Showing posts with label mlm businesses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mlm businesses. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

How To Continuously Generate Network Marketing Leads (1 )


In mlm businesses today, in order to survive and succeed, you need to be able to generate a continuous supply of free network marketing lead. The best mlm leads come from online mlm lead prospecting.


Generally online mlm leads are those who arrive at your website and fill their particulars on their own free will. There is no coercion on your part. Doing so on their own accord makes these prospects some of the best mlm leads that you will generate.


As with running any other businesses, you will need to work and put in the effort to make sure your mlm businesses succeed. By targeting the online mlm lead, you will need to have various network marketing strategies in place.


There are a number of ways to generate free network marketing lead, including but not limited to writing network marketing articles, use of social media, traffic exchange, blogging, video marketing, podcasting, safelist, etc…


Personally I like the use of network marketing articles best as this form of lead prospecting continues to bring visitors to your site long after your articles have been written. Interesting articles that are keyword targeted and submitted to the various article directories such as ezine.com, self growth.com and idea marketers.com go a long way to generate free network marketing lead.


You can convert your articles into podcasts as well as videos, using various free resources that are available widely on the internet. To create your podcast, you can use the audacity software whilst the windows movie maker can help you create your videos. Upload your podcast to free sites like podbean and your video to sites such as YouTube. All this will help in branding yourself as a leader in your mlm businesses.


The use of social media marketing can also help in your lead prospecting for your mlm businesses. There are numerous social media platforms around. These include popular sites such as facebook, myspace, twitter, etc… Done correctly whilst branding yourself brings you credibility. When your credibility is built up, you will be seen as a leader in the network marketing industry. This has the advantage of people wanting to follow you.


Traffic exchange is a service whereby you visit member’s sites in return for credits which allow other members to visit your sites as well. However, the members who visit your site may not be your targeted market.


Safelists are lists which contain email addresses of individuals who have agreed to receive email from other members of the mail safelist program. So when you join the safelist, you can also email to the members on the list.


Maintaining a blog is another way to brand you, provide value and drive traffic. Free blogging sites such as blogger.com and wordpress.com can be utilized. However the professionals will go for the paid version as you will not need to worry about your blog being shut down with no reason given, as has happened to many before.


The use of the various network marketing strategies as listed above in your online mlm lead prospecting is to drive traffic to your site which in turn hopefully creates a constant source of free network marketing lead for you. However driving traffic to your site alone does not guarantee you success in your network marketing business if these prospects are not converted into leads.


Saturday, March 21, 2009

Network Marketing Scams – How to Protect Yourself


For the self employed, navigating the topic of multi level marketing (mlm) business opportunity network marketing can be a tricky one. Although many network marketing mlm home business companies are legitimate and can be a good way to make money, there are others out there that cost you both financially and legally. How can you tell the difference? There are two major red flags to watch out for when it comes to mlm businesses, and if you can keep an eye out for them, you will be able to effectively protect yourself from the network marketing scams.

First things first, however: what is network marketing or multi level marketing? In many ways, multi level marketing is a lot like the franchise set up that many of your favorite chain restaurants operate under. The difference is that rather than being limited to a single location, representatives of mlm businesses perform sales on a roving basis – they move around and sell any place they can, rather than setting up a single shop. These representatives, also often called “down stream reps,” buy products from the parent company and then sell them on to stores or private individuals. The exact nature of the financial arrangement between the parent company and the downline mlm network marketing can differ from group to group, but usually there is a profit split on a pre-determined percentage basis. There is usually also some incentive for downline mlm network marketing to recruit new downlines, and they often receive a percentage of the sales made by anyone they recruit.

It is this last part of mlm businesses that can be the first red flag. Although most mlm businesses do provide this kind of recruitment incentive, some companies rely exclusively on recruitment to make money. Downline mlm network marketing recruit new representatives, and collect a joining fee from them (or collect money by selling them merchandise that they are supposed to then sell on), and then no actual selling of products happens. The whole business thrives on the recruitment of new members and the collection of membership fees. This is called a pyramid scam, and it is illegal. If you are investigating a company and it seems like you are unlikely to make any money from actual product sales, stay away.

The second red flag has to do with the product prices you get from the parent company. Some scammers set themselves up as mlm businesses and present products to their downlines at prices that would never allow them to clear a profit. If the prices you are being offered by the parent company are extremely high, and you doubt that you will be able to mark up the prices at all to resale the goods, you’ve likely stumbled on a scam. These scammers typically collect all the money they can from people – often not even delivering the goods that their “downlines” purchase from them – and then they close up shop and disappear, usually reappearing under a new name a few weeks later to perpetrate the scam again. Essentially, multi level network marketing is a business like any other, and if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.


Friday, March 20, 2009

Questions to Ask Before Joining MLM Businesses

Mlm business opportunity network marketing – it seems like you can barely turn around without bumping into one of them, promising to make you rich beyond your wildest dreams overnight, without you having to lift a finger. They often sound like they could be too good to be true, and often, they are. Having said that, there are mlm businesses that are legitimate and really do offer entrepreneurs a good way to earn extra cash from home. The problem then becomes – how do you tell them apart? Here are some questions you should consider before joining any mlm businesses.

The first question involves the top tier of the company. Who are they? What do you know about them? Are they the founders of the company? Many mlm businesses give you a song and dance about the company founder being some poor, down on the luck man or woman, who took a chance one day with little investment and now runs around with a fleet of private jets and vacation homes. Sounds a little suspicious, doesn’t it? Although it will be nice if that happens, what you really want to know is that the company is headed by business people who are willing to have an honest and realistic discussion about the company. Beware there, the “I was once just like you,” pitch – it’s just emotional manipulation.

The next question regards the product you will be selling. First of all, if no one seems to be concerned about the product, run away. That is a pyramid scam, and getting caught up in it is costly and illegal. Once you know what the product is, do your market research. Is there a demand for it? Who are your competitors? If it would sell well in a normal retail environment, why isn’t the product placed there? This research will help you determine if this plan could really be one of the few money making systems that will work.

Next, find out more about promotion responsibilities. Is the company actively promoting the product, as a franchise would, or do you have to cover all advertising and promotion costs yourself? That could get costly fast, and send your budget well into the red.

Last but not least, figure out when you will see a return on your investment. If the company gives you a lot of talk about long term visions, turn and walk away. There’s no reason you should wait for years for a return on an investment in this kind of venture. You should be looking for something in which you could start making your money back within a few weeks of starting to sell. If things are going to take longer, either the initial investment is out of whack or the mlm network marketing opportunity is one that is destined to fail.

Answering these questions will help you clear up any confusion you have mlm businesses and help you zero in on a mlm network marketing opportunity that is right for you or one that is for the birds.