3 Best Tools to Ask a Question Online

Posted on 29. Oct, 2009 by Guest Post in Internet Tools

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question markThis is a guest post is by Ann Smarty, an SEO blogger and social media enthusiast.

No matter how good you might be at searching, there’s always a chance you can’t find the answers to some question. Very often you need to ask a question yourself. This post lists the best ways and tools to ask a question online.

1. Twitter

Twitter is the most popular way to ask questions and get instant answers today. If you would like to know how to ask questions that get many answers on Twitter, here’s a good post about that. And here are a couple of more advanced tips:

  • There are a few Twitter apps that make your question visible to a broader base of Twitter users (not only your followers). Check out LazyTweet, TweetBrain, IKnowTweet and TweetQA for example.
  • Search who already asked the same / similar questions on Twitter: go to Twitter search, provide your search term and then add ? to the query. This will tell Twitter search to restrict the search results to only Tweeted questions.

twitter

2. Online Forums

While forums come from the web 1.0 era (so some people may call this way old-fashioned), to me it has long been by far the most effective way to find real experts in any niche. The main thing is to never be afraid to look like a newbie (that seems to be the main reason why most people shy away from asking questions on forums). Here are my personal favorites of best niche forums I am often using (please share yours in the comments!):

Topic Forum
Web development webmasterworld WebmasterWorld
Affiliate marketing best web ABestWeb
Online shopping / saving buxr Buxr
Security / scams scan.com Scam.com

3. Aardvark

Aardvark is a cool IM bot (as well as Facebook application) that allows you to ask questions and get answers from real people by sending them to the world right from your IM. Here’s how it works:

  • Connect the app to your Facebook account
  • Provide your IM account name
  • Add Aardvark to your IM buddy list
  • Send questions right to the Aardvark ia IM and the tool will match you to the expert who will answer your question

ardvark

Alternatively, you can just ask questions online via the web form.

And how do you ask questions online? Please share your tips!

Image by Margaret Anne Clarke

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7 Responses to “3 Best Tools to Ask a Question Online”

  1. Chris Smith

    29. Oct, 2009

    I think that I may finally have enough followers (and quality ones at that) where I can ask questions and get a couple of responses. It is seriously amazing how the responses pour in, especially when people direct you to other sites that explain what ever you are asking more in depth.

    What an awesome tool Twitter is; it seems that it becomes more and more valuable to me everyday. Like I said up top though, you have to have QUALITY people that follow you to get good responses.

    Reply to this comment

  2. Alison

    29. Oct, 2009

    Glad to see Aardvark on this list! :) I’d love to hear feedback from anyone who’s used it – alison@aardvarkteam.com

    - Alison @ Aardvark

    Reply to this comment

  3. Vanessa

    30. Oct, 2009

    Great post! I know I’ve had a lot of questions I needed to ask just the other day and had no idea how to get the best answer. I tried Twitter but the non-spam followers are lacking.

    Since I don’t use facebook, I’m looking forward to trying #1 and #2!

    Reply to this comment

  4. Alan Bleiweiss

    30. Oct, 2009

    I’d never heard of Aardvark before. Personally I avoid IM like the plague except for a very select few people given how distracting it can be (even more than Twitter believe it or not)…

    I also turn to LinkedIn for niche focus business questions and answers.

    Reply to this comment

  5. Rick Castellini

    01. Nov, 2009

    You demonstrated my philosophy about questions…you should always be able to find answers! And you linked to some great ideas to show folks that there is more than Google out there! Thanks.

    Reply to this comment

  6. Matt Brian

    02. Nov, 2009

    Twitter is my preferred location, you get so many different answers to the same question that you would previously never have thought of.

    Reply to this comment

  7. chinmoy

    09. Nov, 2009

    I liked the concept of this Aardvark. And,twitter is a good tool too. For me, Google still works, though I combine it with twitter, always.

    Reply to this comment

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