How to make app like Quora

The idea has generated and you have taken off for building your app. What are the first things that you will think about before making an app like Quora? You will have to see how famous apps like Quora are. Even though it is not a new concept Quora has reached heights that the other platforms still dream to reach. Quora was once quoted as, “a more organized Yahoo Answers, a classier Reddit, an opinionated Wikipedia. Which soon made it very popular among the tech-aristocrats. 

Making an app like Quora is not easy, rather it is complicated. As the design of such apps is quite simple so, you will need to integrate features that will help you attract the audience. For making an app like Quora you will need help from professionals who will guide you through the task.

After reading this you might be thinking of posting a question on Quora on Where can you hire developers or designers who will help you in doing so? Why not just ask us? We at Vyrazu Labs have been dealing with complicated tasks like creating a travel app, utility apps, etc. 

In this article, you will find out how Quora gained its fame and how you can successfully make your own app after reading this article. There will be some tips and tricks included, derived from the heavy player app, ‘Quora’ itself. 

A brief history on Quora

Quora was created by Adam D Angelo and Charlie Cheever former employees of Facebook. It was created in June 2009 and was first launched for user access on June 21, 2010. In the beginning, when Quora was valued the outstanding came to be $86 million. It was greatly praised for its user interface and the quality of answers which were seen to be given by experts in their fields.

Within a couple of years, Quora started to gain five to ten times more visitors compared to its regular statistics. You can say this was because Quora had a no-ad policy. The owners of Quora said introducing ads such as banner ads, irrelevant ads, ads from bad companies could result in bad user experience. Hence, it was not gaining any revenue by itself and only successfully drew finance form other companies. 

In 2011 Quora was redesigned according to the goods and bads of the website. This made Quora’s users happy as the implementation was necessary for better performance. Quora introduced a separate blogging service for the users so that along with questions and answers the users could also post blogs that could be accessed by other users who were asking the same question related to the blog.

In 2013 Quora released a full-text search of questions and answers. As we already know Quora was not an app when it first launched, it was a website. Looking at the immediate need for shifting the website to a mobile device made Quora change platforms for all users. 

In 2013 May it was finally introduced in cell phones. In the same year, it introduced an option called stats which was introduced for both the users and the admin. This option was responsible for showing how many users upvoted and downvoted answers, how many shared the answers of blogs, and how many users viewed the app.

In 2014 when it was drawing an $80 million funding from Tiger Global, Quora was valued at $900 million. The owners had said that they will introduce search ads as their revenue system and later allowed ads in the app. The first ad that Quora had posted was from Uber in 2016. They said that they will only post user relevant ads so that the users do not get a scope to complain or get irritated.

By September 2018 Quora had 300 million unique users which still did not match the number of users visiting other common websites such as Facebook or Twitter which was roughly 326 million users. Quora has also released multiple beta versions featuring foreign languages like German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese and Hindi several other languages like French, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and Dutch have been announced to be released in beta versions.

In December 2018 there was a security breach that damaged 100 million users of Quora. However, in May 2019, it was valued to be $2 billion in a round of investors which counted to be $ 60 million sponsored mainly by Tesla and SpaceX. 

*Note- Information gathered from Wikipedia.

Planning the making of the app

Before making the app you will plan the project. Form history you might have figured that even the star companies are entitled to downfalls either you will have to embrace it and move on or you will have to take steps that will prevent your app from being breached or any kind of malfunction avoided.

For making an app like Quora you will have to know about apps like Quora, plus you will have to gather information on your competitors for example- Slant.co, Quora, Reddit, 3Form, etc. After you have done the research you will have to seek out a company that will assist to build an app with a clean UI/UX design. This means that when you create an app you will have to make it so simple that your users do not get confused when using it. 

As apps like these have lesser advertisements compared to the other apps in the market. The main focus of this app is to draw users by integrating more attractive features so that the users are easily drawn towards your app. People tend to get distracted and irritated when they see ads on websites.

Hence when you think about monetizing the app think about ads that are directly connected with user search. Plus you will need to find unique ways to promote your app. Of course, focusing on integrating features should be your main concern. You have to keep on updating the app so that the users do not lose interest from your app.  

How will an app like Quora profit you?

If you are still confused about the profit margin looking at Quora, then I would say do not repeat the mistakes they made. You have two hundred ways to promote the app so why will you not promote or market your app? Even though Quora did not have their own revenue system they were funded by many companies some as famous as Tesla, hence when someone is doing something good other good people will hold your hand while doing so. However, these are all looking like stories right now once I resent the stats it will not fail to amaze you. 

1. Quora was last valued at $2 billion.
2. It has over 3 million monthly users (unique)
3. It has a daily revenue of over $12k every day.
4. It has more than 67GB bandwidths everyday
5. It receives donations over $50 million (not every day or month as and when the session is active)

Working the App 

In this section let us discuss what will be there in our app and what are the features that you will need to integrate. Well as I have already mentioned more the features merrier the crowd. Let us take a look at both the side of the app and discuss the basic features that you need to add.

Admin Panel

1. Logging in
2. User management
3. Post management
4. Topic management
5. Ad management
6. Statistics 
7. Notification management
8. Personalizing the app
9. Real-time reporting 

User’s App

1. Registration and login might include social media login as well
2. User’s profile
3. Edit questions and answers
4. Space
5. Search
6. Feeds 
7. Home page
8. Manage post
9. Stats
10. Notifications
11. Zen mode
12. Ad campaign management
13. Option to write as an anonymous person 
14. Posting questions answers
15. Answer later
16. Messaging system
17. Commenting in answers 
18. Upvoting and downvoting 
19. Option to share 
20. Request answers

So, here is an extended list of features that you can add if you have confusion with any of the features ask us or Quora we both will give you the same answers. Jokes apart. These are the features that Quora has introduced and it is updated frequently. Hence, you will like to know about these features which can be added and removed based on the user experience. When you integrate features remember that it should be unique and attractive. Let us discuss the advanced features which will help in engaging users. 

Advanced features for better user experience

While you will add the advanced features make sure you add some APIs that will help in both attracting and engaging the customers in your app.

1. Introduction of Cloud storage 
2. CMS
3. Social Media Integration
4. Multiple platform access

The introduction of all these might not look important but it will help you in terms of keeping the users connected with your app. When you introduce the cloud storage it will help you to protect the information that the users are giving out in your app. A CMS is a content management system that will help you to manage the contents on the app and organize it as per the interest of the user. Even though I don’t mention what social media integration will do you might already have an idea.

It will help your users to share the information that they are accessing in your app over various social media platforms which will help increase your user base. It is a way to promote your app by your users. If you introduce apps, PWAs, and websites different users using different devices will be able to access your Q&A to multiple places. For implementing this you will have to find a website developer and the cost of website development. 

Key Performance Indicators

When you are building an app like Quora you should also keep track of the KPIs. The KPIs will assist you to make your app interactive and engaging. You might be thinking which exact KPIs I am talking about here is the list.

• Rate of Retention 

The reduction of retention can be done by allowing users to access social media platforms. As they share something linking your app you can send the user’s friends who come in your app, notification related to that topic or engaging texts that will bring them back in your app.

• Engagement of users

You have to introduce more unique features as I had mentioned earlier so that it interests your users to use the app again and again. For example, you can do something like the expressions as in Facebook, only that they will indicate readable, non-readable and moderately readable answers or blogs. Quora has its unique features such as upvote and downvote. They also have different features that I have mentioned earlier to keep its users engaged in their app. 

• Addition of users

When there is a fair number of users and the number is going up rapidly introduction of followers and more followers will engage them to write more and check more who commented or liked and disliked their answers or blogs. At this time the introduction of inviting friends will be a good option in order to increase their own fan base they will invite their friends to your app. You will be able to attain more users by letting them understand the true value of your app this will help you to come up with a strategy as well. You must keep on reminding them how the app will benefit their day to day life.

The development Process

Did you know that Quora was developed in Python? Well, you might. They were looking for a platform that will be simple, reliable and flexible. Platforms like Java, PHP, and C# were the obvious choices but they stuck with Python. They had their own reason for choosing that platform. Python is such a platform that engages deep learning, readable codes, it is efficient and Python seemed better than PHP in this case.

Not only that Python uses the simple syntax for prototyping and permits designers, non-engineers and data analysts to code for Quora. Using Python saves a lot of time and money as it easily renders the code plus it has a voluminous standard library and ecosystem. Python is easier and faster than Java as Python uses short scripts and codes for huge programs while Java has to be written pages after pages.

If you are planning to outsource your project to us we will be using React Native to make the app. The reason behind it is both Android and iOS apps can be developed using one source code repository. This will be an easy job for us as we will not have to create two different apps for iOS and Android it will save a lot of development and design time obviously cutting out development cost.

The app has to be drawn from a Native platform as there will be a lot of features that we have to add. After you give us a brief on what the design will look like and what are the features that you would like to include and the payment options that will be present in the app. After which we will be adding plugins, integrating features and will develop the app for you.

Other integrations such as notification, OTP, making the app fast will all count in this process. After we are done developing the app we will test its performance if any bug is spotted we will cure it then send you the product. If you want to launch a demo app first to conduct a survey in the market even that can be arranged. 

The team working behind this project

A perfectly equipped team will be working behind this project so that everyone can keep checks and balances on the product’s development. The functionality of the app should be exactly like you were expecting so a small team will have taken it on them to complete the task and deliver the product as soon as possible.  

The team includes:

1. The project manager
2. Back-end developer
3. Front-end developer (UI/UX expert)
4. Android or iOS developer
5. QA analyst
6. Project delivery manager 

These team members are the ones who will be working behind the task. The project manager will dictate the work to the developers and designers working as the main link between you and the developers. The back-end developer will develop the functionality of the app and the Android or iOS developer will be developing the product which is to be made.

The front-end developer i.e the UI/UX expert will design the app along with a graphic designer who will provide the graphic designs. Finally, the QA analyst will test the app for bugs and other problems that might arise during the development. The project delivery manager can be the project manager as well who will be delivering you the project when all the development process is taken care of. 

How long will the developers take?

The developers will take a total of 850 hours to create the app, approximately. This actually depends on the features that you would like to include and the design that you choose. However, I can mention some names so that you can get a rough idea. The integration of a search bar (fast search) will take near about 55 hours, the user profile and stats (that Quora has) will take about 184 hours and inserting the activity feed will take roughly 84 hours.

The other features that you choose will determine the rest of the time that the app development will take. If you are also thinking about making a website that will take up a huge amount of time upon the app making time. On the other hand, while the app is complete you will be able to launch your app in the market when the website will be under construction.

How much will it cost?

Just like the time factor the cost factor also depends on the features and design that you choose. Depending on your budget you will give us a list of items that you would like to include in the app only then can we produce you with a cost list. Nevertheless, as we have made such an app before I can provide you with a rough sketch depending on the previous experience.

When you will make an app like Quora the involvement of NLP (Natural Language Processing), artificial intelligence, machine learning, and algorithm comes to play. The tech-stack will cost $25,000 to $35,000. If you are planning to include a lot of advanced features then your cost will go up to $55,000 to $75,000.

General Advice for your app

In this section, we will talk about what you can do to make your app stand out and attract a lot of users. 

• Development Advice

When you will be developing the app makes sure that it is discreet and the design is neat and clean as well as simple so that the users can use it without having any problem. You can also add a trial, guiding the users which button does what this will give the message that you care for your users.

You can include features like report answers, suggest edits, etc for better user experience. Keep in mind that the UI/UX should be thought about giving it enough time as that is the factor that will reflect the first impression on your users. Your app should have relevant contents an integration should keep checks on the app if it is producing something that is not related or is vulgar.

This integration will allow your app to automatically delete those contents. While later you could block those users. The automated emails that you sent to your users should be derived from their search if you send them daily digests on an entirely different topic it might push them away.

• Marketing Advice

When you are making an app like Quora you will have to keep in mind that the promotion of this app should be done precisely in a unique manner so that it does not look like you are forcing your app on the users. As the competition is pretty high you will have to take care of producing relevant ads that are connected to the search as engaging the users is your first priority.

Make sure the content being posted on your app are well built and has pictures, GIFs or videos so that the content can directly speak to the users with its quality. The marketing process should involve the right measures, i.e. when your market your app make sure that you connect with your competitors by giving them the option of affiliate marketing. This will keep you close to your competitors and give you a scope to see their business upfront. 

• Monetizing Advice

As you will not be filling your app with a lot of advertisements you have to think about other ways. First yes, of course, you can introduce advertisements which are related to the users’ search or they were searching for that particular product only. If you allow ads from shady companies it might ruin the image of your app.

You can add some premium features which will allow the users to do something extra this will allow the user to choose from the features if they want to use them they will have to pay for it. When just educating isn’t enough for monetizing your app you will have to think of unique ways by which the users do not get demotivated as well can stay engaged in your app.

So, you will be doing a good job by spreading valuable information this when different companies will come forward and donate as much they can for your business, you might feature some of their products in return or add blogs on their companies. The other way is Google Adsense. When you post the ad generated from Adsense as and when a user clicks on it you will receive some money.

Conclusion:

I hope you liked this article about making an app like Quora if you have any comments or feedback you can freely share it with us. An article with critical reviews is the best article I have seen. If you are not satisfied with this article do not hesitate to say so. I hope that you could gather all the information that you were looking for. If you thinking about making an app like Quora connect with us and share your idea with us.

We are here to help you out with anything that seems complicated to you, starting making a business plan to developing the app we provide with all this information that you might require before you can start building the app. I look forward to having a nice chat with you when you reach out to us.