One of the very amazing and informative platform to literally know about anything and everything is Quora. With millions of questions and answers, there are several hacks that can help your questions reach the appropriate writers and make your answers reach the appropriate the audience. But before that let’s have a short overview of what Quora exactly is and is it appropriate and safe for you?!

Well, Quora is basically an American question-answer based website where viewers can ask questions about practically anything and get several answers. On the other hand, anybody can become a writer and share their knowledge about anything. This is a perfect place to learn how to write entertaining pieces of text and remain in the viewer’s feed. Quora is based in Mountainview, California, United States. It was founded by Charlie Cheever and Adam D’Angelo.

Getting started with Quora:

        Anyone with the interest to write, learn to write, improve their writing skills or simply read can join Quora. Joining Quora is as similar as joining any social media platform. You just need to sign up with a valid email Id and you are good to go. So that’s how you create an account and start following the topics of your interest.

      Once you follow the topics of your interest you can follow the people you know. You can search for your friends, colleagues and relatives using the search bar and land on their profile. Once you land on their profile you will be able to read the answers they wrote and the questions they asked. You simply need to click on the blue follow button to further read their answers and posts in the future. Doesn’t it sound similar to the subscribe button on You Tube and the friend request option on Facebook?! Yes, its that simple and easy to start with.

As soon as you follow topics and people, your home page or the feed will be filled with suitable questions and answers to suit your liking. You can start reading and interacting with people’s content even if you don’t follow them. When you read an interesting answer you can click on the upvote button as an appreciation for the author. The upvote button is present at the bottom left corner of each answer.

You don’t have to stop with just reading answers. You can also ask questions. At the top most section of your home page there’s this statement which says, “What is your question or link?”. Clicking on that allows you to add questions. You don’t have to worry about the grammatical or spelling mistakes because once you entirely complete your question, Quora suggest you a better way of asking the question, just in case it finds a grammatical or spelling error. Using the question suggestion or not is totally upto you!

Once you ask a question, you need to select the topics to which your question fits so that your question can reach the appropriate people with knowledge in the topic. It’s a way to easily get answers for your question and even improving the visibility of your questions. Once you select the topics for your question, you can request the answer from a maximum of 25 people. Quora shows you a list of people who have already written answers in the topic and hence you can easily send them a request. When someone answers your question, you will be notified in your notification section. Upon reading the answer you can answer Quora if the answer to your question was helpful or not. If yes, Quora makes the answer appear in many people’s feed.

Now, answering a question on Quora is simply an art. You get better with time and practise. How much ever knowledgeable you are would not bring in views if you don’t know the Quora writer’s hacks! It’s more than just good words and grammar. It’s a skill that can only be mastered by understanding the mindset of Quorans. Some tips for beginners to get substantial views are:

• Always answer questions that you are very sure of. Don’t do guess work. It just doesn’t work that way! Remember that just like upvotes, there is also an option for downvotes on Quora.

• Quora readers prefer elaborate answers instead of 1 liners or even worst 1 word answers. Don’t answer with a single word or line.

• Always describe and add relevant examples or scenarios while explaining your point of view. It helps the reader with better understanding.

• Quora readers simply love images. Add images for every answer. Your readers are you bosses. Work to impress them. Make it worth their time. They are not just on Quora to gain knowledge but also for a little entertainment.

• Don’t copy answers. Strictly no plagiarism. Your answer would get collapsed and will no longer be visible for the readers.

• Don’t use derogatory or unpleasant words or images in your answers. You will not get views.

• Just like not writing short answers, don’t write novel like long answers. People may not read after they extract the information they need. They’ll just go back to their homepage without even reaching the end of your answer where the upvote button is.
• If you feel that your answer is better off without the comments section, just disable the comment section. Do not argue with people’s comments. When there is a comment section for your answer, it’s the reader’s right to comment what they feel. It’s even better to upvote all the comments for your answer.

• If you don’t want your answers to be reproduced anywhere else, just use the ‘NOT FOR REPRODUCTION’ option in your answer.

• Use the edit option to add additional content or images to your answer after posting it.

• Use the share option to share answers on Quora and WhatsApp option to send you answer link to your friends.

• Use the view upvoters and view sharers at the bottom of your page to see who upvoted and shared your answers.

With all these tips above, you can easily write, post, edit and share your first answer on Quora. There are several ways to attract readers to your answer. But quality content is the key to be successful on Quora.

-Abinaya.E