5 Steps to Boosting your Customer Lifetime Retention Strategy

It used to be that that sales strategies focused heavily on consistently and aggressively seeking out new customers. Although building new customers can never be ignored, nurturing and  keeping the customers you already have can generate bigger returns. Customer retention and holding a customer over a lifetime gets more sales.

5 important tips for your customer lifetime retention strategy:


1. Build a Relationship

The sales process is about building a relationship, which means it is based on trust, not on closing a deal. Sales take more time, but repeat sales come faster when a relationship is built with the customer.

There are three main techniques which go a long way to build a relationship with a customer:

Honesty - Many customers respond to a company that offers transparency. Even if the customer makes a smaller purchase or buys with a competitor, be honest about the product. Be honest about what the future holds for the customer with your company, and be honest about the competition. Even if one sale goes to a competitor, the customer will remember the honesty and be more likely to come back in the future.

Sharing - Share tips and skills beyond the sale for free. For example, demonstrate the product or service for sale, teach the customer how to use it, and offer free advice and resources in the future.

Partnership - Offer a partnership with the customer, such as, "I can offer this and you can benefit me by offering this." Customers love a give-and-take relationship, because they feel they are getting as well as giving. If the customer has a business, find out how the businesses can be beneficial to each other.


2. Brand Loyalty

Yes, brand loyalty exists, and it must be created. The three parts of brand loyalty are high quality products, high quality services, and excellent customer service. Find a way to make all three of these happen to make customers loyal to your brand. Referrals, reviews and recommendations of your products to your customer's circle of friends and business associates are crucial in the modern marketplace.  According to research data,  85% of small businesses get their customers through word of mouth.


3. Cross-sell and Upsell

When products are bundled, the lifespan of the customer is increased. Consider fast food combinations for a moment. Many people do not walk out with burgers; rather, they walk out with a combination of food, simply because the bundle makes the offer a better price value. Offering a bundled product can also help your business sell above your wholesale price, increasing profits. Customers will return when it's convenient for them to purchase everything they need in one simple bundle rather than having to make many separate purchases.


4. Incentives and Rewards

Don't rely on constant discounts, it won't work. Instead, offer special services that come with the product or free gifts. Building up points toward a reward are also attractive; consider grocery stores who offer points toward gas stations as an example. Use incentives to maintain customers over a lifetime, but be careful. Evaluate what works efficiently within financial growth goals. You don't need to hurt your bottom line offering incentives.


5. Increase Customer Service through Touch Points

Using different means of customer communication and being responsive to customer service enquiries increases the chance of a customer coming back. This means being connected and approachable via phone, email, Internet and social media. Customers need to feel like they are an important and valued part of your business; giving them the ability to choose when and how to contact you boosts that feeling. Don't forget to ask your customers for feedback too. They are the ones that can provide significant feedback to benefit how you can evolve your business offerings for continued growth.

5 Communication Tips From The Pros

Communication is the first line of defense. It's not about talking - it's about effectively using words and listening to persuade others. The best leaders of the world were also excellent communicators; in fact, popularity in leadership is bred from effective communication. Whether the communication is happening one-on-one or with a crowd of supporters, many of the most persuasive leaders have followed a number of the following tips.

1. Personal Relations

Try using organizational conversations over corporate communications. Use a dialog in communications, not a monologue. The conversation cannot be one-sided, even during a speech presented to a group of individuals. Personalized conversations are much more effective, according to Forbes Magazine. Many of the most successful people are also accessible; they are willing to have a natural conversation with any one of their supporters.

2. Give, Don't Take

Focus on what will be given to the other person, not on what you will get out of the conversation. Whether in one-on-one conversations, or during speeches, the audience must take something away to become faithful to your cause. The most influential people throughout history have left podiums with audiences stunned into action. Consider what you will be giving away, and look past what you will receive, especially when you are trying to persuade a person or group to your ideas. If you receive something from the conversation, consider it a bonus.

3. Listen

This was mentioned before, but it's important to have its own point. Listen to the other person well; use different listening techniques. Active listening is the best way to give the other person the impression that you have truly heard what was said. Repeat points, and ask questions in response to statements. Again, this will help you provide information for the other party to take away from the conversation, and it will help you understand what information you must bring to the next conversation.

4. Use More Empathy

This practice can be difficult for those without a natural tendency for empathy, but it is important to gain the most insight into the other person's needs. Put the ego aside; use candor instead of inflated promises. When this technique is practiced, you can later follow through on your promises, and trust grows with those that support you. When an ego-inflated conversation ends, the other party expects results that cannot happen. Deflate the ego, use empathy to truly understand what your supports need, and use humility when making promises to those who support you.

5. Know Your Subject Matter

This may seem rather simple, but there are times when people talk about subject matter in which they are uneducated. Every successful leader has been well educated in their chosen topics; this is why political leaders have advisers. Make sure you are well educated on the topic in which you wish to sway your audience. When the audience begins asking questions, you want to be their source for answers. It also helps the audience trust that you know what you're doing. It is okay to ask for time to research any questions that are just too tough or unique enough to warrant more education. In fact, these questions allow for future communications, which helps gain trust and support.

Take these tips from the world's leaders in gaining support in everything from politics to sales. Whatever your reason for needing communication, using these tips from the pros will bring your communication skills closer to success.

3 Winning Tips That Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Michael Jordan’s Game Play

There’s no argument Michael Jordan’s days on the court puts him as one of the most skilled athletes in the world. Many fans will affirm that Jordan is the best basketball player of all time, playing the game with a rare efficiency that little to no other will come close to ever comparing with. From the moment that Jordan stepped onto the NBA court, he always excelled and dominated the sport of Basketball like few athletes ever have or will. Jordan is credited with having turned the Chicago Bulls into a dynasty. Many claim that he was always great at electrifying crowds with his skill, energy, professionalism, and style. Today Jordan is easily still one of the most recognizable athletes in the world, which isn't a bad accomplishment for a man who was once cut from his own high-school basketball team.

Jordan’s success off court has been recognized as equally as successful, both for his successful entrepreneurial endeavors and ownership of the Charlotte Hornets, as well as his Nike brand partnership and other endorsements. 

So what can entrepreneurs learn and embrace from this All-Star MVP player and most-marketed sports figure? Here are 3 valuable tips that entrepreneurs can apply to “winning like Mike:”

Play to Win

Michael Jordan’s winning achievements are undeniable. Of all the players in history, he is number three all time in points scored, he's had fourteen All-Star Game appearances, and more. He's achieved a myriad of different titles and impressive awards, including six NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Awards, and that isn't all. His skills, determination, and passion is what many say kept him going and helped him to achieve the highest accomplishments possible within the game of basketball and life. Jordan made the sacrifices that were required in order to help push his team toward success and the finish line.

Jordan’s attitude was not to settle for anything less than being the best. It was this winning mindset that helped him to achieve the highest accomplishments possible not only within the game of basketball but in everything that he chose to do in his life.

Develop your business “game” and play to win. Get to really know and understand your market, consumers and competitors. Differentiate your business in a way that stands out against the competition, attracts consumers and gets people talking about your business – both online and offline. Nurture your loyal consumers, ask for their feedback and learn from their feedback to keep your products and services relevant. By being connected and attuned to your consumer, you’ll know how to keep a winning plan in place to scale and continue to drive your success.

Learn From The Failed Shots

For all the shots that Jordan made he missed many, including game winning shots. Did this deter his determination? No. Jordan embraced his failures, learned from them and turned them into his success. He never deterred from playing to win.

As an entrepreneur and business owner, you will have knocks and challenges and strong competition to contend with. You’ll even have outright failures that might leave you feeling deflated and even second-guessing your motivation to continue moving your business forward.

If success is not growing at the rate you expect or want, or you are experiencing a decline in business, do not define yourself with failure. Evaluate what is not working in your business model, learn what you can do differently and keep going. A failed shot does not mean that you are out of the game!

Lead and Inspire

Jordan led The Chicago Bulls to six NBA Championship wins. He did it not through focusing on his solo talent, but by recognizing the power of teamwork.

If you want your business to grow, you cannot rely on your talent alone. It takes a team of talented professionals each with their own individual skills working congruently toward your winning vision. The ability to lead and inspire your team through example and action is critical.  This way every one on the team will know exactly what they can do to make their mark on making success happen.

Five Essential Ways to Drive Traffic to your Website

One of the best ways to promote any business is through a company website. This allows you to reach potentially millions of customers with your products and messaging but you have to find a way to get more people to your website if you want to compete with business rivals. To ensure that your customers come back to your website on a regular basis you need to implement effective ways of bringing them back. 

Here are 5 essential ways that you can build and keep healthy web traffic.

Updates:

Keep your website updated regularly. This way you can ensure that customers who are interested in your business (whether services or products) will be kept afresh of what you are offering. This could include a revamp of the website, a new product, a special promotion, a new service or even the introduction of a new member of your business. 

Newsletters:

Producing a weekly or monthly newsletter is a great way to keep your customers updated with the latest news, services and products. To ensure that new clients sign up to your newsletter, ensure that you do a special promotion of a product or a service that is only accessible through the newsletter. 

Website Appearance:

Looks are important so make sure you have an appealing website. Having a website that looks good and is easily navigated will ensure that people have a positive experience and want to return again and again. Ensure that all content on your website is accurate and easily readable – if the content is not relevant, complicated or does not have any value for your visitors they will not be encouraged to come back.

Marketing & PR:

Active marketing and PR is extremely important in any business; if you don’t market your business, then people will not know that you exist. There are many ways in which you can market your website – contribute to social networking sites relevant for your business, comment on blogs,  Don’t deliberately advertise your services or products in there because you will annoy everyone and get your account blocked. Use your website as your signature and make genuine replies. In addition, ensure that you list your website on all the free business directories on the web. 

Company Blog:

Creating a blog for your business can help you reach target audiences globally. It also contributes to making your website more dynamic and search engine friendly. Make your blog interesting and content rich to ensure that people are engaged in reading, and help pull and attract traffic to your site. A blog is a great way of keeping your current and potential clients up to date and connected with your business. Types of content that can create engagement on your blog include: helpful articles, infographics, video clips, images, new product releases.  

Mobile Marketing – Why Small Businesses Need a Good Strategy in Place

Mobile devices – such as phones, tablets and Smartphones – have overtaken desktops as the best tools for accessing the Internet as well as all other web-related services. Mobile devices have also emerged as the best platforms through which a small business can deploy all its marketing tactics. In fact, mobile devices have emerged as the tools of choice for customers to read web content, check emails, and shop online.

Reports indicate that 9 out of every 10 Americans possess a cellphone. More than half of the cellphones in the hands of Americans are smartphones. Consequently, it is safe to say that the world is in the smartphone era, thus one more reason for embarking on mobile marketing. If you are going to use this form of marketing to benefit your small business, a focused mobile strategy needs to be in place covering the following considerations:

• Development of a mobile app and/or mobile responsive website 
• Investment in user specific messages and content as well as notifications
• Social media assets and integration
• A loyalty program that offers customers rewards and perks

Loyalty programs will entice existing customers to continue buying from a business. Loyalty programs are also attractive to new customers who desire to know the benefits they stand to obtain by choosing to purchase their preferred products and services from a specific business.

Cost-Effective 

All forms of marketing must have a high impact. Fortunately, mobile marketing does just that. More importantly, small businesses care about the impact of any marketing promotion on their finances. In this regard, the cost-effective nature of marketing via mobile devices is the best way through which small businesses can achieve their desired goals. Marketing via mobile devices is more affordable to small businesses.

The initial investment that the small business owners make regarding the resources and time required to develop the technology is what requires the most cost outlay. Once up and running, mobile marketing programs provide cost-efficiencies against traditional media expense requirements such as postage, printing and air time.

The cost effectiveness of mobile marketing to any local or small business is also demonstrated by the fact that the cost of developing and delivering it continues to decrease with time. The more the volume increases, the lower the costs of developing and delivering the marketing campaign grows. For a startup, this is great news considering that it needs to save a huge chunk of its finances/capital to build its profitability.

Immediate Results

The best news with mobile marketing is that the content gets to the customers immediately. Moreover, it provides two-way engagement. What this means is that customers are free to respond to the marketing message that they receive. This assists to create the environment for interactivity and direct engagement to thrive between a small business and its customers. There are no intermediaries to create complexities or distraction between the business or customers. The message gets to the customers in its purest form. Similarly, the response by customers gets to the business in it’s purest form.

Faster Response Rates

The fact that customers walk around with their mobile devices means that they will respond faster to any marketing message that a small business sends to them. Moreover, a small business can have real time access to tracking results including downloads, page visits and customer opt-ins. This information is important for a small business to be able to evaluate the effectiveness of mobile strategies as well as be able to adjust and optimize plans accordingly.

Lead Generation: Is It a Matter of Quantity or Quality?

When it comes to lead generation for your business, you have two options: focus on getting numerous new leads or get only the best, high quality leads. Simply put, you either go for quantity or quality. But which is the right way to go when you are looking to advance online marketing? There are certain factors that come into play and are mostly based on your goals of the campaign, the product/service as well as the time and resources that you have to support your lead generation efforts. Here's a quick snapshot of what to consider for the success of your business.

Quantity vs Quality

Some companies believe that quality is better than quantity when it comes to lead generation. Others go for quantity, saying that it results in higher return of investment. What’s your goal for the lead generation? This should be the first question you should ask yourself. If your main effort is brand awareness, reaching or sharing, or selling products with low-touch model at discounted prices, your focus should be on generating as many leads as possible. Whether you seek to get more Twitter followers, blog subscribers, or webinar participants; driving high volume leads is the focus.

On the other hand, if your goal is reaching specific, niche buyers, or if you seek to sell higher priced products with a long sales cycle, your focus should be prioritizing or getting high quality leads into your funnel. You can achieve this with more specific tracking/intelligence, targeting, and of course a good process. This gives you an opportunity to put more focus on the best leads that give you better chances of converting into sales. When you choose to go quality over quantity, you avoid time and energy spent to reach people who have a low likelihood of converting.

Best of both worlds

Yes, you want to have more lead generation by casting your net more. But then you need quality leads that you can easily convert into sales. In this case, and where all factors come into play, your company may do well utilizing both quality and quantity lead generation. Think of it this way: your company decides to consider both programs, with one focusing on quantity and the other quality. The first one generates more leads in a short span of time, but you get more sales rejection percentage and low conversion rate overall. Now, quality strategy will come into play, generating smaller, yet good leads that have higher conversion rates.

Both quantity and quality lead generation programs can work depending on your goals. Marketing experts usually support quality lead generation plans. This is because they provide a higher conversion rate and sales. You will save time from managing a lot of leads that are unqualified. The process of generating these leads may involve more time and effort to focus targeting, evaluate metrics, qualify and nurture inquires. However, you'll start to benefit from increased revenue growth for your  business.

The Argument for IT Outsourcing for Your Small Business

Using IT outsourcing for your human resources department will take your business to new levels. While the HR department is valuable for their human component, you can let technology do some of the work for you and save both manpower and time. What are some ways the HR department can utilize the power of technology? One way is through crowd-sourcing.

Crowd-sourcing is offering jobs to people via job boards or other portal sites and hiring out specific tasks to be done by independent contractors or workers. So how can you harness the power of technology to work for you as a HR department? Here are a few tips.

1. Use talent management software. Using software to pool your resources to find the best workers is an ideal way to maximize your ROI and find the best people for the jobs. It matches personality traits, employment history, and even background checks, to make sure the people you are getting are trustworthy.
2. Keep records of current and past employees in a computer database. By keeping a database of employees, you can pull up records anytime they are needed, or to call back former employees when you need more manpower.
3. Post projects and jobs on job boards. Job boards are a great technology you can use to connect your needs with potential workers. Many are based on a bidding system, so you get to decide how much you are willing to pay as well.
4. Network with crowdsourcing companies. Crowd-sourcing sites assemble hundreds of qualified workers together to browse through jobs they are qualified to do and you get to select which ones will be able to do the job you need. 
5. Use technology to do digital interviewing, communicate with and receive completed jobs from independent, outsourced workers. The use of tools such as "Google hangout," online chat, Facebook, and others provides a way to do "live" face-to-face meetings and collaborate with people from around the globe with no airplane fare, and immediate connections.

How To Utilize The IT Talent Pool

There are many ways today that IT outsourcing used including organization of your human resources department. But the potential is only beginning to emerge regarding crowd-sourcing. With more and more employers opting to hire only the best workers for specific tasks, and hiring out smaller jobs to independent workers, they are learning to maximize their investment by paying for only the work that is done, rather than paying full-time employees for down time.

In addition, they tend to get workers who are the most specialized in their category, and are likely to get the job done the quickest in general, since they are only paid upon completion of the task. This saves thousands of dollars in employee pay per year, and this is a growing trend among corporations and big business today. Utilizing outsourced workers often gets you the best talent and the best rates and you are only paying for the time they actually worked, rather than all of that down time you pay for among your employee pool. Plus, there are no worries about employment insurance or taxes. Outsourced IT people work for themselves and they are responsible for paying and keeping up with their own income and taxes.  So it puts the paperwork in their hands, not yours.

And IT is not the only category you should consider outsourcing. Many more companies are turning to independent contractors for virtual assistance jobs, administrative tasks, and other jobs. It's becoming more and more the smart business option for entrepreneurs.

Motivating Employees and Maintaining a Healthy Work Environment

Many employers struggle to find ways to motivate employees that do to require a lot of time or money. There are many options depending on your business and your resources, but here are some super easy was to help your employees feel more motivated, appreciated, and willing to work.

• Create a nice atmosphere. Your employees will spend a lot of their waking hours in the office building so you need to make is as comfortable as possible.  Keeping employees comfortable goes a long way in making them happy and productive.
• Brighten up wall space. Use the walls of your office and building in an effective manner. Post announcements, community events, local sales and discounts, or motivational posters on the walls. Staring at blank walls all the time can be so boring so brighten up the place some.
• Use food as incentive. Don't underestimate how having smaller breaks throughout the day can motivate people to work and make their work time more productive. Also using food in seminars and training can go a long way, too, in getting employees involved and keeping them motivated.
• Recognize employees individually. If an employee has gone above and beyond their job or if they have done wonderful work, you need to take the time to recognize them on a personal level. Stop by and congratulate them, or ask them to your office to praise them in person.
• Recognize employees for group work. Just as it is important for individuals, groups need to get a word of praise when they do a good job. For any and every department, you need to make time to say a special word of thanks to the hard working teams in your business.
• Create social events. Having a few times during the working year for special social events can really help people relax, get to know each other, and have some fun. People are more excited to get involved and work together in the office when they’re on good terms outside of the office.
• Keep attitudes in check. This goes for the attitudes of the employees as well as the customers. Sometimes the customer is not always right and you should stand behind your team when they are doing their job and suffering from the undeserved attitude of impossible-to-please customers.
• Consider your approach. Whether it’s delivering bad news, reprimanding employees, or any other task you face involving your employees, your approach can make all the difference. Take the time to consider how you are approaching the situation before you say or do anything.
• Evaluate difficult employees quickly. One of the most important things to do when faced with a difficult employee is to act quickly. Often you will be faced with complaints or a crisis that must be addressed immediately, such as someone falling asleep on the job or not performing up to standards.
• Choose employees and establish teams wisely. The personality and character traits of your potential employees also need to be carefully examined before you hire them. You should have a list of the desired character traits in mind so you can easily evaluate whether or not an employee is a good fit both for your needs as well as a good fit for your company culture.

Whether you have five employees or five hundred working for you, apply these simple yet powerful principles into your management plans and you'll soon see how more effective your business can be.

The Value of the Long Term Value of App Users

The long-term value of mobile gamers is the most meaningful metric a developer can employ to determine if your app has real profitability. It is a game changing metric for those that are paying attention. Standard model metrics that determine the overall profitability of your app that have been used up until this point fail to take into account future revenue. From a business stand point this has not always been a go-to technique, as it feels like counting your chickens before they are hatched. But the industry has had a long enough time-line now that future revenues are a reliable metric. As with anything new and shiny in an industry, paying attention to this metric can have profound effects on your income.

To take advantage of this metric we first have to figure out how to calculate it. To do this you first calculate three metrics that more than likely you are probably already obsessed with.

Monetization (how much cash revenue you are pulling in). This is determined mainly by calculating three things: The amount of revenue each user will bring in, the amount of revenue that paid users bring in, and the average daily revenue of each active user. This may seem like a lot of calculation of different overlapping areas of revenue but trust me this number is literally gold.

• Retention (people coming back to your app). You get this metric by breaking it down into three areas just like we do with Monetization. The first is how often people come back to your game, be-it daily, weekly, or longer. 

• The second is how many people return to the game overall, and the third is how long they stay logged into the app. (the last is very important for targeted ad revenue which we will get into later).

• Vectoring (how viral your app is). Much like the CDC tracks the path of an outbreak of the flu, you can track the viral potential of your app by calculating the ephemeral quantity of free users that “infected” users will bring in with word of mouth and personal interaction media.

Congratulations! With these macro-metrics in hand you can determine what the LTV of your app users are. You have gained a magic ability that is much sought after in the business world. You can see the future!

Now before you plotting to take over the world there are a few things you need to do first to get the most out of your newfound super powers. The biggest thing and probably the elephant in the room is targeted marketing. Once you know how many customers you will retain over a quarter you can stop wasting advertising dollars on customers you know wont be coming back and focus them like a precision laser at those customers you are going to retain. For app developers the correct balancing act of how much advertising dollars to spend and where is the life and death difference between success and the herd.

With the metrics you now have you can also see where you lose retention of your customers. If everyone is leaving your app after 4 months of regular play, then you now know where your app needs improvement or alteration. You can objectively address the use of your app and make targeted changes to keep your audience coming back for more. The more they come back the better the rest of your metrics will do as a byproduct. Which as we all know is the name of the app developing game.

There are potentially dozens of ways that this metric can help the app developer in ways that standard model metrics cant begin to touch. I only described some of the big umbrella effects that are readily apparent. If you want to maximize your income potential then any information is power when planning for the future. Calculating the LTV of your users is an iceberg disguised as a sundae cone and it can mean the difference between following your own dreams in creating a real foothold in the industry or sinking like the Titanic.


Other posts that might be of interest:
Are Apps Really Money Makers

Using Yahoo Answers for Free Advertising and Backlinks

One of the main activities of any blog or website is, wherever possible, to take advantage of free targeted traffic; this is why webmasters spend so much time trying to find ways of improving their position in the Google search results. However, there is one very simple method of getting free traffic which is often overlooked by webmasters: Yahoo Answers. The bottom line is that Yahoo Answers is the largest community of knowledge sharing on the Web and getting some of this huge audience interested in your products or services can yield huge benefits.

Not only is Yahoo Answers a great method of generating targeted traffic, it is also a terrific source of free advertising. If you add this free publicity technique to your marketing strategies, you will soon discover how incredibly powerful it is.

One of the key aspects of this strategy is that it is all about participation; so, the first step you need to take is to sign up (by visiting answers.yahoo.com) and to complete your profile, adding as much information to it as you are happy to share. It is also a good idea to upload an avatar; probably not your logo; perhaps your photo; or some other friendly graphic associated with your brand.

Next, you need to familiarize yourself with the Yahoo Answers platform: browse through the categories of question which are relevant to your niche; and decide which types of question you are interested in answering.

Before you begin to answer any questions, however, you should have a clear idea of what you want to promote. This way you can home in on those topics that will be relevant to the site you want to promote via Yahoo Answers.

Your first public activity will be to answer lots and lots of questions; try and aim for the maximum allowed, which is twenty questions per day. The reason for this is that Yahoo operate a system of points and levels: when you sign up, you are a level one user and Yahoo allocates you 100 points; in order to reach level 2, you need 250 points; and, until you reach level 2, you will not be able to include backlinks in your answers.

You are assigned 2 points for every question you answer; so, if you answer the maximum of 20 questions, you will earn 40 points daily; and, in four days, you will have reached level 2 status. However, if any of your answers is picked as the best answer, you are awarded an extra 10 points; and also, every time you yourself vote for answer, you are awarded an extra point. So, as you can see, achieving level 2 status is not a tall order, and it is definitely worth the effort.

Once you have reached level 2, whenever you reply to a question, you have the possibility of including a website link in the "Source" box accompanying your answer. This is an easy way to get some free advertising and to encourage visitors to find more information on the subject discussed in the question.

Even after you have reached the coveted level 2, it is still beneficial to supply the best answers you can. Answers which are picked as best answers will achieve a higher rating in the Yahoo search results and will inevitably bring more traffic to your website or to your affiliate offer. So spend some time studying those answers, which have been picked as best answers and try to analyze what made them appeal to the person asking the question.

Due to the large number of people who may reply to questions, it is also important to be the quickest to respond to questions, which are still open for answer. You should also do your best to answer each question as thoroughly as possible and be sure to address the person who sent the question by his or her first name (if possible). This will increase your chances of being chosen as provider of the best answer.

Yahoo Answers includes a spell checker; so be sure to use it whenever possible to minimize errors; or type your answer in Microsoft Word, check the grammar there and copy and paste into Yahoo Answers when you are happy with it. Take your time to get it right; do not forget that your ultimate goal is to be selected as the best answer.

Once you are up and running with Yahoo Answers, it simply becomes a question of optimizing your efforts to ensure you get the best results possible.  Here are the key points you should keep in mind.

• When choosing which questions to answer, look for recently posted questions with either no answers or only one or two.
• Ensure that the URL you post in the source box contains the topic mentioned in the question: for example, if the question was about "acne cures", your URL might be something like "mysite.com/acne-cures.html".
• Try to include your niche keyword within the body of your answer; this is useful for search engine optimization.
• You can even include a backlink within the body of the answer (using an HTML a tag with an href attribute); but do this sparingly and make sure that it appears totally relevant to the topic being discussed.

Compared with many advertising techniques, using Yahoo Answers may seem like hard work. However, the rewards can be huge: it is not only the Yahoo search engine, which will pick up your answers (and links). Google can also index your answers; so be sure to answer as many questions as you can every day.