Have you ever heard of Quora?
Have you ever been there?
Have you ever tried to find the answer to a question using a search engine just to come up empty since you didn’t know how to word your question?
Being the busy blogger that you are, you don’t have time to waste wording and rewording search engine questions in hopes you will find the answers you are looking for.
What if you had one-on-one help? A human who not only understood your question but was an “expert” in the area you needed help?
What if that human was you?
By using Quora, you can be both the expert in your blogging niche and the user looking for answers when needed.
What is Quora?
According to Quora.com, Quora has many synonyms. When asked to explain what Quora is, the site’s own “experts” offered diverse answers such as a conference, a campfire, and a library.
When asked to elaborate on why Quora was “a campfire,” the expert offered,
Where human gather together, and each person telling his/her stories, while the others learning by listening to the stories. The fire and the stories enlighten our mind and our world, figuratively. So Quora is the light that eliminates darkness of our mind.
In more down-to-earth terms, Quora.com is a site users go when they want real people, experts in their area of inquiry, to answer their questions. It was established in 2009 and has been available to the public since 2010.
In 2010 TechCrunch.com announced Quora was up to 1.5 million monthly users and has continued to grow.
You should use Quora to help you blog.
9 Reasons Bloggers Should Use Quora
- Quora keeps your name “out there” and reminds Internet users about you. Blog readers want to know you are real people with a life, a persona, outside of blogging. By participating in Quora, you are participating in community activities. Blogging is about community. I have blog readers who follow me on Quora. Also, users can Tweet your answer which further promotes you, and your expertise, to your community.
- Quora is fun. I had a good time answering questions in my niche, blogging.
- Quora allows you to self-promote. In this day and age when bloggers are consistently getting accused of spamming, it is refreshing to know you can leave links to your articles. If you leave a relevant link, you will get a page view if the user reads your article.
- Quora’s users may follow you to your blog. If you leave a link, they may click on it to come to your site to read your article. If they are impressed, they may subscribe to your blog.
- Quora’s participation is new information for your About page. Quora is made up of a panel of experts. If you serve on an expert panel, add that experience to your About page.
- Quora’s participation establishes you as an authority in your niche. Even blogging guru Bryan Harris recommends Quora.
- Quora is quick to use. It takes seconds to answer someone’s question.
- Quora will make you happier. You’ll be happier since your self-esteem and confidence will be enhanced.
- Quora will enable you to get your connections with other bloggers reinforced. When I see that bloggers I am friendly with are participating in Quora like I am, it reminds me of them and of our connection. We are able to follow each other on Quora.
Quora Tutorial
- Go to www.Quora.com. You can sign in with your other social media accounts.
- Select your areas of interest.
- Quora will tell you if there are questions waiting for you in those areas.
By looking at the red boxes, you will see several things. First, I have two questions waiting for me to answer in my area of expertise, blogging. Additionally, I have ten notifications.
You might wonder about the difference between questions waiting for me to answer, “write”, and “notifications”. An example of a notification I received informed me my blogging friend Holly was following me on Quora.
Like with Reddit, there is scrutiny. Users can upvote or downvote your answers.
By looking at the blue box, you can see that you can also be a user in addition to being an expert. The blue box allows you to ask a question.
The site will even Email you to let you know if users have questions in your area of expertise waiting for you to answer, so you don’t have to keep checking back.
Quora’s Emails offer you choices. You can accept the invitation to answer the question, you can pass on answering the question, or you can unsubscribe from Quora all together.
These are important options. If you don’t know the answer, you can just “pass” and not risk losing the credibility you initially gained.
Each time you go into Quora, you will see your “feed” full of questions about your topics of expertise.
Conclusion
As can be seen, Quora is a social network, a question and answer forum, and a content curation site. It has the potential to increase your blog traffic if users follow you to your site, it can establish your credibility in your field, and it can reinforce your relationships with other bloggers.
Famous people like President Obama and Neil Patel use the site.
Note: Here is updated 2019 information, 12 additional ways you can benefit from Quora answers.
Readers, please share, so other bloggers know about the advantages of using Quora.
What do you think? Are you tempted to try being an authority on Quora? On the other hand, have you already tried it? What are your experiences? I look forward to your views.
Related Posts:
How to Increase Blog Traffic with Content Curation
How to Get Noticed Online Without Looking Like A Spammer Part I
How to Get Noticed Online Without Looking Like A Spammer Part II
UPDATE:
Since publishing this post, I received a jaw-dropping statistic:
On December 29, 2019, I saw that 3,198 requested me to answer their questions.
Talk about an adrenaline rush! Where else can you find such gratification as a blogger?
