Have you ever needed or wanted to get in touch with someone you knew in the past? I think we all have at some time or other. Finding a long-lost acquaintance can be challenging. You can perform a people search offline in the more traditional ways or you can conduct your people search online. For an easier search method see I recommend visiting Online Investigation Network.

STEPS FOR OFFLINE PEOPLE SEARCH

- Contact former acquaintances or co-workers of the person if you know how to contact them and ask if they know where the person lives.
- Check telephone books in towns where you think the person most likely lives.
- Hire a private detective to find the person.
- Place ads in the newspaper in the town where you last saw the person to see if anyone knows their whereabouts.
- Place ads in the local newspapers in the cities where you think the person most likely lives.

STEPS FOR ONLINE PEOPLE SEARCH

- Check the person's name in online directories to see if anything comes up.
- Check all of the hundreds of online white page directories.
- Check the hundreds of online people search websites.
- Check online military records.
- Check online postal records.
- Check college or high school alumni records.
- Check online employment records.
- Check online military records.
- Check all of the thousands of online public records.

Obviously, both the online and off line methods will take a lot of time and work on your part. Newspaper ads and private detective can get very expensive very quickly. But fortunately there is a better way to do a people search. You can try one of the online investigation services.

Some of these services are rip offs but the reputable ones provide access to court records, DMV files, online white page directories, telephone records, property ownership records, marriage/divorce records and almost every public personal information database that is available online usually for a small one time fee that is less then the cost of a single classified ad in a local newspaper.

This information used to only be available to licensed private investigators, police and government agencies. Thanks to newly passed laws, it is now available to the public. One popular service is Online Investigation Network.

Online Investigation Network (http://www.onlineinvestigation.net) offers instant detective tools for people searches, background checks, criminal records, phone numbers lookup and other investigative self-help tools.