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How Using Q&A Sites Can Boost Your Business

September 21st, 2011 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you using questions and answers to grow your small business? If not, you’re missing out on a profitable opportunity. New data from Compete, reported by eMarketer, recently took a look at three popular Q&A sites and what kinds of users each attracts.

Compete looked at Ask.com, Answers.com and Quora.com, an expert-oriented site Quora that answers questions posted by users with information from trusted specialists. Quora also has a social component that helped it garner a lot of buzz on launch. According to the Compete data, although it has less traffic than the other two, the users are more engaged. Quora’s users are younger (18- to 34-year-olds accounted for 50 percent of its users) and also affluent, with 27 percent making more than $100K annually.

Compete found that most Quora users got there via search, which suggests that users start off using Google and then click on Quora as the most trusted result because of its focus on expert answers.

What does this research mean to you? If you’re looking to get known as an expert, consider checking out Quora to see whether it can be useful to you—especially if you’re targeting younger and affluent customers.

But Quora isn’t the only game in town. LinkedIn is an even better-known resource for engaging in questions and answers. Make sure you’re taking advantage of LinkedIn’s Answers feature by answering questions related to your field of expertise or your business.

Really want to get known as an expert? If you’ve got a little more time to invest, consider approaching bloggers in your industry and offering to write guest posts where you answer questions posed by their readers have or common questions that many readers ask.

There are many ways question and answer sites can help boost your reputation, give you credibility and improve your business’s sales. All you have to do is ask.

Image by Flickr user Marco Bellucci (Creative Commons)

 

 

The views expressed here are the author's alone and not those of Network Solutions or its partners.

Get more small business resources from Network Solutions

Web.com is now offering forums designed to support small businesses in cities throughout the US. Learn more about these forums here: http://Businessforum.web.com/

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Posted in Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media, Thought Leadership | 1 Comment »

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 at 6:00 am and is filed under Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media, Thought Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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  • http://www.thesmallbusiness.org Jerry

    Looking to establish yourself as an expert is but one use for question and answer sites. Another good use is research. People are constantly asking for a recomendation, review, or how to solve a problem. You can put this information to good use in developing web content, improving your product or services, ganing insight into your target market, and a host of other ways.