To continue on with promotion part of this series of articles, I would like to discuss networking with discussion lists and message boards as a way of promoting your business/ezine.

Those of you who know me, know that I am a big believer in online networking as an effective method of promotion. I enjoy it for other reasons as well, such as meeting new people and making friends, but that is icing on cake! ;-)

Participating in message boards and discussion lists gives you a chance to make yourself known as an expert in your field and also to build your reputation.

What you need to do is give advice, help, support and share your experiences whenever opportunity arises. This will draw people to you and get them to check out your site and/or subscribe to you ezine.

There are a few things to remember when getting involved in boards and groups.

* Always follow rules and guidelines when posting. * Never insult people or put them down. This is flaming! * Do not spam. * Help others when you get chance. * Make sure you have an effective sigtag. This is how you promote your ezine. * Give of yourself and get involved with people. * Relax, enjoy and have a good time!

Here are some lists and boards to get you started:

Message Boards

Unfortunately, this is how it works for more than 70 percent of Internet's sites. This while a lucky 15 percent of top sites pull in at least six figures per year. How do they do it?

Here is simple, proven three-step strategy for getting a steady stream of visitors and turning them into paying customers.

1. Start by getting your web site on search engines. Almost everyone who surfs Internet uses major search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines are your best bet for steady, targeted traffic. But you won't get visitors just by being listed on a search engine. You need to be one of first few links to come up when people search for a site like yours.

Search engines all use very complex and different ways to rank sites. Experts and SEO (search engine optimization) reports can quickly show you what your site needs to do to be listed high by key search engines.

Additionally, search engines change their methods all time. What worked last year probably isn't working today. Get up-to- date information to achieve ranking you want. This is how major corporations keep their sites busy and profitable. There is no reason why even smallest business can't harness this same information.