Introducing MomPack — Have you found the list for your niche yet?

Here's another traffic tip for you. Long before websites existed, there were interactive mail-based discussion lists, except now they're usually called “groups”. Despite the rise of forums (which have also been around for much longer than websites) and blogs, groups are still used by a lot of people to interact with others who share similar interests. The reason's pretty simple: everyone knows and understands how to use email! Also, email gets pushed out to you, so you don't have to remember to visit a website or a forum, which can be an advantage when you're looking for help or information now.

So here's my question to you: are you taking advantage of the groups in your topic area? There's almost certainly at least one group, probably several, devoted to any niche. Becoming a member of such a group is a great way to build contacts and find information related to your topic. Even if all you do is “lurk” in the group, chances are you'll come across questions or comments that might be useful in your quest to write good content for your sites. And you can even start participating in the group and build a reputation among the group members — just remember not to promote yourself blatantly. Putting your contact information in your signature at the end of the message is usually enough. You don't want to be seen as blatantly promoting yourself — most groups have prohibitions against it.

For example, some of you reading this might be interested in the MomPack list. Created specifically for “Moms in business”, the discussion list has over 3,000 members and is a great resource for female entrepreneurs. They also do co-operative advertising. If you're like the stay-at-home mom character in my book (Anita), this list might be of interest to you.

Where do you find these groups? Some are advertised more by word-of-mouth than anything, especially those that are invitation-only. But many can be found just by browsing Yahoo! Groups or Google Groups. And if you can't find one that suits your needs exactly, these sites let you set one up for free, after which it's a matter of you getting other interested parties to join.

So don't just focus on search engine optimization. Think about other venues for publicizing your site and yourself. Mailing lists are a great resource.

Eric Giguere is the AdSense expert who wrote Make Easy Money with Google and the new e-book Uncommon AdSense.

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