1. Pick several topics you consider yourself and your business to be experts on. Do not limit to just one topic or subject. 2. S...
1. Pick several topics you consider yourself and your business to be experts on. Do not limit to just one topic or subject.
2. Skim the site daily for keywords that you can jump in and answer in relation to your business.
3. Link in your website, Digg site, or other blog related website when you answer questions.
4. Be sure to read the Terms of Service for the site and make sure you're in compliance.
5. Come up with a catchy, easy to remember username so people remember you for future questions and answers.
6. Feel free to ask some questions of your own.
7. Get as much knowledge as possible of the topics you've chosen.
8. Be sure your answers are honest and reliable. Do not give false answers just to promote yourself.
9. Do not just answer questions with a link. Be sure to answer it thoroughly first, and then suggest a link at the end.
10. Do your best to be the first person to answer a question. This is why scouring the site daily is important.
11. Keep answers thorough but not too long.
12. Think about regional questions and answers. This is an excellent way to get new local customers and contacts.
13. Try to incorporate your website in as many answers as you can without sounding too spammy.
14. You can actually use keywords in the answers, so do this with tact and intelligence.
15. Check
your spelling and grammar before posting the answer. Mistakes
in spelling can be embarrassing and people will question your answers
when this happens.
16. Be polite and do not insinuate that anyone is not intelligent or that they are asking a stupid question.
17. 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.
18. Be careful of copyright infringement. Do NOT copy and paste answers from Wikipedia if you can avoid it.
19. Use language carefully, and avoid slang and emoticons if possible.
20. Try not
to sound as if you're chatting. Instead, use concise,
informative language that gives them a straight answer without all of
the filler.
21. Be objective, and do not interject your personal opinions, no matter what the question is.
22. Do not spam. Do not spam. Do not spam.
23. You can incorporate videos into your answers, but make sure they are not copyrighted or someone else's videos.
24. Vote on other peoples' answers and questions, so you are making your presence known.
25. Aim to get your Top Contributor Badge on the site. Readers will take your answers a lot seriously if you earn this honor.
26. Do not
answer politically motivated questions unless you're promoting
a political website. Otherwise, you could lose potential customers who
disagree with your views.
27. 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.
28. Read the community guidelines carefully on the site before posting any answers on it.
29. You do
not have to only link to your website; link to your Twitter,
Digg, StumbleUpon, or other page as well, since it will also ultimately
lead people back to your contact information and home page.
30. Utilize tools that can help you to scour Yahoo Answers, and help you use the website effectively.
31. Use
affiliates to advertise on the site. Yahoo Answers has a lot of room
for advertising, so see what the rates are to advertise.
32. You can
also recruit your affiliates to participate in answering some
questions. This is a great way to recruit more contacts.
33. Beware of spamming and over posting, as Yahoo will ban your account or at least suspend it.
34. Keyword phrases should be three to five words, and the rest of the content should just be the answer.
35.
Think about your niche, then look at the things people are talking
about. You can then search Yahoo Answers for related questions.
36. Create
a question account in addition to your answers account. This way,
you can be the person asking and answering questions on the site.
37. If you
think you have a promotional item or contest, etc that will entice
people, use that information in your answers if it is relevant.
38.
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.
39.
If you do answer your own questions, make sure the writing style and
tone is different, or people may notice something seems a bit odd. It's
ok to use both accounts as long as it's done properly.
40. You must use HTTP protocol links on the site; anchor links do not work.
41. 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.
42. The site
depends on its users to point out spammers and trolls, so do your part
to report these infractions. You can remain anonymous to the person who
is getting reported.
43. 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.
44. 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.
45. Try to find questions that ask a solution to a problem, particularly ones that your business or service can fix.
46. You can
create a redirect from your link on the site using a php code, so
look for these codes and implement them into the answer links.
47. Link
to others 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.
48. Take a break from time to time, so people do not notice you're posting all day, all over the place.
49. Do not
try to sell something with your answers. Instead, provide
helpful information, and then suggest the links without pushing it.
50. Figure out what works and what does not and constantly try to develop new strategies with your questions and answers.