Personal Blog of Forest Marie

More and more network marketers are turning to the internet to grow their business. The internet seems to offer a great number of advantages compared to traditional network marketing including the ability to reach out to people outside your circle of friends and family. If you are also thinking of joining the internet band wagon to promote your MLM business, here are 4 things you need to put in place.

1. Website: The website is the basic requirement if you want to market online. This is your home on the internet where you invite guests and prospects. Many MLM companies are nowadays providing a replicated website for their distributors, which also help them to track and monitor the sales and the downline of their distributors. However, since all distributors would get the same website, you will not be able to stand out. Therefore, it is a good idea to develop a new site. Alternatively, a blog will serve the purpose. You can get a free blog on blogger.com or a hosted blog with wordpress.org.

2. Products: Once you have put in your site or a blog, you need to put in the product information in the form of pages on your site. If you are using a company replicated website, the product details will already be mentioned on it including presentations and videos. However, if you are having your own site or blog, you will need to add in the product information of your MLM Company. It is a better idea to put this information in the form of articles and videos which will attract the visitors.

3. Advertisement: If you want to attract visitors to your site, you will need to advertise your business. This can be done in several ways both free and paid. Free methods include traffic exchanges, safe lists, article marketing, ezines and video marketing. The most effective way to advertise is to first build your personal brand in your industry as an expert and then as a side effect, you will find people getting attracted to your MLM business.

4. Targeting: The internet is a great medium to attract people but you should attract only those who are interested, not the casual reader. This means targeting the appropriate audience. For this, you need to use techniques like search engine optimization, keyword optimization, categorization, social bookmarking, tagging your articles and videos and several other techniques.

If you are able to do these 4 things, you will be able to easily grow your MLM business online.

General Network Marketing MLM, MLM business, Network Marketing

There are thousands of network marketing companies in the world selling almost every kind of product under the sky. Millions of people buy these products and also help to distribute them in order to earn commissions. Some products sell more and some companies are more profitable than others. Some distributors make millions while other quit within months. While there are individual differences in products, here are the top 5 product categories of network marketing products:

• Nutrition: The wellness industry is soon going to become a trillion dollar industry and therefore it is attracting a whole host of companies every year. These companies usually market nutritional drinks, meal replacement products, shakes and bars which help to improve the health of body and mind. This category also includes a variety of weight management products, energy drinks and sports nutrition products. There are old and established companies like Usana and Herbalife International as well as new entrants like eFusjon and Vemma.

• Personal Care: This is a popular segment with women and includes a whole variety of cosmetic products including shampoos and conditioners for hair care, lotions and crèmes for body care, moisturizers and creams for face care and the most popular being anti-aging products. Many companies that offer nutritional products also offer personal care products since it makes for a profitable combination. Companies in this segment include Ultra Selects, Herbalife International, Melaleuca and others.

• Household Items: This category is also a popular category since many people use these products on the recommendations of their friends and neighbors. These include glass and surface cleaners, water purifiers, bedding, covers, decorative items and other products. Companies like Zoegetics, EcoQuest International, At Home America and others are well known in this category. There are other companies like Close to my heart, Creative memories and Heritage makers which offer scrap booking products and photo albums.

• Services: There are a number of companies that offer services and sell them through network marketing. These include companies like Ambit Energy and Ignite Energy which sells energy plans at low cost to consumers and Global Verge and 5Linx which sell telecommunications services like VoIP and call benefits.

• Unique: Companies like Numis Network which market coin collections and iJango which markets shopping websites are examples of companies with some unique network marketing products.

If you are searching for a network marketing company, make sure you select one whose products you would like to sell.

General Network Marketing MLM, Network Marketing

Network marketing is a popular way of doing business engaged in by millions of people across the world. In this, you earn money from the efforts of others and can dream of earning a residual income which will take care of generations to come. However, when you start, you are at the bottom and you need to build your organization. Irrespective of how good the compensation plan is, there are certain personal qualities that a network marketer should possess if he has to succeed. There are 4 such qualities in my opinion.

1. The ability to generate leads: Whatever assurances your up line distributors might give you about helping you to generate leads, it is you who has to work to get leads for your organization. There are 2 types of leads – one that become customers and others that become distributors like you. Traditionally, people have focused on approaching friends and family to join but this approach has its limitations. Therefore the new age network marketers are turning to the internet to target the audience they want and attract leads for their business.

2. The ability to develop trust: This is the most important quality of a network marketer. It does not matter how great the company is or how great the products are, the prospective distributor does not join the company because he like the products or the compensation plan. He joins only because he trusts you and knows that you are going to stand by and help him develop the business. If you are building an online list of prospects, you can develop trust over a period of time by consistently giving information and solutions which are valuable to your prospects.

3. The ability to sell: There are network marketing companies which make canned presentations and put them up on the website. All you need to do is to direct people to those presentations and the company claims the presentations would do the sales job. This might work to some extent but as I mentioned earlier, it is the personal trust that sells and not a jazzy presentation. Therefore, you need to learn selling skills if you want to grow your organization.

4. The ability to support: Once you have a team of distributors in your downline, you need the leadership skills to support them and the guide them to replicate the model you are working on. This is the only way to generate more success in the MLM industry.

If you have the 4 qualities mentioned above, you can become a successful network marketer.

General Network Marketing MLM, Network Marketing

I believe it is difficult to run any business whether it is a corporate business or an MLM business. There are different dynamics involved and different problems need different solutions. There is a lot of attrition and job losses in the corporate sector and similarly, many fresh MLM entrepreneurs quit when they are unable to succeed. I perceive that there are 4 basic reasons which people quit MLM business too early.

• Lack of Direction: Fresh entrepreneurs come with a lot of hope and energy and they put in a lot of work in their initial days. However, when results do not come, they become disappointed and quit. This reason for this is that there is not enough direction and understanding of the overall issues and the nature of the business. It is possible that the company has not given individual attention to this distributor in the training program. It is possible that the sponsor does not provide mentoring and does not lead his team to success. So before quitting, one must ask whether one is getting the right direction and guidance from other in the company and if not, seek it.

• Lack of vision: A personal vision of success greatly helps in achieving one’s goals. But if one is lazy and not motivated enough to work on the business plan, then success is hard to come. Many people think MLM to be a get rich quick scheme and do not put in the required effort in developing their downlines or getting new customers. If one has to motivate oneself, one must reconnect with one’s goals in life especially those of financial independence which is sure to provide enough energy to work for the business.

• Distrust in the company’s products: It is quite often that one comes across negative publicity of the company or its products and it is quite disheartening to know that you are selling such a company’s business. However, every company has a darker and brighter side and just focusing on the dark side is not the solution. If you have made thorough research before you chose this MLM business, then you must stick to your decision and carry out your plans.

• Fear: This is a common problem with people who have not sold products. Even experienced sales people sometimes experience fear to some extent. The fear is either for getting rejected or of not achieving one’s goals. However getting some sales training and not expecting immediate results from sales calls might be a solution to fear.

If you are able to identify your key problem, you can try to solve it and move forward.

General Network Marketing MLM, Network Marketing

Many people join an MLM business just because they are tired of their jobs and want to earn more money in an easy manner. While there are several advantages of MLM, people do not enter the business with the right perspective. Either they choose the wrong company or do not put in the right effort. In any case, they quit within a few months with a bad taste. However, if one does the proper research before picking up an MLM opportunity, there is a good chance of success. Here are some questions that you should ask and find out the answers before you sign the contract.

Industry
• Is this industry profitable? What is the level of competition in this industry?

Company
• What is the track record of the company? Is the company doing all it is supposed to do in order to remain ahead of the market? Is the company constantly innovating and helping people solve their problems? What training programs are offered by the company? What resources and kits are provided by the company to help its distributors? Who is the CEO and does he display credentials of leadership?

Product
• What do the users of the product have to say about it? Are there any negative comments on the products? What are the differences between this product and its competitors?

Compensation
• What is the value of the auto ship I have to buy? Will I be able to use all the products I get through the auto ship? How much money I can make with this company given their compensation plan? Do I earn more through residual income or through product sale commissions? How many distributors I need to recruit in order to break even? What are the promotion levels? Does the compensation plan provide enough to support the new entrants as compared to the people at the level of directors?

Up line
• Who is my sponsor and since when is he in the business? Who are his other partners and how profitable they are? Is the sponsor able to lead his team to success?

Personal Goals
• How much money do I expect to make from this MLM business? In what time frame? How long am I willing to invest time, money and energy in promoting this business? Are there people who can help me? What king of skills do I need to succeed in this business? Where can I upgrade my knowledge and skills?

When you do this amount of detailed research, you will be able to get a grip on the company and the business which will help in the decision.

General Network Marketing MLM, MLM business, MLM opportunity, Network Marketing