12 tips for writing tutorial blog posts

Tutorials are perennially popular because photographers and designers of all stripes are constantly combing the web and search engines looking for ways to improve their skills and create better-quality work. If they are well-written and on timely or interesting topics, are perfect ‘link bait’ material too. Add these 12 tips to your blog-writing skills, and you should begin to notice your readership increase, too.

1. Be specific, but explain any jargon or technical terms—not every reader is a professional photographer!
2. Be extremely to-the-point in your post’s title, for example, ‘How to light a person in the midday sun’ or ‘Five tips for lens flare photos.’
3. Use a how-to tag, or if you write a lot of tutorial content, create a how-to category or post series.
4. Stick to your specialties. You can grow your audience by becoming known for your expertise in a few specific categories, such as landscapes, image editing, or event photography.
5. If you’re not a great expert, you can still write a tutorial post. Just be sure to note that your how-to
is a beginner’s guide or notes on how to get started with a particular technique (e.g., ‘How I lost my HDR virginity’ or ‘Panoramic photography for first-timers’).
6. Show great example photography, including side-by- side before/after images if available.
7. Err on the side of over-explaining. Go thoroughly and slowly through all your steps.
8. If you’re using specific equipment or software, be sure to mention any important details such as device models, operating systems, version numbers, etc.
9. If your tutorial calls for specific equipment/software, be sure to tell your readers how and/or where they can obtain the exact thing you used. If an approximation will do, be sure to note that in your post.
10. If you’re an expert in a specific technique or with a specific device, consider writing a ‘beginner’s guide’— the web is full of beginners who would benefit from your wisdom!
11. The web is also full of folks who are short on resources but long on time and creativity, so your DIY posts on clever ‘hacks’ or workarounds are also sure to be long-term successes.
12. Nothing makes for ‘click bait’—those impossible-to- not-read posts—as lists. A numbered list of great tips will bring readers back over and over again for months and even years. For example, you could create a post of eight tips for smartphone photography or five ways to shoot better night-time photos.
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