7 Fatal Mistakes in Internet Network Marketing...Are You Making One of Them?

I know… I know…. You’ve been at this awhile- and you aren’t making mistakes…

But check this out, you may learn something new ; )

I’ve been coaching a lot of people over the past couple of months, and I’m starting to see some recurring, what I consider to be- fatal, mistakes taking place, mainly due to the lack of comprehensive information out there on how to properly grow a network marketing business online.

For some reason, people are OBSESSED about getting traffic to their site, but they have un-targeted websites that don’t convert AND aren’t monetized correctly.

So….. what’s my point?

Well, if you want to succeed online- you must understand one very important thing:

All the traffic in the world doesn’t matter if you don’t have a marketing funnel that’s targeting a specific niche AND that is structured in such a way that you actually MAKE MONEY…

(That’s the point of this whole exercise, right?!?)

I wanted to be specific about some of the mistakes that I’ve been seeing over and over again, in the hopes that if you're making any of these mistakes- you can recognize them, and correct it!

FATAL MISTAKE #1

Believing that You’re “Marketing Online” When You Have NO CLUE Who Your Target Market is…or  Just targeting “Network Marketers”

The truth of the matter is that "Network Marketers" or even "Online Network Marketers" is too general of a niche…you must be far more targeted than that!  Not only must you be targeted, you need to think about the problems that your target market is having AND provide solutions to those problems.

FATAL MISTAKE #2: 

Worrying about launching a product when you don’t have a list.

Okay, so I’m gonna have to be a little blunt here…

Worrying about traffic when you don’t have a monetized, targeted funnel is about as insane as worrying about “launching a product” when you don’t have a list…it’s an exercise in futility! 

You need people who are willing to buy from YOU, in order to do a product launch.  So you need a LIST.  You can’t get a LIST until you have a TARGET MARKET and a SALES FUNNEL. 

Are you starting to see how this stuff fits together?  I hope so!

 FATAL MISTAKE #3

Driving Traffic & Providing Value, But Forgetting About, Ummm…Leads

You know, I’ve been amazed and the number of blogs I’ve seen that are super “pretty,” have super content….but no capture form. 

HELLO?!?  Leads are the name of the game, right?

Or I see people who just have a capture form that says “Sign Up for My Newsletter”

If your inbox is as full as mine is, you know that people aren’t going to give you their email address without you giving them a compelling reason to do so…

Make sure you offer people something of value, to encourage them to opt-in to your newsletter. 

BUT, getting them onto your list, is only half of the battle... if you are blasting them with sales pitches, they're going to opt-out of your list in a hurry!

So you need to follow up with your list, through your auto-responder, by continuing to give valuable content.  That being said.... you also need to make sure that you do actually SELL to your list too!  Just make sure that you've got a sufficient balance between valuable content and product offers.

 FATAL MISTAKE #4

Complaining about not making money online, but having a website/blog without literally a single place for a visitor to give you money            EVEN IF THEY WANTED TO!

Pretty basic, right?!?  You’d be surprised at how many people have a blog without a single place for people to buy from them!

I get that you want to give value and not appear to salesy. As someone who hates to be sold and hates to sell, I totally feel your dilemma!

BUT...

The reality is, we aren’t running a non-profit.  So, unless you’re working for free, you’ve got to get compensated for your value somehow. 

Whether that’s a page where people can have the opportunity to work with you in your primary business, or one of your favorite products or even a group of your favorite products in a “Recommended Resources” page on your blog… you need some way for people to give you some dough in exchange for the value you’re providing! 

BUT…don’t get all crazy selling too much stuff…see Fatal Mistake #6 below

FATAL MISTAKE #5

Claiming to be an expert in “attraction marketing” when you only have a replicated website that isn’t even personalized OR haven’t so much as generated a single lead OR made a single sale.

You know from my article “The Truth About You Inc” (or if you haven't read it- go check it out) that I totally believe in the value that a beginner can bring to the marketplace. 

That being said- be honest about the value that you bring. 

Faking it ‘til you make it used to work, but it doesn’t anymore.  That's because you're building a house on a bed of sand…you may make some money up front, but when people find out- your number’s up…..

FATAL MISTAKE #6

Spamming Your Company Website Across Every Form Of Social Media, And Then Whining That “Internet Marketing” Doesn’t Work.

I’ve come to the conclusion that part of this problem stems from one of the advantages of network marketing (that you don’t need any formal schooling, degrees, etc. to succeed) which in reality is actually a disadvantage online.

Stick with me on this one…. ; )

You see, because the internet is FULL of information….tons of products, tons of services, tons of people, to actually MAKE MONEY online, you’re going to have to know how to actually "market" yourself and your product/services.

The thing is, most people don’t have the background that my husband and I do (I’ve got a Bachelor of Arts degree in Advertising, and Rich was an Ad Agency Executive for 14 years). 

In fact, most people coming online have ZERO marketing experience at all.

And to be honest, you're going to need to understand basic marketing principles if you’re going to make money online. (Like figuring out a target market, etc)

Not to worry, there are plenty of courses and books that you can get your hands on, that can teach you what you need to know- but you just need to accept the fact that you're going to have to learn some new things if you want to become an online network marketer that makes money.

With that being said, just spamming your opportunity is not a viable way to market your product or service online.

Neither is, “friending” someone on Facebook, and then sending them your link to your business or, asking someone about their business and then shredding their product and compensation plan and telling them about your product/comp plan falls into this category too. 

Why?

You lose credibility, and like I said in my article (“Climbing the Ladder of Success”) your reputation in this industry is EVERYTHING! 

If you’re a spammer, you’ve got a short shelf-life in this industry.

Sorry if this comes across as rude, I just believe in a little tough love to get the point across ;) and you may as well know the truth, so you can focus your efforts on more productive tasks.

FATAL MISTAKE #7

Jumping From Product To Product Hoping That Someone Will Give  You The Magic Bullet For How To Make Money Online.

The thing is- there isn’t a magic bullet to becoming a successful internet network marketer, but there's one thing that pretty much anyone who’s ever made substantial money online has done....

Hire a coach that knows what they’re doing OR join up with a team in a business opportunity who will teach you how to successfully market online.

To be honest, there are many pieces to the puzzle of successfully marketing online, and I have yet to see a SINGLE product on the market today that shows you everything that it takes to even get started on the right path.

Some things are great for teaching technical aspects, some courses are great on setting up a sales funnel, or a blog, or launching a product, or driving traffic- but you need a blue print to get started.

I'm not talking about some generic blueprint (which is better than nothing, by the way)- but instead one that’s tailored to your specific skill set, business opportunity and target market.  That’s why hiring a coach is probably the single most important investment that anyone can make in my opinion.

In my next article, I’ll go over some of the steps that you can take to get started in the right direction if hiring a coach or joining a new team isn’t an option….so stay tuned! 

UPDATE!!!  Here's the Article:  4 Pillars to Building an Internet Network Marketing Empire  : )

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To Your Success, 

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