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Newsgroups and Forums
Newsgroups and Forums can be an excellent source of "leads". Although they are less busy than they once were, ten minutes a day checking relevant newsgroups and forums is a great way to spot potential new customers and glean much other useful information.
A surprising number of people seem unaware of this Internet environment in which you post messages to bulletin boards and get responses through the group or direct by e-mail. There are groups for almost every business and hobby and interest.
The distinction between Newsgroups and Forums can be a little vague but, in general, the former tend to be used for announcements which are sent by e-mail to subscribers and the latter are usually web pages of questions and answers.
Check your ISP's web site for details of how to set up your computer to access newsgroups. It is a simple task. You can then view the titles of tens of thousands of newsgroups. Outlook Express and other mail programs have search facilities to make it easy to search this vast list for groups relevant to your industry or products or service.
You can then set up a regular feed to Outlook Express or your other newsreader to monitor all the postings to relevant groups. Seeing messages that annoy you becasue they are blatant advertisements should make you cautious about annoying others by sending in similar "spam". But you should also see messages from people who are looking for solutions to their problems, solutions you can offer to provide.
You can find relevant discussions by going to Google and typing in the type of business you do followed by the word "newsgroups" or "forums" (though one or the other will often list both).
If you cannot find an appropriate forum, corner the market by starting one! Offering free information and networking is an excellent way of attracting people to your website and the costs are negligible.
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