So I am an IT engineer turned Editor, working on the technical team of my B2B content marketing agency. As an Editor, I get to work closely with budding technical writers. Most of them, and also a lot of my friends and colleagues, end up asking me how to go about ‘technical’ articles. I mean they do know or have some idea of how to write articles or blog posts but aren’t especially aware of the nuances of technical writing. To them, I say, “ Technical writing is everything any piece of writing should be – interesting, informative, crisp, and succinct.” The passion and skill sets required are the same as for any other writer. However, it’s equally important that I take this opportunity to highlight how technical writing is different from all other forms of writing.

Content writing for IT

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Technical writing in B2B content marketing is meant more for educating the readers about a specific topic, more than anything else. It is, mostly, not meant to convey any emotions or opinions about a subject, rather for stating facts. They are written for a niche audience and require in-depth research and extensive knowledge about the topic (general idea of a topic will just not do). However, this in no way means that a newbie can’t venture out into this space of writing. There are certain tips that can be followed by those enthusiastic of making a career in technical writing. Listed below are curated tips, picked from my experience in the field, especially for them.

Break down the research

It is not for nothing that this is my first tip for technical writers. The real magic happens after you have a topic at hand and before you start writing it. This in-between time is when you research. You make or break your article here, even before you actually write it. Considering the heaps of information available today, it is very easy to lose our way during research. The trick lies in breaking it down the with a structure. Remember, you can’t answer everything about a topic in a single article: that would make it a research paper.  

Let’s say I had to write a 500-word article on the ‘Applications of Internet of Things’. The first thing I am going to do is to make my structure. This could include

What is the Internet of Things?

What are the benefits that come with the Internet of Things?

And finally, what are some of the applications of the Internet of Things?

With a structure to start with, I break down my research points. Consequently, the possibility of losing out a good deal of time on irrelevant research gets eliminated.

Keep it simple

Now just because you’re writing a technical article or blog post, doesn’t necessarily mean it needs to sound complex. Don’t confuse professional tone and expertise with complexity. Just how end users love a technology that’s simple to use, tech-savvy readers like to read about stuff that’s lucid to understand and remember. Are you now wondering, “But wasn’t I supposed to write for my ideal audience of CIOs, CTOs, and other top notch tech professionals?” The answer is both yes and no.

Article or blog writing is part of content marketing. Like in all other forms of marketing, what lies at the core is a business. You’re writing about a product or service because you eventually want some of your readers to contact you for it. Now the person reading your article may well be a corporate technician but may be his boss is not. Now, the technician may feel uncomfortable sharing your article with his boss, who won’t understand all the technical jargons. As a result, your article finally fails to do what it was ultimately supposed to do.

Use examples and analogies

If you’ve observed, I have done this myself in the previous tips. When you’re writing content for B2B marketing, your audience is not the end user; it’s another business. They expect to stay updated on what’s already happening in a certain field of technology, worldwide. They wish to know the stats and numbers, the impact made so far, the results delivered, the work of their competitors, and so on and so forth. In fact, try and replace excess explanations with apt examples and analogies. You may end up writing less and explaining much more. Remember, examples help drive home the point you’re trying to make.

Give links to more information

Going back to tip no.1 in this post – you can’t write everything there is on any given topic. However, you can definitely give links to other relevant material in your articles or posts. For this, you can hyperlink text in your sentences or you could call out other articles to be read on this topic at the end of your own article. You could even link your current article to something you wrote earlier around the same topic. This not only makes your content thoroughly informative, it also works wonders for your SEO.

I have religiously used the above tips in my days as a technical writer and I can swear by them. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and use these tips to write your best technical article or blog post so far. In fact, I’d love to read your work or hear your experiences with these tips. You can write to me at support@spacebar.in. Happy writing!