Rural business Blurtit.com bite at the heels of Yahoo Answers and Answerbag
StumbleUponBlurtit has managed to keep up with the likes of Yahoo Answers and WikiAnswers.com with their Q&A social community. Ranking one of the top 250 US websites (Quantcast) is evidence that a small rural business can compete with some of the internet’s biggest players.
By Charlotte Bullock
Blurtit.com is a Questions and Answer (Q&A) social community website, where anyone can ask or answer a question. It not only acts as a knowledge network, but also enables users to make friends and keep in touch with others from all over the world; sharing ideas, facts and opinion.
Operating only on advertising revenue, Blurtit.com has been listed (source: Quantcast) as one of the top 250 US websites, and coming in fourth behind Yahoo Answers, Wiki Answers and Answerbag, they have proven that the Q&A market is one that invites companies from around the globe. The competition is tough in the world of the internet and Blurtit.com have got a lot to shout about claiming fourth position behind these industry competitors, and proud to be well above many more websites operating in the same sector from the same ranking list.
Founded by Tim O'Shea and Christopher Lee in 2006, both from Norfolk, the company has developed with no investment funding and as mentioned before, profitable only from the advertising space on the website. It operates with a small team of nine and is located in a rural market town (North Walsham) near the North Norfolk coast.
The ambition of the company is constantly growing too. Already seen the 2 millionth questions posted to the website just after Christmas, Blurtit aims to reach 10 million questions by the end of 2010.
“December was a great month, receiving over 11 million visitors and we are already looking to exceed that so 10 million by the end of the year is realistic”, explains Chris Lee.
The Blurtit team are continuously working on innovative tricks and treats for the networks of users to keep things fun for them including competitions, special features within accounts and the reward of the user being able to moderate other users contributions once they have gained a good reputation themselves.
Members acquire points for all that they do on the website, which gives them something to aim for each day. The team at Blurtit is looking to introducing more incentives and rewards during 2010 to entice members to do even more.
It is completely free to use. It doesn't pay or charge for answers, unlike some Q&A sites. Contributions to the site can be posted by anyone; non-members are shown as 'guests'. These contributions are moderated, ensuring the site is clean of abuse or offensive posts.
Registrations are encouraged but it’s not compulsory. It is this type of interaction that maintains the social community aspect of Blurtit.com: it is more than just a place to find answers to questions. Hopefully the team will see their position on Quantcast rise to the top 150 sites very soon.
Blurtit is integrated with Twitter (@Blurtitlive) with over 7,800 followers and has its own Facebook Group (www.facebook.com/Blurtit).
Charlotte has been with Mindcom Internet Limited (which trades as Blurtit) for a few months and focuses on the companies communications and marketing. See more about the Blurtit team: http://www.blurtit.com/about/the_team.
Relevant links for the service and the author webpage
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