Looking to get more visitors to your website? If so, check out Quora advertising and SEO.
Why? Because it’s a way to reach potential customers that your competitors might not be using.
Also, it’s an additional source of traffic. That means if some of your other marketing channels have a dry spell, then maybe Quora can make up some of the difference.
As usual, though, there’s a skill set involved in promoting your brand effectively on Quora. If you jump into it without knowing what you’re doing, you’ll likely waste time and money.
In this article, we’ll go over how you can increase your exposure online with Quora advertising.
What Is Quora?
If you’re unfamiliar with Quora, it’s a question-and-answer website. People go there, type in a question and wait for other users to answer it.
What kinds of questions do people ask? All kinds of questions.
And they get all kinds of answers as well.
Right now, for example, this question appears on the home page: “A kid threw a stone at my car. I confronted his mom (who was nearby). She said, ‘You can’t prove it was my son.’ How should I have reacted?”
That question got 68 answers.
Of course, people also ask more technical and business-oriented questions on the site as well.
For example, there’s this question: “What are good ways to learn to become the best digital marketer?”
There are 614 answers to that question as of this writing.
How Q&A on Quora Can Put Cash in Your Pocket
Now that you understand Quora, you might be asking yourself: “How does a Q&A website help me promote my brand?”
There are a couple of answers to that question.
First, you can answer questions posed by people in your target market. Second, you can advertise on Quora.
Let’s take a look at each of those options in some detail.
Answering Questions
Why would you want to take time out of your busy schedule to answer questions on Quora? Because it’s an excellent way to establish yourself as an authority in your niche.
It’s an especially useful strategy if you’re just starting out.
Think about it: if you’re new to the scene, nobody knows who you are or why they should trust you. As a result, they’re not likely to give you money.
But you can prove your bona fides by answering questions on Quora.
Let’s take another look at that second Quora question from above: “What are good ways to learn to become the best digital marketer?”
If you’re in business as a digital marketing specialist and selling your services to clients, you should answer that question.
Why? Because it’s how you’ll convince people that you are an outstanding digital marketer.
After all, who knows more about what it takes to become the best digital marketer than somebody who’s already an expert?
Of course, there’s a catch. You have to convince people that you know a lot about digital marketing in the process of giving your answer.
Also, make sure that you write in a conversational tone. You won’t do a whole lot to promote your personal brand if you write at a level that people don’t understand.
Avoid sounding like an academic. Instead, write like you’re talking to a friend.
Will You Be the Chosen One?
As we’ve seen, that question about how to become the best digital marketer received more than 600 answers.
If you look at the answers, you’ll notice that there’s one that stands out at the very top of all of them.
Why is that one at the top? Is it because the person who posted the answer got there first?
Nope. It’s because that person received the most upvotes.
What are upvotes? They’re virtual pats on the back from other Quora users.
Some answers get upvotes from the person who asked the question, but other users can upvote an answer as well.
The answer that gets the most upvotes will appear just below the question. It’s likely to be the answer that gets the most attention.
Right now, the top answer to that digital marketing question has almost 28,000 views!
The one just below it? That has about 7,400 views.
So you can see why you want upvotes when you answer a question on Quora. You’ll more likely land the top spot and get way more views than the answers that appear below.
Again, that’s why you want to deliver a quality, readable, comprehensive answer.
Earn Traffic With Quora SEO
There is such a thing as Quora SEO. Let’s tackle that subject here.
Head over to Google and type this question in the search bar: “what is ad rank.” Check out the results list.
If you scroll down a bit, you’ll likely see a link to Quora. The title of the link is “What is ad rank in Google AdWords? – Quora.”
Now, ask yourself the following question: if you were a search engine marketing specialist, wouldn’t you love to have the top answer to that question?
Of course you would, it would be a great way for you to demonstrate your knowledge about the subject to people who might need your services one day.
Let’s go a little further. Click on the Quora link in the results list. You’ll see the question and answers on Quora.
Take a look at the top answer. It has 697 views right now. That’s 697 more people who now know about “Ashish Gupta, Google AdWords Expert” that might never have heard of him if they didn’t read his answer.
Although that 697 might not seem like a whole lot, multiply it by 10, 20, or even 300.
That’s how much exposure you can get if you answer relevant questions on Quora consistently.
Also, keep in mind that sometimes questions, like blog posts, tend to go viral. That means you can gain a great deal of publicity by answering a single question that turns out to be very popular.
Remember: the top answer to that digital marketing question had almost 28,000 views.
Relevant Answers: The Key to Quora SEO
You don’t just want to answer any question on Quora. Instead, find questions that are relevant to people in your target market.
Fortunately, Quora makes that easy. At the very top of the website, there’s a search bar. Use that search bar to type in keywords related to your business.
For example, if you type “marketing” into that search bar, you’ll likely see the digital marketing question that we’ve covered towards the top of the results list.
So, as with content marketing, your Quora SEO effort begins with keyword research. Compile a list of relevant keywords and search for them on Quora.
You’ll likely want to filter your results a bit, though.
Why? Because some of the questions could be years old. It might be just a little too difficult to rank a top answer with all the competition you’ll face.
Take a look at the left-hand sidebar and you’ll see some filter options. Scroll to the very bottom to the “By Time” options.
Click on “Past Day” or “Past Week.” Then, you’ll only see questions that people have asked within the past day or past week.
Right now, for example, if you filter “Past Day” on the “marketing” search term, you’ll see this question: “What are the digital marketing trends for 2018?”
Again: wouldn’t that be a great question to answer if you’re a digital marketing professional looking to make a statement online?
Answering the Old Questions
Although it’s typically an excellent idea to answer recent questions, you might find that it’s worthwhile to address old questions as well.
Yes, it’s still true that you might struggle to get a top answer among a crowded field, but you could reach just the right people.
That’s because some folks follow Quora questions.
Take another look at that original question about how to become the best digital marketer. At the very top, you’ll see that it was asked on August 7, 2014.
That was a long time ago. Is there any good reason why you should still answer that question even if you’re a digital marketing professional?
Yes, there is.
Look at the number next to “Follow” at the very top. Currently, it sits at 1.2k.
That means 1,200 people are “following” that question. They’re monitoring responses to it.
So even if you don’t get a top-rated answer, you still might reach one or more of those followers.
Who knows? Some of them might become customers for life when they see your answer.
Link to Your Site
Answering a question on Quora doesn’t just give you a chance to demonstrate your knowledge about a subject. It also gives you an opportunity to post a link to your site.
Be careful with that, though. You don’t want to come across as a sales rep who’s hungry for backlinks when answering a question.
Remember: the objective is to provide value. Everything else is a lower priority.
For starters, if you have a more detailed answer to the question on your blog, feel free to summarize the blog post and link to it. That’s a great way to provide value and give yourself a free link.
Sometimes that’s not feasible, though.
In that case, you can “punt.” Instead of putting a link in the answer, just add a link to your website in your signature at the end.
You’ll find a lot of professionals do that.
Get Traffic With Quora Advertising
You aren’t just limited to organic reach on Quora. You can advertise as well.
In fact, Quora advertising is a great way to get the word out about your brand without worrying about outranking other answers.
Quora’s ad system follows a pattern you’ve already seen if you’ve done any advertising online:
- Create ad copy – write a headline, description text, and a call to action (CTA)
- Target your ad – identify an audience by topic, platform, location, question, or interest
- Set your budget – establish a maximum daily ad spend
- Launch your campaign – run your ad
As with other advertising platforms, Quora operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) model. That means you only pay for an ad when somebody clicks on your link.
Your ad will appear between answers to a question. A message that it’s “promoted” will display just above the ad.
Targeting Options
Quora offers a number of targeting options so that you can reach the right people. Let’s look at those in detail.
- Location targeting – If you’re running a local business and have no desire to engage with people who are far away, select location targeting. You could snag a few great clients who are just a hop, skip, and a jump from your location.
- Device targeting – You might want to reach people on a particular device (for example, a smartphone). If that’s the case, use device targeting.
- Question targeting – How would you like your ad to show up on specific question pages? Fortunately, you can do that with question targeting.
- Topic targeting – Quora groups its questions into topics. If you want to target a larger topic that’s relevant to your brand, use topic targeting.
- Multiple topic targeting – Got a list of keywords that are related to your brand? Upload them to find matching topics on Quora.
- Lookalike targeting – Reach people who “look like” an audience that’s already defined in Quora Ads Manager.
- Interest targeting – Find people who’ve expressed an interest in certain topics. Quora tracks user interest based on the questions read and upvotes.
Retargeting with Quora Advertising
You can also retarget people with Quora advertising.
If you’re unfamiliar with retargeting, it’s a way to reach people who’ve already engaged with your brand. In this case, “engaged with your brand” usually means that they’ve visited your website.
When people visit your website and then read some answers on Quora, they’re candidates for retargeting.
To retarget people on Quora, you’ll need to install a “pixel” on your site. That’s a bit of JavaScript code that informs Quora about your visitors.
Once you’ve installed that pixel, you’re ready to retarget people who visit Quora. That’s a separate targeting option in addition to the ones mentioned above.
Retargeting is a great way to get a “second chance” at people who visited your website but didn’t become paying customers.
Wrapping It Up
Quora advertising is a great way to attract more visitors to your site. Of course, it’s going to cost you money.
If you find that option too expensive, consider Quora SEO. Answer relevant questions on the platform so that people will see that you’re an expert in your field. Also, provide a link back to your website to earn even more traffic.
