"The Lightning Speed Internet Sales Success Course"

                                  LESSON #10

                             © 1997 B.S.A. / F.M.
                    http://web.idirect.com/~bsa/index.htm
                       _______________________________

                                  THE TOPIC:

          How to find the Top Ten Internet newsgroups that most 
          concern any topic you choose - and how to use those 
          newsgroups to get project ideas, partners, free material 
          for projects, free assistance, and of course, CUSTOMERS!            

                                 THE ANSWER: 

                              The short answer: 

          Go to www.dejanews.com and simply type a word or phrase 
          into the search line for "Finding Groups". Investigate 
          these groups, then advertise on them if possible. Collect 
          email addresses, names of organizations and so on related 
          to your market (to find joint ventures), and just 
          basically go nuts.  

          For software that will help you go through newsgroup messages, 
          AOL forums, etc., check out http://www.cyberwave.com - Mizel
          is an authority on this topic.

                               The long answer:

          Let's say you've got something to advertise on the 
          Internet.  

          One thing you should do is follow the copy-cat principle. 
          Do what others are doing. Go to the same places, and do 
          the same things as they are doing. It's the same as the 
          age-old principle of finding crowded magazine classified 
          ad sections, and advertising there, where you know the 
          action is.  

          There's one really easy place to do this on the Internet: 
          newsgroups.  

          Specifically, here's what you do ...  

          Go to http://www.dejanews.com and ...  
          
               a) use the "search through messages" feature to find 
               messages that contain the phrase representing your 
               product or service. For example, "instructional 
               videos", "Future World", "Jewelway", "Blue-green 
               algae" or what-ever it is you've got for sale.  

               b) use the "search for newsgroups" feature to find 
               which newsgroups are discussing and carrying other 
               peoples free advertisements for that product or 
               service.  

                          THESE ARE THE PLACES WHERE
                          YOU SHOULD BE ADVERTISING!

          If a newsgroup was moderated, it wouldn't allow 
          advertising, so the product or service you are selling 
          wouldn't show up in that newsgroup much, no matter how 
          much people WANTED to advertise there. Therefore, your 
          Dejanews search results should point you almost 
          exclusively to safe places to advertise. But do some 
          investigating first anyway.  

          Examine the messages that come up from your search 
          results, too. They will contain good ideas, good copy, 
          potential partners, and marketing wisdom - combined with 
          the usual Internet jumble of rumors, slander, and 
          distractions. I'll leave it to you to sort out which is 
          which.  

          Just promise me you won't be a blatant plagiarist, OK? 
          It's OK to borrow somebody's marketing strategy but don't 
          take somebody's salesletter and stick your name on it. Now 
          get out there and sell some stuff.