Everybody knows – or thinks that knows – what a good answer is. When talking about Yahoo Answers Marketing purposes, is common to see expressions like “helpful” or “thoughtful” to typify the post you should leave in order to promote your service/product. But what does those expressions really mean? How do you really build a “good answer”? There are some factors to have in mind:

1 – To give a good answer you’ll need a good question. When promoting your own website, the natural urge is to leave that hyperlink laying around everywhere. That’s a mistake. That behavior will gain you a red flag (and then a suspension or ban) and just won’t work. Find your niche, identify the real demands of your audience and address only to them.

2 – Yes, you do need to be helpful. That means your answer should be enough to satisfy the asker curiosity/need. Don’t just leave a hyperlink and expect people to press on it and do all the work. Respond directly and leave your URL as source, that way raising brand awareness and building a positive feeling around your services.

3 – Yes, you also do need to be thoughtful. That means you should do your homework. Don’t just answer from the top of your head – take your time to really look upon the asker issues and deliver the maximum amount of information possible. A bad answer (incomplete or incorrect) can damage the confidence in your services.

4 – Don’t spam or copy/paste previous answers. Yahoo Answers is a community of people, not robots.

5 – Pay attention to grammar. Again, an answer full of orthographic errors it’s just going to diminish the confidence built around your services. Take your time to double check your answer.

6 – Size doesn’t matter. A single line answer CAN be enough. Provide the information the asker is seeking, nothing else. People are looking for straight answers, not for advertisement. Quality always should prevail over quantity.