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FAQ and Knowledge Base Software
Review
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Have you ever had an ongoing discussion with a customer or peer via email that's sucked up a lot of your time? Maybe you have the same support questions asked again and
again - and a similar scenario occurs when training new staff.
Time is money.
Here's how to turn these situations around; to change them into something more constructive both for you and the other party while generating valuable content for your web
site - knowledge that can be shared with others.
The sites I'm involved with at the moment see around 20,000 visitors a day all told - that translates to millions of unique visitors a year. They cover a variety of topics, at times controversial.
It's not unusual to get emails from people contesting a point. They'll briefly state their views, I'll address them and usually that's as far as it goes. There's not too much time involved. But occasionally
I'll hit someone who states their views in a thousand word communication, or in a really nit-picky
way or depending on the project, a customer with a zillion questions.
I could spend a great deal of time in a reply to that person, addressing all their points. However, it's likely that won't be the end of the story, nor will it be the only such
debate or the last question. All that work I put into replying shouldn't just
benefit one person.
Instead of focusing all that time on a single person, I will often write a reply in the form of a blog post or article,
add it to an FAQ/knowledge base software application and point the person to it,
or copy the content into a reply. If publishing online I sometimes utilize the person's question/s as part of the content; leaving their name out of course.
By going about it this way, you'll not only address the person's question or challenge, but you'll also have some fresh content for your site that can help others, assist with conversions (if you sell products online) and be yet another ticket in the search engine ranking lottery.
Depending on your site and business, sometimes a lot of questions and answers may be generated in day-to-day operations and then handling even how to get them online and
organizing FAQ's or a knowledge base from scratch can become a bit of a headache.
If you're looking at purchasing Knowledgebase or FAQ software, consider Knowledge Management Software by Interspire,
Knowledge Management Software offers a bunch of features, including:
- Feedback ratings
- The ability to attach files to FAQ articles
- Show time-sensitive articles based on dates
- Provides answers to questions as they are being typed
- Fast knowledge base search functionality
- Syndication via RSS
- Comes with a variety of themes (or integrate your own template)
- Specify multiple users with varying permissions.
- Keep some FAQ sections public for your customers and other sections
hidden for use by your staff only
- Generates print friendly version of knowledge base articles
- FAQ articles can be emailed
- Built in backup function
- Related knowledge base articles feature
- Create your own data fields
- Comprehensive statistics of use
- Import and export FAQ items in CSV format
That's just for starters. And like all Interspire products, their knowledge base
software application comes with a 60 day, no-questions-asked refund
guarantee, so you'll have plenty of time to review the software operating under
your specific conditions.
Review out a demo of Knowledge Management Software
I'm a fan of Interspire products as they tend to be very well presented and documented, so easy to use and very powerful.
I use Email
Marketer for mailouts and a older version of what is now called Website
Publisher as the content management system for one of my sites. The company
also has a powerful ecommerce solution called Interspire
Shopping Cart.
Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content, tools and software.
Web Marketing, Internet Development & Ecommerce Resources
____________________________
In the interests of transparency and disclosure, please
note that the owner of Taming the Beast.net often receives goods and services
mentioned in reviews for free, or may receive payments or affiliate commissions for
advertising or referring others to merchants of products and services
reviewed.
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