In Network Marketing, self branding is a way to show people who you really are. There’s no better way to show who you are, then through a blog.

A blog consists of unique articles that you can write, to bring out your personality and spread it to everyone on the web. These unique articles should have copious value in the eyes of your subscribers. Bringing this value to others, widens their eyes to your specific knowledge. The value given in the articles should show leadership, which is absolutely crucial in self branding. You could write all the articles in the world, but if you don’t show some sort leadership to the reader, they won’t hesitate to close the page. Remember, people buy from people, not from their opportunity.

In your articles, showing passion towards what you’re writing about is a great way to explain the meaning behind what you’re telling your subscriber. Whether you know it or not, your subscriber can tell if you’re full of it, or true to your word by what you write. The best way to show your passion is through write copy techniques. Now, I know what you’re thinking. How could I show passion through write copying? Well believe it or not, write copy shows the real you through your words. You can’t just type up some article and get people to understand your passion through words. This technique is called, “word pictures”. Your readers can’t be there in person to understand what you’re trying to get across to them. Using word pictures allows your reader to see exactly what you see, only through words. Being very, VERY descriptive in your articles is a way to paint the picture to your readers through your words. The basic underlining behind copywriting is to write your articles the way you would say them out loud to another person. This can be tough, believe me. Once you train your fingers to type the words the way they would come out of your mouth, you’re set. You’re probably thinking, “If I type the way I would talk, my articles wouldn’t seem very professional”. Believe it or not, professionalism is very important, but it doesn’t explain to your readers, what your train of though is. Paint the big picture through the words in your articles and watch how people are able to connect with what you’re saying and how much easier it is to start a relationship with your readers.

Depending upon which blog software you’re using, in each and every article you write, you should make tags and keywords that are relevant to the information you’re sharing. These keywords allow big search engines to categorize your articles, and allow targeted people to find your articles with these tags and keywords through the search engines. Start by searching Google, Yahoo, and other major search engines with the keywords that you would use for the article before you actually write it. Check how many other articles and information there are on the same niche you’re writing about. You want to make sure that you’ll be able to rank somewhat high within the search engines, to receive much more traffic. If you search, and find that there’s a relatively small amount of information on what you’re writing about, then you’re good to use those tags and keywords. If you find large amounts of information about the same thing, you’re going to have trouble ranking up your article. You’ll want to find some tags and keywords that are relative to your article, with less information about the same niche you’re writing about.

Another thing very important to your Alexa, and search engine rankings, is having other sites linking to your blog and articles. A great way to do this, is to find other blogs and websites that offer information relative to what you write about and send the owners an email or message. In the message, you should ask the owner in a polite manner, if (s)he would like to swap links and link to each others blog/articles. Most blog/website owners would be happy to do this, because it allows them to rank their website higher, as well as yours. A way to go about this, is to create a separate blog/website page, with all the website URLs you’re linking to. A better way is to create a small, yet elegant blog article explaining the website, what they’re about, and what they offer with a link to the blog/website. This shows the owner your courtesy, and will engage them to do the same. Don’t be afraid to scratch their back because most likely they’ll return the favor.

Use your blog to capture your readers information. If you check out the sidebar on my right side, you’ll see that i’ve created a very elegant opt-in box. When my readers can’t get enough, they opt-in and request I send them more information. Boom, I have a lead in which I can share additional information with. Now they’re hooked. They’ll open their email inbox each day waiting for my autoresponder to send them more and more information of value that will benefit their business. Get an autoresponder (you can find a great one on my “Resources” page), create an opt-in box on your blog, and watch your list of leads grow. It can be a lot of work if you’re not familiar with HTML, but there’s many tutorials that teach you everything you need to know. If you’re still having trouble, shoot me a message and i’ll be happy to lend a helping a hand.

Blogs are very beneficial to you and your business. With practice, you’ll be able to write top of the line articles and bring in endless amounts of leads. If you have hosting, and know how to install blog software (very easy), don’t hesitate to do so. If you don’t, check out http://www.wordpress.com and signup for a free blog.

I wish you the best of luck towards your ventures of success, and God bless.

Give.Share.Evolv

The 7 City Tour is your chance to meet Trey White, Chairman and Founder and Brent Hicks, CEO of EvolvHealth. They are traveling to 7 cities around the United States to meet the Evolv Members and their guests. Click on the thumbnail below for the event cities and dates. Also, be sure to click on the city nearest you to register for the event via EventBrite.com.

In todays Network Marketing industry, you will notice alot of people that consider themselves Entrepreneurs. I’m not here to call them liars, but that’s not exactly the truth. 92% of Network Marketers are considered Opportunity Seekers, not Entrepreneurs. This is because they’re marketing another companies product or opportunity in hopes to welcome financial freedom into their lives.

The definition of an Entrepreneur: A person who has possession of an enterprise, or venture, and assumes significant accountability for the inherent risks and the outcome.

The definition of an Opportunity Seeker: A person that pursues an established opportunity.

The 92% of Network Marketers that are involved with a company that provides their distributors a product owned specifically by the company, would categorize that Marketer as an Opportunity Seeker.

The other 8% of Network Marketers that are truly considered Entrepreneurs, achieve goals that many people could only dream of.

Being an Entrepreneur means you own, your own products/opportunity that you’re offering to anyone that is willing to accept it. You want to become the Entrepreneur, and the only way to do so, is to take that leap forward and put your ideas to use.

As Albert Einstein said:
“Every idea, is a successful idea”.

I personally live by this saying. When I wake up in the morning, I use my notepad and distinguish every goal I wish to achieve that day, and I go out and do it. Doing this, will motive you to being successful. If you have no goals, then how do you plan to achieve anything? Success doesn’t come free, it’s comes at a very prestige price, and this doesn’t necessarily mean money. Success can be measured by how much you sacrifice to get what you want.

Go out there, and learn to be the Entrepreneur, and not the Opportunity Seeker. Find your very unique product, set your goals, and accomplish them. This is all you can do, and if you stick to it, you will be a success. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

A great book I would recommend to anyone in this industry is the book, “Think And Grow Rich”, by Napoleon Hill. Matter of fact, this isn’t optional, it’s essential. Go out there, purchase the $7.00 book and learn to turn your ideas into a reality.

Getting to know the types of prospects you’re speaking with, can be very important.

When you can find out who the type of person is that you’re speaking with, you’ll be way ahead of the game.

Every prospect you will speak to, can be color-coded according to the type of person they are. There are 4 types of colors that you can define a prospect by: Yellow, Blue, Green, and Red.

Yellow:
Yellows make up 35% of the population. They are Nurses, School Teachers, UN Workers; the nurturers. They give from the heart. They don’t have time for themselves, because they’re busy giving to everyone else. Yellows have built some of the largest organizations in Network Marketing.

How To Sponsor A Yellow:
When you come upon a Yellow, the last thing you want to do is try and sell to them. Contain your excitement, because Yellows will consider excitement as hype, making them think you’re only interested in selling to them. Don’t try and tell a Yellow about making $10,000 a month, because you’ll turn them off right away. Skip business, and start off by asking them about their family, friends, and kids.

Blue:
Blue’s just want to have fun. They take up 15% of the population. They’re always in a sales business of some kind. They jump from program to program just looking for fun. These are the planet’s most creative people. A Blue sees the big picture instantly. They don’t need or want all the details.

How To Sponser A Blue:
When speaking to a Blue, you want to get them excited, because they like this. When you build the hype with a Blue, you have a much better chance of sponsoring that person.

Green:
Greens are 35% of the population. They’re the analytical people. They analyze it to death. They’ve missed millions of dollars in opportunities because they analyzed it too long.

How To Sponsor A Green:
When you’re on the phone with a Green, you will know it within 2-3 minutes. When you find a Green, you’ll be on the phone with them for a very long time, because they must have every detail. You won’t be able to sell to a Green, so don’t even try. You must let a Green sell themselves. They’ll go to the web site, they’ll listen to the conference call. Then they’ll go to the next website and the next link. If you have 27 links on your website, they’ll go to every one. They’ll read all the testimonials, all the articles, etc. Enunciate all your words correctly for a Green. Don’t speak too fast. Don’t speak too slow. Be upfront. Give them all the information. Answer all their questions. Give them more websites to go to. If you call in the meantime to answer questions, they’ll be abrupt. They’ll see that as you being pushy. Let Greens analyze the information at their own pace. In a week or two, they’ll call back with more questions, or they’ll be ready to start. They’ve sold themselves; decided this is the perfect business.

Red:
Reds are 15% of the population. They are money-motivated, money-focused. Don’t bother talking to them about your family or your vacation, because they really don’t care.

How To Sponsor A Red:
Reds want to talk about the money, and that’s it. Reds are the Corporate CEO’s, they’re the “get-the-job-done” people, the ones everyone in Network Marketing is looking for. Reds are absolutely uncoachable. No matter what you do, you’ll never be able to give advice that a Red will follow. They have the biggest egos. They order people around. On the other hand, Reds are very well-connected. You want to sponsor Reds, because they’ll put you in contact with powerful people. They know business owners, governors, leaders, etc.

When you get on the phone with a prospect, try and point out specifically what type of color this person is categorized as. When you can do this, you’ll be able to give the prospects what they want, in turn causing more sponsors for you.

A domain is a very important part of Network Marketing.

Without a domain name, all people see is just another opportunity being advertised by an affiliate trying to load their downline.

When you purchase a domain name, it should be unique to you and your business opportunity, because this is the link you will endorse and brand yourself with.

Picking out a domain name can be VERY difficult with all the domains that already exist. I would recommend you check out this site http://bustaname.com, so that you can have a few extra ideas for a good domain. Bust-A-Name is just a free keyword service to help you pick out an available domain. It can be very helpful.

NEVER purchase a domain name from a reseller, because their prices can be very unreasonable. Best bet is to use GoDaddy to purchase your domain name.

Check out my “Resources” page for a great domain registrar. For those of you who don’t know what masking/forwarding is, then let me explain it to you. Forwarding is redirecting users that type in a specific domain name, e.g. “http://mydomainname.com” to another URL. Masking a domain name allows you to use a specific domain name, while showing another website inside of a full page frame.

Give it a shot. Register a cheap $9.00 domain and mask it towards your affiliate URL, and watch how much more traffic you get.

I think it’s fair to say that most of us have at one time or another been introduced to network marketing by friends, family, or even complete strangers. And they always make it sound so easy, don’t they? We are told that all it takes is a few e-mails or a phone call or two and then it’s afternoons lounging on some tropical beach. 

Of course, anyone who has joined a network marketing opportunity knows it isn’t quite that easy. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that network marketing is a scam either. There are thousands of people who are enjoying a massive residual income every month from work they only had to do once. But how do you choose which network marketing opportunity is the right one for you? 

Product 
The first and most important thing to look out for is to make sure the opportunity your interested in is a legitimate one and not a pyramid scheme. And the best way to do this is by looking at the company’s product. A pyramid scheme will usually have a product of little or no value that is used mainly for the recruitment of others. Ask yourself if it is something that you can use and sell outside of the program? 

Would you buy and use the company’s product even if you were not involved in the income opportunity? If the product is only useful in recruiting others into the program than you should probably stay away from it. And do you truly believe in the product? No, not because your sponsor tells you how great it is, but do YOU really believe that the company’s product is worth buying? 

And is there a need for the product? I once watched a show where people submitted their inventions in a contest and as all of these people gave their presentations I remember thinking “wow, these are all really cool!” But as the judges began tearing the inventions apart I realized that while some of the inventions were pretty nifty, they weren’t really very useful to anyone besides those who invented them. So make sure that the company’s product has a real demand for it. 

Investment 
We have been told most of our lives that you get what you pay for. While this may be true with a lot of other things, it is not necessarily so with network marketing. It is easy to believe that because an income opportunity is low cost it must not work, and if it is expensive than it must make you money. This is not true, in fact it is quite the opposite. 

The more expensive an opportunity is, the harder it is going to be to get people involved. And the harder you are going to kick yourself in the backside if it ends up not working for you. There are plenty of lucrative opportunities that cost between forty and two hundred dollars. Remember, you will still need money to advertise your business. 

Compensation 
How much money you will actually make from each sale is a huge factor in determining your financial success. Make sure that the company is giving you a reasonable commission. If you only get a buck or two from every sale you make this is most likely not going to be very profitable for you. 

Try to avoid programs that force you to go wide on your first level, or who don’t reward you for going deep. The average network marketer only recruits two to four people, so you will want an opportunity that allows your downline to go deep which will make it easier for everyone and may help people from quitting the program. 

Many companies also offer incentives such as fast start bonuses which can really jumpstart your earnings. You should be rewarded for your work right? There are many opportunities that have excellent bonuses so there is really no need to join one that does not. 

The Company 
It is always good to know who you are dealing with. Do a little research on the company and the program your thinking about getting involved with. Are there any complaints or lawsuits against them? Do former members relate awful experiences in network marketing forums? 

You also don’t want to get involved with a company too early or too late. Make sure they have been in business long enough to establish that they are trustworthy but at the same time you don’t want to get involved so late that the market has already become saturated. 

Training 
The success of your network marketing business depends greatly on your ability to keep your downline members active and to train them to recruit and keep their downline active as well. Duplication is the key to success with network marketing. The program should have great marketing tools, training, and excellent customer support. Some opportunities even have a members only forum which is a huge plus. 

Recruiting Friends and Family 
It can be really exciting when you first join a network marketing opportunity. Your full of energy, motivated about the product, and eager to get started. But you really should give yourself at least six months and some sales before you start calling the family tree. 

That way if after the first two months it doesn’t work out you won’t feel stupid and have to hear “I told you so” from your loved ones. If your presenting a new opportunity to them every month it won’t take very long before you won’t be taken seriously. 

Free Trials 
The majority of opportunities have anywhere from a 7 to 30 day free trial where you can have full access to the program. This is the best way to see if it is going to work for you. Just make sure that you do a little research and see if the company honors these free trials without problems. Since most opportunities these days have a free trial, you need to think hard before deciding if you should join one that does not. 

Network Marketing can have great rewards, or great consequences. These tips can steer you in the right direction and help you avoid some of the common mistakes that many of us make when getting involved in network marketing. 

Most importantly, always go with your gut instincts and use common sense. If an opportunity doesn’t seem right to you…Don’t Do It! I have yet to come across a “once in a lifetime” opportunity so there is ALWAYS time to take a breather and do some research. Don’t worry, the program will still be there tomorrow.

Feel free to check out my “Best Internet Business” page, for my personal recommendation.

Being a leader in the eyes of your prospects can be one of the most important details to converting your leads into personal sponsors.

When you’ve built a list of 1,000 possible leads, you will find out that 950 of those leads will say no. The reason the conversion rate is so low, is the fact that naturally, we have no idea how to come off to our possible sponsors as a leader. To be completely honest, being a leader is a lot easier then we think.

A leader comes down to being the person who knows more then the person you’re talking to. The leader instructs the prospect step by step into being the next big Network Marketer, whether you know that yourself or not. Do you really think the big dogs in this industry know as much as we think they do? If you answered yes to that, then you would be 100% wrong. They learn as they go, as does anyone else in this industry. If you’ve been with a companies opportunity for 2 hours and already have a lead you’re on the phone with, then you already know more then that person does, therefor you can be the leader.

When it comes down to calling a prospect on the phone you should be the one doing the talking, because this is your opportunity, not theirs. This is the first step to becoming the leader.

On the phone, you should be asking your prospect about them and finding out who they are and what they’re about. Doing this will tell you everything about this person and tell you whether they’re going to be your next big distributor in your downline, putting the money in your paycheck, or the person that joins for a week, makes nothing, and quits. This is a vital step.

Chances are, that your prospects are going to ask you how much money there is to be made. There is no answer you can give them to that question that could ever be true. How much money you make, is dependent upon how much you’re willing to sacrifice for what you want. When they ask this question, it’s your position as a leader to take control and get back to asking the questions.

Monetizing your prospects is another vital step in this business. You must have a way to give your prospects another option when they say no to your primary business opportunity. The best way to do this, is to give them an item of value whether they say no to your business or not. You can find MANY items of value to give to your prospects, on my “Resources” page.

You must remember that Network Marketing is all about producing some kind of value to the people interested in your business opportunity. Without value, your chances of sponsoring a lead is slim to none.

Keep leadership as your primary goal, and you will succeed beyond belief.