Intechs Technical Writing Wiki - Recently Updated Pages

Intechs Articles

Intechs — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:20:15 CDT

Save Money With Telecommuting
Reduce Costs for Freelance Technical Writing
Dealing with Impossible Deadlines
Working with Difficult People

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)

Intechs — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:34:46 CDT

	Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) is a term that can provide solutions to many organizations utilizing graphics and web software. Adobe makes good use of SVG in their software suites to make the process of creating graphics for the web and print bound documents a seamless process.

	Take the strain out of the document review process with clear online help documents. Get rid of the fuzzy lettering that makes a document difficult to read.
Maybe it is time to learn more about SVG?	What is Scalable Vector Graphics?

Content Writing

Intechs — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:17:34 CDT

Click on the graphic below to see the entire illustration or page.
	Content writing can be done for publications, marketing, software, business process, magazines and more. As companies move to the web, where "content is king", there are more requests for original content which is the queen.
	Graphic art content originals are also being requested. Graphic art originals of comic characters sometimes become collectibles on the Internet.
	Busines processes need to be documented for many companies. When you walk in the door, you have to talk to company experts to determine what the process is. Using their expertise, the process comes to life, in a picture. At this point, the business process is something that everyone can see and begin to understand, expand, or change.

Technical Writing for Technical Communicators

Intechs — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:27:23 CDT

Welcome to the Intechs Technical Writing Page

"Technical Communicators for today and tomorrow."

Become a Technical Writer	Saving Money with Technical Writing	Telecommuting and Technical Writing
Skills for Technical Writers	UML

Wellness Writing

Intechs — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:43:48 CDT

Stress has a place in our lives, but too much stress can be a bad thing. Each of us must face challenges as we embark on this journey of life. From time to time, we reflect on our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being and become aware of some adjustments that are needed. Exit awareness; enter wellness, our ticket to addressing some of the physical, emotional, and spiritual issues. Wellness centers provide a variety programs to assist with the resolution, acceptance, and motivation for meeting this challenge. Writers in this industry develop content to support Wellness Center staff and clients. Staff members, clients of the center, and writing professional are three of the main sources we have seen used in the Wellness writing industry. The content produced in all areas is designed as reusable content so it can be used in multiple web content platforms. Free online communities are being established to facilitate the sharing of industry content, making it readily available use in existing strategies and tactical marketing. Starting in 2005, our local government clients have started selectively developing and categorizing wellness services and distributing this information on their websites. The press releases, email campaigns, local newspaper ads, local magazine ads, blogs, and landing pages broadcast this information. The public and corporate/internal websites share the same information. Customer information can be secured more easily since it resides on the corporate, intranet servers. Here is an example of reusable content that Intechs has produced for a life management client.

Figure 1: Reusable content design by Intechs.com Layout and design mappings allow changes to content photograph, header, and footer for email campaigns, brochures, online help, landing pages and websites.

Videos are all the rage!

Video usage is increasing and making it into online marketing campaigns for some Wellness and Life Management services. We haven’t seen these industries utilize video in a way that would support the company’s online marketing programs. Economists are projecting trillions of dollars of growth in the Wellness industry if you are one of the following. Doctors Massage Therapists Natural Healers Manufacturers Retailers Distributors Therefore, further research about how to utilize video in wellness marketing programs is suggested. Viral marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques currently appear to receive search rankings above some of the previously used SEO techniques. It should be noted that our research shows some of these ranking privileges are the results of SEO tests by Google.

Wellness Video Links

Television	http://www.youtube.com/wellnesstvshow
Wellness Revolution	http://technorati.com/videos/tag/wellness

Wellness Links

Wellness Dimensions	http://www.wellness.ucr.edu/seven_dimensions.html
Healthy Living	http://www.wellness.com/
Wellness Directory	http://wellnessplex.com/
Wellness Retreats	http://matadortrips.com/top-5-affordable-wellness-retreats-in-the-world/
10 Best Health/Wellness Sites	http://beyoumag.com/2008/02/26/top-10-health-and-wellness-sites/
Herbal Wellness	http://www.naturalherbsguide.com/wellness-sites.html

Other Wellness Markets

Currently, these industries are being studied to identify additional wellness niche or new markets.

Pets Commercials	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5wOwwynAJo
Pet Wellness	http://www.petwellness.com/
Animal Wellness Magazine	http://www.animalwellnessmagazine.com/index.php
Environmental Wellness	http://www.scu.edu/wellness/Environmental-Health.cfm

Landing Pages

Intechs — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:30:52 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Skills for Technical Writers

Intechs — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:29:05 CDT

Technical Writers must be effective technical communicators and develop
as many skills as possible. The documentation, advertisements, sales brochures,
and more need to be mastered for print and web.

If the content is reusable, it is a benefit to your client and makes you a refined technical writer/communicator.

Digital photographs can be reused to create a variety of documentation and web
content.

As new technologies are developed a technical writer may find the need to frequently add to their skills.

Learn, Learn, and Learn!
Essential Technical Writing skills for the future

Become a Technical Writer

Unified Modeling Language (UML)

Intechs — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:27:31 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Telecommuting and Technical Writing

Intechs — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:22:34 CDT

Telecommuting is becoming an attractive option for companies using freelance technical writers. Due to the slow down of the economy businesses are looking for ways to lower their costs. As managers adjust to off-shoring, new methods of effective communication are being used in order to complete writing projects. Here are a list of tools that our clients find useful when using remote freelance writers.

Project Management software
Web 2.0 Collaborative tools, wikis, and secure servers
GoToMeeting
Emails
Weekly status reports

Using local freelance writers allows the writer to be on-site a couple days a week or as needed. The client can negotiate a lower freelance rate and
the writer can save on gas.

If you already have an information technology degree, certification, or experience many companies are willing to give you access similar to their
IT Support staff. IT Staff Telecommuting

Learn about future essential skills

Technical writer recommendations

Saving Money with Technical Writing

Intechs — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:15:47 CDT

Golden Gate Bridge - San Francisco

Every client we negotiate with is surprised at the cost of our writing services. Has anyone stopped to ask why these costs are so high? Well, we have. Here are a few tips for finding quality, inexpensive technical writers.

Use local writers if on-site work is required

When local writers aren't available look for remote writers

Use writers with a degree, certification, experience, or a portfolio of samples

Avoid using recruiters to eliminate the markup fee

Use your local Society for Technical Communicators (STC) to find candidates

Look for writers that can learn new concepts quickly

Be ready with content or the Subject Matter Expert (SME) meetings when the writer arrives

Use writers with their own laptops and licensed software

Remember, a good writer, that can learn concepts quickly, may be able to write user manuals, standards and procedures, research papers, proposals, as well as other documents. For example, a medical writer position may not need the candidate to be a medical expert.

If all goes well, you will be paying $35-$80 per hour instead of the higher rates. If you choose to use remote writers, your cost will be at the lower end of the hourly rate range.

Always negotiate and save money!

Want to become a technical writer?

Interested in telecommuting?

Want to learn about UML?

Becoming a Technical Writer

Intechs — Wed, 28 May 2008 10:36:55 CDT

Technical Writing Blog

Recommended Software
Microsoft Office Suite

Recommended Guide
The Elements of Style

Recommended Membership
Society of Technical Communication