Are you considering a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page for your dance studio website? It can be a great tool if you do it right, but they’re not for everybody. Here are a few tips for determining whether an FAQ page is right for you, and for making an excellent, useful FAQ page if you decide you want one.

Are you sure you want an FAQ page?

Dance studios often get asked the same questions over and over, and FAQ pages provide answers to these common questions. They can save a lot of front desk phone time and help your dance parents and prospects find information quickly and easily. But they are not the answer for every studio.

One simple question can help you decide whether you should add an FAQ page to your dance studio’s website:

• Would you prefer prospects get information from your site so they can approach you with a better idea of what they want for their child and what you can do for them?
  – Or –
• Would you prefer they call to get information, so that you or your staff can talk with them 1 on 1 and in doing so, gently convince them to join your studio?

Ok, well, that’s two questions, but you get the idea.

Neither one is the “correct” answer — what is right for you depends on your goals and studio style. If you would prefer dance parents and prospects call you for information, then thanks for joining us today, but you don’t need to read the rest of this blog post. (Please take a look at other posts, if you’d like!) If you’ve decided an FAQ page would be a good fit, then by all means read on.

Some tips on creating an excellent FAQ page:

1. Gather Appropriate Questions

In putting together questions for the FAQ page on your site, it’s essential to make sure they are actually frequently asked.

• Give yourself a month and collect all the questions you receive from prospects and dance parents in that time frame, from email or direct calls.
• Add to that any other typical questions you know your front desk receives.
• Lastly, have some dance parents or friends look over your website and see what questions they have, and add them to the list.

2. Keep Them Well Organized

Pulse Dance Studio allows the user to click on a question and be directed immediately to the corresponding answer

After getting everyone’s comments, assemble the questions and group them by category. Categorization aids readability, making it far easier for dance parents and prospects to access the answers they’re looking for. Give short, intuitive names to each category to further enhance readability and avoid confusion. For example, questions about how what a student should wear for ballet class can go under ‘Class Attire’. It can also be good to group questions into “New or Prospective Customers” and “Existing Customers”.

Once you’ve decided on your categories, make a list of them at the top of the webpage (if you don’t have the capability to make your own website changes, create your questions and answers in a Word document so you can send them to your website designer). List each question under its corresponding category, without showing the answer directly underneath. Instead, include a link to each answer, to be found on the bottom half of the page. Your customer just has to click to get to each answer. This way, website visitors can see all questions at a glance, instead of needing to scroll down the page.

If you don’t have many questions – say 10 or fewer – then you can list each answer along with its question, instead of linking to it. It’s a “best practice” to organize the questions so the most important questions appear near the top.

Monmouth Academy of Ballet’s FAQ page
displays each answer along with its question

3. Readability

Visitors tend to scan pages, rather than reading everything. Distinguishing questions from answers can make a big difference in the usability of your page. You can do this by using bold or italicized fonts, or varying their color, size, typeface or decoration.

Another way to ensure good readability is to keep your Q&A quick and concise. Answer all questions to the point and in just a few sentences, if at all possible.

4. Don’t Over-Do It!

As helpful as an FAQ page can be, if you overload it with too many questions, you will overwhelm your visitors and prevent they from finding answers to their questions. Try not to include more questions or categories than are necessary. Make sure to choose them wisely based on the questions you’ve collected earlier.

It’s also so easy to use an FAQ page to tell dance parents things you want to tell them, about such things as attendance or studio etiquette. Resist! This page should contain answers to your customers’ most common questions, not just the things you want them to hear. (The best place for attendance, studio etiquette, etc. information is on your Policies webpage and/or in a parent handbook.)

5. Provide Assistance

FAQ pages on a website can be a helpful and valuable tool for prospects and dance parents, but if a visitor can’t find an answer to their question, you’ll want them to contact you directly.

Calls to action and contact forms are great ways to provide this assistance. You can place a contact form directly on your FAQ page (or provide a prominent link to a contact form on a different page), from which visitors can reach you easily. Also add a call to action at the bottom, such as: “Feel free to call us at the studio if you have more questions! (123) 456-7890.”

Wrapping It Up:

Provide prospects and dance parents with a section of questions that people genuinely ask and you’ll have happy customers (and more of them). A good FAQ page is an indication that you are customer focused and determined to be the best studio choice for them, and they’ll thank you with their business and loyalty.

Bonus tip! Sprinkle your FAQ page with relevant keywords, and you’ll likely improve your search engine ranking along with your customer service!

Best wishes,
Stacey

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