When I was a newbie to online MLM marketing, I labored under a lot of misconceptions and made more mistakes than a city slicker on a cattle drive. It was beyond ugly. And yet, it’s a phase that all online MLM marketers have to somehow stumble through if they want to build a successful online business that generates truly passive income. If you’re new to online marketing to MLM, here are two myths that you might have, and that I can hopefully help you dispel.
Online MLM Myth #1: Your Google Ranking is Most Important
“I want to be #1 on Google!” I hear this all the time from newbies. Well, some days I want to be Dolly Parton (they say blonds have more fun), but that’s not really going to help my MLM business any. Being in the top spot on Google for a certain keyword may help your MLM business by driving more traffic to your site, but it’s not the most important aspect of online MLM promotion. Really.
Now why is that? Because people who “Google” stuff are most often looking for information. Yes, some are ready to buy and just surfing for the best deal, but most people turn to Google for information and education. The web is all about content.
So suppose you the top listing on Google for the phrase “work at home.” Great. So someone clicks on the link to your website. If the first thing they see is a hyperactive sales page on steroids with very little actual information, you can bet they will hit the “back” button faster than the speed of light. They’ll skim down the Google listings until they find a wikipedia page or an educational article about working at home.
Bottom Line: A strong Google ranking can be important, but only if you have information of value to your readers on your website to back it up. A person who has wasted time clicking on a useless link won’t be happy, and won’t come back.
Online MLM Myth #2: My Website or Blog is All I Need
Build it … and they might or might not come. Having a website is a great start to creating an online presence, but it’s only the beginning. As social media guru Chris Brogan points out, your website or blog is your “home base.” You definitely need a home base from which to operate, but beyond that you need media outposts from which to drive people to your website or blog. Without media outposts — like Twitter, Squidoo, article directories, and Digg — your website will just be a tiny dot on the internet map, a long way from civilization and other people.
Once you get your website set up, start venturing out to other places on the web to get your name out there. Write comments on other people’s blogs (and write good ones!), which gives you a link back to your home base. Submit your articles to one or two top article directories. Create a blog feed to a Twitter account. Digg some articles of interest, including your own. All of these activities create media outposts where, if you focus on quality, you will build credibility as well as drive traffic to your website or blog.
How does this process work? It’s really not that complicated. For instance, suppose you take some of your best blog posts and submit them to just one top article directory. Let’s say you submit 10 quality articles per month. If you follow the author guidelines of the directory carefully, you should have no trouble achieving “expert status” and having your articles featured on the directory’s front page. In addition, every single article includes your bio, which gives people who liked your article the chance to click through to your website. Within the article directory, readers can also access listings of all the articles you have submitted. As an author, if you have a rather large collection of articles (50 or more), you achieve instant credibility. Make sense?
Muddling Your Way through Online MLM Myths
This article covers just two online MLM myths. There are tons more — almost as many as there are newbies to online marketing. But don’t get discouraged by the fact that you will probably make a lot of mistakes as you embark on an online promotion program. Think of online MLM marketing as an experiment. Try new things and see how they work.
Don’t be disappointed when you fall flat on your face, as you are bound to do. Remember that when you become an experienced online marketer and bring newbies into your business, you’ll need to pass on your “lessons learned” to them. So making mistakes online is just part and parcel with becoming a wise MLM mentor. Just muddle your way through as best you can, and ask for help when you need it. I often do!
Are you in the middle of an MLM muddle? If so, drop me a line or leave me a comment. I might be able to help, or at least point you in the direction of someone who can. I get a lot of online mentoring from great people, and I’m happy to pay it forward to those who ask!
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