A Guide to Social Marketing on Yahoo! Answers

Filed in MY BEST POSTS, Social Media, Yahoo by Matt McGee on February 11, 2008

Are you into social media marketing? If so, Yahoo! Answers probably isn’t very high on your radar. Sites like digg, StumbleUpon, and del.icio.us are talked about much more often. But when used correctly, Yahoo! Answers can be a vital complement to a social marketing plan.

Yahoo AnswersI’ve been using Yahoo! Answers for almost two years now; I started using it shortly after launching this blog. In that time, Yahoo! Answers has become a Top 5 source of referral traffic for me. Can it become the same for you? Perhaps. If you want to give it a try, I’ll share a plan of attack in this three-part series. Here’s what to expect:

Guide to Marketing on Yahoo! Answers

Monday: What Is Yahoo! Answers?
Tuesday: Why Use Yahoo! Answers
Wednesday: How to Use Yahoo! Answers

Stay tuned, and as always, feel free to ask any questions or add your own thoughts and advice as the series goes along!

Comments (9)

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  1. While I definitely can vouch for an outreach strategy involving Yahoo Answers, one must be very mindful that often times, a high percentage of answers are plainly false. Certainly much more frequently than you find on, say, LinkedIn Answers. Rating posts would certainly be a good way to alert the public of bad answers… But Yahoo only gives you authority to rate after you reach level 2, which takes a little bit of effort to reach. Bottom line, if you’re serious about this, be prepared for the commitment.

  2. Dan says:

    The big flaw of Y!A is that other people can report your answers and questions and it can take as little as one report for it to be removed automatically. You have to go through an “appeal” process for a yahoo staff to review it to try and get it back on. Perfectly innocent Q/A can get deleted.

  3. I agree with you that not alot of people use Yahoo Answers for marketing and this is really a shame – because it works when it is combined with other methods like like article, press release and forum marketing. I personally have clients that have seen a tremendous increase in their traffic and some conversions as a result of Yahoo! Answer marketing. The problem however, is that this type of marketing takes good writing skills, strong analytical skills, marketing skills and the keen ability to deliver quality answers that actually drive targeted traffic using only resource boxes. (I’ve found that it isn’t a good idea to link within the answer itself). In addition, you have to be patient and protect yourself from unscrupulous individuals who try and get your account banned or report your answers as “spam” when they’re not. Also, you have to balance linked answers with non linked ones and this can be tiresome. If however, you use this marketing method and follow certain guidelines, you will find that it is very profitable!

  4. Jovan A. says:

    I have been using YA for a while and it has definitely increased my traffic. I answered 10 questions yesterday (sep 22 2011) and made $7 in google adsense that same day. After typically making less than a dollar a day, going up to $7 was quite a jump.