| |
| |
|
Copywriting Information |
|
|
|
Tech-writers: A Necessary Evil
New to tech-writing, or thinking about starting? The key to success is recognising that tech-writers are a necessary evil. Tech-writers are necessary because someone has to write the user doco. The programmers and managers sure as hell don't want to. This is actually part of the reason that you're evil, too. In my experience, most programmers and managers think that they could write the manuals if they wanted to? they just don't want to. They might not write all "flowery" like the tech-writers, but what they write is correct. Unfortunately, that's quite often all that's important to programmers and managers. There is a feeling within the software environment that accuracy = quality. Audience analysis, doco readability, consistency, usability, active and passive voice, commas in a list of three or more items? All of these things are relatively unimportant to everyone but the tech-writer. Oh? and the user. In a world where accuracy is all important, a lot goes over the head of the dummy. I don't know if it's intellectual snobbery, but programmers and managers seem to think that if they understand it, so should the user. It doesn't matter whether or not they do? they SHOULD! Stupid users! Maybe it's the geek's ultimate revenge? Your document can be 100% accurate, but if the audience can't read it, you've wasted your time. So why doesn't anyone acknowledge this? They do! That's the weird part. In theory, everyone agrees with you, it's just in practice that you find yourself out in the cold. I don't know why this happens. Maybe it's because most of these guys have never done tech-writing. So tech-writers spend too long worrying about unimportant things. And they bother programmers and managers with unimportant things. But they're necessary things. Otherwise why would you be employed. Maybe the absence of simple logic short circuits their brains. Who knows? What we can get out of this is that there's a feeling that tech-writers waste time, and as a result, they're pretty much at the bottom of the heap in the software world. I think a good analogy is the way some rich see the poor. Dirty little creatures? if only we could do without them? But there is an up-side. I don't want you thinking it's all bad. Being at the bottom of the heap has its advantages. You can go unnoticed for years if you want. If you haven't seen the movie, Office Space, you should hire it. There's a little ferrety bloke in that who was "let go" years ago. Problem is, no one ever told him, and because of a glitch in payroll he still got paid. No one ever noticed. Being a tech-writer's a bit like that. When I was managing doco teams, my favourite saying was "All we have to do is manage their expectations and our commitments". Because programmers and managers resign themselves to the fact that they don't know what's going on in the doco team, there's sometimes a temptation to slacken off. Don't give in to this temptation!!! If you ever get caught, doing it, it'll be like the boy who cried wolf - they'll never believe your estimates again! The other risk is that you'll lose your sense of urgency. And that's a big part of what makes a good worker. You should be very strict about managing your commitments. This requires discipline, because sometimes it seems you're the only one that cares, but you have to do it. One thing you should be aware of though, is that your average tech-writer in software spends only about 50% of his or her time writing. The rest of your time is spent planning, problem solving, fixing your computer, researching, interviewing the programmers, writing work pracs? I always found it was a good balance, though. It was when I started managing teams that the bottom really fell out. Then the percentage dropped to about 10-20%. There were times when I'd go months without writing any help at all. That can be very frustrating, especially if you don't particularly like managing. Now managing tech-writers in software is an interesting thing. As with most technology management positions, you kinda fall into it, because you're the most senior/experienced person in the company. Unfortunately, that doesn't qualify you to be a manager. Software companies are renowned for dumping people into management roles without any real training or support. I don't really have any advice for you here. If it's gonna happen, it'll happen. Just be aware of it, and know that if you fall into a management role, it's gonna be difficult. (That's not to say that it can't be rewarding though?) The ironic thing is that the most difficult aspect of it is that your staff are screaming at you to change the system. "The programmers don't answer our questions!" "None of my work has been reviewed for the last 2 months!" "The project manager just told me to forget about quality!" Unfortunately, the inexperienced tech-writer is often naďve enough to think they can change the system. Once you become a manager, you know you can't. Hold on a minute? Maybe apathy is what qualifies you to be a manager? Hmmmm. In any case, my advice is not to push too hard. You'll make life hard for your manager, and give yourself a bad reputation. Recognise you're a necessary evil, and work within those constraints. Tech-writing can be a lot of fun. And don't let anyone tell you it's not creative. Trying to think of a way to describe what goes in the Name field without just saying "Enter the name" is a real mind-boggler! 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:
Copywriting - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Writing Suitable Copy for the Press Summer is finally here and school is out, but learning for the rest of us continues. Whether you're a seasoned PR professional working for a top agency, a novice just beginning a career, or a mid-level manager working in-house at a small business, the time comes when we all could use a refresher course in properly writing suitable copy for the press. Common Mistakes That Can Kill Your Web Copy Sometimes learning what not to do is as important as learning what to do. Copywriting is no exception. SEO Copywriting: 7 Tips So you finally built a website for your home-based business. How exciting is that!? Now you just have to let people know you're out there. 3 Reasons why Content is Still King Back in the late nineties, the phrase 'Content is King' was repeated and repeated and repeated by site owners and marketers alike. The belief was that the more content you had, the greater the number of visitors you would attract. 12 Copywriting Tips to Make Your Advertising More Profitable Year after year people make the same mistakes in direct-response copy and advertising. You can avoidthe most common and costly blunders by following these profit-enhancing tips. Engage Your Customer - Write About Benefits Think quick. In 10 seconds, can you list the 5 key benefits you offer your customers?I bet you said "Yes". Freelance Business Writers - How To Get The Best From Your Writer At times, it can be frustrating to find freelance business writers that are of good quality, dependable, and within your budget. The good news is that there are many people who can perform at the level you need. 7 Big Ticket Copywriting Secrets I Learned from Ted Nicholas I recently sponsored and attended Joel Christopher and Ted Nicholas's Double Birthday Bash and Interactive Marketing Summit in beautiful San Antonio, Texas. There was a fantastic lineup of speakers including John Assaraf, Joe Vitale, Brad Fallon, George McKenzie, Shawn Casey, Alan Bechtold, Tom "Big Al" Schreiter, Brian Keith Voiles, Rosalind Gardner, and Sydney Johnson. Sowing the Seeds of Opportunity: How to Multiply Your Freelance (Writing) Work You can turn your $200 fee to write a press release into $2,000 to carry out an entire PR campaign simply by convincing clients to invest in campaigns, instead of individual assignments. Campaigns achieve better results and cost less in the long-term for clients, compared to individual assignments. Copyright, Copyrighting, and Online Copyright Abuse - Save Yourself the Headache by Reading This! Lets start with copyright infringement.It is easily explained as copying someone else's work without gaining permission first. 8 Tips for Writing Headlines that Grab Attention (and Keep Prospects Reading!) Effective headlines make all the difference in whether your prospect reads your marketing materials or simply tosses them to the side. You don't even have a chance for a sale if the audience won't read what you write. How To Find Freelance Copywriting Jobs Your goal is to land a few nice, secure freelance copywriting jobs, but how do you get them? The most important factor in finding these jobs is that you pursue the job you are looking for with all of your ducks in a row, so to speak. Here are a few things you need to do in order to get the freelance copywriting jobs that you have been looking for. Touching the Prospect's Emotions in Your Sales Letter Your prospect has emotions? and you MUST touch these emotions in your sales letter. Your copy has to excite. Ten Eye Popping, Jaw Dropping Ad Copy Secrets In order to make more sales and get more profits for your business, fist of all, you should have a good ad copy. Once you master the knowlege for how to get traffic, you will get a lot of visitors to your site. Why Is FREE The Most Powerful Marketing Word You Can Use? As the famous cowboy Will Rogers once said, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there".So what does that have to do with "FREE"? Quite a lot really. Writing Benefit-Driven Web Copy - 4 Steps to More Sales You've identified the benefits you offer your customers, but how do you turn a list of benefits into engaging web copy which converts visitors into customers?Recently I wrote an article explaining how to identify the benefits you offer your customers (http://www.divinewrite. 9 Tips for Great Design of Your Marketing Materials 1) Don't just hire a good designer. Hire someone who has had plenty of experience designing business collateral. How To Write Headlines That Grab Your Prospects Attention It doesn't matter if you're writing an article, a newspaper or magazine ad, a web page, or even a Yellow Page ad. If it has a headline, that headline is the most important component of the entire package. How to Develop a Killer News Hook When you are going to write a press release probably the most important thing you can do is create a killer news hook. A press release without a news hook is just blatant advertising, plain and simple. The Lost Art Of Fundamental Copywriting What ever happened to good old fashion, fundamental copywriting? Has anyone seen AIDA? I mean, before you can run, you first have to learn how to walk, right? Yet, I see it over and over again. Marketers who can't even write a simple headline are trying to "hypnotize" readers with "psychological copywriting," because that's what a few of today's copywriting experts are telling them they should do!I'll let you in on a little secret.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |