Identifying and posting to appropriate forums - newsgroups, e-mail discussion lists and Web forums - where site announcements are allowed is another effective way to spread the word about your site. People who are interested in your issue may read your message or see your URL in a forum discussion and then visit your site.

The most effective way for you to promote your site through forums participation is to become a regular participant in discussions relevant to your site. If your site focuses on alterntives to clearcutting, identify forums where people discuss environmental issues. When a question about clearcutting comes up, answer it and direct them to your site. In other words, identify your target audience, and "hang out" in the same forums they hang out in.

The most important things to remember when participating in any type of forum are:

• Stay on topic
• Post messages with useful content

For instance, alt.comp.shareware wouldn't be interested in your clearcutting resources, so don't even try to post a message to their group about them. Posting in a forum that has nothing to do with your message will only anger the other participants and will get you banned from the forum. You may also get "flamed," which means someone will post an angry and impolite message directed toward you.

There are three general types of forums: Usenet newsgroups, web-based forums, and email discussion lists. You can find a listing of all types of mailing list forums at Liszt.com. You can find more of them here.

Usenet is the system of online discussion groups were participants post messages related to the newsgroup topic. One example of a Usenet newsgroup is alt.comp.shareware, where forum participants discuss computer shareware. There are only two ways you can view Usenet discussions and post messages to them. One is by using a newsreader like News Rover or by going to deja.com where you can read them online.

For more information on Usenet newsgroups, see deja.com's "General Usenet Information." For more information on using Usenet newsgroups to promote your site, read the Website Promoter Resource Center's article, "Advertising on Usenet."

Web-based forums exist solely online. You don't need a newsreader to participate. Some sites include a discussion area where you can register by submitting your email address and choosing a password. Once you have registered you can create new topics or respond to other messages in the discussions. Delphi and Forum One are good places to start to find forums on your topic. There are hundreds of topic discussions, and both have search features to make it quick and easy to find the forums you are interested in.

Email discussion lists are forums where group members send in messages of interest to the forum and they are compiled into one large message and sent to everyone who has subscribed to the list. MMG's I-Sales is an example of a discussion list. You must sign up to receive the discussion list via email. Once you have signed up, you can contribute to the conversation, but your comments must first go through a moderator. The moderator edits the lists to make sure messages remain on topic and initiates new conversation topics and member interaction when necessary.

Now that you've discovered a couple of ways to get people talking about your site, let's cover yet another way people find out about websites: opt-in email campaigns.