How to set up a knowledge base

Setting up a tawk.to Knowledge Base is a straightforward process that allows you to provide self-service support to your customers and empower your team with readily available information. Here are the exact instructions to get started from the beginning:

1. Log in to your tawk.to Account:

· Go to the tawk.to website and log in to your account.

· If you have multiple properties, ensure you select the correct property from your dashboard where you want to set up the Knowledge Base. You can usually do this by hovering over the current property name in the upper-right menu.

2. Access the Knowledge Base Section:

· On your tawk.to dashboard, look for the "Knowledge Base" option in the top menu. It's often represented by a book icon. Click on it.

· If this is your first time setting up a Knowledge Base for this property, you will see a "Set up Knowledge Base" button. Click it.

3. Initial Knowledge Base Setup:

· Knowledge Base Name: Enter a name for your Knowledge Base (e.g., "Our Company Help Center," "Product Support"). This name will appear on the top left of your Knowledge Base site.

· Subdomain: Choose a subdomain for your Knowledge Base (e.g., yourname.tawk.help). This will be part of your Knowledge Base's URL. You can later purchase an add-on to use your own custom domain.

· Default Language: Select the primary language for your Knowledge Base.

· Click Next (or equivalent button).

4. Customise Appearance:

· Upload Your Logo: Click to upload your company logo. This will appear at the top left of your Knowledge Base, next to the name.

· Primary Color: Choose a primary color that matches your brand. This will be used for various elements in your Knowledge Base.

· Font Style: Select a font style for your Knowledge Base content.

· Favicon: Upload a favicon (the small icon that appears in the browser tab).

· Header Banner: You can upload a background image for the upper section of your Knowledge Base.

· Click Configure (to go to the Knowledge Base settings page for more options) or Go to Knowledge Base (to start creating articles immediately).

5. Configure Knowledge Base Settings (Optional but Recommended):

If you clicked "Configure" or navigate to Administration > Channels > Knowledge Base, you'll find more settings:

· Browser Title: This appears on the browser tab, next to your favicon.

· Meta Description: This is a short summary (155-160 characters) that search engines display in search results. A good meta description helps with SEO.

· Heading and Subheading: These appear on the top center of your Knowledge Base above the search field.

· Feedback: Enable a rating system (thumbs up/down, happy/smiley face, yes/no) to allow visitors to provide feedback on your articles.

· Ticket Form: Enable the "Submit Ticket" link to allow visitors to create support tickets directly from your Knowledge Base if they can't find their answer.

· Cards Layout: Choose whether to display articles in a grid or list layout.

· Languages: You can add and activate/deactivate multiple languages for your Knowledge Base if you plan to offer multi-lingual support.

· Status: Toggle between "Published" (visible to visitors) and "Unpublished" (only accessible to agents).

· Remember to click Save after making any changes.

6. Create Categories: Use Gemini to suggest categories in an article

· On the left-hand menu within the Knowledge Base section, click + Create and select Category.

· Category Name: Enter a clear and concise name for your category (e.g., "Getting Started," "Troubleshooting," "Billing").

· Icon (Optional): Click the "+" to add an icon for the category.

· Slug: The slug is automatically generated based on your category name and will form part of the URL. You can edit it, but keep it concise, use hyphens for spaces, and no special characters.

· Parent Category: 

o Top level category: This will appear on the main page of your Knowledge Base.

o Another category: This makes it a sub-category nested under an existing category.

· Description (Optional): Add a brief description for your category.

· Click Save.

· Create as many categories and sub-categories as needed to organize your information logically.

7. Create Your First Article:

· On the left-hand menu within the Knowledge Base section, click + Create and select Article.

· Title: Every article needs a title. Make it descriptive and relevant to the content.

· Subtitle (Optional): A brief subtitle to elaborate on the title.

· Content (Blocks): Use the block-based editor to add your content. You can add various types of blocks:

o Paragraph: For regular text.

o Header: For headings within your article (H1, H2, H3, etc.).

o Image: To insert images.

o Video: To embed videos.

o Code: For code snippets.

o List: For bulleted or numbered lists.

o Quote: For quotes.

o Table: To create tables.

o Use the green plus signs to add new blocks and the six dots to drag and reorder them. The red trash can deletes a block.

· Slug: Similar to categories, the slug is automatically generated from your title. You can customize it.

· Status:

o Draft: Only visible to you and your team in the dashboard.

o Published: Visible to the public in your Knowledge Base.

· Visibility:

o Public: Accessible to anyone with the URL.

o Private: Only viewable by agents logged into the tawk.to Dashboard and the associated property. This is useful for internal documentation.

· Category: Select one or more categories for your article. The one with the green flag will be the primary category.

· Language: Choose the language of the article.

· Author: Select who will appear as the author.

· Meta Description: A short summary of your article for search engines.

· Social Media Banner: An image that appears when the article is shared on social media.

· Related Articles: Select other articles to suggest for further reading at the bottom of the current article.

· Click Save Draft (to save and continue working) or Publish (to make it live).

· Use the Preview function to see how the article will appear before publishing.

8. Organise and Refine:

· Order of Articles/Categories: You can change the display order of articles within categories and the order of categories themselves to optimize navigation.

· Internal Linking: Link to other relevant articles within your Knowledge Base to help users find more information and improve SEO.

· SEO: Consider SEO best practices (keywords, clear headings, meta descriptions) to help your Knowledge Base articles rank well in search engines.

9. Promote Your Knowledge Base:

· Share the link to your Knowledge Base on your website, social media, email signatures, and directly within your tawk.to chat widget.

By following these steps, you'll have a functional tawk.to Knowledge Base up and running, providing valuable support to your users.