The page which appears will allow you to compose a message using a set of wysiwyg tools; once you submit your message it will be sent to your friend’s email address and will allow them to respond via a reply link.

If you are a Qhub Admin or Creator you will be able to message any of your members individually, however the recipient will only be able to respond if you share a mutual friendship with them.

Friendly Urls

If you want to turn friendly urls on for your Qhub all you need to do is go to your Settings page, where you will find Url Formatting under the Advanced menu. When you go to this page you will have 2 options:

1. Short Urls                             example.qhub.com/1234/
2. Numeric and name Urls          example.qhub.com/1234/what-is-qhub/

Make your choice and hit save. And there you have it Friendly Urls; verify this by going to any question page.

Canonical Urls

We are also introducing today Canonical Urls. Canonical Urls tells search engines what the url of a page should be, so as not to have duplicate pages in search engines (i.e example.qhub.com/1234/ is the same page as example.qhub.com/1234 and example.qhub.com/1234/what-is-qhub/). With canonical urls, search engines like google will not duplicate pages or content, especially now we have introduced friendly urls.

RSS and ATOM Feeds

We have also introduced ATOM feeds to complement the RSS feeds already available.  ATOM feeds contain slightly different information to RSS – for example question tags can be conveyed alongside each question or answer, which in addition to providing a lot more links back to your Qhub pages also allows Internet Explorer 8 users to filter feed entries by tag.

Feeds are available from your Qhub homepage and tag pages; RSS feeds can be subscribed to by clicking on the orange syndication symbol in-page.  Alternatively members can subscribe to both RSS and ATOM feeds by clicking on the syndication symbol in the address bar of Firefox, or next to the ‘home’ icon in Internet Explorer 8 where you can choose which type of feed to view.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing require you to upload a text file to your web site, to prove that you are allowed to administer the site.  On Qhub, instead of uploading a file,  you simply specify the name of the file and its contents.  This URL of this file is relative to the root of the Qhub.

When you have verified your ownership of your Qhub, tell each search engine that your sitemap is /sitemap.xml .  You may also be able to specify your activity feed: /rss/activity .

Here are the locations of the ‘big three’ webmaster tool providers:

• Google Webmaster Tools https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
• Yahoo Site Explorer https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/
• Bing Webmaster Tools http://www.bing.com/webmaster/

You will need to have your own login on each of these sites.

Here’s how you can attract perfect customers through simple tools such as a Q & A site by following a few simple rules:

Unbiased Advice cost of your own business

When participating on a Q & A site, it’s inevitable that there would be lots of questions that need to be answered, lots of doubts that need to be cleared. Confusion reigns supreme and decisions need justifications. In the midst of this chaos, answer those questions – based on experience, knowledge and sheer passion to help people out there – without any bias, whatsoever. If it takes letting go of a sale for your own business but making sure that the customers get what they want exactly, so be it.

According to Attracting Perfect Customers: The Power of Strategic Synchronicity By Stacey Hall & Jan Brogniez,

“…some of the most successful businesses began due to someone’s passionate mission: to share new information, to create a new product, to provide a new understanding and contribute to the culture. “

Don’t bore, infuse personality

Whether you are responding to a simple question on the Q & A site or whether you are the moderator, remember that boring kills. Lack of a personality to show through your writings can kill your business even before it started — collateral, website copy, sales copy, emails, blogs or any other way you choose to communicate with your customers. One line answers, expected repartees, predictable lingo, obvious answers are all part of Boredomville and that’s one place you need to stay away from when you are in business.

Unknown is unsold

If you have your own Q & A site for your business, it is inevitable that you will be active on the site; you might very well be active on some other common Q & A sites too. No matter where you are, the key is to stay there long enough to be known. Your pen name should be synonymous with quality knowledge dispensed and incredibly valuable information passed. Your answers should be deemed as lifesavers and each answer could have a price tag on it. Remember that not a thing will move off the shelf if no one knows you – even if the recognition is on a forum or Q & A site.

It’s about sales and it’s about numbers

Say, what is your coverage on Q & A sites? How many important and targeted sites are you on? How much of ‘Digital acreage’ do you own? Each answer is an asset – a virtual sales man practicing consultative selling – that works hard round the clock to establish trust, finally leading to the sale. If it’s about sales, we can’t avoid the topic of numbers. The more people you show up next to, belly-to-belly, the more sales you are likely to make. Apart from active involvement on your own Q& A site, how many more such Q & A sites are you on? What is your digital footprint equal to?

When you slice, dice and dissect it all, you will realize that it’s all about value. The more give out value to your potential customers, the more money you make. Your customers stay with you for long (which is profitable) and buy literally anything you have to offer, now and tomorrow (which is profitable too!).

Isn’t it a strategy simple enough for execution today? Share what you did with us here!

To choose your language, sign in to your Qhub as the owner or an admin, and go to Site Details on the Settings page.  Simply choose your language from the drop-down selection.

Qhub.com itself is also multi-lingual; simply choose a language from the drop-down menu at the top.  Go on to create a Qhub and it will be in the same language.  Can you ask for more?

If you come across something that’s not translated properly, please let us know.  All feedback is much appreciated!

For more details about the badges available, take a look at your Qhub’s ‘Supporting Documents’ page and then click on the ‘Badges Explained’ link:

Select 'Badges Explained' from the Supporting Documents menu

As soon as you have earned at least one badge, your achievements will be displayed on your profile page. You can see an explanation of each badge you’ve earned by hovering your mouse over the badge in question and you can reach a full description of every badge available by clicking on any of your badges.

Wherever you see a question, answer or comment which has been written by a registered user you will be able to see a brief summary of that author’s badge achievements by hovering your mouse pointer over their name:

Hover over a user name to see their badge summary

Win your customers with knowledge

There is always an unmistakable aura about knowledge; it tends to awe people, garner respect and bring about a sense of satisfaction once shared. One of the best ways to woo customers is to start from a knowledge or “expert” stand-point. Focus on providing accurate, timely and helpful information in an unbiased manner when answering questions on your Q & A site. If need be, you could even add a “wiki” to every important topic that needs addressing.

Use the power of the written word

It has always been known that the written word is super powerful; it could make us cry or laugh; pull us to do things and even collapse or make governments. For our purposes, the written word always sells persuasively. Don’t let your Q &A remain an information dump. Let every word on your Q & A site work towards pulling profits relentlessly.  Write like you talk one-on-one and add a dash of humour. Trigger emotions and rouse the energy of the readers.

Good brings in more good

While answering questions on your Q & A site, make sure that you don’t come across as authoritative or condescending. A single rude remark can damage your brand irreparably. Knowledge is good; over-confidence isn’t. Be good to everyone on your Q & A site because whatever you say there is public and the last thing you need is a black mark on your public whiteboard such as the Qhub. Just by being nice, you could make your potential customers spread the word about your business in general and products in particular.

Use smart tools

Recently, Qhub got a facelift. We have some cool new features that could help you promote your Qhub better. The comments section can enable more interaction in your Q & A community. You can also enable guest posting and invite others to post on your Q & A site anonymously, as guests which brings about a higher level of activity on your Qhub. A few other third party tools you could use is to integrate it with your Facebook fan page, have it up on your blog, use the “Tell your friend” widget, incorporate social media plug-ins to help people share the valuable information that comes about all this activity and interaction on your Qhub.

Use it to promote mildly

One of the best practices when running and maintaining a Q & A site for your business is to resist the temptation to promote your own products and services. However, no one stops you from pulling off a shameless plug or two and pitch your own business. Most of the activity on your Qhub remains neutral but still talks about issues or problems your business addresses. In that case, there could be a genuine moment or two where your own products and services are the best fit. If it is so, it must be known.

Promote your Q & A site

We have been talking about populating your Q & A site with content loaded with information, maintaining strict quality controls on your site, sharing valuable information, etc. However, just like websites need traffic to be profitable to any degree, your Q & A sites needs to be promoted too. Remember that your Q &A site is also a valuable marketing tool and if people don’t see it, your Qhub hardly meets the purpose. Promote your Qhub the way you promote your website and see what happens then.

Award the best answers

Most sites like Yahoo! Answers and the Q & A on Linked In has a system where a question is asked and then answered by others within the community. The best answers are chosen and then voted. However, no one awards the person who wrote the best answer. Since you have a vested interest in growing this community and make it a valuable tool for marketing, brand building and eventual sales, you may look to award users for their best answers.

How?

Log into your Qhub (the one you created) and go to your ‘Settings’ link in the top right hand corner and choose ‘Qhub Privacy Settings‘.

Select the check box to ‘Allow Guest Contributions‘.

Why?

It will give contributors the option of creating an account, as normal or not.

By allowing ‘Guests’ to post contributions anonymously, you are widening your contributor potential. Visitors to your Qhub site don’t have to register in order to add a question or answer and it speeds up the process for users as they don’t have to input any information.

Questions or answers will appear as ‘Asked by guest’.

Great idea don’t you think? Obviously, this is optional and as standard is switched off for all hubs that have already been created.

It really is that simple! Let us know what you think.

Good news is that, according to the same report, about 42% of small businesses in U.S have used social media to generate leads, develop communities and make sales. Roughly 38% of those who do use social marketing have no idea how to do it and are still “trying to learn”. Learning is good, but making mistakes can be expensive. Here are some 7 Things not to do with your online Q&A site:

Don’t treat customers like sheep that need to be herded, because they are not

Some of the administrators of forums, communities, Q & A sites and other social media hubs tend to take on a “holier-than-thou” attitude and generally be tough to please. When you are moderating a Q & A site or having someone do it for you, make sure that the administrators or moderators of the forum are pleasant, lively and enthusiastic folks. Treating customers like little school children, getting irritated for some seemingly innocent questions customers ask, etc., are signs of patronizing your customers and this must be totally avoided on your online Q & A program.

Don’t do a hard-sell

Businesses are usually tempted to advertise or promote their respective products and services. It just makes sense to do so because of the high-interest levels of participants in the Q & A forum about whatever it is that the business deals with. However, a hard-sell is sure to repel customers, especially on a Q & A site or a forum. Any such attempt will be considered spam (even if it is your own site).

Don’t threaten, bad-mouth, flame-out or raise hell

One of the worst things you could end up doing is to find your moderators or administrators — or even yourself — involved in a thread that seems to go up in flames with abuse, threats, malicious comments, and slandering. This is a usual occurrence in forums online but you or your staff should be last to be involved in here. Instead, you should enforce strict anti-flaming rules on your Q & A and expend efforts to control any such events.

Don’t lash out on your competitors

I learnt this first when I was in sales and then Tom Hopkins, a leading sales guru, also happens to substantiate and justify the lesson: never bad-mouth your competition. Don’t say anything negative about your competitors. While you may allow your users to objectively point out the differences between your products and services, you should not allow any bold, strong comments belittling or disparaging your competitor products.  I found a good example — where users discuss competition more or less peacefully — of this kind of forum thread moderation on Elance Water Cooler[2], where Elance users discuss Guru.com – A competitor for Elance and other freelance bidding sites.

Don’t brag

Nothing turns people off more than a compulsive bragging disorder – this applies to companies and Individuals both offline and on the Internet too. If you intend to get the most of your Q & A, resist the temptation to brag and boast. The loudest of any group of people is usually the most detested later on. You don’t want to end up like that on your own Q & A forum, do you? The very reason people gravitate towards your Q & A site is to ask simple questions and find answers for those questions; don’t muddle it with your relentless bragging about how big your company is and how earth-shattering your products or services are – even if your products can solve your customers problems.

Don’t use Jargon

Your customers aren’t your engineers, venture capitalists or loyalists (although they can be). Have you ever felt the increasing distance – and certainly frustration – when people around suddenly to begin to talk in a tongue you don’t understand at all? Jargon is a turn-off in social conversations and it is the same online too. Avoid using Jargon pertaining to your products or business online, unless you are very sure your customers understand what you are talking about. Don’t bore your customers to the point that they desert you. On your Q & A site, help them and talk to them in “their” language; not yours.

Don’t adopt a “We are big, Fortune 500 company; you teeny-weeny nobody” approach

Some companies just can’t help it – they sound big and hence very intimidating to most customers. For instance, try to find someone to talk to on the Whirlpool site. You know what I mean, don’t you? You can’t find a single soul to talk to. Whatever content you have on their website talks about how big the company is, or that they are “going green” and that they are products that you can’t help but buy. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like closed websites with fancy flash and a “See how big we are? Isn’t that reason enough for you to buy, my tiny little customer?” kind of tone on their content.

Use your Q & A site to your advantage. Don’t let it be the reason why you are losing your customers, your business and ultimately diluting your brand. Reputation is a funny thing: it takes years to build one and a second to lose it all.

What do you think?

[2] Guru Vs Elance : http://www.elance.com/p/node/1996

Comments

With the new ‘comments‘ function, anyone that asks a question can comment on answers received and those that answer can comment on their own answers. A useful tool to enable conversations between the asker and the answerer. Why not give it a try. If you like someones answer, let them know! It’s easy to do.

Best Answer

The ‘Best Answer‘ feature enables users to see which answer is the best for a particular question.   If your answer is listed as the best, you will see an obvious green strip located in the right hand corner and ‘Best Answer’ clearly as the title. However, best answers can change from day to day.

Embed Videos

There is now the option to embed a video to your answer. Choose the ‘Advance Formatting’ from the WYSIWYG and choose the film reel icon. Copy the embed code from your chosen location, paste it in the pop up box and hit ‘OK’.

If you haven’t already tried these out, why not give it a go and let us know what you think.