Generating income from the Internet for the inquisitive webmaster…
Many webmasters, especially newbies, underestimate the value of Yahoo! Answers when it comes to driving traffic or increasing income on their websites.
This guide will teach you how to join and make use of Yahoo! Answers in driving traffic and increasing your income on your website.
Click here to download this guide in PDF format
Create Specific Pages on Your Website
Many webmasters simply refer users to the main page of their website. While this is fine, many underestimate the value of custom landing pages, created specifically for Yahoo! Answers. One way of generating an income from Yahoo! Answers can be the creation of custom landing pages, promoting a certain product by selling it online or via affiliate links.
As an example, take a look at the following recommendation:
You want to sell Youtube Downloading software on your website by means of affiliate links.
Simply create a page on your website showcasing the product, what it does, how it works, what it costs and the advantages of using it. On the page is a link the user can click to purchase the product – this is your affiliate link to the actual sales page.
You search for open questions on Yahoo! Answers related to ‘Download Youtube’ or ‘Youtube Download’, etc. Once you identify the open questions, post your descriptive answer of the great software you know about and how it could help. Now direct the readers to your page on your website created for this pitch. People clicking the link will be taken to the exact page and have no need for surfing around your website looking for it.
This is a great way of earning income from Yahoo! Answers if this approach is handled in a positive manner and not misused.
Benefiting your Website Even More
That is right, your website can benefit even more from Yahoo! Answers. By making use of Yahoo! Answers on a regular basis you are placed in a top position to see the latest questions asked by normal Internet users on a specific niche, product, tool, software, etc. You can make use of this information which will in turn be of utmost benefit to your website.
By identifying the latest questions asked on certain topics, you stay abreast of the latest market trends and what normal Internet users want or need. This places you in a position to write Blog posts, or even write and distribute articles on these matters touching normal Internet users. If one person has a concern on one topic, you can be assured that there are many more that has the same concern or soon will have. You can have your articles up and running and publicised in no time when you identify a certain problem area.
Improving Your Website’s Pagerank
As a webmaster you should, by now, understand the importance of Google Pagerank and what it means to your websites in terms of generating additional income and resell value. In order to achieve a higher Pagerank you need to ultimately focus on backlinks to your website, as well as links to other sources from your website, not only just any source, but sources related to your website’s niche and content.
Here is a hint for ensuring that you have proper links to a source with related content. Simply create a page dedicated to outgoing links. On this page you can boost your achievements of being chosen the best answer on Yahoo! Answers.
Create a short description and link to the page where you were awarded the best answer title. Not only will this impress visitors, but also assist in better Pagerank opportunities from Google.
Finding Questions Pertaining to Your Niche
Your first step in answering questions is to search for questions pertaining to your niche. This is a relatively process, and sure beats browsing through all the pages of open questions until you find a question pertaining to your niche.
At the top of your screen you will notice a green search bar. Simply click the Advanced Search link and a new page will open.
Here you can add certain terms pertaining to your niche, such as ‘wordpress’, decide whether you want to search questions or best answers, choose a category or all categories and decide upon which question type you want to search.
When choosing a category it is suggested that you choose the ‘All’ function, as many people asking specific questions might not have it sorted in the correct category. This increase your chances of finding more relevant questions you can answer.
You can then simply hit the search button at the bottom of the form and all questions containing your keywords and advanced search specifications will be displayed.
You are then allowed to click on the questions and start the process of answering them.
Answering Questions
Remember, your aim would be answering the latest available open questions. The reason for this is that Yahoo! Search Engine index the latest posted questions and answers and lists them in the search engine results. This will lead to faster and more traffic, in addition to that you will receive from Yahoo! Answers members reading your answers. When Yahoo! Search Engine indexes these posts in their search engine, smaller search engines grabbing their results from Yahoo! Search Engine will also list your answers in their search results.
Once you are in a question your can answer it by simply clicking the ‘Answer this Question’ Button.
So, to summarize, ensure that you focus your attention on questions posted within the last three hours.
When posting an answer you should be as thorough as you can, you will increase your chances of being chosen the best answer. Never post links to websites which are not relevant to the question, this is not worth the risk.
Be personal with the person posting the question, mention his name when answering. Many people like this and will like your post more than any other simply giving a short answer.
Be sure to mention keywords related to the website you are marketing in your answer. This is great for search engine optimization.
Do not simply copy and paste the same answer on different questions! Remember you are dealing with different people, treat them individually for better results.
At the bottom of the page you will notice a resource box, where you can give credit to a website from where you base your answer upon. This is the place to promote your website by adding your URL.
Stay Up to Date with the Latest Questions
Once actively involved in answering questions on Yahoo! Answers, you will need to stay up to date with the latest questions asked pertaining to your niche. Preferably you will want to be one of the first people to know about new questions posted.
Yahoo! Answers has a built in facility whereby you can create RSS feeds to inform you of new questions asked related to your niche. With this feed you will receive a list of related questions that are still open and available for answering.
Setting up this facility
Again, go to the Advanced Search Page by clicking the ‘Advance’ link next to the search bar at the top of the page. Now conduct a normal search on your niche, as an example ‘Wordpress’, for recently posted open questions.
Now look at the bottom left corner of the page and you will notice an option to post the query results to your RSS reader.
Once added to your RSS reader you can repeat the search again for other terms related to your niche and add them to your RSS reader as well.
As simple as this and you will now receive updates as and when new questions related to your niche is posted on Yahoo! Answers without the need of visiting the website every few seconds!
Decide Upon a Niche
Now remember, there are two goals you will need to work for, number one – you want to become and expert. Number two – you want to attract traffic to your website.
You simply do not want to start your Yahoo! Answers efforts in answering random questions not related to your niche, especially not related to your website. In answering these questions, you simply will not have the opportunity in marketing your website. Any attempts in doing so will eventually lead to your answers being deleted and your account suspended.
In answering questions not related to your knowledge and skills will also minimize the opportunities of your answers being chosen as the best answers. Stick to what you know; what you are experienced and skilled in and help people who need information related to your niche.
You will be in a better position in providing better answers to fellow members and will soon be regarded as a Yahoo! Answers expert in this area.
Often the answers provided by expert members carry more authority and users are more likely to act on the answers provided by experts and visiting recommended links in posts by these experts.
When deciding upon a niche, always ensure that this niche is relevant to the information contained in your website, as your goal will be to refer people with answers to your website or simply using your website as a reference.
Once you have identified your niche, simply take a look at the Yahoo! Answers categories and you will have an idea of where you will spend the majority of time in answering questions.
Three Types of Questions on Yahoo! Answers
You need to keep in mind that there are three different types of questions on Yahoo! Answers; they are Open Questions, Undecided Questions and Resolved Questions. Let us take a quick look at each of the different questions.
Open Questions
Open questions still need answers. A question being indicated as open means that the person who posted the question has not yet received an adequate answer.
Undecided Questions
Generally an undecided question has a number of answers. Here the Yahoo! Answers community is being asked to vote for the best answer.
Resolved Questions
These types of questions have been answered and the best answer has been chosen by the poster of the question.
In general questions remain open for only a 4 day period, however, the poster of the question do have the opportunity of extending this period. Posters of questions are also in a position to close a question before the 4 day period is reached if a sufficient answer is received.
From the above it is clear that your attention need to be focused on the latest posted and open questions. This is where you want to promote your website and display your skills as an expert in your niche.
Let’s Start the Process of Answering Questions!
Before you start answering your first question, keep the following in mind, this may help you to go far on Yahoo! Answers.
Always give a descriptive answer when answering a question. Do not simply type your website’s URL.
Ensure that your answers’ spelling and grammar is correct. Yahoo! Answers has a built-in spell checker when you answer questions, make use of this.
When posting an answer, make sure that you address the person who asked the question by name. This will make your answer very personal. Leave a nice comment to the poster after you have typed the answer, something like ‘Hope you will find this information useful’.
There are a large number of people answering questions. Focus your attention on the latest questions and act fast in answering them. You might not always be the first, but second or third answer may very well suffice!
What is Yahoo! Answers?
Yahoo! Answers, in short, is the world’s largest questions and answers community where members can post any question and have it answered by fellow members. The person asking the question may choose the best answer from those posted to the question.
Members answering the questions are awarded points simply answering the questions and even more points if their answer is chosen as the best answer. In building points the members will be climbing the ranks established by Yahoo! Answers, eventually to be declared an expert after achieving a certain amount of points.
This system established a unique, useful and successful resource for a large number of Internet users who urgently need answers on questions. This also became a centralized resource for experienced individuals to prove their expertise to a large international audience. In becoming an expert in a specific niche, your answers will carry more weight than any other answers provided by non-experts. In following the recommendations in this guide, one of your goals will be to become and expert on Yahoo! Answers in your niche.
For webmasters, this service became a proven success in attracting targeted visitors to their established websites. The purpose of this guide is to show you how to achieve success in this opportunity not being taken advantage of by the majority of webmasters.
Yahoo! Answers can be accessed by entering the following URL in your browsers’ address bar:
The Yahoo! Answers Points System
As explained, you will receive a certain number of points for every question answered and even more points if your answer is chosen as the best. The ultimate goal is to earn as much point, which will eventually be promoting you as an expert on Yahoo! Answers.
In increasing your points on Yahoo! Answers, you will also be lifting various limits pertaining to the number of questions you may answer per day, the number of ratings you may receive, etc.
Become a member of Yahoo! Answers
Before you can start benefiting from gaining traffic from Yahoo! Answers you will need to register as a member of Yahoo! You can do this by visiting the Yahoo! Website at www.yahoo.com or simply doing so by registering from Yahoo! Answers at http://answers.yahoo.com. Once you have registered you may log into Yahoo! Answers.
Complete your profile
After logging into Yahoo! Answers, you will need to complete your profile. This is very important as a large number of Yahoo! Answers members will at some stage want to view more information on you. The nature of the answers you will be posting on questions will determine other users’ interest in you. Ensure that you provide as much relevant information in your profile about yourself.
Do you want to be contacted?
During the profile completion process you will also be offered the opportunity of allowing fellow members to contact you and the way in which they can do so, whether it is by e-mail or messenger. You may also decide to have no correspondence with fellow members allowed.
Brand yourself with a photograph or image
You will also be afforded the opportunity of uploading a picture for your profile. We highly recommend branding yourself and by creating a small logo as profile picture is the ideal way in showing off your brand to your new online audience. This will make your profile much more memorable as this image will appear in all your answers you post.
Familiarize yourself with the Yahoo! Answers operations
Lastly, before you set off answering questions it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with Yahoo! Answers. You will notice the different categories under which questions are sorted. Take a look at how questions are answered, how questions are posted and read the available information on how Yahoo! Answers work. Play around with the functions of the website, you won’t break it!
In following the recommendations above you will now be a registered member of Yahoo! Answers and will have very basic knowledge on how this service work. You are now allowed to start posting answers, but not yet ready for it!
Let us keep reading on before you start answering questions.
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