 |
 |
 |
           |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
10 Tips for Tech-Writers
Tech-writing is a tricky business. It's not a very high profile industry, so there's not much support around. Follow these 10 quick tips, and you'll be well on your way to a satisfying tech-writing career. 1) Follow a sensible career path?
2) Knowledge is your lifeblood - learn the politics of your company. Know who knows what. Find someone who consistently gives you timely, reliable, technically accurate answers, and get their name tattooed on your shoulder! Every company has at least one. And they may not be in the project manager/product manager/customer/programmer roles. They are generally the people who've used the product in the real world, and dealt with real world customers. 3) Communicate WITH, not AT. Tech-writers don't have enough power to get away with communicating at. 4) Track stuff (take spreadsheet printout and write it up on the board). 5) Develop good product and domain knowledge - The more you can figure out for yourself, the better off you'll be (and the more respect you'll get from the techies). 6) Find out who your users are, what they are trying to do, what they are having trouble doing, and how they want to be helped. Then provide this assistance. Help the user do what they are trying to do. Don't just tell them what the product can do? a help system is only helpful if it addresses the users' needs. 7) Treat everyone as a customer. Then manage their expectations and your commitments. Always ensure they know what you're doing. Tell them when you'll be finished. And pull out all stops to meet your deadline. 8) Provide a surrogate user testing mechanism for the development team - providing usability feedback. 9) Work as hard as required to get good quality doco finished on time and to budget - this is how you'll get the satisfaction out of work that you need. 10) Have fun with it. Don't become jaded and cynical by the high-tech, harsh, uncaring IT world. Use your smarts, and make the most of the resources provided. Most importantly of all, make work satisfaction your number 1 goal. It's the best way to stay happy and get ahead. About The Author * Glenn Murray is an SEO copywriter and Article Submission Specialist. He is a director of PublishHub and also of copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.divinewrite.com or http://www.publishhub.com for further details, more FREE articles, or to purchase his e-book, 'SEO Secrets'.
MORE RESOURCES:
Leap to the top with new in-house web copywriting service from ... - Response Source (press release)
Copywriting - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How You Can Find Freelance Children's Writing Positions That Will Last Freelance children's writing positions are always advertised. Rather, the schooling to learn how to write for these jobs is advertised. Health and Fitness: A Huge Industry in Need of Writers Think about how much you read about and spend on health and fitness.Do you ever exercise? Take supplements? Go on a diet? Visit the doctor sometimes? Most of us do all four. Pulling Sales with Your Ad Copy One of the best marketing tools available to your internet business is good sales ad copy. This can pull in sales faster than just about anything. Are You Asking the Right Questions in Your Copy? It's a common approach to writing copy. You begin by asking questions. Why Copywriting Is The Secret To Your Online Success Over the last decade, the number of companies selling their products and services on the Web or sharing information online with their target market has exploded.It's no longer frowned upon to conduct your business on the Web, and huge numbers of people are making a healthy living doing just that. Freelance Copywriting Advice #1: Take the Scary Jobs From time to time you will be faced with an opportunity that looks downright scary.The temptation is to think, "Hey, that's way outside my level of expertise. Writing Online In Two Syllables or Less About once a month I fly off somewhere to give a one-day workshop on writing for the web. For part of the day, I invite the group to take part in a series of short tasks. Why Your Advertising Copy is not the Most Important Part of Your Ad If you own a shop in the middle of the desert, and nobody walks past.. How to Negotiate Rates with a Freelance Copywriting Expert Lots of people who seek out my copywriting services are concerned about money. Rightfully so. Progressive Headlines Guide Customers To Buy Headlines are, without a doubt, one of the most important elements in copywriting. As has been said countless times before, if you don't get your readers' attention with the headline, the chance of them reading your copy is virtually none. How to Write Profitable Ads Regardless of how you look at it, the most important aspect ofany successful business is its advertising. In fact,the success of any business is largely dependent on good advertising. Finding Your Clients Business Problem Leads to Better Copy WHAT'S THEIR PROBLEM?How do you begin a dialogue with a prospect, be it in person, on your website or in print?You talk about your client's business problem.What IS your client's business problem?Answering this question is the hardest part of marketing. 10 Eye Popping, Jaw Dropping Ad Copy Secrets 1. Use a hand written letter on your ad copy instead of text. Web Copy - How Much is Enough? These days, there's widespread acceptance that a website is an integral part of the marketing plan of any business. Likewise, it's commonly accepted that web copy is a vital component of any website. Freelance Copywriters on the Internet: How to Tell the Difference Between Heaven-sent and Hack If you're hunting for a good freelance copywriter and have never done it before, or if you have but find yourself needing another for the first time in a while, I don't envy you. This "brave new" e-world has turned your once straightforward search of a neatly stacked file of brochures and introductory letters into a bothersome wade through a mucky world of half-baked online listings and search results which only seem to list those freelance copywriters who are experts in SEO, or at least know what the heck it means (search engine optimization). Promote Your Business and Get Paid for Doing It! How can you gain credibility and exposure for you and your business, reach a motivated audience, develop a far-flung network, hone your presentation skills -- and get paid to do it?Many writers, artists, speakers and entrepreneurs have found an answer: they teach classes in adult education programs.Adult education is big business. 11 Ways to Get an Editors Attention I worked as a business magazine editor for about 20 years. During that time, thousands of news stories and press releases crossed my desk. Do You Make These 5 Mistakes When Writing Sales Copy? Writing copy has sometimes been compared to an "art." While it does take creative skill to write great copy that generates results, there are some mistakes that you should avoid to make sure that your copy is read and acted upon. Writing for People and Search Engines Writing for the search engines is much different than writing in any other medium. Search engines are finicky, but they love text, so you're talking their language. Boost Your B to B Marketing Copy: 3 Major Copywriting Blunders and How to Correct Them When you're writing or evaluating copy for a B to B marketing (also referred to as b-to-b or business to business marketing) campaign of any kind, you may think it's only appropriate to write formal copy in which you refer to yourself as "we" or "our organization" and let lots of other copywriting basics fly out the window.Sadly, these sorts of mistakes are the result of the major misconception that you have to be cold and impersonal in your copy if you want to seem professional.
|
 |