Even Hillary Clinton uses Yahoo Answers. She asked Americans how they would improve health care in the United States. More than 25,000 people answered for a total of more than 1200 pages. Is there any other social media marketing tips that would generate this kind of user response in only 72 hours? I don’t think so. I can’t imagine a response like this on Facebook or MySpace or Digg.

If you are an internet marketer you shouldn’t overlook Yahoo Answers. It’s the #2 reference site on the internet right behind Wikipedia. It doesn’t work for every niche so you’ll have to experiment and see if it works for your business. One of the great things about Yahoo Answers is that they allow links to your website. From the Yahoo Answers site: “There are many professionals and business owners providing valuable knowledge and experiences on Answers. By identifying yourself as such and providing great answers, you are building credibility and positive brand image.”

Here’s a short primer on how to use Yahoo Answers:

* Fill out the profile and include an avatar and all the general information.

* Choose the category that’s the most relevant for your business and check that category daily for questions that you can answer accurately and informatively.

* Here’s a little trick: do searches in Yahoo for the keywords in your niche. If a Yahoo Answers question appears on the first page you should answer it because you will get extra traffic.

* Yahoo Answers has a social network. All the people asking or answering questions in your niche should be added as friends.

* Link to your own website when answering questions when it’s appropriate. Don’t do this 100% of the time, however, or you will be perceive as a spammer. Link to other websites from time to time.

* If other people answer a question more completely or more accurately than you did, vote or their answers. This is a good way to build friendships.

* Sign your name when you submit an answer. You should do this because spammers DON’T sign their name. It will give you credibility.

Spend an hour or two a week doing the above steps and check your website stats to see if you’re getting traffic to your website this way. If so, keep doing this every week. Keep in mind that Yahoo Answers posts are indexed by Yahoo for a long time so this is more than just a quick fix. Yahoo Answers ranks well in Google. Sometimes a Yahoo Answers post will rank better in Google than it does in Yahoo. So Yahoo Answers has the potential to give you traffic for months and even years.