What people think of you and your product or service is key to good business, as any business owner or executive can tell you. Being an otherwise smart businessperson, you recognize that you need to be on the Internet today to be successful. Here's how to get free website traffic using Yahoo Groups - but using them in ways that won't ruin your online reputation.
At first, the director of Yahoo Groups might seem like the answer to your website traffic dilemma. Right away you get identify dozens of groups that relate to your goods or services. So you do what many inexperienced online businesses do: You jump in headfirst with the absolutely wrong approach.
You apply to join several groups that look like good prospects. Each group's moderator reviews and accepts your application because you tell them you can "contribute" to the group. You start "contributing" all right - except that you're using software that submits your posts automatically, prominently displaying your website address as an active link. You get a few new visitors from this process, but before long people are complaining to the moderators about your "posts." Next thing you know, every one of the moderators has kicked you out for "spamming."
For example, here's the WRONG way to go about gaining free traffic through online groups: You can apply to join these groups, and each group's moderator reviews your application. You're accepted into the groups and you start "contributing" by means of software that posts your "contributions" automatically. Some people respond to your links. However, shortly thereafter, the moderators get hip to the fact that you're not participating, you're simply trawling the groups for customers. That's when you'll get marked as a "spammer" and ejected.
What's the right way to gain free traffic through Yahoo Groups? It's simple (and honest): Join the group and actually contribute some information that people want.
So here's the right way to get traffic using Yahoo Groups: Write something that actually contributes to the knowledge that people in the group are seeking.
Sounds too simple to be true, right? Well, it isn't. People who join online groups are looking for information about specific topics and interests that they share. You may not be an expert in everything, but you are an expert in your product or service that has an application to their interest. So share some of that valuable information with them. Don't try to "spam" them by trying to send them immediately to your website or an affiliate link. That kind of tactic is what gets you marked immediately as a spammer.
There is one other way to market through Yahoo Groups, and that's by starting your own group. Be prepared to work at this option, because it takes time and effort to start, moderate, and grow a group. The best thing about this alternative is that once the group is established, you will be able to send promotional pieces to the group that will be accepted because they're coming from the moderator.
The bottom line: Don't be a leech. Genuinely contribute, and you'll find you get plenty of free traffic using Yahoo Groups.
Dhruv Patel is a customer of DreamHost. He has created site to help new DreamHost customers and to promote DreamHost by giving DreamHost coupon.
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