What I Learned From a Million Views on Quora

People are always looking for practical tips for increasing website traffic.

If you have a website, I can honestly say now that Quora is one of the better options out there.

At the time of writing this, I just crossed over a million views and thought it was worth looking back at some things I learned from using the platform.

What Is Quora All About?

I had seen it pop up on Google searches but wasn’t exactly sure what it was all about.

Then I saw a YouTube video talking about how it’s an excellent traffic source, and it was replacing Yahoo answers as the place to turn to for any kind of inquiry.

I run two websites: a health and fitness one and another devoted to pop culture and nostalgia.

When I first used Quora, it was to drive traffic to my health site. I liked the idea that you could use your education, experience, and accomplishments so that people were getting genuine, helpful answers.

Early Strategies

I would search out any health-related question and then answer it as best as I could.

I thought that just answering a question might encourage people to check out my bio and be led to my website.

I wanted to be as helpful as possible, and I think that’s one of the primary keys to be successful there.

After a while, I started adding a link back to my website. Sometimes it was to a related blog post, but most often, it was just to get them to my site.

I was seeing OK traffic — but nothing to write home about.

But the more I responded, the more the views and upvotes really started to pour in.

But I got lazy. I just wanted the traffic and would reply to a question with a basic answer with a link to my site.

Getting Banned

So at the same time as my experience and views on Quora were growing, I ended up getting warned for “spamming.”

I kept going and was getting the odd response that was generating a ton of views and upvotes — but I kept just throwing in links to my site without being really helpful.

At the same time that they recognized me as a top writer for 2018, I was also suspended from answering questions.

I eventually got things reinstated while I was launching my pop culture site and took a new approach to Quora.

My New Strategy

I now looked for pop culture-related questions to help with my new blog. As soon as I finished a blog post, I would head to Quora — fresh with the information — looking to answer questions on the subject.

I would search for questions that had answers with at least 500 views — but the more the better, as I knew there was interest.

In my mind, I thought this gave me the opportunity to get exposed to more people or piggyback off of the other answers.

I would look at the top answer and make sure my answer was much better. I would outdo it by including more information, a few images, and then finish with a link to my article for even more info.

Instead of having to retype out everything into the answer, I would go back to the Google Doc where I had written the original article.

I’d copy sections of the text that I think worked for the answer, paste them into Quora, and then rework as needed.

Looking for answers with a lot of engagement is an ideal approach as you know there is an audience for responses there.

Your answers just need to come from a new and unique perspective that people haven’t seen before.

Quora is Amazing For A Traffic Boost

This approach seemed to work, and I had answers getting over 25,000 views. I immediately noticed the website traffic spike that came from this.

Each of those rises from the screenshot above is from days where an answer would hit on Quora. The large spikes are the 50,000+ view days.

I would say, however, it’s not a sustainable traffic boost as the surge in traffic is usually for just a day — two at most. But it’s still a great way to get people to your site.

Here are four more things I’ve learned.

1. A little luck probably helps — but consistency is important

My best day ever was an answer that got 124,000 views, and nearly 7,000 upvotes.

But just like other platforms (YouTube, social media, advertising), you never know what will hit.

There’s just no way to predict what could be successful. Answers I was certain would hit — filled with info and references— ended up getting under 100 views.

At the same time, a random answer I once posted about why “Spaceballs” is better than “Star Wars” got 72,000 views and 1,500 upvotes.

I once gave a two-line answer about getting hiccups when eating and it got 25,000 views.

It’s unpredictable, but the more that you put out there, the better chance you get at something sticking.

Like anything creative, there’s no formula to “go viral.” If there was, then everyone would do it.

Consistency gives you more opportunities to succeed.

2. Success on Quora meant more money

My primary means of income from my sites is advertising. On days when there was a big traffic spike from Quora, my ad income would at least double.

Just a few days ago, an answer I gave about some little-known references in “Back to the Future” got 57,000 views on Quora and brought an extra 1,300 visitors to my site.

This increased revenue on that day by 81%, which you can see here:

Again, these are quick bursts, but every bit helps right now, and it encourages me to keep putting out responses on Quora.

3. Get featured in Quora digests

If you are consistent with answering questions — and are building up some clout — you can get your answers featured in weekly digests.

They send the weekly digests to people following certain topics, and this will push out your answer (and links to your site) to thousands of people.

4. Be helpful

I think it all comes back to this. When you provide value, you give yourself a better chance to succeed. People then begin to know, like, and trust you.

So make sure not to spam, but include a link to your site when it seems natural and helpful — just make value the priority.

When used correctly, Quora can be a great traffic driver no matter what stage your website or business is at.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash