Technical Writing

5 Best Practices to Organize a Knowledge Base

Building a knowledge base? Start with purpose, audience, and goals. Then, pick the right format and design.

Written by Team StanzaGo

February 1, 2025

'}}

A knowledge base solves customer issues to reduce the chances of repetitive conversations with the support team when you can't find a valid answer to a query.

Therefore, the knowledge base should be informative enough to cover all issues and goal-oriented to provide customers or readers with the resources they need in real time. You should organize a knowledge base to follow a certain formula or structure to ensure the points are expounded as needed.

In this article, we will provide more information on how to create and organize a well-structured Knowledge Base for the intended audience.

StanzaGo Documentation Services Promotional Banner

Why Is a Knowledge Base Needed?

A knowledge base is written as a result of understanding the customers’ issues and providing solutions for how to use the products/services. It acts as a guide to make people aware of their capabilities to use the product/service. 

The information you give people on the use of a product or service is equally as important as the product itself.

A knowledge base is also geared to providing answers to possible problems even before they happen. So when someone is using a specific software or product, they will be more enlightened instead of feeling worn out when unable to use the product. 

Give your customers confidence that they can use your product or service without any issues.

If you have ever read the documentation and felt lost, you should ensure your company’s knowledge base doesn’t make other people’s heads spin. Most of the time, it is usually because of outdated information, or because they are badly written.

As a Knowledge base/documentation writer, you should ensure you meet the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic aspects to build people's trust.

The knowledge base should:

  • Empower people to understand the service or product in a language they will comprehend to make the most use of it.
  • Respect people, instead of marketing, communicate with them to help them understand better.
  • Educate people by not just saying what you want but telling them what they need to know. Also, provide opportunities for them to learn more.
  • Communicate in a friendly and helpful way; how you would also want to be guided when learning something new. Also, focus on the goal!

The Best Practices to Organize a Knowledge Base

A knowledge base should be properly structured to ensure that the readers can easily understand it, navigate through it, and find their answers in real time.  Here are some best practices to try out.

1. Choose a Suitable Format and Style

As much as you are creating a knowledge base, it shouldn't be too technical in a way that people will want to check other resources. Instead, they should understand straight away. This is to reduce the instance of having to consult customer support for more elaboration. When writing a knowledge base it's not just about grammar, but also about making others understand in a well-structured way.

Your audience will guide you on how to structure and arrange the knowledge base. You will also know the tone and style that your audience will understand better. A strong, well-structured, and elaborate knowledge base will keep the customers engaged. There are three distinct formats you should try out:

i. Make It Visual

Some people learn best through visuals. Therefore, you need to ensure that you accommodate them, too. 

You can do this by including relevant screenshots on how to partake in various tasks or functions in the knowledge base, based on the category. You can do this by writing some informative text, and then adding a screenshot to make them understand better and scan through. 

You can also write short sentences and use screenshots to show steps. On the computer, you can download screenshot software or use built-in screenshot tools. Also, consider adding title and alt text to your images for optimization. 

Apart from screenshots, you can also use animated gifs and screencasts that are great for visuals and audio.

ii. Use Audio

Some people also prefer audio, therefore, you can consider having audiobooks of the knowledge base article, a video that simplifies the whole process, or have an audio track of each knowledge base content to make it easier for those who prefer listening to reading. 

Using screencasts can go a long way on this - even if someone doesn't watch the video they can still understand by listening through your step-by-step guide. Additionally, remember to say what they should have learned by the end of it all. Also, if there are tutorials or other podcasts that are a supplement to your knowledge base, say it.

iii. Hands-on Learning

The knowledge base should be more of a tutorial with information on steps to take.

Also, don't give them all the information; just provide the important points and allow them to learn as they try the steps. The feedback form will guide you on whether some content is useful or what more needs to be done.

2. Write Each Article With a Purpose

The knowledge base should have several articles that answer individual queries. 

Therefore, ensure it is self-service content that a user can easily relate to, build their trust with, and understand easily. As the knowledge base writer, you need to have the subject matter that leads the people to your content. Get the right expert information eg. from the software programmer or experts. 

Once they read it, they shouldn't feel any more frustrated about the issue.

Tips to structure the article: (One great example is Google’s Knowledge Base page)

  • State the solution upfront.
  • Include the logical steps to perform a certain action.
  • Order the points strategically.
  • Use subheadings for easy scanning.
  • Write the titles with the keywords in mind.

Once done, leave it for a while and come back to proofread or check it out afresh the next day. You may also ask a colleague to check whether it solves the problem. Remember to use visuals, audio, text, and self-service content.

3. Be Keen to Build a Knowledge Base Structure

To organize a knowledge base, you need to tell your readers what they should expect in the knowledge base so that they can be sure whether the specific page will help them or not. As the writer, you also need to make it easy for people to navigate through the page. 

Remember to correctly categorize knowledge base articles and use a hierarchy that illustrates the most sought problems that need answers.

  • Be sure to use tags on your articles to make it easy for users to use the search function.
  • Use different article types like how-tos and best practices.
  • Place the most popular or searched-for articles on the homepage.

The Elements That Shouldn’t Be Missed in an Organized Knowledge Base:

Sr. No.ElementUse
1.Guided troubleshooting workflow Step-by-step instructions.
2. Visual how-to guidesIllustrated guides or videos that demonstrate how to perform a task.
3.ArticlesCovering a wide range of topics.
4.FAQ Frequently asked questions with clear and concise answers.
5. Important updates Information on “what’s new”, recent updates, features, or even bug fixes.
6.VideoTutorials or demonstrations of procedures.
7.Interactive demos These are great for them to understand how certain products or services work.
8.Best practicesThis should illustrate how best to utilize the product or services.
9.Glossary Definition of technical terms.
10.User manualsThey can be in terms of a PDF for easy download.

4. Follow the Right Knowledge Base Design Practices

For the best results, you need to follow the right design practices for easy navigation. With the right design, customers will be able to get the knowledge or content they need easily.

Image courtesy: Proprofs Knowledge Base

For starters:

  • The search bar should be easy to see by the customer.
  • Also, there should be quick links to frequently asked questions on the homepage.
  • The categories need to be color-coded
  • The titles should be short and contain the main keywords
  • CTA to request further help.
  • Use white spaces for easy reading or checking visuals.
  • Consider using two base colors and one more color to highlight key elements; preferably consider calming colors.
  • Use different font sizes, include a table of contents, and ensure the whole Knowledge base is mobile-friendly.

5. Regular Updates and Knowledge Base Management

The Knowledge Base should be regularly updated and managed. 

It should have current and not outdated information to ensure that you meet the reader's needs. If new features or new problems start coming up, be sure to update the knowledge base to prevent customers from consulting the support team. 

Also, don't repeat content in other articles, instead hyperlink to the specific article so that in case there are any unforeseen updates you just have to update one page. 

Furthermore, all the stakeholders or customer support need to agree with the content provided. The content also needs to be standardized regardless of who will be writing or updating the content. All the writers need to follow the format guidelines before submitting any article. 

Ideally, there should also be a knowledge leader who will overlook the content and help in providing the articles. Ultimately, The search function should allow users to get content easily.

Create the Best Knowledge Base

Identify experts in your organization who can create informative content and assign roles such as editor to the knowledge base. 

Also, remember to organize content logically, and use tags and categories for easy search. It is also vital to implement automatic search suggestions, advanced search capabilities, and use relevant keywords in the text. 

To ensure the content remains relevant be sure to schedule regular content reviews and implement version history to provide transparency. 

Also, it will be crucial to include feedback forms that will allow the users to express their opinions and even rate the usefulness of the content. In the backend, try and track user interactions on the pages or posts and even check the popular search queries to expound more on that. 

It will also be vital to automate recurring tasks and integrate the knowledge base with the CRM system, ticketing tools, or chatbots for easy access to the information.

StanzaGo Documentation Services Promotional Banner

Spread the Word!!!

Behind This Post


'}}

We are the professional writers and editors of StanzaGo, bringing the best of the best content to help you improve your WordPress, SEO, Marketing, and Content knowledge. If something's good, don't forget to like and share it.


Related Articles

Did You Like It? Let Us Know

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

' skin='skin1'}}

Streamline Onboarding, Cut Support Tickets, and Dominate Google Rankings!

Trusted by 50+ Top Brands for Unmatched Results