The LugIron Software Blog

Can good documentation drive sales? Yes, I think it can. What? You think I’m crazy? Well, not only do I think good documentation can have a positive impact on customers in need, but I’m also convinced that good documentation can have a positive impact on your bottom line. We’ve already discussed how documentation can positively impact [...]

Technorati Tags: CustomerEngagement, Documentation, TechnicalWriter, TechnicalWriting, UserEngagement, UserExperience

It is now commonly accepted that Search Engine Optimization is important when you’re publishing online. After all, if a search engine doesn’t index your content well then the vast majority of people will never see it. Search engines like Google and Bing are the gateway to the web, which is why I find it so [...]

Technorati Tags: CustomerEngagement, CustomerSupport, Documentation, DocumentationSucks, HelpCenters, SocialCustomerSupport, TechnicalWriter, TechnicalWriting, UserExperience

Last week I attended the Web Content 2009 conference in Chicago. I found the conference informative and entertaining. I was glad to see useful content about an emerging and troubling issue: the identity crisis of the technical communicator. However, I was surprised to see the topic show up in a marketing discussion. On the second [...]

Technorati Tags: CommunityBuilding, CustomerSupport, Documentation, TechnicalWriter, TechnicalWriting

I’ve previously discussed the evolution of technical writing and documentation on this blog, in fact that’s one of the primary topics I tend to orbit around. Regular readers will by now understand my fundamental belief that technical writers are an important and underutilized asset to most businesses; however, I also believe that technical writers have [...]

Technorati Tags: CommunityBuilding, Documentation, TechnicalWriter, TechnicalWriting, UserEngagement

Companies are always trying to build loyal customers and I’ve talked about how to connect with users and the benefits of an engaged user in this blog before. So when I ran across Kevin Stirtz’s recent post, For More Loyal Customers, Manage Your Points of Experience, I thought I’d share it along with a bit [...]

Technorati Tags: Documentation, OnlineDocumentation, OnlineHelp, TechnicalWriter, TechnicalWriting, UserEngagement

In a recent discussion over on the Business of Software Forum a poster asked for help after noticing that a recent “improvement” in documentation has resulted in more customer support calls: > A common advice for customer service requests is to improve the documentation, and this we have done for many years. > > But I’ve noticed that [...]

Technorati Tags: Documentation, DocumentationSucks, OnlineDocumentation, OnlineHelp, TechnicalWriter, TechnicalWriting

Companies are starting to realize that it’s in their best interests to try to engage with their users and let them provide feedback across various touch points. One such example is in their documentation. Being able to leave comments and feedback on documentation is an effective way to engage with your end users, but if [...]

Technorati Tags: DocumentationSucks, OnlineDocumentation, OnlineHelp, TechnicalWriter, TechnicalWriting

I’ve been browsing a lot of online documentation lately and in a past life I spent an enormous amount of time worrying about how my users were interacting with documentation. It never ceases to amaze me how bad most product documentation is, especially when the documentation is published in a half-measured attempt on the web. [...]

Technorati Tags: Documentation, OnlineDocumentation, OnlineHelp, TechnicalWriter, TechnicalWriting, UserEngagement

Most often, documentation is a post-mortem: “Here is feature X, this is what it does, this is how you use it.” The value of documentation shouldn’t always be about writing about what a product does and product teams should realize that the process of writing the documentation can and should impact the design of the features. [...]

Technorati Tags: OnlineDocumentation, OnlineHelp, TechnicalWriter, TechnicalWriting, UserCenteredDesign, UserEngagement

I came across this very interesting post by Paula Stern over on the WritePoint Staff Blog. Paul very clearly identifies the growing challenge for technical writers that I discussed in my previous post, Growing Happy Users–One Customer at a Time. The traditional “product manual” is going the way of the dinosaur because users are being [...]

Technorati Tags: CommunityBuilding, InformationDeveloper, InteractiveDocumentation, TechnicalWriter, TechnicalWriting, UserEngagement