An Easy Guide to Writing Effective Knowledge Base Articles [+ Templates]

 Humans are — or aspire to be — self-sufficient creatures. We like to solve problems on our own and feel that personal sense of accomplishment when we do. Asking for help can sometimes feel like giving up.

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This isn't exactly the best news for someone in customer service, but it doesn't mean your job is becoming obsolete. Rather, it's evolving to fit the changing needs of customers. In fact, this could make your job feel even more valuable. Instead of constantly being on the phone, monotonously answering the same basic questions over and over, you can have more variety in your daily workload.

One way in which customer service has evolved is with the development of knowledge bases.

What Is a Knowledge Base?

Knowledge bases are online databases that store information about a specific company, their products or services, or related industry topics. The data is either collected and stored through artificial intelligence or manually uploaded by expert contributors.

A company's knowledge base can provide valuable information to customers, prospects, and even employees. You can include important facts about each department, directions for product or service usage, FAQs, and original content that can provide in-depth solutions.

HubSpot's knowledge base helps us better serve and delight our customers by helping them access the solutions they need 24/7. Knowledge bases have also decreased the need for customers to search for questions on search engines. They can simply search the same question on your company's knowledge base, knowing the answer will exist in relation to the appropriate product or service.

It's evident knowledge bases are an invaluable resource to both your company and your customers. But, how do you go about creating one?

8-Step Guide to Writing Effective Knowledge Base Articles

When a customer is looking for a solution to a problem, your knowledge base should make it as easy as possible to find answers. It's important that your knowledge base articles not only contain the solution that the customer is looking for, but is also formatted in a way that makes the answer clear and obvious. When writing new articles for your knowledge base, check out this guide for writing effective knowledge base articles.

1. Select simple titles using target keywords.

Knowledge bases are mainly for your customers and prospects, and not internal stakeholders. Thus, the language being used in the titles and articles should be simple, clear, and concise.

When choosing titles, put yourself into the customer's shoes. What kinds of topics would they search for? What's their expected difficulty level in terms of knowledge on the product or service? Write titles based on this information. It's also helpful to use search-engine-optimized keywords in the title to attract more search volume.

2. Only have one article per specific topic.

It's inefficient to have more than one article for the same topic. Not only does this split traffic between multiple articles, but it can get confusing for customers if they have to keep switching back and forth between multiple pages to find all the information they need.

If you gain more information on a topic, do a keyword search to see if there are any articles with similar keywords. If so, you can update the existing article with more information. This will make the article more all-encompassing so readers can gain all the information they need from a single source.

3. Categorize articles for easier browsing.

Knowledge bases aren't just for searching. While many customers will search specific questions to solve problems, they may also use the database as a way to browse through related topics. This means your articles should be categorized by sections and sub-sections.

For example, on HubSpot's knowledge base, you can search by HubSpot product, the type of resource, or a variety of topics, such as Blog, Dashboard, Emails, Integrations, and Sales Templates. This keeps the knowledge base organized and ensures every article has a place and a purpose.

4. Include a table of contents, if needed.

Sometimes, an article can get pretty long, especially if you've updated it with added information. Dedicated customers will scroll until the end when they want an in-depth, complete understanding of the problem and solution.

However, the sheer length of an article could deter some readers. So, for longer articles, consider adding a table of contents. This will help people find the sections of the article that they're specifically interested in and skip any information they don't need.

5. Describe the problem, if applicable.

Start off the article by stating what the problem is, for scenarios that are problem-solution based. Not all knowledge base articles are meant to solve problems; some may just explain how to complete a task. In those cases, you can skip this step.

Identify what the symptoms of the problem are to clearly relay what customers should be looking for. For example, list what error messages should be popping up if the problem does exist. You want to use basic language and make it as clear and concise as possible. The briefer this section is, the better, as people reading will likely be looking to get to the steps to solve their problem quickly.

6. Relay the steps to accomplish the task at hand.

After stating the problem, you should immediately jump into showing readers how they can solve the problem. Layout this section in easy-to-read steps that can be read and followed in succession. You want to make sure the steps actually solve the problem they claim to solve. If the problem can't quite be solved, the steps can help eliminate potential causes or reveal what the root problem is.

You'll want to lay out steps specifically for articles that are solving problems or showing how to accomplish a task. For comprehensive guides, you might not need to utilize steps. Instead, you can divide up the text by explaining different aspects under separate headers.