How To Write A How To Article

Pet peeves.  This is one of them.  

I love How To articles.  For the most part they help.  But every now and again I come across a How to article that is so vague, non-descriptive and "fluffy" that I don't get it.  

Maybe that day was an "off" day, but really if you're going to tell me how to walk in a straight line I need more in a How To article than it saying--walk in a straight line.  

So here is my guide lines:

1. Have specific bullet points so you can focus on the "how to".

2. Get to the point.  Fading into obscure ideas blathering about non-specifics, not helpful.  Here's a clue--if the paragraph making your point is more than three sentences, your blathering.

 

3. If you need more than three sentences for a point--it should be it's own subject article.  Which gives you ideas for other posts!

4. If your bullet points needs bullet points then these things need there own how to posts. 

Can you tell all of these four points is saying the same thing in different ways?  

BE SPECIFIC! 

So many times I'll click a link that says how to...

Great catch, but then ten points that don't give specific's doesn't help me.  Telling me not to write poorly does not help.  How about specifics.  Here's how to not write poorly: 

1. Take out these words in a sentence: was, is, the, an, as, that, then, when, just, like, (there are more, but these are repeat offenders).

2.  If you must have any of the words above consider making two sentences, rearranging the sentence or reconstructing the sentence without any of those words.  If this is still not possible, it's possible they are needed, keep them.  

3.  To be clear and understood, use short sentences.  Where there is "and" in your sentence replace the "and" with a period.  Rework the two sentences to make sense.

That's just the start of How To Not Write Poorly.  But also, writing well and writing poorly is subjective.  So next time you think of using the How To...tag line, think about the vague notions you bullet point and think of all the nifty posts you can do by being specific!