If a discussion is going on about "advertising on the Internet" and your site contains solid advertising advice and information, you will probably attract traffic to your site by posting a message with some of the Internet Advertising trends you've observed.

Newsgroups grew out of people's need to share information on mutually interesting subjects. There are tens of thousands of online newsgroups, the largest collection of groups being on Usenet, which lists the groups by hierarchies. The prefix of the group indicates its hierarchy. For example: alt (alternative topics) biz (business) comp (computers) misc (miscellaneous) news (news and discussion about Usenet) rec (recreation) talk (controversial topics).

The suffix contains the group's name.  For example, rec.camping focuses on camping. There are two unofficial classes of groups, mainstream and alternative.  The alternative group(s) are generally more leading edge.

You can access Usenet through Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.  It's better to use software specially designed to access newsgroups.  For Windows, download Free Agent, which allows on and offline reading, at http://www.forteinc.com/agent/index.htm.  You can also check out http://www.reference.com or the popular http://www.dejanews.com.

Usenet is much more text-based than the web, with no pictures,  although you can download pictures from some newsgroups for viewing offline.   Usenet holds an incredible variety of information from serious, valuable commentary to zany, off-the-wall information.  Just think of any subject... you'll probably find it there online.   And a good number of newsgroups have dedicated participants who are readily prepared to exchange useful information with one another.

If you select a group and can read its messages you can also post your messages to that group. Some newsgroups are moderated.   That means your message will have to be approved by the group's moderator.  Moderated newsgroups are far easier to deal with because there is less extraneous and superfluous discussion.   Most Usenet groups are self-policing and the members have developed ways to deal with unwanted behavior.   If you dare post something that breaks "the rules", you can rightly expect to be flamed (sent negative and hostile messages) or have your server overloaded with e-mails by a disgruntled member(s) of that newsgroup.

There's only so much time that a person can devote to forums, newsgroups and mailing lists.  So the best thing to do is, discover 2 or 3 that most closely match your market.  Establish your presence in one group at a time and participate as frequently as possible.

People with similar interests subscribe to mailing lists.  When a member sends or answers an e-mail to the list, all members receive the message. Members also can communicate directly with other members.  To find mailing lists, use http://www.liszt.com where you'll find a directory of literally tens of thousands of public lists categorized by interest.

Mailing lists have two broad categories, private or public, moderated or un-moderated.  Obtaining a private list membership will depend on your meeting some requirement.    This can vary from professional qualifications to just giving your e-mail address.  Moderated lists have a person who acts as a message gatekeeper.  He/she will read all submitted messages and post only those meeting acceptability requirements.  Thankfully, the moderator may edit rambling messages or produce a digest of messages.   Without a moderator all messages are posted to all subscribers, who can end up with dozens of daily messages from the list.  Some of these can be pretty dumb and off-the-wall.

Forums are discussion groups located on commercial online services like America Online, or can be part of a web site.  To access a forum, you'll have to be a subscriber to the online service that hosts it.  You usually can read the forum's messages, but you usually are required to formally join the forum to access its libraries, conference rooms or classified advertising area.   Usually all that is required is, the registration of your name.

Let's say a particular forum's topic is Broadcasting:  the forum may have guest participants who are expert in on-air programming, on-air talent, sales management, promotions or engineering.  If you have expertise in the forum's area, you can promote your site related to broadcasting or your expertise to a huge number of people by leading or participating in a conference.  Your web site and qualifications will always be identified and a transcript will be archived in the library for others to view.

Learn the unwritten rules of "netiquette".  Prior posting to a newsgroup or mailing list it is advisable to stay in the background for a while, observing but not participating.  An inappropriate post you make to group with a large membership can take on a life of its own and continue on for days or even weeks.   And God forbid, you post a blatant sales pitch for your product, service or site on a list that forbids commercial messages.   No doubt the message will simply be ignored.  But as stated earlier, you may become victim to flaming or unwanted quantities of hostile and negative e-mail.   Most groups prefer that you post useful information with a signature file that describes your business.

Other rules to follow:
It is important to spell check your posts for typographical errors, incorrect grammar or misspellings that can quickly create the impression that your business may be less than professional.  That can cost you potential customers.  This is good advice to follow with regard to your web site too.  It can be a big task, particularly with multi-page web sites, but again, it is an important function.

Don't use html, colored text or graphical signatures in your posts.  The list server distributing your posts may not support these functions and your post can end up being converted to ASCII (pronounced as-key), which is a very dull text format to read and therefore likely to be skipped.  Everyone on the list may not be using the latest browser or e-mail software, and may not be able to see or open html features.

When you put your e-mail address in your message, be sure to precede it with the word "mailto." For example, writing mailto:info@BMCommunications.com will make it a clickable link for anyone who wants to respond to you. And when you give your web site address, always precede it by "http://", as in http://www.BMCommunications.com so that someone can click on the URL (or domain name) to go directly to your web site.   Note: Some mail software programs and web site editors now automatically create the links without the the mailto and http prefixes.  You just type in the e-mail address or domain name.

Make all posting titles short, but descriptive.  The more intriguing the title, the more likely it is to be read by others.   And when you respond to an individual's message, refer to its subject in your opening and respond to the sender ONLY and not the group.

Remember that remarkable thing that occurs if you don't market and promote your products or services properly....."nothing!"