Yahoo Answers is a great tool, but the problem with it is that it attempts to cover everything. It’s easy to get lost amongst all of that stuff up there. WP Answers is a fantastic WordPress alternative that you can install on your site. The great thing about the WP Answers Plugin is that because it’s a plugin, instead of a theme, you can use it within your own theme, preserving your own styles and look.
Why do I need an Answers function on my website?
Here’s why:
- Become the go-to place for questions within your niche
- Increase traffic as people come to you in search of answers
- Improve SEO by constantly generating new, dynamic content
- The more questions that are posted on your site, the more content that you have – content generated for free!
Let’s take a look at the plugin:
Once installed you have a number of different options that you can set. You have the option to choose either the installed CSS, your theme’s CSS or you can use the color picker to choose new colors. I’m always a fan of color pickers – it saves me looking up Hex values 
You can choose any page on your site to host your Answers page. I’ve created one called “Answers” (yes, I am soooo imaginative). Here is me asking the important questions in life:
The plugin comes with a widget that you can drop in your sidebar to let your users log in to ask and answer questions. Like so:
Tip: If you want to only show the WP Answers login widget on the page containing the answers, you could use a plugin like Custom Sidebars to easily achieve it.
The site admin also has options to edit the messages and text throughout the plugin. There is a back end data view which you can use to view all of your questions in one go.
WP Answers for Your Users
WP Answers works on a points-based system. Users need to register to ask questions – when they do they will be given points (50 is the default but you can change this). Points are deducted for asking questions and added for answering questions. This is a fantastic way to encourage ongoing discussion on your site.
Like Yahoo Answers, users can also give each other thumbs up or thumbs down, and the question asker can decide on his/her favorite answer.
There is a user statistic section so your viewers can see who the top ten users are, and view all of the users in one go. Users can even make friends with each other – I like that. Share the love
So, what could I do with it on my site?
People love to be interactive. And they love to have somewhere to ask questions. Others like to flex those knowledge muscles by answering questions. By implementing this plugin you’re making all of those people happy. It’s particularly good for using on websites where people might need practical help. Here are some suggestions for using it:
- Coding website
- Gardening website
- Cooking website
- Pet website
- WordPress website
Here are a few sites already putting the WP Answers plugin to great use:
Or learn more about the Plugin’s developer – Cristian Merli.
