Our goal is to educate everyone everywhere to build business ideas without needing to write code.

As the #1 resource for learning how to build profitable projects without code, you can reach thousands of people with your wisdom.

If you are creating video tutorials, written tutorials, or knowledge articles, this style guide will walk through the dos, don’ts and how-tos. This will help you maximize your impact on our audience which in turn, will translate into more people enjoying and sharing the content you make.

💡 How to create ‘Text + image’ or ‘Text + video’ tutorials

Give it a title

Don’t overthink this. Keep it simple and make it easy for people to understand what your tutorial teaches them. Here are two typical formats we recommend following:

• “How to [build something] using [tool]”
• “[Creating/building/other verb] a [project type] using [tool]”

You can always browse our tutorials for more title inspiration.

Write an intro

Keep your introduction concise and informative. Tell readers what they will accomplish by following your tutorial, and how that benefits them. Here’s an example outline to get you started:

• “This tutorial teaches you how to build a simple site from scratch using Carrd. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a working site that you can use to sell courses or other digital downloads.”

Write the tutorial instructions

Text-based tutorials work really well when they follow a simple step-by-step format. Try and find the balance between covering all the steps — no matter how small — needed to complete the project in hand, whilst also being concise and not ‘fluffy’.

1. Number the steps in a list like this one so users can follow along easily.
2. Use screenshots, short GIFs (max file size is 4MB), or videos sharing your screen (with or without voiceover), to explain and give context to each step (note that you do not need to include an image or video with every step — use them wherever you feel they help more easily demonstrate your instructions)
3. Include links to other Makerpad tutorials that are related to the tutorial you’re writing.
4. Hyperlink the first mention of any tool to the relevant page on the Makerpad site. Tool page URLs follow this format: makerpad.co/posts/adalo or you can see a full list of tools here. (If you need to add a new tool that isn’t currently listed on Makerpad, you can do that here.)
5. Explain acronyms and specialist jargon the first time (and only the first time) they appear in your tutorial.
6. Explain things like your audience are 10 years old, i.e. assume they have limited knowledge but can navigate around the internet. For example, you wouldn’t need to explain how to “set an account up with X tool” since signing up is common knowledge (unless there’s something particularly niche or complex in a tool’s signup process).

A note on depth:

Separating your tutorials into parts (so a different post for each section of your whole tutorial) can negatively impact SEO and actually discourages people from following along.

Conversely, readers are more inclined to go deep into your tutorial (even to the end) if an entire end-to-end tutorial is written in one post.

Just be sure to make good use of headings and numbered lists to make your tutorial easy to follow.

Write a conclusion

End your tutorial with a brief (1 or 2 sentences is fine) wrap up of what your reader just accomplished.

💡 How to create video-only tutorials

• We recommend recording your screen using Screenflow.
• Aim to keep video tutorials less than 10 minutes long each.
• Use a good quality mic to record your voice.
• Explain what’s happening on your screen as you’re recording, and remember to speak clearly so people can hear and understand you.
• Once you’re done recording, edit out any mistakes or long pauses using Screenflow or Canva (or an editing tool of your choice).
• Write a 1-2 sentence overview describing what your video is teaching. Also include timestamps for YouTube. To do this:
• Type “Chapters:”
• Below this, type in the time of where your timestamp begins in the video in a “00:00” format, click space, and then type the title you’ve chosen for that timestamp chapter
• Repeat below for the next chapter
• Example below:
  

💡 How to write knowledge articles

The Makerpad blog is a publication about all the great things you can do without needing to code. We want to educate and inspire people to build their own no-code businesses and projects.

A knowledge article is a blog post that teaches people something they could use in their own job, startup, or no-code project. Posts can run anywhere from 700 – 2500 words but usually sit around 1500. Topics include (click each to see an example):

• A trend in the no-code space
• Inspiration for what can be achieved with no-code
• A 'best no-code tool(s) for X' post
• Tips for automating workflows or business processes, or how to use tools to work more efficiently
• Whatever excites you

Writing mechanics and brand voice

• We use American English.
• This is how to write an em dash—which is basically a long hyphen—to break up ideas in your writing. We love dashes, but we use them sparingly.
• Avoid ampersands (&).
• Don't use capital letters unless it REALLY helps with emphasis.
• Pretty much everything is in sentence case, Not Title Case.
• Emojis used sparingly are 👍.
• Keep it friendly and approachable! We're a safe space where people come to learn.
• Say things simply and concisely. With every sentence that you write, think: is there a simpler way to write this?
• Be helpful and knowledgeable.
• Our opinions and advice should be honest and upfront.
• Avoid using too many clichés and melodramatic turns of phrase, e.g. judge a book by its cover, more than ever, better late than never, teach Grandma to suck eggs, take your breath away, etc etc.
• Keep messages light-hearted, relatable and witty, but not "try-hard".
• Have fun!

Best practises

And lastly, some notes on best practises:

Plagiarism

To plagiarize is to copy someone else’s work word-for-word. Makerpad tutorials are always unique. It’s OK to use snippets of other articles or someone else’s work, but you must quote that person and/or link to the article or video that the snippet was taken from.

It’s also OK to use another tutorial or guide as inspiration, so long as you rewrite everything in your own words and credit the original work within your tutorial.

Cross-posting

If you want to post your entire tutorial or article somewhere else online, you need to be able to add a canonical tag to that post so Google doesn’t get confused about which post to display in search results. Two identical posts without a canonical tag can cannibalize any chances of either post ranking well in Google. You can easily add a canonical tag on a site you own or have backend access to, for example your own blog.

If you cannot add a canonical tag then please don’t cross post.

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