Seth Godin had a post on the power of having a FAQ or Frequently Asked Questions page on your site. FAQs are a great idea for your site and you should definitely use them. But what should go into a FAQ list? How extensive should it be? When do you not need a FAQ?
What should go in a Website’s FAQ?
Answer; anything your potential clients might ask you! If you can be seen as a go-to person or business, and people view you as expert and knowledgeable, you are much more likely to make a sale! For instance, if you have been reading my blog for a while you have seen (hopefully!) that I know a bit about website design, development, and marketing. You could assume that a student designer trained in the Charlotte Art Institute might know about website design as well. Even if the art student quoted you a website design for $5 would you trust that they have more expertise than I do? (I hope not!) Probably not. My answers to questions and articles such as this one or the ones I write for the Lake Wylie Pilot confer a certain amount of credibility to my services.
When should you have a FAQ?
You should have a FAQ when you:
- Want to be seen as an authoritative resource on the web.
- Looking to increase sales and satisfaction of your audience.
- Are spending inordinate amounts of time answering the same questions.
- You want to direct potential clients to other questions in addition to the ones you normally get. Perhaps another question highlights another service you offer they hadn’t considered.
- Your customers ask for one!
This is not just an abstract rambling by a web designer who spends too much time in front of his computer. Brendon Sinclair, one of Australia’s leading web designers had this to say in a great PDF ‘Does Your Business Need a Website?’
Reduces workload of personnel (i.e. customer service staff)
One of our clients runs a major sporting event. When we redeveloped the web site to
include the information the competitors required, in addition to a Frequently Asked
Questions (FAQ) section, the administrative office reports huge decreases in staff hours
required to provide telephone support.The savings ran into thousands of dollars.
When Not to Have a FAQ
Since I see this website and blog largely one great resource for questions I get asked frequently, I do not have a formalized FAQ page. I just get asked too many questions! The key is that people see this site as a resource and ask the questions. I also sometimes use it to answer questions that I see elsewhere. For example, in Seth’s post mentioned above, he suggested that someone should made a post on How to Post a Picture to Craigslist.
So, the only reason you do not need a FAQ is if you either 1) Don’t know what your clients are asking or 2) Don’t care. Now that I think about it, perhaps I do need a good set of FAQs! In fact, I am going to get started right away! Want to help? Contact us and send your questions! You can also leave them in the comments area below.
Hello, my name is Ted Hessing, and I'm the developer behind Charlotte Web Development. 
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Thanks, Directory. The domain name has served me well.