1.
User documentation as
a software product
promotion tool
Dennis Crane
CEO
Indigo Byte Systems, LLC

2.
Documentation: unity and struggle
Support existing users
Acquire new users

3.
Documentation’s marketing functions
• Increase the visitor-user
conversion rate by improving
your project’s image
• Generate an inflow of new
users
• Provide a social platform for
existing and prospective users

4.
Generating an inflow of new users
• Use a separate topic for each feature
Generate targeted traffic from search engines to your
online documentation by using relevant content (SEO)
• Do not password-protect access
• Create a How-To section
• Relink all sections (provide navigation)
• Use videos in your online documentation
• Give meaningful names to files
• Create links to the other parts of your project site
• Highlight key phrases and conceptual blocks
• Make sure that structure and layout are good

5.
Generating an inflow of new users
• Publish topics in a separate catalog or subdomain
Generate traffic from search engines ... #2
• Refer to the documentation from your main site
• Use unique URLs for webpages
• Add web counters and web analytics
• Implement search and index
• When updating the site, either do not
modify file names or redirect to new URLs
• Make the documentation match the site's design and style

6.
Generating an inflow of new users
Generate targeted traffic from social
networks and social platforms (SMO)
• Add popular social networks’ “share” buttons to your webpages
• Share your online documentation’s topics describing your
application’s useful and unique features with social network users
• When discussing something in social networks or on forums, leave
links to the relevant sections of your online documentation

7.
Increasing the visitor-user conversion rate
Documentation = brand image,
status, substantiality, trust, etc.
• Your site is not empty
• You show the history of development of your product
• Good documentation gives weight to your project and team
• A good FAQ indicates that your product is alive and in demand
• Relevant use cases indicate the usefulness of your product

8.
Social platform for users
Encourage users to discuss
things on your online
documentation’s pages
• Let users leave comments
• Let users sign via their social network
• Take part in discussions, do not ignore questions
• Add polls and votes to your site
• Invite users to your online documentation pages
and ask them to express their opinions

9.
Does your user documentation
help you promote your product?
Indigo Byte Systems, LLC has developed
Dr.Explain, an application for quick creation
of user documentation and help files
www.drexplain.com
Dennis Crane
CEO,
Indigo Byte Systems, LLC
info@drexplain.com