Yahoo Answers clocks 2,000,000+ UNIQUE visitors per day, so there is a lot of traffic up for grabs if you know how to effectively utilize this Q and A website service to your advantage and channel a piece of that traffic to your website. Let’s talk about how to get more Yahoo Answers traffic and take advantage of this massive traffic source.
How to Get More Yahoo Answers Traffic
You’re likely familiar with Yahoo Answers as it’s been around for nearly a decade at this point and believe it or not it’s just as popular as ever. Many people go there over doing a Google search to ask their specific question because they know there are millions of other people ready and willing to answer questions on any number of topics. Some do it out of the goodness of their hearts, some are just addicted, and some (like us) do it for the potential it offers.
If you’re not entirely familiar with it, someone goes to Yahoo Answers and submits their question. They choose a category to submit to and that’s basically it. Then people, really anyone, can browse questions either by a search or by category and can answer accordingly. Answers can then be voted on by everyone to determine which is the best. If your answer is chosen as the best then it’s put above all the other answers and labeled as being the best, giving your answer extra credibility. Plus you can even put a link in the resource box area of your answer.
By contributing answers to people’s constant questions, particularly those which relate to your niche, you get your brand, name, and possibly even website in front of a lot of people which can be an invaluable source of traffic. If you answer a question and your answer is chosen as the best, especially if it’s a popular question other people are searching for in the future, you can have an invaluable source of traffic to your site for potentially years to come.
How to Get More Yahoo Answers Traffic
I have a few Yahoo Answers traffic tips to dispense so that you can fully take advantage of what can prove to be a very targeted source of traffic.
First, fill out your profile in full. This means giving your name, a thorough description of yourself, your background, etc. Don’t sell at any point, though, just like you shouldn’t sell in your answers. I don’t even recommend listing your website even though there’s a space to do so in your profile. Instead, save your website links for your answers.
Not only do not many people check out your profile but even less will check out your website via your profile, not to mention Yahoo sees it as self promotion which you want to avoid. I even recommend only (deep) linking to your website one in every 2 or even 3 answers. Pick your best answer then deep link to your website. I stress deep linking because links are only to be used on YA when you have a specific article on your site which is helpful and relevant to your answer. Just linking to your top level domain is seen as self promotion and can get you banned, so stick to deep linking to specific posts which are relevant to the question.
Second, consider their points system. The more points you accrue on YA, the more authority you and your brand have on that site for every future question you answer. There are a few ways to get points with the main ones being:
10 Points for Getting Chosen as Best Answer
2 Points for Submitting an Answer
1 Point for Voting
The more points you can get, the better shape you’ll be in. Each category also has a point leaderboard section where the top 10 users in terms of most answers chosen are listed. This gives you an immense amount of authority for your niche, so while it can take years of dedication and answering questions to attain one of these positions, it can be very rewarding if you make it. Always vote for your own answer, too; there’s nothing wrong with doing that, plus it earns you points and increases the chances of your winning the best answer.
Third, I recommend signing up for an RSS feed of your specific category so that you’re notified whenever new questions come in. This allows you to jump ahead of more casual users and answer questions before anyone else, meaning your answer will be ahead of all of the others (save for the best chosen answer when it is voted in). Just like the SERPs or with any kind of adspace, you want your answer as visible and high up as possible.
Fourth, give substantial and relatable answers. It doesn’t take much to outrank and get voted ahead of your competition. Most answers are either sarcastic, too short, or are written by someone without a strong grasp on the English language. Take the time to fully answer their question by leaving an answer you’d appreciate, call them by their name, and even express if you once had the same question or experienced the same problem. Sympathy and little personal touches like that can go a long way in the voting stage especially from the person who asked the question.
Finally, I recommend keeping a quick answer reference document on your computer to help you in more quickly responding to questions. This is especially effective after you’ve been on the site for a bit and have had a few answers chosen as being the best. Then, when someone asks a question which is similar to one you’ve answer effectively before, you can grab that answer and tweak it accordingly so that you can be ready with a quick submission of a great answer.
Cut out a few minutes each day to answer some questions and you might be surprised at the bursts and potentially long lasting sources of traffic you can enjoy from Yahoo Answers.