Many websites have an FAQ Page as part of their navigation. Maybe it would be beneficial for your site. Consider these questions to see if you need one.
- Do you have questions that clients ask frequently, repetitively? Yes? Then an FAQ Page would be a good addition.
- Let me point out, however, that the answers should be covered in detail elsewhere on your website. If the answer is important there should be a Page or a blog post with a full answer. The FAQ is a concise answer. The FAQ can include a link to the more detailed answer.
- Do you need content for SEO purposes? Yes? An FAQ Page would be a good addition.
The more solid content you have on your site describing your business, services or products, the happier Google and other search engines will be with your site and the higher you will rank in search results. The FAQ Page gives you the opportunity to put the same answer in two places! As the Page content will be more extensive than the FAQ answer, you won’t have duplicate content either. Another SEO plus.
Linking from FAQ answers to other pages of your site also give you internal links which are a benefit in SEO.
- Do you have a large site with numerous pages? Yes? An FAQ Page would be a good addition.
A good rule of thumb is to have your most important information within 2 clicks for your site visitors. So content on a level 2 or level 3 page can be made quickly accessible with an FAQ Page. Your answer includes a link to the page with the detailed answer.
- Do you include information for industry associations, industry experts, etc. for credibility for your business? Yes? An FAQ Page would be a good addition.
Your website can become a resource for your visitors. They know you have links, posts and other information relevant to your industry. An FAQ answer can include a link to another website. I would use this sparingly but it can be helpful. Outside links to credible sites do have value for SEO purposes. But the real value is being trusted as a good resource to your visitors. They can skip googling a question because they know the answer is on your site and easy to find.
Some sites use an Industry Links Page for this purpose. FAQs go beyond a link to the organization’s Home Page and give specific answers. Does someone offer CAD drawings or safety guidelines or a metric conversion chart? Does someone have a great checklist or how-to article? If your clients ask for this type of information frequently, consider putting it on your website on a Page or blog. Or use an FAQ to direct people to the information.
A standard FAQ on the navigation menu
Don’t ask for client reviews once. Ask many times in many different ways! You can’t tell when a client will have the time and the focus to do a review. So ask often and make it easy! Here is a good example. Event Espresso is a plug-in for WordPress to organize events and ticket sales. They did a 7 day series of email lessons. At the bottom of #7, they inserted a link to their Twitter profile. They asked for a tweet. This is an easy type of review request. I didn’t have to think of what to write, look up their Twitter ID. Nothing like that! Click on the link and share the word.
“Instagram’s rolling out some new sharing features, along with a new campaign to highlight creativity in the app, which will be headlined by a range of popular musicians.”