John Collins is the editor of InsideIntercom the Intercom blog focused on the design, customer experience, start -ups and software company. He was previously editor and journalist of the Irish Times. This article was originally published on InsideIntercom.
One of my goals since joining Intercom has been to encourage more engineers, designers, product managers and business execs who work here to write for this blog talented.
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to demystify the process and hopefully make it easier for them to contribute, I drew up a set of principles that inform our writing Intercom. I advise you to any company that has more than one written for his blog to consider developing a similar guide. At the very least, it is a useful exercise to think about what you want to achieve with your writing and how you intend to do.
This is a revised version of this document distill the points that are relevant to anyone running their own blog or writing for their work.
1. Speak with authority
If you know what you're talking, you should be confident in your written communications. Just do not be arrogant. Or patronize your readers.
Instead, have an opinion - preferably a strong undiluted ,. Offer new ideas and show that you are knowledgeable in your field. Here are some examples of what I mean:
opinion Undiluted
BAD: The initial version of Google+ was potentially weaker than it probably should have, some commentators say it could eventually evolve to be a failure between the giant of online research stellar product.
BETTER: Google+ was a disaster. Nobody used. No matter how many new engagement measures they have invented, everyone knew it sucked. Even Googlers.
New ideas, show your knowledge
BAD: Did this succeed? Who knows, but there are some problems that will have to deal with first. We wish them the best of luck.
BETTER: I can see this working, but here are two things I would change ...
Patronizing (and truism)
BAD: While Facebook co -founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a motto of "Moving fast and break things" certainly the product safety is not an area that often reported sentence applies
BETTER. security is an area where you do not move fast or break things, no matter what it says Zuck
2. Be yourself
This is really a corollary to speak with authority. Unless you are exceptionally good writer, like so good that you should be touting for a book deal, you're not going to ring true try to be someone else . and what's the point anyway?
the New Yorker cartoon above was funny, and quite capable, in 1993. But over-sharing this hyper-social, always on time with a few simple Google searches everyone can know that you are a dog kennel that you came, and you went to dog training.
3. Be clear and concise
Write simply and clearly keeping in mind the audience you write. In the case of Intercom is people in the software industry, potential customers, potential new colleagues, etc.
Keep your sentences and paragraphs short. Remember your fight for people's attention, and they can be left with a click, to get to the point.
This is old school, but use 5Ws - who, what, where, when, why. You can also add how this mixture, if relevant. Did you answer all these questions or do you make assumptions about what the reader knows?
One of the keys to be clear and concise revise what you wrote and edit ruthlessly. This is certainly easier when you took a break, so when you finish writing back the next day and edit it with a fresh eye.
It is not unusual for a product to fall by 15 to 20 percent at this point. This may seem weird if you are not already a regular writer; imagine losing 20 percent of any other resource that you spent hours creating.
If you are not clear and concise in your writing, it says something about the other things you produce. Of why.
BAD :. Switzerland's watchmakers could not have been too concerned about the details of a big watch Apple unveil, but with the Milanese-strap option the Cupertino giant showed he had taken the time to study large watches of the past
BETTER: Apple can not yet be ready to take on Swiss watchmakers. But the attention to detail on Apple Watch indicate a company that is there for the long term.
4. Present your ideas visually
The human brain is capable of processing images 60,000 times faster than text. Which is in line to explain why the content with relevant images obtained 94 percent more than text only views the content.
We try to produce as much as possible original images for posts on Inside Intercom. Fortunately, we have many talented visual designers on staff, including Frantisek, who is responsible for producing the majority of original images you see here, including the image of cupcake above.
There are also many websites where you can get free or inexpensive images that do not look like ordinary pictures.
ADB: Earlier this year we published an article about how the technology sales process is changing. It was time for sales entitled to a truce with customers. The lazy way to illustrate this position would have been with an image like this:
BETTER: A picture of two businesses people shaking hands would have met the requirement to have a photo with every post. But would it not add to your understanding of the play?
Instead, we informed one of our designers, Jennie, and she created the image below. Immediately you know the extension will address how SaaS has changed the way technology is sold and three of the main things that have changed.
It is not always possible to put time and effort into creating images like that, but when you do it's well worth it.
5. Focus on quality over quantity
This is very specific to Intercom but I think it's worth explaining. News is a field of content creation where there is no long tail itself. Break a news story, or even just add some insightful comments on the events of the day and you will generate a lot of traffic. In particular, if you do it on Techmeme or the first page of Hacker News.
But the next day the traffic will be dropped to 10 percent or less. Day three? We are talking about a net.
Rather than get on that treadmill where you constantly have to produce great success Intercom seeks to produce "evergreen" content that has a long life. It takes longer to get results, but stick to this strategy has paid off.
If you still think you need to multiply the content daily, read this. About 27 million content is published daily, but 60 to 70 percent of content is used.
ADB: Writing a new quick and dirty history link to the latest video leakage Windows 9
bettter: Writing a song considered and informed the design challenges faced Microsoft Windows 9
6. Write titles and intriguing titles
titles are where you sell what comes next. Your readers have little time and there are competing demands on it - in many cases all they see is the title before deciding whether to click or not. A good title makes you stand out from the noise. Kevin Clark has some good advice here.
We avoid securities or those that have been written solely to maximize sensationalist clicks. So here are some titles that you will never see on Inside Intercom:
However, we will write strong songs like these:
7. Punctuation issues
Punctuation really matters. Because bad punctuation has the power to make you look really, really stupid.
In fact, all the grammar is important, so if you are serious about buying a style guide as the best-selling AP Stylebook, which we use.
8. Engage with your
players 
At the risk of breaking our rule on the photographs, when you start writing a blog or other public communications front, you must be willing to enter into a conversation. Yes, there are times it will get ugly and messy, but if it does not do you do not follow our guideline about speak authoritatively.
If someone says something you wrote try to engage them in as quickly as possible. If someone is clearly trying to lure you into a flame war, a "thank you for your comments" simple and polite enough.
Ben recently wrote a post that has generated a bit of controversy. Tensions are high in these situations. But respond respectfully to generate a reasonable conversation.
BAD: "What gives you the right to criticize me You have only 50 Twitter followers and if your comment is anything to go you have no idea what you are talking?"
BETTER: "Hi Adrian Thank you for taking the time to comment on the blog Although I can understand where you come from, that's not what I said ...... "
What content strategies have worked for you? We want to hear your story in the comments below.
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