I’ve been looking at how a lot of websites approach their FAQ lately. When it comes to website development, I think the FAQ is often an afterthought completed towards the end of a project.

I look at it as another line of communication with the community.  If questions are not addressed, I know that member support will increase and that usually means more time and money is involved.

As a community producer, often the FAQ and Contact Us pages are my responsibility. A general rule that I follow is that the FAQ page should be treated more like a knowledge base and ‘website handbook’ rather than a page with a list of questions, which is the more traditional idea. There needs to be a relationship between these two pages. The submission of questions via a Contact Us page should be a last resort for your members.

Right now I am in love with the idea of using a wiki for an FAQ. Here are my ten reasons why (in no particular order):

1. Categorization- A wiki is categorized by nature in a platform that is familiar to your visitors. It’s already organized!

2. Tutorials and the use of images- the key here is flexibility that you may not have with a static webpage. On Whirled.com, it looks like content can be created by members via APIs- and as such, they use their wiki to help guide developers through the process. As more and more sites allow platform development by third-parties, wikis are great for showcasing and archiving this information.

3. Alphabetization - When you need to scan and process a lot of text on a webpage, this is so important.

4. List of recent changes - A link to recent updates is a great thing for growing documentation.

5. Search - Your members should have a reliable search, especially when they need to find information quickly and are having issues NOW.

6. RSS- Frequent product or content releases can be followed by members via RSS readers.

7. Your community knows your site better than you do - trust me, they do. They will be the first to point out solutions to new members OR bugs and problems to everyone. If you allow your member-base to contribute, not only will they pick out the finer points but they will do it in a tone and manner that other members can relate to.  

8. Moderation- this is a must-have if you work on websites for kids.

9. Printable versions - sometimes there are steps involved and old-school members like to print out those steps. Personally, I like saving trees. But I like options too.

10. Keep the discussion about problems with the answers on how to solve them. - There is a discussion page within a wiki so why not have questions there instead of on a separate forum? When members are having trouble they sometimes become upset and don’t have an investment in the community enough to care about where and what they are posting. 

However some site-owners do not like having criticism displayed openly on a forum- especially in Beta. I’m all for allowing criticism through on forums as long as it’s constructive, but there needs to be consistent moderation to accompany this. By using a wiki you can keep site questions and issues, tutorials and a knowledge base all in one place. It then becomes a ‘community project’ and gives members ownership, strengthening your community and providing a central help database for new members.

Okay, maybe one more…

11. Share the work- we’re all busy with different priorities. If you have internal stakeholders that require you to update your FAQ on a regular basis, why not hand it off to them so that they can assure that their content is accurate and timely? Then they too will become active participants in your community!

Happy FAQing!