Frustrating, isn’t it?
You start a blog and work tirelessly on your content – but no one reads it.
It’s like giving a presentation to an empty room. No matter how much insight you have to share, nobody’s there to even notice.
You feel certain that if you could only get some more traffic to your blog, the content love would flow.
But even when you promote the heck out of your latest post, the following week you have to start the process all over again.
It’s exhausting.
But what if there was a strategy that could drive traffic not just to your latest post, but future ones too?
And what if that same strategy was as effective as guest blogging for getting new visitors, but was quicker, easier and didn’t require you to pitch your ideas to anyone?
What if by using that strategy you’d be rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names on the web, opening up paid writing gigs or maybe collaboration opportunities?
Wouldn’t you want to know what that strategy is?
Quora – The Surprising Traffic Driver for Savvy Bloggers
Have you heard of Quora?
It’s the Q&A platform where anyone can post a question and get answers from experts in the community.
Here’s what it looks like in action:
Even though Quora was launched way back in 2009, you might not have encountered it until recently.
But make no mistake, these days Quora is a big deal.
Everyone from Ashton Kutcher to professors at MIT and even Barack Obama have taken their turn answering questions.
However, if you’ve spent any time on the platform, you might wonder how it could help you as a blogger.
You may even see Quora as a potential threat – yet another distraction dragging you away from the serious work of running your blog.
If so, you might be surprised to learn that Quora can be a major source of traffic for bloggers.
Don’t believe me?
Right now, Quora is the number-one traffic driver for my blog.
Along the way, my answers on the platform have hit over 1,000,000 views, and I’ve been featured three times in the Quora Daily Digest that goes out to up to 2,000,000 people.
And all of this has happened in just six months.
The Benefits of Quora for Smart People with Answers
When you think about it, Quora is the perfect platform for bloggers to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise.
After all, most of us blog to help our readers with the problems they wrestle with, and a Q&A format is the purest expression of helping people with their problems.
As a blogger, not only will you find Quora a natural community in which to participate, but you’ll get several benefits from doing so.
Benefit #1: Quora Is a Source of Long-Term Traffic
I’ve already mentioned the traffic potential of Quora, but an additional benefit is that answers posted on the platform can continue to drive traffic months after being created.
For example, I still receive significant traffic from one post I wrote back on August 23rd, 2015:
Nearly three months later, people are still finding my answer to this question about passive income, and when someone “upvotes” it (the Quora community’s way of giving support for an answer), my answer appears in their feed and is visible to all of their followers.
The result? More traffic comes back to my blog as well as a ton of new opt-ins for my email list.
Quora’s Stats page shows how my answer has received 83K views from the community.
In practice, the traffic generation effect can last much longer than just two or three months.
Tony Stubblebine, the founder of Coach.me, reports that a Quora post he wrote about meditation last year continues to bring him traffic to this day.
Remember, each answer you write can become an asset that brings you traffic for years to come.
Benefit #2: Quora Lets You Establish Yourself as an Authority
How would you like to be known as the most viewed writer in your topic area?
That’s what I was able to do in Self-Improvement, a seriously competitive topic.
Now my name stands next to James Altucher in the Quora rankings:
You might think you need to post regularly to maintain your ranking, and while that’s somewhat true, rankings last longer than you might think. My colleague Kevin Lee (who co-authored my book on Quora) has been ranked as the top writer for the Product Manager category for the past 2 years – even though he only posts occasionally on that topic.
Quora also gives topic badges to top writers. These appear next to your name for everyone to see.
When you appear in the most viewed writers list and start to earn badges, you’ll find that people begin to ask you questions (called Ask to Answer – A2A) on the topic under which you are featured. And that’s the true sign of authority, right? When people approach you for your expertise completely unprompted.
Benefit #3: Quora Can Get You Noticed by Major Publications
Continue writing on Quora and you also have a good chance of being featured on a big site like Forbes.
That’s because major publications are now affiliating with and sourcing content directly from Quora and publishing selected answers verbatim on their websites.
Here are some examples from Google:
This has happened to almost all of Quora’s top writers. One of the most successful is Nicolas Cole, who has been featured in TIME, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, Forbes and many others.
How to Start the Engine on Your Quora Traffic Machine
At this point, you must be asking how can you tap into all this Quora goodness.
Fortunately, there’s a simple three-step process you can follow to dominate Quora in your topic and start driving traffic to your blog.
Step #1: Create a Traffic-Optimized Profile
New writers on Quora often don’t take the time to fill out their profile in its entirety. But that’s a big mistake because you’ll fail to stand out from the thousands of other profiles on Quora.
The perfect Quora profile starts with the perfect profile bio.
Give Yourself a Killer Headline with the Profile Bio
Your profile bio is the “headline” that appears immediately beneath your name in your Quora profile.
When completing this, you need to decide what topic you want to be known for and consider the type of questions you’ll be answering.
Your bio should signal to your audience that you’re qualified to answer those questions.
Choose your words wisely because space is limited – you only have 80 characters to express yourself.
One popular format is to give a list of descriptive roles separated by a “pipe” character.
Here’s Leonard Kim’s profile bio, which uses this format:
Your profile bio is important because it appears next to your name in any context where your profile appears, e.g., above any answers that you create.
Note that any links you put in your bio will not be rendered as clickable links, so you might want to reserve those for your profile summary.
Add Detail Using the Profile Summary
Under your profile bio is your profile summary, where you can provide more information about yourself.
The summary field is only shown when people click to view your profile in full, but on the plus side it is far less restricted in length and format than your profile bio.
Rich formatting like bold, italic and underline is supported, together with lists and blockquotes. Web addresses will also be correctly rendered as clickable links, so this is the perfect place to link to your blog.
Here are some of the ways you can use your profile summary field, inspired by top Quora writers:
- Tell the story of your life and professional experience.
- Link to your blogs and social media profiles.
- Mention publications you’ve written for, to build social proof.
- Share any quirky or interesting facts – this is your chance to be different.
Above all, don’t bore the reader. Try to be interesting and inspiring – humor works well too.
Here’s a preview of Brandon Lee’s profile:
Notice that Brandon cleverly constructs his summary from his past answers on the site.
Doing this not only helps give you credibility (once you’ve created a few successful answers) but also provides an opportunity to get more upvotes and views on your top answers.
Finally, you can also tag other writers in your summary, but more on that later.
Claim Your Core Topics and Add Custom Bios
Quora allows you to add specific topics to your profile and provide bios for each one. (These bios override your main bio when answering questions on these topics.)
To add a topic, simply click on this panel in the sidebar of your profile:
Then search for relevant topics to add to your profile. In this case, we’re adding Blogging as a topic that we know about:
Once you’ve selected a topic, you can edit the bio that’s used when you answer questions on that topic:
Creating a custom bio for each of your main topics allows you to highlight the most relevant aspects of your experience for each topic.
Once you’ve added some topics that you know about, they’ll appear in your public profile.
Here’s a preview of Nicolas Cole’s list:
So those are the building blocks of a perfect Quora profile.
Remember, your Quora profile is key to gaining credibility with your audience and must not be overlooked, even if you’re keen to start answering questions.
If your profile fails to persuade people you’re qualified to answer the questions that interest them, you’ll struggle to get views and upvotes.
Step #2: Go Hunting for “Big Game” Questions
This is the step that 95% of Quora writers miss and it’s the difference between getting 50 versus 1,000 views on your answers.
Are you ready?
Before you write a single answer, you need to find the answers that are attracting the most views and upvotes within your topic of interest.
So start by looking for a relevant topic. You can use this list of the most followed topics on Quora for 2015 to find the ones getting the most traffic and views from the community.
As as example, we’ll use the Self-Improvement topic.
As you can see, this topic is very popular, with over 400K followers. So you know that it will attract more traffic and will lead to more views than a less popular topic like, say, Taxidermy.
Now, look for the Topic FAQ – this will show the top questions being asked at the moment.
You’ll notice in this example that 1,613 people have answered the question, “What can I learn/know right now in 10 minutes that will be useful for the rest of my life?”
So if you were in the personal development space, this would be a great topic for you to target.
Answer this question in detail, and you have a good chance of getting 1,000 views on your first attempt. (We’ll look at specific tips for writing popular answers shortly.)
But where do those views come from?
Click through to the question’s answer page and you’ll find out:
Notice the number of people following this question – over 35,000!
And many of these folks will be notified as soon as your answer is posted.
It’s like having a huge mailing list at your fingertips.
How awesome is that?
Since you’re just researching questions at this stage, not answering them, click the “three dots” icon and select “Answer Later.”
This will help you build a database of questions you want to answer. When it’s time to dive into the writing process you can take a clear run at it, rather than go looking for new questions to answer each time.
As you browse Quora, whenever you find a popular question you could answer, be sure to add it to your “Answer Later” list.
Step #3: Carefully Craft Your Answers
No single formula exists for writing the perfect Quora answer, but certain tactics will considerably increase your chances of success.
And you’ll improve with practice. Just like best-selling authors take time to hone their skill, the same applies to writing answers on Quora.
Luck plays its part too. One answer may bomb while another goes viral, without any obvious explanation.
But if you use the following tactics, you’ll experience success much sooner.
Tactic #1: Tell Stories
Stories are so powerful that Seth Godin devoted an entire book to explaining why you should use them – it’s called, “All Marketers Are Liars.”
It’s been scientifically proven that when we hear a story our brain activates the same areas it would if we were experiencing the events of the story ourselves.
For instance, if I told you a story about a delicious, rich, velvety piece of chocolate cake that I devoured last night, your sensory cortex lights up – you partially live that experience!
This is why personal stories of tragedy, struggle and personal perseverance do exceptionally well on Quora.
Don’t believe me? Check out all these answers with thousands of views about Dashrath Manjhi – the man who, following the death of his wife, spent 22 years carving a path through a mountain using only a hammer and a chisel.
Even if your topic doesn’t lend itself to big emotion, you can usually package up at least some of your points in a story.
Tactic #2: Get Visual
According to a Buzzsumo study of two million articles, those that showed an image once every 75–100 words got double the amount of shares of articles with fewer images.
You only need to look at the success of apps like Instagram to realize just how visually driven we humans are.
On Quora, using images is the best way I’ve found to quickly stand out from all the other answers.
The majority of writers do not bother looking for images. Their answers end up looking like a sea of bland text and are easily skipped over by readers.
Here’s a great example:
Tactic #3: Don’t Sell the Farm
When answering questions, make sure you provide enough value to get upvotes and views but not so much that you give away all the details.
This tactic is the key to driving traffic to your blog.
It’s also given me a massive uptick in my email opt-ins.
As an example, I used this tactic when I answered the question about how to earn $500 per month in passive income through an online enterprise, the one that garnered 85,000 views.
In my answer, I explain a four-step process for building a niche business by starting with e-books and casually hint that I make money writing books.
This piques the reader’s interest. Then, in Step 2 of my process I link to a post on my own website giving further details.
The same day this post went viral – September 11th, 2015 – I received 78 new email subscribers.
Here’s my Google Analytics data below:
Tactic #4: Go Deep
When you approach a question, you should set out to create the best answer for that question.
There is no point creating a quick 200-300–word answer on a top question because you will just get lost among all the other answers.
You need to spend time writing a long, thoughtful answer. One that hopefully incorporates a story from your life.
If you want your answer to withstand the test of time, make sure it is memorable and can hold its own as other writers continue adding answers.
Oliver Emberton, hailed by some as the Michael Jordan of Quora, has made a career of this. Answering only 127 questions but garnering 9.8M views, he was named a top Quora writer in both 2013 and 2014 and has used Quora as a springboard to launch his blog.
You can read more of his story here.
5 Domination Tips from Quora’s Most Successful Writers
I interviewed a dozen top Quora writers for my book Quora Domination*. Here are a few of their best tips for success.
Tip #1: Post Late at Night or Early in the Morning
If you are living in North America, consider posting early in the day or late at night.
Since a large portion of Quora’s user base is from the Indian subcontinent (38.5% according to Alexa), you can get a lot of views when they are just waking up or going to bed. (When it’s 8:00 a.m. in New York City, it’s 6:30 p.m. in Mumbai; 10:00 p.m. in NYC is 8:30 a.m. in Mumbai.)
For me, early morning answers work much better than afternoon ones, for instance.
Tip #2: Target Trending Topics
Another way top writers have grown their view counts in a short amount of time is to target topics appearing in Quora’s trending topics section.
Similar to Twitter’s Trends, these are hot topics that are getting a lot of views right now.
Robert Frost absolutely crushed it recently when the movie “The Martian” came out and was turned into a trending topic.
Here’s one post that took off:
Tip #3: Go Against the Herd
One tactic many top writers recommend is going against the herd when answering a question.
Most answers tend to be repetitive, causing readers to think, “Been there, done that.” So when someone comes along and says something truly different, everyone listens.
Be that someone.
If you can, use power words and make your first few lines controversial. When readers who are following the question get notified, they will receive a preview of your answer, and if the intro is intriguing, they are more likely to click through to find out more.
Tip #4: Tag Your Competition
When writing an answer, tag other writers who have answered the question before you.
This accomplishes two things:
- It acknowledges that you respect their answers and want to give them credit for what they have already said.
- It causes Quora to notify them and let them know you have mentioned them in an answer.
Despite being a heavily trafficked website, the group of people actually writing answers on Quora is relatively small.
And by getting on people’s radars, you’re more likely to attain top writer status as you’ll have a better chance of being spotted by the group who pick the top Quora writers every year.
Tip #5: Become a Writing Machine
Almost every top writer I spoke to has made a regular commitment to writing on Quora.
Many recommend that you write every day.
That’s right. Every single day.
Not only will your writing improve significantly but each answer acts as a form of promotion for your previous ones – reader will view one answer, and if they like it, they’ll check out others you’ve written.
The effect is a snowball of views.
And that’s the real secret to dominating on Quora.
Want More Traffic? Quora Has the Answer
Let’s face it, every blogger is hungry for more traffic.
But few of them are looking for it on Quora.
And that’s a huge reservoir of opportunity just waiting to be tapped.
The good news? You’re perfectly positioned to take advantage.
The skills you’ve learned as a blogger are the same skills you need to make your answers stand out on the platform.
So create an account, craft your profile and start hunting for those “big game” questions on which you’ll build your Quora reputation.
The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll dominate.
And once you do, your traffic will soar.
Hi Imran,
Welcome to Boost Blog Traffic! It’s a pleasure having you here sharing your great thoughts with us. 🙂
Wow… You know, it’s rare these days to come across an article discussing a topic I was previously clueless about, but you’ve done it! I had next to zero knowledge of Quora or how it worked before reading your article. And I certainly had no idea it was a good source of long-term traffic!
Well done, Imran. This is a very interesting read filled with brand-new tips (at least for me). I’m going to read it a second time to make sure I take it all in.
And after that, I’m going to share it with my friends on Twitter and Facebook! 🙂
Awesome job, Imran. Hope you have an amazing Thursday. Enjoy all the comments you’re going to receive!
– @kevinjduncan
Hey Kevin,
Thanks for the warm welcome!
Yea, like I mentioned not many people are taking advantage of Quora right now and I think its a HUGE missed opportunity. Even Nicolas Cole has said 50% of his blog traffic now comes from Quora.
Dive right into Quora and let me know how it goes!
Thanks again Kevin and have a great rest of the week.
– @imrane
I am writing a blog on motivation.. and finding very hard to drive the traffic.. Is there any minimum number of posts on the blog after which I would alteast have 100 visitors a day? How long do you think it would take to achieve this?
Hey Imran,
Really great and DETAILED post here oin something I use time to time … But not nearly enough. Through Quira, I managed to find a wide variety of questions people had and were having problems with and used those to create topics. But, I’ve yet to use Quora as effectively as you have.
But I thoroughly enjoyed the layout you presented here. I’ll continue to use Quora but hope to implement your steps here to maximize the effectiveness for me.
Great job here.
– Andrew
Hey Andrew,
Awesome! Glad to hear it.
I think the biggest learning for me with Quora was to stay consistent. Most of my first 4 weeks I received very few views (less than 100) but then I had a few take off and suddenly I was being featured and getting 100s of thousands of views.
Keep it consistent and you’ll win.
Imran
Love Quora! Thanks for an amazingly detailed post with highly actionable info!
Thanks Dario!
Oh, this is huge. I have used quora in the past for some post ideas and also learning more about certain topics, but never really thought about using it for driving traffic to my blog.
Am gonna create an account for my new blog tonight and see what I can do to provide excellent responses there and also promote myself a bit.
Really appreciate the article, great stuff, as always 🙂
Great Ramona!
I actually started using Quora solely for research to create the outline for my book business but then I realized the huge opportunity I was missing.
Most people were providing poor answers (and still are) so its REALLY easy to stand out if you put in some work.
Good luck!
Imran
Hey Imran,
Never really thought about Quora! Will definitely have to explore this avenue.
Thanks for sharing,
Peter
Go for it Peter!
Amazing info, this is similar to yahoo question on spanish… unfortunally in spanish countrys quora is not the big deal 🙁
Yea you could be right – not sure if this works for the Spanish market.
Loved your article Imran. This is very detailed and straight forward.
Specifically I Loved Step #2!
I always new the power of Quora but I guess I never really had a nice detailed plan for how to use it properly. What I’m saying here is thanks for creating that plan for me.
P.S. Glad to see another successful Canadian!
P.P.S. I’d love to have you on our Friday Blab! I’m sure our listeners will love to hear how to use Quora to get more traffic to their website. DM me on Twitter @amelm if you’re interested 🙂
I wish you the very best.
Hey Amel,
Thanks for putting me in touch with Anton.
And yea let’s talk on Twitter about doing something for your website.
I love sharing my story about Quora!
Imran
Hi Imran,
Great piece. It’s an amazing strategy and I love the way you suggest people to answer.
I have one question. If we decide to answer an already popular question where the most popular answer has gotten too many views, I guess we need to promote our answer in order to be visible.
Have you experimented at all with prices? How much does it cost for an effective boost?
Thank you.
Hey Andrian,
Funny enough – I do ZERO promotion and you shouldn’t have to either.
Even if a popular answer has A LOT of views there is still opportunity for many more. Most popular questions have a ton of followers so when you post an answer many of them will be notified that there is a new answer.
Here is one that I just did a few days ago with a lot of answers already on the question and it racked up 20,000+ views within 3 days –> http://qr.ae/Rwxc5q
Holy cow. This was a light-bulb moment. Thank you! I am going to set up a Quora account right now!!
Question for you, Imran: one of the examples you gave as a good question to answer had over 1K answers already. Does it make any difference how old the question is before you answer it? I’m wondering whether you would have a greater chance for success if you come into the discussion early versus late… Or maybe you’re saying that it’s better to wait and see if a question becomes popular before you bother answering it?
What’s the sweet spot?
Thanks again for this enlightening article!
Hey Mary,
Thanks for the kind words!
Check the answer I left for Andrian – I would target posts that are ALREADY very popular because they tend to have a lot of followers.
Then try and approach the question from a new angle or use more visuals – basically try and stand out.
Even then all you need is another great story and you’ll get a ton of views because many people following the question are notified of new answers.
Good luck!
Imran
Thanks Imran for this amazing post. I’ve heard about Quora but actually have no idea that we could use it to drive such HUGE traffic. Will definitely use these tips.
Awesome – glad to hear Catherine – just stay consistent and the traffic eventually comes!
Hi Imran–
This article couldn’t be more important for me right now! Thanks.
I am so eager I ordered the book right away!
I’ve been a member of Quora for a few months as well as a few other forums. My instinct tells me that my target market hangs out on forums, not on other social media groups or blog sites.
I got excited about online marketing after publishing my memoir two years ago. Took a couple of courses, but have not been able to get traffic. Now, with your expert help I look forward to doing much better. I know that this will be a lot easier and quicker than using guest posts.
Thanks Don! I hope you like the book!
What I love about Quora is that someone else is on the other end asking you this question. They are desperate for help because they usually couldn’t find their answer with a quick Google search.
It also gives you an idea of what to write about on your blog.
For me, traffic was really hard to come by – there is just sooo much noise online nowadays and you really need to stand out.
Quora has helped me because a faster, more succinct and more competent writer in such a short amount of time.
Moreover, I’ve driven thousands of people back to my website while building a brand around a topic on Quora.
I’m now one of the most viewed writers for passive income (which is what my website is about) and I can put that on all my marketing material!
So yea – sooooo many benefits to writing on Quora!
Good luck.
Imran
I’ve got ‘Most Viewed Writer’ in a few categories, too, Imran – been wondering what to do with it.
Good idea, will put it out there on my website and brag about it 🙂
Top of the morning to you, Imran,
What an eye-opener . . . (◑‿◐)
I hadn’t heard of Quora so I am especially grateful, not only for your enlightening me, but also for your explaining so simply how I can make it work for me.
You have given me so much food for thought – I’m going to look like a Bushman after gorging himself on his kill (◠﹏◠✿) all belly and butt
I am not only bookmarking the article – I’m going to print it out – this I need to read again . . and again . . and again . . .
I am also amazed at how much I learnt from the comments as well
So I wish all you bloggers a great day
The Merry Mentor ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Hey Tony! I love the expressive emoticons!
Glad you liked the post – feel free to email me if you have any questions and I’d be more than happy to provide guidance.
Good luck!
Hi,
I just wrote an article about how to use Quora to drive traffic to your blog myself last week! I didn’t know major publications could notice us! Now, I am more inspired than ever. I hadn’t thought about inserting a picture. Great job! Great headline too.
Janice
Thanks Janice!
Yup Quora is still a hidden gem – glad other people like you are starting to take notice.
Best of luck and i’ll look forward to your answers on Quora.
Imran
I never thought of using Quora. That sounds like such an interesting conversation platform (even though it’s roughly Q&A). I’m definitely going to try it because it sounds like FUN. Thanks for writing and sharing your knowledge of this. Truly appreciate it.
Anytime Shanika.
Great article. Thank you very much for your hard work.
No problem Ky.
Hi Imran
Excellent post! I’m glad someone has written about Quora’s (underestimated) powers.
I’m a Quora fan and for a long time Quora was the major source of targeted traffic to my blog with conversion rates at about 40-50%. It’s levelled with/been overtaken by organic traffic now, but still it is good.
The only thing I would add to your post is: always include at least one link to your blog posts/videos/SlideShares, but do not send people directly to any obvious squeeze pages (e.g. a landing page done in LeadPages) – you will get a warning from Q.
I’ve also noticed that in my topics (learning, memory, study tips/habits) views and questions asked peak on weekends, so these are good days for checking new questions and writing answers.
This may not be the case in every category, so it pays to spend some time observing your stats.
Joanna
Wow – pretty cool that you tracked conversions Joanna.
I didn’t realize they could be that high!
Good point on the warning not to use squeeze pages – I think I left that out here so its important for other readers to realize this.
This is excellent! I knew quora had potential, but I was unsure how to best use it.
Awesome – get to it Cassi!
Hi Imran,
I am sure glad to read this post. I have been hearing of Quora but this is the very first time i will be treated to a very fantastic way of using it as a blog traffic generator. I am very excited moreso as i am just trying to set up my own IT related blog and wondering how to get the initial traffic after setup
One question though – what will be the difference in a starter using this method for traffic generation as to boosting a post with Facebook Ads?
Once again, i appreciate the post. Many thanks!
Toyin
For me – Facebook Ads are very difficult to get right and you can quickly burn through a lot of money if you don’t know what you are doing.
Quora is a great way to:
1. Establish credibility. Imagine you are the top writer for IT infrastructure for instance. You can use that everywhere.
2. Residual traffic: Think of each answer like a little asset you pop out and is driving traffic back to your website for months / years to come
3. Learn what your readers want: The biggest thing when starting a blog is you have no idea what people want because you have no readers. Well by answering questions you will quickly come to understand where people are struggling. That’s invaluable.
Good luck!
Thanks Imran for giving me this idea. I feel very motivated to start off now!
You rock!
Toyin
One more question Imran – You said in the post that its always better to post early in the morning or late at night If you are living in North America and i quote
“Since a large portion of Quora’s user base is from the Indian subcontinent (38.5% according to Alexa), you can get a lot of views when they are just waking up or going to bed. (When it’s 8:00 a.m. in New York City, it’s 6:30 p.m. in Mumbai; 10:00 p.m. in NYC is 8:30 a.m. in Mumbai.)”
My question when will be the best times to post on Quora if you are based in Nigeria as i am?
Thanks
Toyin
Depends on what you are promoting and selling. Depends what topics you are commenting on. But if the majority of the user base (>50%) is from India or America then you’ll want to post during the AM in India or America. You’ll have to figure out what time that is in Nigeria.
Such an inspiring article Imran, opened my eyes entirely. Have been using Quora on and off for over an year now, and had used it to convert users to the software I was building with my team in my previous job. Boy, why didn’t I think of it in terms of blog traffic source! I believe the effect of your post here will also snowball until Quora is the “class book” source of blog lead generation, next to Guest Posting, Podcasting, and Webinars!
Let’s hope so Wei – I love Quora – shocked more people haven’t gotten on the bandwagon.
Thanks for sharing.. I might test this out and see if it helps me 🙂 it looks promising!
Angela
Good luck Angela!
Great article, Imran. While I will always struggle to survive the introduction of a BBT article, this one was worth it. Quora is an undervalued platform––one of my colleagues told me that Quora users have a reputation for being particularly insightful and discerning. You presented some out-of-the-box ideas that I’ll try. Thanks.
Thanks Ian! Good luck buddy!
And now I’m saying “Duh!” … I’ve been saying (to myself) for awhile now that I want a blog that just answers questions and solves problems, but where do I get the questions and problems? So … did I know about Quora? Yes! Have I answered questions? Yes – a few. Have a made it a strategy? Nope. Have I even realized how it ties into my goal/desire? Nope. So … Duh!
Now I’ve got to get to work. Thanks for pointing out what should have been obvious to me!
Good luck Donitta – set a schedule and write everyday!
Great post Imran! I signed up for Quora a while ago but never did anything with it cause I didn’t know what to do. Now I’m definitely going to give it another shot!
One question though….in terms of driving traffic to your site, the main way is by linking to one of your blog posts? Is that correct or am I missing something?
Thanks!
Yes absolutely – it’s really straight forward – don’t try and overcomplicate things. If you provide good value in your answer, readers will go looking at your stuff for more.
The best parts about answering questions on Quora? It’s not seventh-grade. No one calls on you when you DON’T have the answer, and you don’t have to wave your hand frantically when you do have a great answer and then someone else answers it first, while you try to convince everyone you ‘were gonna say that!’
Right on – I love how egalitarian Quora is
Hi Imran, thanks for the detailed post! What do you think are the key differences between Reddit and Quora and their users? What would you say are the pros and cons of each?
I get the impression that Reddit users are always ready to jump on you and it’s a tad intimidating. How is it like on Quora? Would be great to get your input, thanks!
Hey Arnaud,
Great question – from my experience Reddit can be very intimidating – even when I posted something in the past just to help people out, they found every way to hack it down for no good reason. People really love trolling on Reddit.
My experience with Quora has been totally different. Everyone is SUPER supportive even in the comments and they’ll be quick to defend you if someone lashes out.
For me, there is much more positivity on Quora and thats why I continue to feel comfortable answering and helping others out there.
Hi John,
I really like your posts and read it the moment it lands in my inbox. The best part about your blogs are that they give serious actionable advice. You really know your subject well. You are doing a great service. And your language is awesome. If there is one blog, I would recommend to digital marketers, it’s yours.
Vikash Kumar
Chief Content Strategist
This was an awesome post! Extremely useful and of course, innovative! I signed up for quora a few months ago, but now and then just see some people following me..dont do much there! time to up my time on the site !
Yes definitely! Go for it Devishobha!
Hi Imran,
I love your step by step suggestions for setting up and making optimal use of Quora. I notice there is an area on Quora for blogs. What do you recommend for that? Should we just re-post our original blog there or should we write something completely new for Ouara only?
I wouldn’t bother with blogs – my posts there gain almost ZERO traction and there are much better places to blog like Medium or the #1 choice, your own site.
Hi Imran,
A wonderful article! I’ve been reading Quora articles for a couple of months
You really opened my eyes on how Quora can help me reach more people and help them.
Thanks a lot!
Arjen
Thanks Arjen! Nice to see you here.
Great post Imran, I use Quora but I’m more of a lurker 😮 I wonder if you’d any thoughts on Medium vs Quora?
Hey Bryan,
So I blogged a lot on Medium before and it’s a great platform – easy and fun to put posts together and a beautiful blogging experience.
However, like other blogging platforms, it’s a one way street – no one is asking you a question on the other end and that’s the real value of Quora.
If someone came to you and asked you “Bryan, what the first thing I can do to become a writer today?” (see that – I checked out your website ;).
This happens often with A2A when you are the top writer for a topic – I get this all the time for passive income questions.
So, then you provide the response – as if they are asking you directly – it’s very visceral, you can clearly explain the solution to their problem. “Do x then y then z”
And thats what people are looking for clarity, not more stuff to read through on a blog post – they are looking for that human touch.
And each person you leave a response to that is well thought out and detailed will forever remember you and are more likely to buy and engage with you if they see your stuff again.
As Gary Vaynerchuck says “Do the unscalable”
Great article Imran and like you I have been a major lover of the traffic generated from Quora. However, there is one thing I might caution those reader this. Quora is fickle about pictures. They have a couple of rules that people need to abide by when choosing to use a pictures:
1. Must not be a meme
2. Can’t be a word picture (picture with just words and nothing else
3. Must provide value
I’ve had a LOT of my quora answers removed by Quora because they stated I violated one of the above. However, it wasn’t true at all. Either way, be wary of the picture tactic listed above.
Hey Dave,
Thanks man – I love your stuff on Kindle. It’s gold.
Funny enough, I haven’t had that big of a problem with Quora flagging my answers because I use images.
If they are tactically done to enhance the content then I am usually fine with using images but I guess everyone’s experience is different.
I’ll keep an eye out and thanks for sharing.
Imran
Hi Imran,
Just a very quick thank you for this post – thank you!
Quora had passed me by. Before reading your article, I’d have guessed it was something nutritious to put on my toast.
Obviously, I now have the delight of discovering something new – although it seems I have a requirement to read and learn before I can contribute!
Thank you, and kindest regards on this lucky Friday the 13th.
Hi Zarayna,
Haha I didn’t even realize it was Friday the 13th until you mentioned.
Nice.
Yea dive right into Quora don’t be worried about not leaving the perfect answer, you will improve and grow over time.
Good luck!
Imran
Wow. This was really informative. There a few places that I go online everyday to interact with the community there. I will be adding Quora to the list. Valuable post.
Definitely Roger! See you on there!
This is a very wonderful guide Imran,
A lot has been said on the internet about the power of Quora but I’ve never read a guide as detailed and comprehensive as this anywhere.
I created an account with Quora over a year ago and since then, i don’t think I’ve logged in there for up to 4 times, don’t even know if i will still remember my password :).
I never knew that you could drive that much traffic from Quora and that’s the number one reason why i will be giving it more attention from now.
Thanks for sharing.
Good luck Theodore – remember to stay consistent – I’ve logged in and written an answer for 52 days straight and counting to get where I am now.
Hi Imram,
Wow! I’ve never even heard of Quora. I must be the only person so completely out of the loop. Thanks for this eye opening, thorough and usable article. I’m going over there right now to check it out and get started.
Definitely Doug! Good luck!
Hi Imram
Awesome and timely write up.
I’ve been using Quora for a couple of years on and off. When I first came across it, I instinctively loved the format and starting writing answers just for the heck of it.
In that time, through writing detailed posts as you recommend I’ve risen to Most Viewed in two of my big topics.
Your tips have now given me an added impetus and some great ways to leverage my Quora presence!
Also, did you know about linking your Quora account to Google Plus? Not sure how it works now with the G+ changes but it used to be a real gem in the SERPS
https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-enable-Google-Authorship-for-your-Quora-profile
Great to hear Jeff.
As for Google authorship – I think Google has discontinued this feature.
Hi Imram,
I never thought that by giving answer of any question we can get huge traffic. I always thing by asking question is only way to get traffic.
Thanks for sharing your own experience.
No problem Mukesh.
Great article Imran. I actually love answering questions like this so, with your action plan close at hand, I’ll venture into the world of Quora. I just hope you haven’t made it too popular and everybody starts flooding it with answers 😉
Off to share this with my followers now and then start making a plan for Quora.
Thanks again,
Joe
@screwthesystem1
Hey Joe – Thanks for sharing bud – and glad to see you added me on Twitter – we’ll chat more on there.
Imran,
Great post and a ton of valuable information, I sure can see why you are doing well on Quora and getting a ton of traffic to your site. I am happy I stumbled upon this post as noticed since last week that I too am getting a lot of traffic from Quora through posts there.
I am not as Quora-savvy as you are, but I am definitely going to put these points to action. Thanks for the awesome post and good luck!
Cheers,
Joep
Good luck Joep! I’ll see you on there!
Fantastic article and thank you for offering this information about Quora! I actually answered a question on my own one day on Quora and was shocked at the positive responses, and then I did start to think of it recently about whether it can help me bring visitors to my site. So thank you for providing all these great tips and advice for utilizing it as a traffic source. It sounds like something you’d really want to focus on. I know some people focus on Pinterest for that traffic and others Twitter. But I can see how Quora can even be a more viral and valuable source. I’ve bookmarked the post so I can read over it again a few more times and I’ll check out your blog.
Glad to hear! Yea there is a lot of choice out there on social networks to engage with. Everyone is different but given that I really enjoy writing – Quora was the perfect fit.
Thanks for making positive light about the benefits of using Quora for blog traffic building. In the past, AOL questions and answers was the way for bloggers and internet marketers to build traffic by placing a small snippet of code on their sites so ppl can ask questions.
Thanks – yea definitely a few Q&A services out there in the past but Quora has done a really great job building up the community.
Wow Imran!
This is an eye opener. I’ve heard of Quora before but never really investigated it. But your post gave me crystal clear clarity. And, for me at least, when I have the clarity I invariably take action.
So I will now be adding this strategy to my portfolio – am excited!
thanks again Imran
Good luck Kim! Glad I could help.
Hey Imran,
Liked your post about Quora. Let me give it a shot.
For sure, good luck buddy
Hi Imran,
The holiday season is just coming and I’m reinventing my blog to make some sales. Your article give me a good through to drive some targeted traffic on my blog.
I am quite active on Quora but never through of using it for marketing purpose.
Thanks for the awesome tips.
Regards
Tauseef Alam
Anytime Tauseef!
hey IMRAN
thanks for the great post . It is totally unique method to boost our blog traffic.
congrats for your successssssss.
Thanks Amit!
Hey IMRAN that’s great post share it is very helpful, my sites traffic doe’s not increased traffic same visitors visits on my websites I have published a post in my website weekly and original content. After reading this article, I will learn it something new it. Thanks, Imran.
Goodluck Sofia.
Hey Imran
I set up a Quora account a while back but never got round to being an active participant. Your post has set out the blueprint. Great job. Looks like I’ll have to check out your book!
Clement
Definitely – grab the book, there are some great insights from the top writers.
Hey Imran,
I signed up with Quora earlier this year but I never go on it. This post was a great motivator and it’s good to know that I already have the skill set as a blogger to start generating traffic from it. I really appreciate the detail here and you will start seeing me more on it.
Thanks for sharing! Have a good one!
Good luck Sherman – the more you put out there the more it’ll pay dividends down the line
Hi Imran,
This is so timely because just last night I saw how Gary Vee answered a Quora question which he tweeted out. Authority builder for sure. One thing: I like selling the farm in all I do because giving my best stuff away – for free – has helped me blog from paradise. It is an abundance thing; hold back, and it will be held back from you, but if you are generous and thorough the Universe will be generous and thorough with you. That’s just little me though 😉
Showing off your stuff through any platform can benefit us greatly and Quora seems like that type of platform. Stop in, help, show off a bit and answer questions in detail. I like it man. I may add it as a stream because I’m shifting a tiny bit these days, as far as where I network, share value and build bonds. Thanks so much for the helpful share dude.
Ryan
Anytime Ryan. I love your view of the world – it really comes down to an abundance mentality. That separates the big winners from the people that struggle to make it online.
Thank you Imran; I signed up with Quora a few months back, but had minimal idea on how to utilize this source correctly. You’ve given me some direction and I went in and setup my Quora Profile and answered my first question 🙂
I still need to go back to add my blog URL as one of the other commenters mentioned and I’ll start ‘working’ this traffic source next week. My blog was recently penalized by Google, so I desperately need to find some alternative traffic sources.
Ouch – sorry to hear that Duane.
Yea, keep at it – blogging is not the easiest process so to breakup your work from always working on your own material to helping people on Quora really makes the process easier – at least for me.
Hi Imran
Awesome post. I opened my Quora account few months back, answered few questions and then ignored it. Oh I wasted so much time but not now. I am going to be active there. Thanks for the useful tips.
Do it! Good luck Raj!
Hey Imran,
Never really thought about Quora! Will definitely have to explore this avenue.
Thanks for sharing,
kajal
Anytime Solanki.
Imran
This is great. I have answered a few questions, but never really thought about Quora as a traffic source.
Two questions:
First is about frequency. On the one hand you answer daily. On the other, you reference Olliver who has answered only 125 times, but with depth. So which do you recommend?
Second question is about linking to a blog post in your answer. This seems cheesy and a little gratuitous. On Reddit, you would get killed for that. Not so on Quora?
Thanks,
Rob
To your questions Rob:
1. I usually only answer one question per day. I provide a lot of detail and really make sure it’s clear and complete. One answer can often hit 700-1000 words. I prefer the rhythm of writing and by posting daily it helps me exercise that writing muscle. Really you can do either – spend 1-2 days on an answer and crush it like Oliver or keep a rhythm like I did and like Brandon Lee and other top writers do.
2. Yea, Quora users are more forgiving than Reddit users but at the same time it can’t appear like spam. It should seem more like a sign-off or link to related material. Like anything else, don’t overdo it. If your answer is good, chances are people will visit your profile looking for more information.
Thanks for the questions buddy and good luck Rob.
Thanks so much for this Quora tutorial. I’ve been a member for almost three years, and only today have I updated my profile, started a new blog, and published my first post there.
I will have to make time each week to “up my game” on Quora!
Thanks again!
Good luck Lorraine – I hope its as fruitful for you as it has been for me!
great post thanks for share this useful and informative post
No problem
Thanks Imran for this amazing post. I’ve heard about Quora but actually have no idea that we could use it to drive such HUGE traffic. Will definitely use these tips.
Thanks Sara – good luck!
Hi Imran, after reading your article I decided to join Quora. I’m just completing my profile info and I don’t know where to put my website address. Is there a special space for it? Am I missing something?
I love your article, there are so many great tips. But without my website address in my profile I can’t drive traffic to it:)
Put you website address in your profile summary. Also, whenever you answer any questions be sure to link back to a blog article on your website.
Thanks Imran,
Is it OK to copy a chunk of my post to answer a question and add a link to that post so they can read if they want to learn more?
I wouldn’t – just hit the main points and have your link under each point going out to your post.
Wow…!!! This is a beautiful post. I am already a user of the Quora platform, and it’s really nice about my blog’s traffic..
Thanks Bukunmi! Good luck!
Hey Imran, your post has come in handy to me right now! I was thinking of the way I can attract some traffic to my blog and though your article was a real finding to me. Thank you so much for it! I am now setting my Quora profile and getting ready to write answers.
You’ve mentioned that it would be great to put a link to related blog posts on my site with those answers so I was wondering whether it won’t be regarded as spam by Quora moderators?
Man Quora is too dope not to use for traffic! I always tell others when you start off making a blog or website to turn to Quora. The platform is set up perfectly.
Another SEO free tactic I use for more traffic is twitter. I go after users with larger followings that ALWAYS retweet any tweet their handle is mentioned in. Another trick to get more eyes on ya good. But keep it relevant and professional. Does any one else do this?
Thanks
Thank you so much for explaining how Quora can drive traffic to my blog. I was at a total loss as to how this all worked, but I’ve shared your posts as a guide to assist me. Thank you again!
Great write-up Imran.
Very informative post on Quora to drive traffic to the website.
Awesome tips and step by step explanation. Really appreciate the way you have written and explained.
Thanks for sharing it with us. Worth reading it.
Good work..!!!
Hi Imran,
I have been using Quora for a while now. Answering questions here and there pertaining to my niche.
I just want to ask if you have experience using Quora advertising platform. I was wondering if it’s worth taking a shot at.
I would love to know what you might think of it.
Thanks,
Jeremiah
This is what I am looking for. I answered 31 answers by now and finally understood what mistakes I’ve been doing. Thanks for such a detailed insight. By the way, your link to Quora Domination is not working.
This article is Gold, couldn’t stop reading till i got to the omment box. almost read your Footer text, *laughs*.
Linkedin 0%
Quora 100%
Thanks for putting this together.
Man, I’m already on it. I just created my Quora account and followed every tips for my profile. I’m going to be a Quora machine and dominate it in a month. Thank you very much
Hey Imran, great article with great tips man. I have a few questions for you:
1. My website is about cryptocurrency. I follow a bunch of crypto, bitcoin, blockchain, crypto investment and other crypto related groups with each having 100s of 1000s followers. However, the questions barely have followers….only one I found with like 1.5k followers. Would you recommend I answer questions in technology, blogging and others not about crypto? or should I answer the ones with 20 followers anyway?