I find myself constantly doing research on nearly every topic under the sun.

If I’m chilling at a restaurant with friends and someone wonders about a current event or mentions a fact, I’m Googling it on my phone.

(Yeah, I’m that guy.)

A lot of my Google searches begin with “what is,” “why is,” and “how to”…

And there’s a trend I’ve noticed when I Google a lot of these questions.

A sizable percentage of the results I get are from Quora.

Here’s a good example:

Here it is, chillin’ at a solid number three spot for this particular keyword phrase.

And this is by no means a fluke. Quora gets plenty of love from Google.

Interest in this large-scale Q&A site is definitely on the rise.

Just look at how interest has grown over time, according to Google Trends:

I’d say that’s significant.

With 190 million users as of April 2017 and 400,000 topics, there’s a solid user base and one that’s continually growing.

More importantly, Quora is an excellent resource to build trust and authority while expanding your brand.

I use it to bring in plenty of quality referral traffic and reel in countless leads.

I’ve seen Quora’s potency firsthand and highly recommend leveraging its power.

But you can’t just haphazardly throw up some answers and expect amazing results.

Like in most areas of marketing, you need to follow a process.

In this post, I’d like to share a process that’s worked for me and, I know, can work for you too.

To be upfront, it’s going to take some time to get the ball rolling.

But following this process can help you become one of the highest-rated users on Quora.

Pimp your profile

Your first order of business is to take some time setting up your profile so that it drips with awesomeness.

Here’s a quick look at mine:

You’ll want to cover your “Credentials and Highlights,” beef up your “Knows About” section and provide a thorough explanation of your bio.

And don’t forget to include a professional headshot for your profile image.

If you need a little help getting set up, check out this post I wrote on NeilPatel.com.

The bottom line is, the more information you provide on your profile, the better.

More specifically, you’ll want to select topics you’re highly knowledgeable about.

This will be important later on because you want to provide answers only on topics and questions that you understand in and out.

It’s integral for being seen as a trustworthy figure and someone who knows their stuff.

Here are some of the topics I chose:

Offer insanely helpful answers

Typically, on different platforms, you can employ hacks to build your audience quickly, boost your reputation, etc.

But on Quora, you don’t have any shortcuts.

You create buzz by providing helpful answers and exceeding expectations.

I know that “offer insanely helpful answers” is a little vague, so let me give you an example.

Here’s an actual question on Quora:

And here are a couple of answers to this question:

These are both pretty solid.

They definitely answer the question and provide some insight.

But I wouldn’t say either answer is in-depth.

Now, here’s my answer:

And that’s only part of it.

There’s quite a bit more information if you continue to scroll down.

Notice that it’s significantly more in-depth and structured more like a blog post than a basic answer.

I included relevant images, headers, and plenty of white space to make it both digestible and scannable.

This approach is a lot like the skyscraper technique: find great content and make it even better.

As I mentioned in another article, the way to do this is to:

Is it time-consuming and labor-intensive?

Yes.

But does it raise my credibility and authority?

You betcha.

I’m not saying you necessarily need to go to this degree of length with your answers.

Some might say it’s a little excessive.

But you want to ensure you’re answering a question in its entirety and leaving no stone unturned.

A person should walk away feeling satisfied with a new insight on the topic.

If you’re going to provide only half-hearted answers with generic information people can find anywhere, you’re wasting your time on Quora.

That’s just how it goes.

The only way to become a high-rated user is to be super helpful.

Finding questions to answer

Now that you know the level of depth to shoot for, let’s discuss how to find good questions to answer.

Since you’ll be putting a considerable amount of time and energy into it, you want to answer questions that will give you maximum visibility.

One way to find questions is to click on “Answer” from your dashboard.

Quora will provide you with the top questions curated for you, based on your knowledge and specific areas of expertise.

Many times, you’ll be able to find several questions right in your wheelhouse.

Another way to go about it is to search for a particular topic directly.

For example, I might search for “content marketing.”

Type it in the search box, and choose the particular topic that best matches what you’re looking for.

Quora will then provide you with a list of questions to choose from.

It’s all pretty straightforward.

Keep in mind the questions toward the top tend to have the most visibility, which is what you want.

Key metrics

You may be wondering which specific metrics translate into authority/credibility.

It’s simple.

There are three main metrics:

1. Views
2. Upvotes
3. Comments

You’ll see these at the end of your comments, and they look like this:

Views and comments are pretty self-explanatory, but you may be wondering what exactly an upvote is.

It’s a way for others to approve your comment and say it offers genuine value and contributes to the discussion.

Here’s an actual Quora user explaining what an upvote is:

The more views and upvotes you get, the better.

As for downvotes, these basically have the opposite effect.

Here’s a great explanation:

These obviously aren’t good and hurt your credibility.

As for comments, these can go either way.

Positive comments help you, and negative comments hurt you.

But from my experience, negative comments are pretty uncommon.

As long as you’re offering real value, you shouldn’t have to worry too much about negative comments.

Finally, there’s your following.

Once again, the bigger, the better.

At the moment, I’ve got 7.3k followers, which isn’t too shabby.

But there are people with much bigger followings:

As you begin to build a bigger presence on Quora, be sure to pay attention to these key metrics because they’ll give you a pretty good idea of how you’re rated and how people are responding to you.

And there’s one last thing I need to mention.

As you answer more and more questions, people will be able to get a sense of the topics you’re most knowledgeable about.

Quora will automatically list what you know most about by the number of answers you’ve given on a particular topic.

Here’s what I’m talking about:

If there’s a certain topic you want to be closely associated with, make it a point to focus your attention and answer questions on that topic.

An overview of the process

Now, let’s recap the steps:

1. Get signed up.
2. Thoroughly fill out your profile, and choose a list of topics you’re most knowledgeable about (I recommend choosing at least five).
3. Beef up your profile so that it lists your credentials, highlights, bio, and so on.
4. Find questions to answer by using either the “Answers” section of your dashboard or by directly searching for questions in the search box.
5. Provide comprehensive, in-depth answers for every question you select. Take full advantage of images, headers, etc. Also link to other helpful content whenever it makes sense.
6. Monitor key metrics to see how you’re rated and what your overall performance is.

Also keep in mind that being successful on Quora is often a numbers game.

In other words, you can’t expect to become a top user if you answer only a handful of questions.

You really want to shoot for a high volume and get in the habit of frequently answering questions.

This is crucial for eventually gaining a strong reputation and getting users to take you seriously.

Conclusion

Quora is a potential goldmine.

It’s one of the best sites for building trust and authority and ultimately being viewed as an expert in your industry.

What I really love about it is the overall demographic of Quora users.

From my experience, the majority of people are intelligent and have a genuine desire to learn and help others.

When compared to many other places, it’s a relatively troll-free zone—people aren’t trying to mindlessly sabotage one another.

But I will admit it does require a fair amount of effort to gain momentum.

And there’s a considerable time commitment involved.

But it’s well worth it when you consider the long-term brand equity boost you can get.

By following the process I mentioned, you can really strengthen your brand and drive a significant volume of referral traffic to your site.

How often do you use Quora for finding answers to questions?

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