MLM The Easy Way - ABa Update http://www.blogmoneymiracle.com en-us EasyRSS
by Jason Tarasi

When writing copy for your Website, always keep in mind the famous saying, "it's not what you say, it's how you say it." This very concept is how you turn casual visitors into customers.

Your Website content should convince visitors that your service or product is either unique or superior to that of your competitors in terms of quality -- or that it is competitively priced. Show how your product or service will solve their problems, answer a dream, enrich their lives, and/or improve their businesses. You are the dependable expert that they want and need!

Your Website copy plays a major role in establishing and growing your customer base. Web site copy creates the "voice" of your company or product. The look and feel of a site puts a "face" on the company, and on otherwise intangible products and services.

On an e-commerce site, the copy plays a key role in closing sales as well as in up-selling and cross-selling products and services. Good copy delights first-time visitors, encourages return visits and propels both customer acquisition and loyalty.

People read a Web page differently than they do a brochure or a newspaper. They scan, scroll, click, hit the "back" button, and hit the "forward" button. "Reading" is all about moving around and being in control.

You have one chance to make a first impression - to quickly convey the benefit of staying on your Web site. I can't overstate the importance of first impressions, which, in Web-time, are measured in milliseconds. The layout, functionality, message and overall look and feel of your Web page determine who stays - and who clicks away.

Remember - a confused visitor, is a lost customer.

Most people have a short attention span. You must grab their attention right away, and then hold it like a vise. Your story should be clear and to the point. Say what you have to in the least amount of words possible and never confuse your visitors.

The goal of any Web page should be to get the visitor to DO something: to move on to the next step in a purchase sequence or to click for more information about a product or service. Without readable, compelling copy and clearly organized hypertext links, visitors are much less likely to complete a transaction - and return to your site again.

Writing for your Web page should always start from your visitor's perspective. What is your Web site visitor looking for? Why is he/she there? How can you make his/her visit as quick and efficient and positive as possible? You should take the time to clarify the goal of each page before starting to write. If the page is part of a transaction sequence, identify what may be hindering the buying process. Be sure instructions are clear and easy to read.

You must create a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in combination with a strong, unique feature of your business. It should answer that most difficult question:

Why should potential customers buy from you?

Tell your customers what you are selling and explain what your service or product provides. What is the key benefit(s) to your customers? What pain does it cure, what solution does it provide? Compare your service with that of your competitors and highlight what makes you stand out from the competition? Keep working on this until you can clearly separate yourself from the field. As stated earlier, there must be a convincing reason for doing business with you, instead of your competitor.

Summarize the above into one tight, powerful, motivating phrase that will persuade your customer to do business with you and to trade their money for the benefits delivered by your service.

If you're going to promote your service and expand your customer base using your Website, potential clients have to be able to trust you. Their confidence in you and your products has to be boosted. Endorsements on your Website from a valued friend or colleague, or a referral from a strategic partner are the types of "leads" that boost your credibility. You and your service must be perceived as being trust-worthy before your visitor will be confident enough to contact you or even buy your product.

Show prospects that you have their best interests at heart and that you can adapt or customize your service to meet their individual needs. Foster an ongoing relationship that steadily increases their trust levels and cements a view that you are an "authority" in your field.

Finally, be wary of broadening the theme of your site too much. Try not to dilute your product or service's targeted niche simply to expand your base of merchant partners. Remember; focus on selling your product or service. That's where the "meat and potatoes" of your business will come from.

Looking for quality resale rights products? Michael Rasmussen and Jason Tarasi own and operate one of the Net's premiere resell rights memberships. To grab your free resell rights package, click this link now - Free Resell Rights (http://www.resellrightsblowout.com/).

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by Michael Laleye

Traffic on the freeway is bad. Traffic on the Internet is good. With over 60 million Web sites on the Net, you need a solid strategy for steering customers to your home business Web site.

Search Engines

Search engines are the yellow pages for a home business Web site. Over 80% of Internet surfers use search engines to find information on the Web. To get the most traffic to your site, list with the big search engine players Yahoo, Google, and MSN. Smaller search engines also get results from the big three, so you'll be covered in case customers visit less popular engines.

Looking Good

Your home business Web site can be simple or complex, but it must be functional and attractive. Make sure your site does what it's supposed to do - provide customers with concise, useful information about your product or service. Be wary of making things too complicated. The site should be easy to navigate or customers will look elsewhere.

Your home business Web site should also look professional, not cheap. If you aren't design savvy, spend money on a good Web designer. The investment will pay off by attracting more people to your Web page.

Online Ads

The Internet has many sites where you can list your home business Web site for free. To guarantee the greatest exposure, place your ad on several (20 or more) sites and repeat the process every month.

Banner advertisements can be as effective as TV spots in increasing customer awareness of your business. A banner ad should be direct, i.e. promote a benefit, rather than just the name of the product or service. Try participating in a banner exchange program such as LinkExchange, that connects your home business Web site to other company sites that have similar customer bases.

Affiliate programs offer an excellent opportunity to promote your home business Web site. Affiliate businesses post links to your Web page on their sites. You pay them a commission or a set fee, based on the amount of traffic sent to your Web site. Pay arrangements vary and can be based on the number of people who visit your site or the number of customers who purchase your product.

Bloggin' It

Bloggers are the hot new information medium. Getting them to write about your home business Web site is an excellent way to gain exposure to potential customers.

Technorati Blog Directory provides a listing of blogs by industry. Do your research here to determine which blogs might be interested in writing about your business. Send a short, personal E-mail to a few blog writers describing your Web site and asking the blogger to write about it. Offer the writer something in return. For example: free product or a link back to his blog on your Web site.

Offline Ads

Cruising Down the Highway

Your car is a moving billboard for a home business Web site. Window decals and bumper stickers are inexpensive ways to get the word out about your Web site. Spend a few extra dollars for a personalized license plate with your Web address.

Old Media Standby

Regardless of what the bloggers say, people still read the printed page. Run ads in the classifieds of large and small papers, trade magazines, and free weeklies. Your choice of print media will depend on the product or service offered and whether you do business locally or nationwide.

Make money online - Complete money making site set-up FREE! Go To: http://www.myaffiliatestarter.com/pips.html Read more great articles like this at: http://www.myaffiliatestarter.blogspot.com Get started today!

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by Tellman H. Knudson

How important is list building? I know I ask that question a lot, and some people just don't get it. List building is everything! Without a list, you probably won't make much money. But with everyone out there asking for names and E-mail addresses, what are the chances you'll be able to compete, if you've just started out online?

Very bad. You have to snatch people's attention away from the newest product or program and get them to join your list instead of theirs, right?

A really great way to do that is with video. You may say to yourself, "Are you nuts? I'm not putting my face out there for the whole world to see." Well, why not? Almost every video I've seen has average people in it, just like you and me.

If you're worried about how hard it is or installing the software, get over it! You're wasting time. Pay someone to do it for you and to show you how it works.

I probably don't need to tell you how hot video is online right now. I mean, if it wasn't, would Google have spent $1.65 billion to buy up You Tube? No! Forget the doubts. And if you're shy, don't worry. You can even stay off camera and make video work for you.

But, if you're going to be in the video, you need at least a Webcam, or a camcorder. Even some cell phones have video cams in them these days. It doesn't have to be a Hollywood-quality film; the information has to shine. Just get a way to record your film. You can also use a program like CamStudio to do a Webinar-type presentation. Once you have the recording equipment, then hit the button, you're ready to go!

When you're finished with the video, you'll probably want to edit it. If you're on a PC, no sweat. You already have Windows Movie Maker installed because it's an accessory in Windows. It's pretty straightforward and very easy to operate. Play with it a while and you'll soon see what you can do.

After editing, you'll want to upload it to Google Video and You Tube, at least. Because those sites get the most traffic, they're prime, but you may also want to upload to places like DailyMotion, Flurl, and Blip.tv. There are actually a ton of sites out there, but it does take a while for a video to upload, so decide how much time you want to spend.

The more times your video is seen, though, the better off you'll be.

"Are we list building yet?" you wonder. Well, yes. Now, we'll be list building because with every video, you also upload "tags," as you do with any other Web 2.0 site. So, if your niche is baseball, you'll have a video about a batting stance, for instance, and your tags will be "baseball, sports, etc."

Those tags are how people will find you. Be sure the URL to your list building page is in the video, too, either by way of captioning, or even, hold a sign with the URL on it in front of you while you're speaking. Just be sure to use that list building page address. It's vital.

But, if you're still shy, you don't need to show your face at all. Use pictures. A static picture can make a nice backdrop for your video. Or use a slideshow. They work well, too. Still, don't forget to include the URL to your list building page on each picture. You can edit that into your picture in a program like Photoshop.

The audio doesn't necessarily need to be fresh, either. If you've done any teleseminars and recorded them, you can just snatch a clip of one for video. Be sure to keep the length of your chat to about three minutes, though, or you'll lose some of your audience. Things move fast online.

Be sure to track your visitors, too. See how effective your video is. I think you'll be surprised. But you have to try new things. Don't let the technology stop you. Otherwise, you'll be left far behind with no list at all.

Tellman Knudson is an Internet Marketing coach and CEO of Overcome Everything, Inc. Find more of his incredible list building secrets at http://www.myfirstlist.com/ .

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by John Young

"I’m amazed at this! I put very little effort into this online business, and already I’m making over $14,000 a month!"

We’ve all heard these testimonials in ads for “starting your online business.” We are then offered a "turnkey" Website already designed and filled with widgets to sell on the Web.

The ads lead us to believe that hordes of customers will flock to our site, wallets in hand, ready to avoid the downtown mobs. We’re promised an overnight fortune with little or no effort. We purchase the site and set up the store, only to find that reality falls well short of expectations.

The "SNAFU" Of Online Marketing:

Perhaps one of the greatest disappointments for the novice online marketer is to discover that the effort she has put into designing and publishing a monetizing Website may very well be wasted because no one comes to it.

In the real world (as compared to the virtual one), a business is generally set up by first renting space (hopefully in an area with heavy traffic, such as a shopping mall or on main street), designing and setting up the store, filling it with inventory, displaying the merchandise, and advertising to bring in customers with wallets ready to buy.

While location is important, most effort is directed at bringing the customers to the site, not the other way around.

In the virtual world, however, one has to bring the Website to the customer. Every potential customer sits in front of the same computer – essentially the same physical location for ALL businesses on the Web.

The business that can effectively bring itself to that customer will succeed. All others will fail.

7 Ways To Bring The Store To The Customer

Let’s say you do a search for a Google keyword such as “luggage.” You’re likely to come up with tens of thousands, if not millions, of potential Websites, some selling luggage, others giving product reviews.

Will your site be among the ones Google or Yahoo finds? Not too likely, and if your site doesn’t appear in the top 10 or 20, on page one or two, the potential customer is not likely to go to page 3. Expecting her to find your site on page 150 is pretty much out of the question. She simply isn’t going to go there to find your store.

Consequently, you MUST bring it up in the search ranks … to her, where she is sitting, in front of the computer.

Ranking Your Site

Today, most people find what they're searching for using Google.

Google ranks your site primarily by how many links are located on other sites pointing to it, and the context in which your link is found. For example, if your site is about dogs, and your link is found in the context of dogs, that link will be more valuable than if it is found in some other context or in no context.

Bringing your store to your customers by improving your rankings requires a few techniques, and a lot of hard work. Here are seven suggestions for methods that are not “Catch-22,” i.e. don’t require traffic to get traffic.

1. Writing and marketing articles.

Google and other search engines rank a Website by how many “one-way” links point to it from other sites. Writing an article and publishing it in the many E-zine barns (and having it picked up by online E-zines specialized for your keywords) is an excellent way to get these one-way links

2. Reciprocal linking.

Find other Websites with similar subject matter to your own. Contact the Webmaster and arrange to post a link to your site in exchange for reciprocating -- posting a link to theirs on your site.

3. One-way links.

Do a search on your keyword and “add URL” or “add your site.” You will find sites you can add your link to.

4. Join a forum.

You can get banned by putting a link to your site in your posts, but if you put it in your bio and then post information frequently on the forum, you can go up in Google rankings.

5. Blogging.

Set up your own blogs with links to your sites to gain Google rank. Free software exists to do this.

6. Search Engine Optimization

Make your site “keyword rich” by including a written introduction with searchable keywords in it, optimize the site and submit it to the minor search engines. Software exists to help you with search engine optimization. Google analyzes rankings in minor search engines when assigning site rank.

7. Advertising with Google Adwords.

Adwords can put your site in front of the customer – on the right side of the search page, not on the left. People read from left to right, and will see the results of their search on the left first. Depending on your bid for the keywords, your ad may appear at the bottom of a stack of Adwords advertisements. Adwords can bring in sales, but costs can get out of hand and ultimately be disastrous.

Work Smart ... and Hard

Ninety-five percent of all Internet businesses fail. Articles have been written simply stating that this is due to lack of “hard work” on the part of the owner, who thought she was going to have a “turnkey” business that would immediately reap “astounding profits.”

While this may be true, there’s an old saying: “Work smart, not hard.” In the case of an Internet business, you're going to have do both. You're going to have to work smart by knowing the most effective means of bringing your store to your customers, and work hard …

John Young is a writer and editor living in Santa Barbara. He is inviting submissions to his new E-zine, Explode Your Affiliate Checks at http://www.explodeyouraffiliatechecks.com devoted to all phases of online marketing. He has a second site at: http://www.ebook-marketing-software.com .

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by Rick Roberts

A Little Background:

I have been involved in Internet Marketing and Affiliate Marketing since 1994. I must admit, however, that I am a lazy marketer. Maybe a better word is "sporadic."

By this I mean that, from time to time, I will find a product or service that appeals to me and, for a few days or weeks, I will pursue marketing it. Usually, at first, there is some level of success associated with my efforts -- but not always. Believe me, I have squandered more money on Internet marketing E-books than I have ever made from them.

In my marketing endeavors, I always wanted to find a product or service that could be set on "auto-pilot," or self running, and make an extra few bucks a month. Let me tell you -- that's hard to find.

Mostly because the world of Internet marketing is ever-evolving -- and what sells today may be a non-selling item or service next month. To date, I have found only one that both works like this and stands the test of time sensitivity. You can read more about this from the link in my Bio/Resource box with this article posting.

Affiliate marketing is a waiting game

One thing I've learned through my experiences is that affiliate marketing is a big waiting game for any return on investment. Take, for instance, being an Amazon Associate. With Amazon, you earn an overall 4% - 10% commission off of any referral sale.

Not bad on the surface, but a big drawback is their sales reporting system. It's always a 24-hour lag getting stats from your promotions, which makes pay-per-click advertising a real gamble with Amazon. The biggest catch, though, is the wait-time for any commission earned. It takes 60 days from your first referral sale to get a check or direct deposit from them.

So, again, you really have to be careful with any paid promotions for referrals to Amazon. But, if you have the money or other resources to promote Amazon referral links and can wait 60 days on your return, you can make a fairly good chunk of extra income.

Last month -- March 2007 -- I made $202 in commissions after a $96 investment in PPC advertising.

Clickbank, on the other hand, is still an iffy proposition for affiliate commissions. The plus side of Clickbank is that you get a commsion check every two weeks on the prior two weeks' referrals. So, the inital wait on your first check is about 4 weeks. But there are two main drawbacks to Clickbank.

One is that almost every product you can promote is promoted to death on the Internet, which means you are fighting like cats and dogs over getting sales from your advertising. PPC advertsing is really a gamble with the products there because the good traffic keywords are so expensive to get decent position with.

Expect to pay $1 - $5 per click for good position with Clickbank PPC advertsing.

The real money-making promotions

Of all of the things I've tried to market on the Internet, the biggest money-maker is selling either your own products, such as physical items or E-books you've written, or reselling other E-books that you have master reseller rights to.

Having master reseller rights means that you collect all of the proceeds from the sales and you can advertise the product on your own Website with your own HTML pages.

Another easy money-maker and potential big money-maker is viral marketing.

I know it sounds like an evil thing but it's not. Viral marketing is the process of giving away something that links back to your actual sales pages or affiliate links.

The two most common viral marketing methods are:

* Giving away an E-book that has your links embedded within them to either your sales page or an affiliate link to another sales page. I've found people love free items and will snap them right up with little promotion at all.

* Submitting articles written by you to article directory sites that contain links to your own sales pages or affliliate links.

Summary

To summarize, I would have to list these points:

1. If you're new to Internet or Affiliate Marketing, expect to experience a fairly healthy learning curve in figuring out what to promote and how to efficiently promote the product or service.

2. Expect to invest a sometimes sizable amount of real money in PPC advertsing. In fact, if you're new, I wouldn't recommend this approach to promotion at all. Wait until you've figured out the ropes first before gambling with what money you do have.

3. Look for products you can sell that you have complete control over in both the commsions and sales approach, master reseller rights products.

4. Don't ignore viral marketing. It's the cheapest and most bang for your buck in promoting any product or service. Plus it's enduring. An E-book can float around the Internet for months or years, providing residual on-going income.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I would like to encourage you to check out the link in my Bio/Resouce box for a product that does work on auto-pilot and, best of all, incorporates both master reseller rights and viral marketing into one easy-to-promote package. It won't make you rich, but it will provide you with a residual income for months or even years, possibly.

Rick Roberts is an Internet marketer that manages several Websites across the Internet. Get the greatest viral marketing idea of all time and it's free to download http://www.daelectronics.com/ultimate. You will be amazed at how simple and brilliant this idea is. Plus, it has a surprise twist on the last pages of the E-book.

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by Keith Thompson)

So -- you've decided to take the leap into deep water and go into business for yourself, specifically into Internet Marketing. Congratulations!

This was a smart decision, one that will eventually reward you with all the dreams you can dream. Your challenge now is to survive that 1st year.

Hopefully, you're reading this early on in your endeavors, and can make the adjustments necessary to keep your enterprise afloat and your bank account bouyant. Here are several things the "gurus" neglected to mention along the way to building your own internet marketing empire!

1 - Who are you listening to?

There are a lot of people who've made a lot of money, and they're all too eager to tell you about it, frequently in the form of their latest product. It's very easy to find yourself tuning in too many voices, instead of riding one horse till it either gets you there or is spent.

Find a niche that interests you, find products that are either yours or through an affiliate program, and focus entirely on your plan, not allowing yourself to chase rabbits.

2 - What is certain!

The real money to be made in Internet marketing is produced in the following ways: owning your own site(s), your own products, your own opt-in mailing list, and your own vision! Think about it! Not one of the Internet millionaires to whom we look for advice has lacked any of these for very long.

You bought their products off their sites, joined their mailing lists, and, to one degree or another, shared their vision. If you haven't already, begin immediately to build your own empire. Build a site, start learning about traffic, linking, opt-in lists and all the other essentials necessary for long-term success.

Affiliate marketing will only take you so far. In fact, most of the top affiliates have several of their own products!

3 - The learning curve.

There is a certain amount of information you simply have to either learn (or pay for). Don't discount the fact that this will take a little time. One doesn't discover how to build and market a fully- optimized Web site in a month. Or three! This is; and because of the fluid nature of the web; always will be a work-in-progress.

Do what you can do every day and come back tomorrow for more. Don't be discouraged when the money takes a while to appear; if you do this right, when it does show up it will be worth the wait!

4 - A support system.

Get one. Don't plan on supporting yourself from your business right away. It took the best at the very least several months to start seeing any real money.

Don't despair if you turn out to be mortal, too. Give yourself a chance at this; the rewards are simply too great. I'll leave you with a quote that sustained me many a night: "I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship." - Louisa May Alcott

(c)2004 by Keith Thompson

Keith Thompson is the Webmaster of Internet Marketing Here and Now!, featuring the latest and best tools for your internet marketing business. (http://www.internetmarketinghere.com) Email - keith@internetmarketinghere.com.

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By David Jacobsen

If someone is about to lose their home to foreclosure, you can guarantee they're feeling stressed. They're probably being bombarded by calls and letters from creditors, and for many people it all becomes too much to handle. They close their eyes and hope it will all just go away.

Reality is that it won't. As an investor interested in buying foreclosures, the hardest part can be convincing the homeowner that they really are going to lose their house unless they do something about it. It is also difficult to convince them that you are really trying to help them, even though you are helping yourself make a profit at the same time.

When you're dealing with foreclosures, time is of the utmost importance. You need to have enough time to bail out the homeowner and take over the property before it's too late. It can be a good idea to subscribe to a foreclosure listing service. You gain access to listings at the earliest possible time, and don't have to use your valuable time looking for potential foreclosure properties from other sources.

Many people facing foreclosure have spoken to an attorney. They are convinced that bankruptcy is their only option; in most cases this isn't true. Attorneys tend to stick to what they're familiar with, which is bankruptcy, rather than mentioning other possibilities such as:

- Sale by assumption
- Deed in lieu
- Straight sale
- Foreclosure presale
- Compromise sale
- Short payoff
- Workouts
- Assignment
- Injunctions

There are still more options available, than these, which show that bankruptcy definitely isn't the only choice for the homeowner. When you're dealing with a homeowner in foreclosure, make it clear that you are offering an alternative to bankruptcy. Find out whether they really understand what bankruptcy will do to their credit history and how it will affect their future.

If you're serious about buying foreclosure properties, then you need to become familiar with everything that's required in the process. Check out everything for every property you consider. These items include:

- Loan and mortgage documents
- Loan amount, monthly payment, and interest rate
- Any outstanding taxes
- Existing insurance policies
- Any other liens or judgments

Make sure you have enough information to complete all the necessary tasks before the foreclosure occurs. If there is not enough time, don't even bother starting. Having said that, learn as much as you can about ways to delay foreclosure, and help the homeowner to implement them all. It may just give you enough time to take over the property before the foreclosure auction.

Above all, focus on creating a solution where everybody wins. It's never an easy time for the homeowner, so be prepared for plenty of anger, frustration and resentment; some of which may be directed at you. Walk away if it's obvious the person doesn't want to work with you. Find someone who is interested in finding a solution, show empathy for their situation, put together a strategy to get the best possible result for them, and before long you'll find yourself with a good portfolio of investment properties.

If you want to read more about foreclosures, click over to David's site at http://www.foreclosuresonlinecentral.com . You can also access lists of seized real estate at http://www.buyingcheaphouses.info]]> http://miraclemoneyblog.com/MLM/MLM_ABa_166/user/index.php
By Tim Sales

It is very difficult to achieve real MLM success if you are afraid of talking to people about your business. Use these four guidelines to achieve confidence when talking with prospects. They've worked for thousands in my own MLM business. I know they will work for you.

Why do you have a "chicken list?" Because you fear you don't communicate easily or well.

A "chicken list" is the list of prospects that you're afraid to call. Often people think they will call their "chicken list" after they get successful. But, they need these people in their MLM business to create the success.

This is a "Catch 22."

The phrase "Catch 22" is from a novel by Joseph Heller, written in 1961. The pilot was afraid to fight in World War II. He feigned insanity. But the doctor said that if he were truly insane, then he wouldn't mind endangering his life by going into the war.

If he were sane, then he would be capable of following orders to fight the war. Thus the phrase "catch 22" came to mean, "a situation that trips one up no matter which way one turns."

You need the people on your chicken list to create the success you need in order to contact your chicken list. How do you get around this catch-22?

Your fear of the chicken list is based on your feelings that somehow, people are above you because of their status. If you were to examine this more closely, you would discover it is not that the people are any better than you; it's lack of confidence in your ability to communicate easily.

If you knew you could communicate easily and effectively without making any mistakes, you could...and would...call anyone without hesitation. You would have confidence. You would have certainty. And there's NOTHING more rewarding than having that feeling.

Communicate means: a. To convey information about; make known. b. To reveal clearly.

Easily means: a. Free from worry, anxiety, trouble, or pain. b. Requiring or exhibiting little effort.

The reason I bring this up is there are a group of characteristics an MLM business professional must have in order to truly have success in speaking with prospects. I call these characteristics the 10 Communication Qualities.

Having full knowledge of these qualities and having the proper and correct MLM training to learn them, you will be amazed at how much smoother conversations will go with your prospects.

The fifth communication quality on my list is to, "Communicate easily - no tension, strain, fakeness, sounding rehearsed, stuttering or hesitating."

Let's look at each one of these issues:

Tension & Strain: (The definition for tension and strain is very similar so they are
combined here.)

a. To be subjected to great stress. b. A great or excessive pressure, demand, or
stress on one's body, mind, or resources.

When communicating, tension and strain are stress created by the mental activity of feeling unprepared, or fear that you will sound "stupid" to others. If you've ever been asked to suddenly speak in public, you know what this mental activity feels like.

It creates a very uncomfortable feeling, of "being on the spot", and not knowing what to say. It’s the reason someone's voice "squeaks and quivers" when talking. This communicates an unprofessional, “new to the subject”, uncertainty to the prospect.

The solution to tension and strain is to familiarize oneself with all situations that can arise on a call when talking to prospects. Be familiar with all situations regarding your MLM business opportunity and also the products you sell.

Know what you are going to ask the prospect to do; invite for product, invite for business, send to a website, or get on a conference call, etc. When you are clear about what you're going to do and say, you will greatly reduce tension and strain.

Fakeness: a. To represent falsely; pretend to. b. To fabricate.

People sound fake when they use a lot of fluff words like, awesome, incredible, unbelievable, fabulous, wonderful, special, state-of-the-art, etc. These types of adjectives demonstrate a clear bias on your part. I'm not suggesting you be a boring communicator; by all means, be excited. You don't have to use fluff or puff words to describe your excitement. This normally indicates a cover-up of real content.

Sounding rehearsed: a. One that is not authentic or genuine.

Rehearsing what you're going to say is NOT WRONG. However, if you talk with a prospect before you've rehearsed enough - you will sound rehearsed; which IS UNPROFESSIONAL. When you've received a phone call from a telemarketer, you could tell he was reading from a script. It didn't sound very genuine and when you detected that he was reading from a script. You wanted off the phone. That's what you want to avoid with your prospects.

Stuttering and hesitating: a. If you hesitate, you do not speak or act for a short time, usually because you are uncertain, embarrassed, or worried about what you are going to say or do.

Stuttering and hesitating loops us back to the first issue I discussed above which is Tension and Strain. It is the fear of saying or doing something the prospect won't agree with that causes us to hesitate and stutter. The solution for stuttering and hesitating is similar to the solution for tension and strain; is very familiar with all the situations that can come up on your invite call.

Have you realized the simplicity of this yet? Your willingness to talk to your “chicken list”, or lack of, is based on your ability to communicate easily. You need to become familiar with all aspects of your MLM business and company to communicate easily.

Tim Sales helps network marketers gain the confidence and skills to be an MLM success. Discover what you must know to become a true network marketing professional. Sign up for his free MLM training newsletter and listen to free training at http://www.brilliantexchange.com.
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By Todd Brabender

When starting a successful business venture or launching a new product, most entrepreneurs or business owners conduct some type of marketing research to determine the extent of their prospective customer base. When getting the word out to that customer base, many entrepreneurs may turn to the media to help generate a buzz for them. However, as detailed as their marketing research might have been, very few business owners are as meticulous at determining their proper "media market" – that is, all those media outlets whose editorial profiles are a match to a product/business profile and would be appropriate for generating media exposure and publicity.

One of my favorite things to do is educate my clients about their "media market." Consider this, in North America there are more than 75,000 media outlets and almost one million reporters, editors & producers in the entire media market. However, only a small percentage of those may be appropriate and applicable to your business/product. Which ones are they? Unfortunately, too many well-intentioned entrepreneurs are either uninformed or misinformed regarding what it takes to attract media attention for their business. I recently surveyed 100 business owners and entrepreneurs who contacted my business about a publicity/media exposure campaign. Here's what I found:

11% - "Are Admittedly Media Market Clueless"
19% - "Have Unrealistic Media Market Perceptions"
29% - "Think Local & Large Media Are The ONLY Media"
41% - "Have A Good Grasp On Their Potential Media Market And Its Benefits"

Here are the descriptions of these categories and the lessons I try to teach those who fall into each category:
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11% - "Are Admittedly Media Market Clueless" These are the business owners who know their product and market inside and out, BUT they have never thought about launching a publicity/media exposure campaign before now. They know very little about their potential media market or how to generate publicity therein.

The Lesson: For these types of business owners I recommend asking for help from a smaller PR agency or publicity specialist who is willing to "hand hold" to get the client educated. Research to find one who doesn't mind spending the time to educate you about what should be included in your specific media market and the pitch. Make sure the agency or publicist understands the product/business as well as you do and can in turn educate you about your media market – one that will be able to benefit your business for years to come.
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19% - "Have Unrealistic Media Perceptions" These are the business owners who are CONVINCED that EVERY newspaper, consumer interest magazine and TV show will run a feature on their new products when they launch a publicity campaign.

The Lesson: No product or business, no matter how big or great can be assured media coverage in every outlet in a media market. But you can get coverage in a good number of them given the right media tending. Every media pitch will be weighed against the media outlet's editorial lead-time, its available editorial space, and availability of an editorial staff member to cover your pitch. It is totally up to the discretion of each media outlet as to whether your pitch makes it to the pages or on air. It can be an uphill battle if you target the wrong media with the wrong message. With a little expertise and media market know-how, you can greatly increase the chances generating those media placements.
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29% - "Think Local & Large Media Are The ONLY Media" These are the ones who think of their media market in two simple terms: LOCAL & LARGE LOCAL, as you might imagine, means the media outlets in their city or surrounding geographic region -- the local newspaper, a regional business magazine or two, a few shows at local radio/TV stations. LARGE, on the other hand, are media outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Good Morning America, Oprah or your other favorite large circulation, trade specific media outlet.

The Lesson: The reality is local and large are indeed part of your media market, but not the only ones. The best media market opportunities may well be the dozens of other smaller scale papers, magazines, newsletters or TV/radio/cable shows that may generate more customer interest and sales than a placement in the big media might. Because of a lack of media market knowledge, many business owners don't even know these smaller, more targeted media outlets exist. This is where a PR agency or publicity specialist can be integral in your publicity campaign. They know the media market very well and will be able to find those media members who will be the best for generating editorial features on your business or product. They also have great media contacts that can turn one feature into a syndicated story that runs in multiple media outlets nationwide.
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41% - "Have A Good Grasp On Their Potential Media Market And Its Benefits" These are media-savvy entrepreneurs and business owners who are realistic and knowledgeable about how the media can benefit their business. They know that they have to narrowcast their media pitch to a select segment of the media in order to get coverage that will increase exposure for the business.

The Lesson: Don't let a PR agency or publicity specialist tell you they will send your pitch to 20,000, 30,000 or 50,000 media outlets. The reality is, of the 8,000 daily & weekly newspapers, 11,000 magazines & newsletters, 15,000 radio/TV/cable stations and 7,000 Internet news sites in North America, only about 25% of those accept press releases from outside their geographic area. They cover only LOCAL issues, businesses and products, and it is a waste of time to target them. The key is researching to discover which media outlets will be receptive to your pitch and knowing how to parlay those media contacts into positive consumer interest features that will educate and entice customers about your product or business.
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Just like marketing to find the right customers, one should be equally diligent about finding and pitching the right media market. Bottom line – whether you have a general interest product that has widespread consumer appeal or a trade specific business with a very narrow customer base, knowing your appropriate media market can mean the difference between product/business publicity and product/business obscurity.

Copyright (c) 2006 Todd Brabender

Todd Brabender is the President of Spread The News Public Relations, Inc. His business specializes in generating media exposure and publicity for innovative products, businesses, experts and inventions.
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com
mailto:todd@spreadthenewspr.com
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