Network Marketing Tricks

That’s right folks, Kleeneze have produced an all new DVD to promote the opportunity this year. We caught a sneek preview at the Kleeneze new year conference earlier this month and it did look very good. Featuring a wide range of success stories from across the network, the new DVD also comes in smart new ‘ready to post’ packaging making it easier than ever to send out information packs to prospects. The video is of course also available to watch or download from the Kleeneze website.

Forums are a great way to drive traffic to your lead capture page and generate leads for your Network Marketing business, but there are lots of other methods too.  Here are a few simple ones to get you on the right path.

Classifieds and Free-ads

As the names suggest, these are the web equivalents of their offline counterparts.  A quick search on Google will show up hundreds of possible sites to choose from.  Some will require you to pay for commercial advertising, but there are many which are entirely free, although for legal reasons you may have to register as a business user.  As with offline adverts the key is to be short and sweet.  Keep your advert to the point, just a teaser, and direct them to your site.  Giving a contact telephone number in your advert can help attract more prospects.  While most will choose not to use it, simply having it there makes your advert look more trustworthy and less likely to be an ‘Internet scam’.

Blog comments

Most blogs (weB-LOGS), allow users to post comments.  If done correctly this can give you some good links back to your own site.  When you find a blog which you like, and is likely to be read by your target audience, click on the comment button at the bottom of the post and leave a ‘valuable’ comment.  The key word there is valuable.  Don’t spam, if you don’t have anything useful to write then don’t post a comment, but if you can spare a few moments and give some positive and useful feedback on the blog, which adds value to the page, then your comment will be welcomed.  Most blogs are set up so that you can enter the URL of your own site which is linked to from your name.  If a visitor reads your comment and finds it useful or interesting, there is a good chance they will click to find out more about you and your business.

eBay

Historically, trying to advertise a Network Marketing business on eBay was very difficult.  eBay rules state that auction listings are not for advertising, and outbound links are banned.  However, a fairly recent addition to eBay are local classified listings.   Instead of a regular auction, or ‘buy it now’ listing, eBay now allow businesses to advertise as classifieds which show up at the bottom of regular search results.  Pricing is fixed and paid for a month in advance at a very reasonable price.  This feature is very new and currently not being used by many people although I’m sure it will become more popular as more people find out about it.  There is a second way to advertise on eBay while abiding to their rules.  If you are a regular buyer or seller you can have your own page called a ME page.  This is supposed to be used to tell your buyers about your business, what you’re selling on eBay, what your shipping costs are etc. but it does allow outbound links.  Make sure you have an advert for your Network marketing business, and a link to your lead capture site on there otherwise you could be missing some valuable clicks.

Social Networking

Unless you’ve had your head in a paper bag for the last couple of years you’ll have come across the social networking sites.  MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and the rest may get a grilling in the media and promoted as a great way of wasting time for spotty teenagers, but the fact is they are a great tool for promoting your business.  By their very nature they make it very easy to make new contacts, communicate with them, and spread the word about your business.  An in depth look at how best to use them for our purposes goes beyond the scope of this post and will have to wait for another day, but if you’ve overlooked them until now be sure to check them out.  Facebook alone appears to have grown out of nowhere and is currently ranked as the 7th most popular site in the world according to Alexa so make sure some of those users are clicking through to your site!

The Internet really has changed the face of Network Marketing forever.  While come companies have been a little slow on the take-up, there can be no doubt that the Internet has made many aspects of this business, not least lead generation, much quicker and easier.  We really now all part of a global community and i’s just as easy to prospect and recruit people in another country as in your own town.  Technologies such as email, IM, VoIP, and of course the web mean that communication, even crossing language barriers, is quick, cheap and simple.  Almost every aspect of MLM has become easier due to Internet technologies but it’s lead generation that I want to focus on here.

The first point I want to make is that the Internet is not a replacement for traditional lead generation techniques, it’s not a ‘magic bullet’.  Restricting your activities to the online realm is only to place limitations on the growth of your business.  Think of online lead generation as just another ‘rod in the pond’, albeit one capable of catching a lot of fish.   Use the Internet in tandem with all of the other forms on MLM lead generation so ensure your success and massive growth.

The first thing you’ll need is a website.  It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just a simple ‘lead capture’ page with a form your visitors can fill out to receive information will suffice, although you do want it hosted on your own domain.  Since the cost of domain registration has dropped so low over the past 5 years there really is no reason not to have one.  Something short and simple is the order of the day although a bit of brainstorming will be required to find something suitable.  With billions of dot coms already registered you’ll need a bit of lateral thinking to come up with a catchy name.  There are loads of online utilities to help with the process, and you can also check expired domains which can often offer some great domain ideas.

Once you have your domain and have a lead capture page hosted you’re ready to start driving traffic.   There ar a multitude of methods to do this but here are just a few of the easiest and cheapest to get you started:

Forums

Forums are online meeting places for people interested in a specific niche.  You’ll find thousands with a quick search on Google but we can narrow that number down to something a little more manageable by selecting ones which meet certain criteria.  Since forums tend to frown upon blatant advertising we’ll be using a signature line to promote our site.  Not all forums allow links in signatures so a quick browse of the site is in order.  If most of the posts have one or two lines at the bottom with external links to other sites then you’ll be able to add the same to your posts (although you may have to post a minimum number of times, or be a member for a number of weeks before you’re allowed to in order to prevent spam).  You’re also looking for a high volume of traffic.  See how many active members are posting on a daily basis.  There’s no point in spending your time posting messages if only half a dozen people will read them.

Once you have found a suitable forum the key to success is to join in, and become part of the community.  Answer questions, post questions, join in on discussions and opinion polls and generally become an asset to the site.  Over time visitors on the forums will begin to recognise and respect you as a knowledgeable and helpful member of the site and will therefore be more likely to click that link in your signature file.

A word of warning - it’s very easy to get led into an argument on a forum.  If the conversation starts leading in a direction you’re not comfortable with then stop posting.  Posts debating the pros and cons of Network Marketing, or specific MLM opportunities are very tempting to post on, but it’s very easy to be flamed and made to look like a fool or a desperado.  Nobody will click on your link if you sound unprofessional, aggressive or annoying and you will find that people with opposing opinions to your own will try and lure you into a heated discussion.  So be professional at all times and if someone annoys you don’t rise to the bait.

Tomorrow I’ll look at some other ways of driving traffic to your new website.

Traditionally advertising in the press has been a mainstay for generating MLM leads. While newspaper and magazine advertising is less popular now than it once was, due in no small part to the Internet, it is still a highly effective tool if used correctly. It almost goes without saying that press advertising is more costly on the wallet than on time so for newer distributors on a tight budget this might not be the best solution. For established distributors and team leaders however, newspapers can be a great way of increasing your leads.

Short and simple is the order of the day. One or two sentence lineage adverts tend to be more cost effective than larger boxed or column. Running several of these small adverts in several papers seems to generate more leads than a single large advert but experiment and see what works best in your area. Don’t limit yourself to the business opportunity or jobs section. While some papers will insist you advertise there, others are less restricting. Remember that many potential prospects will not be actively seeking employment or business opportunities and therefore will not even glance at those pages. They may well respond though if they see your advert in the motors or property section.

It’s difficult to give guidelines on price since this tends to vary considerably depending on the publication, area and circulation. One important point though is that discounts are normally available for longer bookings (such as 6 issues for the price of 5) and that prices can be negotiated with many papers. Find out when the last date is to place an advert for the next issue. The closer to that date you are, the more bargaining power you have. If all of the advertising spaces are not filled to capacity the paper will be forced to run their own adverts (such as “call to advertise here”) but would rather fill that space with a paying advert. Time it right and you may get a great deal.

The cost of advertising in the national press, bigger newspapers and magazines, can be prohibitively expensive especially for newer distributors. I highly suggest sticking to small local papers, and the ‘free ads’ style classifieds. Also don’t disregard school and local organisation papers which can be very inexpensive and a great source of extra leads. If the lure of the national press with millions of readers is too much for you then consider starting an advertising pool. Get together with some other leaders in your group and pay for an advert between you. You’ll need to advertise with a separate phone number, email or website so you can distinguish leads to be shared with the pool. This can be a great way to advertise in bigger publications without the financial risk. No matter where you advertise though remember the golden rule, test and measure. If you advert isn’t getting much response it’s either due to the copy (what the advert says) or the publication. Change one thing at a time and keep track of what works best. Continue to tweak until your conversion rate increases.

Network Marketers have been generating leads for decades. Long before the advent of the Internet, the tools of the trade in this industry were business cards, leaflets and posters. These days many people seem to have forgotten about these old staples but in fact they are just as useful now as they were 20 years ago. Like thousands of other people, I discovered Network Marketing form a business card and so I know the power of this type of lead generation activity. I never leave the house without cards in my pocket and I often feel like Hansel and Gretel leaving a paper trail everywhere I go. If you get into the habit of giving people your card, leaving cards on shop counters, in waiting rooms and phone boxes, even placing them on cars, you’ll soon notice a marked increase in the number of leads you’re generating. You might think this is ‘old hat’ and that such tactics are outdated in the information age. That type of thinking however, will mean you are missing out on a massive amount of exposure for your business.

Using leaflets, either to letterbox or hand out in the street, is another form of advertising which is in decline. Yes it takes time and effort, but the beauty is that anyone can do it regardless of skill or budget. That makes is highly duplicatable and therefore something that shouldn’t be overlooked. This type of advertising is also highly targeted to your local area. That means that appointments can be used rather than information packs and signups will be easier to coach due to your physical proximity. As Edward Ludbrook says you should “Think global, and act local”. Of course you want to build a team all over the country and even overseas but the easiest way to do that is to build a good foundation in your local area first.

Posters are another example which are often overlooked. You do need to be careful and check the laws in your area as posters on street furniture, and especially near main roads and junctions can attract the attention of the authorities who do fine in some areas, but they do work. People will pass and read your poster every day on the way to work, but never read the job section of the local paper. How many prospects are you missing if you limit yourself only to certain types of activity?

Of all the skills needed to build a successful Network Marketing or MLM business, lead generation is certainly one of the most important.  A constant supply of fresh, targeted, qualified leads ensures the growth needed to create momentum.  Sure, you can buy leads and lists but the quality of bought leads is often questionable, and the price is inevitably higher than generating your own.  The other problem with bought leads is lack of duplication.  Most people join a Network Marketing business with the intention of earning a second income quickly.  If the first thing you tell your new distributor, after they have invested a startup fee and joined your team, is that they now need to shell out more money each month for leads you’re likely to alienate many of them. In reality however, this really isn’t necessary since lead generation, if properly taught, is both simple and cost effective which means it’s easy to duplicate.

There are many different ways to generate leads and over the next few posts I’ll discuss some of my personal favorites, some simple classic ways of advertising, and some newer techniques which you might not have come across before.  The key is to try each technique and find what works well for you.  Apply the 80/20 principle and concentrate on those methods which work best for you.  In general you’ll need money and/or time to generate your own leads and depending on which of those currencies you have the most of some of these methods will be more suited to your business.  As a quick example, advertising in newspapers is very quick and easy, but costs money.  Using online forums or conducting street surveys is virtually free but will take a considerable about of time and effort.

In the end it’s usually best to use a mixture of methods, multiple baited rods will catch different types of fish, and you don’t want to limit your business growth to specific demographics.  Additionally, you will have people join your team from all backgrounds and situations.  Some will like the same methods as you, but others will have entirely different circumstances.  As such as a good leader you need to be familiar and comfortable with every method so you can teach the most effective methods to your downline.