by Keith Johnson, Biz-Sites, Inc.

In this article we will describe various techniques for finding your primary audience on the Internet and tracking the results so you can spend your time more productively. Specifically we will discuss electronic magazines and newsgroups.

First you can check to see if there are any mailing lists or ezines (electronic magazines) that pertain to the specific interests of your primary audience.

Then start by subscribing to those lists. Lurk around in the shadows at first to get a feel for the topics and personalities of the participants. Do not jump in and let everyone know you’re an idiot by posting off topic or challenging one of the list’s regulars.

When you feel comfortable and the opportunity presents itself ask a pertinent question or answer someone else’s question. Include a 4 or 5 line signature with a link to your web site. Remember SOFT SELL. Any hard sell will only backfire. You want to build credibility.

Now do the same in the various newsgroups where you suspect your primary audience frequents. Again, start by lurking in the shadows to get an overall feel of the group. The strategy here is the same.

Jump in when the opportunity presents itself. By building your credibility you gain respect and those that you are helping may eventually visit your web site and purchase from you.

Obviously this will require much time and you soon may tire of devoting that time to something which you may or may not think is working. How can you track which list or group is sending visitors to your web site?

Make jump pages to do the tracking for you. For starters use a different signature file for each list, ezine, or newsgroup to which you post. The main difference in each signature file should be the hyperlink, the hot link that when clicked will take visitors directly to your site.

Since this is your signature file you have control over this link. You also should have control over your web site.

Now make a page for each group and give them each different names. If you have a great home page just make a copy of it and save it under a different name. The links should still work and it doesn’t take much time to make a copy, rename it, and install a counter.

Yes, put a counter on each of these new pages for tracking purposes or make sure you can track the visits through your log analyzer. When posting to ezine xyz use your signature xyz, which includes a hyperlink to your page xyz_home.html or something similar.

Do the same when posting to list abc. Use your ABC signature file which contains a hyperlink to ABC_home.html.

Start tracking the results with your page counters or log files to determine which places are worth the time. Keep current with those. Start a list of the groups that didn’t produce much in results so you don’t repeat your wasted efforts in the future and to check on occasionally to see if things have changed.

Try to replace every two groups you dropped with two more new ones or at least one new group. The Internet changes rapidly and you don’t want to be left behind.

Find your target audience, show them you are credible, and gently show them the way to your web site.

Keith R. Johnson
Biz-Sites, Inc.
http://www.biz-sites.com