Okay, so perhaps Quora pulled a Christian Laettner and didn’t live up to the hype of becoming the next big thing.

There is still good news, though. If your job, company or project involves any type of content creation, Quora can be very effective.

Quora is essentially a more hip Yahoo answers. It lures tech savvy-crowds and niche experts (or sometimes people pretending to be smart). If something is “buzzing”, you’ll probably find people talking about it on Quora.

Topics are fresh and relevant, which is what we want for cutting-edge content, right?

So now what?

Here are 3 actionable tactics to build content using Quora:

1. Use Quora To Find Topic Suggestions

This can be a huge time saver for big companies with a demanding editorial calendar, or even small businesses with a low content creation budget.

Simply use the search box at the top of the site to search topics.  You will see that many of the broad topics have sub-topics, and the sub-topics have individual questions. In this example we will search for “local search engine optimization“. Browse the topics and parse the unanswered questions within the topics to trigger ideas.

Once you have decided on your blog topic, keep browsing more unanswered questions to help formulate more specific ideas within your content.  Finally, follow the topics and unanswered questions that you are using for your post so you can easily answer (and link back to your blog post) once your content goes live.

2. Find Quotes From Industry Professionals

Find answers that experts have already answered. Browse the boards for answers that were well-received (most votes) and quote them in your content if they are informative, creative or amusing.

3. Reach Out To Experts Of Your Topic

Browse other professionals and ask them to answer your question for your blog post. Think of this like tweeting to somebody, although I have found that if you specifically reach out to people on Quora, they’ll usually answer.

Remember, Quora has a “credit” system, where:

“You’ll spend credits to add a question, ask someone to answer, or promote content. You’ll earn credits when people vote up your answers or follow your questions” (Quora.com).

Be careful not to waste your credits on asking unqualified people to answer. Do your homework first. Every user starts with 500 credits so it takes awhile to run out.

Finally, as you are reaching out to people, be patient, as I have found it can take a few days (even weeks) to get responses.

Have you used Quora to help with your content creation? What other ideas do you have? Please leave your comments below and let’s continue the conversation.

3 Actionable Tactics For Content Creation Using Quora is a post by SEO expert Jeremy Page. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.

Video has emerged as one of the most effective mediums for marketing on the web.  This hasn’t happened overnight, as we have seen companies use video to market their products for many years.

In video marketing, there are plenty of topics that merit discussion.  Books could be written about how to plan and develop a successful video campaign, SEO video optimization or viral video marketing strategies.  I want to discuss one simple action that may give a company some added exposure and propel their idea or business to “online sensation” status: a well produced product trailer.

What is a Product Trailer?

A product trailer is a video showcase of your product or service, just as a movie trailer would portray an exciting new film.  For obvious reasons, it needs to be entertaining, concise and outstanding.  It can be hilarious or informative, but it shouldn’t go more than two minutes.  Your product trailer can be the cornerstone to your idea, be on the front page of your e-commerce website and even posted on the bottom of every company blog post (I actually saw that).  It explains your product in simple, easy-to-understand terms, or can provide a unique piece about something related to your field.

How Does Your Video Campaign Measure Up?

Many video marketing campaigns fail.  How many of you have seen that company YouTube channel with 20 different videos, most of them having less than 100 views?  I tip my hat to their efforts, but their videos are not yielding a return on the time or resources spent on creating those spots.   Perhaps the videos are poorly produced or simply are not being marketed correctly.  Either way, these videos are not making their company any money.

Imagine this same company using their time and resources to plan, develop and produce one superior product trailer.  Then the company spends time finding 50 news sites and online magazines to share this video because they know the video is funny or interesting.  With the potential for social media shares, you might create an “online buzz”.  It would be difficult to do this with several videos.  Do you see the difference?

Tim Ferriss Book Trailer

To further grasp the potential of an outstanding product trailer, look no further than New York Times best-selling author Tim Ferriss.  His latest book jumped from No. 150 to No. 30 on Amazon immediately after the launch of his 59-second book trailer.  The video debuted on The Huffington Post and eventually garnered spots on national TV.

The video was professionally produced, thoughtfully designed and well funded.  I understand some videos go for the raw, homemade video look, but in many cases a video with the right effects and lighting will make a better impression.

Is it always counterproductive to produce several videos?  Absolutely not.  Many times, especially if a brand or product is established, creating a series of videos is valuable. It creates stickiness to your video channel.

But if you are looking to start a video campaign or your current video campaign is not performing well, put all those great ideas of yours into two minutes or less.  Then go nuts with it.

What ideas do you have for producing a product trailer?  What are the best ways to push out a trailer?

Supercharge Your Business With a Product Trailer is a post by SEO expert Jeremy Page. For information about our SEO services or more great SEO tips and tricks, visit the SEO.com blog.