Writing technical content for engineers and specialized experts

Writing technical content for engineers and specialized experts

One of the hardest fields to write on for content freelancers are technically orientated articles designed to target engineers.

There is a growing trend among engineers as well as other specialized professionals to search and teach themselves about various subjects in their fields online.
Unfortunately, there isn't enough information out there to satisfy this demand. As a maritime engineer myself I found few niche based websites with proper information regarding news and changes happening in this industry.

Compared with fields like SEO or Online Marketing where the web is absolutely saturated with relevant information, quality technical content is modest to say the least and for a good reason: Writing technical content is very difficult for the common content freelancer!

Very few engineers are enough online savvy to actually develop their own niche-based websites talking about issues, news and creating tutorials for their industries, they are usually very busy with their jobs and doing whatever they've been trained to do.

Here is where the opportunities come in. Learning to write technical content.

1. Obtaining information and facts from specialized experts.

This may actually be very difficult to achieve but with enough determination I'm sure you can find people on social networks like LinkedIn that are willing to help you with an interview or Q&A once you've developed some form of conversational relationship with them.
Advice: Don't be afraid to ask stupid questions.

2. Do your own research.

Don't just leave it all in the hands of the professionals, go ahead and implement common content research tactics and that means keyword research, Wikipedia pages, Q&A websites, look at similar articles, etc.

3. Write straight to the point facts but also use metaphors.

You don't have to be all technical and using complicated words just to make the content "look" professional. Make connections between simple facts and write both for experts but also for newbies in the industry.


Have you ever written very technical content before? As a freelancer do you think you should be paid more for doing this kind of work?