Great article, thank you. I enjoyed it 🙂

I am glad someone brought up the FAQ but I’d also ponder a Glossary of Terms for those unfamiliar with the industry or topic. I find that many people use acronyms (initials used within an industry for a specific group instead of the long name) but skip defining it in the first mention. A glossary can have the description available with just a quick link.

Sander: The FAQ plugin seems extremely useful, thanks for sharing it with us.

Programmers Kit: I agree that video tutorials can be very helpful as well. But personally, I have never really been a fan because video tutorials can take a little long to load, are difficult to navigate, and moves at a single speed.

Plus your readers are literally forced to come back if you have several part tutorials.

I’m also adding you to my RSS reader, not that you need the subscribers! With great posts like this one I see how you’ve got so many readers!

One thing I’ve found really helpful in writing the articles and I think helps the readers is to write a short paragraph on what you are going to teach / instruct / show them how to do, followed by a bulleted list breaking down the steps. It is eye-candy to have bullets or ordered lists for readers, it lets them quickly sumerize what the article will contain, in order.

The body of the article is broken down with detailed info on each bulleted item.

Doing this has helped me make sure I am getting the most detailed info, in the proper order for the reader to digest.

Don’t be afraid to use the strike-thru option to correct mistakes that your readers point out to you in the comments.

Break LARGE tutorials into 2 or more articles, seperate by a few days or a week. By large, I mean more than 10 or 12 unique steps to complete the task. This will get readers coming back.

In one tutorial series I’ve been working on for the last 8 months or so (it is kind of an ongoing one), I made an entire Q&A post based on the questions asked in all the previous articles comments. It was like free, valuable content for the readers.

I think one of the most important points is the clarity part. Sites like PSDTuts (which you mentioned) show tutorials in concise stages which makes it easy for the reader to follow. Along with that, using nice graphics can really add to a post (and if formatted correctly will again be aesthetically pleasing for social media users).

It’s vital not to underestimate or overestimate their intelligence when you begin writing. After all, you don’t want to seem patronising or seem to be writing in a different language!

Also, when you choose an ‘intelligence writing level’ make sure you stick to it, so that you explain points clearly enough, but without going through mind-numbing details e.g. what certain words mean if the audience already knows what they mean.

Great post, starred in my reader!

Also, PLAN PLAN PLAN PLAN! They teach us that in elementary school, but everyone just dives in head first without a plan. I see 6th graders writing more fluidly than half the bloggers crap I’ve read because a 6th grader knows how to structure and plan paragraphs more concisely.

Justin Dupre