Build a Question and Answer Site on WordPress

A question and answer site gives every question its own page and marks the answer that solved it. This video shows how to build a Q&A forum on WordPress: what makes it different from a plain discussion, and a real question being asked, answered and accepted.

Transcript

What is a question and answer site? It is a site where every question gets a page of its own, and the answer that solved it is marked. Answers are voted on. The person who asked accepts one. And solved questions are labelled, so everyone can tell. Why not use a plain discussion thread? Because in a long thread, the fix is hidden somewhere on page three. There is no way to tell which questions are solved and which are still waiting. So the same question returns, and somebody types the same answer again. Here is one on a real WordPress site. A member of a running club asks a question, and other members answer. Each answer can be voted up or down. Then the person who asked clicks accept on the one that worked. Back in the list, a question with an accepted answer is labelled as answered, and the member who wrote that answer earns reputation points. Building one takes four steps, once the plugin is installed. Create a category, for example Support. Add a space inside it, and set its type to questions and answers. Choose who answers. Make your team moderators of the space, so they can accept an answer on any question. And have them follow the space with email switched on, so each new question reaches them. The space is created here, in the WordPress dashboard. You set its type, who can see it, and who may join. A company help desk is built the same way. A question is asked once, and the accepted answer stays with it. From then on, search does the work. The next person types a word, and the answer is there. And the answers that matter most can be gathered in a knowledge base space. Nothing gets missed. A filter shows only the questions that are still waiting for an answer. Solved ones carry a label. And an accepted answer earns its author points, which gives members a reason to help. Who needs one? A product with customers to support. A course with students. A company with staff. A professional group with expertise to share. You decide who gets in. Keep it public, and search engines bring you new visitors for every answer. Make it private, for signed-in members only. Or connect a membership plugin, and open a space to paying members. Side by side. Answer by email, and one person gets the answer. Answer on the site, and everyone can find it. By email, it is asked again next week. On the site, it is answered once. What you know stays in inboxes, or builds up in public. And the people who help go unseen, or earn a reputation. Every answer sent by private email this week will be typed again next month. On a question and answer site, you write it once. Jetonomy is the free forum plugin for WordPress. Build your question and answer site this week, on the WordPress site you already own. Get Jetonomy. The link is below.