Newsgroups can be an effective way to get the word out about your product or service. Nowadays however it's a lot harder to utilize them because everyone thinks that your just spamming. Newsgroups are also useful for product feedback, you can easily find out what is being said about you and your product.
The most important thing when looking to market and promote something to the newsgroups is to stay related to your product or website theme. This means if you're promoting golf clubs don't post in newsgroups about computer software because there'll be war. People will get angry that you're blatantly spamming the newsgroup. They'll post insulting replies which will damage your websites reputation and of course you won't make any sales. It's just a waste of time posting in non-related groups so always post to relevant groups. To find a list of newsgroups relevant to you simply use the find and search functions found on most newsgroup readers.
Gain the trust of other posters.
This requires a lot of time and effort, it can be done two main ways by providing valuable replies to people who look for help or ask an opinion of some sort. The other is to post new topics yourself to show you're interested and know about the subject of the newsgroup. When people trust you they're much more likely to be interested in what you have to offer. Include a signature with all your posts.
A signature should be attached at the bottom of all your posts. Most newsgroup and mail reading software can attach it automatically. Generally signatures are three to five lines in length. They include your website name, email, URL and a one or two line advert. Here's one I made earlier -
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AKA Marketing
admin@akamarketing.comhttp://www.akamarketing.comFree Internet Marketing Articles and resources
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The idea is to get your signature seen as many times as possible by as many newsgroups as possible, if you've a trusted and respected reputation within newsgroups related to your website your signature will create some extra traffic for you.
Set your name to the URL of your website or company name, this will attract attention just like your subject line, the difference is that people at newsgroups don't have to read your post to see your URL as their newsgroup viewer always shows the name of who posted what.
Well that's about it, just remember to offer advice or answers to questions that are being asked in the newsgroups. This is a way to gain trust and it also gives you credibility, establishing you as an expert in your field.
When you help someone with a problem or concern you've already gained their trust and respect therefore it becomes much easier to suggest your product or service to that individual. Remember after you give the advice or answer the question you'll have your "sig" file at the end of the message, this hopefully will lead people to your site.
Article by David Callan. David is an Internet marketing professional and webmaster of AKA Marketing.com webmaster forums. Visit his webmaster forums for the latest discussions on search engines, website authoring and Internet marketing related issues and topics.
Article Source:
www.SEOtoday.net
