How to Create Effective Guides - 5 Best Practices

Video tutorials are a great way to help people understand how to do something. They are also a great way to engage your audience and capture their attention. It could be anything from cooking a recipe, cleaning your house, or even learning how to play the guitar. However, there are some things you should consider before creating one that can greatly impact the quality of the final product. With that said, we wanted to share 5 best practices that can help you create effective guides.

‍

Define your target audience

It's crucial to comprehend your target audience before beginning to write your how-to guide. Make every effort to consider who might read your how-to manual and why. To decide on key elements of your guide, take into account their age, history, level of subject expertise, and other demographics. The language you use in your guide, the quantity and difficulty of the steps, and the information deemed necessary to finish the process may all be influenced by your target audience and their objectives.

Master the workflow

When composing an instructional guide, it's crucial that you fully comprehend the procedure. Consider doing as much study as you can on the procedure if you are unfamiliar with it before beginning your guide. You can accomplish this by reading additional how-to manuals, watching instructional videos, carrying out the procedure yourself, or reading relevant books and literature. It can be easier to include all the crucial details and precise information required for a successful completion if you have a thorough understanding of the procedure.

Even if you are already familiar with the procedure, a little bit of research to jog your memory and modernize your methods may be beneficial.

Make a detailed plan 

You can start writing the steps of your how-to guide once you have a firm grasp of the procedure. First, think about how many steps are required to clearly communicate each instruction. Then, give each stage a title or subheading that briefly describes what it contains. Then, make sure that each step's instructions are as simple and clear as you can make them. Because occasionally telling someone to do something doesn't provide them with the tools they need to achieve it, think about how actionable each of your descriptions is. You might need to suggest ways they could finish the assignment.

Be clear and concise

Consider looking through your how-to guide after finishing your numbered steps to spot any places where the language is difficult to understand. It's crucial that your audience fully comprehends your instructions. To accomplish this, think about underlining difficult terms or phrases that you could convey with fewer or easier words.

Include expert insights

A quick list of supplementary suggestions can be included at the end of your how-to guide if there is more information or helpful specifics about your procedure that don't fit neatly within your numbered steps. Think about any information that helped you finish the process or any other significant material that readers would find useful. Depending on the topic, you may want to include more or fewer suggestions to make your list easier to read.

Create Effective Guides with Guidde

Guidde is one of the best apps when it comes to creating effective video guides. It is designed in such a way that it helps users learn and create their own how-to videos with ease. With its simple interface, you'll be able to master the art of video editing in no time! You can add text captions in your video and record voiceovers. No experience required.

‍

‍