Developing Online Help for Your Software

Leave the technical writing and development of Help to us

Cherryleaf can help you control and minimise your costs by designing and delivering great documentation within an agreed schedule and budget. We understand that you may be facing tight deadlines, so the fast turnaround that we provide and the reliability really can help.

"I'm very pleased with the enhancements to the Help System. You created very clear topics for some areas that I find difficult to explain. You also identified a number of 'bugs' with the current version that have now been fixed. This just continues to improve the product." Bruce McNaughton, CEO, ProcessAssets

"I had some basic instructions for my new online application, Opportunity Matrix™, but absolutely no idea how to turn them into a proper Help system. Cherryleaf was able to take my rough notes and turn them into a professional Help file. They worked through the application, suggesting appropriate changes where I was making assumptions that would have left users confused.

Once we were all happy with the file, Cherryleaf liaised very effectively with the programmer to make sure that the Help system worked perfectly right from the start.

The information and guidance from Cherryleaf was always top notch, so I always knew exactly where the project was, and what the (quite reasonable) budget needed to be. I shall have no hesitation in using Cherryleaf again, and in recommending them." Andrew Horder, CEO, Opportunity Matrix™

Cherryleaf's value is in providing clarity and simplicity. It makes your customers' lives easier and less stressful, and of course, less stressed customers are more likely to stay customers for longer.

• We apply a "user focus" approach to Help development. Thanks to this approach, you'll have Help that really does add value to the products you are supporting.
• Our staff have many, many years' experience of working with Help (and other forms of online user assistance, such as Web based Help), which means we can help you get the most from it.
• We present papers on Help authoring techniques and technology at conferences throughout the world, and our consultants are recognised as leading authorities within the global online Help community (for examples, see our articles).
• Our methodology for project management enables us to run complex Help development projects within carefully controlled time and budget constraints.

If you are planning a Help project, would like some advice, or you'd like to know more about our services then do contact us. If you can, state the issues you are interested in fixing.

15 tips for writing great Help files

We asked the Technical Authors at Cherryleaf for tips on writing Help files. You can get these tips free.

Just fill in your details here:

The business benefits of Web-based Help

Having your online Help published on the Web could do wonders to your business:

• Marketing SEO benefits
  • The search engines love the type of information-rich content that online Help contains (more information), because the content is valuable and other Web sites link to it. The result is these pages appear high in search engine rankings.(More information). This improvement could lead to an increase in leads from your Web site.
• Reduce stress on your Support line
  • Many users begin by looking for answers on the Web before they call the support line (more information, see also our support call cost reduction calculator). If they find the answer on the Web, then they won't need to call the Support line.
• Better customer service
  • There's a new generation growing up who are shying away from telephone-based support in favour of text-based support (more information). By delivering assistance in the way they prefer, your providing better customer service.
• Greater brand loyalty
  • You can allow your user community to add to the content. They not only improve it, but they also get a greater sense of belonging to your brand. (more information)
• Improved product development
  • You can get a better understanding of where users struggle with your product
  • Web Analytics can tell you how many thousands of people are reading the Help and what they are searching for.

Re-use the content elsewhere and spread the cost

Documentation is an fundamental part of a software product's marketing, sales and technical support strategy, so why not use the information developed for the online Help elsewhere - in the technical support, marketing, Web, sales and training departments?

If the Help is developed in a single-sourcing tool (an option we offer), you can write your content once, publish it for many uses and realize huge cost savings.

So why is there so much poor online Help around?

It's because a lot of it is written by people who aren't skilled or trained enough to do it properly. Studies have shown that up to 40% of all information systems developed have online Help written by a non-trained writer, and this shows through in the end product.

Users of systems with Help written by professional technical communicators:

• Use the online Help up to 54% more often.
• Rate the quality of the Help more highly (better at meeting the users' needs by 29%).
• Call the support desk less frequently (by up to 80%).

Our experience

You can call upon our experience in areas such as:

• Web applications
• Banking and financial applications
• Telecoms applications
• Database software
• Children's games
• Embedded Help
• Web-based Help
• Audio Help

Further information

Contact us if you would like to know more about how we can help you. If you can, please state the issues you are interested in fixing. We'll respond by email or phone.