without needing a formal degree. It offers advice about text formatting, assets like images and author bios, and some notes about how to refine the . So even if your first, or second, or third posts dont succeed, keep trying new stuff, putting your ideas out there, and improving over time. You might even be asking yourself, "Where do I even start?" If you find yourself in this. While you have several tools and tips already, we wanted to provide you with some formatting guidelines to use before you publish your own. Once you have your domain name set up, customize the appearance of your blog to reflect the theme of the content you plan on creating and your brand. In the case of product documentation, the writing goal is most often to inform a non-expert audience. Part of being a valued employee entails being an effective communicator. You should also think about your audience's age, background, goals, and challenges at this stage. Editing and proofreading. But it can be done. I suggest that you a) timebox this step and b) use resources beyond simple Google searches. But you still need to make sure your writing style is suitable for a technical document. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(398024, 'cd478ee0-ac79-4f9c-abaa-9b092f578bdf', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Often, your target audience are fellow subject matter experts, which is a double-edged sword. If you have an in-house design team at your disposal, then ask one of them if they would have some time to help you create a cover photo for your blog. Blog posts allow you and your business to publish insights, thoughts, and stories on your website about any topic. The topic can be pretty general to start. My main advice is to leave it as open-ended as possible. As an example, let's say you're writing an article targeted at beginners. Your goal needs to be specific so that you can focus all of your energy on one main idea. It helps you take advantage of social and digital technologies to share your business, or in this case, your content. A wall of text is difficult to read. Finding a keyword with low searches in Google (we recommend sticking to about 10 to 150 monthly searches). A technical writer communicates in a way that presents technical information so that the reader can use that information for an intended purpose. It might be a bit nerve-racking to have someone else critique your work, however, its far better to get their opinion before sending it out into the world. Want to create a subdomain for your blog? These topics offer less competition and should therefore allow your new blog post to rank more easily. As ever, QuarkWorks is available to help with any software application project web, mobile, and more! However, there is such a thing as using too many, so just be judicious and ask yourself if its really necessary. Here's how to go about it. Good examples include user manuals, employee handbooks, standard operating procedures (SOP), software user documentation (help files), troubleshooting guides, and legal disclaimers. Blogging can help you build brand awareness, become a thought-leader and expert in your industry, attract qualified leads, and boost conversions. Tips on How to Write Your First Successful Technical Blog Research your topic. If you love writing and technology, technical writing could be a suitable career for you. Let's dive into the fundamentals and learn about what you should know and consider when getting started with technical writing. A white paper is more than an informative tool; you can also use it to attract attention and generate leads. It should be clean, have a good quality image, and match your topic. All you are doing is collecting those useful pieces of information and consolidating them into one, easy resource for an individual to extract from. (How to Do It Right). One last tip: Make sure the name you come up with isnt already taken, as it could lessen your visibility and confuse readers looking for your content. A blog post is any article, news piece, or guide that's published in the blog section of a website. The main thing I learned from blogging over the last 3 years is that I absolutely cant predict what content will take off and what will end up being a total dud. Having a conversion path is important because when you share your content on the web, you should have an idea of what your audience should do next, or in other words, provide them with a path forward. Whatever workflow you choose to implement, take the time to document it. Computer software and hardware. The infographic post serves a similar purpose as the SlideShare post the fourth example, explained above in that it conveys information for which plain blog copy might not be the best format. To discover your audience, ask questions like: Who are they? This industry needs a wide variety of technical writing, including white papers, case studies, brochures, and copywriting. You could end up getting it to rank on Google's first page of results instead of its second page and that isnt small potatoes! Another idea is to write about an area you think is lacking content. Now that you have the idea, the goal, the structure, and some feedback, its time to polish everything up and ship it.
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