What’s Your Online MLM Home Base?
This is part of the series An Online MLM Marketing Roadmap.
MLM business builders who are new to online MLM marketing often ask me this question:
“What’s the difference between having a website and a blog?”
This is a great question and one that you should clarify in your mind as you map out your online MLM strategy. Either a blog or a website can serve as your MLM headquarters, the place to where you want to drive your online traffic. Some people use only a blog while others use only a website. Still other online MLM marketers have both a blog and a website. All three of these options can work well.
So what’s the difference between a website and a blog?
Website: This is a more formalized presentation of your business opportunity and products where people can gather information. It is similar to a booth at a trade show. There is no visible online interaction unless you choose to publish testimonials. Here’s an example of a custom MLM website.
Blog: This is a far more informal online location where there is a lot online interaction in the form of comments. Here’s where you can converse with current and potential customers and business partners. Via comments you can learn what people want and what’s on their minds. This blog is an example of an MLM blog.
Using Your Website as Your Online MLM Headquarters
If you want to use only a website as your online home base, then you’ll want to make sure that you have a custom website that helps you stand out from the crowd. You don’t want to use a company-sponsored replicated website as your home base. These websites are too generic and give you the appearance of being “just one of the crowd.” Looking at a replicated website, a potential customer or business builder has no particular reason to choose you over one of your competitors. That’s why you need a custom website. You may need to get some help designing one that looks professional and interesting.
On your custom MLM website, be sure to include information about:
- your products
- your business opportunity
- the compensation plan
- success stories and testimonials
- how you work your business (how you’re different)
- why people should work with you
- how others can better work their MLM business (helpful tips)
- MLM humor (entertainment value)
Most online MLM strategies have you use media outposts like article marketing or Twitter to drive traffic to your home base. When people get to your home base, in this case your custom website, you want to offer them intriguing, entertaining, and helpful information which will draw them into considering your products and opportunity.
Using Your Blog as Your Online MLM Headquarters
If you don’t want to mess with the hassle of creating a custom website you can always opt for using a blog as your online MLM headquarters. As mentioned above, a blog is a much less formal medium than a website, and it encourages a lot more interaction with your readers. Another difference is that while you can directly sell on a website, you don’t want to do a hard sell on your blog. Instead you want to use a more subtle oblique approach.
On your blog you might want to include:
- informational posts about subjects related to your product or opportunity
- helpful tips on how to work an MLM business
- case studies of success stories (perhaps of people in your group)
- information about yourself, including some personal information
- questions for your readers (What works for them? What questions do they have?)
- invitations to participate with comments and questions
A blog is a place where you can introduce prospects to you and your business in a helpful, informational way that is also more personal than the information you would offer on a website. While a website is more like a booth at a tradeshow, a blog is more like chatting with people at a party or a networking event. In those situations you don’t hit people with a hard sell. Instead, you share a little bit about yourself and what you do and wait for organic connections with other people to show up.
For instance, let’s say your MLM opportunity offers health products. If you post a lot of helpful health tips on your blog people will come to know you as a “health guru” and come to you when they need help with health. Then you can make recommendations, which may to lead to the person joining your organization as a customer, or even a business builder.
If you are going to use a blog only as your online MLM home base then you will also want to get a company-sponsored replicated site. You can link to this site from your blog and direct people who are interested in your product or opportunity to this site. This keeps you from having to put too much “hard sell” information about your product or opportunity on your blog. Your blog stays informal, educational, and entertaining yet still gives you an online forum for presenting information about your business and products. It can be as simple as having a link on your blog that points to the replicated website. You can also link to the replicated site from time to time in a blog post.
Using Both a Website and Blog as Your Online MLM Headquarters
If you’re really ambitious and want to have both a custom website and a blog, then you’ve got the best of both worlds. Of course, this means you’ll have to do twice as much work as you would using just a blog or a custom website. However, if you really want to stand out from the crowd with a truly professional online presence this is one way to achieve that goal. Just think about how much time you really have to spend on creating an online presence before you commit to having both a custom website and a blog.
A Final Note of Caution
Depending on the rules of your parent MLM company, you may or may not be able to use the company’s name or product name on your custom or blog. Many companies will allow you to use their trademarked names if they have approved your site. Other companies require a hefty licensing fee and then won’t allow you to change a single word on your website once it’s been approved. In your parent company has stringent rules about using trademarked names, you may want to opt for a generic blog promoting MLM in general (or the subject related to your products, such as health or pre-paid legal), and then link to a company-approved replicated website. This gives you the chance to be unique on your blog yet still promote the company’s specific opportunity and products. Just be sure check out the rules before you dive into creating your online presence.
Do you use a blog or website or both for your online MLM presence? What works best for you?
Photo Credit: Mike Piazza
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