When developing and creating a website, web designers should keep in mind that each user is new to the website. This is why it is important to provide adapted instructions and guidelines that can help each user through the browsing of the website and use it appropriately.
It is important to have an effective help system as this determines the quality of the website as a whole. Even if a website has good content in it but offers a help system that is badly designed, it cannot be user-friendly.
Help systems are those sources that you can find under may different terms, such as the “FAQ,” “Support,” “Knowledgebase” to name a few, and that provide help and assistance to your readers. These help systems must be easily accessible on the websites so that readers can locate them immediately when browsing through the site. It is important to create these help systems effectively as they need to serve a specific purpose and these are the last places readers will go to before leaving your website. If these areas cannot provide help then you have lost a potential customer.
Unfortunately, many web designers underestimate the importance of these help systems, due to the lack of perception they grant to these areas. Most web designers do not give enough attention to help systems as they consider other areas more important for the promotion of the website. It is important to make these systems available right from the home page and not place them on separate help section areas. It is important that users can easily find these and do not have to waste time browsing through the various pages of the website.
You can add contact information and operating hours on the footer of a home page, as it will provide basic information without the need of looking for it on another page of the website. Contact information is also part of the help system of a website.
A FAQ page of a website is where users can find the most frequently asked questions that provide useful information for any question they may have in mind. This type of help system provides brief guidelines that can lead to a more vast help system page.
The terms Help and Support are good keywords to integrate, as users will be immediately attracted to these. “Help” can designate a link towards more help pages, that can in turn be divided into subcategories and sections such as “How to Use,” “How to Buy,” or again “FAQ.”
Most of these help system pages, even though they present different features should have common characteristics if they are to be effective. Use attractive features, such as bold text and bullets and stick to short paragraphs. Keep the descriptions short and to the point, so that each subject can be browsed through quickly. Most users who end up on help pages are looking for information and can be puzzled. If they read long descriptive content, they will no doubt give up before they start.
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