What is Quora?
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| What is Quora? |
What is Quora?
Have you ever wished for a website that helps you find the answer to any question literally on your mind? This is what Quora offers its users.
In this article, we introduce you to Quora, the benefits it provides, and how you can use it to achieve marketing gains and even financial profits in various ways.
What is Quora?
Quora is a global Q&A website visited by people from all over the world to search for answers to their questions. The answers come from other visitors who might have found the answers through their life experiences, academic research, or studies.
For the average user, Quora offers a simple service: ask a question, and it will be posted to find an answer.
Quora also offers other features such as browsing answers in any field of interest or answering some individuals' questions. You can also upvote or downvote answers, but Quora's main goal is to help you find an answer to your question.
A Brief Overview of Quora's Origin and Its Name:
Quora was founded by Adam D'Angelo and Charlie Cheever in 2009. Both Adam and Charlie were working at Facebook when they thought of developing their platform aimed at answering users' questions.
Other platforms provide Q&A services like Yahoo Answers and Reddit, both of which are older than Quora. However, Quora managed to break into this field and attract a large number of users in a short period.
Adam and Charlie came up with the name Quora after long brainstorming sessions. Arabic speakers around the world joke about the name's similarity to the word for football (soccer), while others believe the name stands for "Question or Answer." Lastly, there is an opinion that the name is a distortion of the word "Quorum," which means a group of people gathered to make a certain decision.
Regardless of the meaning or origin of the name, it does not affect Quora's usefulness and its distinction in the field of Q&A.
How to Benefit from Quora as a Regular User:
As a regular user, Quora helps you find the best answers to your questions, and "best" is no exaggeration! Quora allows visitors to evaluate answers in various ways, such as upvoting an answer to endorse it or downvoting it to indicate disapproval.
You can also share questions on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, and finally, you can respond to answers and comment on them in writing. All these features contribute to refining the answers and presenting the best and most useful ones.
Even if you don't have specific questions, you can follow several topics, and Quora will notify you when a question is posted about them. Reading questions and answers is an excellent way to increase your knowledge and develop your understanding of the field you are interested in.
How to Benefit from Quora in Digital Marketing:
You can benefit from Quora in two forms of digital marketing:
Firstly, Direct Marketing of Products or Services You Sell:
Quora is a great means of digital marketing, but it must be used wisely and cautiously. You can't sell directly on Quora, but you can market your products and services by writing valuable and useful content about them. Note that the content you write can reach millions of visitors, helping you in general to promote and sell your products.
It is preferable to create a business account on Quora if your goal is to market products or services you sell. To create this account, the site requires you to be a business owner with at least three employees.
Creating a business account on Quora gives you some advantages, such as:
- The ability to answer questions in the name of your business or the product you are selling.
- You can assign multiple people to manage the account and respond to questions through it.
- You can display your store's geographic location on your account page.
- Your personal (business) account page will show topics related to your field.
- Quora will add a special icon for business accounts on your profile picture.
The business account or Business Profile is the only way you can showcase your services and products on Quora. Think of it as similar to having a page on Facebook through which you market your products. The difference between creating a page on Facebook and creating a business account on Quora is the different goals of visitors to the two sites.
Visitors to Quora primarily aim to find answers to their questions or information about topics they are interested in, whereas visitors to Facebook primarily aim for social interaction. This goal may include entertainment and knowledge objectives, but they are usually secondary.
Quora aims to achieve social interaction (like other platforms in this field), but its primary purpose is to provide knowledge and public benefit.
The Quora community is highly collaborative. Visitors' goals are either to find answers to their questions or to help others do so.
The ideal strategy to market your product or service on Quora is to respond to visitors' questions related to your field. If visitors find your answers helpful, they are likely to follow you and check out the services and products you offer.
Important Note:
The business or professional account feature is experimental on Quora. Features of experimental sites and platforms may not work optimally initially and may not be available in all countries. If you encounter difficulties during registration, you can contact Quora support to help you create your business account or guide you through the steps required to resolve registration issues.
Secondly, Digital Marketing for Products or Services You Sell on a Commission Basis:
Quora does not allow the inclusion of affiliate marketing links in answers to its visitors' questions. Posting links to products you sell on a commission basis on Quora can lead to your account being banned and lost. However, this does not eliminate the idea of marketing products related to affiliate programs on Quora; it just means applying it differently.
To market products or services related to affiliate programs on Quora, you will need one of the following methods:
1. Landing Page:
Marketing via a landing page involves adding the page link in your answers to questions on Quora. The page should be attractive and simple, and of course, contain the purchase link for the product of the affiliate program you are dealing with.
A landing page is useful if you do not have a website or blog and want to quickly market a particular product or service. Many platforms can help you create an attractive and professional landing page.
2. Website or Blog:
Owning a website or blog where you showcase the products you sell on a commission basis is essential in this field. You can add your blog link on Quora in the same way as adding a landing page link.
In my personal opinion, this marketing method is better than the previous one, especially if you write content that reviews and evaluates the products you sell on a commission basis.
3. Social Media Page for Your Products or Services:
As an affiliate marketer, it is preferable to have pages on social media platforms that you use to sell the products you sell on a commission basis.
You can add links to these pages in the same manner as the previous links.
Whatever method you choose to market the products you sell on a commission basis, try to follow these tips:
- Choose questions related to the field of the products you sell.
- Ensure your response contains useful information for the questioner.
- Do not add any links before providing a thorough and clear answer to the question you are responding to.
How to Use Quora to Improve Your Website's SEO:
Quora is an excellent tool to help your website rank higher in search engines, but it must be used wisely. The optimal way to leverage Quora for SEO is through backlinks. However, the benefits of backlinks from Quora differ from those obtained from other websites.
The impact of backlinks in SEO lies in linking sites and content within the same field and category. Since Quora is not specialized in a particular category, getting backlinks from it won’t provide the same traditional benefits.
Search engines do not treat websites with backlinks from Quora in a special or distinguished manner. However, this does not mean that adding your website or blog link on Quora won’t benefit your site. Quora receives about 10 million visitors daily, making it a significant source of traffic.
You can benefit from Quora to improve your site's performance in the following ways:
- Increasing the number of visitors.
- Gaining content ideas for your site from the discussions on Quora.
Using Quora to drive traffic to your site or as a natural source of visitors is very easy and can be done through the following steps:
- Search for visitors' questions related to your website or blog's field.
- Provide comprehensive, organized, and grammatically correct answers to these questions.
- Add a link to a blog post or article you’ve written that supports your answer or provides a deeper explanation.
- Repeat steps 1 to 3 regularly.
Many bloggers use Quora to find topics for their new articles and blog posts. You can derive content ideas for your site by following these steps:
- Search for the most popular questions related to your field.
- Start writing a blog or article that provides a comprehensive answer to these questions.
- Respond to these questions on Quora and include a link to the article or blog post you’ve written.
The ideas you get from popular questions on Quora will help increase your site’s visitors and improve its search engine rankings. For example, Google will recognize your site as one that answers popular questions that many people are searching for.
Both of the aforementioned methods will help you get a good number of visitors from Quora, which will generally improve your search engine ranking. The second method is especially suitable for beginners in blogging who are looking for new topics to write about.
Earning Through Quora:
Is it possible to earn through Quora? The answer is yes, but the methods of earning vary between direct and indirect ways.
Indirect ways to earn from Quora involve marketing the products you sell, either directly or on a commission basis. We have explained both methods in the section on how to benefit from Quora in digital marketing.
In this section, we explain the indirect way to earn from Quora through the site's partnership program.
Quora's partnership program allows you to earn money by posting questions on the platform. One of the main advantages of this program is that you don't need to own a website or store to make a profit.
Quora pays you based on the number of views your question receives. However, unfortunately, you can only join the partnership program through an invitation from Quora itself.
Quora, like any social media platform, displays advertisements to its visitors. Advertisers choose the question pages that have received the most views and interactions to advertise their services and products. However, the number of views alone is not enough for advertisers to choose certain pages; the content of the question must also align with their ads.
The only way to qualify for an invitation to the Quora partnership program is for your questions to be valuable in the eyes of the site. In other words, your questions should be well-posed, and the answers should be clear, accurate, and useful to visitors.
The more valuable your answers and questions are, the more likely visitors will notice them. A large number of visitors viewing your answers increases the likelihood of receiving an invitation to join the Quora partnership program.
Besides the value of your answers and questions, you should be active and present on the site regularly. Having a large number of followers is another factor that helps you enter the partnership program.
The invitation to join Quora's partnership program is sent to the email associated with your account on the site. It is important to know that the invitation does not mean automatic entry into the partnership program.
Joining occurs after you click on the invitation link, which will take you to a special registration page for the partnership program, allowing you to officially join.
Important Note:
Joining the Quora partnership program does not have specific rules set by the platform itself, but the aforementioned factors greatly increase the platform's interest in you and, consequently, the likelihood of receiving an invitation. However, the duration of receiving the invitation after meeting all these conditions is unknown. Some users received the invitation weeks after joining the platform, while others received it after months.
Three Tips to Help You Join Quora's Partnership Program:
1. Ask Questions in Various Fields:
Specialization is important and welcomed, but if you limit your questions to one field, you will miss out on gaining diverse followers. The field you choose may not be very popular, thus not qualifying you for the partnership program. Diversifying your questions attracts visitors interested in various topics. These visitors may become followers if they notice that your questions touch on several important and diverse areas for them.
2. Do Not Repeat Previously Asked Questions, Even Indirectly:
Some people repeat questions they have previously asked on the platform. This might be driven by a search for new answers or dissatisfaction with the answers received the first time. Regardless of the reason, the result of repeating questions is the same: alienating followers.
Imagine following a page on a social media site that posts repeated content periodically; would you continue to follow it? On social media, people might ignore the page entirely, but the situation is different on Quora. Followers on Quora seek useful information and answers to questions that matter to them, which repetition does not provide.
3. Consistently Increase Your Number of Followers:
The number of followers is one of the most important factors that help you join Quora's Partnership Program. Followers = visitors = views. Advertisers always seek views, and according to this equation, more followers equals more views. Having a large number of views qualifies you to join Quora's Partnership Program.
Nine Great Tips for Using Quora in Marketing:
1. Ensure Your Quora Profile is Complete:
It is well known that using social media platforms for digital marketing requires having a professional account on these platforms. Quora is no exception to this rule. If you want to utilize this site effectively, you must present a professional image. Ensure that your Quora profile accurately and professionally describes you and your company. Add all the personal details requested by the site without errors or fake information. Accounts with clear information are trustworthy to both the site and visitors alike.
2. Use Site Alerts to Track Topics of Interest
Visitors on Quora discuss all topics and ideas worldwide, and this is not a metaphor but a literal fact. You can search for information on any subject, and you will find questions and answers about it. This feature can easily be used to stay updated on the latest news related to the products you want to market.
Searching for topics on Quora is very simple; just type the topic you are looking for in the search box and press the search button. Accurate results related to the topic will appear, along with a set of related topic titles.
It’s worth noting that Quora will suggest related names for your search topic even before you press the search button.
Did you find the topics you are looking for? Excellent, start following them by clicking on "follow." After following, go to your account settings to set up alerts for the topics that interest you. This way, you will receive an email notification whenever someone asks a question or starts a discussion on one of the topics you are interested in.
Paying attention to questions related to your product field when they are posted helps you be the first to respond. Being the first to respond is crucial for marketing on Quora. Remember, you are not the only digital marketer on this site, so try to have an edge that helps you compete.
Speed will greatly serve your marketing goals on Quora.
3. Create a Dedicated Page for Your Brand or Product You Want to Market
Having a professional presence on Quora is essential for using the site for digital marketing. The most effective way to achieve this is by creating a dedicated page for the product (service or even site) you want to promote and market through Quora.
Create your page on Quora using the "Create Topic" feature. After creating the page, start adding its details and a brief description of the service you are marketing. Once all the information is added, the site administration will review and approve the page as long as it meets their usage guidelines.
4. Promote Your Page on Quora
After creating a page related to your marketing field, send the link to your audience and ask them to write their opinions on your product or service. Utilize all the feedback you receive, even from visitors who have not used the product. This feedback will help you improve and enhance the product.
Receiving visitor feedback positively will strengthen your presence on the platform and add more trust to your product or site. The trust your audience has in your product will encourage them to recommend it to their acquaintances, increasing your audience and prompting the platform to recommend your product or page to users searching for similar topics.
5. Engage with Your Customers and Audience through Quora
The previous two steps will encourage many of your Quora audience to talk about your product. The discussion might involve questions about the product before or after purchase.
If you are marketing your blog, some might prefer to discuss your article ideas on Quora instead of commenting directly on your blog.
6. Use Quora Blogging to Market Your Product
Some believe that the blogging feature on Quora only benefits blog and website owners, but this is not true. You can use this feature to write a blog post about anything you want, including the product or services you are marketing, even if you don’t own a site.
7. Focus on Engaging with Topics Related to Your Product or Its Overall Field
Suppose you are selling a product that provides a specific service or solves a problem for a certain group of people. Search for this problem on Quora and engage with the existing questions about it by recommending your product non-intrusively and providing a brief explanation of its benefits.
Do you have a blog specialized in certain topics? Excellent, search for these topics on Quora and respond to them by adding a link to the original post on your blog. This way, you will drive Quora’s audience to visit your site or blog, which is beneficial for any site owner.
8. Pay Attention to the Style and Format of Your Responses on Quora
Responses to questions on Quora should be engaging and easy to read. Try to use simple, clear words and understandable language in your answers.
Avoid using colloquial terms in any language, and format your response to appear organized and clear. Finally, if you present multiple points in your answer, using a numbered list and maintaining proper spacing between sentences is preferable.
9. Analyze Your Presence Statistics on Quora
Quora provides several free statistics showing the level of interaction with the topics you have written, and the questions you have added, or answered. It is important to review these statistics as they will show you how engaged your audience is with you and your overall presence on the platform.
Conclusion
We have tried to explain the most important ways to benefit from Quora. We strongly advise creating an account on this site and browsing it even if only for experimentation. You will be amazed by the vast amount of information added daily in all fields.
Quora is a different experience and a significant knowledge source in our current era. Some see Quora as the proper evolution of social media platforms that most other platforms still need to reach.