Ask And Answer Sites: Can They Benefit You?

By Kaila S. • January 6th, 2009

Marketing online for big or small websites can become daunting if you don’t randomize your approaches. A social marketing campaign, varied in its approaches, will give your client better results in achieving search engine domination. Using question and answer sites can prove to be beneficial if using them properly.

You might be asking yourself how on earth these question and answer sites could help in SEO or link building efforts. Q&A sites allow you to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Most sites require you to sign up, make a profile, and earn points to advance in expertise levels. Answering questions provides you with more points than asking questions, and signing in daily can also add to your points. As you become an expert your answers are more likely to be chosen as the top answers, and your status elevates accordingly. In your answers, you are also able to add no-follow links back to the resources you used to gain your knowledge. Placing your web address, or a client’s web address, in this allotted space has the potential of being seen by many viewers if your answer is chosen as the best.
 
The key with Q&A sites is to look at them as resources for potential clients searching for answers. Do you work in the automotive industry? Think about the questions your potential client might ask such as, “What is a hella light?”, “How do I find the best deal on purchasing a car?”, or “My car makes a funny noise, what should I do?”. These are all opportunities for you, as an expert, to help guide them to your website. It is a slow and steady race, but the more varied you are in your approaches the better overall result.
 
Try to stick to niche Q&A sites if you want the biggest impact for your effort. Also important, however, is the page rank of each site. You want to be seen not only by each Q&A site’s users, but by search engine users as well. If a future client types into a search engine the same question you answered on a high ranking site, then the likelihood of your answer populating on the first few pages of Google is greater. All this from a free site you might log onto for ten minutes every few days to help promote yourself or a client’s website.
 
Niche Sites, Lower to High Page Rank
Ask The Rabbi: Page rank 0/10, ‘The website where every question is taken seriously. From beginners to advanced, from the practical to the mystical, our international staff of scholars and educators are standing by to answer your every questions about Judaism’.
What Should I Say Page rank 2/10, Get the answers to questions about what you should say or do in sticky situations. This site is mostly geared to business and personal relationships.
Got Questions: Page Rank 5/10, ‘Seeking to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by providing Biblical, applicable and timely answers to spiritually related questions through an internet presence’.
Trulia:Page Rank 5/10, Get answers to all your Real Estate questions.
LinkedIn: Page Rank 8/10. ‘Let’s you tap the knowledge of your professional network, and to help you get fast and accurate answers to your business questions’.
 
High Ranking, Good Sites
Answerbag: Page Rank 6/10. Standard ask and answer site, topics ranging from celebrity trivia to Russian name origins.
All Experts: Page Rank 6/10. Very first large scale Q&A site, standard site.
Askville: Page Rank 6/10. Askville is Amazons version of a Q&A site, this site is all about sharing.
Answers: Page Rank 7/10. ‘Your free “one-stop shop” with instant information on over 4 million topics’. When most people think about asking or answering questions, they think of this site.
Yahoo Answers: Page Rank 8/10. ‘With more than 21 million unique users in the U.S. and 90 million worldwide, Yahoo! Answers is the largest knowledge-sharing community on the Web’. Yahoo is often seen as the pioneer for Q&A sites.
QNA Live: Page Rank 8/10. MSN’s version of Yahoo! Answers, this site provides you with a community of real live people asking and answering questions that appeal to their interests.
 
By using one of the sites listed above you will be able to start your journey to becoming an answering expert as a link builder. At first stick to one site, but once you get the hang of it, perhaps branch out to two or three different sites. Just remember, the more effort you put into it the more benefits you’ll receive in return. 
Share This!
  • Sphinn
  • Digg
  • Mixx
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • LinkedIn
  • Technorati
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • TwitThis
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Propeller
  • Reddit
  • MySpace
  • E-mail this story to a friend!
  • Faves
  • Furl
Comments(8) Link Building, The Basics

Comments

By Rose @ Goji Juice Capital on January 8th, 2009 at 4:43 pm

I sometimes use Yahoo Q&A site but lately I could not access my login account anymore. The site is so busy! So I decided to abandon it. But after reading this blog, I changed my mind. I think, a campaign through this site is worth the time and effort because it’s brimming with people. Thanks! :)

By Electric cars on January 8th, 2009 at 11:04 pm

No follow link is useless for google backlinks counting but you can divert traffic from it. That’s why i can’t ignore it.

By Scott Golembiewski on January 14th, 2009 at 8:42 pm

I found your blog from the SES group on LinkedIn and the first two blog posts here were very helpful.

The first one because we are a video site which is specifically focused on automotive how to content.

The second post was great as well because we are working on our groups section to be a Q&A resource.

“The key with Q&A sites is to look at them as resources for potential clients searching for answers. Do you work in the automotive industry? Think about the questions your potential client might ask such as, “What is a hella light?”, “How do I find the best deal on purchasing a car?”, or “My car makes a funny noise, what should I do?”. These are all opportunities for you, as an expert, to help guide them to your website. It is a slow and steady race, but the more varied you are in your approaches the better overall result.”

Our issue is how can we attract the experts who would value this opportunity. Or even more importantly, how can you get some initial questions generated by visitors to the site?

We believe that having Q&A with some of the more challenging topics expanded upon with video would be really helpful.

By Alex | Fast VPN on January 19th, 2009 at 6:25 am

I have read about those Q&A sites lately. I am more conservative SEO guy, so never tried them. Looks like a good idea, but it seems tooks much time to establish yourself as well as authority:)

By Academia de Idiomas on February 10th, 2009 at 9:49 am

We’re in the language learning space and a couple of times I went to Yahoo! Answers to try and find some niche questions revolving around languages. The problem is that the questions get answered so quickly that all the old ones are already answered and rarely is a new one really on-topic… even if it is you have to be quick else someone else answers it and you lose your thunder :-(. I think smaller or more niche services are definitely better, at least to start with.

By Reena on April 6th, 2009 at 8:08 am

Google Group and Yahoo answer is always best for me

By Jeffrey008 on May 1st, 2009 at 8:10 pm

Our company allows users to post a link, but it must be from the profile page. We also offer a Q & A Platform where users earn money for answering questions. http://www.webanswers.com has a direct relationship with Google AdSense where we will display advertisments on your behalf.

By jim on June 29th, 2009 at 1:45 pm

sometimes use Yahoo Q&A site but lately I could not access my login account anymore. The site is so busy! So I decided to abandon it. But after reading this blog, I changed my mind. I think, a campaign through this site is worth the time and effort because it’s brimming with people. Thanks

 

Leave a Comment

« Have Your Links Lost Juice in 2008? | Home | SEO 2.0 - The Video Link »

jtabber
To get all the details on our services, complete the entire form below:
Quality Link Building
Social Media Marketing
Local Search
Website Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Keyword Research
Content Development
* = Required Field
  * First name:
  
  * Last name:
  
  * Business email:
  
  * Company name:
  
  * URL (home page)
  
   Phone number:
  
   Monthly Budget:
  
   Verification:
      Verification Image
 
 

Do you know what it takes to get Higher Search Engine Rankings?

SEO Videos

SEO Videos

Our short SEO Videos discuss a number of onsite SEO tips and techniques to improve your search engine ranking. These SEO videos offer a hands-on approach, so that immediately following the video, you can look at your website and determine if it is properly optimized. If not, making the fix may require html coding knowledge or the assistance of your webmaster.