Often times, the co-ops are expensive (I’ve been burned a few times) and unless you have your own URL cloaked with a tracking link (something virtually all newbie marketers never do), you do not really know if the traffic isn’t being skimmed for the benefit of the leaders or developers of the systems.  They aren’t only in this for the monthly membership fees.

Now, I do use a couple of integrated systems but by far the best pure play mlm business lead system in my experience is Mark Gilbert’s Autoprospector.  This is a simple, high quality lead system without any fluff.  Just straight forward quality leads.

The best part?  One of the most powerful revenue shares out there – a whopping $70 per referral.  For all the details, visit AutoProspector today.

Fortunately, we have the internet and finding leads has never been easier. Instead of chasing people, it is now very easy to setup a web 2.0 based social media marketing strategy to attract people to you. But that is only part of the equation.

Too often in our industry, we tend to drive prospects to a company branded page and while these corporate sites are good at providing information, they do not do a good enough job of ’selling’ the business to people.

For my top 5 steps to generate your own fresh leads, visit MLM Business Lead Systems.

Technorati Tags: Home Business, Internet Marketing, network marketing

I had some new people ask me – “What is with all this stuff on these sites selling stuff?”  so I thought about it and you know what?  That’s a valid question.  I’ve been marketing for over 20 years and I like to think of myself as someone who knows a thing or two about sales and marketing (not to toot my own horn…ok, I’m going to do it anyway – I’ve always been one of the top 3 earners at every sales and marketing position I’ve held in the offline world) and I find it interesting to see some of the tactics used online.

So I put together this list of some things to look out for – the reality is these strategies work well but that doesn’t mean everyone should buy something just because they are used.  An educated consumer means keeping more of your money.

Number One

Auto Pilot Anything – this is the first major red flag everyone should look out for. If you see any websites or programs talking about making money on autopilot, take a step back.

True, you can make money automatically or while you sleep – BUT that’s only after you have put in the time and effort and I can tell you from experience that it takes time.

If you notice, many of these programs promote their ‘autopilot’ systems but spend little time in telling you up front that you will have to put in the time (usually on average 18-24 months of solid work).

What happens is people believe they can pay for a program, do a little work and sit back and rake in the cash – which is what many of these programs look like you can do. Complete rubbish!

Number Two

Earn 6 Figures A Month (or insert any other 5 or 6 figure number) – again, this is another one of those claims solely designed to get you to buy into a program.

Yes, you can make 6 figures and yes some people do make that much each month – but it’s not necessarily from their program – rather it’s usually from selling you their programs (which, by the way 95% of people who go into business online do not make any money – think about it).

Like anything and I’ll keep hammering this point home, it takes time. The gurus selling these claims of extraordinary income did not buy a program and overnight start making that kind of cash. So this is another one that you should just be aware of.

Number Three

Hurry, Only 250, 175, 45, 17 Spots Left – I particularly like this one but not from the point that it’s awesome but rather it illustrates perfectly the psychological strategies used by many marketers.

Do you really think they are only limiting their product to 250 people? LoL. No, truthfully, in most cases you can still get their product even after they have ‘reached their number’ of customers. They aren’t going to turn down more money.

Number Four

ClickBank/PayPal Earnings Screenshots – I’m going to let you in on a little secret here.  It’s very easy to setup a fake website and put whatever numbers you want in there.  Shhh…don’t tell anyone.

No, I won’t share how it’s done but it is rampant in the online marketing arena among ’sharks’ looking to take your money.  Ignore any claims of income that you see because truthfully, you have no way of really knowing that this guy actually made that much unless you are sitting right next to him looking at his bank statements – and that is something highly unlikely to happen.

Number Five

Testimonials – this one is especially interesting because there are a number of strategies used by marketers.  One is to enlist other top marketing buddies to write a testimonial for their product and usually it’s done in exchange for a reciprocal testimonial for that marketer’s own product.

Another strategy is to use fake testimonials.  I’ve seen the same guy’s picture on dozens of programs and found his picture on a stock photo site.  I like to go back to old program sales pages and look up the websites from these ‘testimonials’.  Guess what I find?  Many of the sites are no longer active.

How much weight does that testimonial carry if the person giving it is no longer online?  This is common so do not believe all the testimonials you read.

Conclusion

So the bottom line is there are plenty of products out there from marketers that do not rely on these tactics to separate you from your hard earned money.  Keep an eye out, pay attention and before you whip out that credit card ask yourself – is this really something I need?

Technorati Tags: Internet Marketing

I’m a big fan of low or no cost ways to make money from home and while my focus is on internet marketing of either mlm or affiliate products, she has an amazing resource of websites that pay you for doing just about anything online.  From writing articles to reading webistes to blogging – there is just a ton of info on her site and it’s well put together.

Many of the resources she recommends I was not aware of and I will be sending folks her way, particularly those that do not find my businesses to be their cup of tea.

I encourage you to head on over to her lens.  Click HERE.

Technorati Tags: Home Business, Internet Marketing

I’m not talking about getting paid for creating content that people view or earning ‘credits’ on autosurf or traffic exchanges.  With all the billions of dollars being made off of our surfing by websites serving up targeted advertisements, what would happen if you were compensated for the time you spend surfing online?

It’s a concept so disruptive that most people haven’t thought about it much.   But one company has – Get The Bar – and they have just released a game changing model for advertising that levels the playing field.  Imagine if you had an online business and your advertising wasn’t subjected to the bidding wars of pay per click?  Imagine if you could reach a highly targeted specific audience for $0.10c an ad?  What kind of impact would that have on your conversions and sales?

Advertisers can stop fishing for goldfish in an ocean and instead fish for goldfish in a goldfish bowl.

The best part?  The revenue from advertising is shared with the average online user, paying them for doing what they do now – surfing, checking classifieds, email.

So how is this accomlished?  Get The Bar uses an intuitive toolbar for your browser and you get to choose when to view ads that are relevant to your interests.  By interacting with Get The Bar you get paid.  But…..if you invite your friends, when they install the Get The Bar toolbar, not onloy do they get paid – you do too!

For details on Get The Bar, CLICK HERE.

Technorati Tags: get the bar, Internet Marketing, LinkedIn, Tools

Still struggling with merchant accounts? Are you a high volume or other high risk type of merchant? I now have a partnership with an awesome high risk merchant processor service that will meet virtually any needs for any business.

Regardless of your business type or volume, we can handle all of your merchant processing needs without any volume caps.

Specializing in merchant services for high risk businesses, offshore merchants, high volume businesses such as mail order, telephone sales, adult, gambling, phone orders, online dating, escort services, travel, timeshares, online pharmacies, herbal companies, membership or subscription services, MLM, international accounts – you name it, we handle it.

We represent 25+ different processing sources (US based banks, Offshore banks, 3rd Party Processors, ACH Processors, Check Processors, etc.).

Regardless of business type or volume, we’ll get your account approved quickly and keep it running smoothly without any volume caps. Let our staff of processing industry veterans find the solution that’s right for you.

Please contact me to take about 1 minute to complete our NO OBLIGATION quick form and submit it to us.

This will allow our team to evaluate your needs and present a banking / pricing solution for your particular business.

Whether you need one or multiple merchant accounts, we can accommodate your processing needs.

Contact me for details and a quick no obligation info request. 404.592.1253 ext 10

Eddie@LoadedBeachBum.com

Technorati Tags: Internet Marketing, LinkedIn, online shopping, technology, Tools

Jerry Moore reveals how he went from failing affiliate to super affiliate virtually overnight. From dead broke to as much as $2,500 per day using Internet Marketing techniques anyone can Master.

In this eBook Jerry covers his top strategies for building a successful affiliate marketing business and he covers the basics in easy to ready and simple to implement concepts.

Download your complimantary copy HERE.

Gone are the days when copy was the sole determining factor in sealing a salesletters’ fate. Things have changed since then and marketers who preach that copy should be the only tool in your marketing arsenal are simply living in the past, oblivious to the rapidly changing landscape of direct response marketing and Web 2.0.

Let’s face it. It’s 2008, not 1998 anymore.

Graphics, layout and presentation have risen to become as equally important to a salesletter as the copy itself. If all elements are perfected, working in unison, these four key elements together can create some seriously high converting marketing pieces.

Just yesterday I happened to stumble across a brand new design studio called ‘Pulp Minisites’ that specializes in turning poor performing salesletters into cash-sucking sales machines that will explode your business with new customers.

Now the thing that makes these guys different than your everyday freelance minisite designer is the fact they’re a real design studio, they have a real team with a real office and treat their operation as a real business. In other words, they’re not your typical minisite designer working out of a basement.

It looks as though these guys have some real big plans for this niche and you only have to see their work to realize that. I’d recommend checking them out and see for yourself whether this new design studio is just ‘hot air’ or whether they’ll become a ‘household name’ in the internet marketing community.

See for yourself, click on the link below: **Apparently they are no longer around.  06/29/09

http://linktrack.info/lsxr3lu

Technorati Tags: Internet Marketing, LinkedIn, Tools

While the Butterfly Marketing Manuscript, the step by step blueprint on how to setup effective viral marketing strategies to explode your business, is no longer available for purchase, it is still available as part of Mike’s 7 Figure Code series.

With the One Into A Million eBook, you learn how to leverage the concepts and strategies of Butterfly Marketing to virally market and build your business.

Using simple to understand and easy to implement processes, you can quickly leverage other people to virally market your online business and brand yourself.

The backbone of this viral strategy is the use of brandable eBooks of which One Into A Million is one of hundreds avaialable to Butterfly Reports free and paid members.

Recently, a lost chapter of the Butterfly Manuscript was ‘discovered’ and released in a standalone PDF.  For a copy of that lost chapter, click here.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Downloads, viral marketing

I introduce the basics of a whois via centralops.net, my favorite online source for checking on domains, email addresses and other cool stuff you can do.

I tried to embed it but I shot it too large to display here and the resize isn’t working in the plugin with this theme so just click the link, both IE and Firefox recognize the file type and can play it in your browser.

CLICK HERE

Technorati Tags: LinkedIn, Tools