Content Creation Series: Write Tutorial Posts
Jan 13
Depending on your niche topic you may find the tutorial post will give you content for ages, some of you may find this doesn’t fit your niche at all. Let’s look at what it takes to write tutorial posts and how you can add them to your content creation toolkit.
Tutorial:
A tutorial is a lesson that shows people how to do something. The tutorial is broken down into easy to understand and manage steps. When you’re writing tutorials online it’s a always a good idea to add images or video. This will help make your point even clearer and easier to understand.
How to write tutorial posts:
Come up with something from your niche that some people might not know how to do, or might want to learn how to do. Once you’ve come up with an idea break the idea or process down step by step. Make sure the steps are really small, and don’t leave things out. This is one of the hardest parts or writing tutorials ~ especially if you’re really familiar with the process. It’s easy to leave something out just because it seems obvious ~ even the obvious needs to be included in a tutorial.
Once you’ve got your steps broken down think about how you can best describe or explain how to do that step.
Think how you could also show the person that step in the tutorial. That may mean taking a picture and adding it to the post. It may mean taking a screenshot which you can do for free with Jing. It may mean taking a video and uploading it to put in your post. The way you show people how to do something will totally depend on the topic and what you’re trying to explain. What’s right for one topic may not be right for another at all! So think about it. You might also think about doing an audio version ~ where you talk the person through the process. There are plenty of ways to get creative and have fun with this.
Once you’ve got it all thought out put it on paper (or text editor lol). You can line out your steps with numbers or bullet points or paragraphs ~ whatever seems to work best for you. Remember, there’s no right or wrong here, just creativity and fun!
What can you turn into a tutorial?
Just about anything! Let’s look at some examples.
Mountain bikes ~ Getting the right size bike is crucial to the comfort and rideability of a bike. So I might do a tutorial on how to size a mountain bike and make sure the one you’re trying will fit you.
Hand tools ~ You might do a tutorial about how to work a torque wrench
Birthday Parties ~ you could do a tutorial on how to make a related invitation, or a tutorial on how to make a pinata. Just a couple thoughts there.
Making mosaics ~ you could walk people through how to cut glass, how to set up a design, how to make a stepping stone.
Like I said there are some niches that will easily slide into the tutorial model, if yours doesn’t that’s ok, just write some other t ype posts. If you’re not sure, ask in the comments section and we can do some brainstorming and see what we come up with!
Quick Tip: If you’ve got some “how to” plr on your computer you can easily make it unique by turning it into a tutorial. Break the article down and add some numbered steps, some images/video and you’ve got new content and a great post.
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Jackie, there was a time I was a real regular over at FeedFlare.ca, where for a short time Collin did EVERY post on video with it written out in text below it…I think those articles got the most attention…comment wise anyway.
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Funny you mention that Dennis,
It does seem the whole world is moving to video ~ it is personally my least favorite way to take in content and I get emails every time I do posts with video that people are upset about it. That’s why I always now include a recap of the video in text when I do them.
It’s also a great time to point out we will probably teach in the way we like to learn, and it’s important to keep in mind that not everyone learns the same way you do. So it’s always a good idea to provide different types of media in a post so you can hit as many people’s favorite way to learn as possible.
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A tutorial post regarding tutorial posts, classic!
Considering the ever growing popularity, a post with both video and text might be best, depending on the wants of your readers.
i don’t mean a post including video’s, I mean the entire tutorial on video and backed up with text…if some prefer to read or watch.
It will take more ime, but some will like it for sure.
Follow me @DennisEdell on Twitter!
Chad ~ I don’t know the answer to that. You also might want to check if the site will stay live on their server if you are no longer a member. Maybe someone else in our community knows? anyone?
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Thanks Jackie, have I mentioned how glad I am to have found you
On a completely other topic and I have no idea if you know but… I currently belong to WA and am considering dropping my subscription. Nothing again WA, I learned a ton from them and they are responsible for getting me involved in the world of internet marketing and making my first sales. My first website that I ever made was using WA’s hosting and website creation stuff and I am wondering if I am able to FTP that site now that I have host gator? I may just leave it alone as the site is covering my WA fee most months but would love to know if it is an option.
Thanks
Chad
yes ~ I meant 4 to 10 300+ word posts. That will work ~ you’ll just need to do research and start something else in the meantime ~ and there’ s nothing that says you can’t go back later and add posts if you find something really good or it takes off.
~ You have to add all the search volume for all the words together to get an idea of the overall possible volume ~ and remember (and I speak from recent experience) parents trying to potty train their kids are a DESPERATE market.
and that’s always a plus.
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Ok rookie questions here
At this almost a year and still have some many unknowns but when you say 4-10 pages, are we talking 4-10 300+ word posts?
My search volume on my keywords based on Googles Keyword Tool and setting phrase to be exact match is anywhere from 300 to 3,600 global searches per month which I guess really is not all that much
so perhaps a mini site is the way to go for this one and then move onto another niche and when you get to the backlinking and monetization parts I can do both my sites.
Thanks
Chad
A site can be as small as 1 page. A minisite is generally about 4 to 10 pages.
I guess it depends on how much search volume those keywords have and if you can make up for the low commission with volume? Also remember people buying from amazon often buy more than the original thing they went there to get.
It’s up to you ~ either way will probably work.
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Thanks Jackie but I have to ask what is deemed a small site. I have a keyword list of just under 3o and I have 6 posts to date so I am wondering how much more to do. It’s not that I mind going through the practice but just not sure how much time and effort to put into something that is not going to really pay out.
Thanks
Chad
Chad ~ you can do a smaller site instead of a whole niche blog. A site will work at any size it only depends on what you want to do. If you don’t want to continue build some links and leave it be ~ see what it does.
Don’t build a million links right away, but an article and RSS feed submissions would be a good start.
Elsie ~ I don’t know for sure if you have to or not. It’s all still very unclear. Since many of the things I talk about here can seem like direct recommendations I don’t want to take chances. I don’t do it on other things I’m talking about generally ~ but I think if people could see it as me recommending something it doesn’t hurt to add it. We’ll just have to give things time to see where the FTC really comes down on this issue and that’s going to take a few court cases ~ and by the way I’m not an attorney nor do I play one on TV, these are just my thoughts.
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Jackie
off topic – I see you have put the words “affiliate link” in brackets next to the text link for the camera ( I did look at it too, cool little thing) again.
Once you have a disclosure policy in place on your blog is it still necessary to do the above with every affiliate link?
Elsie
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This seems like a great way to add content since people are always looking to educate themselves with various how to”s. It would also be a plus if you’re able to become the authority on the tutuorial you’re writing about.
Great post Jackie that easily explains how tutorial posts work but I think I have one of those niches that a tutorial won’t fit in. As a matter of fact I had a big OH CRAP moment about 2am this morning about my potty seat/chair niche blog.
I am going to need to sell a whole lot of potties in order to make any money, when the average chair is $15-$20 my Amazon payout is not much! I am wondering if I should jump ship now and find something different, only have 5 posts done, or do I stick with it to get the hang of niche blogging and move on!
Not really sure what to do here so any thought would be great.
Thanks
Chad
oh the format to submit to youtube doesn’t really matter ~ it’s your audience and how you can connect with them that matters.
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Hey Elsie,
The kind of video you want to use will depend on your niche. My( niche lends itself well to screen shots ~ for which I use Jing (the link is in the post). I have also done videos where I had images and just put them together in movie maker. Depending on what you’re doing you might set up a video camera and record yourself doing something. (I’ve done this on my road to bike across Kansas blog) I use the RCA small wonder [affiliate link] for that. It’s a great little camera and much cheaper than the Flip. (all of the actual video on my youtube channel was taken with my small wonder just FYI)
Follow me @momtohanna on Twitter!
Hi Jackie
I’ve done quite a few tutorial posts with photos since I started my first blog in 2006, so the next step for me would be to try my hand at converting them into videos.
I have been playing around in Windows Movie Maker. Do you use any specific software to make your videos and what is the best format to use when submitting videos to video sites like YouTube and even for one’s site or blog?
Elsie
P.S. I followed your advise about the quick tip post on Sunday. It was a quick post to do too… lol
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Great idea Jackie! Until you gave some examples, I wasn’t sure how to work this into my blog. Now I know I have another powerful type of post I can make. Thanks! ~Julie
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