Getting in the Last Word - Part Three - FAQs

Questions. Everyone has them. Your job is to figure out what they are for the particular project you are working on and find the right answers. Once you do, you create a section entitled: Frequently Asked Questions. More often than not, this section is placed at the end of the manual, before the Glossary. It’s more popular online. The questions can be hyper-linked to the answers to make it easy for the reader to maneuver through the site.

FAQ’s must be easy to use. If not, the reader won’t have any respect for your procedures. Follow these pointers for creating and structuring a useful FAQ section either online or in a printed manual.

Do put the best first.

Put the most important questions at the top.

Don’t be stingy.

Include all pertinent information, even if it means repeating a short procedure or paragraph from the document. For longer procedures make sure to provide a link back to the appropriate section.

Do your homework.

Get reader feedback. Use their questions to fill out your FAQ section. Make sure you’ve researched the correct answer before putting it into your document. Nothing is worse than having to change an answer in your FAQ section.

Don’t let your FAQ go stale.

Provide a method for users to add question then update the FAQ on a regular basis.

Do be succinct.

Now is not the time to get wordy. Users want quick answers to easy to understand and comprehend questions. Make sure you have the right answer to the right question.

Don’t forget your questions.

While documenting the procedure you had questions. Remember those questions and use them for the FAQ. If you had questions, you can bet the readers will have similar ones.

Do structure your FAQ properly.

You may have to use subheadings. That’s okay. Just make sure you structure the FAQ in such a way that questions placed in subheadings are easy to find.

Last, but not least, use a Questions and Answer format.

Make sure your FAQ is structured in an easy, friendly format. Questions and answers have been proven to be the most easiest and friendliest format. It’s worked well over the years and makes great sense.

Good luck.

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