At work today it was pretty quiet so I was just bummin around online. I came across a newsgroup service that had a pretty decent deal. Anyways I got to thinking and I was curious if anyone frequents newsgroups, and if they've ever traded links in niche newsgroups, or even found it to be a valuable resource for link building. I just figured with all the newsgroups and everything that there are (thousands innit?), that these are obviously thriving and people check them out pretty regularly. Barring spam and stuff like that (since most halfway decent newsgroup clients filter that crap out anyways); with so many people on newsgroups, thought it might be something worth participating in from a business point of view. Any thoughts or experiences?
I know I have got links, sales, and feedback off newsgroups. The key to doing well with them is doing one of the following: - be an automated mass spammer who just plays the numbers, carpetbombing anything remotely relevant with spam - be a person who actively contributes to and learns from the community even outside of self promo. Many usegroup members are in the know, so they probably are not going to be fond of new members dropping self promo links until after they get to know you a bit if you go for the human approach make sure you put in a bunch of value before trying to grab value out
I used to be all over the newsgroups. But they got too spammy for me, and I eventually gave up on them. I'm not even sure that it's a good way to get visitors to your URL anymore. It felt like a ghost-town the last time I was there, and when I did find actual people, they seemed a bit nutty. I guess it would depend upon the group, and what the active readership looked like. If you concentrate on it and get good results, do report back. I'd be interested to hear how one can get good results from it nowadays. -Tony
I think a bunch of it is really up to how commercial a category is and how competitive it is. You still can occassionally find a few old timers hanging out on them, but blogs and lots of forums have really gave quality members many other places to post
yeah i guess if your niche is FREAKIN INSANE MORTAGE RATES, then you'll probably have a hard time pushing that or even finding anything valid to participate in. but if its something like electronic music or something, that enough people are currently into legitimately out of home and stuff, you could easilly participate in discussions and maybe catch a few extra visitors. i'm going to give this newsgroup service a go and i'll report back if anyones interested, see what kinds of niches seem to have actual people participating and how well received new websites are
I could have sworn I posted this already, but I guess I closed the tab before I sent it in. So, here's a rewrite: I think newsgroups work similar to Web forums, at least as far as getting links. You get into a newsgroup, make good posts, attach a signature with URLs, and if people like what you have to say, they might visit your sites. Back in 1995, when I was publishing WEBsurf magazine online, that was primarily how I drove visitors to the site -- hundreds upon hundreds of newsgroup posts, all with URLs in my sig. It really worked, at least back then. I wouldn't even try now. I think. -Tony
so u dont feel it would work now then? i guess the traffic might be low but it would be targeted traffic since the people following the link would have been browsing the newsgroup aswell.
Be careful with posting in newsgroups. If your Registar receives a spam complaing, you can loose your domain, or pay a fine.
I agree with aboyd - usenet groups have become a haven for spammers and I doubt I would be able to get much traffic by posting a link to my site. Over the past few years, I have posted to newsgroups related to my hobby of celebrity autograph collecting, and it seems that blogs (and Yahoo groups) have driven much of the traffic from Usenet groups. It seems that there is no real sense of "community" anymore, with people posting once or twice and then moving on. Just my 2 cents. Tom
Sorry I guess I wasn't really clear when I mentioned participation. I do agree with the lot of you about how newsgroups rarely (anymore at least) have regular members who actively participate for more than a couple of weeks, but there are some thriving ones out there. For example, in my dayjob I manage databases for a polling company, and a I work a lot with Microsoft Excel. Whenever my co-worker or I are in a real jam we turn to this Excel newsgroup that we frequent and you usually end up with a few responses of unique ways to handle a problem and some discussion as to which way is the best and most efficient, these people are real gurus. What I meant by participating is not really just going around posting and throwing a link in your sig, but more active participation in discussion. Say I had an Excel tutorial/bug/add-on site or something and on the newsgroup we got to discussing an issue and another webmaster chimes in. His/her site turns out to be full of Excel information and how-tos, and seeing how relevance is weighed heavier these days, it might help both parties to trade links. Two parties who otherwise might not have come across each other without sharing a common interest and participating. Thats more along the lines of what I meant, not like YEAH THIS VIDEO RULZ CHECK OUT MY SITE BTW. I'm giving it a go in the next week or two either way, just to see how it pans out.
Oh, I didn't meant that you would spam I was just saying everyone to be careful not to mess with anyone there...
Do links on the user groups get counted as back links by the search engines or is this just traffic and networking?
sometimes usegroups get syndicated to other sites or great posts lead to usegroup members liking you and linking to your site, but typically as far as direct cititations I don't think usegroups could be counted much since they are o so easy to spam
What about moderated forums in your niche, generally spam-free? I think I'd cruise them anyway for the zeitgeist factor, but is it realistic to expect to get any traffic from posting?
Not only traffic, but sales...but the key is to think beyond a mechanical carpet bomb aproach to posting at all forums...it works best if you post a dab here or there and then really concentrate on building up your rep at the places you really like to participate at. in essence everything you write can act as a mini sales message for you and your brand, but that generally works best if the posts are just good info and not sales messages. recently at DP someone asked about my ebook and some of the members here gave it great feedback. you can't buy that sort of friendship or feedback, but it usually takes a long time to get to where people like you and want to help you that much. the best way to speed that along is to try hard to help lots of other people and participate when you can.
I didn't even noticed that you were Aaron Wall. Great tools you have! Still haven't read your book, but it has great feedback.
Think of newsgroups like an forum, where the only interface is organizing by search or date posted. Now throw in that there is a separate forum, not section, for every single topic out there. So, as mentioned by the other posts here, you can slap a link in your signature when you reply to comments on the newsgroups. The only way you are gonna get links is by posting, whether it automated or human interface.