Staying in Touch
What is the future of technical writing? The answer is interactivity. The phenomenon of Web 2.0 has converted Web surfers into Web content providers. People don't just browse the Web anymore, they get involved. They post their photos on flickr, track their movements on twitter, interact with their friends on facebook, review books and CDs on amazon, and comment on their favorite blogs. Many of them probably blog themselves. Today's user expects to reach out to companies whose products he or she buys and uses, and they expect solutions if they have a question or a problem.
As a technical writer, how can you make your documentation more accessible to your users while adding value to your products and contributing to the Company's bottom line? Start a technical support blog. We've talked before about the advantages that blogs can offer your users and your Company. They are a great opportunity to learn what your customers think about the Company's products and what experiences they are having with them. Based on comments that you receive, you will be able to deliver solutions that you know people need, and have the chance to pass user feedback to your design and development teams. Here are the things you'll need to put in place to start your own technical writing blog.
Platform
A blogging "platform" is software that allows for the various aspects of any blog, posting comments, RSS feed, or others. There are a variety of hosted online platforms that anyone can register for and use for free. Some examples are Blogger, and Wordpress. There are also offline platforms that allow you to run your blog on your own computer and then publish it to your own or your Company's own hosted webspace. This allows your Company to list the blog under its own domain name, rather than the domain name of the hosting blog platform. Some online platforms, such as Wordpress, also offer blogging under the company domain name for a fee.
Ideally, your Company's IT or Web team will be able to help you set up the blog and design it so that it fits stylistically with the rest of the Company's site. If your Company is on a very low budget, though, give one of the hosted services a try.
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