No doubt you’ve come across popular question and answer sites like Quora, Reddit, and StackOverflow. Or, maybe you were even a Yahoo! Answers user back in the day.
If you’ve been itching to create your own question and answer site, then WordPress has you covered. All you have to do is install and configure one of the plugins we highlight below and you’ll be able to add Q&A functionality to your site or create a site that’s solely dedicated to questions and answers.
Below we dive deep into the benefits of using a Q&A plugin, the types of use cases this kind of plugin can be applied to, and highlight the best WordPress Q&A plugins you can test out yourself.
What Is a WordPress Q&A Plugin?
Maybe you spend hours a day on Reddit and you dream of creating your own niche-focused version of Reddit? With WordPress as your CMS, you can do this with ease, and you don’t even have to touch a line of code.
All thanks to the help of a WordPress Q&A plugin.
There are a multitude of different Q&A plugins available. The plugin that’ll suit your site best depends on what kind of functionality you’re looking for.
For example, the sites mentioned in the introduction all serve a similar purpose, but the approach and format of each are very different.
Quora uses a vetting system, where the best answers are seen first and the goal is to have your questions answered by an industry expert. Compare this to StackExchange, where the goal is to find the most objective answer possible.
You’ll need to think about the features you want your site to have.
For example, do you want to create a Q&A site that serves a specific niche? Or, do you want to add forum functionality to your existing site?
A quality WordPress Q&A plugin will allow you to do all these things and more.
Benefits to Using a WordPress Q&A Plugin
A lot of times your WordPress theme won’t have the exact kind of features you require. Luckily, the WordPress plugin library has you covered.
Here are some of the biggest benefits to using a WordPress Q&A plugin:
1. Advanced Question and Answer Functionality
Out of the box, WordPress doesn’t support question and answer functionality. The closest you’ll get is the comments section, which can feel a little dated.
If you want to give your visitors the ability to post questions and write out detailed answers, then you’ll want to use a WordPress Q&A plugin. A lot of these types of plugins are very versatile and allow you to create a range of different question and answer formats.
2. Custom Design to Integrate With Your Site
The last thing you want is to add a new feature to your site and have the design conflict with the rest of your site. Most Q&A plugins can be customized to match the existing design of your site.
If you worked hard to create a site design that you enjoy, the last thing you want is an out-of-place element. A Q&A plugin will add functionality without compromising your design.
3. User Profiles and Rewards Systems
A lot of the fun with question and answer sites is the ability to create a profile and generate rewards and a positive reputation.
With a stock WordPress install you won’t have access to this kind of functionality.
But, a feature-rich WordPress Q&A plugin will allow your users to create engaging profiles, earn rewards points, and even achieve a high ranking on the leaderboard.
4. Higher Converting eCommerce Product Listings
When it comes to selling products online you want to do everything in your power to make your product listings convert at the highest level possible.
This means things like attractive product images, compelling copy, and great user testimonials.
However, one thing a lot of product pages lack is user generated questions and answers. This can help your new visitors gain even more valuable product information, and help push them closer to the sale.
A WordPress Q&A plugin can easily help you add this kind of functionality to your site.
As you can see, using a WordPress Q&A plugin can bring some serious advantages to your site. Below we dive deep into specific situations where using a WordPress Q&A plugin can truly enhance your site.
When Would I Use a WordPress Q&A Plugin?
Even if you’ve found the perfect WordPress theme, it still might not have every feature you require. Hence the need for the extensive WordPress plugin library.
There are all kinds of reasons to use a WordPress Q&A plugin. Below we get into the most common use cases.
1. Add a FAQ Section to Your Site
FAQ sections can help to enhance sales and product pages, and even be used in in-depth blog posts.
There are a handful of WordPress plugins that can add drop-down FAQ sections to any area of your site.
2. Add Quora-Like Functionality
Creating a site that functions like Quora would be pretty difficult to do on your own. There are a few different WordPress plugins that can transform your existing site into a Quora-like site with ease.
Users can create accounts, profiles, and even receive likes for the questions they answer on your site.
3. Add a Forum to Your Website
If you have a passionate user base, then a forum can be a great addition to your site. It can also help to cultivate a community with your readers.
A forum setup will be different than a standard Q&A site, but it can be a valuable addition for the right type of website owner.
4. Add '˜Amazon-Like’ Product Q&A
On Amazon product pages you might have come across a section underneath the product where users can ask questions, and the product owner can answer.
This can be very valuable on product pages, where questions about the product aren’t explicitly spelled out in the copy.
Best WordPress Q&A Plugins
There are a ton of different WordPress Q&A plugins on the market. Instead of having to find the perfect plugin for your Q&A needs we’ve compiled the best of the best in the list below.
1. AnsPress
AnsPress is a completely free WordPress Q&A plugin. The core focus of the plugin is to add a Q&A section to your website, but there’s also bundled functionality to add a FAQ section to your site as well.
It’s equipped with a handful of other useful features as well, like voting, social networking integration, and a handful of filtering rules to automatically delete defense content.
This free plugin is very versatile. A lot of website owners use this plugin to create detailed FAQ sections and customer support sections.
2. WP-Answers
WP-Answers is a sleek WordPress Q&A plugin. It seems like a fairly straightforward plugin, but it’s also equipped with some pretty advanced features.
For example, you have Facebook and Instagram integration, so your users can login with these accounts, instead of having to create a new email account. This simple feature alone adds a new level of professionalism to your site.
There’s another really cool feature that allows you to gamify your question and answer section. Whenever users answer more questions they receive more points and can achieve a top ranking on the leaderboard.
Overall, the type of design you’re getting with WP-Answers is a more polished version of Reddit. So, if that’s your goal, then this plugin is perfect for your needs.
It’s also mobile-friendly, so your Q&A section will look good no matter the screen size it’s viewed upon.
3. Heroic WordPress FAQ
The Heroic WordPress FAQ plugin is a standard FAQ plugin. So, if you’re looking for a way to insert a functional and elegant FAQ section into your site, then this plugin will be a great fit.
FAQ plugins can be useful when you constantly receive customer questions via email, phone, and comments, and you want to centralize these into a single area.
This plugin has an easy to use drag-and-drop interface. Plus, you can group questions into certain sections.
You can even add media elements to each FAQ section as well, and it’ll display perfectly across every screen size.
Sadly, there’s no free version of the plugin available, but if you need a clean and easy to use FAQ plugin, it’s well worth the cost.
4. DW Question & Answer
The DW Question & Answer plugin will help you create a Quora-like website. You can add a question and answer section to your site, or build your entire site around the plugin. The core features of this plugin include posting, answering, and following questions.
You can easily embed question and answer functionality into your site, along with social sharing functionality. There’s also leaderboard functionality, so you can reward your most active users.
As an admin, you have plenty of control over the appearance of the Q&A section. There’s also widespread support for 22 different languages.
5. Sabai Discuss
Sabai Discuss is a premium Q&A plugin. It’s equipped with enough features to create any kind of Q&A section you desire.
For example, you can create members-only forums, in-depth question and answer pages broken down by categories, and much more.
There’s a built-in user reputation engine, that lets you give credibility to helpful users while removing it from accounts that only post spam.
This plugin also gives you the ability to create multiple different types of Q&A sections from a single plugin. You can create internal and external Q&As, along with public and password protected Q&As.
If you demand a versatile and flexible plugin, then Sabai Discuss is worth a test drive.
6. YITH WooCommerce Questions & Answers
The YITH WooCommerce Questions & Answers plugin caters to WooCommerce store owners who want to easily add Q&A functionality to their sites with a plugin. It allows you to add a question and answer section to your product sections, just like Amazon.
These questions will display below your product listings for potential buyers to read and reference. Essentially, this allows you to crowdsource your product information and it helps to build greater levels of trust around your products.
You can leave the questions open to the public, or only allow admins to post questions and answers.
There’s also a paid version of the plugin available as well. This gives you access to additional features like the ability for users to vote on answers, enable email notifications, and much more.
7. bbPress
bbPress is the go-to plugin for adding a forum to your WordPress site. It’s developed by Automattic, the team behind WordPress. This plugin seamlessly integrates with virtually every theme out there and is the most popular WordPress forum plugin out there today.
This plugin makes it easy to create and manage a forum from your WordPress dashboard. Plus, it can easily scale with your site as the number of forum posts, users, and overall traffic grows.
Most of the plugins above focus on adding Q&A functionality to your site. This plugin focuses on turning your site into a lean, mean forum. Plus, it’s completely free!
Choosing the Best WordPress Q&A Plugin for Your Needs
By now you’re well versed in the WordPress Q&A ecosystem. As you can see, it’s quite easy to add Q&A functionality to your site.
The flexibility of WordPress allows you to create a site that operates like Quora, has functionality like Reddit, or is even a full-fledged forum.
The WordPress Q&A plugins above all serve different purposes overall, so make sure you take your needs into account before you install one of the plugins from the above list. For example, the bbPress forum plugin will add much different functionality to your site compared to the AnsPress plugin, which will help you build your own Quora-like site.
Hopefully this post has helped you find the perfect Q&A plugin for your WordPress site.
Kevin Wood writes about technology and human potential. You can find him at his virtual homes Wooden Writing and Counter Culturist.