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- Ten Steps to Mastering New Technical TermsMay 8 2008
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Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Keith Johnson from Great Documents.
As a Technical Writer, I consistently work with technical words that are new and that require my understanding. Here are ten steps you can take, as I have, that will help you to assimilate the words and make them part of your everyday vocabulary, especially at work:
1. Physically write out the word - like they say, “seeing is believing”
2. Look-up the term in Wikipedia and see what the general public has to say.
3. Look-up the term in a regular dictionary to get an academic interpretation of the word.
4. Compare these two definitions, and see where they align, as definitions.
5. Discuss the term with others at work, especially those who use the word daily.
6. Write a few meaningful sentences using the new word.
7. Have others review your sentences to see if you have correctly understood its usage.
8. Begin to use this word as part of your daily experience, especially if work requires it.
9. Try to assimilate an image or picture to better connect the word with experiences in general.
10. Make sure you use the word in your technical documents as you are writing, if possible.
Keith Johnson is a blogger who shares 10 years worth of experience on technical writing at his blog Great Documents. He is also the author
- 50 Simple Tips To Avoid Blog SuicideMay 4 2008
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Hundreds and thousands of blogs take birth each day, but the number of blogs that die are equally high as well. They say you need to give at least 5 years for a business to survive and in the blogosphere we say, give it 3 months for a blog to pick up the pace. Most of the bloggers get so frustrated within such a short period of time that they kill their blog too early. This is exactly what “ Blog Suicide “ is – the death of a blog before it even had enough time to mature!
(more…) - Weekday SEO Tip: Using Multiple Domains To Increase Website UsabilityApril 28 2008
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I have been domaining for a long time. For those of you who don’t know - domaining is buying and selling domain names, building them out, etc. It’s a very nice, profitable, niche business. Some people can’t stand it because they think of domaining as cybersquatting - others don’t mind it. Often, the people that don’t mind it are the ones doing it!Why redirect users with a domain name?
Using domain names to direct people through a website is a very effective way of navigating and focusing a user’s attention. For example, eBizITPA is a local economic development agency that has a lot in terms of classes, grants, seminars and other things. One of their grant programs is called “IT Kickstart.” It’s a $5,000 grant available to small businesses looking to implement some form of IT development (in Pennsylvania). But since it is a popular program, rather than navigating through the jumbled site, you can access the page by simply typing in ITkicksta
- Five Simple Ways To Keep Your Reader’s AttentionApril 24 2008
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Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Keith Johnson from Great Documents.
In today’s world of evolving blogs and on-line newsletters, readers are swamped with so much information that they become more sensitive to the quality of articles that they are reading. I highly recommend that you follow these five steps to keeping your reader’s attention while at your site, blog, or article:
1. Be Clear. It is always refreshing to use clear language and understandable terms that keep the reader “in the know”.
2. Be Brief. I know it is great to write articles like “100 Ways To” but these articles can tire the reader. Brevity is a real blessing sometimes.3. Humor is always nice. As much as you might be saying something serious, still, an appropriate use of humor is always refreshing.
4. Be Honest. When the reader can see into your sincerity and candor, that is a real great trick to keeping the reader at your article.
5. Be Unique. This is why websites and articles really make it - uniqueness. This one I will let you interpret for yourself. This is a surefire method to get readers to return to your articles, website, and/or blog with frequency.
Keith Johnson is a blogger who shares 10 years worth of experience on technical writing at his blog Great Documents. He is also the author of
- Weekday SEO Tip: A Picture ISN’T Worth A Thousand WordsApril 22 2008
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Image via WikipediaWe love images. In fact, the less we have to read - the better! Why do you think reality TV is so popular and has been for years now. It’s easier to watch someone else make decisions and think than it is to do it yourself..In thinking of using images on the Internet, you have to be careful. How much is too much? Is there adequate content on the page so that search engines know what you’re talking about? Or are the pictures taking up to much room?
