Traffic - Think Outside The Box
As you read and research on how to get traffic to your blog, you will discover that in one way or another, those that succeed in getting traffic and making money are working the system in one way or another. They are thinking outside of the box and operating in what is known as a gray area where they are neither breaking any laws nor violating policies. I happened across an article recently touting the benefits of a program which expliots the gray area of yahoo answers. Yahoo answers is a part of yahoo which allows users to ask a question regarding a particular problem or interest of theirs and then other users give their best answers. It has become quite popular and many of the question threads are given high search engine returns for those keywords. This led an entrepreneur to develop a program which allows bloggers to be updated on new questions being asked that relate to their blog’s niche. At that point the blogger answers the question and has his/her link inserted into their answer, thereby gaining traffic.
I liked the concept and could have easily signed on as an affiliate and made money by recommending it to you, but here are my issues with the product. It costs either $50 or $75 depending on the version you buy. Plus, from what I can tell, the only thing it does for you is let you know when a question in your niche has been asked and then inserts your link at the bottom of the answer you give. Both of these can be done by you for free and in short order. What I recommend is going to yahoo answers and simply do a search for any questions related to your particular niche or post topic. You will get the list of all questions on that subject updated to the second. That took no time whatsoever and didn’t cost you $75. Now answer the question in a somewhat detailed manner but don’t give them everything you’ve got. Let them know where you found the info by inserting your post link in the source box at the bottom. DONE.
Now to dig a little deeper into the gray area….you could ASK THE QUESTION YOURSELF with a different username. THEN ANSWER with the other one. This would allow you to make sure you are the first to answer and be completely on topic. Just remember to keep the title to your question somewhat brief, but frame it so your answer will be the best possible answer to the question. You may even think about creating several usernames so it isn’t so obvious, or even have a buddy ask the question so it is coming from a different IP, ask from your work computer…answer from home…etc. Heck…let the other readers know what question you want asked in the comments here and help each other out.
I ask each of you to watch a NASCAR race this weekend. I take that back….watch the end of the race. The cars that finish the race 1 or more laps down are not working in the gray area. And they aren’t making money.
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March 17th, 2008 at 6:50 am
Good article, Nate. I read that about Yahoo!Answers, it does seem a good idea that I will try pretty soon. I was also reading about how product reviews could be good traffic.
Also this Entrecard widget is pretty popular, and today I’ve finally decided to try it out. Bloggers who use it say it works pretty good for traffic.
Are you getting one?
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March 17th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Not sure….I’ve looked into it and from what I’ve read the bounce rate is pretty high.
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March 17th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Yeah I’ve read that too, obviously people will just try to drop and run, but then the reviews said even so, you reach new audiences. I’ll give it a try. I, for one, use the serivce and if the blog seems interesting, I stay for a while, even comment or Stumble. I’m hoping others will do the same with mine
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Nate reply on March 17, 2008:
Definately keep us updated on the Entrecard.
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March 17th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Great advice. After struggling for a while, I like someone that’s honestly giving the tips others keep to themselves.
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Nate reply on April 24, 2008:
I’m learning with you guys, too. hope the most recent post helps!
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March 17th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Trying it today!
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March 17th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Will definately try it but will probably wait until football kicks off again.
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Nate reply on March 17, 2008:
Don’t wait…..I would be willing to bet that there are many people asking questions about spring practice….and if not? Ask them yourself. you would be surprised at the google rank your question and following answer will get.
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March 17th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Interesting concept…I have answered questions there before but didn’t even think to drop my link. Lesson learned!
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Nate reply on April 24, 2008:
Have you tried it yet?
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March 17th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Answer enough that you will get a good ranking, but leave enough that they will want to click on your link. Remember, it’s not just the person that asked the question originally, but all those that end up there because they had the same question.
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March 17th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
That’s gray, man. That’s gray. I’ll try this. It’s like when I built my first forum and I had to create more users and write on it. I was talking to myself for a long while.
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Nate reply on April 24, 2008:
How has it been working for you?
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Chip reply on April 24, 2008:
Eventually, I had no luck. I just gained hundreds of visits. It is a classes and courses forum.
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Nate reply on April 24, 2008:
You need to ask a question that you know people will be searching in google or yahoo. When I wrote a post detailing how to install wordpress on a yahoo server, I went to yahoo questions and asked the question “How do you install wordpress on yahoo server” Then I answered the question with a link to my post. For a while, if someone searched google for “how to install wordpress on yahoo server” or something similar, my post was #2 via yahoo answers. Got a LOT of traffic from it.
March 17th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Password is beer. And you can get a 30 pack of keystone for 12 bucks here in GEORGIA!!
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Nate reply on March 17, 2008:
How did I not know…………………..
Any basketball fans can enter chandler’s tournament contest here:
http://www.12beersaday.com/ncaa-march-madness-tournament-contest/
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March 17th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Shame on you. I LOVE it.
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March 17th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Is that how you have so much activity in such a short amount of time?
What else?
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March 18th, 2008 at 1:28 am
It’s been a day with Ecard. So far nothing, as I expected, people just drop and run. No reader/commenter from Ecard. Thou it seems there can be some future advantages, I’ll keep you posted
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Nate reply on April 24, 2008:
What’s the latest on Entrecard? And i’m back for good now!
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March 25th, 2008 at 4:19 am
Wow, what an idea about Yahoo Answers! I am so slow sometimes. I do searches & end up on those post all the time but, never thought of answering.
Thank you for the BRIGHT idea!
I watch NASCAR every week!
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Sheryl Loch reply on April 13, 2008:
Nate,
You are brilliant! I did go to Yahoo Answers health section & find some questions I could give helpful answers to & BAM - I got hits showing in my blog stats in no time.
I went to the health questions, gave a bit of an answer & left links to my articles (that contains the full info) in the resource box!!!
I did not even need to have my daughter post questions. LOL!
As my 13 y/o would say - You Rock!
Thank you!!!
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Nate reply on April 24, 2008:
Awesome…..I’m back now…..update us on how it’s going for you.
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