ScreenSteps

7.8 The 2 Most Important Kind of Help Articles In Your Knowledge Base [Webinar]

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This article contains portions of the webinar that was held on April 27, 2015. The recorded webinar was broken up by topic to make it easier to understand.

Goal of the webinar

The goal of the webinar was to help you know what to write. One of the biggest struggles you will face is writer's block. This webinar will help you know what kind of documentation to write, and how to write it.

To know what users need and how to format your documentation, we use two frameworks. Click the links to below to learn what your users need and how to format your documentation.

Know what your users need (and what to write)
Know how to write it (and format the article)

You can format the article in hundreds of ways. But to keep it simple, we'll focus on two:

  1. Road Block Remover Article
  2. Road Map Article
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A road block removing article is a simple article with a few screenshots, and answers a very specific question. A road map is more like a standard operating procedure, and may be more in-depth.

The SaaS Education Lifecycle

We came up with a framework to help us understand what SaaS users need, which helps us know what to write about. Go through the links below to see each stage of the SaaS Education Lifecycle.

Onboarding
Purpose of an onboarding article
Getting screenshots for an onboarding article

We'll use a road block removing article to onboard. It's quick, simple, and can get a new user up in your SaaS product in very little time.

Finishing up the onboarding article
What the finished onboarding article looks like
Training
Purpose of a training article
Creating a training article

We use a road map article to explain lengthier processes. If an article is gong to be more than four or five screenshots and steps, you may want to consider creating a road map article to make it easier on your users.

What a training article might look like
Road map articles summary
Teaching
Purpose of a teaching article
Creating (and viewing) a teaching article

You can use either a road block removing article (short and simple) or a road map (lengthier article with more content). It depends on what concepts you are trying to teach.

Final thoughts
Support
Purpose of a support article
Creating a support article

We will create a road block removing article to answer simple support questions.

Final thoughts on the education lifecycle

Create your knowledge base!

Now that you know how to create great articles, start writing! After you get a few articles written up, you will want to begin organizing your documentation to make it easier for browsing. Check out >> Organizing your knowledge base for tips and ideas on how to group content together.

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