What is this social networking? How are you supposed to interact socially with people on the internet to have fun and create a profit? Is it just a waste of time? How can you use it to sell a product or service?

Think about this. You are searching the internet for the latest and greatest toys to keep your dog occupied. Fido likes to chew everything, so you need a good, durable toy. You are not looking for a cheap plastic or flimsy rubber thing he will have chewed apart in a matter of minutes. You decide to do a search on the internet. You type in the words durable dog toy. As you begin visiting the results, you find site after site that has images of dog toys and descriptions. You can’t, however, really tell from the photos and descriptions how well made these toys are. It’s been a pretty boring search and not real informative so far.

You are just about to give up and make yet another trip to the pet store to try and find a toy that will be a challenge for Fido to destroy. This is when you come across another site. This site is a blog. Each post is accompanied by photos of the author actually playing with his dogs and the toys. At the bottom of a few of the posts, some people have commented asking specific questions. The blog author (AKA toy distributor) has actually answered them. You are elated. You read a comment that asks about dogs destroying toys and what is best for this situation. The author explains about a certain line of toys that is very hard for them to destroy, but is lightweight enough for them to play. You’ve got the information you have been looking for! This blogger is now your friend. You like him because he has solved your problem before you even asked the question.

This is a prime example of social networking for fun and profit. Any place on the internet where you can interact one on one with your customers is social networking. Many people think the term only refers to sites where people post profiles and chat with each other. Those types of sites are included but not all inclusive.

People buy from people they know, like and trust. In order for you to create that know, like and trust with potential customers, you must be able to interact with them on a personal level. In the example of the blogger selling dog toys, the author has posted personal photos of himself and his dogs actually using the toys. You can see from the photos of them playing that they toys aren’t ripped to shreds and dogs appear to really like them. You can see from the date and time on the questions and answers in the comments that he answers questions in a timely manner. Most of all, you like this guy. The more posts you read, the more you realize that he’s not just some corporation behind a website. He is a real person and you will get personal service when it comes to working with him.

This is the type of relationship you want to have with your potential customers. Blogging is just one way to accomplish this. Think of ways you can interact with your customers in real time. That is an important key to this puzzle – real time. Having your customers fill out a contact form and you will get back to them is not interacting. In the blog example, you are able to read past questions and see the answers. This is much better than an FAQ page on a site. You can see how the author interacts with his potential customers. This tells a lot about a person.

In conclusion, find a way to interact socially with your customers and you will be well on your way to social networking for fun and profit.

I’ve been away from my blogs for a while. THANK YOU for all of the emails and calls from my blog readers asking if I’m OK!! I’m more than OK - I’m absolutely wonderful.

I turned 42 on May 25. I got the best present ever - my boy (who is in a residential therapeutic facility) got to come home on a day pass. It was great!! He was able to get a pass last weekend and is home now until Sunday.

But…that’s not the reason I’ve been away from my blogs.

As you may know, I’m a life & career coach. Everyone needs a coach - even life and career coaches. I’ve been working with my career coach. My life was too “busy” with a lot going on but not a lot accomplished. I’m good at everything I do and I like everything I do. However, I eventually need to work toward one career. In a few years my Vitamark business will be able to sustain us income wise, however, I need something fulfilling to do in the meantime and beyond. I’ve narrowed it down to Virtual Assistant and Life/Career Coach. I love working with others and when I hear that the people I’m helping are living a better life because of the help I’ve given them, it makes me feel great!!

In honoring my decision to help others, I’ve greatly discounted the cost of my “You Can Redesign Your Life” 3 week course for my blog readers. Here’s what you need to do:

Visit YouCanRedesignYourLife.com to find out about it.

Come back here and click here to pay $49 instead of the regular$169 for the course. (I may take this offer away at any time so grab it now if you want it)

Many of last year’s participants have implemented what they learned and are now living more fulfilled lives than ever before.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life!! What will you do with it?

After last week’s decision in California to fine YTB $1 million, the St. Louis Dispatch reports “Illinios Wants to Shut Down YTB”

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan not only wants to shut down YTB, but wants to make sure the owners of YTB are NEVER involved in network marketing again.  As it should be.

Hopefully this will be (another) huge wake up call to all of these MLMs that are driven by the recruit, recruit, recruit model.  Everyone can take a look at their own business model and see if they have sales to people other than reps.    We’ve been telling people for years that business models drive the behavior in the field.  YTBs business model was recruit, recruit, recruit.  The problem is that travel was NEVER sold to anyone other than reps.  These reps did not have travel businesses, they had a pyramid scheme.   The majority of reps in YTB didn’t even make enough money to pay for their website.

Many other MLMs will follow and fall like dominoes unless they change their business model.  If your MLM does the whole “you can get it cheaper if you sign up as a rep” thing, you could be in danger.  If you don’t have anyone paying retail for your products then you are in danger of having your MLM shut down.

These lawsuite are not new.  I had someone tell me once “YTB can’t be a pyramid scheme becaue it’s publicly traded”.  That’s BS.

Bottom line - if you are in YTB or any other company that only sells products to other reps, you need to get out NOW!!!

Go read my free eBook and learn how to evaluate YOUR company.   These poor YTB reps thought they were safe.  The few that were making money THOUGHT they were building residual income for life.  They THOUGHT this company would be around to pay their children’s children.  However, they didn’t listen to anyone who tried to caution them that they are in a pyramid scheme.  They didn’t want to hear that the company they chose to join is illegal.

The attorney general can’t possibly get to all of these companies today, but they will get them eventually.  Do you really want to build with one in the meantime?

YOU Deserve Success!!

Roxanne

I was going to title this post “From Zero to Annoying in No Time Flat” but I decided against it.  By the end of the post you’ll know why I contemplated that title.

If you have a business and you are marketing that business online, your list is your greatest asset.  I won’t go into the mechanics of it here, but the best way to build a list is to give away a free report or other free content related to your niche.  For example, if you are selling widgets, you would give away a free report titled something like “7 Easy Ways to Use a Widget”.  The people who give you their name and email address in exchange for the report become your list.

Everyone knows that people buy from people they know, like and trust.  The best way to build trust with your list is to treat them with respect.  Just because these people have signed up for free information from you does not mean that they want you to constantly spam them with every joint venture you get pitched on.  It does not mean that they want you to constantly send them emails promoting your widgets.

Quite a while ago I signed up for list building information from a well known list building trainer.  I decided to try one of his membership sites for a month and see if I got good content or not.  Now, mind you, this guy says he can teach me to build a list of targeted people who want what I have and will be buying my products/services and making me money.   I thought he may have some content that I could learn as an addition to what I teach already.

After a month I decided not to renew my membership because the content was all geared toward basic, beginner list building and there was no real “meat” to the content.  The best idea he had was to joint venture with other people who already have a list.  They send your offer to their list and you send their offer to your list.

Now, I can see where that would work IF I were selective about my JV partners.  But, obviously, being selective about your JV partners doesn’t work because this “guru” started pitching me 2-3 times per DAY with the “next greatest deal”.   Not 2-3 times a month or even 2-3 times a week, but 2-3 times a DAY!!  He put out an offer to his membership students that he would promote their products/services to his list.  He was apparently bombarded with these JV offers that he promised to promote because the spam floodgates opened wide.

I had a terrible time trying to remove myself from his list because when I purchased month one, I got put into his customer list and his member list and his main list.   At one point, about 2 weeks in, I was added to another list because he offered a trial to a more advanced training (that was not more advanced).  When I canceled month one, I canceled the advanced training trial.  I did not, however, opt out of all 6 or 7 email lists that I now ended up in because there was not global remove or remove from all lists option.  This self proclaimed guru has no idea how to segment is list and offer a global remove option.  SAD.  What a fiasco that turned out to be!  Now I have a terrible view of this trainer and will never opt in to any of his info again for fear of being pitched constantly.  That is NOT the way to treat your list.

If you are going to build a list, you MUST treat that list with respect.  Just because someone has signed up for your free content does NOT mean that they know, like and trust you.  You have to build that with them.  Give them great free information and earn their trust by not pitching them.  You can occasionally tell them about a special you are running on your widgets or give them free content with a link at the bottom to your widgets, but do NOT email them solely for the purpose of selling them your widgets.  Just because they purchased something from you, it does not give you the right to spam them with all kinds of deals.

If you decide to do a joint venture or two, make sure that it is something your list will be interested in.  Someone who signed up to get free golfing information, for example, is not going to want to buy a book of knitting patterns.  They may, however, be interested in buying an ebook that explains how to pick the best clubs for their skill level.   You could offer this at the bottom of your free tips.  If they want it, they can click the link.

Be kind to your list!!

YOU Deserve Success!!

Roxanne Green

Many of my team members in my MLM organization ask me over and over and over which method they should use to build their business.  My upline and I offer a buffet table of ideas that our team can use to build.  My suggestion to new team members is always “Look through the archived tutorials, read the descriptions and pick one or two things that you think will work best with your personality and listen to those tutorials.  If, after hearing the tutorials, you need me to help you implement what you’ve chosen, I will be happy to do that.”   The only thing that I ask is they pick one and stick with it for at least a month.  Become good at that one thing.  Don’t add in more until you’ve given the first one at least 30 days of consistency.

If you are going to be a success in any profession marketing on the internet, you MUST become an expert at one method of traffic generation.  Once you’ve perfected one, you can add another, however, you should not attempt to learn more than one at a time.

One huge mistake that people make is running in too many different directions at the same time.  Focus.  That is how you will be successful in MLM / network marketing or any internet business for that matter.

This works the same with trainers.  If you want to learn from someone, pick ONE person and learn from them.  You can add in another trainer at a later date when you’ve gotten the methods that the first person teaches down.  But, I caution you, don’t follow more than 2 or 3 people’s training at a time - EVER!!  You will get off track.  You will lose focus and your business will suffer.

Focus in ONE direction.

YOU Deserve Success!!

Roxanne

There are two types of MLM companies in the world.

A. Those who put their distributors first

and

B. Those who put the company owners first

The ones who put the company owners first are the ones who cry recession and cut the comp plan (or leave it low paying). The reason they do this is so the owners of the company can put more profit per sale into their pockets.

The ones who put the distributors first are the companies that will come out even stronger when everyone else is crying and complaining about the bad economy. These are smart people. They know that in order for the company to make it through and end up profitable, they need to keep their distributors happy.

I went to a leadership event for my company this past weekend in Dallas TX. It was amazing!! My company added more money to their comp plan. This is the fourth year in a row that I have been involved with them and have seen them add more money to the plan. 2006, 2007, 2008 and now a HUGE addition in 2009. They made it easier for us to reach certain pay levels and decided to pay us more for retailing our products. My company understands that in order for us (the reps) to want to produce more, they need to give us more incentive to do that. They know that 10% of $100 in sales is more than 50% of $10 in sales. They know that if the they (the company) take a lower percentage and give us (the reps) a higher percentage, we will produce more, therefore, they will also make more and everyone is happy.

Too many times companies think “We need a bigger piece of the pie” so they make it harder for their reps to hit the “good paying” levels. These companies cut commissions where the highest percentage of reps are. They may say something like “The reps who sponsor more people and sell more deserve a larger percentage”. That’s true, however, it does not need to be at the expense of everyone else. Again - 10% of $100 is way more than 50% of $10. Give the reps at the top an extra few percent, but make sure the part-time reps are making money too.

For example, my company just make it easier for the average, part-time person to make money. That is almost unheard of in the MLM / network marketing industry. Most companies make it harder so that they only have to pay out a large percentage when you reach levels that very few reps ever reach. These compaies are the ones that have very high attrition rates and the reps need to constantly bring in more people to make up for the ones who drop out. Retention rates in these companies are terrible because it’s not easy for people to make money on a part time basis. These companies keep people on the books who have dropped out so they don’t have to tell you the real drop out rate.

Take a good look at your company. If you are part time, are you really making money? Can you sell a product and get paid? Can you sponsor a person and get paid? What percentage do you make if you are a new part time person starting out? Remember - 90% of your team will probably be part time people. If they can’t make money, they will quit. Will it be easier or harder to constantly bring in new people?

YOU Deserve Success!!

Roxanne

I’ve had a lot of emails and questions about the blog’s new name. It began as Network Marketing RULES!! The URL is still NetworkMarketingRules.com in addition to WorkWithRoxanne.com

I changed it from Network Marketing RULES!! to Internet Marketing RULES!! because I don’t teach just network marketing. I teach INTERNET marketing. Yes - I am a professional network marketer. However, many of my students and clients are not. They are promoting a number of different things on the internet, therefore, internet marketing. I teach everything from social networking to blogging to podcasting. Pretty much anything to help you build a list of TARGETED people who want what you have. This can work for the solo entrepreneur or a large corporation.

Internet Marketing RULES!! seemed like a more fitting title.

What do you think?

Roxanne

.

I am an internet marketing coach.  People opt into my list to receive information from me.  I do not EVER pitch these people on my MLM company.  I only pass along great information, training offers and tips to help them build their business.  I have a decent sized list of people who have opted in to receive this information.  Many of them are in different companies than I am.  Some have asked me about my company and ended up joining me in my business.  However, I only discuss my MLM company with those who ask about it.

Occasionally, one of these people that have asked for my help will ignore everything that I’ve shared with them and spam me with their “next greatest deal”.   I am amazed.  I am in the top 10 affiliates in my company at least 2 weeks out of the month.  Last week I was the #3 affiliate worldwide with my company.  This is because I’ve built a group of AWESOME people who I have created great relationships with.  I am not interested in any other MLM company.  When the experts like Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki recommend multiple streams of income, they did NOT mean more than one MLM / network marketing company.

When people pitch me on their “deal” I know that they have not been paying attention to any of the training they signed up for.  Why?  Because they are not ready to hear it.  They are still in denial, still struggling to build a business and still out there wondering why they’ve jumped from company to company and “it” hasn’t happened yet.

I received an email the other day from a gentleman who had requested help from me and never paid attention to any of it.  He is now in another “deal” and wants me to take a look at this next best thing.  I decided I would google this person to see what he’s done in the past.  If you google anyone in MLM who claims to be making a boatload of money and you can’t find them or you find them in multiple companies, they are lying to you!!  Plain and simple.

Bottom line, I found out that he is no longer active in the company that he was with and couldn’t find him anywhere on the internet.  I emailed him back and explained how he opted in to my list because he was not successful and was looking for help.  Now he’s left the company he was with and is jumping on a new thing.  I explained that I do not believe in promoting more than one MLM and I do not believe in jumping from company to company unless there is something wrong with the one you are in.  There’s nothing wrong with my MLM.  They pay great and have great products.  I explained to him that I don’t pitch him on my company and I expect the same consideration in return.

Here is part of his answer to me:

I am sorry to hear that you are closed minded.  I made a mistake.  I thought we were friends in networking.  I didn’t realize you consider me competition to your business.  I email my friends with every thing I find that could have an impact on their lives.

There was more “gunk” in between here but I don’t think my readers want to hear his pitch that he again went into. Then he concluded with:

Now that I know we are not friends, I will never contact you again and I will promptly unsubscribe from your mailing list.

He’s going to unsubscribe ME from a mailing list that I never subscribed to in the first place. LOL. What a joke. I am amazed at the people who do not understand the CAN-SPAM laws. Here is part of my response to him:

If being your friend means agreeing to be pitched by you then have it your way. I have many many friends in other companies who respect my position and respect how I feel. They don’t pitch me on every new scam that comes along. They don’t even mention their businesses to me other than to brainstorm about how we can build our businesses. THAT is networking.

If you are going to be this rude and nasty to anyone who doesn’t jump at your newest “deal” then I expect you to have very few friends by the time you are done. I’m sorry that you feel friendship gives you the right to pitch people. That is not what friendships and relationships are about. It may do you good to actually read my blog and learn a little about relationship marketing. Telling someone who doesn’t choose to be pitched that you are no longer their friend will get you a really bad reputation very quickly.

Thank you so much for unsubscribing me from a mailing list that I never subscribed to in the beginning. If you ever want to learn how to have people calling you asking to join your business instead of pitching everyone and getting constant rejection, I will be here. Unlike yours, my friendship doesn’t come with strings attached. I am here to help anyone at any time. I don’t pitch people I’m helping and I don’t expect them to pitch me. That’s all.

Roxanne

I am amazed at the things some people will do to try and build their business. They just end up looking desperate and childish. If you’re going to be a professional network marketer, you must concentrate your efforts on ONE company. I’m not saying put all of your eggs in one basket. There are MANY other ways to make money from home that are not MLM or network marketing. That is just one of my income streams. And I don’t ever leave my home for any of them.

If you are going to be working from home, you MUST be able to find targeted people who want what you have WITHOUT spamming and looking desperate.

YOU Deserve Success!!

Roxanne Green

You’ve probably heard or heard of the Bon Jovi song “You Give Love a Bad Name”.  I heard that song this morning and immediately thought of all of the multi level marketing / network marketing people spamming my email inbox and social networking sites on a daily basis.

I don’t care if you’ve got a product that will make me shrink down to a size 0, grow 5 inches taller and make me have the energy of a 5 year old overnight, I’m NOT buying it from a spammer.

You could have a free eBook that will grow legs, walk out of my computer and build my business for me - I’m NOT downloading it from a spammer!!

You give MLM a bad name.  You very well may have the greatest thing since sliced bread.  Most MLM companies have great products.  However, you’re probably wondering why you can’t build your business.  It seems that the harder you try, the worse it is.  You get more and more desperate and it shows.  It’s really not your fault.  Some silly upline probably told you to do it this way.  They probably don’t know any better either and are probably just as “green” as you are.

The emails you send to people who have never requested information from you are spam.   The comments you post with your veiled sales pitch on social networking sites are spam.  The phone calls that your auto dialer makes are spam (well…you know what I mean).

If you pique my curiosity even a little bit  about your product, I will go google it before I will buy it from you.   Maybe it’s just me, but I refuse to reward a spammer with commissions.  That just promotes more spam.

If you’ve got a great product put up a blog where you can talk about it.  Then work on getting targeted traffic to come to you.  You don’t need to chase people down and beat them over the head to buy your products or download your free ebook.  I have great products and a free ebook, however, the only ones that buy my products are people who are searching for a solution to a problem and find my other blog.   The only ones who download my free ebook are those who are searching for a better way to build their business or searching for a way to make money from home.  These people find my blogs and get my products or free ebook or blogging course.  I don’t EVER spam out emails to people begging them to join my business.  I don’t EVER jump on new people coming into myspace or facebook with “HEY - I’ve got a great free ebook - get it here”.

YUK.  PUKE.  EEEWWW.

Stop acting like a carnival barker “STEP RIGHT UP…COME ON IN…”  No wonder you send people running.  When you hear a carnival barker on the megaphone you know it’s going to cost you money and you’ll probably lose in the long run, but the games are fun.  When people associate spammers with carnival barkers, they run the other way because they are thinking that the stakes are much higher and the games probably aren’t going to be fun.

STOP the madness.  YOU - spammers of the world - give MLM a bad name. There are MUCH better ways to go about building your business.

YOU Deserve Success!!

Roxanne

Stop wishing for success and start creating it!!

The testimonials are coming in for my blogging home study course.

Check them out here (they are scattered throughout the page)

Many people have seen an increase in blog traffic and are building an email list of people who want what they have.   Everyone knows that people join people in business and people buy from people they know, like and trust.  Course members have told me this is the easiest way they’ve seen to build know, like and trust.  Members of the course have stopped wishing for success and are on their way to creating it!!   It’s so exciting to be a part of all of this.

YOU Deserve Success!!

Roxanne