In this article, I’m not going to be teaching you "how to" do something, but rather I’m going to be talking about the benefits of writing and recording "How to" information for your customers.

Trust me. I’ve reaped the benefit of creating "How to" material 1000 times over. Creating "How to" information:

• Positions you as the expert

• Gives people the chance to ‘try out’ what you do

• Allows people to get to know you and your views

• Promotes your business time and time again as different people will read and listen to your "How to"

In fact, I can’t really think of a reason not to create a "How to" for your business.

Your "How to" can take many forms. It doesn’t have to be long – in fact it can be an article just like this one. Or you can write something longer like an e-book. If you don’t like writing, you can record your "How to" and give it away as a downloadable audio or even put it onto a CD.

OK – you could possibly argue that creating a "How to" is time consuming, might need a lot of research and may take you away from doing other, more productive activities.

But, then I would argue back that you probably have most, if not all the knowledge you need to write a short "How to" like this one in your head already. I know I’m very used to writing articles (I write around 1 a week), but once you get into the hang of it, it will usually only take you around ½ an hour to create.

I would then get my article out on-line (just type in "Free article websites" into Google to find tons of places that you can post your article for free – all with a link back to your website), use it in my newsletter and put it out as a special report to certain customers.

If I was going to record my "How to", I might record it as a video and put it out on You Tube, upload it to my website, record it onto a Dictaphone and send it out as a mp3 link to people or put it onto a CD and give it away as a free gift.

Oh…and of course, whether I wrote it or recorded it, I would definitely put a link to it onto all the social networking sites out there.

Not only am I actively promoting my business by creating some "How to" information, but I’m also reaping the benefits of positioning myself as an expert. And because I can re-use the information once I’ve created it, it’s a great way to just do something once and then use it again and again.

But if you’re going to use a "How to" as a way of promoting my business, it’s important that I don’t fall into the trap of just creating a "How to" once and then thinking that’s it. You must create "How tos" as much as possible and get them out there to promote your business. Only then, will you see the benefits that writing and recording "How tos" can bring to your business.