Far too many companies venture into technical content because “that’s what you’re supposed to do.” Looking at established technical products and companies, the process can look deceptively straightforward.

So, companies start to throw code samples and technical jargon at a series of unrelated articles on their blog. Perhaps they find some SEO keywords and include those in the titles to gain search traffic. They might even look for a technical content agency or freelance developer writers to help with blog post production. 

What they often lack, though, is clarity on what they want, which prevents them from getting it right when it comes to technical content.

What Kind of Technical Content Do You Want?

Let’s start with the basics. There are many types of technical content, and not all companies or freelancers are adept at developing content that’s right for you.

Here are some types of content for technical products:

• Reference documentation
• Quickstart tutorials
• Use case tutorials
• Language-specific quickstarts
• Sample applications
• Open-source tool roundups
• Technical product comparisons
• Developer inspiration stories
• Engineering case studies
• Technical product pages
• Video product demos
• Livestream coding
• White papers or e-books
• Signature content guides

That list could go on, but there’s one thing you won’t see it feature: blog posts.

Some of these types of content may live on your blog page, but that shouldn’t be your starting point. When you reach out to technical content agencies, the right ones will question what you mean by “blog posts.” Just because your content covers technical topics doesn’t mean you’re producing the technical content you need.

The issue is that many companies focus on form over substance. For example, you may provide a freelancer with a brief for what you envision as a blog post. But they will interpret it as documentation because that’s what the technical content actually is. 

In fact, several content types in the list above belong in documentation. Yet, we frequently see companies publish blog posts that are just glorified docs in blog post form. They’re product-focused, bottom-of-funnel content masquerading in the top-of-funnel.

Another point to be wary of is prioritizing volume over relevance. Ramping up output without the right kind of thought behind it is bound to result in some hits, but you won’t know why. Further, those hits could come at the cost of countless duds.

If you want to hand topics to an agency to produce a host of content, you must be clear about what type of content you want. Unless you’re laser-focused on what you want a technical content agency to produce—and why said content will make a difference to your company—you may not be ready to rev your content engine to high gear. You need to consider the strategy behind your technical content.

What’s Your Technical Content Strategy?

You may be tempted to simply follow the blueprint set by successful tech companies you admire, but this comes with downsides. Content that works for Twilio, Stripe, or Vercel may not fit your product nor speak to your particular audience.

On the other hand, developing your own content strategy comes with many advantages. In addition to uncovering the best publication types for your organization, a solid strategy extends your positioning and explains the opinions upon which your product was built. Further, it can help your entire team—including any technical content agencies you bring on board—understand the translation between developer problems and your product’s solutions.

One of the mistakes we see companies make with content is to publish scattershot topics. Each hopes to land some search keywords, garner attention on social media, or both. And every topic is an island to itself. While the trial-and-error approach can offer a way to fine-tune your messages (usually over a long period), it tends to result in an indiscriminate collection of topics, few of which hit the mark.

We recommend a more targeted direction. Before committing to even a single topic to cover in your tech content, ask yourself (and your team) whether you can discuss it over multiple, diverse pieces. If the answer is “yes,” then what you have is a theme—in our strategy work, we call themes “concepts.” Each of your strategic concepts should contain the potential for many topics. More importantly, each concept should clearly connect to your product.

What does this look like in reality? A one-off topic about the Python casefold() function, for example, may look tempting in keyword research. A compelling concept might be a series of articles covering multiple string manipulation topics, including the Python casefold() function. Finally, you need to compare this Python concept against the other potential concepts to prioritize which makes the most sense for your audience and product.

Whatever method you use to arrive at your content strategy, you need a plan for what to produce and why it matters. Either you already have concepts (or you may call them themes) clearly articulated, or you’ll need a technical content agency to help you. If you do decide to engage with external professionals, a key consideration is how they’ll fit into your workflow.

What’s Your Ideal Content Workflow?

Before you hire a technical content agency, or even a freelancer, identify your ideal content workflow. Which actions would you like to keep internal? Which do you prefer to outsource? Then look for someone who matches what you need. External firms should have a smooth and understandable process for you and your team to sync with. 

In a rough chronological order, this is a list of responsibilities that are inherent to tech content strategy and production:

• Identifying the technical content types you need
• Building a catalog of strategic concepts
• Articulating your company/product opinions
• Researching SEO keywords with developer intent
• Prioritizing topics within each concept
• Outlining topics, including sub-headings to grab the reader’s attention
• Expanding outlines into complete writer briefs
• Coordinating requirements and deadlines with freelance writers
• Circulating written content internally for review
• Chasing writers for edits and additions based on feedback
• Migrating the finalized copy into the content management system

Many technical content agencies don’t offer the foundational work represented by the first half of the above list. This requires you to develop and maintain a deep understanding of your audience and product—and communicate it to them over and over again to get the content you’re looking for.

In other words, there’s a separation between your team and the writers—you must handle strategy, research, and planning in-house, then heave topics, outlines, and briefs over the wall to the agency writers. They’ll follow your instructions and hurl their content back over the wall for your review.

EveryDeveloper believes you should remove the wall.

Not only is the over-the-wall method a lot more work on your likely overstretched team, but you also miss out on valuable, objective expertise from an agency that’s collaborated with a lot of companies. 

Who Can Become a Technical Engagement Partner?

To reach the right technical audience, you need a partner who can help build your content strategy. They will save your team from explaining—and re-explaining—what matters. Plus, you’ll build on their expertise applied to your product, not just your content.

As you look to hire a technical content agency, look for a partner who will help identify strategic content types, expand powerful concepts, and collaborate with your team. This partner will provide an objective, external view. Your strategy will be better and your content will understand how the technical audience sees you—which is different than how you see yourself.

Naturally, as you research these partners, we hope you consider working with EveryDeveloper.