The FAQ, what is it?

It gives the answers to questions or points that have been raised time and time again, the FAQ started in newsgroups but has since spread to websites. The idea of FAQ’s caught on quickly as a convenient, standard way to answer the basic questions.  Especially, in the case of business websites, your practice is a business and there are questions that prospective clients have regarding your services.

When you answer a question you are setting the tone for your credibility, the more thorough you are with the answer the better.   It seems common among health care industries to have stock FAQs.   A file you get with membership to your respective association, however, IMAhealthpro.com would like to encourage you to break free from this.  Search engines don’t like redundant data and neither do prospective clients.    They can tell when you are presenting the “company line” and frankly it’s a turn off.    Customers respond to that genuine style that you have.   While there are stock questions out there, having stock answers is only good if they’re you’re own and you’ve crafted them with your own spin.

There are different ways to present an FAQ for your website.

List format – the very basic, these are the typical questions followed by the answer from you.  Whether this list is ordered by frequency of the question or order of importance is up to you.

Dynamic or static? Should you give clients the ability to ask questions and/or comment?   Often the answer is No. This just creates more admin for your site.   However, do be aware that it is a great idea to have your email on your FAQ page that encourages questions.  This email can be directly for FAQs (in your mailto: tag add ?subject= <a href=”mailto:jvaughn@imahealthpro.com?subject=Can you answer this please?”>Try It which can be useful for customer service and making additions to your FAQ based on these user submitted questions.   Did you get all that?  I had to read it twice myself. 

In short, clients have questions, you have answers, the proof should be on your website.