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Question and Answer sites - anyone with experience?

by jeskola
10 replies
Hi guys,

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with Q&A sites (like yahoo answers)?

I've come up with a pretty good niche for one, but wondering how you would go about making money with one.

I have been thinking about subscription costs for people having their questions answered, or I could cover it in ads ( don't really want to do this). Was thinking could charge maybe $5 for 1 question, $35 for a month worth of questions or $ 100 for the year... But is this the best way to monetize a Q&A site?

Thanks in advance guys!
#answer #experience #question #sites
  • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
    Why would I pay you $5 to answer a question, when I can go to Yahoo! Answers and get an answer for free?

    Likewise, why would I subscribe to be able to ask questions?

    If you have a small niche where it is hard to find information online, then, sure, I might be willing to pay $5 if I have been unable to find a quality answer online and if I can be assured that your site will give me a quality answer.

    But, I sure wouldn't pay $35 a month or $100 a year to ask questions. If I had that many questions, I'd go buy a book.

    Now, if you had that book, I might buy it from you. But, if you're going to charge me to ask questions and charge me again to buy the book, I'll go somewhere I can ask questions for free and buy their book.
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    • Profile picture of the author jeskola
      Thanks Dan,

      Trust me when I say the answers to the questions are not on yahoo answers, nor in a book ( that I'm aware off )... In fact they are almost Impossible to find on Google either, which is why it 's a great niche.

      Maybe I should go down the route of ads, or charge per question.
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      Don't look to MAKE money - look to HELP people and you will make all the money you can ever want.

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    • Profile picture of the author jeskola
      Sorry I should add I have a small team of experts in the field to answer the questions.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
        Is this something that would be conducive to selling educational products (training, etc.) rather than just trying to sell questions?

        I don't think it's likely that people would spend $100 a year to be able to ask questions. But, they might spend, say, $97 per month for training.
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  • Profile picture of the author omk
    Charging for answers won't work unless it's in a very specific technical or professional area, like law. There are just too many answer sites out there that cover so many things. Your best bet is to forget about charging your visitors and monetize it some other way. There is nothing specific about answer sites where any of the well known monetization methods wouldn't work.
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  • Profile picture of the author Thomas Buckley
    I see what your getting at, I myself would pay for an answer to a question if i was really stuck(not getting the answer off google or yahoo answers).

    Although instead of charging for people posting a question they should have a range/set price they are willing to pay for an answer to there question. Then get paid when you answer.

    Also you could use adsense or linkbucks on the site. so your also earning when they post the question.
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  • Profile picture of the author jeskola
    Thanks for the replies.

    Yes it's of a specific technical nature.

    Training is not a bad idea, but I'm not sure it's a service I could offer.

    Basically I have a team of individuals who can help a lot of people who have questions that would be very difficult to answer without their help.

    Ok maybe I need to think about this a bit more!
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  • Profile picture of the author mrelosa
    In other countries, they offer Q&A for mobiles. For instance, if they are looking for a train schedule, movie schedule, even for contact information of restaurants, etc. Maybe you should try that. That way, you can charge them
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    • Profile picture of the author jeskola
      Thanks!

      Any other thoughts anyone on how to monetize a Q&A site?
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      Don't look to MAKE money - look to HELP people and you will make all the money you can ever want.

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  • Profile picture of the author onegoodman
    I had an experience with Q&A websites.

    I would say the best way is advertising and not in the beginning.

    Paid membership or Paid answers will kill you website with time specially with million free ones.

    If I can help you with anything PM me at anytime
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