Quick Tip: Audience-Friendly How-To Posts

Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

I just read yet another article on Medium that seemed full of good information, if only I could figure out what the article was about without having to get waist-deep. Here’s a very easy tip for any piece that’s supposed to deliver information:

Define the thing.

That’s it! That’s the tip!

Let’s say your article is titled, “How to Debug Your Crankshaft.” Start out with a simple definition of what a crankshaft is and what it does. Then carry on.

You might think, “clearly this article is only for people who already know what a crankshaft is (or a VPN or a 6-pager or SEO or POD),” but Medium is a big place and you never know who is going to stumble on an article and decide to click. If you want them to keep reading (and I’m pretty sure you do), give them a hand up.