Walter Bowman's Ventures

Duplication In Network Marketing

2005-09-26T18:00:00.000-04:00

If you're involved in any MLM/Network Marketing program the key thing to
remember is duplication. The thing to remember is that if it's not
duplicatable; your downline may not be able to do it. I know it's easy to
think your skill set can be done by anyone, but the truth is, it may not be.
I would guess that the majority of the people you'll talk to and bring into
your organization will be totally new to this industry and that's fine. We
were all new at one time and we need to remember that.

Let's go over a few Do's and Don't's

Do's

Do teach that they need to let their friends and family know what they're
doing. There may be some people they don't want to tell until they reach a
certain point because of the following Do.

Do teach them not to let their friends and family discourage them. This is
probably the most important thing to teach a new person. It's been said that
more people drop out of MLM or any business because someone talked them out
of it. These are the same people who sit at home and watch TV while
complaining that they're broke and refusing to do anything to change it.
Always remember and teach your downline to remember that if ANYONE has
succeeded at ANYTHING, they can too!!!! All it takes is doing the same
things they did to succeed.

Do teach them how the compensation plan works. They need to know how to get
paid and they need to be able to explain it to others. The simplest plans
are if you get X amount of people who get X amount of people, and you all
make X amount of sales each month, you'll make X amount of money each month.
Geometric growth can really add up.

Here's an example. You recruit 6 people who recruit 6 people (36) who
recruit 6 people (216) who recruit 6 people (1296) who recruit 6 people
(7776) who recruit 6 people (46,656) and everyone makes enough sales to
generate $5.00 in upline commissions you would earn 233,280 bucks a month.
This is just an example of course, since not all of them will recruit 6
people who make $5.00 in upline overrides etc and not all plans will use
this formula. You will have to modify this to fit your comp plan. The simple
fact that not everyone will find those 6 leaders is why most big money
earners tell you to recruit as wide and fast as possible. 6 people doesn't
sound like many but the reality is the bigger the entry price is and the
more sales they'll need, the harder it'll be to find those 6 leaders. But
don't stop at $5.00 in upline overrides. Teach them that customers come and
go and to keep making sales.

Do provide support for them and teach them to provide support for their
downline. It saddens me to receive an e-mail from an agent in someone else's
downline who can't reach their sponsor. I help when I can and refer them to
forums, websites etc when I can't.

Do remember that this industry is the greatest chance for an average person
to reach whatever level of success they want to achieve. There is no job or
normal business that provides the financial and time freedom possibilities
that MLM does.

Do teach them to buy a domain and either frame it or forward it to their
company page. If their URL has a "?" or id code, the chances of someone
typing the incorrect code is pretty good and gets better the longer that
code is. Besides, you can get a domain for about $10.00 or less a year and
the frame or forwarding service is usually included. The company I promote
offers domains with URL forwarding and e-mail forwarding for $9.75 a year
and tech support is great.

Do teach them to buy business cards and pass them out when it fits and keep
a supply on hand at all times. If your company doesn't offer business cards,
they can be ordered through a local store or vistaprint.com.

Do teach them to create a profile page (also known as face page) on a site
such as www.PowerfulIntentions.com and ideally use a domain with their name
in it to point to it. I was lucky and my name was available but even if
yours/theirs isn't, there are still options if you're creative. This is
still a relationship business and regardless of whether or not they'll be
using the internet to prospect, they need a place to let others know who
they are and what they're doing. Most people should be careful of how much
personal information they put on the page for safety reasons i.e. don't put
driving directions or that you live alone unless you think about the
possible ramifications. My life is pretty much an open book, but I'm aware
of the possible downside of revealing as much as I do.

Do teach them to get a second bank account for their business and put a set
amount of money in it each month for advertising, leads, tools and deposit
their commission checks there until they reach their goals. Reinvestment is
key to succeeding. If you need to "borrow" from this account, pay yourself
back with interest. If you want to get crazy, use the same interest that a
check cashing/payday advance loan place charges, usually $20 per $100 per
payday.

Don't's

Don't try to reinvent the wheel. This is a tough one for most people. I know
it was for me. But it's in your and their best interest to use the proven
things that got you and your upline to where they are. I'm not saying to
never try new things; but I am saying to use the tools that are proven and
test the tools that you find before recommending them to anyone. Just
because an ebook tells you to do something, doesn't mean it will work. The
internet is a rapidly evolving thing and what worked last year, may not work
today and some things will always work.

Don't teach anyone to do TV ads, Billboards or similar big ticket things
until they are making a lot of money and maybe not even then. Remember that
most people will only join you if they believe they can do the same things
you do and most people can't afford to start out buying a billboard or a
spot on primetime.

Don't teach anyone to hound anyone. It's the fastest way to lose friends.
It's one thing to mention it from time to time and when someone asks what
you're doing to say you're still doing the online business and getting
closer to retirement but it's another thing to call them every week and say
"Are you ready to start your home business yet?" The later is the reason so
many people have caller ID. Not to mention, there's too many ways to find
people who are interested. You can generate your own leads via the internet
or newspaper ads or buy them from a reputable source such as
www.bestmlmleads.biz

Don't bother with paid sign-ups. I have yet to find anyone who has
consistently made them work or had good things to say about them. Maybe they
work for some people, but we're looking for duplication.

Don't try to build anyone's business or tell them you will. This will only
create a group of people who expect you to do their work for them. By all
means help them, answer questions and be a good sponsor but DON'T tell them
you'll do all the work. The only exception to this is if your payplan has
spillover and even then they'll still need to work but as you also work,
some of your people will also payoff for your downline. For a better example
here's a company that has spillover (See Resource Link Below) Always
remember that if no one did any work in a spillover company but the top
person he or she would die trying to fill a low level.

I know that this article doesn't cover all of the do's and don't's but it'll
get you started and hopefully prevent you from making a time wasting
mistake.

Resources for this article are located at
http://stservices.powerfulintentions.com/library/view/2137

Brian Baldwin is a Professional Networker with Cognigen specializing in
Telecommunications, Travel, Internet Services, and more. He currently lives
in Reno/Sparks Nevada.

To find out what he's up to now, go to http://www.BrianBaldwin.com and read
his blog.

Two Quick And Easy-To-Implement Tactics To Monetarise The Traffic ALREADY On Your Web Site!

2005-09-18T18:47:00.000-04:00

The Internet is full of "How To Get MORE Traffic To Your Web Site" Schemes, Strategies And Techniques...

And yes, while getting more pre-qualified traffic to your web site is always a positive thing, a better approach is to utilize/ maximize the traffic that is ALREADY there, on it (your web site that is).

Here's a better question... "What are you doing with the web site traffic that's already ON your web site?"

Or, a simple premise... "If a person is already ON your web site they're searching for something, right?" They just didn't turn up on it because there was nothing worthwhile to watch on TV... or they thought they'd just go surfing while waiting for the roast (dinner) to cook.

They WANT something from you (and your web site).

Here's what happens (in the brain) when a person lands on your web site.

The brain says to itself "What is it?"... and then it says (again to itself, unless you're in the habit of talking out loud to your own brain)... "What's in it for me?"

Now, if the brain (aka that thing between your ears) doesn't get a good, CLEAR answer to its own question/s, then it gets very confused very quickly and then it says (again to itself) "I'm confused, I'm going elsewhere", or... "I think I'll go check out the roast dinner now".

Bingo, They're gone (probably never to return again).

Now, here's another way!

Master Internet marketers talk a lot about "sales funnels". What they mean by this is the directing of people from an OFF-site source (usually another web site, text link ad etc) down a pre-determined path towards their own pre-determined (and desired) outcome (usually the signup to a list).

So, what if you were to take this (sales funnel) concept and apply it to your ON-site traffic and systems? What would happen then?

Well, I did just that. I tested my own theory, and noticed an immediate and dramatic spike in traffic to my own pre-determined (and desired) ON-site outcomes/ actions (from people who were already ON my web site).

I used techniques to redirect people (who were already on my web site) to my desired outcome (and I tracked these systems to see what happened).

The sign ups soared!

Here's what I did.

1. Used a new generation popup system on the landing page.

Now, when new visitors landed on my site a high percentage of them clicked on the "PS" type (popup) note and were taken through to the offer ON my site. This page (of course) has a navigation bar. People can still access the other content that's ON my web site.

2. Set up a footer - text-based banner - on every second tier page.

The copy in this footer banner was unobtrusive. It repeated the message on the "PS" popup on the landing page. I used text (to 'say' the benefit).

My conclusions,

>>> "In addition to working on increasing traffic to my web site from OFF-site sources, implement better ON-site traffic-direction techniques for the traffic that's already on it", and

>>> "Point first time visitors towards my own (desired) ON-site outcomes, right up front... and then KEEP them on my site with a consistent - benefit laden - navigation bar".

Kenneth Doyle is the author of the mini-course,
* Mining The Diamonds In Your Own Backyard *
'5 Simple, Easy-To-Implement Tactics To Monetarise
The Traffic Which Is Already On Your Web Site.'
Get It Here... http://www.feedyourhungrymind.com/diamondsam1

Looking Back On My First Year With A Home Based Business

2005-09-17T18:08:00.000-04:00

For reasons that escape me now, I kept sort of a diary during my first full year of working at a home based business. It was nothing close to being a complete daily diary, but was more of a collection of scribbles about things that I felt were worthy of note at the time. Since quite a bit of time has passed since then, I decided to revisit these notes.

In no particular order, here are some of the things that I hadmade note of.

Choosing the path...in the beginning, my enthusiasm was very high (perhaps too high?) and I was chasing off on several different home-based business opportunities at the same time (exhibiting the "dog in a meat market" syndrome, I suppose) and not focusing my efforts enough to be successful at any single one of them. I finally reigned myself in and focused on a single work at home business opportunity.

In other notes I find reference to emotional and/or psychologicalissues that I experienced and are probably typical for most people when starting a home based business. When working at homea person can, at times, experience a feeling of isolation whichis probably brought on by the lack of interaction of a work force environment.

There were also periods of doubt in the early going...did I picka viable business opportunity?...am I doing the right things todevelop my business?...when will I start making a profit?, andso on.

Many of the entries in my so-called diary had to do with theproverbial "two steps forward and one step backward" thing andthe ever-looming temptation to become discouraged. Although I didn't appreciate it at the time, it is now obvious that as longas you have more steps forward than backward you will eventuallyget ahead! Isn't hindsight wonderful?

Other entries reflect the fact that relatively minor events canseem huge in the early stages of developing a work at homebusiness and can really contribute to an emotional roller coasterride. For example, if you are just starting out and you have twocustomers/clients and you lose one...that's a 50% drop! However,if you fast-forward in time to the point where you have hundredsof customers/clients and you lose one...that's just a mere fraction of 1%! Same event, just at a different point in time.

Looking back on it now, some of the stuff I recorded now seemshumorous, but I'm pretty sure that was not the case at the time I made the notations.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Kirk Bannerman operates a successful home based business and coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. Visit his website at Legitimate Home Based Business for more details.

Do You Want To Increase Your Website Traffic? You Need Content!

2005-09-16T02:47:00.000-04:00

Why do people visit your website? Pay per click? Word of Mouth? Lots of advertising? Dumb luck?

Whatever gets them to it, only one thing will ever make them come back. And that is "Content."

What is content? It is information of some type that is of interest to your visitors. They learn something new or see a new slant on something they had heard about or are otherwise entertained. They return, hopefully often, to see what you have new. Keeping content fresh is key. Here are some ways to do just that.

1. Start a newsletter that has articles and content about the products you sell on your website. Offer an opt-in signup form on you website to receive your newsletter. Send your opt-in list a newsletter at least once a week. To make it fresh, write about one of the features of your product in each newsletter.

To add content, answer questions from your subscribers. It will make them feel good seeing their names in print and the time it takes to write the answers will go toward writing your newsletter, not just answering one email. Many of your subscribers probably have had the same question, but didn’t know whom to ask or didn’t want to take the time to write.

One caution: don’t turn your newsletter into a commercial. Make it interesting and they will click on your URL and buy. Make it a commercial and they will unsubscribe! Get free reports or ebooks at free resource sites and offer them to your readers as a nice gesture or as a bonus for purchasing your product. People love freebies. Give them what they want and they’ll come back.

2. Take those same articles and submit them to Article Directories like http://www.ezinearticles.com/ . Be sure to attach a resource box to the bottom of your article. A resource box is a 4 to 6 line short bio about you and a description of your website, including a live link. When submitting your article, make sure to request the article to be reprinted "as is" with your resource box attached. Imagine your article being printed in several directories with URL’s linking to your website!

3. Increase your search engine ranking and, therefore, the number of visitors who visit your site, by posting articles and content on your website. The more you put keyword rich text in your articles, the more likely the search engines will pick up your site. So, if your business involves offering products and services related to health, posting health-related articles and content will attract visitors to your site. If your business involves offering products and services related to vitamins, posting articles and content about vitamins will attract visitors to your site. I think you get the idea by now.

4. Go to www.blogger.com and create a blog with a name relating to your niche market or product. Put the articles and content mentioned in item 3 above in your blog. Blogs lend themselves to articles. Put links to your main website in your blog. This may be easier than updating your main website with articles unless you can maintain it yourself and update it with FTP.

5. Create an automated cashflow by using content in email training courses that have strategically placed live links to your website and affiliate programs. Turn your articles into courses. Use an autoresponder to automatically deliver the course, one chapter at a time. Use your course as a sign-up bonus for your newsletter or the purchase of your product.

6. Visit Forums that are related to your niche market. Read what visitors have to say. If they ask a question that you can answer, answer it. Sign it with your resource box information and live link to your website or blog. Even better, tell them to visit your site to read about the subject. If you can't answer the question, research it and write an article about it. Put it on your site and return to the Forum and now tell them the answer or to visit your site. Do this quickly before someone else answers it.

7. Instead of writing articles, write a review about a product you have used. Make it honest and about 500 words long so that search engines will take the review seriously. Again, add your resource box at the end of the review.

These are some ways to increase your traffic to your websites and increase your ranking in the search engines. Maybe I have stimulated you to think of other ways. Good.

Whatever you do to get visitors to your websites, you must build a relationship of trust with them. Give them good, worthwhile content and you will build a large list of subscribers who will look forward to visiting your websites and receiving your newsletters and product offers. You will also build your reputation as an expert in your niche.

If you do this properly, then they will become customers, they will buy a lot of your products and you will become rich!

Regards,

Walter Bowman

How to Profit by Posting at Forums; Here's My Review of Forum SuperTips

2005-09-13T00:54:00.000-04:00

There's a new eBook I have just come across which I predict will become very popular.

Every day, across countless thousands of forums on the Net, people are asking questions.

What an opportunity for those who can answer them!

It could be you and this book explains exactly how
- to find exactly what forum visitors are looking for
- to quickly create a resource that will answer their questions
- to make superior postings to get people to visit your resource - with no hype, no ads and no affiliate links
- you will profit handsomely from these visits

Forum SuperTips, written by Harvey Segal (Mr. SuperTips) is neatly set out, easy to follow, written without hype and not littered with annoying links.

It's packed with solid tips on "How to Post at Forums - for Profit"

And the cost of this collection of gems ?

It's free!

And here's the best part -- You can customize the book and earn commission from your own affiliate links as well as publicity from your own sponsored page.

How do you do this?

Well, Harvey illustrates in detail exactly how and in what situations you can benefit from giving away a free book.

I'd rush to get it now if I were you at Forum SuperTips!

Regards,

Walter Bowman

If you ever thought about writing an ebook, read this!

2005-09-11T00:00:00.000-04:00

Here's an article from Jim Edwards and David Garfinkel. I think you'll

find it very interesting if you've ever thought about writing, creating, publishing and selling your own ebook.

Regards,
Walter Bowman

====================================================

Let's Get One Thing Straight About Being A Published Author

(c) by Jim Edwards and David Garfinkel
- All Rights reserved
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Just for fun, evaluate the following statement:

"Most people want to write a book and get it published, but
that's simply impossible 99% of the time."

Is the above statement true?

Not exactly. What's true is that most people THINK they
can't write a book and get it published.

And while that's a widely-held belief, just the opposite is
true.

In fact, it's easier to write and get published today than
ever before - especially thanks to the ebook "revolution."

The field of ebooks is literally wide open for all who are
interested - including, perhaps, you!

What does it take to write and publish your own ebook?

Three things:

1) A TOPIC you are interested in that others would also like
to know more about.

2) The DESIRE to get the ebook written (note - you can write
it yourself, but you don't have to. There are other proven
and simple ways to get your ebook written and published for
you.)

3) A simple, one-page, "sales letter" WEB SITE to sell the
ebook.

Does it take a lot of money or any special aptitudes?

Oddly enough, not really. You have to be willing to take
action, certainly, and learn as you go, but there are no
special educational, financial or talent requirements to
become a successful ebook author.

The truth is, it costs very little to get started. You can
get a domain registered and online for as little as $9 to
start and $6 a month for website hosting.

In fact, there are actually six ways you can create an ebook
without ever writing a word of it - so you don't need to be
a skilled writer. We'll tell you about one of them,
in-depth, right now.

Think of a topic you know something about that you'd like to
write an ebook on.

Once you have that topic in mind, then all you need to do is
write a list of questions other people would pay to get the
answers to... give that list to a friend... have the friend
call you on the phone and ask you those questions... record
the call... have the recording transcribed... and edit the
transcription!

Presto - you've just created a "meaty" ebook fast!
(Yes, it *really* is that simple!)

By the way, if you don't want to transcribe or edit the
ebook yourself, you can get both of those things done for
you for surprisingly little money... as little as a few
hundred dollars, total, in many cases.

That's how we wrote one of our most recent ebooks.

As authors ourselves, we came up with a list of questions,
got on the phone, recorded the answers, and had the entire
4 1/2 hour conversation transcribed.

Using this phone call - transcription - edit route we
created an ebook in about a week. It cost us a total of
$163 to produce it. (We hired out the transcription, and
did the editing ourselves.)

So far we've spent *zero* money on advertising and, as we
write this article today, we've sold over $91,924 worth of
that ebook in less than 15 months!

We're not unique in that way. We know many others who have
successfully published ebooks - including another small
publisher who has uses this exact same method to create
dozens of ebooks.

If you can clearly understand a specific problem, want, need
or desire of a large enough target audience and then create
a publication that helps them get what they want, you stand
to make a lot of money and help a great number of people at
the same time.

If there ever was a "golden age" of publishing, NOW is the
time.

The truth of the matter is, today anyone can become a
published author with an ebook in less than a couple of
weeks. Between us, we have 15 ebooks online and we're
making money every day, even as you read this.

You can do the same. Opportunity awaits you right now.
It's never been easier to seize the day and go for your
dream - become a published author!

--

Jim Edwards and David Garfinkel are co-authors of "eBook
Secrets Exposed," the authoritative resource for making a
lot of money quickly writing and publishing your own ebook.
Guerrilla Marketing series author Jay Conrad Levinson says,
"If ever there was a 'must-read' for this century, it's this
book." For more information...

Click Here

15 Reasons to Become an Affiliate Marketer

2005-08-05T01:28:00.000-04:00

Hello,

I had to include this article from Rosalind Gardner. You really need to check out her website. She is an authority on Affiliate Marketing and her book has great advice for anyone interested in having affiliates.

Wishing you much success,

Walter Bowman

P.S. Please don't forget to sign my guestbook or send me an email!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

15 Reasons to Become an Affiliate Marketer

- by Rosalind Gardner

? 2004 Rosalind Gardner - All Rights reserved
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

There are HUGE benefits to promoting affiliate programs with your own home-based Internet business, and I've come up with a list of 15 great reasons to become an affiliate
marketer.

Let's look at each reason separately:

1. No Production Costs - The cost to develop and produce a new product is prohibitive for almost anyone who wants to start a home-based business. With affiliate programs,
production costs aren't an issue. The product has been developed and proven - all on the merchant's nickel.

2. Low Cost Set-up - Compared with building a brick and mortar store, starting a home-based Internet business is relatively cheap. You probably already have a desk, Internet-connected computer and word-processing software, which is all the equipment you may need.

3. No Fees for Joining or Licenses to Buy - I often compare doing business as an affiliate, with distributing a line of products in the real world. The biggest difference is that the distributor must often pay for a license to distribute products within a limited geographic region. Affiliate programs, on the other hand, are usually free to join, and geographic market reach is limited only by the affiliate's ability to promote his web site.

4. Choose From Thousands of Products and Services - What isn't sold online? That list must be shorter than the one describing all that IS sold online. There are thousands and thousands of affiliate programs selling every product under the sun. That makes it easy to find products related to your current or planned web site.

5. No Sales Experience Needed - When I started my affiliate business, I had absolutely no sales experience. That wasn't a problem, however. The companies I affiliated with provided excellent marketing material. Using their sales copy, I was able to get my first affiliate site up in less than a day.

6. No Employees - The largest expense of most businesses is employee salaries. Although there might be times when you need or want someone to work for you as an affiliate, it's
doubtful you'll ever have to worry about hiring full or part-time employees. When you have a project you want to hire out, it is easy to find specialists in every computer-related field who can work for you from the comfort of THEIR own homes. You pay only for the project, and never
have to worry about ongoing employee-related benefits and deductions.

7. No Expensive Merchant Accounts Needed - Setting up a merchant account for any business is a time-consuming and costly business. It's even more tedious for Internet businesses. However, merchant accounts aren't a concern when you're an affiliate. The merchant bears that cost and handles all processing of payments. You never have to lose sleep over potential chargebacks, fraud or losing your merchant account when you're an affiliate.

8. No Inventory to Carry - Even if you live in a small one-bedroom apartment, as an affiliate you can sell large items without storage concerns.

9. No Order-Processing - Forget the problems associated with collecting and storing names, addresses, credit card numbers, etc. The merchant does all that!

10. No Product Shipping - The cost and hassle to prepare and ship products to customers worldwide could be staggering. Affiliates never have to worry about packaging supplies or postal rates.

11. No Customer Service Concerns - Do you hate the prospect of dealing with nasty people or customer complaints? Don't worry about it! The merchant handles the snivelers.

12. Make Money While You Sleep - What other business allows you as a sole proprietor to keep your doors open and keep making money even when you take breaks or after you go home for the night?

13. The World at Your Doorstep - The Internet is the world's largest marketplace. You can drive more visitors to your online store in a day, than many small-town merchants sees in his or her brick and mortar business in a year.

14. Minimal Risk - The product you chose isn't making money? Dump it. Take down your links and promote another! It's that easy. There are no long-term contracts binding you to products that don't sell.

15. High Income Potential - If you have a job, your salary or hourly wage is probably pre-determined. Maybe there's not much, other than working overtime, that you can do to
increase your income. With your own affiliate business on the Internet your income potential is limited only by your desire, effort and imagination.

There you have them - all the good reasons to start your own online affiliate marketing business. Start today and benefit from this incredibly simple, cost-effective business opportunity known as affiliate marketing. The time is right, and the time is now.

--
Article excerpted from Rosalind Gardner's "Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 Last Year Selling Other People's Products Online". Rosalind is the 'Net's most recognized expert on successful online selling as an affiliate marketer.

Visit her site at:
Affiliate Business Blueprint

What Country Am I Calling?

2005-07-21T19:01:00.000-04:00

Hi, Opportunity Seeker,

Have you encountered this problem? I get a lead with a phone number and I don't know what country they live in. So, then I don't know the timezone. I could be calling the lead at 3 AM and not know it. Well, I did a search and found this website: http://www.countrycallingcodes.com . I click on Reverse Lookup. Then I click on Select a Country Code and it gives me a dropdown menu of country codes. It starts with single digits, then double digits, then triple digits and ends with 5399, which is Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Let's say you have a phone number 97278449. Start by looking for 9. It's not there. It goes from 1 to 7 to 20. Now look for 97. It's also not there. It goes from 95 to 98. Now try 972. It's there! Click on Reverse It! and it displays Israel. You now know that your prospect lives in Israel.

You can then find the timezone and even call.

Hope this helps,

Walter