Asking your visitor a question and strategically using the responses that you receive is a low-cost yet effective method to help you drive traffic to your site. I have been using this strategy now for about 8 months and it has helped to sell products, develop relationships, and further establish my expertise.

The way in which I've implemented this strategy is to create a one-page website that asks my visitors a question, and they respond via an online submission form. I receive the submission via email and take action from there. Check out examples here at AskChrisKnight.com (getting subscribers to his ezine), AskDaveTaylor.com (get new ideas for articles and create a revenue stream), and Ask-Leo.com (create an entire newsletter, site or blog comprised of questions and answers).

Here's what you need to do to set up this option on your own site:

1. Pick your domain. With your domain name, pick a name that will help you with branding or name recognition in some way, like using your name or your business name, i.e. AskJohnSmith.com or AskBugPatrol.com. Or, you could give yourself a title and that then becomes the domain name, like AskSquidooGuru.com. I buy the version of the domain name that incorporates the word "ask" so that I'm clear (and my visitors are clear) about my purpose of this site.

2. Determine your question. Typically you want to ask something like, "What's the most important question you have about (topic area)" or "What's your most burning question about (topic area)" or "What's your most pressing question about (topic area)". Make it compelling and keep it simple. Use only one question on this form.

3. Brainstorm how you'll use the answers. Will you use them as a basis for ezine articles, blog postings, or podcasts? Are you trying to determine keywords your visitors might use to find a business like yours? Do you need to determine the challenges faced by your target market so that you can tailor your services to better meet their needs? Are you seeking ideas for information product development to support your business? I actually do all of these with the question that I ask. In terms of interaction with my visitor, however, I immediately use the Q&A format as a post on my blog.

4. Choose your form submitter. I use the forms creation tool that comes as a part of my shopping cart program to create the submission form. I simply go into the shopping cart, pick out the information I want to collect (name and email address, for example), and then cut and paste the HTML code into my web page. My shopping cart permits me to link these visitors to an autoresponder if I choose, as well. You can also create the form through a web design program or use a free service like FormDIY.com or MyContactForm.com. Or, if you want to do some significant tracking and statistical analysis of these questions, buy the YouAskThem.com program or subscribe to AskDatabase.com.

5. Create your thank you page and autoresponder. If your form submission service permits you to do this, create a followup autoresponder to let your visitor know that you received her question and what happens at this point. I tell the visitor that I'll respond to the question in my blog and that I'll protect her identity. Then, if permitted by your form submission service, create a thank you page to which the visitor is sent upon asking the question and use that page to make another request of the visitor. I use my thank you page to request that they subscribe to my email newsletter.

6. Create one page website. For this site, I don't actually buy a separate hosting account, as that's not necessary. I simply create a unique page within my current site and mask and point my domain name to that internal page. So, then the visitor sees AskBugPatrol.com in the browser window rather than something like BugPatrol.com/questions/ask.html. I then just create a table with a simple graphic header that includes my photo and my name and the form to ask the question. You can also include a simple audio or video welcome, as well.

7. Publicize this option. Let all of your visitors know that you will answer their questions. Put an icon on your blog or on your website to link them to your Ask page, tell your ezine subscribers where they can ask a question, and note the URL in your email signature file.

Creating a value-added option like permitting your visitors to ask an important question is a very simple, inexpensive way to drive traffic to your site and help you sell products and services, develop relationships, and develop your expertise.

Copyright (c) 2007 Donna Gunter