Key Merger for Black Enterprise!

Black Enterprise and Film Life Inc. have joined forces to create ABFF Ventures, a cooperative vehicle to further leverage Film Life Inc's American Black Film Festival mission of "giving content makers of color from the worlds of film and TV a supportive platform for networking, learning, and showcasing art." 

Adding Meta Tags and Key Words to your Blog script!

OK. So you've started blogging and you're getting a trickle of visitors to your account. This is a good thing, keep posting quality content oriented blogs on a consistent basis. 

Choosing the right Passion to Blog on and Profiting.

I spoke the other day of allowing your passion to dictate your niche. This is a highly rational approach to blogging.  Rather, let me clarify this by saying if you're using your blog to establish an audience and build a relationship, then following your passion is an effective course to take. The alternative is a heavy onslaught of hard sell tactics associated with what I like to call "quick sell" blogging that serves only to redirect the audience to a website and some product purchase. 

Niche Marketing is not restrictive marketing

Keeping focused

I wanted to get a blog entry in even as I’m researching several topics to be shared in the coming days and weeks. This will be just a word of encouragement to find your passion and stick with it. 

To Niche or not to Niche

Anyone interested in blogging either as a livelihood or for just a part-time passive income will hear plenty about finding your “niche’. When I think of the term “niche” from a social ecological perspective, I think of limiting, and confinement to a societal role that is not conducive to personal growth beyond a strictly imposed environmental role expectation.  Now I understand the intent of the term “niche” as it relates to internet marketing. It is designed to place oneself in the best position to make sales by focusing on a specific target market and becoming an expert in that one subject matter while avoiding competing against the major players in the general marketing industry. I think that it’s important to remember that you’ll never get to the place where you are the SOLE authority on any one subject matter, and even if your “niche” content is not directly related to internet marketing, you’ll still be required to know many aspects related to any particular product or service. 

Don’t let your Niche confine you:

Let’s say for instance, you say that you want to blog on the broad area of playing the guitar. Well a “niche” authority will want you to narrow down your focus to say “lead”, “rhythm” or “bass” guitar. But since those instruments already have the “monsters” of the industry blogging on them, some would suggest that you consider narrowing your choices down even farther to a less competitive market, say banjo or ukulele. However, if your passion is not with those instruments, but with the three former, then you’re not going to be as dedicated in committing to the ukulele “niche” than you would say to lead, rhythm or bass guitar. 

Go with your PASSION

And if you’ve had experience in all three instruments to include an extensive knowledge of performance and theory on each, you could establish three different blog segments that will give instruction on each instrument. And for a person who is a beginner, they will be able to learn from either block of instruction and not realize that you’re not the “very best” lead, rhythm or bass player in the world. And if you have experience in ensemble playing and arrangement you’ll be able to start yet another blog that gives instruction on combing all of those instruments to make music together, what their roles are when engaged together and how they accompany other instruments in an even larger ensemble as a complete unit. 

This is similar to establishing a platform for your marketing. You’ve figured out what niche or various number of niches that you’d like to specialize in, but you also need to figure out how you’re going to relate them to one another and also communicate them to your targeted market. 

Refer to the Experts

Rather than viewing the experts in a “niche” as someone to shy away from, while cloistering away into a specialized content area, incorporate elements of their particular strengths into your blogs or choice of marketing by giving them legitimate recognition when including blurbs of their content expertise into your subject matter. You can do this during the critical analysis portion of your text during your research of the literature and resources already successfully practiced in that niche. 

The Short and Long of it

Let’s say, for instance, you wanted to blog on the SEO topic, “laser targeted key words”. You could obviously expound on the topic while referring to personal experience or expertise. You could also refer to any hard or digital copies of materials that you’ve gathered from clinics or seminars that you may have attended. Another way is to get resource materials would be to simply Google “laser targeted key words”. Such a search would render more than 1 million related articles that you can refer to, but remember that although your immediate intent is to blog on that specific topic, your long term goal is to establish yourself as a reputable resource who provides rich content for that particular market. 

This approach doesn’t make you the “be all, know all” subject matter expert, but it can establish you as a reliable resource for those seeking to further their knowledge in that particular niche market.

Copyright © 2014 · Paul S. Jones · All Rights Reserved

Part 4 "Internet Marketing, Still a Viable Economic Alternative" Multi-Level Marketing.

Multi-level Marketing

Bloggers note: This entry is meant solely for information purposes only and is not a recommendation of any of the programs listed herein, nor does blogger have any affiliation with the companies and opportunities listed. Any monetary or personal investment of time or resources in any multi-level company is the assumed responsibility of the participating individual. 

Multi-level Marketing is the fourth and final segment of the series, “Internet Marketing, Still a Viable Economic Alternative”.  

We’ve all been approached by multi-level markers or MLM at some point in our lives, who promise you the opportunity to start your own business, work from home, gain financial independence, quit your day job and build a legacy for future generations. MLMs didn’t just start with the internet. Companies like Amway (59), Legal Shield/Pre-Paid Legal (72) and Herbalife (80) have been around well before the advent of the Internet.  Many advocates swear by them, however, they’ve also come under attack from those who were either disappointed with their personal results or felt somehow taken advantage of by individuals at the top who, in their minds, raked in all the cash and left the lower level sales people struggling to get their businesses established. It’s not the intent of this segment to delve into the many scam allegations that are associated with many of the top MLMs, although I will address the differences between MLMs and Pyramid Schemes and Ponzi operations. Also, I will give an overview of top programs to join, cite who are the top money earners in the industry and address some keys to consider when choosing and joining a MLM program. 

What is Multi-Level Marketing?

Dominique Xardel, Ph.D., Associate Dean at ESSEC Grad. School of Business, Paris and author of the landmark book, The Direct Selling Revolution, defines Multi-Level Marketing as “a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of others they recruit, creating a down-line of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation.” Although many associate MLMs with pyramid and Ponzi schemes, Multi-Level Marketing is distinguished between those two practices in that MLMs legal because they market legitimate products and salespeople pay a fee to join so to become sales representatives and earn a commission on the products that they sale in addition to, a certain percentage of the sales of individuals that they sign into the company. Additionally, MLM members can earn more income than the individuals who signed them into the company as well as those in their “up-line”; this is not true with a pyramid scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal because there is no legitimate product or service and therefore the scheme is unsustainable without an influx of more signees. Company funds flow to upper leadership while lower membership can only earn income by recruiting new members who pay a fee to join. The structures of the two entities are very similar in that there a multiple levels of membership, with those on higher levels considered up-lines and the newer signees considered down-lines, however, a MLM business will have products that can be sold at every level of the business, and a pyramid scheme will not (WikiHow). 

Ponzi Schemes are defined by Ivestopedia as “A fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors. The Ponzi scheme generates returns for older investors by acquiring new investors. This scam actually yields the promised returns to earlier investors, as long as there are more new investors. These schemes usually collapse on themselves when the new investments stop.” The Ponzi scheme is pyramidal in structure as is both multi-level marketing and pyramid ventures, but because multi-level marketing compensation plans rely on members selling product on every level, they are legal in the United States. 

What are the Top MLMS?

Generally speaking, will get varying opinions about what is the number one best MLM program to join, although, most list of the best 10 to 25 programs will have AMWAY at the top. Individual preference for what type of product or service you’d prefer to market would certainly be a factor. Here are some expert opinions of what are the best programs.

MLM expert Michael Clouse is considered one of the top 10 network marketing trainers in the world. In January 2013 he put out a Top 25 listing of the best MLM companies using five criteria to determine their ranking:

1. The company must be a self-described Network Marketing, Multi Level, or MLM company.
2. The company must be in business for at least 10 years as of December 31, 2012.*
3. The company must have a Google Page Rank - GPR. A scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being best.
4.  The company must have an Alexa Rank - AR. Here the smaller the number the better.
5. The company must show up in Google Trends - GT. All Regions. Last 12 months.**

 

Here is the top 15 companies of Clouse’s list:   http://www.nexera.com/top25/

In May of 2013, Infinity MLM Software compiled a list of the top 10 MLM companies which consisted of several companies not normally associated with internet marketing:

1.       Avon  Revenue; US$ 10.717 billion (2012)

2.      Amway  Revenue; US$ 11.3 billion (2012)

3.      Empower Network Revenue; $1 million in commissions in a week’s time

4.      Arrix, no statement of revenue given

5.      Organo Gold Revenue US$ 300 million

6.      Herbalife Revenue US$4.072

7.      Natura Cosmeticos S. A. (Brazilian) Revenue US$3.2 billion

8.     Vowerk & Co. KG (German) Revenue 2.368 billion euro(

9.      Mary Kay Revenue US$2.9 billion (2011)

10.  Tupperware Brands Worldwide Revenue 2,300.4 million (US 2.3004 billion)

Top Income Earners

 As stated earlier, a distinguishing feature of MIM companies is that individual marketers can generate more income than the person who signed them up to include making more than the company leaders. In April 2014, Business for Home generated a list of the Top 150 Worldwide Earners in MLM. The listing included their individual and company name, their monthly and annual estimated income with a link to their business website. I’ve included the top 10 on that list here:

 

To make this top 150 list, you must generate a monthly income of US$5,000 per month, however, holding down spot 150 on the list is Domingo Herrera of OrganoGold who brings in an estimated US$100,000 per month and US$1,200,000 annually. Clearly, there is a substantial income being generated by MLM marketers worldwide. 

7 Things to consider when choosing a Multi-Level Marketing Company

When choosing a MLM, be aware that you are attempting to start a business. You’re more than likely approach friends and family members to get your business started and to establish a core marketing base. Whatever choice you make in selecting a business and exposing that business to people who trust you should adhere to the highest standards of integrity. The worst thing is to have people who have trusted you and willingly followed your name become disenchanted with you as someone that they can trust to look after their welfare over making a buck.

1.       Choose a company that you believe in, that has a LEGITIMATE product or service to promote and is capable of producing products that people desire and a reasonable cost. The federal standard for outside purchases is 70% in order for a MLM to be considered legal. Most MLMs earn their product sales from members, well below the 70% outside purchase guidelines. 10 Lies of Multi-Level Marketing False Profits. 

2.       Choose a company with a rewarding compensation plan that will allow you to earn a substantial living as quickly as possible. You should be able to earn something with your first two enrollments in your down line. Moreover, there should be the possibility of you breaking away from your immediate up line to establish an independent team of your own once you reach a certain level of production. The company and compensation plan should have the potential to continue producing past your physical life once your team is fully functioning. There should be perks and bonuses that celebrate exceptional performance to motivate both yourself and your fellow marketers and down-line. All of the wealth should not be cloistered with the top end executives and management.

3.      The system should be user friendly and simple enough for members to both understand themselves, but to also explain to potential customers and members. There should be training available and mentoring encouraged throughout the company levels with 30 days of training and attention set aside to thoroughly acquaint new enrollees with the products and or services and how the company wants their products marketed. These are sales job and you’re promoting a real product, not just selling memberships.

4.      There should be active communication between the up-line and frontline members, Find out who are the top producers in the company, get their materials, study their techniques, and emulate the positive aspects of their business practice. Attend trainings, conference calls and webinars when available.

5.      The company should have the support and resources to get unique and quality products to your customers at competitive prices that they can’t just drive to the corner store to purchase themselves.  The company should have the potential to manage rapid growth. How is customer service, are they amicable when called or defensive or hostile.

6.      There should be a money back guarantee so that you can opt out within a certain period. This will give you an opportunity to determine if the company is a right fit for what your goals are and the timetable that you have to achieve it. Plus it will give you a time to sense the atmosphere created by leadership.

7.      Remember that 80% of MLM marketers fail, so with that in mind, set short-term and long-term goals for what you desire from this MLM business make sure that you work hard to develop your distribution team, but also set realistic timetables to achieve financial benchmarks. Determine to stick with your day job until your business can safely support all of your financial responsibilities and there is potential for sustained production and stability into the future.  

Additional Links: 7 Tips for Network Marketing Success,     How to succeed in Network Marketing,   Consider 6 things when choosing...  Key Factors to be Considered...  7 Steps to Choose...  5 Key Factors that you need... 5 Keys to Choosing... How to Choose the right company.. 

3 Keys to Network Marketing Success.  8 Keys to Multi-Level Marketing