So you're ready to build an online business, and you're excited about the potential that technology gives you. But the problem is you don't know where to start. If you're like me, you're probably getting bombarded with emails and inbox messages and it's not hard to see why new marketers get overwhelmed. Make no mistake about it, there will be a learning curve you're going to have to go through. But if you understand some general concepts, I believe it will give you some clarity on what you're trying to do.
In this article, I'm going to give you 4 concepts (or tips) that will serve you well to learn early. With all that said, here are the 4 concepts you must know:
#1. Without traffic, your online business will die a slow death.
I don't care if you have the hottest offer in the world, or if you have the best MLM opportunity in the Industry... if you're building your business online and you don't have traffic, you will fail. At the end of the day, you have to people see your offer. That's why traffic must be your priority. So many people are trying to make the website look pretty, and not focused on traffic. Who cares if your website looks pretty if you have no visitors. It's critical that you invest 90% of your time driving traffic when you're just getting your business started.
Should you focus on FREE traffic or PAID traffic?
Both free and paid traffic offer "advantages and disadvantages". With free traffic (using content marketing), it takes a little bit longer to get the waves of traffic you're trying to get to your website. But the good thing is it's free so any profits you pull in the future will be just that... profit. Another benefit is that your visitors tend to be more targeted since they are getting to your website after reading, or watching, your content. This equates to higher quality leads and buyers. With paid traffic, you can literally start generating leads immediately, but you'll have to pay for it. With that said, this isn't necessarily a bad thing because if you learn how to scale your marketing correctly, you can still build a solid profit-pulling business.
Should you drive traffic to your MLM rep site or a lead capture page?
This is where most newbie marketers drop the ball. They try to get cold prospects to visit their MLM rep site. The problem is 99% of rep sites just give out general information about the company and products. There's no real video presentation that will expose your prospects properly. And more important than that, there's no way for you to capture your visitor's email so you won't be able to build a list, or follow up later.
#2. You have to build a list.
If you plan on building a profitable online business, then building a list is a must. Marketers who build a huge list of subscribers (who are hot buyers) can build any program they want, and can sell any product they want. Make no mistake about it, you must start capturing leads and building a list right from the start of your marketing business.
What's another reason that building a list is key?
When I first started marketing, I heard that it typically takes about 7 exposures until your subscriber (prospect) is ready to pull the credit card out and buy. It's extremely rare that you get a visitor to your website that buys from you, or joins you MLM business, on the first visit. It almost never happens. What normally happens is someone visits your website, the get on your email list, and then they buy, or join, after getting 7-10 follow-up emails from you. Without a list, how can you follow-up with them. You'll have to rely on trying to sign them up on their first visit, and that's just stupid. Think about it... even if you have the best offer on the planet, chances are they don't know you from Adam so they'll hesitate to buy. But if you get them on your list, you can build rapport with your follow-up emails so they feel better buying from you.
What should you do when you get a lead?
As you build your list, and you start generating 40-50 leads a day, you'll have to rely on your marketing and email efforts to get to everybody. There's only so much time in a day and trying to personally get to 40-50 (or more) people a day gets very difficult. But in the beginning, you'll probably be generating a lot less leads. So if you're still getting less than 10 leads a day, my suggestion is that you pick up the phone and call your leads. You'll be able to close a lot of your leads by giving them a personal call. Again, it gets harder to do this as you get bigger. But early on, I suggest you do it since making 5-10 quick calls a day is still do-able.
#3. Once you're getting good traffic, get good at building rapport with your list.
Getting traffic is a very big part of your online business. But if you have an email list that you don't have rapport with, you'll be hard pressed to get them to buy. Why? Because people buy from people they know, like and trust. If they don't like you, they won't buy from you. It's just that simple.
What's the best way to build rapport with people?
The very best way that I know of is to simply give then value, value, and more value. Give people a reason to want to review your content. If you offer tips that will help them with their own business, they'll want to come back to your website and open your emails. If you're just spamming them with stuff to buy (without giving value), they'll stop coming back to your website and emails. I also suggest that you leverage videos and even webinars with your list. Videos and webinars are awesome for connecting with people and giving them value.
#4. As a general rule, leading with your primary MLM Opportunity is a no-no.
99% of the time, when you lead with your MLM you'll see little to no results. Unless you're already established and branded in the marketplace, using a funded proposal is a much better way to go. Remember, people don't buy or join from people they don't know yet. Leading with your primary MLM is like asking someone to marry you on the first date. Crazy, right? But that's what most newbie marketers do, then they wonder why they don't make any sales or sign up any new reps.
So what should you initially offer your leads?
In my opinion, you should offer a very low-cost affiliate product or tool. One that is relevant to your list, and will help them with their business. It's more likely that they'll pull out their credit card for a $10-$50 offer, than a $500-$1,500 starter pack for your MLM. Only after buying 2 or 3 low-cost offers will they feel comfortable dropping $500 or more. So use funded proposals and low-cost valuable offers initially, before trying to get people to join your business that has a $500-$1,500 price point.
So there you have it... 4 general concepts that newbie marketers must know. If you learn these concepts early on, you'll be able to really cut your learning curve, and get into profit mode much sooner.
