2010 March | The Cory Alan Marketing Blog

BetterNetworker self-described is the world’s #1 social community for home business owners. Affiliated with the Association of Better Networkers, it offers free training for marketing your business online. The website features interviews with top veterans who operate very successful home businesses.

BetterNetworker.com has a large amount of content and more to offer. There are over 45 featured instructors with individual bios, activities and some with recent blog posts, articles, videos and Podcasts.

This is in addition to the extensive forum section where you can ask the experts questions and share your own success stories. There are thousands of posts on hundreds of topics that can help you build your business, as well as a copywriting forum, a “groups” area that you can either join the “Most Popular” group or start your own. The group search function via “zip code” and miles allows you to locate or social network with people in your own backyard. There’s also a lounge to relax and chat with fellow entrepreneurs. The “Groups” area is most likely the best place for true “Networking”, similar to areas offered on Facebook and LinkIn where you can connect with others on a certain subject. Finding other business people with common interests usually insures stimulating conversation and more chances to make a personal connection.

On the educational side, the MLM training forum or “Learn” tab has Marketing, Personal Development, MLM News, as well as Sponsoring and Recruiting and Tools/Services sub-tabs. I find the resources area to be very useful and have found links to industry services that I needed. BetterNetworker may be considered more of a resource site because there is so much information provided, but anytime there is social networking going on — there is a potential to make a connection and possibly attract prospects too.

The newest addition is coming later this year. In mid-2010 the site will have a “Companies” area where information will be provided to BetterNetworker.com community members with detailed information about individual companies that offer new and exciting home business opportunities. Users will not only be able to expand their knowledge base on what’s available, but will also be able to connect with companies that they now represent along with other site members that share the affiliation.

So how does this all tie in with a person that may want to start marketing a product or business, or even themselves on the Internet? BetterNetworker is a terrific resource and social marketing platform for people that understand our industry. Used in conjunction with other marketing strategies and training, it is a recipe for success. Most important is that you discover the strategy that you like most and are comfortable performing. If you enjoy the process you will be certain to be better at it. You will find that the strategy you choose is much less important than your ability to do it consistently in order to achieve success.

It’s best to only choose 1 or 2 initial strategies to focus on at one time. The best strategy for one person may not be the best strategy for you. I agree it can seem overwhelming at times, but actually the process can be quite simple if one focuses on just one strategy at a time. There are unlimited training courses, Internet tools, websites and programs to help you be more effective and efficient in each category or strategy you choose. Having someone to help guide you through the process, pointing out which tools and programs offer the most help, not only will save your sanity, but also can save you hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars in the process.

After you choose your strategy to implement, you will need a system or platform to manage all of these tasks relevant to those strategies. The system should also include support training so that you don’t spend endless time just trying to get started.

Why not start connecting now that you’ve learned what is “BetterNetworker” while continuing to educate yourself within the broader industry. Get ideas from the “experts” and then implement them into your own personal marketing approach and system. The best FIRST STEP in marketing yourself on the Internet, is to acquire a system to tie it all together. Step-up and manage all the elements with one system that includes training to make you an expert and Better Networker.

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What is Content Marketing, or Article Marketing?

Lately many people have asked me, “What is Content Marketing?” I define Content Marketing as the creation and distribution of relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined target audience. An effective and inexpensive website promotion tool, it can help you boost your organic search rankings and can also act as a form of Internet viral marketing. If your articles are compelling, others will want to include them in their blog posts and on their websites. It is a surprisingly effective way to get traffic-building “backlinks” to your own site. A backlink is where you get to post your URL or website at the end of the article you authored.

As you progress, you’ll use the practice of posting keyword-focused articles on article sites that will syndicate your content. This is an important website promotion technique because some of these article syndication sites have a significant readership following. Articles can be written to target particular keyword niches, and distributed to content publishers that cater to those markets. This way you will be able to “speak” directly to the market you wish.

The website where you can post an article is known as an article directory. The primary reason they allow you to post an article without cost is that the directory owner places advertising on each article page and collects the revenue generated from the advertising. The article directory site gradually increases its own search engine popularity as more articles are posted, benefitting both you and the directory owner with increased visitor numbers and article page views.

Professionals have used Article marketing strategies for nearly as long as mass print has been available. The original content article you write related to your industry, product or service, serves the dual role of providing Article Directory Sites with what amounts to free content, and you with similarly free advertising. Each article you write can contain a bio box and byline that references your contact information including a link back to your website. Well-written content articles released for free distribution have the potential of increasing your business’ credibility within your market as well as attracting new clients. If your published articles are well liked, your content becomes available for all to see — and potentially reuse.

When done properly, articles you post on syndicated article sites can become “link bait” for other sites. For example, let’s say you own a home business that sells closet organizers. If you write an article about organizing your closet, others who want to post a blog entry about organizing a closet may link to your article, increasing exposure for your writing and your subject matter especially if the article site gets more traffic than your own website, which is likely. Keep in mind; it is a stated rule that if someone is to copy or use your content, they must leave the links or “backlinks” in your bio box or signature area.

While all this is driving direct traffic to your site, it also provides other benefits. It supports SEO (Search Engine Optimization) based on the idea that a website’s ranking in search engines will increase as it obtains more backlinks. Therefore, writing and distributing articles that contain a link to your website within the bio box should result in more links back to your website. This process increases your website’s rank within search engines.

Some sites can even link your keyword phrase back to your specific website page that you’re promoting with that keyword — a highly effective search engine optimization technique. Other sites won’t allow you to do this, but they’ll have no problem with you including links in your resource box (your profile or signature information used to let people know who you are), which adds important one-way backlinks to your website.

Search engine optimization (SEO) deals with the order in which webpages are ranked when keywords or phrases are typed into search engines. The higher a page is ranked, the more likely it will draw a greater number of visitors to that site. For company websites, increased traffic often translates into increased sales. Article marketing has proven to be useful and effective for several leading Internet marketing ventures.

So what does all this mean to the person that may want to start marketing a product or business, or even themselves on the Internet? An Article Marketing Strategy is a terrific choice for the person without a marketing budget who wants to create long-standing results. It may take more time to develop, but can be much more effective in the long run.

Want to start building a following of people that look to you as the “expert” now that you understand what is content marketing. Great! To get help and training on everything from what to write about to how to get it seen all over the Internet, you’ll need a reliable system to set up, teach, and manage the elements of a successful article marketing strategy.

Filed under: Marketing Blog — Tags: article marketing strategy, Cory Alan, define content marketing, internet marketing system, MLM content marketing, What is content marketing — Cory Alan on March 29, 2010 @ 2:36 PM

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What is Social Marketing, or more correct: Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing is not to be confused with “Social marketing” which refers more to the concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioral goals for the social good like no smoking areas or seat belts rules and even prompting to make people follow speed limits. Though I will be using the term “social marketing” as most do on the Internet, I’m referring to the actual context of “social media marketing”.

What is Social Marketing? One of the hottest new trends on the Internet today! It is the collection and growing volume of content that is published or created by its users. [Example; with YouTube, the millions of videos that are posted are mainly created by the “Users” and not the owner or employees of “YouTube”.] Through social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any collaborative group people are using the Internet to communicate with each other. This communication includes public relations, customer service, marketing as well as relationship building and sharing of ideas. Common facilities to use social media marketing are tools or services like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, Wikipedia, Orkut and YouTube.

A Social Marketing Strategy via the Internet has three basic components and is a completely separate marketing approach than Content Marketing or Paid Marketing. Though many do integrate more than one approach to maximize the results the following is how I define social marketing.

1. It is used to “strike a match” or create a “buzz” that self-propells through the Internet and becomes viral in nature. This is through newsworthy events, videos, tweets, or blog entries that grab people’s attention provoking them to share with others. Buzz is the engine behind social media marketing and what makes it work. The user is the fuel to spread the message, rather than the traditional method of purchasing an ad space or running commercials. The original message is often not about the “product” or what you are ultimately attracting people towards, many successful viral campaigns driven by “buzz fuel” have been just an amusing or compelling message that had the company logo or tagline attached.

2. Establishing or providing tools to enable an interested person or “fan” of a particular product or brand to be able to promote a message themselves. This can and is done in multiple online social media venues. Fan pages in Twitter, MySpace on Facebook, “Lenses” on Squidoo all provide this model.

3. It is the place or “on-line water cooler” to have everyone gather around for this conversation or “buzz” to take place. Social media marketing is not controlled by the instigator or the organization. Instead they are usually only responsible to kick-start it and then optimally have tools to encourage user participation and dialogue. A poorly designed social media marketing campaign can potentially backfire on the company that created it. A successful campaign is rooted by remembering to respect the users.

So what does all this mean to the person that may want to start marketing a product or business, or even themselves on the Internet? Social Marketing is often utilized by the “newbie” as a great place to get started. Mainly because there is little to no cost required to practice these strategies. Don’t be mistaken, many professional marketers experiencing great results also use these strategies, maybe not exclusively, but to support and utilize the traffic they are creating through more advanced campaigns.

Want to start your own “buzz” now that you know what is social marketing? Great! You can get your feet wet by playing around with Twitter or FaceBook, if you haven’t yet already. Then after you start establishing a group of friends or followers, the next step is to see how you can navigate these networks for your own gain. To do that you will need a system to help set up, teach, and manage the numerous parts of a successful Social Marketing Strategy.

Filed under: Marketing Blog — Tags: Cory Alan, define social marketing, internet marketing system, social marketing strategy, top lead generation system, What is social marketing — Cory Alan on March 26, 2010 @ 1:36 PM

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What is Internet Marketing?

What is Internet Marketing? In broad terms Internet Marketing refers to promotion of commerce or business through the Internet medium. It is the way in which products or services are promoted and sold over the Internet. Internet marketing, also called web marketing, online-marketing and even “i” or “e” –Marketing uses the Internet to deliver all types of media to a global and even local market. The relatively low cost to disseminate information to a global audience makes it very unique compared to marketing of the past.

The interactive nature of the Internet has forced the evolution of its marketing strategies to include specialist skills to deal with the instant response and eliciting responses now present with this unique medium. A device must be included in your Internet marketing system to accommodate this instant response.

The term is also inclusive of the post-sale relationship between a business and its customers because it encompasses digital customer data management and electronic customer relations. It is widely used in the business world today and referred to as ECRM — Electronic Customer Relationship Management. This makes the scope larger as it refers to the on-going relationship supported by the Internet, e-mail, and wireless media.

Internet marketing ties together the technical and creative aspects of the Internet including design, branding, promotion and advertising, as well as sales. Here are three main objectives to help define Internet Marketing:

(1) Deliver a company’s message or presence in a marketplace. Branding its culture, mission and value as well as educating or detailing its products or service via the computer screen.

(2) Collect data research not limited by demographics, individual preferences or past requirements of both existing customers and (different groups, classes, stereotypes, etc.) as potential new customers.

(3) The actual selling, collection of fees, tracking of distribution and follow up of goods, services, or advertising space over the Internet.

The way in which one reaches out via the Internet to its prospective client is through different strategies. The more popular Marketing Strategies utilized by Internet Marketers are Social, Content and Paid marketing approaches. Each has their own attributes as well as limitations or short-comings.

There are several Business Model terms associated with Internet Marketing.

E-COMMERCE (electronic-commerce) refers to business over the Internet. Web sites such as Amazon.com and eBay are all e-commerce sites. The two major forms of e-commerce are Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B). So, while the neighborhood baker doesn’t sell his cupcakes on the Internet, he utilizes the benefits of the Internet to search and find the supplier with the best price for flour.

LEAD-BASED WEBSITES are organizations or groups of websites that create value by capturing prospective clients or sales leads from the Internet to be utilized by or sold to a third party.

AFFILIATE MARKETING is a process in which a product or service is promoted by many people or entities that receive a percentage of the profits when the product is purchased. The Affiliate did not develop or produce it themselves. The owner or producer of the product has authority over whom and how their product is sold and customarily provides the “affiliate” with marketing materials; i.e. Website links, capture pages, and banner ads that have encoded tracking — the device used to ensure the affiliate gets credit for the sale.

LOCAL INTERNET MARKETING is the process used by a company with a “local customer base” that traditionally sells by warm market referrals, signage, location visibility, and utilizing the Internet to find and cultivate relationships with potential customers to later interact with offline.

BLACK HAT MARKETING is a form of Internet marketing or search engine optimization (SEO) commonly referring to the practice of using unethical techniques or employing deceptive, abusive, or less than truthful methods to make your search rankings go up to drive more traffic to your website.

The birth and growth of Internet marketing has also made a mark on the “personal worlds” of many individuals. With Internet Marketing offering individuals infinite ways to promote and market themselves, products, services and opportunities, the world of home-based-business has exploded.

Initially for the person that desires to capitalize on this medium for their own person commerce, Internet Marketing can be confusing or even overwhelming for most. Each method seems to have its own language to decipher and obstacle to overcome. A system or platform to manage all of these strategies can be very useful if it includes support training. It’s best to only choose 1 or 2 initial strategies to focus on at one time. The best strategy for one person may not be the best strategy for you. Most important is that you discover the strategy that you like most and are comfortable performing. If you enjoy the process you will be certain to be better at it. And the better you are at it, the more likely you’ll become consistent with its implementation. You will find that the strategy you choose is much less important than your ability to do it consistently in order to achieve results.

I agree it can seem overwhelming at times, but actually the process can be quite simple if you focus on just one strategy at a time. There are unlimited training courses, Internet tools, websites and programs to help you be more effective and efficient in each category or strategy you choose. Having someone to help guide you through the process, pointing out which tools and programs offer the most help, not only will save your sanity, but also can save you hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars in the process.

Now that you know the answer to “What is Internet marketing”, the next step is to see how you can integrate its vast possibilities into your world. Using a system to help set up, teach and manage the numerous parts of the process is highly recommended. Check out such a system to help you define Internet marketing for yourself as you build your Internet marketing system.

Filed under: Marketing Blog — Tags: Cory Alan, define internet marketing, internet marketing system, What is internet marketing — Cory Alan on March 24, 2010 @ 5:34 PM

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Marketing Online Strategy – Of Giving

A delightful book, The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann, that vividly shares five simple principles for stratospheric success. The characters are well developed and familiar to the point that if you bumped into one of them on the street – you would feel you knew them.

It is no surprise to me that in 2008 this “little story about a powerful business idea” stormed through the business world to become a national bestseller followed by a global phenomenon. As I understand the book is now in sixteen foreign-language editions.

The Go-Giver is a heartwarming and inspiring tale of an ambitious young man. His name is Joe and you learn to sympathize with his burning desire to succeed. You will enjoy the journey Joe takes, initially over just one quick week, within his business world, to begin his own metamorphosis from the typically self-centered ambitious “go-getter” to one that actually internalizes the relevance of the old proverb “give and you shall receive.”

The back cover of the book offers a number of personal testimonials from other authors. One shares, “The Go-Giver will teach you one of the very best ways to increase your wealth – by investing in yourself.” – John Assaraf, author of Having It All.

Again, another example of how the greatest asset we have to offer is ourselves. A Marketing Online Strategy combined with the Attraction Marketing approach to increase site traffic, Burg & Mann teach us that the most direct route to reaching success is learning how to provide valuable content to our Prospects and focusing our efforts on solving their issues as we establish ourselves as a Leader worthy of following.

As you consider the world of Internet Marketing for promoting yourself, or if you are already on your way but may be stumbling around roadblocks and seemingly overwhelming obstacles, you may be questioning what will it really take to be successful?

The secret may not germinate from a task to learn, a skill to master, a strategy to implement, or even an attitude to adopt, but a philosophy that will develop from a change in the way you think that will lead you to the winning attitudes, positive actions and ultimately new lifestyle.

While you seek a Marketing Online Strategy to increase site traffic consider finding that better “mouse trap” and focus on building the one most valuable asset you own – yourself. And then simply share the journey with others that may want to follow.

As these concepts began to resonate with me in my mid-forties, I would often find myself struggling with the thoughts of “why didn’t I get this earlier?” If the perfect day to start is “someday soon”, be careful, when it arrives it will look and feel just like today!

One of my favorite speakers, the late Jim Rohn said, “You can make incredible things happen if you truly desire to have things change, and are willing to implement new and different actions for a couple of years.” It’s amazing what can change if one chooses to focus and implement new ideas for 2, 3 or even 5 years – you can accomplish incredible goals. It doesn’t matter if you start at age 25, 45, or 65, you can do it if you choose to.

You can begin by embracing some simple laws to adopt for a marketing online strategy of giving. As you continue to build and nurture that great asset of yours, YOU, here is a vehicle that you can use to share your journey and monetize the service you provide to your followers as you increase site traffic.

Filed under: Marketing Blog — Tags: bob burg, Cory Alan, increase site traffic, Marketing online strategy, the go-giver, top lead generation system — Cory Alan on March 22, 2010 @ 7:11 PM

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Is finding the “Top Home-Based Business” Important?

Most people think finding the newest “Top Home-Based Business” is the answer to success. When in truth, no matter which Home Based Business opportunity you find, most often it has one major obstacle to overcome — finding people interested in the product or opportunity.

If you have joined an opportunity in the past or even recently — I’m sure the first thing you ultimately discovered after familiarizing yourself about your new product, company, compensation plan, and marketing strategy was that you need a way to find people to buy your product or join your organization. The first step for most is to go out and buy fresh and or real time leads and spend a fortune in the process. And if you originally thought that the cost to join the program was steep, now you’re spending even more on leads without seeing great results.

This, I believe, is putting the cart before the horse. You need to learn how to effectively find people to buy your product or join your opportunity before you even choose what product/opportunity you want to pitch. What you need more than the “perfect product” is a lead generation system to generate leads online.

It is not uncommon to join a company, get your product, business cards, website, and a few brochures only to quickly realize what you need is a plan to market yourself. It seems that your up-line and company are doing everything to help train you to start marketing the opportunity. All along telling you to hang on and NOT TO GIVE UP. This seems backwards to me. What you really need is an effective lead generation strategy, tools and possibly even a lead generation program. Why not first learn if you are willing or capable of marketing an opportunity? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to know this before spending the hefty “sign-up costs” and getting yourself committed to a monthly “auto-ship” only to have unsold product collecting in your garage?

Upon researching the industry, you will find people promoting the myth that if you don’t have their “secret” you are doomed to join the 97% of people that fail in home-based businesses. With that said, the person peddling the “secret” may or may not have the “secret” that works for you?

What if you started learning what you need to do to be successful, first? You might even find out during the process what you are good at and what you’re not. Trust me, on the bottom is where most people end up after joining their new “top home-based business” and for some, even after joining their 10th. Ouch!

It’s not surprising that most companies will “focus” on the product or compensation plan as the key to your success. And why not since the company and your upline only make money when you buy product. Then starts the training that you’re expected to replicate which consist mainly of promoting how the product is the answer! But what if you changed YOUR focus? Maybe you don’t need some super-duper product, or debt free company to “make it.” Maybe what you need first is to learn how to sell and market YOU.

Yes, YOU! You start each day searching for the perfect opportunity when here it’s been waking up with you every morning. Any successful Home-Based Business owner knows they have to do a good job of marketing himself or herself. You may notice some people will have short-term success or a great month focusing on marketing the product or the opportunity — but the ones that make it for the long haul are marketing themselves.

So, what if you started by marketing yourself instead of ending there? Crazy idea, I know — but what if? You might be thinking to yourself right now, “Well if it’s true it would be a lot easier.” Certainly it would be much easier to do than figuring out how to sell and convince a bunch of people to join your MLM.

If you were to market yourself, instead of a product, what would that look like? We know that the only way to attract people is to have something they want. Well, we know that one can only succeed in a home-based business by being able to generate quality prospects while not going broke in the process. You can offer that vital information to people. Offer your prospects a way to generate leads online without going bankrupt. When you learn and possess the most effective lead generation tools and understand and know how to teach effective lead generation strategy, you have something to offer. Not only will it secure your position as a leader in your company, but will give you an avenue to produce affiliate income to survive the building process while you learn.

It is a completely different way of thinking, so best start by learning how to market YOU.

Success will follow the change in your new attitude. If having prospects seek you out in your top home based business opportunities is what you want, then you have to check out this powerful system that can do just that, a top lead generation system.

Filed under: Marketing Blog — Tags: lead generation system, top home based business — Cory Alan on March 18, 2010 @ 3:50 AM

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Jeff Olson Slight Edge to Internet Marketing Plan

As you consider Internet Marketing as the vehicle to marketing yourself, or if you are already on your way, but colliding into roadblocks or being stalled by overwhelming obstacles, you’re probably asking yourself what will it really take to be successful?

The book, The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson is not only a great tool to help you change your perception; but also to learn the little, seemingly insignificant actions to take to have monster mental results over time.

What if your success or lack thereof, was not a result of luck, timing, or even fate? And the degree of required tasks was not a matter of intelligence, skill or talent? Jeff shares that during his years in business working with several thousands of people, he observed how at one time or another they were all faced with the same opportunity – yet their outcomes differed greatly. Few became millionaires and many reached solid success with good incomes, while even more went absolutely nowhere. Throughout his career he was able to rise to the very top with many different companies with different product lines in different countries around the world. Clearly he’s not bragging, but sharing that there was absolutely nothing brilliant about what he did. He did the exact same thing every time, using ridiculously simple strategies made up of ridiculously simple lists of ridiculously simple actions in every case.

So my first thought while reading his book was great, this book may tell me how and what perfect strategies to implement each time so I, too, can do it. I was hoping for a blueprint to follow to try out his solid step-by-step how-to information and reach the same consistent level of success that Jeff Olson accomplished.

But instead Olson further explains that the “how to” is not the key. According to Olson, he could show me exactly what he did to create four different, separate, independent, multimillion-dollar organizations – and teach me how to do the exact same thing. But chances are it wouldn’t work for me. The reason is the “how to do it” is not the answer. If that was the answer we would all be rich, healthy, happy, and fulfilled. And most of us are none of these things. All the wonderful how-to books that are out there are not the key to your transformation. It’s only information.

Olson goes on further to explain that the secret, once you know it, will cause you to find the real answers you need. Then as long as you apply them and live them, you will achieve the results you desire.

I found his secret to not to be a task to learn, a skill to master, a strategy to implement, or even an attitude to adopt, but a philosophy that germinates from a change in the way you think that leads you to the winning attitudes, positive actions, and ultimately new lifestyle.

The book points out profound yet simple wisdoms you can actually apply in everyday life. In Jeff Olson’s acknowledgement he gives special thanks to Jim Rohn, whose teaching had a profound impact on the author and immediately gave me a liking to Jeff Olson as I also admire Jim Rohn. Jim Rohn was one of the very first “motivational speakers” I went to hear back when I first started Real Estate at the age of 18. Like most, I wish I would have taken more of what he said to heart, but do feel that things I heard in that live presentation stayed with me. My cassette tapes were completely worn out from all the hours I spent listening. Here’s the great thing, I know if I could find copies of those same tapes, decades later, they would still make a positive impact on me today. In fact, I just might do that!

The Slight Edge is not just good information. It’s not another self-help success book packed with some revolutionary “new way” of doing things. It’s designed to help you take whatever information you have, whatever how-to’s or strategies or goals or aspirations you may acquire, and turn them into the life you want.

Jeff Olson uses a sweet but sad story of a shoeshine woman that he met in an airport (whom he actually dedicates the book to) to open your mind to the possibility that the simplest of disciplines can result in putting you on a path of extraordinary success and fulfillment. He also repeats three simple timeless stories that effectively illustrate his point and helped keep me focused throughout the book. Olson has a great way of turning your view and helping you to better understand his prospective by using historical and simple life stories. This is complimented by you participating in written assignments during the read, plus the overall genuine feeling he exudes as he walks you down the path to mastering the Slight Edge. I now believe one can turn their dreams into reality by living with The Slight Edge.

I truly enjoyed The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson and found it to be very useful in the implementation of my marketing strategies. His formula for success, “a few simple disciplines repeated every day,” is the cornerstone of my Marketing System and Internet Marketing Plan.

Filed under: Marketing Blog — Tags: internet marketing plan, jeff olson — Cory Alan on March 12, 2010 @ 4:56 PM

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Blogging Tips to Increase Blog Traffic | Cory Alan

8 Smart Tips To Get Your Blog Read

We all know that Content Marketing or writing and posting articles can get you huge volumes of traffic with virtually no advertising budget. But writing articles requires time and effort on your part to produce something of value for the reader. The following blogging tips will help you provide content that either educates or motivates and helps your readers to improve their own marketing skills. This is the best way to increase blog traffic.

But don’t waste your time and energy on writing articles that no one sees. The way you ensure your posting is viewed is in the marketing or promotion of your articles. Some refer to this as “seeding.” I like to call it “promoting your content.”

It is important that you don’t overdo it or force the issue. The more things that happen “organically” the longer they will positively effect ranking and over time increase blog traffic. To get things started you will need a little extra effort, but if you are consistent traffic will grow and then you only need to maintain the exposure so that you continue to get exposure. Remember blogging tips can help you reach your goal of having a consistent flow of quality prospects to your funnel system. (MLM Lead System Pro – “Your Lead System”)

First, I will share blogging tips to consider and second, I will point out tools and strategies to increase blog traffic and get it seen by more people.

1.) Good Grammar: When writing you must make sure your content is well written with good grammar, punctuation, and of course proper spelling. If needed, hire an editor to clean things up for you. Depending on the kind of editing involved, editors may be expensive but having clean and well-written articles will help your site get the credibility that it needs. Quality content not only will boost your search engine ranking, but will establish your site as a good place to get informed. This will result in returning visitors.

2.) Grab Their Attention in the Title: When you entice someone and spur their curiosity you are already halfway to the finish line. Without overselling a claim, you can be clever to swoon them in. One way to work on this is to go online and look at article directories and see which ones catch your eye.

3.) Keep things short and concise: You want it to be easy to read, long paragraphs can make your article difficult to read. Keep each paragraph short. 3-5 sentences is plenty. Sometimes I use a single sentence or even a couple of words to make my point. A paragraph can be that short and direct.

4.) Make it welcoming to the eye: By using numbers, bullets, indentations, pictures, graphs and board framing you can make the article more interesting and hold the reader’s attention longer while being more effective in getting your point across or understood. A long running block of square matching paragraphs is boring! No one likes that. Make sure that you have a visual representation to accompany the topic or sub-categories. Without going overboard, this will make the article visually appealing to the site viewers.

5.) Use headings, subtitles, and photos: Placing sub-titles to grab readers’ attention will make it easy for the reader to move from one point to the next which keeps the transition smooth and easy. It’s true, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Photos can help the reader visualize your message and intent.

6.) Keep their interest beginning to end: Your opening paragraph should include real life experiences that the reader can relate to. Use good descriptions and metaphors to make your point. Graphic examples make it easy for them to imagine what you are talking about. Make the reading experience pleasurable and enjoyable for them.

7.) Quote facts and figures when possible: When you include statics and specific facts to support your position, you add credibility to your articles and will be viewed as an expert or authority regarding your subject. Be careful not to make it too complex or formal so you maintain a light and easy read.

8.) Consult an expert in your field or topic: It is always a good idea to quote “the expert” in the field as a resource in your articles. Quoting others will lend credibility and authority to your piece. You can also consider hiring industry experts to write the articles themselves, or even better yet, interview them. This can be a unique way to get great content while creating exposure and traffic for the interviewee and then perhaps no fee will be necessary.

As blogging and article marketing has become more of a tool to optimize ranking and get exposure, many now lack in content and are haphazardly done. Too many are sacrificing quality for quantity. This creates the opportunity for you to be a “breath of fresh air” supplying interesting and informative content that’s easy to read and understand. A blog written thoughtfully can quickly separate you from the crowd. So whatever your level of skill might be, complement it by either hiring professionals to write for you, or just be a second set of eyes to edit your copy to insure its integrity.

Now, I would like to point out some tools and strategy tips to get your article seen by more people!

5 Smart Tips To Get Your Blog Seen

1. Tweet: One of the quickest and most effective ways to get your link to a new blog post noticed and increase traffic is simply to tweet it. Tweeting a link is quick and easy to do – and your hope is that some of your followers will “re-tweet” it and expose it to even more than just your “follower base.” Therefore, it is important that you not only give people a reason to click on your link (sell the article), but make your tweet re-tweetable. Stay under 120 characters to leave space for followers to retweet.

2. Link to Facebook & LinkedIn: Status updates should go to all the social sites you are linked to. Some will even let you set up auto-connect. When you announce your new post on Facebook it automatically tweets all of your followers. You will find that different types of content will draw more or less traffic from different sites. But all you need is someone that has a large number of Friends or Followers to pick up your blog and then in seconds it is exposed to people you had no access to! You never know what impact sharing a link in these sites can have until you do it. And there’s add-ins you can install to automatically link your new post to many other social sites.

3. Use Video to Promote your Article: Yes, a quick 30 to 40 second video promoting your article and then posting it on YouTube will not only draw traffic from one of the most visited sites on the Internet, but will also create another link back to your article on your blog. This is great for the search engines. After you have the video posted and linked you can use software to automatically post to as many as 35 other video sharing sites linking back to your original article to increase blog traffic.

4. Pitch it to another Blogger or Twitter User: Keep a list of other bloggers that have similar audiences. When you produce something of real value and believe it will be helpful to their followers, shoot out a personal email offering them to post it. This is the same approach used with Tweeters, that if the content is something they want to re-tweet and you have a readymade list of these people, you can send out a personal note asking them to take a look and share. If the link is relevant to the Tweeter and the topic that you see them sharing on Twitter, then you might get a very welcome reception to your request. And of course, you will want to reciprocate if they make you aware of helpful quality posts to share with your group.

5. Make it easy for people to share: Once you implement the ideas above, you should be receiving some traffic to your blog, now maximize that by making it easy for them to share with others. The easiest way to do this is by the use of building social media buttons into your blog. There are numerous plug-ins that will do this for you. But I strongly recommend that you don’t overdo it! A few simply placed buttons or options are helpful. Too many just adds to the clutter and confusion of many sites I see. Again, be a refreshing change or option to your reader while still creating blog traffic.

Last but not least:

A. Be consistent. It is better to do a couple things well and consistently than to do a bunch of things haphazardly. The “tortoise” will always beat the “hare” when it comes to traffic building, search engine optimization, and flow of quality prospects to your funnel marketing system. (MLM Lead System Pro)

B. Remember it’s all about relationships. The more you connect with your readers and move them to “personal contact” the more they will trust you and want to follow your lead. This is so important to the steady growth of your business and ultimately the relationships that will result in like-minded people asking to partner with you in your primary business.

The use of a few simple blogging tips can significantly alter your traffic. Let me share some of the best video training on everything from setup to execution of your blog. Learn how to capture and monetize this increase blog traffic with the best funnel marketing system on the Internet.

Filed under: Marketing Blog — Tags: blogging tips, increase blog traffic — Cory Alan on March 5, 2010 @ 7:25 PM

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Xyngular Review | Cory Alan

I received a call the other day from a gentleman that I have known for about 10 years. He seems to have done well in the Network Marketing Industry and I have to commend him on the fact that he was making relatively “cold calls” on contacts that he had saved for over 6 years. I had not heard from him during those 6 years until now.

As I was sitting down to watch a movie, he rang and after a quick hello, he went immediately into this great new opportunity and why I must look at it. He described how the company is taking the industry by storm and that the “key” reason that he joined was that their infrastructure is in place to go global almost immediately. He touched on the new “straight line” comp plan that helps everyone benefit from the gross volume of the company’s GLOBAL SALES! This started to turn me off a bit, plus anything too good to be true usually is…

I agreed to take a closer look and after hanging up I realized that he never once asked how I was or what I was doing or if I was even in or out of the Network Marketing world. I chuckled at the irony of his call as I have been focusing on the art of “attraction marketing” and the benefits of building true relationships for the foundation of a successful home based business. Again, laughing to myself, I knew that he must have not read up on this approach yet.

I did tell him that I would check it out. This is what I found using the criteria I’ve adoptedfrom Daren Falter and his book “How to Select a Network Marketing Company”.

Xyngular is headquartered in American Fork, Utah, and was founded by former XanGo V.P. of Operations, Marc Walker. Marc’s bio does include a 20-year history in the network marketing industry and most notably, heading up a multi-million dollar international entity (that wasn’t disclosed) and grew sales at a claimed amount of 75% in two years. Xyngular is already available in the United States and Canada. The company also has deliveries to other countries in a NFR (not for resale) capacity.

The company launched on December 1, 2009. I found claims from other affiliates stating that they had over 300 people join the company in its first month. Xyngular has a goal of being released in as many as 36 countries in 2010. (Not sure if that is for resale or not. If not, I don’t know how “global” that really is?)

The website claims they assembled a team of scientists to comb the world for the most powerful, nutrient dense fruits available. And because a good fruit, no matter how good it is can only address certain health concerns, it needs to be combined with primary antioxidant pre-cursors and herbal adaptogens to increase its benefit. Yes, another super juice with a retail price tag of $45.00 a bottle. They guarantee you will feel a difference no matter what you are currently taking because the combination of the three groups of ingredients in one product causes a synergistic reaction that multiplies the effectiveness of each ingredient. I’m not making this up; this is their claim.

I have always been reluctant to get too excited about a “Super Juice” even though we know companies like XanGo have had incredible success. Many feel the surge for super juices is on the decline and in a challenged economy many are unsure about pushing a $34.95 wholesale bottle of anything. Of course there is also the issue of pasteurization, which in almost 99% of the products we buy, is what we see on the label even if it’s no longer in the product when we consume it. “Hot Fill” or pasteurization is known to kill or destroy as much as 40% of all the nutrients at the point of bottling, let alone what happens during its shelf live.

The one unique thing I did notice in this particular opportunity was the different compensation plan. A plan that claims everyone in the company is helping you succeed. This is because everyone that joins is put in a straight-line organization. Even though if the plan were truly a straight line it would have issues with regulatory agencies. However, with further investigation I learned that the straight line is restricted to the overall volume of the company through 12 Global Profit Pools and there are personal enrollment requirements keeping the plan legal.

This is the claim I see floating around the Internet:

“The most exciting part however is that everyone in the company is helping you to succeed. Think of how exciting it would be to sign up and instantly have volume show up under you. How exciting would it be for a new Distributor to sign up and instantly see people and volume under them? With Xyngular this is exactly what happens. Because we put everyone in a straight line Xyngular organization, those who signed in before you help you build your business.”

But what they don’t say is that you need to have close to 67 people in your organization that you have personally sponsored or were sponsored by someone you brought in and all 67 must buy one $35.00 bottle a month before you even start to share in the global volume. Therefore, for most people the straight line will just be something they can look at in their back office and won’t really equate to earnings anytime soon.

It’s a catchy ideal that can sell and has maybe never been done before in just the same way. The pitch goes like this: “The concept of people helping people worldwide succeed financially, no matter what organization they were enrolled in, and then sharing in the overall success of the company through 12 Global Profit Pools. What this means is that as the company grows globally, everyone profits!”

They also have a $100 quick start bonus and a rapid reward program that pays up to four levels on each case the new distributor purchased in their first month. (To get all four levels you need to have purchased $396 in your first month and then be on a $320 monthly auto-ship.) The initial payout is 42% through a conventional 8 level unit-level plan. They pay another 12% through the Global Profit Pools, but remember you don’t participate in that until you have a monthly group volume of 2,000. That equates to about 67 people you have personally sponsored or were sponsored by someone you brought in and everyone is buying one $35.00 bottle a month. This makes the total payout appear to be 54%, which is a fair number in today’s Network Marketing Industry.

What they don’t focus on is that the Rapid Reward of $24 is per case, not bottle. And to earn the bonus on more than just your first level you need to upgrade from one to four bottles a month. And the biggest claim of the $100 fast start bonus is not unless you buy the case at $132 plus a nominal Membership fee of $20. That’s not all, then you need to get FOUR more people to do the same thing and it has to be within the first FOUR weeks of you joining. We know that most people will only sign up 1, 2 or 3 people ever, and the people that will get four or more general do not do it in the first 4 weeks. So I see many new distributors getting discouraged quickly as they continue to get their auto-ship of $132.00 plus tax and shipping and don’t get paid the $100 fast start bonus. Ouch!

So I wouldn’t be to concerned about how quickly they go global or not, first you have to be able to stay qualified for one level at $35 or as much as $264 a month to get all 8 levels of compensation and the first month bought at $396 to get your fast start bonus on 4 levels.

If this doesn’t sound confusing and a lot of requirements to capture pay, then you may not agree with me that it’s a recipe for high attrition rates. If you like the product (Xyngular Super Global Juice) and you can honestly say that you would buy and consume it even if you were not involved in the business opportunity and you are willing to have an auto-ship for $35 to $132 a month for at least 6 months so that you can build an organization of anywhere from 12 to possibly 30 active distributors so that your residual earnings are enough to cover 1 bottle a month of your auto-ship – then dive right in!

What I would rather see you do is, if you have decided that Network Marketing is for you, first secure the talent or ability to attract quality prospects without going broke. Why get yourself tied into some monthly auto-ship that may just start stacking up in your garage, when the key factor that will make you successful in ANY HOME BASED BUSINESS, is the ability to attract quality prospects.

What if you first focused on learning how to generate 10 leads a day, for whatever business you may want to build, before signing up to Xyngular? Plus, while building your lead generation system you might just find a better place to direct your 10 leads a day.

As with Xyngular or any other network marketing company, be sure and empower yourself with knowledge and learn how to market yourself on the Internet first. Be smart and get your horse out in front of your cart with an easy to use lead system for your network marketing company.

Filed under: Marketing Blog — Tags: network marketing company, Xyngular — Cory Alan on March 3, 2010 @ 9:33 PM

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