Content Creation Series: Q and A Post

One of my favorite content creation methods is using questions that come directly from my readers and answering them in a post. These kind of posts are fantastic for a couple reasons: you know you’re giving information people want the answers to (because someone actually asked!), and the content is usually pretty easy because it’s something you know and don’t have to research ~ just answer the question.

Setting up a Q and A post:

You can set up a Q and A post any way you want it or any way that fits well with your blog design. I like to use the block quote function in my text editor to block out the question and make it really noticeable. Sometimes though I just use a Q. You can use some code to make the Q bigger or a different color. There’s a good tutorial on how to do that here.

Do I have to credit the reader?

Many times I don’t. I say “a reader asked” or this is a question I get asked frequently. Many times people want to remain anonymous. This allows them to speak up in the comments if they want to identify themselves, but doesn’t embarress them if they didn’t want to be identified to begin with.

What if I don’t have any readers asking questions?

Good question! You may not have readers emailing you or asking your questions at this time ~ but that shouldn’t stop you! You can find questions being asked about your topic in quite a few places. Yahoo answers ~ a whole site devoted to asking questions , e-how a whole site devoted to people answering questions ~ simply create a question you can answer from a topic you find there, forums! forums are fantastic places to find questions to answer. If you are a regular and trusted member of the forum (and you are ~ aren’t you?!) you can let them know about the post, or else just answer the question there as well (don’t copy/paste your article though).

More ways to use Q and A content than in blog posts:

Squidoo: you could create an entire lens based on answering questions ~ an FAQ lens of sorts.
This lens could sell things or it could lead back to a site of yours giving you backlinks.

hubpages: EASY way to get a hub done. Find a question relevant to your topic and then write out an answer. You can then link to the site you’re trying to rank in the search engines. (using your targeted anchor text in the link of course)

Wetpaint: Another great place for Q and A content.

Forums: To build your reputation and standing in a forum why not do a whole post answering someones question. Whether you’ve seen it on the forum or somewhere else ~ providing great information with no expectation of return is a great way to build your forum reputation.

You can use Q and A content quite well just about anywhere on the web. It is a great way to build trust and rapport, and if you’re building links it’s one of the easiest ways to create content I know of. If you’re familiar with your topic it’s pretty easy to just answer a question right?

Taking Q and A content one step further

So far we’ve only talked about written content in our content creation series. The next two posts will be discussing more multi media options for your content. Q and A is a great way to get started in multi media. You could do a video answering a question, you could do an audio of you answering a question (and then turn it into a podcast that can be syndicated through itunes ~ but we’ll get to that later). Just remember your content can be taken way beyond the written word ~ and some of you may find audio or video content to be much easier than writing!!

If you have any questions about using questions and answers for content please ask them below and we’ll see what we can come up with! If you’re having trouble coming up with content for your sites we can brainstorm here or at the Facebook fanpage. If you want some one on one time with me shoot me an email[momtohanna[at]]gmail[dot]com  and we’ll work out some coaching time.