5 Technical Writing Services Compared
The range of technical writing services is increasingly vast. Today, there are thousands of potential categories to choose from, each with its own unique tilts, effects, and ROI. And whether you need a little or a lot, you’re bound to feel overwhelmed while hunting for the right option.
Even once you’ve narrowed down the type of technical writing service you want, you’ll still need to find a way to bring everything together. Not every team has an in-house expert (or an employee with specific technical writing skills), which is why picking an external partner is critical for bringing it all together.
If you’re in the technical writing market for any reason, you need to pick a service that has your needs in mind. Let’s take a gander through the different types of technical writing available, as well as some of the things you can expect from each type.
Technical Writing Options
It’s not enough to say that you need ‘technical writing.’ These days, it’s important to understand the phrase ‘technical writing’ for what it is: a massive umbrella term that encompasses dozens of varieties and variations of writing.
There are five major types of technical writing services to consider:
- Documentation: From user manuals to walk-throughs, documentation includes any kind of technical writing that focuses on sensitive software information. It is often used to help new users become acquainted with a certain program, and address any questions or concerns with internal teams. Keep in mind that documentation is rarely if ever used for content marketing purposes.
- Technical Marketing Content: The goal of this type of writing is to capture leads with actionable, valuable, and informational content. This may include comparison posts about different kinds of software, guides to blogging platforms, or even marketing tips and resources. The ultimate goal of technical marketing content is to position yourself as an industry expert, building trust and boosting sales in the process.
- Landing Pages: If you’re trying to reach a technical audience with very specific lingo, regular copywriting just won’t cut it. Technical writing for landing pages provides detailed information that decision-makers may need to move forward with a sale. This includes specific acronyms, functions, or processes that speak directly to your audience’s needs.
- Tutorials: Similar to technical marketing content, tutorials teach your readers how to accomplish a project, complete a task, or build an application. This provides a great deal of value to your target audience and creates lasting value both on and offline.
- Blog Posts: Contrary to popular belief, blog posts are most certainly a type of technical writing. Depending on your field or vertical, you could use blog posts to disseminate technical content and thought leadership at scale (and for every specific audience). The more niche your blog content is, the better it will perform.
Your company may just need one of these technical writing services, or it may need two or three. In either case, it’s good to familiarize yourself with the purpose and function of each. Who knows: you might end up needing all of them someday!
Comparing 5 Technical Writing Services
Now that you’re more aware of the different types of technical writing, you can start the process of picking a provider that works alongside your needs. We didn’t rank these in any particular order, but we did start with what we feel has the greatest amount of technical expertise for growing startups and tech brands.
Draft.dev - Technical Marketing Content That Scales
Offering nothing but technical writing and content marketing, Draft.dev curates a wide variety of authentic technical writers from around the globe. All tutorials, blog posts, and marketing content are aimed directly at software developers, data engineers, and DevOps pros – all of which may be interested in partnering with your technical solutions.
Apart from technical writing, we also provide:
With Draft, you’ll get ready-to-publish blog posts once a week depending on your plan. Only pay for content if you’re 100% satisfied, backed by our consistent quality and style that continuously impresses our technical clients.
We prefer to remain streamlined and specific in our work, extremely focused on our goal of delivering value-driven technical writing. While we currently don’t offer documentation, executive ghostwriting, or content strategy, we’d be more than happy to point you toward providers we feel are a good fit.
Any questions? Feel free to book a call.
EveryDeveloper - Technical Content Strategy
Most developers don’t want or aren’t interested in traditional marketing – something EveryDeveloper understands extremely well. This agency sources technical writers with a variety of backgrounds to create driven, knowledgeable, and opinion-driven content.
According to the website, EveryDeveloper currently offers writing for:
- Blogs
- Tutorials
- Thought Leadership
Today, EveryDeveloper is mostly focused on technical strategy, landing pages, and content action plans. The writing provided is at a lower volume than other agencies like Draft.dev, and is best for smaller organizations. However, if you’re ready to start focusing on the strategic side of technical writing, this is absolutely a great place to start.
Owen Media - PR For Tech Companies
PR is a vastly underappreciated element of the average tech company. At Owen Media, the goal has been to hybridize PR with other elements of the marketing cycle to create a holistic approach. Press releases are used alongside analytics relations and media tours to bring credibility and brand authority to high-tech organizations.
Apart from their public relations services, Owen Media provides a selection of additional writing services:
- Technical ghostwriting
- Executive authorship
- High-level or advanced technical writing
Owen Media leans heavily into the marketing side of technical writing. If you’re looking for more internal content or documentation, you may need to partner with a secondary agency.
Documentation - ZivTech
Documentation is a primary focus for ZivTech, a Philadelphia-based agency with an impressive roster of past clients. Apart from their design, development, and strategy services, ZivTech uses in-house writers to compose extremely detailed documentation work. They currently use HTML5 to create up-to-date guides alongside your team, ensuring that no one is left behind during the development process.
To date, the company offers documentation support that includes:
- User guides
- Product manuals
- Release notes
- Product installation guides
- Walk-through demos
Again, bear in mind that ZivTech does not offer any technical marketing writing (although documentation can be used for such a purpose). Their service is best for assisting internal or external teams with detailed walk-throughs of software usage – which is critical to just about every technical industry.
Jono Bacon - Technical Communities
Last on the list (but most certainly not least), Jono Bacon provides high-quality writing services to industries in technical communities. And when we say ‘communities,’ we mean actual online communities. Forums, dev blogs, and other types of online communities are the sole focus of Bacon’s expertise.
Jono offers services that include:
- Community Management
- Developer Workflow and Relations
- Innersource and Internal Community Management
- Public Speaking Engagements
Keep in mind that Jono Bacon doesn’t offer any tech marketing, nor does he specialize in other types of technical writing services. But if you’re looking for an outstanding resource with an enormous amount of experience building technical communities, this may be the perfect option for you.
Choosing The Right Kind Of Technical Writing
In the content industry, knowing what you want and need is key to a successful outcome. As you start narrowing down what you’re looking for, you’ll want to weigh the potential pros and cons of each writing service.
Ask yourself:
Will you need additional technical writing services in the future? If so, you may not want to choose just one platform with a singular focus. You’ll save more money in the long run (and have fewer headaches) if you choose a service that scales alongside you.
How much are you willing to spend on your technical writing services? Some platforms list prices right from the get-go, while others have specific or customizable quotes. What’s the scale or timeline of the technical writing you need? If you choose a smaller service, it may take several months to get where you want to be. Small agencies may produce a limited amount of content per cycle, which reduces how fast branded content can reach the market.
There’s a lot of thought that goes into a technical writing partnership, no matter what type of content your business is looking to secure. As you narrow down your potential list of providers, be sure and take all the time you need to ask questions, evaluate options, and choose the best possible path forward.
If Draft.dev is right for your technical writing needs, just give us a call! We’re always jazzed to chat about tech writing – and we’d love to learn more about how we can help. Talk soon!
Looking for content designed to reach software developers?
We create blog posts and tutorials designed to reach software developers, data engineers, engineering managers, and technologists. Book a call to learn more about Draft.dev today.