docs-as-marketing

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• README.md
• SKILL.md

SKILL.md (first lines)

# Documentation as Marketing

Documentation is often a developer's first meaningful interaction with your product. Great docs don't just explain—they market. They reduce friction, build trust, and turn curious visitors into active users who recommend your product to others.

## Overview

Developer documentation serves multiple marketing functions:
- **Acquisition**: Docs rank in search and attract developers actively seeking solutions
- **Activation**: Well-structured quickstarts reduce time-to-value
- **Retention**: Comprehensive references keep developers building
- **Referral**: Developers share docs they love, not marketing pages

This skill covers the intersection of technical writing and developer marketing—creating documentation that serves both education and conversion goals.

## Before You Start

Review the **developer-audience-context** skill to understand your target developers:
- What problems are they searching for solutions to?
- What's their technical sophistication level?
- What frameworks and languages do they use?
- Where do they currently look for answers?

Your documentation strategy should directly address these audience insights.

## Information Architecture That Converts

### The Four Types of Documentation

Structure your docs around the four types developers need:

| Type | Purpose | Marketing Function |
|------|---------|-------------------|
| **Tutorials** | Learning-oriented, step-by-step | Builds confidence, shows product value |
| **How-to Guides** | Task-oriented, problem-solving | Demonstrates capability breadth |
| **Reference** | Information-oriented, accurate | Proves product depth and reliability |
| **Explanation** | Understanding-oriented, conceptual | Establishes thought leadership |

### Navigation That Reduces Bounce

**Good Navigation Structure:**
```
Getting Started
├── Quickstart (< 5 min)
├── Installation
└── Core Concepts

Guides
├── Authentication
├── [Most Common Use Case]
├── [Second Most Common Use Case]
└── ...

API Reference
├── Overview
├── Authentication
├── Endpoints (alphabetical or logical grouping)
└── SDKs

Resources
├── Examples
├── Changelog
└── Support
```

**Bad Navigation Structure:**
```
Documentation
├── Chapter 1: Introduction
├── Chapter 2: Getting Started
├── Chapter 3: Advanced Topics
├── Appendix A
└── API (link to separate site)
```

### Information Hierarchy

Every documentation page should follow this hierarchy:
1. **What** is this? (1 sentence)
2. **Why** would I use it? (1-2 sentences)
3. **How** do I use it? (the bulk of the page)
4. **What's next?** (clear next steps)

## Quickstart Optimization

Your quickstart is your most important conversion page. Optimize ruthlessly.

### The 5-Minute Rule

Developers should reach a meaningful success moment within 5 minutes. If your quickstart takes longer, you're losing developers.

**Measure and optimize:**
- Time from page load to first successful API call
- Drop-off points in the quickstart flow
- Completion rate

### Quickstart Structure

```markdown
# Quickstart

Get your first [meaningful result] in under 5 minutes.

## Prerequisites
- [Specific version] of [language/tool]
- [Account/API key] (link to signup)

## Step 1: Install
[Single command, copy-paste ready]

## Step 2: Configure
[Minimal configuration, explain what each part does]

## Step 3: Run
[The payoff—show them it works]

## What You Built
[Explain what just happened and why it matters]

## Next Steps

From jonathimer/devmarketing-skills, MIT.

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