social marketing strategy » yahoo.com

Two Strategic Techniques – YahooAnswers

Laura Childs — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:35:38 +0000

If part of your social marketing strategy involves answering questions and positioning yourself as an expert on YahooAnswers, consider these two methods to make your efforts more profitable.

Be The First, Every Time

As discussed on the top tips for YahooAnswers, it is beneficial to be the first to answer a question. Here’s an easy way to do so without spending your day on the site. This technique helps you answer more questions before others by subscribing to the RSS feed for your chosen keywords or phrases. You then receive a listing of recently asked questions that are still open and available to be answered that are related to your chosen niche markets, as they’re posted.

Here’s how to set this up:

Go to the “Advanced Search” page as discussed earlier. Search for your specific keywords (primary ones that best describe your niche) and view the results page from your search.

At the very bottom of the page in the left hand corner, you will see the option to add that search query in your RSS reader, as shown below:

Once you have added this feed to your RSS reader, you will receive updates of new questions relating to your niche market (based on the keywords you just entered).

This makes it easy to be the first to answer new questions!

Repeat this process selecting keywords for each niche market that you are involved in and wish to receive notifications of.

Use The Answers To Build Your Website

As a Yahoo Answers contributor you will begin to see a pattern emerge where the same types of questions are being asked over and over again. This is a great way to learn about the current topics that people are interested in and if you are clever enough to see the value in this, you can utilize these topics to create interesting blog posts that will capture attention and receive comments.

You can use this knowledge in other areas of your marketing and promotion. For instance, if article marketing is part of your promotion strategy write articles based on the questions that you review. Submit these articles to EzineArticles.com and other directories to generate even more traffic. It’s an easy way to research various niche markets and see just what people are interested in and/or need help with!

To make things easier, you can choose to keep track of specific questions that you plan to address by clicking on the “SAVE” option under each question. You can save it to your RSS feeder or to your private watch-list.

Making the Most of YahooAnswers Involvement

Once you get into a routine with YahooAnswers you ‘ll find that every day you log into your account, view the open questions from the RSS Feed you’ve set up (above) and type out well-crafted, helpful answers with perhaps a link back to your site as a resource or continued learning on the topic.

Dependent on your market, you might find that you are answering the same question – posted by different people – repeatedly. This is why I keep a swipe file on my desktop with the most common questions I answers.

Create A Yahoo Swipe File and Targeted Landing Pages

By creating a swipe file of previously answered questions you will be able to cut and paste your answers and cover more ground. Be sure to modify your answers whenever required so that the person posting the question believes you have answered it exclusively for them.

While this is a time-saver and a method used by a lot of Yahoo Answers marketers, be careful not to simply paste the same answer repeatedly. Every question is different and you need to ensure that you modify to your answer or change it up a bit from time to time, depending on the nature of the question.

My swipe file is a Microsoft Word document of 20 answers which I cut and paste into a question’s answer box, rewrite to keep it personal and address any particularities of the question. A question then, that you’ve grown bored with answering becomes a 30 second marketing task that moves you up in the ranks at YahooAnswers.

Consider as well the strategy of your source link for repetitive questions. You could create one page for each specific question that you answer. That page will be loaded with more (keyword-rich) information, with a link to an affiliate product or subscription form, that Yahoo will index and your readers will feel was written with their needs in mind.

Fast Track Success to YahooAnswer Marketing

Laura Childs — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:35:58 +0000

Here’s a quick scan for the web savvy to get the most out of social networking on YahooAnswers.

Come up with a catchy, easy to remember username so people remember you on future questions and answers.
Feel free to ask some questions of your own.
Get as much knowledge as possible of the topics you’ve chosen to specialize in or questions you’ve chosen to answer.
Be sure your answers are honest and reliable. Do not give false answers just to promote yourself.
Do not limit to just one topic or subject. No one is one-dimensional.
Skim the site daily for keywords that you can jump in and answer in relation to your business.
Link to your website, Digg site, or blog when you answer questions.
Be sure to read the Terms of Service for the site and make sure you’re in compliance.
Do not just answer questions with a link. Be sure to answer it thoroughly first, and then suggest a link at the end in the source box.
Do your best to be the first to answer a question. Sign up for your keywords and phrases feed alerts. (See
Think about regional questions and answers. This is an excellent way to get new local customers and contacts.
Use keywords in the answers as long as you can do it casually and not appear spammy.
Check your spelling and grammar before posting the answer. Mistakes in spelling can be embarrassing and people will question your answers when you appear illiterate.
Always be polite. Always.
If you don’t know the answer, do not pretend to. People can smell a liar a mile away, so answer honestly and only the things you know about.
Be careful of copyright infringement. Do NOT copy and paste answers from Wikipedia unless you quote and source it in the box.
Be professional. Avoid slang and emoticons.
Try not to sound as if you’re chatting. Instead, use concise, informative language that gives a straight answer without all of the filler.
Be objective. Do not interject your personal opinions, no matter what the question is.
Do not spam. Do not spam. Do not spam.
You can incorporate videos into your answers as long as they are yours.
Vote on other peoples’ answers and questions, and make your presence known.
Aim to get your Top Contributor Badge. Readers will take your answers a lot seriously if you earn this honor.
Never discuss politics.
Although some answers require a link to other retailers or online stores, as a business it’s not a good idea to lead people to anywhere other than your website, or sites that relate to your business niche.
Read the community guidelines carefully on the site before posting any answers on it.
Worried about linking too often to your own website? You can cross promote sites that link to your site (i.e., your Twitter, a bookmarking profile, etc.)
Utilize tools that can help you to scour Yahoo Answers, and help you use the website effectively.
Beware of spamming and over posting. Other users will complain and Yahoo will ban or suspend your account.
Keyword phrases should be three to five words, and the rest of the content should just be the answer.
Try not to answer too many questions under one account each day. You can create more than one account at a time so try to switch between them.
Never answer your other account’s questions.
You must use HTTP protocol links on the site; anchor links do not work.
New answers to questions can be posted through RSS sign up, so use that for your questions and see what other people are saying. It’s a good way to see what the competition or other users are saying.
YahooAnswers relies on users pointing out spammers and trolls so do your part to report these infractions. You can remain anonymous to the person who is getting reported.
As things change, make sure your questions change as well. In other words, current events related or technology related questions might need some updating later on as new information emerges.
If you feel as though your answers have been flagged or there are issues, contact the staff at Yahoo Answers and let them know immediately.
Try to find questions that ask a solution to a problem, particularly ones that your business or service can fix.
Link to other sites besides your own, as long as they lead back to yours in some way, it will be beneficial. Too many links to your own site is spam.
Take a break from time to time, so people do not notice you’re posting all day, all over the place.
Do not try to sell something with your answers. Instead, provide helpful information, and then suggest the links without pushing it.
Figure out what works and what does not and constantly try to develop new strategies with your questions and answers.

Top Ten Tips to Quality Traffic from Yahoo

Laura Childs — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:49:50 +0000

This post is a continuation of the social marketing strategy outlined for YahooAnswers. If you haven’t set up your account on Yahoo nor understand the theory behind the Question-Answer strategy, please review the first post before proceeding.

Focus on answering recent questions, posted within the first three hours.
Always post a relevant website link in the Source box using a URL that sounds similar to the topic. (e.g. If I was answering a question regarding weight loss, I would create a landing page specific to that niche and include it in the source box: yourdomain.com/weight_loss_tips.html)
Answer questions as thoroughly as you can. The more specific you are with your answers, the better chance you have of being selected as the top choice.
After your limits are raised and you are able to answer more questions each day, start answering questions regardless of when they were posted (older ones are fine at this point). Every answer you submit will be included in Yahoo’s search engine results page regardless of how old the original question was.
Be sure to include your keyword (that you are optimizing for) in your answer as best as you can. You can also add your URL (using a href tag) but if you do this incorrectly and your answer reeks of spam, you will not be chosen as the top answer and in some cases your answer may be removed completely.
It isn’t just Yahoo’s search engine that will pick up your answers (and links). Google may also spider your answers and give you credit for a back-link to be sure to answer as many questions as you can each day, until you reach your limit.
Stick with it. Building an impressive portfolio and developing your back-links takes time but if you create a strategy where you are answering questions on a daily basis, incorporating your keywords into your answers and linking to your websites within the source boxes you will see results relatively quickly.
The more effort you put into answering questions thoroughly and being chosen as the top answer the more traffic your website will receive. Always keep this mind when you are answering questions. While quantity is important, so is quality!
Since you are answering questions across a variety of categories and niche markets, be sure that you know enough about the subject to provide a helpful response. If you answer a question incorrectly, your credibility will wear down. It is important that you focus on answering questions relating to topics that you are familiar with. If you are unsure about a question take a few minutes to research the correct answer before posting. It is not possible to edit your answers once they are published!
Don’t underestimate the power of custom landing pages. Instead of directing people to the main page of your website, creating specific pages where you can lead people to find out more information, while sticking to the topic or subject that you are answering. This way you will avoid confusing your visitors who are simply looking for additional information about specific topics.
Points & More Points. You will receive points for answering questions (2 points per answer), 10 points for being selected as the best answer and an additional point for every answer you vote on. When you are building your levels it is important to collect as many points as you can so by voting on answers submitted by other people you are able to generate more points quickly, however you must be a LEVEL 2 to be able to vote on answers, so do your best to get to that level as soon as possible. As you begin to earn points and answer more questions, you will become a top contributor and a badge will appear near your avatar picture. Once you are a top contributor you will be selected more often as the “best answer” and more people will view your answers, profile and your websites. (Social Proof!)

Okay, I realize there are actually eleven tips in the list. Just a little bonus to keep you excited about the power of this easy to implement social marketing strategy.

Adding Yahoo Answers to Your Social Marketing Strategy

Laura Childs — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:16:52 +0000

Targeted traffic. Every website owner wants it, will jump hoops, pay through the nose per click, tweak source code, submit feeds – on and on – to get more of it. Yet when you’re actively involved in your market you can get all kinds of free traffic to your offers, subscription forms, and web pages just by doing what you do best – answering questions.

This is especially true if you own a retail shop or are marketing books that you’ve authored, but it is also true for service oriented companies on a local level. Think about it – you’re the expert, people walk into your shop, stop you on the street or call in to ask questions all the time. They’re considered a ‘warm’ prospect at that point.

Now imagine an online location where all of these potential prospects can be found, asking questions that you could be answering – all the while positioning yourself as the expert on a global scale. Utopia, yes? In fact there are more than 21 million unique users in the U.S. and 90 million worldwide using Yahoo Answers right now, just waiting for your help. In return you’ll be rewarded with rank, traffic, sales and subscribers – whichever you’re after – or all four.

This social marketing strategy will be presented in a step-by-step format that you’ll easily be able to incorporate into your existing marketing hours. In fact if you put all the other stuff on automation – Twitter updates and campaigns, and bookmarking-syndication-commenting-voting – you’ll have time to manage an hour of day of this very hands-on approach. You should also see results quickly – seeing just how powerful this strategy is when analyzing your traffic and seeing just how much Yahoo Answers sends. YahooAnswers is, after all, the largest knowledge-sharing community on the Web.

Step One: Open a Yahoo Answers Account

You will need a Yahoo Answers account to be able to answer open questions. You will be able to create your account using your current Yahoo messenger account if you already have an ID.

Step Two: Complete Your Profile

Once you have created a Yahoo Answers account and are logged in, you will be able to create or edit your profile. You should take a few minutes to fill out as much as information as you would like to share and then save your information.

You can choose to allow Yahoo Answer members to contact you via messenger, or keep this information private. You can also enable “email contact” if you would like to receive comments via email, or you can choose to disable all contact other than through the questions that you answer.

When you edit your profile it is recommended that you add a photo or customize an avatar. It’s important to brand yourself and this is an easy way to make your profile more memorable as your photo will appear within your answers.

Step Three: Get to Know Yahoo Answers

From the main Yahoo Answers page you will see categories listed on the left hand side. This is where questions are posted and grouped according to their subject matter. This is also where you will go when choosing the different types of questions that you would like to answer, and depending on the niche markets that you are involved in, you might find yourself answering a variety of questions from different categories and groups.

You’ll find the question and answer screens wonderfully organized into topics such as:

Arts and Humanities
Beauty and Style
Business and Finance
Cars and Transportation
Computers and Internet
…and so on, with many sub-level topics.

It should go without saying that before you begin answering questions you should have an idea of what you plan to promote – this isn’t always clear to marketers who have their hands in many markets. It would be wise to create a profile for each market you delve into to avoid confusion and maintain focus in your efforts as well as your prospects view. Each time you answer a question, you can include a “SOURCE” in a secondary box that accompanies your response. This is an easy way to promote your websites and direct people to find out more information about the topic of their question.

You should also browse previously answered questions so that you can get a feel for the way other people have answered and addressed different questions, paying attention to those answers that were selected as being the “TOP” response.

As you begin answering questions, you may run into a series of questions that are no longer open. Here is a breakdown of the life cycle of a question from the time it is first posted:

Questions that are “Resolved” are typically closed from receiving future follow ups while questions that are marked “Undecided” have not yet received a “TOP” vote.

Questions are open for only four days but the original poster can extend the period for a few extra days or if a question has been resolved, they can close it before that time period has ended.

It’s important to answer questions as thoroughly as you can and avoid spamming your websites within your answers. In fact, there are few times where including your website URL within the answer is acceptable at all. If those viewing your response feel that it is spam you will not receive votes and your answer may be removed entirely. Therefore, you should try to keep your websites within the “Source” box only. Those who liked your answer are likely to follow your link to find out more especially if you are careful to answer questions that pertain to your niche market.

Start Promoting!

Due to the large number of people answering questions every minute of the day, it is important that you are quick when responding to open questions. As mentioned above, you must also do your best to answer the question as thoroughly as possible and be sure to address the person who posted the question by name (whenever possible). This has been known to increase your chances of being voted as “best answer” since the original poster feels that you are taking your time to address them personally.

Quick Tip: There is a built in spell checker available. Use it whenever possible to minimize spelling errors.

Remember that the ultimate goal is to be selected as the best answer (Top Answer) because the more often you are selected the more exposure your answer, profile and website will receive.

The Points System

As a member of Yahoo Answers you will earn points for each question that you answer. You will also discover that there are limits on the number of questions that you can answer each day until you build up your levels.

Here is a breakdown of the different levels that you can reach depending on the amount of points you receive every day. (For the first week you will be focusing on building up your levels so that you can answer more questions by increasing your daily limit. Those who reach Level 4 can answer an unlimited number of questions every day.

When you start out you begin at Level 1. You are able to answer 20 questions every day at this level. In the first day it is possible for you to earn 140+ points by answering 20 questions and you will earn more for every answer that is selected as the ‘top choice’.

You will be able to view your Points and Level on the main page of Yahoo Answers (on the right hand side) under your name. Here is an overview of how the points are accumulated.

When you begin answering questions you should focus on targeting your main niche until your levels increase and you are able to answer as many questions as you like. That way, you can start driving traffic to your site right away, despite being limited to only 20 questions a day.

Locating Specific Niche Related Questions

To find niche-specific questions that are still open for answering, click on the “Advanced Search” link to get started. You will find this at the top of the Yahoo Answers website once you are logged in.

Once you have loaded up the Advanced Search page you will be able to enter in keywords that are relevant to your niche market. You can also minimize any time wasted by being certain to only search for questions that are still open for answering.

Enter in your specific keyword that best describes your niche and set the “Keyword Match” to “Questions” as you are searching for questions to answer right away.

Next, choose “ALL” when selecting your categories as sometimes questions may appear throughout different groups.

Be sure to filter out the questions so that you are searching only for questions in your primary language unless you are able to understand and respond in alternative languages.

And finally be sure to set the status of your search so that it generates a list of “Open Questions” only. There is no sense in searching for questions that have been resolved (or are closed) from receiving additional responses.

Once you have completed this step you will generate a search results page that includes multiple un-answered questions found using your keyword(s). To begin answering questions, simply click on the links to load up the “Question and Answer” page.

The social marketing strategy behind YahooAnswers is to answer questions that target your niche market and include a website link that provides additional information – if the resource is your own website then you’ve generated direct traffic within a few minutes time and if the question is a popular one, hundreds (even thousands more) clicks could follow, even if your answer does not end up being chosen as the “top” answer.

Remember as well that Yahoo is the most popular search engine, outranking even Google, so by answering recent questions rather than digging through older ones you are ensuring that your website receives traffic not only from the Yahoo Answer center (and those who view your answer from within that section) but also from the Yahoo search engine spiders as well!

I hope you enjoyed this introduction to creating a social marketing strategy using YahooAnswers. More advanced tips and strategies of this busy directory are available after registration to www.SocialMarketingStrategy.com.

Getting Traffic with Yahoo Answers

Laura Childs — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:43:08 +0000

Yahoo Answers: If you’ve been wondering how to capitalize on all the traffic that Yahoo Answers receives daily, this video may hold your ‘answers’ to more targeted traffic. Non-members will also find some free social marketing training here (use the tags at right ‘yahooanswers’).
[This content is protected for Pro members only. Click here to learn more about membership] - it is cheaper than you'd think!

Woot for Yahoo (360 that is)

Laura Childs — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:22:40 +0000

After a long wait – I started playing around with 360 over a year ago, but it still wasn’t ready for prime time – Yahoo 360 is a top notch marketing tool.

Today Yahoo360 is ready to help you profit, gain traffic and receive high quality links to your website from one of the internet’s most popular website and search engine.

Watch the video and save hours off finding your way around Yahoo360. You reap the benefits and discover even more strategies faster than had you done it alone!

Yahoo360:
(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)