Social Apps: The Devil in Disguise?

Social network applications are leaving an open door to our most personal of details.

Tending to the crops on your virtual farm, finding out who views your profile and sharing your favourite movie trailers may seem like harmless ways to use social networks but oblivious users are accepting application requests without considering who they are allowing to access their personal data.

Having ‘apps’ connected to your Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter profiles provides an open-door for the third party behind the app to access your profile and all of your personal data within.

UKFast technical director Neil Lathwood explained the risks that this security flaw poses for social networkers: “Having all of these apps to entertain us is great, but many people do not realise that by using these apps they are effectively inviting people to use their personal data in whichever way they want. We really need to start considering the consequences of having all of our data readily available to unknown third parties.

“Facebook acts as a narration of our lives and with the introduction of the new Timeline feature, more people are filling the gaps in their profiles, adding illnesses, significant events and employment details to name a few. This information is incredibly valuable to identity thieves and cybercriminals.”

As revealed by UKFast’s security experts last year, the information that we share on social sites provides cybercriminals with the clues that they need to guess passwords and break into online accounts – from social media to online banking.

Lathwood continued: “With Facebook predicted to pass the 1 billion users mark this August, the site is a prime target for criminals to mine data from. Users must be more savvy with whom they are sharing their personal data or risk cybercriminals accessing more than just their Facebook or Twitter accounts.”

Facebook launches its latest innovation this week – Timeline Apps – which has caused further security concerns. The permissions protocol linked to the apps, ‘frictionless sharing’ says that apps only need initial approval to post on your timeline and profile. This means that the app can continue to make posts on your behalf without asking for permission.

UKFast has issued the warnings as part of the build up to European Privacy and Data Protection Day on January 27, an annual event designed to raise awareness of data protection and online security.

Lathwood said: “Data Protection Day is the perfect time to raise awareness of the risks that we inadvertently take online. We can monitor the apps that have access to our profiles using websites such as http://mypermissions.org/ which take you directly to the permissions page of the site where you can manage these apps.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UKFast is one of Europe’s fastest-growing technical companies as ranked by Deloitte and the Sunday Times Tech Track. In the last year CEO Lawrence Jones has been named North West Entrepreneur of the Year, while his team has collected the Greater Manchester Award for Innovation. In addition to being listed as one of The Sunday Times best companies to work for, UKFast also won the UK IT Awards Employer of the Year in 2010.

Previous accolades include being named the ISPA UK’s Best Hosting Provider four years consecutively. UKFast has over 400,000 web domains on its network and over 4,000 clients across all industries. Clients include Virgin, Microsoft and UKTV. UKFast is a member of the Cloud Industry Forum.

For more information about UKFast visit: http://www.ukfast.co.uk

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

10 SEO Search-Ranking Myths

SEO myths become larger every year. Some are based partially in reality, and others have spread because it’s often difficult to prove what particular SEO action caused a resulting search engine reaction.

For example, you might make a change to something on a page of your site, and a few days later notice that your ranking in Google for a particular keyword phrase has changed. You might naturally assume that your page change is what caused the ranking change. But that’s not necessarily so. There are numerous reasons why your ranking may have changed, and in many cases they actually have nothing to do with anything that you did.

Mixing up cause and effect is one of the most common things new SEOs do. If it were affecting only their own work, it wouldn’t be so bad, but unfortunately, the clueless often spread their misinformation to other unsuspecting newbies on forums and blogs, which in turn creates new myths. It’s always interesting to see how people are so willing to believe anything they have read or heard without ever checking it out for themselves.

Myth 1: You should submit your URLs to search engines. This may have helped once upon a time, but it’s been at least 5 or 6 years since that’s been necessary.

Myth 2: You need a Google Sitemap. If your site was built correctly, i.e., it’s crawler-friendly, you certainly don’t need a Google Sitemap. It won’t hurt you to have one, and you may be interested in Google’s other Webmaster Central Tools, but having a Google Sitemap isn’t going to get you ranked better.

Myth 3: You need to update your site frequently. Frequent updates to your pages may increase the search engine crawl rate, but it won’t increase your rankings. If your site doesn’t need to change, don’t change it just because you think the search engines will like it better. They won’t. In fact, some of the highest ranking sites in Google haven’t been touched in years.

Myth 4: PPC ads will help/hurt rankings. This one is funny to me because about half the people who think that running Google AdWords will affect their organic rankings believe that they will bring them down; the other half believe they will bring them up. That alone should tell you that neither is true!

Myth 5: Your site will be banned if you ignore Google’s guidelines. There’s nothing in Google’s webmaster guidelines that isn’t common sense. You can read them if you like, but it’s not mandatory in order to be an SEO. Just don’t do anything strictly for search engines that you wouldn’t do anyway, and you’ll be fine. That said, the Google guidelines are much better than they used to be, and may even provide you with a few good tidbits of advice.

Myth 6: Your site will be banned if you buy links. This one does have some roots in reality, as Google likes to scare people about this. They rightly don’t want to count paid links as votes for a page if they can figure out that they are paid, but they often can’t. Even if they do figure it out, they simply won’t count them. It would be foolish of them to ban entire sites because they buy advertising on other sites.

Myth 7: H1 (or any header tags) must be used for high rankings. There’s very little (if any) evidence to suggest that keywords in H tags actually affect rankings, yet this myth continues to proliferate. My own tests don’t seem to show them making a difference, although it’s difficult to know for sure. Use H tags if it works with your design or content management system, and don’t if it doesn’t. It’s doubtful you’ll find it makes a difference one way or the other.

Myth 8: Words in your meta keyword tag have to be used on the page. I used to spread this silly myth myself many years ago. The truth is that the Meta keyword tag was actually designed to be used for keywords that were NOT already on the page, not the opposite! Since this tag is ignored by Google and used only for uncommon words in Yahoo, it makes little difference at this point anyway.

Myth 9: SEO copy must be 250 words in length. This one is interesting to me because I am actually the one who made up the 250 number back in the late ’90s. However, I never said that 250 was the exact number of words you should use, nor did I say it was an optimal number. It’s simply a good number to be able to write a nice page of marketing copy that can be optimized for 3-5 keyword phrases. Shorter copy ranks just as well, as does longer copy. Use as many or as few words as you need to use to say what you need to say.

Myth 10: You need to optimize for the long tail. No, you don’t. By their very nature, long-tail keyword phrases are uncompetitive; meaning that not many pages are using those words, and not that many people are searching for them in the engines. Because of this, ranking for long-tail keywords is easy – simply include them somewhere in a blog post or an article, and you’ll rank for them. But that’s not optimization.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Learn more juiciness like this at: http://www.dougburson.com/. Tola Ajayi is a writer by trade and he enjoys writing on a wide range of topics.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

The Best Blog Platforms and How to Use Them Successfully

The Best Blog Platforms and How to Use Them Successfully

Blog marketing is a wonderful way to connect with your audience, to provide valuable and useful information to prospects and customers, to sell your products and services, and to drive traffic to your website. However, before you begin to blog or even start to set one up, you have one very important decision to make. Which blogging platform will you use? Here are a few tips on how to use blog platforms successfully.

The Big Three and Beyond

A blog platform is essentially a product which a blog or website is based on. In many cases they’re the service you use to host and publish your blog. In the blogging world, there are three big players with a host of smaller platforms. The big three are:

* Blogger, now owned by Google
* Typepad
* WordPress

There is also MoveableType.org, which is an open source publishing platform. Another is Joomla, which offers blogging capabilities but is considered more of a website platform than a blogging platform. There are many other website hosts which offer blogging functions; however, they’re not traditional platforms.

When you choose a blogging platform, you’re looking for a few key ingredients. You’re looking for:

* Ease of use - If you have to jump through hoops and read a 1000 page manual to get a blog up and running, you’re not going to want to do it. Intuitive interfaces and easy to find information are essential.

* Functionality - It needs to be user friendly for your customers and prospects, and that means easy to navigate and easy to use.

* Features - You want your blog to be able to do what you want and need it to do, including sell products and services, host contests, take feedback and so on.

* Price – Always a consideration.

* Customization - You want to be able to make your blog look and feel exactly like you want it to without a ton of work, time and money.

* Reputation - You want a platform that’s going to be around for years and years to come so you don’t have to switch your blog to a different platform.

Before you choose a blogging platform you’ll want to spend some time determining what you want your blog to accomplish. If for example you want to optimize your blog for the first page of the search engines, you’re going to want a blog that is easy to optimize and maybe has search engine optimization plug-ins. This means making a list of your requirements before you even begin comparing blogging platforms.

Another important thing to consider is where your blog is going to be hosted. TypePad and Blogger are both hosted blogs, meaning your URL will be http://www.yournamehere.typepad.com/.

The same is true for Blogger. WordPress gives you the option. You can host your blog on WordPress or redirect it to another host so your URL is whatever you want it to be.

Read everything about your blogging platform before you go through the work to customize it and set it up. Some hosted blogging platforms do not allow advertising, for example, and if that’s something you want to do, then you’ll need to consider those restrictions before you sign on.

The good news is that blogging is free and unless you hire a professional designer to customize it then your start-up expenses are nominal. (There’s a $10 fee to redirect a WordPress blog to another host.) Choosing your blogging platform just takes a little time and research.

Happy blogging!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Article by Adam Bauthues. And now I would like to give you free instant access to a secret blogging video, that shows where I do all of my blogging and why. Visit: http://projectmarketer.com/empower.php today, or come by my Blog to see it in action at: http://www.EmpowerNetwork.com/kadmon.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Success Tips for Affiliate Marketers

Success Tips for Affiliate Marketers

Every affiliate marketer is looking for the successful market that gives the biggest paycheck. Sometimes they think it is a magic formula that is readily available for them. Actually, it is more complicated than that. It is just good marketing practices that have been proven over years of hard work and dedication. There are tactics that have worked before with online marketing and is continuing to work in the online affiliate marketing world of today. With these three marketing tips, you will be able to able to increase your sales and survive in the affiliate marketing online.

What are these three tactics?

1. Use unique web pages to promote each product.

Do not lump all of it together just to save some money on web hosting. It is best to have a site focusing on each and every product and nothing more. Always include product reviews on the website so visitors will have an understanding on what the product can do for those who buy them. Also include testimonials from users who have already tried the product. Be sure that these customers are more than willing to allow you to use their names and photos on the site of the specific product you are marketing.

You can also write articles highlighting the uses of the product and include them on the website as an additional page. Make the pages attractively compelling and include calls to act on the information. Each headline should attract the readers to read more or even contact you. Highlight your special points. This will help your readers to learn what the page is about and will want to find out more.

2. Offer free reports to your readers.

If possible, position the free reports at the very top side of your page so they they simply cannot be missed. Try to create autoresponder messages that will be mailed to those who input their personal information into your sign up box. According to research, a sale is closed usually on the seventh contact with a prospect. Only two things can possibly happen with the web page alone: closed sale or the prospect leaving the page and never to return again. By placing useful information into their inboxes at certain specified period, you will remind them of the product they want later and will find out that the sale is closed. Be sure that the content is directed toward specific reasons to buy the product. Do not make it sound like a sales pitch.

Focus on important points like how your product can make life and things easier and more enjoyable. Include compelling subject lines in the email. As much as possible, avoid using the word free because there are still older spam filters that dump those kind of contents into the junk before anyone reads them first. Convince those who signed up for your free reports that they will be missing something big if they do not obtain your products and services.

3. Get traffic that is targeted to your product.

Just think if the person who visited your website has no interest whatsoever in what you are offering, they will be among those who move on and never come back. Write articles for publication in ezines and e-reports. This way you can locate publications that are focusing on your target customers and what you have put up might just grab their interest. Try to write a minimum of 2 articles per week, with at least 300-600 words in length. By continuously writing and maintaining these articles you can generate as many as 100 targeted readers to your site in a day. Always remember that only 1 out of 100 people are likely to buy your product or get your services. If you can generate as much as 1,000 targeted hits for your website in a day that means you can made 10 sales based on the average statistics.

The tactics given above are not very difficult to do, if you think about it. It just requires a little time and an action plan on your part. Try to use these tips for several affiliate marketing programs. You can end up maintaining a good source of income and surviving in this business that not all marketers can do. Besides, think of the huge paychecks you will be receiving…

Don Jeffre

Affiliate Marketing and Home Business

Affiliate Marketing and Home Business

Many of us dream of being our own bosses. The lure of big money and flexible work hours is quite attractive. However, many are afraid to venture out on their own. They fear that they do not have the capital required to get a business started or they do not want to loose the security of their day job.

The solution could be starting a home business. The truth of the matter is that you can start your home business with no money at all. Ask yourself this, do you have a spare room or space in your house. Do you have a computer with an internet connection? Do you have a phone line? If you have these three things you have the essentials of an office from which your home business can be made. Affiliate marketing can be a great way for you to get started in your home business. Affiliate marketing will provide you with the opportunity to sell either a product or a service. With low capital and little space you may want to concentrate on services.

Once you have made the decision, you need to evaluate your skills. What services can you offer and what skills can you bring. Many people start of with affiliate marketing programs from major search engines. If you are good at website design, you could register your page with someone such as yahoo publisher. This way your site will get traffic with the help of the search engine, Yahoo. If yours is a sales website, your traffic could translate into increased sales.

The other thing you can try to do is attract traffic to other sites. Retail sites such as Amazon and EBay have affiliate marketing programs. If you can generate traffic and increase sales then you make money. Both programs offer ways to increase revenues through links and blogs. These are usually free and worth using. Remember, the more you make the more they make.

Finally, your site can make money in another way. When it is posted on sites such as yahoo publisher or Google ad sense, there will be ads placed. Whenever a visitor clicks on an ad you make money. The more clicks the more cash. The operators take care of all the advertising costs and placement. They also try to place appropriate ads to your page. If you’re selling rare books ads for fish food are not likely going to get clicked.

If you want to start working for yourself but feel you do not have the money then you’re wrong. If you have a computer and space to put it then you have all you need. You can also start you home business and work it around your job. You can gradually commit more time as your home business grows.

If you have tired of your job and really want to work for yourself then stop making excuses and do it. Though affiliate marketing programs and selling services, you will find that having your home business is easier than you think. All it takes is time and a commitment to succeed. By taking adamantine of the affiliate marketing programs that are currently available, you can make money and improve your own marketing skills. Remember, you can always expand into other areas and venture out totally on your own later. Right now, get marketing and get clicking.

Don Jeffre
Sales Leads

Tips For Creating Powerful Headlines That Sell

Tips For Creating Powerful Headlines That Sell

You have mere seconds to capture a prospect’s attention. One of the single most powerful tools you have to accomplish this task is your headline. There are several keys to a compelling, and selling, headline and a few tips to help you get the job done.

#1 Tap into Your Prospects’ Emotions

According to psychologists our buying decisions are based first and foremost on our emotions. Use headlines which offer your readers a strong emotional benefit or reaction. Some possible emotions are:

For example, The 20-Minute Step that Will Make You a Business Genius taps into readers’ desires to feel smart and powerful.

Other emotions you can tap into are a desire to feel:

1. Attractive
2. Sexy
3. Assertive
4. Confident
5. Energetic
6. Pampered
7. A sense of belonging
8. In control of their own destiny
9. Wealthy
10. Proud
11. Respected
12. Safe

#2 Make it Active

To compel it’s important to use active language - language that shows movement and commands attention.

For example, “Stop Your Sugar Cravings Today With This Simple Step,” is a fine headline however it doesn’t command action nor does it really tap into any emotions. However, “Conquer Your Sugar Cravings With This Simple Step.” Conquer is an active and emotionally powerful word. Readers receive the benefit of feeling powerful and in control and it commands action.

#3 Let Your Reader Know They’re Important

The word YOU is a very powerful word. It let’s your reader’s feel as if you’re talking to them specifically and interested in solving their problems, issues and helping them achieve their desires. Instead of using I, Me or We in your headlines, use You. Using the headline example above compare the two options

“Conquer Your Sugar Cravings With This Simple Step.
“Conquer Sugar Cravings with Our System”

People want to know what’s in it for them and when they can assess that information in the headline, they’re going to be compelled to continue reading your copy and making a purchase.

Here are three more ideas for powerful headlines:

* Make a promise - Earn $1000 a day
* Make it newsworthy - New program guarantees you’ll earn $1000 a day.
* Ask a question – Do you want to ensure your financial future?

Three Simple Steps to Write Headlines That Sell

So now you have some ideas about what types of headlines sell, how do you begin to write those powerful headlines?

Step One – Get to know your audience intimately. What are their hopes, dreams, desires, and problems? Understanding your audience will help you create an emotional and powerful headline directed specifically at your audience.

Step Two – Determine how your products or services are going to make your prospects’ lives better or solve their problems. For example if you sell fitness equipment and your audience struggles with feeling attractive then you can create a headline that highlights a specific benefit your fitness equipment offers to solve that problem.

Step Three – Write ten to twenty, yes twenty, possible headlines. Not only will this give you practice writing compelling headlines, it’ll help you hone in on that perfect headline. And if you think you have a few winners you can always test them for conversion rates to find out which headline is more effective.

Marketing and copywriting experts consider your headline to be the most import element of any effective marketing piece. Take the time to craft a compelling, and selling, headline and you’ll reap the benefits for years to come.

Free Classified Ads
Free Weblog
Free Computer
Free Daily Messages
Free Search Engine
Free FFAs
Free Software
Free Site Builder
Free Survey
Free Internet News
Free Anti-Spam Submission
Free Vacation
Free Autoresponders
Free Site Tracking
Free Web Directory
Free Leads
Free Web Conferencing

Blog Writing Tips – Where to Find Great Guest Posters

Blog Writing Tips – Where to Find Great Guest Posters

One of the best ways to keep a fresh angle in blogging is the guest blogger. They can provide good content, take some of the work load off the primary blogger and can bring new perspectives and ideas that the parent blogger can follow up on in later posts as he or she sees fit. Guest blogging also promotes inter-community relations, resulting in shared links and audiences, and can bring together previously unrelated audiences who find they share interests. It may not be for everyone, but those who embrace guest posting have a lot going for them.

So where, exactly, does one find these mysterious guest posters?

Guest #1 — The Ascended Commenter

An active and successful blog should have an equally active comments section. Comments are a great way to gauge the level of interest a group has in the message of a blog. Sometimes a blog post will spawn a series of comments that end up being as or even more enriching than the blog itself, including links to other sites and videos that further expand on the message.

Some commenters are active, regular members of the community and consistently provide very good and insightful material on a number of topics. Those who participate in all the best discussions and are always there to provide discussion on the topics raised are a prime source for good guest-posting material.

If you have such a gem of a commenter, contact them and ask them if they’d be interested in writing up a guest post. Give them all the guidelines and style rules your publication uses, and of course draft-check their work to make sure it fits the needs of the site, but definitely recruit your commenters into your service. This will have the two-fold effect of creating guest posts and improving the quality of commentary in the blog as a whole. As guests see they can be invited to post, they will be encouraged to become more active if they want to do the same.

Guest # 2 — Fellow Bloggers

Many blogs provide cross-links to other blogs who discuss the same or similar issues. Blogs on cooking provide links to other blogs on cooking, or to blogs on cookware and appliances, and so on. Bloggers exercising good blogging judgment also go to their colleagues’ blogs and participate in the comments sections as well.

Just like inviting in a member of the commentary team, calling in a fellow blogger is a great idea. As mentioned, it encourages cross-promotion of both blogs. Even though the audiences of the publications may not overlap 100 percent, each will at least see some benefit as visitors from the other blog come by to have a look. At least some will subscribe, and that’s a big overall goal.

One of the best ways to arrange this is to propose a swap. Both bloggers trade posts for a day, so that both can get the benefit of the exchange. Additionally, try to focus on bloggers with a similar but slightly different focus. The idea is to get new information out there, after all.

Guest #3 — The Celebrity

People like big names; there’s really no getting around it and no shame in it. Experts are good at what they do, and good at it for a reason. If our aforementioned cooking blog is able to get an authority figure with a big name in the community to post, they really should take advantage of the opportunity. Celebrities are often hard to get a hold of, but not impossible. They are people, too, and they often have interests that they like to follow. Sometimes it requires contacting their agent or handler, but it can be rewarding to a blog to have a star pop on and offer some advice on the topic at hand.

On the other hand, such a post should stick firmly to the message at hand. Making it a chance for the celeb to simply promote his new cause or book might distract from the goal of the blog, and nobody wants that.

Guest #4 — A Polite Opponent

There is a benefit in bringing aboard someone whose views differ from those of the core audience for the blog. The most important mode of discussion for the web today is dialog. People want to talk, they want to learn and be heard. Unfortunately, the largest mode of dialog is argument and flaming, and very little gets accomplished in this circumstance.

On the other hand, if a blog has taken a principled and reasonable stand on a topic, chances are they have an open-minded yet critical commenter or “rival” whose views differ from their own. This is common in philosophy-and politics-oriented publications.

In these cases, consider contacting a rival and asking for an exchange of views. This may seem a bit odd, but it really can make all the difference. It will show both parties that the other side is willing to talk and reason about things. It will give both audiences a sense of pride in their chosen blogger. It will create a greater dialog and benefit the web as a whole and, if handled properly, it will almost always be a hit and generate a great deal of discussion. Take the risk and see if a civil exchange of conflicting ideas is right for your blog.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the “voice” of our client’s brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at www.iBrandCasting.com/

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Internet Marketing Australia

Four Business Scenarios Improved Through Internet Marketing Australia

Author: Cath Thrupp

Quite a lot of firms consider the opportunities available with online environment with an aim of further increasing their business with the development of a good website to maximize sales and leads. With increasing competition online, the best way of capitalizing on options for your business website, is to look at internet marketing Australia. If you experience any of the below troubles with your prevalent website, then internet marketing is one leading strategy that you need to check out.

First Case: No New Clients
Many companies have a website but no traffic, so no new consumers resulting from the website. This is often an outcome of: no online marketing, website design that isn't optimized for visitors or no lead capture. It is best resolved by making use of resources like onsite optimization and search engine marketing Australia. With search engine optimization (seo), you can increase your search engine potential, so that consumers can easily find your business and you can make the most of the options of new consumers.

Second Scenario: Customers Are not able to Locate Your Website
If it is not possible for your customers to visit your website for finding out more about the goods and services that you provide, then you lose the advantages that are provided by the websites to your firm. If you are not on the first page of search engines like Google, you will not have access to a lot more than 60% of your potential clients for the reason that the maximum number of people don't look beyond page 1. The best way of improving your search engine results is to concentrate on online marketing, which is called as search engine marketing Australia.

Third Scenario: No Time to Pursue Leads
While the benefits of the online environment may be extremely interesting to your business, you may feel as though your business resources (i.e. time or cost) do not allow you to take full advantage of the prospective. If you don't have the time to learn about and do this online marketing on your own, the best option is to reap the benefits of specialized AustraliaInternet marketing services. This will help your business to progress and action a plan the makes sure your firm is not losing the benefit of all these online leads for your goods and services.

Fourth Scenario: Uncertain Where to Start
If you feel overwhelmed by all of the online options (social media tools, search engine optimization tactics, website structures, directories, video etc), the best thing to do is to get expert advice on how to make use of Internet marketing Australia. The rate of technological change and all of the possibilities on the Internet can certainly be overwhelming so it is significant to get the right advice, have a plan and prioritize the action steps that will give you the best return for investment. The vital thing is - don't let the sensation of overwhelm lead to no action for your business!
Each of these situations can easily be resolved by seeking specialist help to develop a strategy for your business and actually start incorporating search engine marketing Australia.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/four-business-scenarios-improved-through-internet-marketing-australia-5022036.html

About the Author

Cath Thrupp is an internet marketing expert and the owner of the website YourMarketingMatters.org. The website provides SEO services, Social Media Services and also Mobile & Website Design services. Visit http://www.YourMarketingMatters.org and learn how you can make use of Internet Marketing Australia to grow your business.

10 Steps To Effortless MLM Lead Generation

10 Steps To Effortless MLM Lead Generation With Network Marketing Webinars
By KC Gleaton

Imagine a system that would allow you present unlimited iterations of your business opportunity, an unlimited number of times to an unlimited number of people... Do you think you could make more money in this business? Now, if you could teach this system to other people, do you think THEY could make more money in this business? And if they could teach this system to other people... well, you get the idea.

Today, we are going to examine such a system. It is a method of lead generation that is unbelievably efficient and cost effective, called the network marketing webinar. With it, you will be able to systemize your business in ways that you never thought possible.

This technology will allow you to build your business, make money and build your down line almost effortlessly and when combined with a robust auto-responder lead conversion system and an effective lead retention program, it's possible to build your business almost effortlessly!

Below you will find the 10 steps to building the type of bullet-proof lead generation system that will automatically generate new prospects while you sleep, allowing you to create a life you've only imagined in your dreams.

It's not hard to do, but it will take some effort on your part to duplicate. Once it's done, though, I promise your life will NEVER be the same.

Step One: Like anything else in life, you have a greater chance of being successful if you increase the number of opportunities to create success. In this business, you create success by presenting your opportunity to prospective business partners. Therefore, you create success in this business by presenting your opportunity to as many people as possible.

If you are looking to build your down line, you know that recruitment is a full time job. With network marketing webinars, instead of working full time in your business, this system will allow your business to work full time for you! To make the system more effective, be sure to schedule webinars during the times most accessible to your target audience.

I suggest scheduling at least two network marketing webinars each week at different times of the day to ensure you get the greatest number of attendees. For example, schedule one for Tuesday evening and another for Thursday afternoon or Saturday morning to make sure there is a time available for most attendees.

If you are unable to conduct more than one webinar each week, be sure to schedule your webinar at least a week in advance. This is so you can promote it effectively and increase the number of attendees. Even though I created One Touch Webinars, I also recommend Go To Webinar as a good alternative product.

Here is a tip. If you use Go To Webinar, make sure you schedule your webinar to last 30 minutes longer than you plan. That way, if you go over a little it won't shut down on you. If you use One Touch Webinars for your network marketing webinars, you will not have that problem, since you will be using an edited, pre-recorded message to present your business opportunity.

Step Two: When prospects decide to do business with you during your network marketing webinar, they are doing so because they are usually looking for freedom. Freedom from stress, bills, work or anything else that has them feeling bound and trapped.

By the same token, you are looking for freedom as well, right? Well, I have always said that "Freedom Is In The Follow-Up", so it is important to follow up with those who have registered for your network marketing webinar as well as those who have attended your MLM webinar.

It is important to remain in contact with those that attend your network marketing webinar, whether they choose to sign up for your team or not, so it is important that you prepare a compelling registration page to capture the name, email address and phone numbers of people that register for your MLM webinar.

Although most webinar providers will capture that information, you want them in your auto-responder system so you can follow up and market to them before and after the webinar. If you do not have an auto-responder system, I have used 2 which I think are tops in the industry, Infusionsoft and Aweber and can recommend them unconditionally.

Otherwise, if you use One Touch Webinars to conduct your network marketing webinars, it has a fully functioning auto-responder as a part of the system that you can use to follow up with prospects before, during and after your MLM webinar.

Step Three: Be sure to interact with your attendees during the webinar by having them fill out polls, surveys or download information. By asking poll questions during the webinar you keep the audience involved, as well as allowing you to tailor the presentation to them. As an added benefit, it provides social proof to everyone attending the webinar. A survey follows the webinar and allows your audience to give you feedback so you can improve your presentation and make it more effective for subsequent attendees.

The auto-responder sequence should start as soon as they sign up and continue until the start of the webinar. It should be capable of sending emails AND SMS text messages if you have the attendee's cell phone number. After the webinar, use the auto-responder series to thank your attendees and follow up with those who have signed up for your team as well as those who have not. In fact, the latter group is most likely the largest and most important group to nurture at this time, as you may be able to double the size of your team by engaging them in the coming weeks and months.

Step Four: Many Network Marketers believe that it is best to demonstrate THEIR success during presentations to potential down line partners and this is a huge mistake. These presentations should be focused on the prospects needs and NOT the presenter's accomplishments. Take time to KNOW and UNDERSTAND your prospective partners and cater to their needs during your presentation.

Your presentation should be BENEFIT driven and by that I mean the benefits for the prospect. So many presentations in our industry talk about how long your company has been in business, how wonderful the leaders are, and how incredible the products and compensation plan are, but who cares??? Certainly not your webinar attendees.

They could care less about the type of car you drive or how many people are in your down line. I hate to bring you a dose of reality, but all they care about is themselves and their problems. You need to answer the What's In It For Me question. You need to provide a solution to their nagging problem. You need to figure out what is keeping them up at night and answer THOSE questions... Do that and you will have a successful presentation.

Step Five: There is nothing worse than attending a network marketing presentation that is thrown together without adequate preparation. You will LOSE business partners rather than gain them and an inadequately prepared network marketing webinar is no exception. Practice, practice, practice your MLM webinar presentation. If you are bringing in guest panelists, make sure you rehearse prior to the 'live' webinar. You want to discover the problems and awkward spots before you go live. That last thing you want to happen is to sound scripted and unnatural. You want all players to know their parts before your live performance. However, if you are using a recorded presentation system like One Touch Webinars, you are in better shape, because you can record another "take" which is more on target and edit your presentation to suit your needs.

Step Six: If you want to ruin your network marketing webinar before it starts, show up late... Yeah I know, this should be obvious, however it seems to happen all the time! There are some people that go through all the steps to create and promote their network marketing webinar, only to ruin everything by not showing up on time. As a personal rule, I always came in 30 minutes in advance so attendees arriving early will see a welcome screen. That is so much more professional than seeing a screen saying the host has not arrived yet.

If you are using a pre-recorded webinar system like One Touch Webinars however, you can eliminate this problem because a brand-able countdown timer is usually included. This means that you will never be late and if someone logs on before your webinar starts, they will see YOUR branded message and possibly be able to download a handout to follow along during the webinar. This is REAL engagement during your network marketing webinar and will lead to more people seeing your ENTIRE message and ultimately to a larger down line.

Step Seven: Remember that people like freebies and will always respond better if given 'ethical bribes'. Let your attendees know about a down-loadable gift at the beginning of the network marketing webinar, but do not provide the link until the end of the presentation. Be sure to 'reset your hook' during the webinar to increase the 'stickiness' of the webinar and entice people to remain until the end of the network marketing webinar.

You never know what is going to get the attendee excited. So by having them stick to the end with a shameless bribe, you increase the odds that you will strike that chord. Just make sure your gift is relevant to the presentation. For the MLM webinar audience, I use "How To Make $7,000 In 7 Days Using Webinars" as a GREAT network marketing webinar gift, as it shows them how to use webinars to make money and ultimately build their down line once they become members of your down line.

Of course you can use any gift or down-loadable product as the gift you use for stickiness. This is a proven concept to keep attendees on the webinar. Use it in your business and you are guaranteed to increase the number of attendees on your network marketing webinar!

Step Eight: Have you ever been to a presentation that dragged on forever and did not have any life to it? Did it inspire you to take action? The answer is a resounding NO! So my best advice to you is...Don't be boring!

Remember, the whole purpose of this process is to convert prospects into members of your down line, so if you bore them to tears you lose.

Change the tone and tempo of your voice. Throw in polls. Encourage audience participation. Include involvement devices. Even something as simple as turning the conversation over to a panelist or opening the phone lines up for a Q&A can keep interest levels high.

The point is... Keep their interest!

Now, if you have trouble creating exciting presentations, there are companies out there who will assist you. You can have something created using video shot on location or screen capture using PowerPoint or a combination of the two. The point is, make sure it is interesting and captures the imagination of the viewer, making them want to join your system. If you have some difficulty finding someone to assist you feel free to contact me and I can do it for you or find someone to handle the job.

Step Nine: Do you know why people choose to buy things? Do you understand the psychology behind their choices? Well, you should! People choose to buy based on emotion. Then, they look for logical reasons to back up their emotional decision. This is why it's important that you do not talk about yourself in your presentation; they have no emotional connection to you or the opportunity you are showing them on this network marketing webinar.

They do however, have an emotional connection to themselves, their families and their current financial position, so you have to find THEIR emotional hot buttons and help them find a way to relieve the pressure that these issues are causing. Then, you have to associate you and your business with a solution and show them how they will find that solution through doing business with you.

It's THAT simple...

It seems like a lot, but it's easier than it sounds. If you need some additional ideas, feel free to get my article, "31 Psychological Secrets To 31% More Sales", where I break down the psychology of sales and help you to use these secrets to build your business using almost ANY method, including network marketing webinars.

Step Ten: Have you ever attended a promising network marketing webinar or MLM event but the presenter did not tell you what to do next? It was a huge waste of time, right? It's the same thing if they take too long to get to the close, because they may lose you then too. Well, that person did not know how to close or perhaps had some aversion to closing the sale. This is the most common problem faced by those with little or no income being generated by their businesses. Believe me, this is a dream killer.

If you suffer from a lack of sales, you have to learn to close... Plain and simple. There are steps to learning this process, but no one does it better than Mark Joyner, with his "Irresistible Offer" technique. If you don't read another book this year, be sure to get this one, as it will turn you into a 'closing machine'. (If you want a 'quick and dirty' primer on this technique, Click Here and I will send you my notes on it and tell you how it has worked for me.)

Well, if you use a network marketing webinar to present your business opportunity to potential business partners, you will have a foolproof method of creating a consistent marketing message for your prospects that will allow you to present your opportunity in a clear, concise and MOST importantly, effective manner. Perhaps you can use the Irresistible Offer or some other effective technique, but the key to this method is being able to perfect your closing and trying it out on as many people as possible.

One last thing to keep in mind... Always test the effectiveness of your close using a 'control' and a test presentation. Once you find the magic combination that works best, use that presentation as your 'control' and create another test. Monitor the effectiveness of these two presentations and use the best performing as the control and so on. I am a testing fanatic and find that this method ALWAYS leads to better results and an increased bottom line.

Now as you went through these ten steps you may have noticed a commonality among them. It is preparation. As you begin (and continue) to produce extraordinary results, people will begin to see you as "lucky". I can assure you that "luck" has nothing to do with it, because your success will be the result of intelligence, preparation, determination, hard work and finally, skill.

As long as I can remember I have believed that "luck" is the intersection of opportunity and skill. As Tony Robbins is known to say "The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck".

You create opportunity when you have people attend your network marketing webinar. If you use this 10 Step Action Plan to build up your skills and prepare yourself to take action when the opportunity arises, I guarantee you will create both good luck and good fortune through MLM webinars. Good luck!

K.C. Gleaton, the company founder, wants to help you become an expert in your niche by sharing his extensive knowledge, experience and skill sets with you through this webinar marketing system

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=KC_Gleaton

Enter your search terms Submit search form