How Do You Market Online????

Read this forum. Study the business strategies here. That's all you need for now. Tons of knowledge. Sure you can make money online, so many people do. Start studying now, define your business plan later, put it into action.

Tell your up-line that his strategy is not working. You tried it for 2.5 years and it did not work. Does he have a better idea?

MLM can be hard I bet. I would try something else honestly. MLM's don't always last that long.

Hi Adam,

I've tried MLM off and on over many years --- not involved now, nor do I plan to again. In my opinion, it's one of the hardest things you could choose to do. I agree with Fred that there are many more rewarding, profitable and faster ways to make money online. The Warrior Forum is an excellent learning center.

That being said, if you are absolutely determined to continue, here are my thoughts:

If the MLM company you're involved with has a website, start there, in your back room. I would expect they have training information that might answer how they suggest you market online. (Note, if you think of placing ads online or offline, most MLM companies require prior approval of your ad before you can use it.)

A friend had decent success placing ads in college newspaper -- depends on your product.

Placing free or paid ads online will probably not help much (sorry!) If your company offers replicating websites, you might try joining some traffic exchanges or a safelist marketing service like ListJoe where you view other people's ads in exchange for them viewing yours. Again, don't expect much return.

If you keep after your friends and family, they will start avoiding you at all costs. If they don't get it, they DON'T get it! And, you have limited friends and family. At least online you have a practically unlimited audience to approach. You might recruit a few.

You need to find people who are open-minded and searching for ways to make extra money. You can find free and (better) paid leads online where people have filled out surveys and/or requested information on ways to make money from home. The information these lead companies send you will include names, addresses, phone #s, how much they are able to invest, etc. The best way to contact these people is to pick up the phone and call them. Make yourself a script to follow -- what you want to tell them and what you want to ask them. Keep notes. Always be polite. You'll get a lot of "not interested" but you might get some that are willing to take a look. Then followup with an email and send them to you company website or training call. Your sponsor (Dad's friend) should be prepared to help you, even talk to these people with you to answer any questions. Once you start recruiting a downline you must be prepared to help your downline with what works and any help they need (time consuming).

Try to talk to people with an entrepreneurial spirit. People content to work for others, in my opinion, are less likely to be good prospects than small business owners and "dreamers." (Some successful MLMers find doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc. willing to promote. You only need a few good people to move your downline along.) Talk to everyone but know when to back off when they show no interest.

Find people who belong to groups/organizations. Talk to one or pitch the group. You want to try to find people with larrge "circles of influence." The more people they know, the easier it will be for them to get started. If not interested, ask for referrals (from everyone you talk to).

If you have sample products, you might try passing out free samples. Some people might join as distributors because they like the benefits of your product. Others might turn into retail customers.

If all your sponsor tells you is "friends and family," he is doing you a disservice. Ask to talk to your upline for more ideas. If you have meetings, ask others at the meetings how they recruit.

Just a few thoughts. Sorry to be so long. Best of luck to you.
JL

MLM is definitely a tough business to get into when you have no contacts...

If I had to offer one piece of advice I'd say start with building a list targeted to people interested in business opportunities then market to them.

I would also recommend getting out of MLM for now and starting with something easier to make money with like affiliate marketing, freelancing, VMC Networks...

There really are tons of different ways to make money online - many that don't even require you to sell anything...