The continued growth of platforms like Spotify and Apple Music have made the consumption of audio immensely accessible, and Podcasts are more popular than ever before.

I've always been interested in learning more about how to start a podcast, and I've contemplated breaking into some form of audio or video production for WebMonkey.

Since I figure many other people are interesting in launching their own podcast, I was lucky enough to sit down and interview a Top #100 Business Podcaster on iTunes, Ben Leavitt to pick his brain about what it takes to start a podcast and what beginners should know.

Hope you guys are ready for one truly awesome and informative interview!

*Note, I'm only going to be transcribing the main points we cover about podcasting during our interview, but you can also listen to the entire 22 minute version as well.

Ben Leavitt & The Do Dope Sh*t Podcast

A quick bit about Ben and his various side hustles and businesses before getting started!

Ben is a 23 year old student, entrepreneur, podcaster and YouTuber. He also runs a digital marketing agency Bunny Media, where he helps businesses leverage social media to grow.

On his YouTube channel, Ben provides videos covering social media, podcasting, business, as well as lifestyle vlog content. He also is the host of the Do Dope Sh*t podcast where he interviews a diverse group of entrepreneurs to capture their story and provide unique inspiration each episode.

Let's get into the questions and interview!

I highly encourage listening to the interview rather than reading my edited version, but to each their own!

Q1: Why Start A Podcast Now, Especially Considering Everything Else You Have Going On?

Ben: I think a lot of people are coming to the same conclusions that I did when I decided to start a podcast. I'm from a small town in Canada but I have big dreams, and I wanted to interact with new and interesting people, but how do you grab their attention and time?

I actually saw a post by Gary Vaynerchuk that covered the premise of ‘the highschool party,' which basically said that even if you aren't the most well-known kid in school, if you start throwing some, you'll also start getting invited to other ones too. I wanted to start networking with some influential and interesting people, so I realized I needed a platform.

The great thing about today is that the internet makes everything so accessible. I started with podcasting because it is such an intimate way to network, and if you end up speaking with someone for an hour, you leave being friends. Plus the approach of inviting someone to join you on a podcast is way different than just asking someone to have a chat for an hour.

So for me, starting a podcast was an effective way to network, to grow as a professional, and to continue to build my personal brand.

Q2: How Did You Come Up With Your Specific Podcast Idea/Premise?

Ben: This is a great question because this is really the first step if you are looking to start a podcast.

Personally, I always wanted to interview people who are like me/are entrepreneurs, and this is how I conceptualized the idea for my show. I actually started very niche and was planning to solely interview young entrepreneurs, but after a few guests I decided to not limit myself and to open the doors to more opportunities.

The whole essence of Do Dope Sh*T is to empower people and to teach them that they are capable of doing the things that they love. To accomplish this I try to capture the stories entrepreneurs from all different walks of life who are currently doing the things that they love to do and to outline how they got there.

So, anyone listening to my show that has similar interests to my guests doesn't really have an excuse afterwards for not pursuing their dream, and I ultimately try to empower people to take action.

Q3: How Do You Find Prominent/Interesting Guests For Your Podcast?

Ben: I actually just released a YouTube video that covers how to get podcast guests, and here is what I recommend for finding people for your show.

Firstly, using Instagram direct messaging is incredibly powerful, especially because of their recent update. Now, your Instagram DM requests are actually broken into 2 categories: priority messages and messages the system thinks are spam.

If you take the time to write a thought-provoking and personalized response to a potential podcast guest on Instagram, it is likely to fall under the priority message bin, and if it is personalized enough and also provides them with some form of value, they are probably going to reply. I've actually been blown away by how many people respond. I've reached out to people on Instagram with hundreds of thousands or even a million plus followers and they will reply.

It's also a bit of a snowball effect. Once you build a rapport with someone you gain access to their network in a way and you can even use having the previous guest on your show as a selling point to get your next guest.

I also use emailing as a way to contact potential podcast guests. It isn't always easy to find the right email address, but you can use a free tool on the website Hunter.io to pull email addresses from webpages.

Also one more thing: join Instagram live videos from people you want on your podcast.

Instagram live streams are such a small subset of a someone's audience and a lot more intimate, and you can capture their attention far more easily on live video because there is less competition. Plus, if you ask someone to join you as a guest on your show it sort of puts them on the spot in front of their other fans and they might be encouraged to say yes.

Q4: Do You Have Guests Planned Months In Advance? How Do You Go About Scheduling?

Ben: You want to a avoid scrambling as much as possible.

Personally, if I come across an Instagram page of someone I think I want on my show, I screenshot it and save it to a folder of potential podcast guests. Then, I'll dedicate some time to outreach and contact them all to ask if they want to be on my show, and I try to schedule all the recording for the same day so I can get a few weeks of work done at once and not stress.

‘Batching' is extremely important to make sure you work effectively and are never left scrambling.

Q5: What Podcasting Equipment/Software Do You Need To Start?

Ben: I think a lot of people get scared out of trying to start a podcast because they assume you need a lot of high tech and expensive gear but that isn't the case.

There are some things that can help you out tremendously. Even being in a room that is carpeted or putting up some sound tiles on your wall can make a dramatic difference and cost practically nothing (you can even put blankets up on the wall) and it will really improve your sound.

Beyond that, I record all of my podcast episodes on my computer. I don't have any audio mixer, and unless you're planning to have both people in-house for recording it doesn't make sense to have an audio mixer because you'll still be recording through your computer/over WiFi anyway.

Choosing the right podcast microphone is important and can go a long way, but you don't need to spend $600 on gear. I use the Audio Technica ATR2100 and I suggest this microphone to any beginner podcaster. It's around $80 Canadian and it sounds on-par with some of the $500 microphones. Maybe not quite as crisp, but definitely comparable and great for the price point.

I would really advise to go into podcasting as cheaply as possible at the start and to look at using the minimum viable product you need to start out.

One other common mistake people make is buying the Blue Yeti microphone since it's suggested quite often, but you're better off buying 2 of the Audio Technica ATR2100's than the Blue Yeti because it's better if each person has their own microphone.

Some other affordable podcasting equipment and software Ben mentioned include:

• The Adjustable Microphone Boom Arm.
• A mobile mic stand.
• Skype and with Zencastr for audio recording.
• Garage Band for file editing.
• Auphonic.com for improving sound quality/leveling.

Extra Reading – YouTube vs Podcasting.

Q6: What Are Some Common Podcasting Mistakes Beginners Make?

Ben: I've actually also made a YouTube video breaking down the podcasting mistakes I have made and the biggest ones I made were surrounding the launch of my podcast because launch is so important.

The launch of your podcast is important because of how the algorithm works for finding podcasts to listen to. The algorithm favors an influx of traffic to a show, so launching your podcast with a few episodes (rather than just one) helps a lot because if a visitor sticks around and listens to all of your episodes that can help you rank much higher.

I actually got into the Top #100 Business Podcast list in my first week after launch because I had an influx of traffic, but I had only launched with one episode. Imagine what would have happened if I had launched with another three episodes for people to listen to? The main mistake I made was not launching with at least three episodes. 

Anyone who wants to start a podcast should definitely launch with three or more episodes, plus they should have some recorded for a backlog so they aren't scrambling.

Getting a high ranking for your podcast is also great because you can use that as a credential for your show. I was ranked #69 in Business Podcasts, and I can now say that about Do Dope Sh*T to promote it.

Plus, getting organic traffic to your podcast is nearly impossible. It doesn't work like a search engine or like YouTube. Almost everyone who listens to a new podcast is either directed there from a referral, word of mouth, or social links.

If you have a great launch, you can actually end up in the New And Noteworthy section on iTunes and that helps with organic exposure. If you can make it to this section it's really incredible because this is a curated list done by Apple, and there is an immediate association of quality if you are included in this list.

Q7: What Are Your Promotional Strategies? How Does Instagram, YouTube, & Podcasting All Mesh?

Ben: Podcasting was actually my beginning point to facilitate everything else. Because I've been running a podcast for over a year now I'm qualified to talk about the space, and that has really helped my YouTube channel grow and the content I make about podcasting.

Podcasting has also been massive for growing my Instagram. If I have someone on my show they're going to promote my content to their fan base as well, and I'll also become more of an authoritative figure for their audience and helps to establish credibility across all my platforms.

It really all feeds together at the end of the day.

Another massive tip is to make your podcast look and sound as professional as possible. This will really go a long way when it comes to outreach and marketing, so I've put a lot of work into upping my audio quality and podcast graphics to continue to build credibility.

Q8: Any Final Words Or Recommendations For Someone On The Fence?

Ben: You should definitely dive right in. Starting a podcast has been one of the best decisions I have made in the last few years simply because of what it leads to. Plus, starting a podcast teaches you that you can actually turn an idea into a reality.

However, you should definitely go into it with some realistic expectations and be 100% alright if no one ends up downloading your podcast. If you go into podcasting like that, you can't lose because at the end of the day you're growing your skills, network, personal skills, and it might take off one day.

I think there is a tonne of value in podcasts in general, and I think there's a reason podcasts are becoming so popular. I also think that the popularity is extremely positive, even if a lot of people might say it increases competition or floods the platform. I really think it's a game of ‘best' and not ‘first,' and the more people who start listening to podcast, the more opportunity there is to grow your audience.

One final tip: don't be afraid to ask for help or reach out to your own network. I spent a tonne of time on my launch day sending out messages to friends asking them to check out my show and to leave a review or rating (which are incredibly important for the algorithm and ranking), and it made a difference.

Final Thoughts

Well, there you have it folks!

If you have ever considered starting your own podcast, I really hope you heed Ben's advice and just dive right in (without taking on too much cost, that is).

At the end of the day it really is all about starting somewhere. You might not become a Top #10 Podcast sensation overnight, or ever, but that is okay. The skills you develop and people you meet along the way are incredibly valuable, and like other side hustles I've mentioned on this blog, the journey counts just as much as the destination.

I'd like to give a massive thank you to Ben for taking the time to answer my questions, and I encourage everyone to check out Do Dope Sh*t and to leave a review/rating. There are some really incredible episodes on there, and anyone who is a fan of business or entrepreneurship is going to enjoy the show tremendously.

Also, definitely check out Ben's YouTube channel and Instagram for some other awesome content!

Catch you guys in the next post!

The post How To Start A Podcast – Incredible Beginner Podcasting Tips from Ben Leavitt appeared first on WebMonkey.

I spent a lot of time manually pinning resources from my blog, joining group boards, following other people in my niche, and creating eye-catching graphics that have the potential (I hope) to go viral.

For the longest time, all of my efforts Pinterest marketing efforts resulted in barely any website visitors at all.

After putting a lot of effort into a lackluster social media strategy that wasn't panning out, I finally decided to purchase Tailwind, a useful Pinterest marketing tool, in late December.

This is how my Pinterest blog traffic developed over the first few days:

And this is how my Pinterest traffic is developing after a few months of tinkering with my pinning strategy and optimizing how I use the Tailwind app:

I've gone from barely receiving any Pinterest traffic to getting 25-100 visitors a day, and the traffic seems to be growing steadily.

However, there are a few important things I think bloggers should know about Tailwind, and this software is not for everyone. 

Contrary to what a lot of other bloggers in the space might promise, I believe the Tailwind app that should only be used in specific scenarios.

Time to break down the truth behind this marketing tool in my official Tailwind review!

What is Tailwind?

Tailwind is a marketing tool for Pinterest (and recently Instagram) that allows users to manage their Pinterest account from a centralized platform, saving Pinners time and helping to increase their reach.

With the Tailwind app, it's incredible easy to schedule Pins to be published throughout the day, create an automatic ‘Smartloop' that continually publishes evergreen content, and to bulk upload new Pinterest graphics.

In other words, it's a way to automate the manual process of creating Pins and posting them to your various boards.

As you can see, I have 186 pins currently queued in my Tailwind schedule, and my pins consist of evergreen content I systematically re-pin throughout the month and new content I add or create.

Theoretically, by consistently pinning every day and at optimal times, Tailwind will allow me to steadily grow my reach on Pinterest while driving traffic back to make money with my blog.

Most of the Pins I schedule with the Tailwind app are my own content and direct people back to WebMonkey, but many of the pins also come from some of the Tailwind Tribes I have joined.

What are Tailwind Tribes?

Tailwind Tribes are the most powerful feature of using Tailwind in your Pinterest marketing efforts, and this is also how bloggers can successfully use Tailwind to drive traffic to their blog in a matter of days or weeks.

Tailwind Tribes are groups of Pinterest members who create content in similar niches and have agreed to work together as a community.

I've been able to publish plenty of viral pins thanks to Tailwind Tribes, and this has truly helped accelerate my growth on the platform.

In the Tailwind app, you can access Tribes, which are basically community pools where people upload their Pins and select other ones to share.

Most Tailwind Tribes have a ‘scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours' approach where Tribe members are expected to maintain a 1:1 ratio in terms of the content they upload to the Tribe (seeking shares) and the Tribe content they add to their Pinterest scheduler (giving out shares).

This mutual agreement to grow alongside one another is how bloggers effectively use Tailwind to market their blogs on Pinterest.

Here is a small data set from my Tailwind Tribe results after using the platform for about a month and a half:

You can also breakdown Tailwind Tribe effectiveness on a per-Tribe basis, which I recommend doing to keep track of which Tribes are the most effective for your Pinterest marketing efforts.

What I find interesting is that in almost every single Tailwind Tribe, I receive more reach than I return even with share/upload ratios of 2:1 or 3:1.

I've received as much as 275K in reach from the Tribe ‘Bloggers Chalkboard', yet I have only contributed 27.4k in reach despite sharing almost 4x as much content as I have contributed.

This truly indicates that small players have the most to gain from using Tailwind Tribes, and this is because Tailwind Tribes allow small Pinterest accounts to gain shares from some massive and already established Pinners.

It's not uncommon for a pin to be shared by multiple people after you upload it to a Tribe, and many of the members you will encounter on Tailwind already have 1K+ followers on Pinterest and can instantly give you reach.

Tailwind Price:

While Tailwind pricing might seem straightforward on the signup page, there's a lot of hidden costs when you consider potential Tailwind Power Ups.

So, how much does Tailwind cost?

Well, at first glance Tailwind only costs $9.99/month, and unless you operate a very large blog or have multiple team members, you don't need to venture beyond the Tailwind Plus plan.

However, where Tailwind gets you with an up-sell is with their Tribe Powerups.

Tailwind Plus only gives members the opportunity to share 30 pieces of content to Tribes in a 30 day period, and since Tailwind Tribes are a main way bloggers can actually see results with Tailwind, this often isn't enough.

I realized this fact pretty quickly, and pretty soon I elected for the $9.99/month plan plus a $119.88/year Tailwind Tribes Max Power Up, which provides me with unlimited Tribe memberships and 200 submissions per month:

There are plenty of other powerup levels as well where bloggers can gain even more Tribe submission slots or expand their Tailwind Smartloop automatic pinning system.

Ultimately, this means Tailwind pricing can vary greatly depending on how much you use it.

I recommend just starting out with the basic $9.99/month plan to see if it is for you, but keep in mind, it may be worth investing in things like the Tribes Max Power Up or more Smartloop slots as you grow.

Who Should use Tailwind?

Time to get to the main point of this Tailwind app review and to dispel some of the bullshit advice that is passed around on seemingly every blogging forum or group.

If you've ever seen a thread that covers ways to generate blog traffic, you've probably seen some advice like this:

Now, this advice is terrible for a few reasons.

Firstly, pinning 200 or even 30 pieces of content to Tailwind Tribes requires you to actually have some content depth, and new bloggers will lack the article variety to take advantage of everything Tailwind has to offer.

Secondly, getting results with Tailwind or Pinterest require time and effort, and the second you stop putting in work, you will stop receiving traffic.

Bloggers who are just starting out should focus on SEO basics and growing a foundation of organic traffic because this is the backbone of developing a successful blog.

What would happen if you put all your eggs in the Pinterest traffic basket, and an algorithm change or the growing state of competitiveness on Pinterest made all of your traffic disappear overnight…This happened to Facebook organic traffic and pages with thousands of likes, and I'm betting Pinterest will become pay to play in the next 2-3 years anyway.

Finally, paying $200+ dollars a year on software when you are starting out as a blogger does not make sense.

If you are willing to spend the money and want to use social media as your primary traffic source then I say go for it, but otherwise, run a cost analysis to see if it is worth it.

In order to judge if you can afford Tailwind or if you should buy it, I think you should consider if your blog is in a position to pay off the cost of Tailwind (and make a profit) within one year.

Personally, I decided to buy Tailwind because:

• I'm trying to push towards 25,000 monthly sessions to join Mediavine.
• I am confident Tailwind will actually net a profit within 365 days between the extra Monumetric ad revenue I gain from the extra traffic (I'm already seeing AdSense revenue increase and more affiliate sales).

You can approach this decision making process in a few ways, really.

If you blog has advertisements, look at your page RPM (revenue per 1000 views) and see how many Pinterest visitors you would need from Tailwind to recoup some of your cost. Also consider the fact that within one year, you can probably generate some affiliate sales from Pinterest if you send people to the right sort of article.

If the math works out, buy Tailwind. If Tailwind's pricing is too steep or you lack content depth, don's waste your money.

Other Tailwind App Reviews

I wanted to update this post because there have been some shifting opinions in the blogging community about Tailwind.

Lately, it seems like Pinterest traffic is tanking for a lot of bloggers.

Additionally, many users are dropping Tailwind. Just checkout a screenshot from a recent blogging thread I saw (there were dozens of comments like this):

I've been seeing the same thing with my Tailwind account: lots of pins, almost no impressions, and a steady decline.

Manually pinning has been way better for me so far, so for now, I recommend sticking with that strategy.

My Tips for Effectively Using Tailwind:

I'm going to finish off this Tailwind review with a few of the tips and tricks I have started to use in order to save time, increase efficiency, and gradually develop more reach on Pinterest.

I still think manually pinning is better right now, but I'll admit that Tailwind Tribes can still work quite well.

Have ‘Canva' Sessions and Create Pin Images in Bulk:

Canva is a free tool that makes it easy to create eye-catching graphics for social media posts or other forms of media. Canva also has a nifty tool that lets you create vertical images that are the perfect size for Pinterest.

When creating Pins for Tailwind, Canva is your best friend because you can bang out 5-10 designs within a few minutes and repeat the process for multiple articles on your blog.

Once you've found a layout you like with Canva and have created your first graphic, simply use the Canva image search to find several relevant images per design. By shuffling in a few images for each post of yours, you can have some variety in your Pinterest content and share more of the same content without looking spammy.

As you can see, I simply changed the image for these 3 pins, but that gives enough variety for me to share each one of these to a Tailwind Tribe or through my scheduler without spamming the same graphic.

Join Pinterest Group Boards:

Pinterest group boards are collective boards in which many members can share their content, and it is a good idea to join these sorts of boards if you use Tailwind.

Many group boards are niche specific, and scheduling your content (or content from Tribes) is a nice way to expand your reach and mix up the boards you save to.

When you're pinning several hundred pins a month (or more), it will be helpful to have some extra boards to spread your content to.

Monitor tailwind Tribe Performance:

The Tailwind Tribes Max power up gives access to an unlimited number of Tribes, but you should still be selective with where your 200 Pins a month are shared.

Tailwind sends out weekly emails that summarize the reach you have gained from all of your Tribes, and you can also view this data in the Tribes Insight tab on. Check this tab every 1-2 weeks to see if there are some clear winners in your Pinterest marketing efforts.

Always Return the Favor:

I try to maintain a 2:1 or higher ratio in terms of shares to uploads for my Tribes, but go one step further and make sure you share content from the people who have shared yours.

When you receive a re-share in a Tailwind Tribe, you will see the notification under your Pins in the ‘Yours' section of a Tribe:

If you click on the icon of the person who shared your content, you will also be able to quickly filter the Tribe content to only show things they have uploaded to quickly share some of their pins.

I've tried to do this for all Tribe members who share my content, and you can actually end up in a sharing contest with people where you just try to one-up each other on shares…everyone wins!

Mix up Tribe Share Times:

I'm still working out this theory and am waiting for more data, but I'm fairly certain that sharing content to my Tribes in the morning, lunchtime, and after dinner is more effective than randomly adding content to Tribes at random points in the day.

This is just a hunch, but I figure if you can time your Tribe shares to when people are more likely to be checking Tailwind and doing some work, you can get to the top of the Tribe queue at the opportune time.

Don't Spam:

This one is a fairly simple one, really.

It can be easy to get lost on Tailwind, but you should always try to pin a variety of your own content and the content of others. Additionally, I wouldn't recommend pinning more than 30-40 times a day, especially right out of the gate with a fresh account.

Take some time to build a schedule that works for you, use your Smartloop wisely, and monitor traffic to see what works.

Pin Manually:

The Tailwind app is great because it saves time and Pins your content as if you were pinning it manually, but I think there is value in actually hopping on Pinterest sometimes to Pin, comment, and follow people.

The Pinterest algorithm is weird, and part of me even wonders if they like this sort of manual action every so often. Better safe than sorry, anyways!

Final Thoughts:

Well, there you have it!

I hope you have found this Tailwind review and set of Pinterest marketing tips to be somewhat helpful!

As a new blogger Pinterest can seem like the answers to all of your problems, but trust me, Tailwind and Pinterest have a specific time and place and you shouldn't spend money on resources you aren't ready to use.

There's plenty of ways to make money online or to leverage social media to drive traffic to your blog, but you need to approach it in a sensible manner.

Focus on developing organic traffic first, and then use Pinterest and Tailwind as a way to diversify your blog traffic and grow!

If you would like to try out Tailwind while supporting WebMonkey, you can signup with my link!

The course breaks down Pinterest strategies, graphic design tips, scheduling/algorithm information, and plenty of optimization/SEO tips!

Hopefully, the tips I have provided can get your Pinterest marketing efforts back on track!

Catch you guys in the next post!

The post Is Tailwind Worth It? My Tailwind App Review for Bloggers appeared first on WebMonkey.

Well, when it comes to driving traffic and lead generation, I've come to the conclusion that Quora is one of the best platforms for digital marketers to spend their resources on.

And when I say marketers, I also mean bloggers, website owners, or even businesses.

WebMonkey is predominantly about making money, saving money, and generating passive income through the use of technology.

However, digital marketing is often a critical component of generating passive income or making money as it can help people drive traffic to platforms you have monetized.

I recently started a dropshipping business, and I use Instagram/Facebook to advertise my store and market to consumers.

I also run this blog. Like most blogs, there's a fairly steady relationship between the amount of monthly views I receive and how much income is generated.

Regardless of the platform you run, gaining more traffic is never a bad thing.

So, I want to share with all my fellow bloggers, dropshippers, and online money makers how to use Quora to drive highly qualified traffic to your website/blog.

This post will cover:

• What is Quora?
• Why you should spend time marketing on Quora + my results from 2 months of Quora marketing.
• Setting up an engaging Quora profile.
• Finding your niche + working smart, not hard.
• The anatomy of a great Quora answer.
• The power of the Quora Digest.

Let's get to it!

What is Quora?

I've mentioned some preliminary results from my Quora marketing efforts in my latest income + blog update post, but I am going to get more in-depth.

So, what is Quora?

In short, it's a question-answer platform where the content is provided, organized, and managed by the community.

People ask questions they want specific answers to, and a myriad of regular Quora users or industry experts can chime in.

If people like an answer, they can up-vote the answer and help push the author's post to the top of a thread. Similarly, down-votes help deal with spam or poor answers.

Users can also report answers, or suggest edits for the author.

Ultimately, Quora is quite similar to Reddit in some ways, and quality is truly the key to finding success on the platform.

Some of the most popular topics on Quora include:

• Music (29.8 million followers, 207k questions asked).
• Writing (13.1 million followers, 116k questions asked).
• Finance (10.2 million followers, 126k questions asked).
• Computer Science (6.2 million followers, 64k questions asked)
• Healthy Eating (5.6 million followers, 63k questions asked).

However, Quora still has thousands of topic categories, and can provide digital marketers with the ability to effectively reach their target market.

Why you Need to Use Quora For Marketing

Quality content is still king. Thankfully, Quora also recognizes this fact and empowers users to vote quality answers to the top of results page.

Considering that Quora has almost 200 million unique monthly users, it's actually incredible that the platform has done such a great job at maintaining this standard of quality.

Since you're already creating incredible blog content that provides value to your current audience, it makes a great deal of sense to share this content with a similar but currently untouched audience that would also value your ideas.

Anyway, i'll cut to the chase –?here are my stats on Quora for the past 3 months:

The 52 answers I have written so far have gained 250K views on Quora.

This has resulted in?2,000+ sessions on WebMonkey in referral traffic:

This might not seem too great considering my answers have been viewed 250k times, but I am just starting out on the platform and learning how to optimize my answers to drive even more traffic.

Additionally, Quora readers have also been referred to my other platforms, such as my Medium profile.

Ultimately, by marketing on Quora, you can put your opinion, expertise, and helpful resources to work by assisting people that are actively searching for solutions in your particular niche.

That's a marketing channel people would pay a lot of money for…but on Quora, it's free.

Setting up a Quora Profile – Think LinkedIn but Better

If you want to assert your expertise on a particular niche or topic on Quora, you need to also create a professional Quora profile.

Your Quora profile is the face of your marketing efforts on the platform. While you have limited space, you can leverage the information people see to drive qualified traffic to your blog or business.

Here is how I have setup my Quora profile:

Some critical elements to take note of are:

• My blog URL will appear next to my name. When people see my answers, they will also see my blog.
• I describe what my interests are,?and what value I will provide to readers.
• I link to some of my best posts and other platforms where people can find/reach me.
• I include credentials that are relevant to the topics I answer questions in (mostly marketing, SEO, and passive income).
• I use my real name – Quora really doesn't like pseudonyms and requires you to sign up with your real name or remain anonymous.

Other successful Quora authors take a slightly different approach. Consider the following profile from SEO Guru Neil Patel:

His profile is simpler, contains less links, but is still an excellent template to follow.

I mean,?just look at his credentials.

When Neil answers, people immediately recognize that he is a Forbes rates top 10 marketer and best selling author. That definitely gains some attention.

Whatever style you choose for your Quora profile, be sure to optimize it and play around with what works. In some sense, it acts as a mini landing page for your audience.

Add your credentials, link to your website, and don't be afraid to share your knowledge and accomplishments.

Finding your Quora Niche – Work Smart, not Hard

There are plenty of Quora marketing guides out there that outline the general idea behind how to promote your blog or business on Quora.

However, a lot of them fall short because they don't outline?efficient ways to use the platform.

In my first month of answering Quora questions, I didn't get any results. I'd answer questions, interact with the community, but my referral traffic was stagnant.

Most guides will recommend that you:

• Follow the most popular topics in your niche.
• Follow the main influencers and industry experts in your niche.

By all means, do both of these things.

Search for your area of expertise, and examine what people are asking for so you understand the gist of the niche.

But please, don't just answer questions that pop-up on your homepage.

Questions that appear on your homepage are usually fresh questions that have just been asked.

This means they will have?low views, few followers, and no traction.

If you want to save time and efficiently market on Quora, you need to find the hot and trending questions to drive the most traffic back to your website.

Finding good questions to answer on Quora – The Goldilocks Approach

• Look for a high number of followers and views on a question.
• Look for questions where the top answers aren't that great.
• Make sure the question is rising/trending, but not already dominated by industry giants.

I loosely call this the Goldilocks approach because you need to answer questions that are ‘just right.'

I spend my time answering questions on Quora that are rising in popularity and?where I have a fighting chance.

If Neil Patel, Moz, and 5 other SEO experts have already answered a question from 3 years ago, I leave the thread alone.

Remember, Quora is all about providing value to readers. Therefore, if a question has already been sufficiently answered and you have nothing else to add, don't bother.

Here's an example of a Quora question I have answered:

The question currently has over 300 followers and almost 500,000 views:

When I answered it, it was more like 200 followers and around 300,000 views.

Additionally,?the top answers were all horrible.

They were all recommending cheap survey websites and other inefficient ways to make money online and I saw and opportunity to add a new perspective to the question and increase the overall thread value.

So, I answered with some actual advice and people responded quite well. I even expanded on the question a bit and outlined some specific jobs they should look for.

If you want to read through the thread and find my answer, it's approximately the 4th or 5th one down from the top.

The Anatomy of a Great Quora Answer

Here is my general outline for answering Quora questions in a way that provides value to readers while still promoting my blog/content without being overly pushy.

I'll use my answer to the work-from-home question again.

1:?Relate to the reader in a brief introduction and explain the gist of your answer:

2:?Craft the body of your answer – share valuable advice, include compelling images that capture attention,?and be sure to actually answer the damn question:

3:?Thank your readers, wrap up the answer, and link them to additional resources that might help them:

That's all there is to it.

Writing a great Quora answer should take around 10-15 minutes if you really need to work to provide the best answer in a thread. However, the results can be worth it.

This particular answer received almost 170K views and 505 upvotes, and only took 10 minutes to write.

Some other useful tips for styling a Quora answer include:

• Using bold text to outline key concepts.
• Using sarcasm or humor (Quora readers seem to like this a lot).
• Posting screenshots of proof/results whenever relevant.
• Chunking your writing into small paragraphs or sentences (for easy reading, especially on mobile).
• Highlighting missing information in a thread.

Additional Tips for How to Market on Quora

As I mentioned, when it comes to marketing on Quora, efficiency and value are 2 immensely important elements to consider.

However, there are a few other practices I have used to effectively market my blog on Quora, and the same tips can be applied to any other website or business.

Tip 1 – Make a Plan of Attack

When I first started marketing on Quora, I would research questions I wanted to answer in single file. Find a question, answer it, and then continue the search.

Don't do this.

Plan your marketing method. Take some time to research 100 questions you want to answer and compile the data into a simple spreadsheet. Then answer them.

It can really be that simple.

This small change will dramatically increase your effectiveness at marketing on Quora. If you are constantly alternative between your research and marketing efforts, you will not be able to rapidly answer questions to drive traffic to your website.

Tip 2 – Don't be Afraid to use Quora Ads

You don't have to pay for Quora ads to actually benefit from their advertising platform, although a lot of webmasters who market on Quora don't know this trick.

Anyone can create a Quora Ads Manager account, and this allows you to access some pretty valuable data about Quora.

For example, if you create a shell campaign within the Ads Manager, you can actually target your audience by specific Quora questions. This will allow you to quickly search for a list of questions or general topics that have a high number of weekly impressions:

While this isn't my go-to research method for kickstarting my Quora marketing efforts, it can help if you hit a roadblock in finding the right questions to answer.

Additionally, it also shows weekly views on a Quora question, so you can potentially catch a question as it is picking up steam and be one of the first answers on a trending thread.

Tip 3 – Establish Quora Alliances

Networking on Quora is absolutely vital for successfully marketing on Quora, and this fact is overlooked by many people.

According to Quora, this is what goes into ranking answers within a Quora feed:

• upvotes and downvotes on the answer, in part based on how trustworthy voters are in a given topic
• the previous answers written by the author
• whether the author is an expert in the subject
• the contents of the answer, including the type and quality of content (words, photos, links)
• other signals, including ones that help us prevent gaming of ranking through votes

‘how trustworthy voters are' – this is the golden ticket.

If you can network with other Quora members who are knowledgeable in your niche, gaining their votes will help you rank above other answers and gain more views.

More views will inevitably lead to more traffic, and you will also gain more Quora followers to further snowball your marketing effectiveness.

So, spend some time networking on Quora.

Follower other bloggers or business owners in your industry, upvote good answers, send direct messages to strike up a conversation…just do something!

The Quora Digest – Spike your Referral Traffic

I'm going to mention one most aspect of Quora marketing because it has the most potential.

If you've ever signed up with Quora, you might remember receiving emails labelled?Quora Digest.

The Quora Digest is a collection of the best answers on Quora that periodically get sent out to all users. The Quora Digest is also personalized, so my digest will always contain the best answers in topics like SEO, marketing, and passive income.

The Quora Digest is the most powerful aspect of marketing on Quora.

If you write a superb answer and provide value to readers, you aren't just rewarded with up votes. You can also be featured:

My answers have been featured in the Quora Digest a few times, with 1.1 million email recipients being my largest feature.

Check out the spike in traffic from one of these features:

Sure, the traffic falls off after a few days, and not every person out of that 1.1 million email recipients will even read the email or my post.

How Hard is it to be Featured in the Quora Digest?

From my own experiences with Quora, I truly believe this depends on the quality, depth, and breadth of your writing.

On Quora, I've predominantly focused on writing under the topics of making money online, SEO, and blogging.

I've probably been featured around 5-7 times, with Quora Digest blasts ranging from 10,000 readers to my mega 1.1 million feature.

Most of my features came alongside a viral Quora post (the once I referenced above), and have since petered off. In fact, I haven't had a Quora Digest feature in about 1.5 months.

So, if you are looking to be featured, you'll really need to put in some effort.

Here are my tips on getting a spot in the Quora Digest:

• Write frequently – aim to answer a question every day or so if you are able.
• Write long form, high quality answers that go above and beyond.
• Build your Quora network and grow your follower count – upvotes are a great way to get noticed on Quora and pushed to the top!
• Strike while the iron is hot. When you have a series of Quora Digest features, be sure to monopolize on the traffic spike your website/blog will experience.

Between answering questions on Quora and being featured in their digest, you can establish a steady stream of referral traffic for just a few hours of work.

I implore you to take some time and try your hand at Quora marketing! Even if you only answer a question a day for 1 month, you should be able to reap the rewards if you work efficiently.

Just make sure you always have quality and a value-add perspective on your mind when helping people on Quora. You will be rewarded for the quality of your answers.

Thanks for reading!

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