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Posted On: 18th February 2022

What Is a Knowledge Base – And Does My Site Need One?

A knowledge base is a collection of helpful, informative articles, typically arranged in categories. They’re designed to tackle the questions that your target audience is asking about your products or service. This article you’re reading now is part of one. In fact, our Get Help knowledge base contains articles on the likes of SEO, Conversions and PPC, each categorised to help users access the information they need.

The purpose of a knowledge base is to answer site visitors’ questions quickly and comprehensively. In the fast-paced, always-online world we now live in, people aren’t as willing to pick up the phone or type out an email to ask a question – and a good knowledge base will mean they don’t have to (most of the time, anyway).

Depending on your industry, there are likely to be some super-specific questions you’ll have to answer over the phone. But, if you can answer the most frequent ones with a knowledge base, you’ll be helping out your customers while saving yourself time. A win-win. But that’s not the only benefit of having a knowledge base.

It’ll help you secure (and keep) customers

If new customers are able to get their questions answered effortlessly, just by exploring your site’s knowledge base, they’ll be more likely to convert than if they have to take time out of their day to get in touch with you. Plus, that positive experience should stay with them, so they’ll be more likely to return to your site for something else in future.

It builds trust and authority

You can say you’re an expert in a certain field, but without the evidence to back it up, who’s going to believe you? A knowledge base acts as that evidence. Provided it’s well-written and accurate, your knowledge base can prove to customers that you know your stuff – and that could give them the reassurance they need to invest in your products or services.

It can help you get noticed online

If you take the time to optimise the content of your knowledge base for search engine consumption, it can help your website rank higher on results pages, potentially putting your name in front of thousands more customers. Apply the correct SEO techniques and write content that’s concise, accessible and relevant, and you should notice your site’s rankings improving – meaning more traffic and, hopefully, more custom.

So, do I need a knowledge base?

This is a question that only you can answer, but given the long list of benefits they can deliver, they’re well worth the investment for many businesses.

As your company grows, a knowledge base can save you time, allow your employees to be more agile and efficient, help raise your profile online and encourage customers to return – all great stuff. The only catch, of course, is that it’s not the work of a moment; it takes hours of research and well-written, unique content to fully realise these benefits.