How to Make Your Writing More Resourceful: Five Simple Ways

How to Make Your Writing More Resourceful: Five Simple Ways

If you want to become a resource, and educate or instruct your readers, then you need to make your writing actionable. Yes, I know actionable is one of those silly words, but you know what it means; people need to be able to do something based on your posts. And make your posts evergreen so people will come back over and over. Here are a few ideas.

Use Tons of Examples

When I was a full-time technical writer, one thing that readers always wanted was examples. They wanted to see themselves in your writing. Whether you’re writing a software manual or a blog post about social media, use a lot of examples. Use them liberally. Sprinkle them like magic fairy dust throughout your writing. For example, if you were writing a post about how to create an article in an hour, you might send them here: How to Write a Perfectly Fine Blog Post in An Hour. (See what I did there?)

Create Detailed Posts

If you’re writing a how-to article, make sure to give readers all the details. Try out your method yourself, too. Better still, have a friend or two try out your article. Ask for honest feedback and incorporate the feedback into your instructions. There’s no reason to be defensive when you’re getting feedback. Feedback makes your writing better. Sometimes when I’m reading recipes, it seems like the recipe writer didn’t try out the recipe for themselves. It’s so frustrating to try to cook and have one or two or more steps missing! So capture all the details. For more information, Master Class describes how to use concrete details to enhance your writing.

Have Actionable Steps

There’s that word again: actionable. Ensure that your readers can do what you’re telling them they can do. If your instructions are too vague, your readers will get frustrated and leave, and you never want that. So review the steps you’re asking your readers to take. Review the steps a few times and you’ll have happier readers. And you’ll feel satisfied that you’ve done a good job.

Be Specific

One way to be specific is to have examples. Another is to consider the environment your reader is in. For instance, will your reader be working on a laptop when they write a blog post? Will they be working on an iPhone? Then make sure you include information to help them in that environment. This is especially important when writing about software or apps. Some may only work in specific environments. Apps are often better on phones and may not work at all on laptops or in a desktop environment.

Curate Other Resources

Even if you don’t have all the answers, you can collect posts or ideas from those who do. Nobody has the time to read everything. You might like this article: How to Use Pinterest to Curate Content. Another excellent resource is Randy Clark’s book, How to Stay Ahead of Your Business Blog Forever. Highly recommended!