Early this morning I was sent the link to an article written on Law.com “FTC Blogging Rules Pose Advertising Risks!”

As I read the article, I had tweetdeck going on the other monitor and watching the constant tweeting of one outlandish statement after another.

You know the ads I’m talking about, creating an endless flow of leads, Get 50 to 300 leads a day on twitter or facebook.

Now I know that the ads are so full of crap it’s not even funny. Yet, that is what people want.

In this article their conclusion was, that corporations that engage in social media marketing should pay careful attention to the new guidance!

…Well you can read it on the article itself!

The part where they talk about their business associates is intriguing. As this leads me to believe that these corporations could also be liable for what their associates are saying!

With this information, how long will it take before network marketing companies totally restrict what you can and cannot do via social sites, twitter and yes even your blog…

…It’s either that or leave the company!

Could it also lead to your promotion of something that comes across as hype, like the leads examples above also get you terminated with that company?

Granted, you are an independent representative with that company. But, you are representing them. Which means you may have to start playing by a whole new set of rules…

…And, just as you where saying “Fire Your Boss, I’ll Show You The Way!”

Personally If I was a company that used any form of hype in my statements and had thousands of mouth pieces out there also spreading this unsubstantiated hype…

…I’d be thinking about closing the doors quickly, as they’ll bypass the shills out there and be coming after me!

Or, I’d be reigning them in just as quickly as I could. But, then without the hype would the product sell?

Fortunately, I’ve been a Leaders Club subscriber and promoter for years and our marketing methods have always steered towards the ethical side of marketing.

So as a parting thought, how will your network marketing efforts look to your company if it does come under review?

After all the world-wide-web is really not that small!

Combining the internet with network marketing, everyone is promoting right? Yet, from all this free advice out there how many have actually been successful with it?

Finding success on the internet requires extreme patience, the one thing that most of us including myself lack.

I was reading an article from Bob Bly today, titled “What You Know Can Make You Richer.”

In the article it pointed out some very specific reasons why so many fail, and I see this all the time.

Bob pointed out that in order to succeed as an internet marketers you need two things:

A. The ability to write.

B. Something to write about.

He also pointed out that you’d need another thing, as he said to be fair

C. how to market, promote, and sell yourself.

This was where the article got interesting, as he said and many of us know. Most of us can do A, and C can be learned. Leaders club has been teaching marketers for the past 16 years.

So when it comes to the internet and network marketing we have wannabe gurus, who’ve read everything about until they can about the subject.

So we are back to who do you trust for advice? A wannabe guru whose never actually done it or someone who has?

I guess what I’m trying to say here is approach internet network marketing advice with a high degree of skepticism.

The other day, watching the ads fly by one after another on twitter one individual tweeted “Checking Out a System So I can Get Downline up to speed!”

Using the statement checking out a system, really is kind of vague?

And as history has proven, just plugging people in does not guarantee that your people will get up to speed quickly.

You can have the best system in the world a very captive audience and still lose market share to another company or individual who does it far better.

Most if not all network marketing companies provide network marketing training that is specific to their products and services. If they don’t maybe, it’s time to look for a company that does.

But, most systems that network marketers talk about are strictly for recruiting…

…And, when you stop and really look at it you’re placing the cart before the horse once again.

Asking your new downline members to purchase this super-duper system without them having down the basics of prospecting is just asking them to throw their money away!

Granted they might get lucky and sponsor one or two people out of shear luck; it’s almost impossible not too.

But lets backup a minute and discuss what is a system?

If we look to the definition of the word “System” what we discover is quite a few definitions.

1. A set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole.

Or where I believe it applies to marketing and sales.

2. A set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized scheme or method.

When we get right down to it finding success in network marketing cannot be accomplished by just plugging them into an online lead generation system.

If it really were that simple, we’d all be rich, and sitting on the beach.

A comprehensive system would include the tools “websites, landing pages, etc…” and the methodology to take someone from not knowing anything about marketing to achieving lasting success!

Today, during a phone call the individual asked the question “what I thought was the most important thing that a person needs in network marketing.”

While most will think it’s the blog, a website, the company, the products & services etc…

…The most important thing in my view is the ability to listen to and connect with people!

Make a commitment to yourself in 2010 to…

Pay less attention to yourself and more attention to others.

Make a commitment to focus on opportunities, and not problems associated with those opportunities.

This will make you a much happier person, and money and success in network marketing will find you.

With millions of blogs out there, and more on the way everyday can you really blog your way to network marketing success?

I’m sure we all wish it was that easy! The sad truth is the internet is littered with abandoned websites and blogs.

With a static website, it is difficult to tell that it has been abandoned. But, when it comes to a blog it is clearly obvious to even the most casual observer that it has been abandoned.

I really encourage people to get a website and make a long term commitment to work on it. With the blogging software available today, Wordpress, Drupal, Insitecreation etc…

There really is no excuse for not having and writing about what you’re passionate about…

…But, just like building your network marketing business a lack of activity or blogging will yield equally poor results.

What can you do to generate a little success with your network marketing blog?

Depending on what blogging platform you intend to use choose a good template. It may mean that you have to spend a few dollars for it, but if you’re serious about building a business on the internet…

…That’s the price you’ll have to pay! For Wordpress, I recommend the theme Thesis. In purchasing a template, I recommend you go for the developers option.

While it is a little more expensive, it gives you the options to remove the footer attribution and, generally use on multiple blogs that you own.

Once you’ve chosen your platform and template…

Know you subject, and never try to force your writing! We all know that when we try to force anything it generally does not turn out well.

And, contrary to popular belief your writing skills do not have to be perfect. So don’t be alarmed when someone stops by your site, then contacts you to criticize your writing.

It’s usually someone looking for a writing job, who is frustrated, or another network marketer that is pissed off cause your posts and site out rank theirs.

I cannot emphasize enough to know the subject you’re writing about, do some research before you write! I was surprised the other day when I read a blog post about where did the 97% failure rate in network marketing come from.

Sounds like a great subject, and while there are now quite a few blog posts, ezine articles written about it, I know that none of them even bothered to do any research.

Had they searched Google they would have found a post I had written which covered this early in 2008, which had actually come from a study done in 1996.

In essence they had simply regurgitated the myths that others where propagating…

…And, therefore making themselves unattractive in the process.

Create Unique Content That Is Your Own…

If you want to be attractive to others, it is essential that you create unique content. It really does not matter if the subject has been written about thousands of times before…

Many network marketing bloggers fall into the trap of recycling articles that where written by someone else, it happens to all of us!

Now many will disagree with this next statement…

…Don’t fret over keywords, they’re just not that important! Or at least they are not as important as you’ve been led to believe!

Now why would I say that? If you know your subject, write from what you know, you’ll supply the necessary keywords and phrases to support the blog post.

Blogging should be you having fun and sharing what you know with others, never just writing for the search engines.

And finally, keep it focused…

…You’ll have more fun and just might begin to enjoy some success.

Most Blogging software creates categories, yet most people want to change the text that appears at the top from the ugly “From The Category Archives” to something different.

The Wordpress Thesis Theme is no different and in my research I found there are a few different ways to accomplish this.

I started looking into accomplishing this after modifying one of my Drupal sites in a similar manner.

I found, Rae Hoffman’s site Sugarrae.com in my research and she had already outlined what needed to be done. Yet, in the examples I found the SEO issue I’ve always seen with database driven sites.

Below is the custom code that Rae had come up with, and it does work great. Yet, like anyone who likes to tinker I had to make a few modifications for better SEO purposes.

/* Custom Categories */
function custom_archive_info() {
if (is_category('apples')) {
?>


< ?php single_cat_title(); ?>



YOUR CUSTOM APPLES TEXT HERE



< ?php
}
elseif (is_category('oranges')) {
?>


< ?php single_cat_title(); ?>



YOUR CUSTOM ORANGES TEXT HERE



< ?php
}
else
thesis_default_archive_info();
}
remove_action('thesis_hook_archive_info', 'thesis_default_archive_info');
add_action('thesis_hook_archive_info', 'custom_archive_info');

What I found was that once you went to page two of any of your categories, you ended up with the same body of text that appeared on the main category page.

By changing the code to this:

if (is_category('insert-your-category-here') && !is_paged())

It eliminated the text from being displayed on page two, three, etc…

… But then it reverted back to the original ugly “From The Category Archive:” By adding this to the code:

elseif (is_category() && is_paged()) {
?>




< ?php _e('Even More Great Posts on:', 'thesis'); ?>

< ?php single_cat_title(); ?>







< ?php
}

I was able to easily change what was displayed on page 2, 3 etc... Now instead of displaying "From the category archive:" I set mine to "Even More Great Posts On:"  While still not perfect it gets me a little closer to what I'd really like to see for the categories. ]]> http://www.network-marketing-works.com/blog/modifying-the-wordpress-thesis-themes-custom-categories-further-1639/feed/ 0 http://www.network-marketing-works.com/blog/got-a-network-marketing-blog-then-you-need-marsedit-2-1621/ http://www.network-marketing-works.com/blog/got-a-network-marketing-blog-then-you-need-marsedit-2-1621/#comments Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:41:24 +0000 Glenn Burks http://www.network-marketing-works.com/blog/?p=1621

…And, you’ll also need to be running an Apple Computer to use the software. This software has really impressed me and so I’m sharing the information with you.

So what does it do for you that you cannot do within Wordpress, Drupal, Blogger, Tumblr, TypePad or other blogging software?

The one feature, I find awesome and almost essential is the Preview.

As I type the post into MarsEdit 2 I can look simultaneously at what it will look like when it is posted to the website.

No more guessing at what it will look like it’s all right there!
Click on the images for a larger view.

Having a preview of what the finished product will look like is well the best of feature of all.

Using blog publishing software allows you to compose blog posts offline, store them as drafts and later publish them to your blog.

As far as price goes, I don’t feel the software priced where it should be it should be at least twice the price that they charge for it!

The sad part is that Windows users cannot use it, there are other programs that do essentially the same.

But, if your a Mac user then visit Red-Sweater.com/marsedit/ “Note-this is not an affiliate link” I just like the software and think you might enjoy it as well!

Developing a web presence ranks high on the list for a majority of network marketers, and it should! The internet has radically changed how most people perceive business should be done today.

And, getting an internet presence today has never been easier or has it?

Registering a domain name is easy, setting up a web site is a little more challenging but not too difficult. The real issues is who can we trust for advice?

This morning I was reading one of my favorite news letters, the article was leading up to the question “What’s Wrong With the Way Most People Think Today!”

In the article, it was talking about Nietzshe, what really stood out was “most people would rather act on the basis of theoretical knowledge, than on what they know from personal experience.”

In many ways this explains why network marketers usually fail miserably when it comes to writing web pages or their blog. For example:

A copywriter can spend hours to weeks hammering out good to great ad copy. Generally they start at a slight disadvantage because first they really do not know what their ideal customer wants!

But, when a copywriter is working for a specific company, often that company will have years worth of marketing data already accumulated from its previous customers.

From this collection of data, combined with years of copywriting experience they often come up with good to great ad copy.

This puts the average network marketer at a disadvantage! More often than not, we do not have this information, and if we did we seldom have the experience necessary to write great ad copy.

Thus, we fall back on theoretical information supplied by someone else who also accumulated the information in the same fashion with no personal experience!

For example, I wrote a post in February 2009, in the post I was pointing out the differences between Apple and Microsoft and how Microsoft was adopting a global retail chain.

Why is that important? It was in my opinion Microsoft’s missing ingredient the personal experience. Apple with its retail chain and representatives in the field where gaining that first hand customer experience and feedback.

Not theoretical knowledge but first hand personal experience! Today, we see in the Windows 7 commercials, they listened to… their customers!

In Network Marketing…

…today you’ll see people investing into a business that they know little to nothing about and end up losing money. As we begin to fail, we start to follow every piece of theoretical advice out there, I know in the beginning I did!

I love it when I hear this phrase!

Never cold call again: Get leads chasing you! Yet, if you’ve never talked to a lead (a real person) and hundreds to thousands of them, can you ever really know what they want or need?

If you don’t know what they want can you create a strong network marketing web presence and get them to chasing you?

In order to create a successful web presence, combine your personal experience with the theoretical! For it is your personal experience that will be reflected in the writing on your website or blog.

If you’re using the same tool: What if anything will set you apart from the billions of other web pages and millions of network marketers on the web?

Where can you start?

First, determine which platform is best for your needs and budget, static website, or blog like Wordpress, or a content Management system like Insitecreation or Drupal.

Second, to whom will you be marketing too? Once you’ve identified this keep your site focused and on target.

When you mix how to build a business with articles on your companies nutritional products…

…you’ve just lost your visitors interest!

Third, never try to game the system! Many marketers do this, and while it may work for a short period of time, eventually it falls apart.

Take for example the latest FTC rules, this has caused many network marketers to rethink and totally change their marketing methods.

Again follow you gut instinct, would I let my mother read this, would I show this to my friends, they will find it one day!

Forth, and probably the most important you’ll need to talk to enough prospects, those actively seeking out what it is you have to offer!

If you listen closely, write down every question they have, you’ll begin to develop an insight into what it is they want to hear and read.

Yet, that alone does not guarantee you will be successful, although it might make your website successful! That sounds counter productive to everything you’ve read doesn’t it?

How do you get the experience… if you’ve never done this before or even if you’re struggling today? There is no better way than by using the affiliate resource I’ve promoted over the past six years.

A resource that is one of the most cost effective ways to build a network marketing business used by thousands of individuals over the years and they even offer free web-hosting along with many other exclusive benefits for it’s members!

You can go through life guessing what your prospects want, or you can gain the first hand knowledge of what they truly want.

Then, and only then, can we finally begin to understand what it takes to develop a strong network marketing web presence!

While having a steady flow of network marketing leads should be your highest priority, keeping track of those prospects should also rank just as high.

Network Marketing is about relationships, tools, and systems may bring a prospect to you, it’s what you do after that really counts.

Far to many hope rely to heavily on automated follow-ups to sell what ever it is you have to offer. So how do you put the social into marketing? Well you could actually start by contacting a prospect or potential customer.

Keeping up with those whom you’ve talked with and knowing what was said requires good notes. Yet, we all know what happens to notes, they generally are never where you left them.

The best alternative to notes or a notebook is a good contact management program. These can range from online versions, open source software versions, to the various manufactures that create software specifically for this.

I was approached through much of 2008 to promote one of the newer online versions. After much though about it, I could just not bring myself to promote it. Often, I find these programs to restrictive; I cannot really customize it to fit my specific situation.

While there are many different versions, it really is a matter of your choice. When looking at a contact manager, how much support is available for it. One of the things I always look at is the support forums, usually the more active it is the better the software is.

While a very active forum may seem to indicate that it is not a good program, it does show that quite a few people use it. When you run into a problem there is a good probability that someone else has already been there and a solution is available.

When it comes to a desktop contact management program there are two that I recommend, one for Windows based computers, the other for Apple Mac’s.

When it comes to Windows I recommend what I call the cadillac of CRM systems, called Act by Sage Software. You do not need the latest version of Act; I recommend you look for one that is at least last years version.

By choosing a version that is slightly older, you will reduce your cost substantially over the latest and greatest version. This also depends on your Windows operating system. If you are running Vista, you’ll need at the minimum a 2008 Version.

If you visit my Network Marketing Training page on the main site, you’ll find on the right a series of pages that talk about setting up outlook express and Act Contact Management for Network Marketers Overview, along with some old videos on the 2004 version of ACT.

I’ve thought about doing a newer series of video’s, showing you just how far as a network marketer we can take the program, yet I’d be giving away my secrets, right?

When it comes to Apple’s computers, the options are narrower. The program I currently use is Daylite. The one thing I like about Apple computers, is the integration is awesome.

Having the ability to have all my content management information on a desktop, laptop, and the iPhone is, well lets just say this is the way it is supposed to work!

After careful deliberation I finally decided to move my network marketing blog over to the Wordpress Thesis theme.

I still have some reservations as to how well it will work it is a flexible design with a lot of support.

Previously I had used a Revolution theme, which was nice, and I had highly modified it. Still it’s always fun to give a site or blog a new face lift every now and then.

With the ability to change the layout quickly and easily from content left sidebars right, to a sidebar on each side of the content, or content on the right with both sidebars to the left just by selecting the appropriate option.

Changing just about anything is simple without having to go into the CSS files to change font style and or font size. So it really could live up to the statement of being the last Wordpress theme you may ever need.

Before moving the blog here at Network Marketing Works to Thesis, I updated my home business site with the Thesis for Wordpress template. One of the concerns with the introduction of anything major to any website is how it will affect your search engine rankings.

With my home business site I found virtually no change, which is good. Although it could also be that the site is fairly old and quite stable even though it is neglected. Moving to Thesis also means that we can discontinue the use of some plugins.

When it comes to network marketing or home business categories there is stiff competition. You need every advantage that you can get, while the theme is good, there are still a few things you need to take care of in order to really optimize it properly.

I have found one strange issue that will need troubleshooting, it is when previewing your posts in Marsedit. Marsedit is probably one of the best pieces of software you can have for blogging with a Mac.

The theme here and on my other site, have a few extra modifications that can be found, if you know what to look for in the Thesis forum. Items like adding additional sidebars and drop down menus.

If you’re looking for a good Wordpress theme for your network marketing or home business site, well really any site for that matter Thesis for Wordpress will fit the bill.

Back in February 2008 I wrote a post about Ineffective Email Marketing and what inexperienced people where actually out their doing trying to find success.

As we know bulk emails don’t work, most if not all get filtered out by the many systems available to not only the internet service providers, web hosting platforms and the end users own desktop filtering system.

Yet these spammers still try to find ways around this. The latest craze seems to be blog spamming, at least that’s what I’m seeing almost everyday and generally from the same type of wanna be marketers.

In many cases they do succeed in getting their comment spam posted as a trackback mainly. This is the result of so many new bloggers not understanding how to setup their blog site effectively.

The largest offenders in this type of spam marketers hitting this site are from The Spider Web Marketing Sytem group. Now I know that is not what they are teaching their people to do!

What it really indicates is that people will do anything they can, however unethical it is to make a profit! When they could become a student of marketing and really learn how to create their own success.

If your setting up your blog properly there are tools that will catch this blog spam and yes 100 percent of the blog spam come from those with trackbacks to the spider web marketing system is caught before it will ever be published!

If  your using Wordpress ensure that you’ve enabled your Akismet plugin, setup your blog so that each post has to be reviewed before it goes live.

We all know this is a royal pain but what can we do? As long as their are unethical people in this world who continue to think that spamming is the right thing to do, we’ll have to keep taking the time to stop them in their tracks.

Or maybe better still is we track down their information and post it as blog spam offenders