How To Create Your Own Q&A Website with Qhub
by rahsheen
Qhub is a new service offering a simple method for creating a Questions and Answers website. If you ever dreamed of running your very own Yahoo Answers, your prayers have been answered in Qhub. Unlike more general solutions, Qhub is aims to be a more targeted community. Each one can be focused on a specific topic or niche. Not only will users benefit from getting answers to their questions, but the site owner gets valuable user feedback. This can help companies and brands stay engaged with and provide better value to their communities. Qhub offers:
- the ability to customize each site
- full management of your site, its members and content
- the the ability to use your own domain name
Customizing Your Qhub
The first thing you’ll want to do is fill out your Hub Details. This is where you define what your Hub is all about. This will help visitors stay on topic and keep the questions focused. Most importantly, you’ll want to fill out the Name (not your name, the name of your Hub), Tagline, and About. You also have the option to add a more detailed description of your hub.
The next step is to customize the design of your hub. You can select an existing theme, or drill down into the details. Setting a custom background, header image, and changing the colors and sizes of design elements are all supported. You can even upload your own favicon.
Adding Analytics
Depending on what you’re using your hub for, you will need a way to tell if anyone is actually visiting it. You can easily integrate Google Analytics by adding a new site and pasting the code.
- Visit Google Analytics and find Add Website Profile at the bottom
- Enter the URL for you new Qhub and click Finish
- Copy the JavaScript code that appears
- Go back to Qhub and paste this code into the box under Analytics
Connecting Your Social Networks
Now that you have everything looking good and you’ve defined what your Q&A site will be about, you should connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts. This will help to promote your hub and bring you new visitors. Currently, Qhub supports Facebook and Twitter. Just navigate to Social Networks under User Details and click the authentication buttons. No need to provide a username and password for each site.
Integrating with Your Current Website
You probably have an existing web presence. A blog or website that your current audience already visits. Qhub offers two choices for attracting visitors to your shiny new Q&A hub. You can create a customizable widget to embed on your site which will show a live update of the latest questions and answers. The other option is a Page-Side Tab. This attaches to the side of your web page, providing a simple link to your hub homepage.
Conclusions
There are a few other customizations you can make with Qhub, including using a custom domain. Qhub seems like a more professional version of Formspring.me. It also reminds me of Skribit, which lets visitors to your blog suggest topics for you to write about. It’s currently in private beta, so request your invite code and start connecting with your community.
Category: Reviews | Tags: formspring.me, Q+A, qhub, skribitDid you like this article? Share It!
Tilane Jones says:
Very interesting. We'd like to integrate into http://www.urbanbeautycollective.com and test it out. Thanks for the info. You guys always keep us ahead of the game.
Sharon says:
I would like to integrate into urban studies blog.
Rahsheen says:
Nice. Don't forget to hit me up on Twitter (@rahsheen) so I can send you an invite…assuming you still need one
Sharina Richardson says:
I work in the baby product industry, so I would like to utilize this Q&A website to ask parents questions about baby related topics and products. I would add it to either my corporate or one of our brands website: http://www.regallager.com or http://www.cybexbaby.com
bizziemommy says:
I would use as a QA for my blog for readers to ask / answer questions about ecommerce. In addition I coud use it for my store as well http://www.lalababyboutique.com
Natasha says:
So many ways to integrate this but I'd likely start with my natural hair network so that folks could generate their own expertise and share tips.
SixPointDwella says:
This is an awesome idea! I would like to use this to get community feedback from the youth about volunteer work and community activities that would interest them…
Robert Dean says:
This is awesome, I would love to integrate it into my site, http://www.wikistock.com and help answer many investing questions.
Vonbrucken says:
Hope this is not over !! Would like to embedded it on my Myspace Music page or on my Tumblr if that possible
http://www.myspace.com/vonbrucken
http://twitter.com/vonbrucken
bharani m says:
Qhub looks great! I would love to integrate it with my blog.
Newt says:
Interesting site. I like the way it looks and It's very user friendly. I'm not sure how I would use it for my website. http://www.HarlemNYC.tv
mkrob.com says:
I'm definitely going to integrate this with my website
Fred Swift says:
Awesome, I would love to add this feature to a couple projects we've been workin on
Build your own Q&A site with Qhub | TECHNICK says:
[...] Lee have created tools to let anyone build a Q&A site about anything. There’s a how-to tutorial, and of course you can use Qhub to ask about [...]
mechamonkey says:
I produce several customer facing software applications, this looks like an ideal solution to evolving FAQs with a degree if user participation. Colour me interested!
Build Your Own Q&A Community with Qhub « Webplus – web developer resource blog says:
[...] Christopher Lee have created tools to let anyone build a Q&A site about anything. There’s a how-to tutorial, and of course you can use Qhub to ask about [...]
Natasha says:
This is a delayed “Thank you” to Rasheen! With the help of his invite I created 3 Qhubs. What's more is that there's domain mapping in addition to all the other items mentioned in Rasheen's section called “Integrating with Your Current Website.”
And unlike Twitter, they started right off the bat with optional payment choices for advertising as well as removing Qhub branding. Each is $20/month. With a bit more flexibility on the coding customization front, I'd pay that. Perhaps it's coming down the pipe.
In any case, thanks again!
Rahsheen says:
You're very welcome! Thanks for sharing your experience. It's always good to know people are able to implement this stuff
prestonracette says:
I'm definitely going to integrate this with my website… NOT!
Tech Week in Review 5-14-2010 « Black Web 2.0 says:
[...] Qhub? It’s the service that lets you create your very own Q&A website. Q&A is hot right now for some reason. Apparently, people like asking questions. With the [...]
Alex Johnson says:
Very helpful information. I bookmarked this article. Thanks for sharing.
Jessica S.
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Horses For Sale says:
I would like to utilize this Q&A website to ask parents questions about baby related topics and products. I would add it to either my corporate or one of our brands
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