Re: Resistance to allowing anonymous web access to online help?

[Sharon Burton <sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com>]

Mark, you are assuming the login is separate from the product login. 

For my employer, we have a cloud based system and the help can't be seen until you log in to use the system. 

But I also use google analytics to see how and how much my customers use the help. The answer is a lot. A lot a lot.  

We're using that information to improve our help on many levels. 

We are an EHR system and our customers would never look at a site like stack overflow for answers to their questions. 

My point is: you have to know your audience and their behavior before you can make sweeping statements about what they do or don't do. 

Sent from my iPhone
951-202-0813
I am available when online thru Skype at Sharon.v.burton. 

> On Jun 19, 2016, at 11:41 AM, <mbaker -at- analecta -dot- com> <mbaker -at- analecta -dot- com> wrote:
> 
> Actually, those are reasons *for* putting the docs on the public web. If you
> don't put the docs on the web, your customers are more likely to go to Stack
> Overflow for answers. Customers don't read the manual. They read the page
> they find when they search. The first place they search is Google. If the
> first page Google turns up is StackOverflow, that is the page they will
> read. That trains them that the place to get answers is stack overflow, so
> that is where they go when they have a question.
> 
> One of the major reasons for putting your docs on the Web is to try to get
> your content to come up first in Web searches. What people who argue against
> it miss is that people do not go looking for the manual and then read the
> manual for their answers. If they did that, then keeping the manual behind a
> log in would merely make their task more difficult. But that is not what
> they do. The search for an answer to their question, without any thought to
> what source it might come from. This means that people are only going to log
> in to see the manual when they have exhausted ever other possibility. If
> they find an answer on the public web, that is the answer they will use.
> (And if they find an answer to how to solve the same problem in your
> competitors product, well, what conclusion do you think they will draw?)
> 
> And if your docs are not on the external web, you have to do more SEO if you
> want people to be able to find anything. Search is a big data problem. Good
> ranking comes from search engines being able to analyze billions of searches
> and the results people choose when they search. Your internal search does
> not have the data to do that, so it will not work as well as Google would.
> This is why intranet search systems come with extensive tuning capability to
> allow admins to try to tune the search to the organization and its
> vocabulary. 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+mbaker=analecta -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+mbaker=analecta -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
> Of Robert Lauriston
> Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2016 2:15 PM
> To: TECHWR-L Writing
> Subject: Re: Resistance to allowing anonymous web access to online help?
> 
> Mark Baker reminds me of a couple of good arguments against putting the docs
> on the public web:
> 
> 1. Support doesn't have to spend time monitoring Stack Exchange et al.
> for customers who don't RTM.
> 
> 2. Tech writers don't have to spend time doing SEO.
> 
> For the kind of complex developer software I document, those are significant
> benefits. For a consumer product, those might be outweighed by the potential
> pre-sales benefits.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and
> content development | http://techwhirl.com
> 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as mbaker -at- analecta -dot- com -dot- 
> 
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> 
> 
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and
> info.
> 
> Looking for articles on Technical Communications?  Head over to our online
> magazine at http://techwhirl.com
> 
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions?  Search our public
> email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
> 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com
> 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as sharon -at- anthrobytes -dot- com -dot- 
> 
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> 
> 
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.
> 
> Looking for articles on Technical Communications?  Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com
> 
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions?  Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications?  Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions?  Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives