QHub is a great way to answer your users’ questions and even build a Q&A community. And this can only be a beneficial thing for your business. Check out the QHub website for even more information on this great tool.

 HelpOnClick now has a Help & Feedback Section

As HelpOnClick is always looking for improvements, after the recent Blog launch, we are now proud to announce our Help & Feedback community, powered by QHub.

To find our Questions and Answers, just click on the red “Help & Feedback” button at the right hand side of your screen. You will then see a window which will allow you to go through the questions our users have posted, ask your own questions or provide feedback.

As a HelpOnClick user, we are certain that you will find the Questions and Answers Section to be extremely useful. There are lots of advantages you can benefit from:

• Get specific answers to specific questions.
• Interact with other users and website admins, share your questions experience and thoughts.
• Help others by sharing you knowledge.
• Provide feedback to users who have helped you and get feedback from the users you help.
• Provide suggestions and feedback to HelpOnClick and contribute to the improvements you want to see implemented within our application.

Being a part of our community is extremely easy.

Just Click Here and you’ll go straight to the Sign up form where you can fill in your details in a few seconds and become a member.

On the same page, you can also sign into our community just by logging in with you Facebook or Twitter account.

We look forward for you to become a valuable member of our community we encourage you to ask questions, make suggestions or provide your feedback.

Your contribution is very important to us and we appreciate all your questions, opinions, suggestions and thoughts. You are most welcome to check out our Help and Feedback community and leave us a comment below the post.

We are now using Facebook’s new ‘graph’ implementation, but because of this we are now missing a key piece of information for domain forwarded hubs. We used to only ask you for Application name, Callback URL, API Key and API Secret; but you now also need to supply your Facebook Application ID for this new implementation to work. If you are using your own Facebook application within your Qhub then please provide this information as soon as possible to get Facebook Connect working again.

Along with the new Facebook implementation we have also included Twitter Connect. Members will now be able to Sign in or Register using Facebook Connect, Twitter Connect or by filling in the form provided.

If you wish to use Google’s asynchronous tracking code, you will need to place it into the header of your Qhub as per Google’s implementation guide (http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=174090).? This can be done by pasting your code snippet into the ‘Header Analytics Code’ box.

If you are replacing your traditional tracking code with new asyncronous code then be sure to delete your old code from the ‘Footer Analytics Code’ box beneath.? It is now also possible to place meta tags within the header box if you wish, but make sure that you place them above any tracking code you enter into this box.

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.