The idea of building a question and answer website might sound overwhelming, but if you follow these seven steps, you’ll be able to create your own Quora-like website in no time at all. From choosing the right technology to evaluating how you plan to monetize your site, we cover all the steps here so that you don’t have to wonder about the details when you’re busy working on developing your site content.
If you’re looking to build your own website, chances are that you’ve heard of Quora. This question and answer website started out as a place where users could ask questions on just about any topic imaginable, and other users could respond with expert knowledge to help solve the original user’s problem or query. But how did it become so successful? What sets it apart from all the other websites out there? And how can you go about building your own Q&A website like Quora?
Q&A website definition and overview
A question and answer website, or Q&A website, is a website where members ask and answer questions. Some popular Q&A websites include Yahoo Answers, Quora, and Stack Exchange. To make your own Q&A website the first thing you need to do is brainstorm different topics to discuss.
Once you decide on topics your next step is to create categories for those topics on the website. Once this is done set up a community with specific rules as well as guidelines for behavior that members should follow.
Key Advantages of Question and Answer Website
You might not realize it, but building a question and answer website is relatively easy. Think of one question you would like to know the answer to and list three others below that you think other people may have as well. You can make sure your questions are specific and to the point without sounding too pretentious or requiring deep subject knowledge, so they’re likely to be answered easily by people who know more about the subject than you do.
Evergreen Content
In the world of content, there are only three things that will keep people coming back to your site: quality, consistency, and relevancy. How do you deliver all three? A key part is consistency. Your blog should be published on the same days each week and on the same general topics as every other post.
Just like showing up to work every day or working on tasks around the house each day, your readers will grow accustomed to finding your posts in their inboxes or feeds at certain times.
Quality answers
Make sure you focus on building content that offers quality answers. If people see other good answers before yours, they may not stop to read your response. Offer unique or insightful information to encourage comments, likes, shares, and attention for your site.
Keep in mind that any information you provide must be legal. You should verify your sources to ensure that you’re not sharing incorrect or outdated information. Also, make sure your answer contains no grammatical or spelling errors. Poorly written answers won’t be upvoted or shared, which will cause them to sink in search results. This is especially important for sites like Quora with heavy usage from professionals who expect correct grammar and spelling from each answer posted on their site.
Anonymous questions
People are understandably concerned about who can access their information on the internet. After all, most people don’t really know who will use the internet and what they might do with it once they find it. So many websites now have strict policies about accepting users, regardless of how useful it might be to accept everyone. The goal is to protect people from potential misuse while simultaneously allowing users to take control over what they’re comfortable with.
Fan clubs
One way to improve your question and answer website is by implementing fan clubs. This can provide an interesting spin on the usual Q&A forum by allowing people to follow others that are working in the same industry or area. For example, if you have a cooking site with forums, you could divide it into two separate fan clubs–one for top chefs and one for aspiring chefs.
Market research
Before launching your new Q&A website, it is important to perform market research. Find out how many other popular websites in your niche are already available as well as what features they offer to ensure there is room for growth with your own project. Reach out to these companies to see if they would be willing to collaborate on content or even host discussions on their website, which could lead to traffic on yours.
Key Disadvantages of Question and Answer Website
Some disadvantages of question and answer websites include not being able to answer off the cuff and you may not be able to provide as many answers for complex questions. Another disadvantage is that you don’t have the same amount of readers, however you will have more invested readers since your articles are associated with specific people, whereas with other sites, like Quora or Yahoo Answers there is an expectation that any registered user can answer an inquiry.
Users attraction
It is essential that you offer a wide range of incentives for users to attract new followers. One way to do this is by posting the latest news, industry related questions and blog posts from your own blog on your Quora profile page. An incentive could also be social media integration such as Twitter feeds or Facebook updates on your company pages for increased interaction. Having an active Quora presence helps build awareness in the community as well as generate traffic to your website by mentioning relevant content posted there.
Fake accounts
While it is possible to use fake accounts, the quantity needed for any viable question-and-answer site is quite high. Quora boasts about 10,000 total accounts for its community as of September 2017. A more successful strategy would be to create an initial core group to start the discussion, adding new members over time.
How to create a question and answer website
Creating a question and answer website is one of the more complicated ways to create a website. When you set out to build your website, there are a few things you will need to keep in mind.
First, you’ll need an idea and domain name that describes your concept. Then, you’ll want to come up with some questions and answers yourself. While not necessary, it helps a lot if you have expertise in the subject matter or personal experience that lends credibility to the answers.
Monetization used on question and answer website
To monetize your question and answer website, you’ll need to explore how to monetize it. If you’re looking for quick money and lots of traffic, then making the site into an affiliate marketer would be the best option. This is because you don’t need much work for this strategy and it would generate some steady cash flow in return.
Conclusion
Use these tips to help you with the best way to start building your website. However, know that it takes time, dedication, patience, and an open mind for any web property to build up its audience base. Be aware that is has taken well over ten years for Quora to reach the size it currently enjoys today.
Successful question and answer websites like Quora typically focus on catering to their community, while also employing good SEO. This might seem complicated, but actually it is quite simple if you hire CodeIgniter developer India that can manage the website for you. After all, this is what they do best!
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