There is no magic formula to achieve a “Best Answer” status for any given answer and, as frustrating as can be, even the most thoughtful and helpful answers can be “defeated” by an orchestrated voting force – because, when the asker forgets to elect the answer that helped him the most, it’s up to the community to vote for the ones they liked best. However, it’s safe to say that in 80% of the cases “the best man wins”.

Straight answer, good grammar, organic speech and really helpful content are the most powerful weapons of an answer running to become the best of the sort. But how is that important? More than just for bragging rights… For the best, and for the worse.

An elevated ratio of Best Answers tends to raise the awareness of the Yahoo Answers Staff, so, it’s better to keep a low profile. Answer “normal” questions completely unrelated to the category in which you’re executing your Yahoo Answers Marketing plan – don’t excel in those ones, leave the brilliant posts to your “professional” answers. Mixing it up is the best way to escape the red flag glued to your account.

However, on those answers that really matter in your Yahoo Answer Marketing strategy, achieving a Best Answer status can be a nice big bonus boost to your website traffic. The answer stays immediately connected to the question, right there in the eye line of the people that visit that post – no need to strafe or look for other answers, yours, the best one, is right there to see. And your hyperlink as well. It’s a proof of your usefulness and integrity, so easy for everyone to see.

When thinking about Yahoo Answers Marketing, it’s common to focus the conversation on the answers, the hyperlinks posted on the answers, the rules that should be followed by the answers… Answers, answers, answers. No doubts about it, the answers are truly the best vehicle for an efficient Yahoo Answers Marketing, always bearing in mind the respect for a community that searches information and not advertisement. But what about the other half of the game, the questions? Are they a useless content for a marketer trying to legitimately promote his service or product? Well, not really, if used properly.

One of the great advantages – but not the only one – of Yahoo answers Marketing is the possibility to spread an hyperlink that can drive consumers directly to any website. If posted on the right categories, it can mean a huge amount of targeted traffic boost straight to your call to action buttons. And, yes, it’s possible to post URL in questions as well. Again, the harness of the marketing of answers is immensely superior, but using the right questions can really help to build awareness regarding your product or services.

Don’t forget that one of the golden rules of marketing is the ability to create a previously inexistent problem for which you already have a solution…

Yahoo Answers is a great way to market your website and products, because it allows you to log in, find questions that are related to your products or services, and answer them. It’s that simple. And if you have a level 2 account, you can even link the answer to your website as a reference – like a call to action button, ready to be pressed by any member of this infinite community.

If you don’t already have an account with Yahoo, you’ll need to create one – that’s how to start your Yahoo Answers Marketing Plan. Once you’ve created your account, go to Yahoo Answers and begin answering questions. You can answer them on any topic you want to start; the point, first, is to get your account up to a level 2. At this point is when you can begin leaving hyperlinks in your answers as reference, and obviously, you will link back to your account. You want to use the category option to search for questions within your niche or that relate to your products, services, or website, and provide your business as the correct answer to people needs and desires.

One thing you want to make sure of is that you answer questions in a helpful, thoughtful way so that your answer is really valuable to the person that asked the question. This will also increase the chances that your answer gets chosen as ‘best answer,’ so that your hyperlink will be even more valuable and people will be more likely to follow it to your website. The trick to using YA is to answer a few questions in between the questions that link to your website. These can be on any topic you want and link to any resource you want; the point is to keep your account from being banned by violating the terms of service.

Also, it will make all of your answers more credible so people are more likely to follow your advice. The greatest thing about marketing with Yahoo Answers is the link juice you get. When you link back to your website from Yahoo Answers, you’re linking from an authority site that has a high page rank, so the links are much more valuable than if you used a lower, less known site. Every single day new questions will surface, you’ll discover clients where you never dreamt it was possible to extend your business; and potential clients will discover you, not only in Yahoo but also through search engines like Google, where Yahoo Answers is featured in the first page results.

There is no magic formula to achieve a “Best Answer” status for any given answer and, as frustrating as can be, even the most thoughtful and helpful answers can be “defeated” by an orchestrated voting force – because, when the asker forgets to elect the answer that helped him the most, it’s up to the community to vote for the ones they liked best. However, it’s safe to say that in 80% of the cases “the best man wins”.

Straight answer, good grammar, organic speech and really helpful content are the most powerful weapons of an answer running to become the best of the sort. But how is that important? More than just for bragging rights… For the best, and for the worse.

An elevated ratio of Best Answers tends to raise the awareness of the Yahoo Answers Staff, so, it’s better to keep a low profile. Answer “normal” questions completely unrelated to the category in which you’re executing your Yahoo Answers Marketing plan – don’t excel in those ones, leave the brilliant posts to your “professional” answers. Mixing it up is the best way to escape the red flag glued to your account.

However, on those answers that really matter in your Yahoo Answer Marketing strategy, achieving a Best Answer status can be a nice big bonus boost to your website traffic. The answer stays immediately connected to the question, right there in the eye line of the people that visit that post – no need to strafe or look for other answers, yours, the best one, is right there to see. And your hyperlink as well. It’s a proof of your usefulness and integrity, so easy for everyone to see. And to click.

The first big hurdle you’ll need to overcome when facing Yahoo Answers for the first time is the harness of enough points to make your account reach that wanted Level 2. Only after achieving that category you’ll be able to empower your answers with a hyperlink – one that will lead everyone to your company website, of course. That’s a time consuming task, but a somewhat easy process. You’ll just need a bit of patience and some helpful manners. Reaching Level 2, however, doesn’t mean you can engage in Yahoo Answers Marketing at free will, with no worries. In fact, rules will only get stricter as you go along.

Just leaving your URL laying there on a question related to your services or products it’s the worst way to take on Yahoo Answers Marketing. It will get you account red flagged by the Yahoo Staff, it will make other rival marketers report your answers and, worst of all, will not in any way help out the people who posted a question searching for some knowledge trade – something you didn’t provide and, as such, will be ignored. You hyperlink will be there but no one will use it. Your account may be suspended or banned, your answers will be deleted.

So the most important rule you should follow is about respect for the community: be helpful on your answers, answer what people ask, help them. Then associate your URL to your post, preferably on the source window. That modus operandi, however, won’t be enough. It’s wise to also respond questions completely unrelated to your products and services, just to show Yahoo that you are not only there for marketing purposes. It’s time consuming, yes, not a one man job. It’s job for professionals – just like the team of questions-answers.net.

If you consider yourself a regular user of Yahoo Answers, you surely must have noticed by now that small icon on the bottom right of every post (question or answer) – “Report Abuse”, it reads .That’s a very common tool used in most of the social websites and online communities. The goal is obvious – empower every participant with the possibility to report any post that may be considered offensive to the portal guidelines. And advertisement IS one of those behaviors considered as prohibited, which means that Yahoo Answers Marketing is a smooth operation that needs to, first of all, respect the community of people seeking for information and knowledge.

Obviously, that single icon it’s far from being the only regulation tool of Yahoo Answers, but its importance rises from the fact that it can be triggered by every registered user. That means, other marketers. Rival ones. However, using the Report button isn’t free of charge – the people pressing it will also be checked upon by Yahoo Answers staff, so both of the accounts can end up being suspended (the “poster” and the “reporter”). So it’s wise to refrain from pressing that icon as weapon to diminish your opposition leverage in the battle of Yahoo Answers Marketing – there are also ethic issues involved, of course. Respect and good faith are, in the long run, the best ways to establish your products/services within the community mindset, raising a positive brand awareness and keeping those clicks nice and steady, with no harm done.

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.

Yahoo Answers does a nice job in categorizing all the different thematics from which people can organize their questions and search for their answers. That’s the beginning point in the process of stratifying your audience and reaching the niche your product or service is destined to. Beyond the obvious (if you’re trying to target a pharmaceutical market, you’ll obviously need to target the Medicine Category) you can dig deeper on that evaluation by paying attention to the type of audience you’ll find browsing and participating in any given thematic. Again, there are some obvious discoveries – in Games & Recreation, for instance, the large majority is teenagers and young adult males – but some other markets can surprise you. You may even find an audience you weren´t aware of.

Knowing to whom you are selling is a fundamental aspect. That’s the only way to find the right keywords that your product/service should target and, consequently, turning your Yahoo Answers Marketing much more efficient. Different ages and genders respond differently to the same stimulations, so your message (and keywords) should be adapted to your targeted audience. Yahoo Answers can be a very effective way to discover who your potential customers are, and every answer posted with the intention to marketise your website should reflect exactly that.

Creating an appealing website and coming up with an innovative product or service it’s just part of the job. A tiny part, actually. After your URL is up and running, full of those juicy Call to Action buttons, you need to make it visible to the world. Make the world know you are there. Make the world know that it cannot live without your product. And for that, you’ve come to the right place. The trick to marketing your website is to discover creative ways of boosting your brand awareness and Yahoo Answers is one of the most creative and successful ways to market your services. Below, we’ll talk about tips for using an efficient Yahoo Answers Marketing Plan.

The formula is quite simple: a reader who searched for any given subject on google, for instance,will see a question and an answer and, if interested, will follow the link to your website (left in your answer). There, they will have the opportunity to purchase your products or services; things they’ve already been searching for online. They see that this question has been answered and that the answer has helped the asker, who was looking for the same thing they are looking for. They will automatically think, Hey, I should check that out. If your solution worked for someone else, it should work for them too, right? So, they will go to your website already prepped to check out your products and services and most likely buy them.

Ideally, you should be able to answer questions from several different accounts and leave links to your website – however, this is typically not feasible for one person to do. That’s why there are services that handle your Yahoo Answers marketing for you, so that you don’t have to worry about it. Usually, you pay a small fee for great Yahoo Answers marketing but it’s important to thoroughly evaluate the company before choosing them to help you.

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…