MLM in the Big Apple!

Greetings Networkers!

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm going to be in New York City next week (July 2-6).

While I'm there I'm going to have a few extra hours to spare, so if you live in the area and would like some help with your Network Marketing business ...

I'm offering a few private sessions in the great NYC to any MLMers who would like to get together with me. These are designed to be one-on-one sessions (though I'll meet with small groups as well) during which we can discuss anything you want:

• Leads
• How to do a great presentation
• How to talk to prospects
• How to market on the Internet
• Learn something new!

It's wide open - anything you want - as long as it's something I feel I can really help you with.

If interested, send me an email at: barry@mademillionsinmlm.com

Be sure to include your name and phone number and the best time to reach you. I'll call you, we'll talk about what you want to discuss, and then set a time and place to meet in the city that never sleeps!

Keep on leveraging,

Barry Burns
Made Millions In MLM

Ask Barry: "My MLM Company Won't Let Me Create A Web Site. What Do I Do?"

Today's "Ask Barry" question is a tough one, but never one to shy away from the hard questions, I decided to include it in the Blog. Here it is:

"I have been thinking about purchasing Site-Build-It [to build a web site]. In the policies and procedures section of the MLM company, it states that in order to develop my own web page I must use the text of the company's official site, may not supplement the content of my website from any source other than the company. I must register my site with the company and receive written approval from the company prior to the site's public availability. The failure to register constitutes a material breach of these policies and procedures. What are your thoughts on these policies? My concern is being able to have my site approved after I purchase Site -Build-It to create another web page."

Whew! Your company is extremely strict in it's policy.

They are probably doing that to protect their brand name, which they certainly have a right to do. However most companies don't create very good marketing copy, so if you have to use their exact wording, then (unless they're the exception to the rule), it wouldn't be worth your time to create a site using their wording.

What works online is to make things as personal as possible. The site shouldn't be just about your company or business, but needs to reflect you and your personality all through it.

An alternative for you is to ask the company if you can create a site about the general TOPIC of your products, or one of your products, but never mention the company's name or any of it's trade names.

Not only does this keep you on good terms with your company, but it can also be a huge marketing advantage to you.

It's very hard to succeed online promoting "MLM" or "network marketing" in general. It's also difficult to succeed promoting any particular MLM company or product.

The reason is simple - there's a truck-load of competition against you.

The answer is to not compete, but rather to find a niche that no one else is promoting ... or at least not promoting well.

So take a good hard look at your product line and pull out several primary ingredients. Then do some searches on those ingredients and analyze:

• The amount of competition.
• The quality of the competition.

Then create a site about the generic ingredients and their benefits ... FOCUSING on your own experience with those ingredients. Tell a great story. Of course it must be real, but that should go without saying.

Again, ask your company if this would meet with their approval. As long as the ingredients are not owned by them, and you don't mention the company's products or trademarks, it should be fine. Ask for their guidance regarding any further stipulations to make sure you don't endanger your business.

Your company's policy is strict, but it may also be providing you with an opportunity you wouldn't have otherwise explored.

Ask Barry: "How Do I Drive The Right Traffic To My Web Site?"

Today I'll share another question that came in through the "ASK BARRY" service. If you don't already know about it, this is a free service where anyone can post a question to a MLM Heavy-Hitter and get a personal response. Either click on the link in this paragraph or in the "Ask Barry" box in the right column.

Here's today's question:

"I recently joined [name of mlm company]. This is the first time I've been involved in anything like this online. My question is, how do I drive the right traffic to my website and convert them to buyers?

I've been using traffic exchanges, bought leads (thousands) and have only signed up 2 reps. Meanwhile people like [heavy-hitter name 1] and [heavy-hitter name 2] are raking in new members daily.

Please advise."

Thank you for your question.

There is a lot of hype about Internet marketing and how "easy" it is because people make a lot of money selling this information. Be very careful!

The truth is, for a person new to Internet marketing, there is no easy answer. Many people struggle to drive traffic to their site, and most fail miserably.

I'd start by contacting [heavy-hitter 1] and [heavy-hitter 2] and ask them what they do, since they're in your company. A warning though: They may not tell you the truth since a lot of what heavy-hitters do online is not duplicable, but they don't want to discourage you. This is not to say anything bad about the heavy-hitters personally since I don't know them.

My experience has been that people who are doing well marketing on the Internet either:

1. Have a TON of money they're investing into it every week.

2. Had an established online email mailing list and vehicle for driving traffic before they started with their MLM company.

You probably don't have either one of those things, so what do YOU do?

Not knowing the details of your background or what you're offering, it's difficult for me to give you specific help. However, here are some very important factors:

1. If you have a replicating web site you're at a big disadvantage because the search engines will penalize you. That means you have to pay for traffic.
2. Buying email leads is almost always a waste of money.
3. Traffic exchanges, FFA, ... all that stuff is mostly a waste of time, and again, can actually hurt you in the search engines.
4. Using Pay-Per-Click through Google AdWords and also Yahoo can work very well and is what a lot of heavy-hitters, including myself, are doing. However, you must know the inside secrets of how to do it. If you don't, then it will probably very, very expensive and ultimately a waste of money. It's certain there are other people in your same company with bigger budgets than you and you'll be competing against them. This drives up the cost per lead and makes it a very expensive way to drive traffic to most any MLM site.
5. The way to succeed online is to do something DIFFERENT! Create your own site that focuses on one unique aspect of your product so that you can establish a niche that isn't so competitive with other people in your company. Then you can win at the organic search engine game and also the pay-per-click game.

Bottom line - Internet marketing is a business unto itself and requires a learning curve.

If you're new to network marketing, then you're trying to learn 2 businesses at the same time, and that's tough to do.

That's the reality.

You may be dazzled by others who are successful, but remember: there's always a story behind the story. If they're successful now, it just means they paid their dues earlier.

Here are more resources to help take you to the next level:

1. "How to Generate Your Own Top-Quality Leads Online." A Special Report I wrote.
   
2. How to establish a unique niche within your MLM company to market. Free article.
   
3. The Definitive Guide To Google AdWords. Best book in the business from the guy who was my mentor.
   

If you decide to pursue this you have a bit of a learning curve ahead. On the other hand, it's definitely worth it as the Internet is a very exciting and profitable place to market once you learn how.

To your success,

Barry Burns

Ask Barry: "Is there anything I should worry about when prospecting: Can you lose a friendship?"

The new "Ask Barry" feature has been a huge success. I'm getting many people sending me questions ... and I answer every single one of them personally!

If you have a question for a MLM mentor, use the form and send me your question.

You can access the form from the "ASK BARRY" box on this page (5th box from the top in the right column).


Here's a question that recently came in:

"Is there anything I should worry about when prospecting: Can you lose a friendship?"

The answer I'm "supposed" to give you is, "Don't worry about it. If you really believe in your business, then you should want to share it with your friends and family first."

That's the "company line." And there actually is a lot of truth to it. However in real life it's not that simple.

There IS a danger of hurting friendships by approaching them with your business.

Many people do not like to mix business and friendships.

Money issues have broken many great friendships, and have even been cited as the #1 cause for divorce.

When you go into business with a friend or family member you are essentially becoming business partners. And everyone in traditional business knows that becoming a business partner with a friend is a very risky venture.

This doesn't mean that you should never do it.

It does mean that you should think about it carefully before you do.

It depends on the nature of your friendship and the other person's personality.

The best way to evaluate it is this: Imagine the worse case scenario - they join with you and they lose a TON of money! Now, can your friendship survive that?

Having said that, I have gone into business with a friend and our friendship survived just fine (though it was strained at times). But that friend and I are both extremely entrepreneurial ... in fact that's what brought us together. So it was already at the heart of our relationship. Plus there's a tremendous amount of trust between us, and I know my friend always takes full responsibility for everything in his life, and would never feel bad about losing money on something I told him about, because he knows he didn't have to do it. But I knew that about him before we started.

So take it on a case-by-case basis. I would certainly encourage you to approach your entrepreneurial friends if you know that your friendship could weather their failure in the business.

Again, you won't hear this from most Network Marketing trainers ... except me!

So congratulations to you for thinking about this and for valuing your friendships. A great friendship is invaluable. I'm so happy to see that you're treating it with care and sensitivity and not just blindly following what someone else tells you to do.

Keep thinking for yourself. Sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders and a good heart too.

To your success,

Barry Burns