Most search engines have groups dedicated to themed discussion. These are often extensions of the obsolete Usenet groups which originally populated the primitive internet. A great area for audience participation and discussion, these web communities are active and engaging and comment archives allow these groups to have long-term benefit on your online presence.
Some examples include Google Groups and Yahoo! Groups.
Perform some searches around your chosen keywords and phrases to see if there is any commentary relevant to you taking place in any of these groups. If so, join the discussion by introducing yourself and answering any questions and putting unsavoury publicity to rest.
Creating a Google or Yahoo! Group
Depending on your individual situation, you can use these search engine groups to join the discussion and brand yourself online. These groups are generally free, but you’ll need to have signed up with a relevant account.
- Create Your Group: Build a user base by inviting contacts via email and attract others by commenting in related groups.
- Offer Information and Promote Discussion: Provide insider information and act as a valuable resource, promoting discussion by making statements, asking for opinions and responding to direct messages.
- Create Different Threads: Keep each communication channel relevant by creating multiple threads or sub-threads to organise the information.
- Leverage Your Platform: These discussion groups are great places to provide links for users and search engine spiders – submit links to your relevant blog posts and articles, but only once you’ve created a credible community profile.
It’s useful to remember that although each of these groups does allow you the chance to present yourself to the online community, if you engage them enough they will want to investigate you further.
Here, having a professional online profile that ranks on the SERPs is crucial so that your hard work doesn’t go to waste.
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