Writing informative articles can be a great way to generate leads for your online business while at the same time establishing yourself as a marketing authority… and moreover, it’s free. However, if you’re just beginning in your online opportunity you may wonder exactly what it is you can be writing about to generate leads, and whether you’re actually qualified to be writing about any of this.

Not to worry… there are so many people out there looking for online opportunities, and many of them don’t know a thing when it comes to internet marketing. If you have any knowledge on the subject whatsoever, you’re ahead of the game. Ideally, whichever online opportunity you’ve joined has provided you with the necessary training to market your business. So what’s one great way to start? Write a tutorial on how others can market their business with the same methods you’ve just learned about.

Before you started your online business what questions did you have about the industry? Many others looking to start their own home-based businesses likely have the same questions and may find an article on the topic quite useful. I’ve personally found that these types of articles produce the most amount of leads because you’re targeting individuals who aren’t already involved in an online business. There are endless questions you can answer for individuals looking to start their own businesses… how much does an online business cost, what is MLM, what is direct marketing, do legitimate online businesses truly exist… and so on.

If you find yourself running out of ideas to write about, there are a few methods I use to generate more topics. I find the most useful to be expanding upon previous topics. Maybe you’ve written an article about free internet marketing methods encompassing all methods you know about. Expand upon this and write about each individual marketing technique… then expand upon this and focus on a particular aspect of each technique. This method can be extremely useful in producing a large number of article topics.

You may find yourself struggling a little bit at first, but the more you write, the easier it will become and the easier you’ll find yourself coming up with topics to write about. The longer you’re in the industry, the more information you’ll have to provide to others as well… so stick with it and don’t give up… everyone starts somewhere.

You may be looking to start your own home-based business, yet are not entirely sure how much money you’re going to have to invest. Well… the answer might surprise you a little bit. Many people looking to make money online tend to have a “get rich quick” mentality, and there is really no reason for it. If you’re looking to replace your full time income and work from home, there is going to need to be some serious hard work involved, and you’re going to need to make a financial investment.

So how much exactly would I recommend investing in an online opportunity? I would recommend investing at least $1000 to $2000 USD. This might shock many of you, and I likely would have felt the same way reading this a year ago. However, in actuality, this is an incredibly small amount of money to invest into a business in which you could make $200 000 USD (or more, depending on your work ethic and marketing strategies) from home in your first year. These types of numbers are genuinely possible with the right attitude, work ethic, training, and a legitimate online company. It’s unfortunate that so many people tend to look for a way out in the form of a free and/or no-effort opportunity. I will tell you now… such opportunities simply do not exist online, so don’t fall for the hype.

How much do people spend on average opening their own franchise such as McDonald’s or Subway? The number is in the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars, yet this is generally seen as ok since it’s a traditional “brick and mortar” business. The truth is, you can make more money online for a fraction of the traditional “brick and mortar” investment, with no overhead and much less hassle.

Don’t let the online investment numbers get you down. Search out a legitimate online opportunity and put down some well-invested income. Is six figures a year and the freedom of working from home worth a $2000 investment? I think most of you would agree that YES IT IS.

If you’re with an MLM or internet marketing company, social media can be one great way to gain new prospects for your online business. There’s no real secret to doing so… it’s simply a matter of networking, being polite, and not pushing your business all over people.

I find that one of the biggest problems with networking on Facebook is exactly that… others who are promoting their own businesses like to push their opportunities all over you. This tends to be annoying, and simply isn’t a great marketing technique as it will just turn people off. The best way to find prospects is to add friends in the home-based business industry. It’s no secret that there are plenty of poor home-based business opportunities out there, and a lot of members of social media sites are promoting them. Members of such programs may be looking for a new opportunity… and that’s where you come in.

No offense to any MLM’ers out there, but many of these people tend to be in the MLM business. The attrition rate in MLM right now is not good… most newcomers to MLM quit the company they joined within their first 90 days. Join home-based business groups, MLM groups, internet marketing groups, and so on, and add members to your friends list. This is not the time to send your new friend a link to your website or tell them about your business opportunity. Simply send a message such as “Hi John, I see you’re a member of ‘so and so’ group. I’m looking to network with like-minded people… I hope you accept me as a friend”. If they decide to ask you about your business, then go ahead and discuss it… but let them come to you about it as opposed to the other way around.

Your Facebook profile should state who you are and what your business is (with a link or two to your websites). Posting in group topics with useful home-business information, or posting your blog feed to your profile can help to establish you as a credible home-business owner with some great knowledge to share… which might intrigue people to know more about what it is you do. Having the entire profile dedicated to business can be a turn-off to potential prospects however, so personalize it with pictures and information about yourself and show people who you really are.
Using Facebook or other social media sites will be much more profitable for you if you’re with a top-tier internet marketing company where any lead could generate a potential commission in the thousands of dollars. You’re additionally limited to I think 5000 friends or so on Facebook, so leads are not endless. It’s 100% free however, so whoever you’re with, make a profile and start prospecting.

Science Of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles was written nearly 100 years ago and to this day, presents an excellent blueprint for getting rich. It doesn’t matter where you are from, how much education you have or whether you have money, if you can keep a clear vision of what you want and have the faith to see it through, wealth can be yours.

We live in an age of advanced technology and “How To” books which can be difficult to keep up with so it is surprising that his book has such a simple message. Wattles says that having the right thoughts, having faith and working in harmony with the Universe will produce the desired results…wealth.

Like many of our current wealthy people who want us to be rich, Wattles believed that no man can rise to his greatness or reach his full potential without having plenty of money. “The man who owns all he wants for the living of all the life he is capable of living is rich; and no man who has not plenty of money can have all he wants.”

How do we form our mental picture which is necessary for getting what we want? It involves more than setting goals although goals are very important. You must know what you want and be definite. “You can never get rich or start the creative power into action, by sending out uniformed longings and vague desires.”

Spend as much time as possible contemplating your picture. The more clear and definite you can make your picture the more you will focus on it and the stronger the desire will become. Visualize already having possession of what you want and the joy and excitement it will bring you. Remember that thought is the only power which can produce tangible riches. What you think about, you bring about.

There is one more component which is necessary for wealth, The Law Of Gratitude. The more we express gratitude when good things come to us and gratitude for the things we have, the more we will receive. The law of gratitude is a natural principle that is necessary to follow in order to get what you want. There are no riches without gratitude.
Create your mental picture, take time for visualization, have faith and be grateful and riches are surely to follow.

If you’re looking to generate leads for your own home based online business (MLM or otherwise), you’re going to need a working traffic funnel. If the company you’ve joined hasn’t provided you with the required tools or training, or you’re selling your own product and are clueless as to how to proceed, this article will serve as a guide to get you started. If you do happen to be in one of the two above situations, I would highly recommend joining a new home-based business company that will provide you with these tools and training and/or to find yourself an online personal mentor. For now… let’s begin.

Design a Capture Page

Whatever product you’re selling, you’re going to want a short intriguing capture page to grab your prospect’s attention. The purpose of your capture page is not to actually sell anyone anything, but to simply gather a prospect’s information. Your capture page will have an opt-in form in which an individual will enter their name and e-mail address… once someone has input this information into your capture page, they are now what you call a lead (they haven’t actually bought anything yet, but they’ve expressed interest in your product and are now a potential for a sale). Once their information is entered, your lead will be redirected to your page of choice… generally a page on which they can actually purchase something.

Set Up an Autoresponder

Not everyone who has opted in on your capture page is going to insantly purchase something, and that is the purpose of your autoresponder. Your autorespoder (aweber is a very popular and very good autoresponder) is going to send out a series of e-mails to each one of your leads (remember you’ve captured all their e-mail addresses on your capture page). Your e-mail series will generally send out some free information to establish yourself as an authority on whatever product it is you’re selling, and it will also serve to establish some sort of rapport with your leads. You should always include a link in each e-mail where leads can purchase products from you, as well as your contact information.

Once you have a steady stream of leads, you will start to make sales from your e-mail series, or from leads who decide to call you directly. You shouldn’t shy away from talking to someone directly on the phone, as someone who actually makes the effort to phone you is likely very interested in joining you in your business, or making a purchase. It’s also very reassuring for them to actually talk to a real person.

Market Your Business Opportunity or Product

Where and how do you market your business opportunity or product to generate endless leads? If your company hasn’t provided you with this information, you’re going to have to start doing some research on online marketing methods. As I stated previously however, it would be much simpler for you to join a company which will provide you with this training, or to find a personal mentor with the experience and expertise to guide you. Online marketing is a very broad topic and could take some time to tackle yourself.

So that’s the basic system you can use to generate endless leads for your online business. The above can be used to generate leads for essentially any online business opportunity or product out there. Again, instead of struggling with each step on your own, I would highly recommend joining an online company which will provide you with the knowledge on how to complete each of the above steps, and will teach you how to market your opportunity or product.

No this isn’t a post promoting some get rich quick scheme… this is a post with information on the quickest way to generate leads (and subsequently income) for your existing online business.

So what is the quickest way to make money for your online business? Hands down it’s Google AdWords, i.e. advertising on Google. Google currently has the highest amount of search engine traffic today because Google offers highly targeted search results. On Google you don’t get bombarded with ads (like on search engines like Yahoo), and your search results are highly matched to the phrase you searched for. You want to be advertising on Google for this same reason; Google will reward you with cheaper advertising if you meet their standards of ads highly targeted to a user’s search phrase (using this method, you can also target individuals in specific industries who may be more likely to join your business or purchase your products).

Google AdWords is not for the inexperienced or unknowledgeable however. If you set up a Google AdWords campaign without sufficient knowledge about how to use the system, you will get killed. Without knowing how to properly budget, or properly target and optimize your ads, you will spend a lot of money, yet won’t be generating any sales. Google will additionally pay more attention to you (show your ads more) the more money you spend on your advertising. You will therefore want to start with a significant daily marketing budget.

If you don’t want to waste your entire budget, educate yourself on Google AdWords before you begin advertising. I personally highly recommend Perry Marshall’s Definitive Guide to Google AdWords (I am in no way affiliated with Perry Marshall). It’s a fairly lengthy guide, however it will teach you everything you need to know about exploiting Google AdWords for any business opportunity or product you wish to market. Master Google AdWords, and you’ll be generating leads for your business instantly, and will make money online quicker than with any other marketing method.

If you’re researching home-based businesses, you may have come across a “top-tier” internet marketing opportunity and wondered exactly what the term meant. A “top-tier” program is an internet marketing opportunity which deals with direct sales. That is to say you sell a product directly to someone and get paid up front (no waiting period). This is in contrast to say an MLM program where you are dependent on the sales made by your downline (people who you have personally recruited into the company) to generate income for you.

In general, top-tier program generally attracts a high-calibre customer… that is to say, a customer who is genuinely serious about starting their own home-based business… not a “tire-kicker”, and not someone who is “maybe” looking to start their own home-based business. How do top-tier companies filter out tire-kickers? This is usually done by having a paid application in place in order to see if you qualify to join the company. A lot of people question this process, however what they don’t realize is the insane amount of people looking to work from home. In a top-tier program, you will generally sign up under a mentor. It would be literally impossible for the mentor to provide the required training to anyone expressing any interest in the program (most of whom won’t be serious enough to put in the required effort to succeed anyway). The application will generally filter-out those with lack of interest, and ensure you work with a finite number of high-calibre like-minded individuals.

A top-tier internet marketing program will generally sell products which generate $1000 in commission or more per sale. Commissions are paid to you directly by your customer, hence you receive your commission right away. Although you will be generating your commissions through sales, your job in a direct sales company is not as a sales person, and actually far from it. Your job will be to market your business opportunity. That is to say, you will be getting your opportunity out there online to as many people as possible through a variety of methods. If someone wishes to join you, they come to you, as opposed to you seeking them out and trying to push your opportunity on them. A reputable top-tier company will train you to market your opportunity with the best strategies so you’re not left high and dry wondering how to proceed.

There is currently a huge market out there in the online direct sales industry. If you’re looking to start your own home-based business, do your due diligence and find a reputable direct sales opportunity to join.

I truly do believe that essentially anyone, regardless of age (over 18 at least) or background, can become a successful internet marketer… there are however a few skills which will help you succeed. If you’re thinking about getting into the online business industry and wondering exactly what skills will help you to be successful, read on.

First and foremost, you’re going to need to be willing to learn and you’re going to need drive and determination. If you join a reputable internet marketing company, the basics of how to generate leads and make conversions should be laid out for you… it will simply be your job to follow a system that already works. What most people underestimate when starting this kind of thing is the “entrepreneurial mindset”. This isn’t something that’s going to come easily in a day or a week. You really have to want it, and you’re going to have to put in the time and effort for it to happen.

As for what tasks you’re going to need to complete… writing articles and making videos are a great way to generate free leads for your online business, however they’re also very good at establishing yourself as a marketing authority as well as demonstrating that you’re an actual person. Most people aren’t going to want to join a nameless, faceless internet business… so that extra little personal connection can go a long way. In no way are either of these necessary for you to succeed online, but being a good writer or being very comfortable in front of a camera can really help your business grow. I know a lot of people are particularly averse to creating videos of themselves, which I can understand because I was one of them. I’m still not 100% comfortable, but it gets easier with every video you make… so force yourself to do it and it will pay off in the end.

Basic internet and computer skills will also be a plus. If you’re already browsing the internet and reading this, then it’s likely you already have the basic skills required. If you feel you’re a little rusty on a computer, there really isn’t anything too technical you’ll have to do (most using social media sites), so not to worry. Ideally you’ll have your own personal mentor in whichever company you’ve joined, and they’ll be able to guide you through what you need to know.

Those really are the three major skills you’re going to need to be a successful internet marketer… as you can see it’s not rocket science… most people simply don’t put in the required effort and/or give up before they’ve given things a chance to come to fruition. Yes there are some other skills you should learn as your business begins to grow (although not necessarily required as it’s always possible to pay other people to do things for you) such as educating yourself on Google AdWords, or learning how to create your own websites… but just as with any other business some, level of personal development is always necessary.

The most important factor in determining your success or failure is going to be your drive and motivation… so if you think you have what it takes… start looking for a legitimate online business, work at it, and don’t give up!

If you’re currently struggling with your home-based Multi Level Marketing (MLM) business, you’re not alone. In fact, the attrition rate in MLM within the first 90 days is 90%… that is to say that 90% of MLM newcomers quit within their first 90 days in the business. With a business model reliant on residual income generated by your downline, no wonder so many MLM’ers are failing today.

Before I continue I should say that some people definitely are successful in MLM. There are some incredibly successful MLM’ers currently marketing today. These people are however in the huge minority, and have generally been distributers in their respective companies for years. For example, the income disclosure statement on the official Monavie website reveals that LESS THAN 1% of Monavie distributers in the United States currently make over $200 000 a year. Less than 1%… those are horrible statistics.

Why is it so difficult to run a successful MLM business today? Well there are a few reasons. First and foremost, to run a successful MLM business (for example’s sake let’s denote successful as generating $10 000 a month), you need literally thousands of distributers in your downline. That is to say, you need to have personally recruited thousands of people into your company. Your income is directly dependent on how many people are in your downline, and how successful they are. Trying to accomplish this in today’s MLM market is like trying to fill a leaking bucket; as stated previously, 90% of MLM newcomers leave the business within their first 90 days. With these statistics it’s near impossible to build a downline which will generate significant income for you.

Moreover, MLM training is generally lacking, and will have you pestering friends and family to join you. In MLM YOU will be selling other people on your business opportunity, i.e. you will have to approach them and convince them to join you. This is a marketing tactic which frankly generally does not work, and which most people hate doing, especially to friends and family. Is this something you want to be doing? I doubt it. A successful business should have people seeking you out because you have something of value to offer them, not the other way around. A top-tier non-MLM internet marketing company will show you how to do this.

If you’re discouraged after reading this, don’t be. There are plenty of other legitimate opportunities out there for those of you looking to start your own home-based businesses. You can be generating $10 000 to $15 000 a month with ten new customers or LESS a month (not thousands… and not your family and friends) in a top-tier internet marketing company. Furthermore, you won’t be reliant on the residual income provided by your downline, and attrition is simply not a factor.

I recently read a great article by Darren Hardy who is the publisher of Success Magazine, one of my favorite publications, talking about Entrepreneurial Philanthropy and how each of us can make a difference with even a small contribution.

We are all familiar with celebrities and others who support a variety of causes and who are able to raise tremendous amounts of money to benefit those worthy causes and we recognize that this is a tremendous service that they provide to so many people. As these people raise millions of dollars and travel the world giving aid, we may think there is no way we could ever do something to make such a difference in the lives of others, after all, most of our checkbooks wouldn’t allow us to compete to that level.

Consider this. Knowing that we may not be able to open our checkbooks or travel the world to help others maybe we should learn how we can be of greater service to those immediately around us. There was a 12th Century writer, Maimonides, who wrote the Eight Levels Of Charity, the highest level says:

“When charity is dispensed with altogether by helping others gain the wherewithall to earn their own living and thereby, making it un necesaary for them to be dependent upon others.”

Helping someone better their life, and more importantly their livelihood, by by helping them create their own business or market their particular skills or talents which result in their financial independence and success….

This is the greatest form of philanthropy.