What should I include on my website’s FAQs page?

A page of Frequently Asked Questions will enhance your site if:

• People really do ask you questions. It’s not a requirement that all your FAQs be literal, actual frequently asked questions.  But if you do get questions from customers, an FAQs page can cut down on your staff’s phone and email time answering those repeated questions, while increasing your customers’ confidence in you as a knowledgeable resource.
• Your profession brings up concerns – even if unvoiced – that you want to address. For example, a dentist or acupuncturist might include an “FAQ” question about pain.
• You want to reinforce information you already included on other pages in your site. A short answer with a hyperlink is the solution.
  
• You’d like to engage your reader in a personal way. FAQs constructed in first and second person (I and you) let you speak directly to the reader, which in turn makes the reader “see” himself using your service or product.

You do not need an FAQs page if:

• You can’t think of more than two or three questions customers might ask.
• Your site is small, simple and clear — your reader can find answers in the content.
• You’re using the FAQs page as a lazy way to shovel content into your site. No, no, no.
  

How many questions should my FAQs page include?

At least three.

• If you can’t think of 3-6 questions, don’t have an FAQs page. Webs sites with two questions  give the impression that you are  unimaginative or insufficiently engaged in your business to understand customer concerns.
  
• Examine your two questions to see if they can be re-phrased into more questions.  (”How long does a car tune-up take?” can be turned into several questions about the steps involved, products used, safety issues solved and how long it all takes.)
  

There is no maximum number, but use these guidelines:

• Once you have more than 10-12 questions, split them into categories so your reader doesn’t have to scroll through a long list looking for a particular topic.  (The IRS’s web site has 17 categories of FAQs, and the first category, “General Procedures,” has 17 subcategories.)
• Keep your answers brief, as you would in conversation.  If you find that you are writing a long answer, ask yourself if this information is already covered elsewhere in your web site.  If it is, shorten your answer and link it to the content. If it isn’t, maybe it should be. Or maybe the original question needs to be re-phrased, or broken into more questions.
  
• You must keep your whole web site up to date. Think twice about having a Q such as “What time does the Pumpkin Carving contest begin?” This will make a poor impression on the reader who sees it in May. You don’t want her wondering if the rest of your site as stale as this question.

Must the Qs be real questions, quoted from real people?

Oh my goodness no. They need only be questions people might ask, or information you think they need to know. Take this article, for instance: Just one person is asking and answering the questions— me. I’m doing it in hopes the information is helpful to you.