Using Yahoo Answers power to market your product or service is not a way to disrespect the community. Just like advertising on any given TV channel is not a way to disrespect someone who’s watching his favorite show. However, there are rules and almost all of them just need to follow what common-sense dictates. Nothing else.

You start by understanding where you at. Yahoo Answers is a community where people exchange knowledge, opinions, know-how. It’s well segmented, so, if your targeted audience is, for instance, “people who play sports”, refrain from wondering in the science or fashion groups – you will be wasting your time. Again, it’s just a question of common sense.

Then, you also must understand what you should do. Your business URL can, in fact, be helpful to the people who discover it. If someone has a need, then its okay to answer it and live honestly by doing so – that’s the name of the game. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can just throw your products and services to the discussion and wait that people just follow those hyperlinks .You must become a member of the community, respond thoughtfully to questions related to your products and services, “marketise” your answer a little bit (use your URL as source) and respect all other participants. One more time – common sense is the main rule you should follow when using Yahoo Answers. It’s not the only, though, but that’s a story for another post…