FREE 5 Day Marketing Course
Day 4 - Newsgroups

Newsgroup promotion is a very misunderstood
medium. It is usually learned late by most
budding Internet marketers. It can be quite
powerful if done properly, but is also quite
easy to mess up or abuse.

By the end of this lesson, you'll know some
of the most powerful ways to use this tool.
You'll also learn how to avoid some *costly*
mistakes.

1. So, what are newsgroups anyway?

Newsgroups are world wide bulletin board
systems organized by the Usenet news system.
It started out as a way for Unix developers
to pass information to each other about
updates and fixes, but has budded into an
International forum on just about any topic
imaginable.

There are over 40,000 newsgroups available
right now.

You may not be able to access each one,
though. It really depends on your Internet
Provider. When a new newsgroup is formed,
your IP may or may not choose to offer it.
You see, the messages don't sit in any
one place. For you to see a Usenet message,
your provide has to include it on its
"news server".

If you need to access a group that is not
offered by your provider, you can configure
your newsreader to access a public access
news server.

Here are a couple of public access news
servers and also a URL where you can find
a more comprehensive list of the public
servers:

news.sexzilla.com
news.caribsurf.com
demonews.mindspring.com (read only, no posting)

If none of these work, follow the link
below and try some of the over 800 listed
there.

http://home.netvigator.com/~artyeung/free/zenews3.htm

You can also try these web browser based
news services:

http://www.dejanews.com
http://www.reference.com

The second one has a cool feature where
you can ask it to conduct searches for
you on a regular basis and email the
results to you. You can use this to find
out if people are talking about your (or
your competitors).There are also many more
newsgroup lists on The New Webmasters Internet Business Disc
http://members.tripod.com/~jmfishman3/index-2.html

2. So, this is all nice, but how does one
use this as a marketing tool?

There are two general approaches. One is
common and so-so in effectiveness. That other
is not used as regularly and is far more
effective.

The first is to post simple advertisements
in groups that accept them. The second is
to use an indirect approach. There are some
important things to consider in both methods
so *read carefully*.
 
 

a. Simple Advertisements

This is the most common method for marketing
on the newsgroups. Basically, this entails
writing an ad and posting it on a newsgroup.
Free advertisement for all, right? Well,
it's not that simple. Not by a long shot.

Firstly, most newsgroups don't care too much
for unsolicited ads. In fact, you may get
flamed or e-mail bombed or worse if you do
this in some newsgroups. Generally,
Netiquette dictates that you only post
messages related to that particular
newsgroup.

Don't despair, though. There are some
newsgroups that welcome ads. Most of the
business or MLM related newsgroups should
be OK. (*Always* check first.)

If in doubt, read several posts of a
newsgroup to get the feel of it. Just
because you see a bunch of ads doesn't mean
it's OK, though.

Some people will post ads anyway. I advise
against this as it will probably do more
harm than good.

Here is a list of some newsgroups where ads
are generally OK. Remember not to use too
much hype. Write a concise, informative ad;
it will be far better received than a bunch
of unprofessional hype.

(See The New Webmasters Internet Business Disc
to learn how to write ad copys that works
every time on the web.
http://members.tripod.com/~jmfishman3/index-2.html
 

"biz.*"
This hierarchy of newsgroups
generally welcomes ads. Each group is
different, though, so look before you post.
Here are a few examples:

    biz.misc
    biz.general (see this group for
    posting suggestions and
    restrictions)
 

Most groups that have words like "mlm",
"business", "money" etc. in the title will
be OK. Once again, be careful.
alt.make.money will gladly accept your
post, but rec.collecting.paper-money
probably won't be too interested in what
your selling (unless it's paper money
related).
 

"comp.newprod"
This group is moderated meaning that your
message will have to be approved by the
moderator. This is a great place to get
into as many editors and decision makers
keep an eye on this newsgroup. However,
it's very tricky as they have strict
guidelines.
 

Most newsgroups that have .forsale or
.marketplace somewhere in the title. Most of
these are good for selling single items. Do
a search and look around. For example:

"alt.forsale"
alt.marketplace.funky-stuff.forsale
 

"misc.forsale.*"
This hierarchy is mainly used to place
classified style ads like above. Commercial
postings are probably not welcome.

b. An Indirect Approach

Another way to increase your presence in
the newsgroups is less direct. It entails
looking through the newsgroups and
responding to existing discussion threads.
I'm not proposing that you break into a
thread and throw in your ad. This is highly
unadvisable.

I am proposing something far less obtrusive
and far more effective. There are several
techniques you can use to make contacts,
but essentially they can be divided into two
categories: signature ads and prospect
seeking.

Signature Ads
This is a simple and effective technique.
Here you respond to off topic threads with
pertinent information. At the bottom of your
post, include a little blurb about your
business. Be sure to include URL, email,
and short description.

Don't make this signature too long, this is
considered bad Netiquette. Also, don't just
break into a thread to say something like
"yeah, me too". If you don't have any
genuine pertinent input, go find a thread
that you can contribute to.

Just getting involved in various threads
will help build your name and build contacts
online. You never know when one of these
people will need your services. And as more
people see your name, the larger brand
presence you have.

Prospect Seeking
This is an extremely powerful technique.
Basically, it entails searching the
newsgroups for people who would be
interested in your product.

For instance, you sell silver widgets. You
do a search on DejaNews for "silver widgets"
and you find a post from someone who is
"dying to find a silver widget, but can't
find one."

In comes you to the rescue! "I sell silver
widgets and some mighty fine ones." You
simply give them a URL, a number, and an
email address. Chances are, you probably
just made a sale.

Little light bulbs are probably popping up
around your head right now. There are many
ways you can apply this powerful technique.

The "Indirect Approach" listed above is
by far the most powerful. Not only does
it target your audience (if done properly,
if you post an ad for a sink it surfing
group it probably won't be received too
well), but it also breaks the "Internet
Marketing Barrier". That is, anything
that "smells like marketing" on the net
is far less likely to be well received. If
you use the indirect approach wisely, you
can market your products "in disguise".

Just remember to always use prudence. Never
post to groups that don't accept it.
Contrary to what many will have you believe,
you *can* market on the Internet without
Spamming or offending masses of people.
Someone out there is always going to take
issue with what you do, even if you are
doing things properly. However, this can
be largely avoided by following a little
Netiquette.

Tomorrow we'll discuss a few final important
concepts and also where to go for further
study.

Until tomorrow,