No, I don’t mean literally.  I mean figuratively. When most marketers join a new program, they follow the instructions of their mentor. Typically, the mentor gives the new recruit a marketing plan based on what the mentor is doing for their own personal marketing.

Sounds pretty logical, doesn’t it?

On the surface, this type of plan makes perfect sense. If the mentor is being successful with their marketing plan, it would be logical to promote that same plan. The mentor would be able to state what aspects of the plan worked very well and what parts of the plan did not work as planned. If there were questions, the mentor would have the information from their personal testing to explain why something did or did not work

Concern enters into the picture when you have a large number of people enter a program in a short period of time. Each of the new people will probably be shown a marketing plan that is quite similar to what each of the other new marketers is being shown. At that point, you potentially have a large number of people placing nearly identical ads in the same marketing venues. If you look at the ads posted every day, you many examples of this situation.

So, you ask, what is the issue?

The issue, in my opinion, is that three things occur. First, the ads slowly lose their effectiveness due to massive over exposure. The same title appears on multiple ads in a single search. After someone clicks an ad, they ignore the remainder of the ads, or worse, make the determination that the ads are all SPAM and ignores them all.

Second, as happens quite often, the ads are copied and posted literally word for word from their mentor. Again the ad becomes very ineffective after the potential customer clicks several ads only to read identical copy. Or, even worse, the search engines determine that the ads are SPAM and deranks everyone’s ads. This affects everyone, even those whom may have been running the ad for a long period of time.

Third, because of the information that the new marketer has received from their mentor, they advertise in the same venues as their mentor. Again, with a large number of new marketers joining in a short period of time, the new marketers are effectively advertising to a crowd of people in the same program. Then they become discouraged because they don’t get the response to their ads that their mentor has told them that the mentor has had.

Hence, they are preaching to the choir.

So, do you recognize yourself in this scenario? If so, there is a solution and it is not complicated. You need to become a responsible marketer and be responsible for your own ads and ad copy. PERIOD.

So, how do you get away from preaching to the choir?

First, you need to advertise in MANY different venues.  Don’t rely completely on the marketing sites that your system recommends. There are many reputable sites online today. If you are not sure where to find these sites, you can ask your contacts on Facebook and Twitter for their recommendations or ask whoever you are comfortable with asking. Then check out the sites and use the sites that fit your advertising strategy.

Second, I believe everyone needs to study copywriting.  The more you understand about copywriting, the more effective you will be with your entire marketing structure. If you have to rely on someone else to do your writing, you “probably” will always be at the mercy of someone else.  Not effective for long term success unless you have deep pockets.

If you follow these ideas, you will improve your marketing effectiveness and this should improve your bottom line.  Here is an excellent program to improve your copywriting To find out more about how my team and I work to use other sites to improve our marketing, go to: http://www.MLMIntegrityMarketing.com/?t=PTC

Another academic study of 362 recruits and 189 sponsors in a multilevel marketing organization found that the recruits sold an average of $682 worth of merchandise per month.   This survey also found that most respondents worked from 10 to 20 hours per week on their distributorship.  The average age was 25 to 34 years old, and the vast majority were married women.  It is also interesting to note that over 50% of respondents did not have any other employment, so this business opportunity represented their only source of direct income (of course, this would be in addition to any income earned by their spouse).  Thus, the amount they made would be critical in helping to pay for basic living expenses.

© Copyright Distributor Rights Association 2006

This research extract is the Property of the Distributor Rights Association the complete 24 page research paper (with all documented Academic references [#4 above] from NON-MLM Academics) is available from the Distributor Rights Association for $500.  You may quote/copy the above but you have to include THIS NOTIFICATION plus a link to the Distributor Rights Association website http://www.mlm-dra.org and the http://www.mlmwatchdog.com If you don’t expect a copyright violation lawsuit.

An independent, published research paper conducted a survey of network marketing organization presidents to determine the amount of money that distributors made.   This independent survey revealed that, as might be expected, distributors earned a range of income.  An average distributor earned $12 per hour, and worked an average of 34 hours a month.  This resulted in earnings of $418 per month.  An above-average distributor earned $33 per hour, and worked an average of 76 hours a month.  This resulted in earnings of $2,523 per month.  A top distributor earned $72 an hour, and worked an average of 169 hours a month.  This resulted in earnings of $12,217 per month.  Of course, it is also possible that below-average distributors earned nothing.  Thus, distributors earned on average, anywhere between $0 per month to $12,217 per month, with an average earnings of $418 per month.  Such supplemental income is vital to pay for such basic living expenses as food, transportation costs, housing, and child care expenses.

© Copyright Distributor Rights Association 2006

This research extract is the Property of the Distributor Rights Association the complete 24 page research paper (with all documented references [#3 above] from NON-MLM Academics) is available from the Distributor Rights Association for $500.  You may quote/copy the above but you have to include a link to the Distributor Rights Association website http://www.mlm-dra.org and the http://www.mlmwatchdog.com If you don’t expect a copyright lawsuit.

It seems everywhere you go there is a glowing testimonial about the product or service you are checking out. They state that it works so well that everyone needs it.

BUT, is this a REAL testimonial or just creative advertising?

Many of these testimonials read like they are too good to be true. They could be very accurate but, because of how they are constructed, the testimonial reads like more hype than reality. Rather than simply stating how the product or service did what was advertised, the testimonial gives an almost unbelievable account of results. In many cases this causes the testimonial to backfire on its effect.

So, how did the testimonial go from effective to hype?

Like everything else in the world, there is a creeping change that occurred. Gradually people changed the context of the testimonial to be more like an ad than that of the original testimonial.  Once these revised testimonials got to the market, and people realized that the context had changed, they became less effective.

If you are writing a testimonial but constructing it like an ad, there is a high probability that it will not work. You can’t hide an ad, regardless of the context, under the guise of something else. Today’s market has seen almost every type advertising that you can present.  They understand when marketers are using a form of communication that does not fit the original meaning. As the saying goes, you can fool some of the people some of the time….

What is a true testimonial and how can you identify one?

A functional testimonial has several very significant differences from a sales ad. For instance, the testimonial will usually state the results of using the product or service rather than the benefits of trying the product or service.  A true testimonial will be written in the first person context rather than the third person. It will use I or me in describing the person using the product or service. Typically it will be three or four sentences long.

By contrast, a testimonial as an ad will be longer in length. Some are several paragraphs long. My experience of testimonials is that they are very seldom that long. Most people just won’t write that much.  Most testimonials are also worded with conversation words versus sales type words. They are worded as if you are telling a friend about your experience rather than if you are trying to convince a friend to use the product or service.

So, the bottom line is quite simple. If you are going to use testimonials, and I highly recommend that you do, have you customer write it from their experience.  Do not reword or edit it. If you change it, other than not being a true testimonial, you most likely will lose the context you were trying to capture. Then your target market will begin to distrust you and your words. That is bad.

My team and I connect with our market because we have learned how to show them the benefits of working with us. To learn how we accomplished this, go to:  http://www.MLMIntegrityMarketing.com/?t=ial and see what we teach our associates.

You have researched your prospective company. You completed your due diligence and everything met your standards. All you have to do is to sign on the line and you are in business. Yet something still doesn’t seem right to you. You keep receiving vague answers when you talk to others members of your leader’s downline.

So how do you determine if your leader is the leader you want to work with?

Some sponsors do what leaders need to do.  They motivate you when you need it.  They try to understand what makes you tick. They want and need to understand your goals and what gets your blood racing.  Ultimately, they become both a friend and mentor.

Sometimes, the sponsor doesn’t fulfill the role of a leader. After they get you signed up, they disappear. This happens way too often. Then the marketer struggles to make any money and, most likely, drop out of the business after six to nine months.

So, how do you know which type of sponsor is recruiting you?

Unfortunately, there is not a clear cut answer to this question.  Probably the best course of action is to have a set of questions that you need answered.  Then you need to interview your prospective sponsor to see how they answer your questions. You also need to understand that some sponsors will not take kindly to being interviewed.  They will state that they are the leader and you need to follow what they say. This may or may not be good for you.

If you are new to the MLM world, there are many things that your sponsor may not tell you. They may not tell you what to do after you tap out your warm market. They may give you vague instructions, like make a list of 100 people that you know and go talk to them. Handing out flyers, holding in home meetings, explain your business to any one that will listen, etc. etc. are other things that they may have you do.

This may work for some people. However, this marketing strategy has done more damage to the network / MLM market that anything else. If a person is not a salesman, they will fail miserably if they try to market their product this way. They need a different marketing strategy.

A good sponsor will have a plan to get the new person going. They will try to understand the comfort level for a given marketing plan and explain how to implement this plan. Most good sponsors have a range of marketing strategies that can be adapted to fit most any situation or person. They understand that there is not a single solution for getting everyone successful, so they change their plan to fit the person.

There are also a percentage of marketers that don’t want their sponsors help. They have been there, done that. Sometimes they know more than their sponsor but, because of their situation, join an opportunity under a less experienced sponsor. As a sponsor, you should then try to learn everything you can from this team member.

In conclusion, when you are considering joining a new opportunity, make sure you know what your sponsor will do for you and what you will be doing for them. Just remember that the goal is for everyone to be successful. To learn how my team and I can help you to be successful in my business, go to http://tr.im/emmfor to see how our marketing system changes the rules.

Are you a person that works at a business for someone else?  Most people are.

Why do you go to work every day?

For the money to maintain your standard of living? To be “able” to go on vacation?  To  keep from starving to death?

The employee is a very specific type of individual. This type of person wants only to do what they are instructed to do.  They may not be happy doing a particular job but it is better than having to make a decision on what to do to get paid.  Most of these people are quite good at what they do, they just don’t want the responsibility for the task at hand. They are usually very punctual and reliable. For most people, this is all they want out of life.

However, there is a large group of people that can’t stand the thought of someone else telling what they need to do. These people are called business owners and/or entrepreneurs. Although many use these titles interchangeably, they are quite different types of people.  The business owner may be an entrepreneur but an entrepreneur is much more than a business owner.

A business owner usually identifies themselves with the business only. When you ask them “What do you do?”, they are quite specific. They will reply “I run a XXXX business”.  If you check back on them in five years, they are still running the same business.

An entrepreneur, on the other hand, will respond quite differently to the question “What do you do?”. Many times an entrepreneur will answer something like “I’m running an online business, I’m running a charity for XXXX, I’m starting a new business to do XXXX, … etc.”  They seem to be always working on something new. This is just the way they are. If you were to check back on them in five years, they probably would have added four or five new ventures to their stable of products and will be working on new ideas also.

Why do these people work for themselves?

That answer lies within each individual person.  Most of the base answers begin with “I want to ….” and then go on to expound on the goals that each person has established for themselves.  Many times these goals are about the ability to give to the community or to a specific cause. Some are about very personal reasons, such as providing financial support to a cause in support of a friend or family member.

Some people are in business by themselves because they don’t want to conform to the rules that apply in most other companies. They believe that they are capable of earning a respectable income and what to have the ability to determine what they do and when. They understand that if they don’t produce something of value, they don’t get paid. They also understand that if they produce something of value, the world may beat a path to their door.

Are you an entrepreneur that is stuck in an employee mode?  Do you have the desire to actually step away from the structured employee world to be able to set your own course?

If that sounds like your thoughts, you can explore the entrepreneur world without severing the ties of your current job. To start the transition process, go to: http://www.Millionaire-Marketing-Plan.com/?p=emmfor to learn what it takes to grab your niche in the world.

Much has been written and discussed, usually passionately, about search engine optimization or, as it is known, SEO.  For many years, SEO was purported to be some type of magic that you had to pay someone to handle the details.  The general consensus was that the “normal” person could not handle SEO. To add to this stereotype, the search engines tried to keep an aura of magic in SEO.

Recently, the veil of magic has been lifted.

Much of the “magic” of SEO is really not that magical.  It is more common sense than anything else.  Yes, there are rules that you need to abide by to stay in the good graces of the search engines.  The rules are not magic but you need to change, slightly, the manner in which you present your material.  It is not as simple as just locking in a single keyword. It is learning how to lock in the “feeling” that the search engines are seeking.

Fortunately, in the past several years, many people have worked very hard to educate everyone who wants to learn about the trials and tribulations of SEO.  They have printed and spoke about everything that is required to excel in SEO.  The real advantage of learning from these experts is that they have assembled tools and techniques that shorten the learning curve. Because these people spent their effort to help others, everyone benefits.

So, what is this “magic” that the search engines are seeking?

The easiest way to describe SEO in terms that everyone can understand is “relevancy”. The search engines are looking for more than just a single keyword.  They are looking for a pattern of linking words and phrases that add more “structure” to the keyword.  SEO is also about how to structure of how everything is tied together.

For instance, Google has tools on its search page that will show the relevant words and phrases for a given keyword or phrase. Then Google also will allow you, using their own tools, to further dissect these words and phrases. By completing the research before you construct your site or article, you have a significant advantage over the person that doesn’t understand SEO or doesn’t believe it matters.  Trust me, it does.

The way that you know that your SEO work is doing its job is to do the Google search. When your info show up on the first page of Google … and stays there … you have completed your work successfully.  It gives you great, personal satisfaction when everything falls into place and you get your info ranked over people that have been there for a period of time.

The BEST way to “win” in SEO is to change your mindset to match what the search engines are looking for.  It isn’t magic, it is just following a set of rules, much like most other things in life.  The advantage that you have with SEO is that you have feedback very quickly. If your information doesn’t rank, you didn’t do your homework.  The good part is that you can always rework what you did until you DO get it right.

So, how do you learn SEO correctly?  Easy.  Go to:  http://www.MLMIntegrityMarketing.com to learn how my team and I teach others to utilize these same SEO tools to control our spots on the web.

Are you actively marketing a product for an MLM company?  Are you making more than several hundred dollars per month with this MLM?  Are you doing EVERYTHING your sponsor is telling you to do but still losing money?

Unfortunately, this situation may have nothing to do with you.  Your sponsor doesn’t understand this or even how to explain this issue to you.  Fortunately, this issue is easily explained … if you understand basic mathematics.

Mathematics?

Yes, this is a quite simple math problem.  You see, in any sales business, you get paid based on the quantity of products that you sell.  The more of your product that you sell, the more money that you make.  Quite simple. Unfortunately, there is a huge second factor that enters into this equation that will impact your total income, especially if you are running your own business.

This factor is the amount of money you earn per transaction.  You are probably saying that this won’t make THAT much difference, will it?  Yes, the difference in the amount that you earn per transaction will make a tremendous difference in your income. The example below will show the graphic difference. This will be a simple example but has real world implications.

First, some base information.  Typically, one percent (1%) of your prospects will purchase your product or service. In addition to this, only about one percent (1%) of the people that read you ad will respond to it.  Then you get to the real kicker, only one percent (1%) of the people that see your ad will even bother to read it.

So, here are the numbers.  You need one hundred (100) prospects to get a customer. To get the one hundred prospects, you will need to have ten thousand (100 X 100) people to read the ad.  Now for the scary number.  You need one million (1,000,000) views to get your single customer.

So, by now, you are probably asking what this has to do with anything.  PLENTY.

For instance, say you earn ten dollars ($10.00) per sale.  For your one million views you just made ten dollars.  Do this ten times per month and you just made one hundred ($100) dollars.  CONGRATULATIONS.  In five months you are broke and your business is probably on life support or worse.

OK, say you bought into a better system and you are making one hundred ($100.00) per sale. You are doing better because you have now made one thousand ($1,000.00).  This means that you will struggle for a YEAR and then probably still bail out because your effort is not being rewarded the way that you think it SHOULD be.

Now, what if you were to join a large dollar program?  Say you could earn one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) per sale.  This would put ten thousand ($10,000.00) in your pocket for ten sales.  NOW YOU ARE TALKING.  Now you have a business with enough income to allow you to grow your business to a level that is sustainable.

Unfortunately, too many people join the small dollar programs and then complain that they can’t make any money…AND…they are correct.  The odds are greatly stacked against them.  Now if you are looking for pocket money, yes, a small dollar program will fulfill your needs.  If, however, you are looking to put some decent money in you pocket, a small dollar program will drive you out of the business.

So, what do you do?

My suggestion is quite simple.  Visit:  http://www.Millionaire-Marketing-Plan.com/?t=wp to see the strategies and techniques that I learned to make my business profitable.

This XOWii Scam Review is an article based on this new company which is trying to establish itself as a contender in energy drink market.  Based on the Kona Red coffee fruit, or coffee cherry, as the company literature lists the main ingredient, this company is listing a variety of drinks to be marketed.

The first of their product line is a drink that is being marketed as an energy drink called XOWii Energy. They are also listing a XOWii Thin and a XOWii Ultra as upcoming products.

The company executive management consists of three gentlemen with extensive experience in the investment and banking industry and a business development specialist with 15 years of health and wellness industry experience. This group is the driving force behind bringing XOWii to the market. The company is striving to enter the exploding functional beverage market and capitalize on the growing excitement.

In reviewing the company literature, there is a serious lack of information concerning XOWii’s training and marketing programs. The compensation plan appears to be similar to the other main contenders in the market. The remaining information appears similar to the other main contenders on the market.

As the basis of this XOWii Scam Review, this author has reached the conclusion that this company is trying to shirttail itself into a market position based on the success of the other contenders.  Based on the information presented by the company, XOWii is providing a very limited profile as compared to the other companies. Much of the data appears to be formatted to mirror the information being presented by others.

The most interesting point appears to be the use of the term “coffee cherry”.  Having some knowledge of the marketing of the coffee fruit, this is quite interesting. Since another company is also marketing the coffee fruit as a functional beverage, XOWii appears to be trying to capture this momentum. Much of the literature provided by the company seems to be a play on the other company’s data.

Is XOWii a scam?  That question is very hard to qualify. XOWii appears to be a company that is trying to be something that it is not.

XOWii appears to be a company constructed by people who understand the new buzz about the functional beverages.  They are trying to capture the hype while it is still fresh on the market.  Because the company executive management has very little functional beverage experience or network marketing experience, it appears to that they are trying to bring in people who have that knowledge and experience. It also appears that the company is just trying to do the minimum that is required just to obtain a market presence.

So, to conclude this XOWii Scam Review, what do you do if you are contacted about joining XOWii?

In my opinion, that is a personal choice. XOWii may be a great company, in time. They are trying to step into an extremely competitive market, network marketing, that has a very competitive product. The coffeeberry® fruit is very tightly controlled by several companies thru several international patents. This fact will make this market very difficult and competitive. Trying to bypass the legal issues will require a significant effort.

If you are looking for a functional beverage company that has an established marketing plan, you need to go to:  http://CBD.MLMIntegrityMarketing.com If you decide to step into XOWii as a beverage company and want to benefit from an established marketing system, go to:  http://MLMIntegrityMarketing.com

Many conversations have occurred on the concentration factor required to be successful in network marketing. Numerous articles have been written and published on why people fail in network marketing. The net effect of all of this attention is that this subject has been researched, dissected, and preached about.  Although many items occur on the list of distractions, the largest culprit or automatic income reducer appears to be somewhat unanimous and that is the television.

How the term, the automatic income reducer, was derived is really not important and who ultimately coined the word is hard to distinguish but it is an excellent term. What the term represents is one of the reasons that people struggle in network marketing. This term presents an idea that causes people not to concentrate on building their business because they are distracted.

So, is this term hype or is there really something with sustenance here?

Depending on whom you discuss this topic with, many different opinions surface.  The best discussion I have heard comes from Cedrick Harris of Team Takeover Marketing Inc.  His take on this topic is quite interesting. He believes most of the people struggling in network marketing do so because of a very simple calculation. In Cedrick’s opinion, people that have a large number of televisions and / or very large televisions in their home seem to struggle in network marketing.

In Cedrick’s opinion, many people with large televisions and / or a large quantity of televisions in their homes. Unfortunately, every hour that a marketer spends in front of the television is an hour that they are probably not spending on their marketing or their marketing education. Presuming that the average marketer spends 2 hours per day watching television works out to 56 hours per month or 672 hours per year.  Imagine what could be added to a marketer’s knowledge if those 672 hours were devoted to marketing training.  The thought is mind boggling.

Cedrick has a unique point of view concerning televisions and the struggling network marketer.  He believes that the total horizontal inches of televisions in the home should equal the total horizontal inches of marketing training materials in the home. For instance, if there are three 42 inch televisions, that would be 126 inches of television.  If the marketer would have 126 inches of marketing material, that would be a quite large book shelf.  A quick walk through the house would determine if, in fact, that book shelf existed. Very seldom will that book shelf be found.

A different but similar fact seems to put validity into this discussion.  For years, research on wealthy individuals has proven that these people, almost without exception, have large reading libraries in their homes. It appears that the larger the library, the wealthier the people seem to be. Here in lies the eternal “chicken and egg” question, did they person become wealthy because they read many books or did they read the books to become wealthy?  The answer seems rhetorical but the result is the same.  Large numbers of books in a personal library USUALLY equal large amounts of wealth.

So, according to some of the current theories, if you want to be successful in network marketing, get rid of your televisions.  OK, not all of them, but if you have a large horizontal total of televisions, they are probably hurting your marketing.  Decreasing the time in front of the television will allow you to put more hours into your marketing and marketing training, which will increase your marketing income.

So, turn off your automatic income reducer, the television. Get the training material out of the pile and continue to increase your marketing education. Your wallet will appreciate the extra padding. Need some training material, go to: http://www.MLMIntegrityMarketing.com