AllExperts - I answer questions for free

When I first joined AllExperts, I was by no means an expert in any field, but had a good understanding of business, web design, and customer service. I found that most of the questions I was initially asked were mass posted to all other experts in my category. Aside from feeling slightly used, I can say that I have learned a lot by being a part of the community and helping users out.

The best part about answering user’s questions is that I learned about many practical and normal situations that solo-prenuers run into with their own small online business. It has helped me answer client questions that I might not have thought of otherwise.

Here is an example of a question that has given me a quick answer to a few client inquiries:

Hi there, at present I am working on testing a social networking website…I would like to know how a site like this can make money for my company? All ideas would be much appreciated.

This put me in a situation where I had to research further what was needed to set up a social networking site, as well as how profit could be made through affiliate or ppc (pay per click) marketing. What I ended up compiling was a checklist of properties that successful social networking sites implement mixed with industry specific directions for this user’s particular market. She replied to me later saying how useful it was, and I had myself a good template for any future social networking proposals.

The biggest benefit of this came when a later client approached us about creating a mixed media social networking site and intended to rely on banner ads as their sole supporting income. We were able to successfully expand the client’s scope of possibilities, as well as provide viable options for advertising that didn’t drive people away at first sight.

Some tips for successful online profit:

• Follow the rules that search engines set out. You don’t want to piss off Google. Also stay up to date on what techniques are abused and banned or you may drop several hundred percent in return overnight.
• Find a niche and target keywords, images, and products towards the audience that will actually use your links. Target the consumer, not the student.
• Track, Analyze, and perfect your SEO and click rates for your links. There are plenty of templates for blogs based around ad placement, and learning why they work is just as important as the content you drop into them.
• Advertisements should be a side-note on your website, not a main attraction.

All Experts is a sub company of About.com, which is a sub company of the New York Times. Convoluted, I know. What this generally means is that Experts feed SEO and help build the page rank of these services by posting helpful tips.

Let me know if you have any web design, coding, or general online business questions that I can help out with. Leaving a comment here works too!