Get ideas and get inspired!
Go to the Story Maps Gallery to see some great examples, handpicked by the Esri Story Maps team, highlighting creative approaches and best practices. You can filter and search the gallery to check out how authors have handled subjects and information that may well be similar to yours. Explore. Get a gut feeling for what makes a good story.
Choose a Story Map application template
Go to the Story Maps Apps list to browse the application templates and choose the best one for your project. Each app lets you deliver a specific user experience to your audience. There are apps for map-based tours, collections of points of interest, in-depth narratives, presenting multiple maps, and more. Spend some time comparing the apps to see the different components they let you incorporate in your story.
Follow the instructions for the app you chose
Each app has a tutorial page that guides you through the authoring process. Story Maps are part of ArcGIS Online, Esri's cloud-based mapping and GIS platform, so you'll sign in with your ArcGIS Online account to create your story. The Story Map apps are hosted in ArcGIS Online and have interactive builders that make it easy to author your story. Story Maps are also available in Esri's ArcGIS Enterprise product, which enables an enterprise to set up its own cloud-based mapping infrastructure.
You can create your web maps in ArcGIS Online first and then reference them when you build your story, but some of the apps also let you create and edit your maps from within their interactive builders, so you can do your mapping as part of building your story. You can add your data to ArcGIS Online web maps in many different formats, including tabular data from spreadsheets, and combine it with authoritative data published by Esri and many other leading agencies.
You also have the option to download the source code for any of the apps and configure it on your own web server. This enables developers to customize and tailor the app.
Publish your story map and promote it
Now that you've finished your story map, you simply share it to your audience. You can share your story map publicly or restrict it so it can only be accessed by people in your organization. Go ahead and promote your story map to your audience. Link to it or embed it in your website. Write a blog post about it, share it on social media, and so on.