The 5 hidden secrets to building a great Knowledge Base

When it comes to educating visitors on your product, service or industry, nothing works better than a knowledge base or FAQ section on your site. You'll be able to share answers to common questions in a variety of formats, setting yourself apart as an authority on many topics.

We thought we'd share our tips on what a great knowledge base should entail. Be sure to check out our list and see if you agree!

It goes without saying, but having a unique and relevant question as part of your FAQ is a must.

We'd recommend keeping your question short, sweet and easy to follow if you'd like users to read on further.

Hot tip: Think about using words that are easy to understand for all users, rather than getting bogged down in industry terms that can be confusing.

It is essential to ensure that your answer provides value and reaches the root of the initial question asked. Try and work with the mindset of problem, solution and benefit wherever possible when answering an FAQ.

You may also want to make your answers as personable as possible by writing in a tone of voice that is approachable, natural and empathises with the position of your potential customers.

Site visitors who land on your frequently asked questions are already engaged with your content in an extremely meaningful way.

Capitalise on this success by ensuring you have a relevant and clear call-to-action attached to each of your frequently asked questions. This may be as simple as a link to one of your product or services pages, or as bold as offering the ability to request a callback or discuss a relevant project with you (or your team).

If you want to improve the user experience for your site visitors (in terms of orientation and navigation within your FAQ or knowledgebase), it is important to include categories for each question and answer that you create.

Alongside a search box, categorisation (whether by a drop down or via filters) makes the process of finding that answer you're looking for easier than ever.

Most importantly, sites with optimised categorisation often find themselves with an increased chance of successfully converting site visitors into genuine leads, and custom further down the line.

They say a picture paints 1000 words and when it comes to your FAQs this is no different.

Your site visitors are as unique in their online behaviour as they are in their day-to-day lives. So, by accommodating to both text-driven (with standard written content) and visual users (with practical audio or video responses), you'll be in the best position to set yourself apart as an industry authority who can be trusted and relied upon to complete the task at hand.

Is there any other component you feel that's vital to a website knowledge base? Given the chance to build one, what would you expect to see?

We'd love to hear your views and opinions, so please do share in our comments section below. Who knows? You may inspire our development team's next series of updates.