12 November 2008 5 Comments

Yahoo Answers is a social network with approximately 90 million users worldwide. Here, website owners can participate in a Q&A forum and over time increase not only their reputation but also position themselves as experts in their particular niche. In Yahoo Answers, a website owner is able to use the content and knowledge available from their website or research to actively answer questions asked by users of Yahoo Answers. A good practice for website owners is to check daily for questions related to their category. Not only will this participation build expert recognition, but it can also increase traffic by referrals, links, and even sales conversions.

To get started, you want to make sure you pick the category that is most relevant to your business or website. Some links from Yahoo Answers result in referring traffic to the sites of those users who best answer questions in depth and give accurate answers. If a given answer is chosen or marked as the quality response by Yahoo Answers, this can also show Yahoo Search that the website referenced is a quality, resourceful site and that in turn can possible help with Yahoo search rankings.

There are a few things to keep in mind when using Yahoo Answers. Make sure not to spam and only reply to the questions that you can most accurately answer. Link to your website as a reference when best suited. Lastly, become active in contributing value to helping other people out with their questions – you will begin to see the rewards over time.

Tips to Make your Site User Friendly

The more visitors who come to your site the better, but it doesn’t help if you can’t get them to stay. Here are a few simple tips to make your site user friendly:

· Create a sitemap – This makes it easy for the user to find the exact page he/she wants. If they have to search through multiple subpages, they’re more likely to give up.

· Keep it neat – Situate your links in top or side navigation bars, make sure your design and layout are consistent throughout the site, and make the text easy-to-read.

· Be wary of using too much Flash – This can be slow to load for some users and it is not “crawlable” by search engines.

· Along that same line, don’t make your pages too large with too many graphics – if it takes too long to load, users won’t stay.

These easy steps will help make sure visitors to your site have the best experience possible!