From crotcheting a kilt, to resuscitating rabbits, I’ve found there are a few things that great how-to lists have in common. Inspired by a contest over at ProBlogger, I’d like to announce my own how-to: How to do “How-to” lists.

Think of them as the six “E’s”. ;)

Meaty: Yes, your how-to should actually contain some redeemable and worthwhile information. It should be as accurate and complete as possible. Resuscitating rabbits? Yes, it IS important to include that part about the defibrillator, but also the part about the intubation tray as well. I mean, how else are you going to control the airway?

Pearly: Iknow that the first part to doing up my pants is to first zip up the the zipper and then button up that top. What I might not know is that most zippers can actually lock down if you press it down all the way (well, if I was a four year old). Pearly has nothing to do with how white and shiny your how-to is. Its that extra bit of knowledge — that extra pearl of wisdom you can provide that’s going to make your how-to stand up and out of the crowd.

Easy: Even if you’re trying to write “How to understand Newtonian Physics”, you can still keep it manageably easy to read. Break it down into small bites and paragraphs. Use plenty of bullets or enumerate your steps (1, 2, 3 and so on). Use diagrams, illustrations, a comic or a series of videos if necessary. The most complicated how-to can be broken down into simple steps if you’re careful enough and spend the time to do it. Aim to establish clarity and simplicity and you’ll surprise yourself how digestible your information becomes.

Punchy: A successful how-to list, even if its informative, complete and easy to read still needs to go that extra mile — its it pithy and punchy enough for your audience? Is it packed with enough style to enthrall your reader? It needs to go from the blog to the social bookmark, to someone’s fridge. Probably the hardest thing to do, describe or quantify, it could be done in a number of ways. An unusual sense of humour, uncommon wisdom, or even a topic no one has covered but wished someone had. Its the special sauce that makes your how-to go from awesome to indispensable.

Resourcey: You won’t be able to include everything in your how-to. Give a further list of resources for your readers to catch up on. More than just a list — annotate it. Give your one line opinion for why that resource is in the list, and how each one can help your reasons. You can give a “star” rating or enumerate which ones are the best. Go the extra mile and enrich what you’ve already given to your readers.

Participatory: Its easy enough to do if its a blog or wiki — but the best kind of How-to invite your readers to add their own thoughts to your How-to. Allow people to criticize what you’ve done, but also add their own resources or thoughts. Even if you’re a PhD in Political Science, who knows what kind of fans you have — and access to resources you didn’t know of or dream of. Resources enrich your blog, but audience participation fills in the gaps that we all have and alert us to the blind spots that we can’t see.

Resources:

1. Wikihow’s Writer’s Guide: On how to contribute to WikiHow, and in short, how to create a great how-to.
2. An Example but Also Great Content: The Telegraph publishes its style guide for “How to Blog” (for its journalists). The content is good, but its important to look at how it structures this how-to. Enumerated, filled with examples and great content.
3. The Experts’ Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do: From reading a newspaper, to applying lipstick — some real tips from real experts. Sounds interesting, from a content point of view, anyway. ;)
4. A How-To Faceoff: Courtesy of Darren Prowse at ProBlogger.net He’s hosting his monthly contest, with this month featuring a “how-to” faceoff. After a month of submissions, he’ll pick a few at random. Check them out for examples galore of How-to mania gone buck wild.