Write the article properly. Most people who read a clear how-to are finding out what the job involves, and when they see it is harder than it looks, they call the business that explained it.

The worry about giving it away

Ask a business to publish how-to articles and the objection often comes first: if we explain how to do the job, why would anyone pay us to do it?

It sounds like common sense. But most people who read a how-to article are not going to do the job. They are finding out what it involves.

The honest answer is usually more than they hoped, and the business that gave it to them has just shown, at length, that it knows the work.

Who reads a how-to article

Think about who searches for how to do a job in your trade.

The third is the reader the article is really for. They follow along until the step that needs a special tool or a steady hand, and decide they would rather pay, with your name on the page.

The capable are the only readers the article costs you, and they were never going to hire anyone.

Why explaining it well wins the call

A services page says the business is experienced. A how-to article shows it, step by step, with the warnings in the right places.

Claims on a home page are taken on trust. Eight clear steps that match what the reader later finds under the sink are proof.

The readers who do call already know the words for the problem and why it takes an afternoon. Many found you by searching for the problem, with no business name in mind.

Choosing the topics

The best topics come from the phone: the questions customers ask before booking, the jobs they tried first, and the mistakes you are called in to fix.

Favour jobs on the edge of what owners attempt, with a simple version some can manage and a harder one most cannot. Write seasonal pieces a few weeks before the season starts.

Work that needs a licence, such as gas fitting, still makes a good article: explain what is involved and why it needs a qualified person, and leave out the steps.

Be honest about the difficulty

Say how long the job takes a first-timer, which tools most households will not own, and which parts have to be bought in advance.

Say where it usually goes wrong and what a mistake costs: a stripped bolt, a flooded floor, a voided warranty. Readers remember the business that warned them.

But do not exaggerate to frighten people into calling. A reader who tries it and finds it easy will not trust anything else you write.

Say when to call a professional

Most how-to articles invite the reader to get in touch at the end. By then the reader who gave up has already left.

Put the advice at the point where the job gets hard, in plain terms: if the bolt will not turn, if the oil comes out milky, stop here.

Put the phone number there too, so someone in a garage with a phone in one hand does not have to scroll to find it.

A worked example

A marine mechanic with a two-bay shop near a marina does much of his year's work between March and the May long weekend, when boats go back in the water.

For years his website said nothing about spring preparation, for fear of teaching customers to skip him.

Last spring he wrote one article on readying an outboard after winter storage: fresh fuel and filter, battery, spark plugs, lower unit gear oil, water pump impeller and propeller.

Each step said honestly how hard it was. Changing the gear oil takes a pump, new drain screw washers and patience; the impeller sits inside the lower unit, and most owners hand that step over.

The key paragraph was a warning: milky gear oil means water is getting into the gearcase, often past a seal damaged by fishing line wrapped behind the propeller. His number sat directly under it.

Callers began mentioning the article. Several had changed their own gear oil, found it milky, and wanted the seals checked, a job they would not have known to ask for.

Writing it so readers trust it

Write it with the person who does the job, even if someone else types it up. The convincing details are the ones only the person holding the tools knows.

Use photographs of your own work, not stock images, and name parts exactly. A reader who can buy the right gasket from your description trusts the rest.

Do not hold back the hard step

Some how-to articles stop short: the easy steps in detail, then a line saying the rest is best left to professionals. Readers notice, and it reads as bait.

Explain the hard step as clearly as the easy ones. Most readers will understand it well enough to know they do not want to do it, which is the point.

The counter-case

Some articles attract mostly the capable readers. A detailed guide to rebuilding a gearcase will be read by hobbyists across the continent, few of whom live nearby.

Those are worth fewer hours; start with the questions local customers ask. A business selling parts may welcome readers who do the work themselves, since the article then sells the parts.

And a business with little time should start with one article on its most common question, written with help if writing is nobody's strength.

Explain the job honestly, mark where it gets hard, and put your number right there.

Where to start

  1. List the questions customers ask before booking.
  2. Pick one job on the edge of what owners attempt.
  3. Write every step, including the hard one.
  4. Mark where it goes wrong and what that costs.
  5. Put your number beside the hardest step.
  6. Photograph your own work at each stage.
  7. Link it from the matching service page.

Step four is what turns a reader into a caller. A warning placed exactly where things go wrong is where the reader decides the job is not for them, with your name right beside it.

What that caller should find on the other side is covered in a page explaining what happens after you call.

Frequently asked questions

Will a how-to article lose me customers?

Rarely. Most readers are finding out what a job involves, and a clear article shows them it is harder than it looks. The few capable readers were never going to hire anyone.

Which topics should I write about first?

The questions customers ask on the phone, jobs on the edge of what owners attempt, seasonal work a few weeks before the season, and the mistakes you are called in to fix.

Should I leave out the difficult steps?

No. An article that stops short reads as bait, and the next result that explains everything earns the trust. Explain the hard step clearly; most readers then hand it over.

Where should the call to action go?

At the point where the job gets hard, with the phone number beside it, not only at the end. By the last paragraph, the reader who gave up has gone.

How honest should I be about difficulty?

Completely, in both directions. Say how long it takes, which tools it needs and what a mistake costs. Exaggerating the difficulty loses the trust of readers who find it easy.

What about jobs that need a licence?

Write about them too, but explain what the job involves and why it needs a qualified person, without giving the steps. Gas fitting is the obvious example.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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