How to Get the Most out Of Your Quora Questions

This post focuses what to do with your Quora answers after publishing them, that is tracking traffic and making sure your answers get the attention they deserve.

This is an excerpt of the free ebook “The Ultimate Guide to Quora Marketing”. This post assumes that you already know the basics of Quora and how to get started with Quora Marketing. If that’s not the case, you can request access to the book at the bottom of the page 😊

If you stop caring about an answer after writing it, you’re giving up on a lot of opportunity. It’s like any other form of content marketing. It’s one piece of the whole strategy, so it doesn’t stop after posting.

Tracking Quora Traffic

One metric that’s pretty obvious to look at is how many views you get from Quora. Things don’t end there. You should definitely set up a funnel in your analytics tool to see how good visitors from Quora convert. You’ll then probably see that visitors from Quora convert better than those from other sources. If they don’t, that’s also an important thing to know.

You can’t know whether your Quora marketing efforts are worth it, without measuring every detail.

You shouldn’t only look at how well Quora traffic does, but at how good your individual answers are doing. That’s why all links in your answers and your profile should include UTM tags, where you can define additional data about a link. If you also have a Quora blog, it’s very important to include the right tags, so that you can differentiate the traffic.
It can be a bit of a pain to include information about each individual answer, but it can be worth it. You can than for example see how well traffic of a highly relevant question is comparing to traffic from a very generic question.
You can use a link shortener to make this job a little easier. You could for example use Google Analytics URL Builder (a Chrome extension).

Trick: Add some info about yourself in the UTM parameters if you link to third party sites. If you drive noticeable traffic, they’ll probably check you out. You could include your website, or your Twitter handle to make it a little more personal.

You might also want to try using trackback links when linking to external sites. If you link to external sites, you can still use those clicks for custom audiences for ads at other places.

Distribution

Yes, Quora is a great way to promote other content. That doesn’t mean that your Quora answers don’t deserve any promotion. If you’re already active on social media, that’s a great place to start. I won’t go into too much detail here, but again, don’t forget that Quora is just one part of your entire marketing strategy.

It can be a channel where you repurpose content. You can also repurpose your Quora answers. If you repurpose your answers, you can include other material in your Quora answer too. So if you create an info graphic or a video from your answer, include that.

One thing I will mention about content distribution on Quora is influencer outreach. It’s a bit different than with other channels. You can also reach out to people who you link to in your answer, but you can also tag people inside of your answers. That might bring them to your answer and your profile. Remember, an upvote from someone with expertise in a field has more weight than your average upvote.

Your Answer Isn’t Finished

You can edit your answers at any time. Don’t put your answers to the graveyard. You want to revisit your answers regularly, and depending on its success, polish it even more. Often, over the years, your views and expertise on a topic changes. It can be worth your time to update your answers then. What’s even more common is that you have some new external content you can link to.
If you promote your business from the start, you probably won’t have any social proof for example. No problem, you can still add it later.
If you’re doing keyword research before answering a question, you can also update it anytime for SEO purposes.

Running ads

I said in the beginning of the book, that it wouldn’t be about running Quora ads, but about getting views and traffic by answering questions. It turns out, there isn’t such a clear line between the two. That’s because you can promote your answers on Quora.

Your Quora Journey

If you’re just starting out on Quora, it’s important to note that your answers won’t receive a whole lot of traffic initially. That’s good. It allows you to play a little. Throw some spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. Double down on the type of questions and answers that do great.

At the beginning, you shouldn’t focus on views and conversions. You can milk the cow later. Focus on building a good reputation on Quora first. The results of good answers compound. Once Quora thinks that you’re an expert on a topic, your answers will rank higher automatically. As long as your answers only receive ~100 views, you don’t shouldn’t promote your business too much. It’s always a game of keeping your reputation and your marketing goals in balance. But as long as you’re helpful, don’t bullshit people, and respect Quora’s policies, you should be fine.

Once you’re seeing some results from Quora, you can double down and create even more content. Also, the more traffic you get, the more insights you’ll win from your analytics. The further you get, the more you can optimize.

“I’m only getting 100 views per question, what am I doing wrong?”

After reading this book, you might think that Quora is a really great tool for marketers.

“Marketers Ruin Everything” –Gary Vaynerchuk

You still have to keep in mind that it’s not a marketing tool. It’s not in Quora’s interests that your self promoting answers get many views. They run an ad network, so why would it be in their interests to give you free traffic? One thing is in their interest: Having the best answer(s) to every question. That’s what you have to do. If your not really helpful, they won’t push you.

If you feel like your account deserves better than it does—if you think that you’ve been flagged without a reason—you could try to open a new account, but if you keep playing the exact same game, things won’t change for you.

It could also be that you’re aiming too low. If you only answer very unpopular questions for months, your views will stagnate. Try to up the game and answer some questions with 500+ followers.

Find Better Questions is a tool to help find better questions on Quora. Sign up here.