CIHC
That One OG
SO YOU WANT TO WRITE A GUIDE?!
No worries, it isn't as hard as it seems. There are plenty of references over numerous brackets that you can reference to get an idea on how to write a guide! However; I would suggest you have at least the very basics. First, you explain what you are building the guide for, and give a brief introduction on your knowledge on the class or spec. This will reassure that people reading your guide aren't just talking out of your butt and trying to get credit on this site.
Second, use bold, underline and font 3 (or 4) when trying to highlight a new section. I have even failed with when building my AH Tip Guide, however I'll reformat it when I am awake tomorrow. You need a title that catches the eye of your reader and viewer, despite how much text is in between the sections. Try to keep them as informed as you can, whilst explaining the best you can.
Third, You at the very least need a Gear, Macro, Playstyle, Spec(s), and most importantly, your opinion and playstyle on the class! People enjoy reading and knowing how other players play a certain class. Even livestreaming or recording your gameplay for reference can even help your guide get more and more attention.
SO YOU THINK YOUR READY?!
Think again! Proper sentence and grammar is very important. U cnt mke a gude liek dis bruh. It is very important to keep the sentences and words in a proper sentence and trying to make as much logical sense as possible. Since this is primarily a English speaking site, we do have European readers and visitors, so, if they cannot understand your post, they'll most likely either laugh at you or ignore you. Proper sentence structure and grammar is very important in this regard!
DON'T BE AFRAID TO MAKE MULTIPLE POSTS!
As much as people dislike having multiple posts, when you do your index or glossary, if someone is looking for a certain section, say gear and enchants. It is easier (from my personal experience) to click a url that sends you straight to the post than scrolling down to said post and wasting the time to get there. This is efficient and a very clean way to setup your guide, despite how long it maybe.
This leads me into my next paragraph, at-least have a couple paragraphs per section. If your going to have a good guide, you just can't have your first post be something like the following
If you understand that point, and use the first section as a guide, then you are well on your way to making a very well formatted and nice guide for this website. Don't be sad if no one responds to your thread or guide, some people like to leech and lurk on these forums (since guest viewing is enabled and all) so, you'll have to wait until your guide is approved... Speaking of which...
I have a guide, now what?!
Since your guide is complete and you want it to get either approved or get a ton of views, you can either submit a message to every single moderator or admin (kinda bothersum, but it does get the job done in my personal experience), or you can alternatively report the original (first) post in the thread, and ask politely to have any staff member to read the thread and either give it the approval or deserves, or the criticism it deserves.
Content in said guide.
I think I covered this before however; you need at to properly sort, have proper grammar and sentence structure in said guide. You need (at least in the guides I have done for a twink guide), a Introduction, Glossary, Race, Racial Abilities (sometimes tied withing the race section), Class Abilities, Scenarios or Situations to use CDs, Professions, Gear and Enchants, this list can go on for ages, but I'm sure you get the point
Closing Statements and Thoughts
If you are this far then you can most likely write a decent or good guide, it all depends on your writing skills and knowledge of what your trying to write about. Try not to rush through you guide as there will be errors that are noticeable (and the staff will call you out on them, regardless of approval or not. If you feel like adding flare to your guide by adding images, do so! Who cares, it is your guide in the end! As always, if you are a Guide Author (or a person writing guides without acknowledgement) ALWAYS keep the guide update for the most recent patch. Use the codes you have access to if your trying to link items or abilities in-game from wowhead.
And remember, if at first you don't succeed, try and try again!
Thanks for reading;
CIHC
