I guarantee your answer is somewhere along these lines, “I wanted to make some extra money and become financially free.”

Your right in thinking that network marketing can positively affect your financial future. In fact, it is among the only type of business that does NOT rely on your education level, social class, location or race. It is as far reaching as it is unlimited in its potential to earn wealth.

When you talk to prospects about your business, how do you broach the topic?

More than likely you make a not so subtle brief lead in statement and then hit them with the opportunity.  You try to stick to the corporate script hoping your prospect will ask you questions about your network marketing company and its products or services.

The truth is you cannot convince someone who doesn’t have a need or interest in what you have to offer.  You’re barking up the wrong tree.  Sure, one or two may say ‘yes’ initially, but if you’ve been in network marketing any length of time, you know that’s not enough.  The hardest thing to do is motivate someone to work as hard as you do.  Next question…

How much money have you spent so far?

I’ve seen many distributors spend hundreds of dollars in one shot at corporate ‘pep rally’ events. Did you know that many top tier network marketers admit to being thousands of dollars in debt?  In fact,  it’s quite common.  In addition to the initial enrollment fees, product packs, and marketing packages, they’ve accumulated hundreds or thousands (depending on how long they’ve been in the industry) in advertising expenses, purchasing opportunity leads, monthly auto-ship requirements and travel expenses.  Broke and in debt, a very high number of network marketers drop out.

What have you been taught?

Think about it, how successful can your marketing efforts actually be when it’s targeted to people who never directly asked you for information? 

Which brings up a good point, 95% of people who get involved in MLM have absolutely no formal training in marketing. The methods widely taught in Network Marketing are completely contrary to those used by business savvy retailers and marketing experts.  Could this contribute to the high failure rate? 

You’re encouraged to get in people’s faces and hit them in the eye with your message. Constantly trying to sneak in your opportunity message into every conversation you have.   How many of you can actually enjoy telemarketing?  How do you respond to calls like that?

Network marketers are pushed to work harder and harder.  But that’s not the solution.

The goals and aspirations of network marketing can only be realized through the use of the most powerful social medium today…the Internet. It is by far, the perfect tool used by a growing number of network marketers to explode their down line while simultaneously realizing huge financial gain.

Develop skills that teach you how to work smarter not harder.  Slowly, network marketers like you, are catching on to just how the Internet can exponentially multiply their own efforts in ways they could not possible accomplish on their own.   This requires a shift in your thinking.  Instead of “one, two or three new representatives” a week you’ll have 15, 20 or 30 every month.  That’s exactly what I saw when I took my business building efforts online. 

When you’ve exhausted your initial contact list of 20, 30 or even 50 people and just about alienated everyone of your family, friends and peers what are you left with?  Was it really worth the effort?  Your upline will likely tell you to do one of three things:

·         Purchase leads.

·         Start at the beginning again and rework your list.

·         Keep the faith.

Although I am a big believer in faith, running a business requires planning, strategizing and a solid monetization plan.

The goals and aspirations of network marketing can only be realized through the use of the most powerful social medium today…the Internet. It is by far, the perfect tool used by a growing number of network marketers to explode their down line while simultaneously realizing huge financial gain.

If you’ve ever invested in stocks or mutual funds and such, you know that it’s extremely important to diversify your portfolio. Why? Because, it is the best way to protect yourself and your money. Should one company fail to live up to expectations, you minimize your losses. This is even the more relevant in network marketing industry.

Don’t think your network marketing company will fail you?

Distributors Rights Association is dedicated to defending MLM distributors from unfair tactics used against them by their network marketing company. It logs and displays the more recent incidents of MLM distributor suspensions, terminations, and fraud within the industry. There are lawyers who specialize in these cases and they are kept very busy.

• Distributor suspension is one step before termination. The MLM company will suspend all income from a distributor while it considers as to whether or not any rules have been broken. However, D.R.A. has noted a growing trend among floundering MLM companies to use this tactic against their top distributors and “buffer up their coffers.”
  
• Distributor termination is another common complaint. Let’s say your doing very well and moving up the ranks of your MLM company. In fact, your doing better than your upline (not surprising when using the Internet to build your business). DRA has recorded cases of false allegation against another distributor who has much to gain by their termination. Most often, the company does not do a thorough check investigation and all too quickly terminates the accused and the distributor loses all contact information with his/her downline as well as all monies earned. The accuser on the other hand, inherits the terminated distributor’s downline and all the income generated from it.
• Similarly, there are recorded incidents of top selling distributors suddenly cut-off from the company and their downline. Failing MLM companies have been known to cut off some of the top earners in an effort to lower their expenses. The example used was when you have a distributor who brings in $20,000 worth of business and receiving $50,000 in earnings. The company will consider the $20,000 an acceptable loss in light of the fact they save $30,000 after terminating the distributor ($50,000 – $20,000 = $30,0000 savings).

Look, do you believe your house will burn down, or a flood will suddenly destroy your property? No, and neither do I. However, I still pay a monthly premium for my homeowners insurance just in case. This affords me protection for the things I have worked hard to obtain. In essence, it protects my investments, my assets from certain risks.

Think of all the effort and time you are putting into building your MLM/Network Marketing business. The hard truth is that it does not belong to you. You don’t have exclusive say or ownership over your network.

Think about this…why are you investing so much time, money and effort in something you don’t own? At any time, the company could conceivably cut you and several other distributors or IBOs off from their downline. Top distributors bringing in well over $10,000 a month and living a comfortable life when suddenly there were cut off from the company, their own downline and income. It’s happened to many others before. Isn’t that enough of a reason to start taking some precautionary measures?

So how can you protect yourself?

For network marketers, the question is not “how can I become a top tier network marketer?” Think of your network marketing business as just an extension of your online business. Instead, ask yourself, “How can I use Network marketing as another income stream for my business.”

Start an online business of your own with multiple streams of income, including your network marketing’s products/services. Consider your MLM as only one of several sources of income. There are many ways to successful build an income stream using the net including information marketing, affiliate marketing, selling digital and hard goods, selling advertising space, and many others.

Did you know that in most MLM companies, a distributor’s down-line cannot be inherited by their children? They too will have to start from scratch. Use your online presence to target a ripe audience already looking for network marketing opportunities.  A well plannned website will qualify your leads and compile a targeted list of warm leads for you.  This lsit is yours! All the while you are making money from everyone visiting your site even if they don’t join your MLM.

To quote a common American expression,  ‘take the bull by the horns’  and learn how to protect yourself, your business and your family’s future first. Having your own online business and multiple income stream protects and is something you can pass along to your children in the long run.

Often times people will confuse benefits with features.  Benefits are specific ways that your product or service can improve a client’s life such as save time, money, trouble, inconvenience, etc.

 Here’s a list USPs used by popular merchants:

• Kinkos – copies that save your business money
• Orbitz – Guaranteed lowest fare or cash back.
• Netflix – just $4.99 a month. No late fees.
• Rotto Rooter –“ away goes trouble down the drain”

 Imitation Is The Best Form of Flattery

 Your USP or Unique Selling Proposition highlights what differentiates you from your competition. Even one small difference can be promoted well enough to get others to notice. Do some research.  Look at your competition, what are their USPs?  Study their landing pages. Do they follow a formula?  Can you find a pattern?

 What single advantage can you offer that your customers won’t find elsewhere. Brainstorm and list as many as you can think of.  Highlight the best ones and focus your sales content on these.  Don’t ignore the others on your list, instead weave them in your copy as well. 

In fact, your headlines should pack a powerful punch each time. Most visitors are scanners. They simply scan the headlines and bold text before deciding whether to linger any longer and read the rest. Therefore, the total sum of your headlines and bold text should tell the story you are trying to get across in brief.

Go back, look at your landing page and read only the headlines and bold text. Do they relate your message in and of themselves? Headlines are one of your most powerful tools in …

Creating Critical Curiosity

The very first principle your site must utilize is to build your visitors curiosity. Human beings are naturally curious. You need to use enough bait to lead them further down your landing page. Utilize the concept of reciprocity. This works amazing well.

Marketing analysts say that giving free gifts builds a subtle sense of obligation towards you. Offer them good solid content, advice, helpful how-to’s, solid information in your e-zine and free e-book. The more you offer, the greater the sense of obligation they will have towards you. This also has the added benefit of building your credibility and trust in your visitor’s eyes. Trust is the one thing that clinches the deal.

What I see more often than not online are false leads. That is enticing descriptions in the search engine that lead you to believe you will get one thing, just to find out you’ve landed smack in the middle of a hardcore sales pitch.

There’s an old saying, “You’ll get more flies with honey than vinegar.” Don’t shove your product and pitch down your visitor’s throat. Think about it, what is better: the hard sell looking that goes after one-time customers or building a relationship that will bring in repeat customers?

Go slow but don’t introduce yourself too early in the page. Tell the truth be straightforward and honest. Online shoppers and surfers are not stupid. They know when they are being pitched and can recognize hype a mile away, click and their gone. Just because others are doing it, doesn’t necessarily mean it actually works.

The best approach is to build credibility. Start off identifying a common problem, back it up with factual evidence (statistics, etc.) build on the emotion (frustration) behind the problem. Then you can introduce yourself, all the while building credibility that translates into “I know what I’m talking about.” This is the best way to establish an emotional connection with your site visitor. During this time you are also eluding to a solution because you want to…

Build Anticipation That Sizzles

Resist the urge to shove your product in front of your visitor just yet. Talk about how your “wonderful” solution to this problem. Identify it’s benefits!

Talk about all the benefits without spilling the beans. This is how you build anticipation and it works very effectively. Want to really get them salivating? Incorporate the element of scarcity (limited quantity, provide a countdown if you can) or ‘limited time’ with an actual date, ‘limited offer to the first 10 customers’, etc. What this does in essence is utilize another very powerful motivator, namely….

Fear

No one wants to be left out. When you have a lot of people all vying for the same thing, you are generating a feeding frenzy! The time is ripe with anticipation and excitement, two very powerful emotions.

Remember, shopping is almost exclusively an emotional response to a stimulus. Two types of fear you can capitalize on are fear of loss and fear of being left out and are the most effective in marketing.  Limited quantities only, speaks to the “fear of loss”.

Whereas, limited membership or limited to the first 10 purchases speaks to the fear of missing out. If your selling memberships, it’s the later you want to speak directly to. Tell them what their missing by not signing up to your newsletter or e-zine. Oh, and one more thing I think you’ll appreciate is a little secret to…

Lead Them To Your Door

Did you notice something? Look at the way this blog is written. I used a simple method to get you to read the next headline using the last sentence as the lead-in to the next headline. Adapt this style in your body copy as an effective way to lead your visitor further down the page. It got you this far, didn’t it?

How do you do that?  Just ask yourself, “so what?” 

For instance, let’s say your selling an ebook on how to write good copy for your business. 

“So what?”  Well, learning these skills will save you money because you won’t have to hire a copywriter. 

“So what?”  These skills are critical to anyone running a business. 

“So what?”  When you become adept at copywriting, your sales will skyrocket and your online business could conceivably run itself.  Okay better, but let’s ask one more time,

“So what?”  Now you’ll have time on your hands to tend to other matters, less stress and more time to spend with your family.  Who can argue with that, right? 

Use this method to  identify the benefits you are offering. List them all out on paper.  No matter how big or small, list them all.  Put a star next to the ones that have the biggest appeal.  Those are the ones that will be the most prominent on your site.  Include all of the benefits you’ve listed.  Weave them all in until you feel you’ve successfully created anticipation.  Using this technique is like laying out the bread crumbs that your visitors will follow right to your purchase page.  Little by little, one step at a time will guarantee much better results.

Needs are meeting the basic essentials for our daily lives such as basic transportation, clothing, food and shelter.  Wants on the other hand, is a desire for things that improve our quality of life.  So, although it may be more practical to buy a used car to get to and from work, few of us would deny really wanting a new car instead.  This plays out in all of our decisions, do I get the basic plan that meets my needs or the upgrade with the nice extras I would really enjoy?

Online shoppers look for items only after they’ve decided to purchase.  The main motivating factor is convenience.  For most online shoppers, price is not the top motivating factor, thereby, placing greater value on saving time over money.  Often times, once a buyer has found the item they were searching for,  a well written sales copy can appeal to the desire to improve their quality of life with a little extra often in the form of an upgrade.

Why is wanting such a powerful motivator?  Advertising has done an excellent job in convincing us that the basics are not good enough.  It’s not enough to get by driving a used car.  What would your co-workers say?  What about your image? 

People are highly motivated by having the best or the newest gadget.  Think about the long lines of people who wait outside of retail stores to purchase a limited item such as a new laptop or video game. 

Take a cue from the large retailers and craft your sales copy to speak directly to a person’s wants.  Retailers understand this concept and know how to center their marketing and advertising campaigns to appeal to it. 

There is so much more to know about this topic.  I can’t possibly cover it here.  You can download the special report entitled, “7 Hidden Psychological Secrets to Maximum Sales” at www.buildmynetwork.org .

Choose only those programs that flow nicely with your existing online business thereby, adding quality to your content.  The more you can offer your visitors while focusing on your site’s theme, the better.

The Millionaire League

This directory focuses on specialized affiliate programs.  Offers a free e-book, “Licensed To Print Money”.  You also get new money making ideas, tips, strategies and techniques added EVERY MONTH! That means NEW ebooks, NEW reports, and NEW videos covering the hottest money making topics! Not to mention 24/7 Email & Video Support and an 60 Day Guarantee!  Lifetime memberships were $200 but new offer is $47 with the first 60 days free.

Clickbank is well known as one of the largest affiliate directories online.  With hundreds of different affiliate programs listed by category and search phrases.  It’s free to join and easy to incorporate your new “hoplink” into your site using simple html that is given to you to cut and paste.  However, please be aware that Clickbank does not make any guarantee regarding the legitimacy of it’s affiliate programs.  Anyone can list their program into Clickbanks directory.

There is a lot to learn about Clickbank, how it works, how are paid commissions, what are storefronts, what to avoid, what are hop links and much more.  Discover everything you need to know at in the FREE CLICKBANK GUIDE

The Spiderweb Marketing System  is an affiliate marketing system with its own list of affiliate programs.  The system takes you step-by-step on how to set up your own spiderweb site and how to sign on to each affiliate program via video training.  Going through the process does a good deal of time since you have to listen to each video and follow along. However, you only need to go through the process once.  You can also pick and choose which program your interested in joining.  The system tracks all your affiliate links and new affiliates that sign under you.  What makes it unique is how the system will skip over an inactive affiliate under you so to your benefit.  The “skipped” affiliate receives an email informing them that they just lost a commission and encourages them to sign-on to that program so as not to miss any more. <br>

The PepperJam Network  Is one of the fastest growing affiliate network directories online today.  It has had plenty of media attention and carefully selects which affiliate programs to offer.  Affiliate memberships are NOT guaranteed and require that you have a well established site with a respectable level of daily traffic.

You have a great headline, now what?  You need more than just a pretty picture, a good headline and an attractive price.  You’ve got to get your potential customer interested beyond the first five seconds.  If not, click and there gone.  The best sales pages are written to evoke emotional responses.  Shopping is almost entirely, an emotional response to a stimulus.

For instance, “Oh what a pretty little lamp for the baby’s room!”  She envisions it sitting on the dresser against the window where a set of new curtains are hanging.  She looks at it admiringly and smiles at the thought.  “But I don’t really need it, it is kind of small. Oh, but look it has the same color scheme and the pretty bunny in the front would fit perfectly with the Beatrix Potter theme too! ” She clicks on the picture to get a larger view.  Justifying her decision she thinks, “It’s perfect and a good choice, after all, who knows when I’m going to come across something like this again.” Satisfied, she clicks the item into the shopping cart.

When marketing your wares online make sure you focus your efforts to motivate your buyer emotionally first.   All good advertising campaigns in print or not, immediately address four emotionally driven questions:

1. Will this product make more attractive?

2. Will it make me healthier?

3. Will it make me wealthier?

4. Will it save me time?

Focus your lead pages and marketing content on answering these four questions and you’ll see an improvement in response to your efforts and consequently in your sales. 

Remember Benefits vs. Features

In my previous blog, “ The Art of Effective Sales Copy “ I spoke about the difference in benefits vs. features.  To recap briefly, benefits answer the big four, features do not.  Features solely identify product qualities, color, size, technical features, extras, etc.  Although features are important, they should not be in the spotlight because they only help address the logical aspect of the thought process after the decision to purchase has been made.

Not For the Faint Hearted

Copywriters can demand high prices because they study all the ins and outs of writing effective sales copy.  There is definitely a science to using just the right combination of words that will lead your potential customers one step at a time towards making that final purchase.  Most entrepreneurs just starting out do not have the funds to high an expert.  Thankfully, there is a very affordable solution, templates.  Sales templates are well written and easily customizable to your product or service.  Find out more about them in the Home Business Resource section of my website listed in the resource box.

You’ve got five seconds or less to attract your reader’s attention.  If your headline fails in this regard they will click away. In fact, your entire page hinges on your headline’s ability to capture and hold a reader’s attention.  The best headlines pose a question that requires further investigation or clarification.  They are not questions that can be answered simply with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.  Such as “Have You Made These Investment Mistakes?” that require further reading to identify which mistakes the author is referring to.  Titles that promise solutions such as “How To…” or “5 Ways to …” are usually a safe bet and effective. 

Build Interest

The next step in holding your readers attention is to pinpoint a problem or need in a way that readers can identify with.  This may take some research on your part but it is well worth the time. Briefly outline the problem.  Be unique, don’t just talk about the same things your competitors are.  That’s the equivalent of beating a dead horse.  Dare to use a different approach to the same problem. Search the internet for top sales letters and study them.  The internet is full of sites that are carbon copies of automatically generated lead pages.  I can spot them a mile away.  Remember, web surfers are savvy and can instantly spot these types of sites. 

Create Desire

Before offering a solution, get the reader to imagine what he/she would do if this problem or dilemma no longer existed.  Here’s an example, “One powerful sales letter can make your business a fortune creating a flood of new prospects, additional business from existing customers, increased referrals and a surge of profits. What would this do for you? How would it improve your life?”

As the reader continues he visualizes his business growing, orders pouring in, a new store location, more money, better lifestyle.  This tactic is vitally important because it touches an emotional cord.  One of the first things you learn about marketing is that shopping is 90% emotional.  The key is to get them involved and visualizing.

Use Your Own Experience

Speaking out of first-hand knowledge, something like “I’ve been there…” can resonate with your readers and keep them further engaged.  Don’t loose sight of your objective. Anticipate the questions going through your reader’s mind and answer them. 

Benefits vs. Features

The definition of a benefit is “something that has a good effect or promotes well-being”, that’s what your readers are looking for.  How will your product or service help them.  A feature describes a distinctive part of something.  So instead of writing, “This book comes in hardcover and is 200 pages long” you should focus on the benefits to your consumers, “Powerful techniques copywriters use all of the time saves you money”.  The best way to list the benefits is to use bullet points.  Construct each bullet as you would a headline. 

Return on Investment

Value does not equal price. In fact, your goal is to create a far greater value for your product or service so that price is of no concern.  Believe it or not, you already know how to do this.  We are constantly bombarded by advertising in print, television, radio, and online.  Someone is always selling you on something.  The way they do that is to create far greater value for a low price, “You get this fabulous knife set along with the revolutionary can opener, the Ginsu knife and the indestructible cutting board all for the low price of $19.99!”  Effective sales copy must build value over price.

Create a Sense of Urgency

Creating a sense of urgency motivates your prospect to take action.  Whether it’s to sign-up for the newest release of your most recent e-book, or hit the “buy now” button, your goal is to get them to act.  Remember, shopping is almost entirely an emotional response to a stimulus, in this case your lead copy.  Continuing on the last example of selling the knife set, a sense of urgency is created with, “These items regularly sell for $40 a piece but you can get it today only for the incredibly low price of $19.99.  This is a one-time promotional offer, act now and save!”

Answer the question, why?

Last but not least, you reader will undoubtedly be looking for a catch.  He or she is thinking, why is this guy selling all this great stuff for so little?  Tell them.  Perhaps it’s because it’s all done online, no middleman or retailer to pay, it costs you little to sell and you want to pass along the savings, etc. 

Give your customers a safety net. 

Always offer a 100% money back guarantee, no questions asked.  Make it real easy for them to buy and still feel safe if it does not meet their expectations.  How you handle these returns will also affect future purchases from the same buyer, so be courteous and efficient.  They will remember their positive experience with you and are more likely to purchase from you again.

Feeling overwhelmed and a little discouraged?  Don’t be, there’s help – an entire arsenal of powerful, money-making fill-in-the-blank sales letter templates guaranteed to sell your product or service.  Read about it.

Viral marketing is giving away freebies to lead your prospects one step at a time with the goal of developing trust along the way. This growing trust in your expertise, honestly, product and services goes a long way to making the big sale down the road. It gets better results than traditional advertising and marketing methods.

Offer Something of Value for Free

Give something of value away for free increases your level of integrity in the eyes of your prospective customers. Writing good articles, e-books, or writing an e-zine that your visitors can sigh up makes you look like an expert in your field. With each free offer you provide, your visitors make another small commitment developing their  trust in you and what you offer. Taking small bites at a time is more palatable than being shoved one large mouthful.

Build Your Credibility

People are more likely to believe you when you can show them your credentials, years in the business, etc. Be honest, tell them who you are, a little about you and your family or background. These kind of things make you more real in the eyes of your visitors especially when they can identify with you in some way. Providing testimonials is a good way of showing that other people like you and have had first- hand experience with what you are offering.  Photos with these testimonials is a big plus.

Get It Now While It Lasts

Creating scarcity or limited supply is a good way to motivate people to act. The idea of obtaining something that many others will not because of limited time or supply is very appealing. Do some research, find out what your competitors doing and then offer something  better.

Build Relationships

Starting a blog is one of the best ways to portray your expertise. Offering free advice is a great way to build new relationships and trust with prospective customers. It’s these kinds of relationships that leads to repeat business. Another idea is to start a club, people like to belong to something special.

Create Solid Content

I hate commercials.  My patience really runs thin when I click on a “promising” link to then be met with what reads like an infomercial. I am more likely to linger on a site if I’m getting some good solid information that I can use. Heck, I’ll even tolerate a few ads if the content is informative.

 Let me give you another piece of advice, avoid placing flash ads that run, bounce or jump across the page that your visitor is trying to read. These type of ads are annoying at best and will often send your visitor away.