Essay Online

Overview

Our humdrum, sterile headings and writing manner do little to encourage our Users to read parts of the product documentation that would be especially beneficial for them. This article presents two real-world examples, how they fail their users, and how to correct the problems.

Not the Legal & Disclaimers

Although the Legal and Disclaimer sections of your documentation are important for the protection of your company (and protection of your company should be a primary goal in your work), this is not what we are talking about here. Instead, we are discussing the Document topics that are often overlooked, but are important to your Users.

We will look at two examples where the Document writer should push the Reader to investigate additional material. My suggestion is to “advertise” the topics, by using tempting writing, to urge the User to read the relevant topics.

A Rule of (Writing) Life

If a User knows one way to do something, he/she is hesitant to bother learning about other ways. You, as a Document writer, have to sell the Reader on the benefits of the “other” (better) way.

Example: Microsoft Word ™ Styles

Most power users of Microsoft Word ™ use “styles,” rather than manual formatting, to format their documents. New and casual Users do not know about this powerful tool (available in most word processors ). Word’s User Documentation does little to encourage the User to learn about styles.

The Word’s User Document talks about manually formatting characters, paragraphs, etc. Later in the document there is a section on “styles.” But why should the User ever read that section? Styles seem to be just another way of formatting characters, paragraphs, etc. The formatting section just told them how to do this.

Power Users know that for anything longer than a few page letter, styles provide many benefits.

Documenter: Sell the Reader on important topics! Encourage your User to read the additional material. Microsoft should have added something like this at the end of the section on manual formatting:

“We recommend that you use ’styles’ to format any documents longer than a few page letter. See Chapter XX to learn about styles.”

Example: Gas Barbecue Safe Shut Down

A Gas Barbecue User Document headline says: “How to Shut Off Your Barbecue.”

The Reader Thinks: “I know how to do this,” and doesn’t read the material.

If your Users are doing things unsafely or incorrectly then that bland headline will do nothing to help them correct their ways. Let’s try a more convincing headline for this:

“Most People Shut Off Their Barbecues Unsafely: Here’s the Correct Way”

Or even more focused:

“You Probably Shut Off Your Barbecue Unsafely: Here’s the Correct Way”

This wording sounds like you are selling a product to the User. But you are not. You are using marketing techniques to get Users to read important material.

By the way: If you have a gas barbecue, compare how the instructions tell you to shut it off, versus how you actually shut the barbeque off.

“See Also” is too Bland

Don’t fall into the trap of simply adding “See Also” sections where relevant. These are OK for telling the Reader where to find additional information, but do nothing to convince your Reader to read important additional material. If the material is of real benefit to the Reader then sell them on reading it. Compare these:

* See Also: Styles, Chapter XX

* We recommend that you use “styles” to format any documents longer than a few page letter. See Chapter XX to learn about styles.

If you were reading the User Document, which of the above two headings would get you to learn about styles? (If you gave the ‘wrong’ answer, then ask some other people;-)

The Bottom Line

By selling the Reader on what you (or your subject matter experts) consider important (beyond the legal and disclaimer statements) you are adding your knowledge to the document. In effect, you are saying, “I think you should read this topic because it may help you.” That’s a good thing to say, especially because it reflects your good attitude to your Reader.

If you expect your potential clients to read the texts on your site, be especially particular about the content. Writing for the web has its own peculiarities in comparison with common publications. It is known that 79% Internet users just skip over the web pages, but rarely peruse them. It suggests that we should take pains to make their reading useful for them. Do not make these mistakes. Surely the site should make a bright and lasting first impression, but not with the help of the flash, the pet chip of many web designers. They consider flash to be very cool. In fact the visitors of the site can’t stand irritating flashes and start looking for the reference to do away with the annoying picture. The aim you make up a flash may be various, freelance technical writing for example, but the reaction to the flash will not be quite adequate. They have opened the page to acquire necessary information and the flash reel is a nuisance for them. The users don’t know if the information on your site is better than on the millions of the others. If they come across the flash at the very start they will just switch to another site. Forget about the flash and fill you site with the useful original texts.

In newspapers and magazines our attention is captured by pictures, photos and illustrations. It is not the same in the net. The research showed that first of all the users pay attention to the headline - they scan the whole page to find the seizing words. A single phrase that says: “freelance internet writing jobs” will not tell much about the offer itself. This is the key function of the titles and subtitles &ndash they will reveal to the reader the content of the whole page so that he won’t have to delve into the details. The headlines attract the users’ attention. The first subtitle is to define the user’s problem (e.g. seeking a freelance writing job?), the second one is to scream &ndash “Here is the solution!” Thus the reader gets the general idea of the site and if he swallowed this hook, he is likely to return and read the whole page. If your site welcomes the visitors in this way, you are just missing the real advantages. It might be the first and the last phrase the user reads on your site. Remember, that the Internet surfers came to your site to get what they, not you need. So, find out what their wants are. Describe the benefits, he will have, appeal to the emotions. The users must be sure that they deal with a trustworthy company and they have made a good bargain. Gain their favor: persuade them with the specific text highlighting the main benefits and advantages. Here everything is simple. The users write key words in search engines and phrases (e.g. freelance writing jobs).

The search engines present a list of the sites relevant to the inquiry. The users are inclined to choose the first sites from the list. The sites with the pertinent key words are placed at the top of the search list. So, you should define the key words of your potential clients and use them in your texts. Don’t clutter up the page with a great number of useless options or heavy graphics, downloading for too long. Use the empty space to lead the reader through the whole text from the first to the last word. Remember that screen reading tires the eyes. The screen reading is 25% slower than common reading that is why you should not strain your visitors. Divide the information into small portions, use short saturate sentences (e.g. Freelance writing jobs available) A paragraph should contain only one major idea. But you can make a lot of lists, as you never know which one magically turns a reader into a buyer. Your text will face serious trials. The users will not read it until they want it. Your task is to attract them with something new and interesting all the time. A famous marketing specialist Joseph Sugarman shared his secret of a successful text: “The aim of the text is to make you read the first sentence. It makes you read the second. The second one aims at reading the next and so on.” Mind that the text should describe your products or service and incite the reader to action. If you propose online freelance writing jobs you should mention, at least that your company or magazine or another facility that gives a freelance writing job opportunity, that you have a variety of possibilities starting from freelance writing editing jobs that is going to be a turning point in somebody’s career.