One of my favorite blogs to read is Copyblogger. Dean Rieck wrote a post awhile back with 7 secrets for running a wildly popular blog.

As Dean says, a popular blog isn’t really anything to do with competence. It’s more about popularity, just as it was in High School. Did you notice in High School the most popular kids were not usually the “brainy” ones? In fact, at my school the least popular people were the brainy ones.

So… a popular blog depends on like-ability more than anything else. It’s about your vibrations, your personality and your attitude.

Of course, you have to make sure your blog is seen by people also, but I’m referring to blogs that already have some traffic.

So, here’s my version of CopyBloggers 7 Secrets.

1. Make your posts more like a conversation
Just like in high school or anywhere, people don’t like being talked down to. They just like “talking”. So, if you can write like you’re chatting to a friend, that helps make your post more like a conversation.

You could imagine someone you know and pretend you’re writing to them.

2. Keep it light hearted

If your readers leave your blog feeling a little happier than they were, they’ll more than likely come back again. So, if you can put a little bit of fun and humor into your posts, it helps.

3. Be yourself

People are actually dropping by your blog to visit you, kind of like your neighbor dropping in for a few minutes. So, give a little bit of yourself – if you’ve been somewhere or done something interesting, post a picture in your post. Also, try to relate what you did back to something that will help your readers.

4. Be nice all the time

Respond nicely to comments, even if the comments are not nice. Sometimes if people are having a bad day, they’ll write something mean or nasty. That has nothing to do with you, it’s all about them. Best to delete the comment if someone is really out of control.

5. Cater to your Readers

Think about your readers needs and your blog will become more popular and profitable. Give lots to your readers and you’ll get lots back.

6. The more people you Help the More money you make

This is true – look at the big leaders in Network Marketing. Those who are helping a lot of people are making the most money. Sure… they’re making money from what they sell, but what they sell is very valuable.

7. Don’t try too hard

Don’t force it. Write good posts and give solid information. But, relax also. If you push yourself too hard, you will appear desperate and that’s the worse thing you can do.

Make sure your blog isn’t always a sales pitch, give valuable content and “sell” sometimes. If people are looking to buy from you, they will find your banners and offers.

Love to hear from you! What are your suggestions for making a blog popular? Let me know in the comments below.

Have you just started your blog or thinking about starting to market online?

And, you’re not really sure what you’re going to blog about?

If you’re a Network Marketer and you want to promote your business opportunity or your products, decide first of all, which of those you want to talk about.

Your products OR your opportunity?

One mistake that many network marketers make, is to try and market both on one website.  Marketing 2 completely different products/services  makes it really hard for people to find your website.

Next, think about what problems people have that your product or opportunity could solve.

With regard to your “Business Opportunity”, that’s easy.

People have problems like…

• how can I make more money,
• how can I market my business,
• how do I generate leads?
• how do I build a marketing system so I can have more free time?
• what business should I join?

So, instead of marketing your business opportunity, you can help people solve the problems they are having.

When people are looking for someone they want to join in a Network marketing business, they look for someone who can help them.

They are looking for valuable information and if YOU provide that information, they will be want to look at your opportunity.    You will be a Valuable Resource and a Valuable Teacher.

Providing valuable information also gives you a LOT more to write about!

Imagine if all you have to write about, is your biz opp – you soon run out of things to say. Plus, it becomes boring!

I remember way back when I first started network marketing, and my upline had screeds and screeds of stuff about the company.  We emailed it out to people. Fair enough, people want to know about the company!

But, they want to know about WHO they’re joining first!

What if you want to Market your Company’s Products or Services?

The same thing applies when you’re marketing products/services – your prospective customers want to see that the product or service will provide a solution to one of their problems.

So, think about the problems your product can solve and create a blog related to those problems.

For example, if you sell healthy pet food, you could have a blog centered around pets and their health.   Advertise your product on the blog, and have swarms of people coming to read all the stuff you have to say about their precious pets’ health!

Imagine how much more you’ll have to write about, and you can involve your readers in discussions also.  It will be lots of fun!

Write in the comments below, telling me what your business and products are.  Then, I’ll come up with some ideas for a website you could start.

Technorati Tags: niche research, target market

Number 5 of 7 Reasons to use WordPress for your Blog

These are really a number of small things that all add up to one big reason. WordPress will save you a lot of time because:

1. It is really fast and Easy to install. WordPress takes about 5 seconds to install instantly, provided you are using a hosting company which allows you to do an instant installation, just by pressing a button. Make sure you get a web host that has “CPanel” – if the web host has it, they will list it on their Feature page.
2. It has an easy to use administration interface, which allows you to find things quickly and work more efficiently.
3. It’s very easy to upgrade. Most of the time, you can just click on the “upgrade button” and wordpress will install the upgrade automatically.
4. It is super easy to keep track of comments and moderate, approve, and disapprove of them. And, there’s no need to have spam coming to your word press blog. Us the plug ins Akismet and Wp-spam free, and you won’t have any spam. (or very little anyway)
5. And, another huge time saver – you can write your posts in advance and schedule them for the next week or two. So… you could just log into your blog once a week, set up your posts, then relax.

Would love to hear about your timesavers for your blog (wordpress or other doesn’t matter)…

Technorati Tags: save time, wordpress

Have you tried talking to lots of people about your opportunity?

And… they couldn’t care less about it!

Or.. they are very polite and pretend they’re interested,
but make lots of excuses.

That’s probably because they didn’t want it in the first place:-)

Some years ago, my upline convinced me I really should m’arket offline as well as online.

So, I thought it might be fun to work with people locally,
and he made it sound pretty easy.

I belonged to a swimming club, so thought I would start there.

One day when I went swimming, I took the biz opp DVD along  and asked
one of the guys if he would have a look at it,  and tell me what he thought.

He said “of course I’ll look at it for you Julieanne”.

He put it in his bag and off we went doing our swimming laps!

That was easy!

I told him I would call in a few days to see what he thought.

(That wasn’t easy at all)

His wife answered the phone, she wasn’t very friendly,  but she put him on the line. And, I asked him that dreaded question.

“What did you think of the movie?”

He said “So, that’s what you’re doing is it?

I’m not interested in starting a b’usiness,  but the products look really good.

Can you bring a sample along to the next swim meeting?”

I rocked up to the barbecue we had after swimming,
with a little cooler to keep the products cool. He tried the product
in front of everyone else, and in a really loud voice said..

“you know, people tell me snake oil makes you healthy too“.

It was sooo embarassing and he had no intention of
buying the product.

Anyway…. to cut a long story short,

I didn’t have much fun speaking to people who weren’t asking for information in the first place.

That’s why I LOVE Internet Marketing because you can target
your marketing towards people who ARE actually looking
for what you have to offer.

There are millions of people searching online for solutions
to their problems.  And, I’m sure your product or
service will provide a solution for many of those searchers.

That gives you a huge audience, much bigger and
more targeted than the people you know.

So… if you’re going to m’arket your products or service online,
the most important thing to do before anything else is:

Decide WHO YOUR Target Market is.

And, base your decision on what you’re passionate about,
because this will make it fun and exciting for you!

So….. what’s your story about contacting people “out of the blue” who haven’t
asked for your product or service?

Do you have an embarrassing story or a good one to tell?

Technorati Tags: niche research, prospects

I have a question for you. What REALLY creates success and duplication in business? Which one of the following is it……

1.  A Simple system that is duplicated over and over again, by lots of people?
2. A system you tailored and customized for yourself, to recruit business builders over and over again?

Think about the people you know in network marketing, who are downline to other successful people.   Do all those people use a  similar system, but their results are significantly different?

Some people use a specific system and get amazing results,  others use it and get none or hardly any results. Why is this and what’s the missing ingredient which makes the difference between success and little or no results?

What do some people DO that others don’t DO?

For example, there are many successful people who follow a system similar to the following:

1) They write down their contact list,
2) They call everyone on their list, and
3) They recruit some or many of those people into their business.

That is a system which has worked for donkeys years and still works for many Network Marketers. However, there are many more people that system doesn’t work for!

It certainly didn’t work for me or my husband, and that’s why we developed our own system to build our online b’usiness.

So… how do you find an online system that works for you?

There are lots and lots of systems people have developed for online network m’arketing. Some of these promise to build your b’usiness for you, and I wouldn’t touch those with a 10 foot pole.

However, there are also really good systems that have been developed by top leaders in the industry. Those leaders became successful with a system they developed for themselves, and they passed this system onto others with an affiliate program. Most of these systems come with a HUGE amount of really good training, which is very much needed for network marketers to be successful online.

Just in case you don’t know…. An affiliate program is one where the owner of the system has “affiliates” who receive a commission when they refer the system to another person.

If you purchase one of these systems, you can use it to generate leads for yourself. You can contact those leads and many of them will purchase your products or even join your opportunity. A lot of affiliates of these systems have become very successful using those leads to build their own business. However, there’s one drawback when you generate leads using someone else’s system.

For the purpose of this example, lets call the leader who generated this specific system Superman.

As soon as you generate a lead with Superman’s system,  your lead receives an email from Superman. Now, Superman is very charismatic, has great copywriting and marketing skills. He’s had a lot of practise and your lead will be attracted to him.

Your lead is distracted by Superman and will most likely follow whatever he’s doing and forget about you. Or, maybe he never knew you existed in the first place.

Even if you call this person and email him or her, the focus may not be on YOU or your b’usiness. Sure, you can offer the lead a f’ree consultation with you or offer them other things. However, by now they are most likely watching whatever Superman does.

They may join Superman’s system and you’ll get a commission from Superman for referring this person. However, what about your own branding?

How do you get your lead to focus on YOU?

The best way is to create your own system, with your own email follow up. However, if you’re brand new to Internet M’arketing, it’s impossible to develop a system for yourself in a short time. And, this is where superman’s system is of huge benefit to you.

Another solution is to customize your upline’s system.

Join someone who has their own system and can help you customize it for yourself. Make sure they only get messages from you.

Or, if your upline doesn’t have their own system, find a  consultant who can assist you in setting up your own system. This will take longer and cost more, but it will be worth it in the long run!

Now when you generate leads, they will receive YOUR messages, and will get to know YOU. And, you can help your new distributors do the same. The best part about this is – you will create a system your whole team can use.

———————————————————–
This way, you’ll be building your own brand  and helping others
build their brand. This is what the “superman” leaders did.
———————————————————–

And, you can still refer others to the systems with the training. But, you don’t need to use those systems as your main source for generating leads because you’re making it more difficult to sponsor people into your own business. Use them while you’re setting up your own system.

So… what was YOUR answer to my initial question?

Technorati Tags: network marketing system

Search Engine Optimization is provided by WordPress: Number 4 Reason for using WordPress

WordPress makes it VERY EASY to do Search Engine Optimization.

Here are some simple tips for making sure your content is optimized on your Blog

• Put your Keywords in your Blog Title.
• Make sure your Categories consist of keywords, and select a relevant Category for each of your posts.
• Select only ONE category for each post, otherwise you will get Duplicate content.
• Under Settings, Permalinks, select Custom Structure and type in the following:
  

  /%category%/%postname%/
  

  By typing the above custom structure, the Permanent Link (URL) for each of your posts will consist of:

  Your Blog name + Category Name + Title Name for Post
  

• Make sure you have a Sitemap on your Blog. Good Sitemap plugins are:
  

  XML Sitemap Generator for WordPress
  Dagon Design Sitemap Generator

  Use the above sitemaps together, and you will get a google and User friendly sitemap page like this one:

  Internet Network Marketing Training Sitemap

I could add lots more SEO tips for WordPress, but that’s enough for now.

Here is a video of an interview Matt Cutts from 2007. At the beginning of the interview, he briefly talks about WordPress and SEO.

If you have comments on using SEO in WordPress, or you want some extra explanation, ask me in the comments below. Have fun!

Technorati Tags: mlm blog, why use wordpress

Number 3 of  7 Reasons to Use WordPress for your Blog

It is very easy to write and update your content on your blog, with WordPress. And, you don’t need to know any HTML.

If you have owned an ordinary website (by that I mean, “not a blog”), you may have to contact your webmaster every time you want it updated. Or, perhaps you did what I did, and learned HTML?

And, it might have taken you a long to learn the HTML and actually make the web page look nice.

Once WordPress is set up, it’s really easy to add new posts and new pages, and to update them. It’s easy to add images and videos to your blog posts and pages.

If you have ever used Word for Windows (or something similar), you will be able to make a nice looking post on WordPress.

For an example, look at the image below, showing the WordPress screen, when you add a New Post. See all the little buttons, below where it says Upload/Insert? Each of those buttons allows you to make a change to your text.

If you want to format your heading, type in your heading, highlight the text you just typed, then click on the “pull down arrow” where it says Paragraph (look at the 2nd row of the  buttons on the left hand side).

As shown in the image below, you will see some different headings you can select for your text.

Practise a little bit before you publish your post. There is a button you can click to “View your post” before publishing it.

Have fun! Let me know in the comments below if there’s something about WordPress you don’t understand or want to know about.

Technorati Tags: mlm blog, wordpress

Number 2 of Seven Reasons for Using a WordPress Blog

The wordpress developers have made it really simple and easy to make your blog look beautiful. And, there are so many different ways your blog can look.  Something known as a “Theme” or a “Template” is used to pretty up your blog after you’ve installed it.

Below are 2 examples of images of completely different kinds of Word press blogs. The first one doesn’t even look like a blog! You can have any website built with WordPress (WP), get the advantages of having it seen by google and no-one will know it’s done with WP.

Here’s 2 examples:

This first one is a custom designed template…

The next one is a Free downloadable Magazine theme called Mimbo by Darren Hoyt. This is a nice clean looking theme.

The blog you’re looking at right now uses a theme called Thesis. You must purchase the Thesis theme to use it, and it’s highly customizable. You can change it any way you like.  Thesis is  supposed to be easy for beginners to customize, but that depends on what you want customized.

If you’re new to blogs, I recommend starting off with installing a theme as I describe here. It’s very easy and simple!

There are basically 3 ways to get yourself a Theme (also called Template) to make your blog look great:

1) Install it yourself from the Administration area of your blog (see instructions below if this is your first time to create a blog).

2) Download a Theme from somewhere on the Internet, then Upload it from the administration area of your blog.

3) Have someone else install and customize your blog for you.

1) Install the blog yourself from Admin area of your blog

Once you’ve logged into your blog, click on “Appearance” from the Left side menu, then on “Themes”.

From the big Tabs at the top of your admin area, make sure “Install Themes” is selected. See the image below to find the “Manage Themes”.

See where it says “Feature Filter Find a theme based on specific features”?

Tick some of the little boxes, to have a selection of themes displayed, for you to choose. The less boxes you select, the more choices you will have.

For example, I chose orange and 2 columns, then clicked on the button “Find themes” and got the following selection ( see image below )

All you need to do now, is click on install to install the theme you want. Easy Peasy!!

2) Download a Theme from somewhere on the Internet

After downloading it   Upload  from the administration area of your blog.  There are thousands of free themes you can download.   Go to   Google’s search engine and type in “word press themes”, then have a look through some of them.

Once you find one you like,  download it onto your computer  - if you save it onto your desktop, you’ll find it easily.

From the  ”Install Themes” area,  click up the top where it says  ”Upload”.

Click the “Choose File” button, select your File and click on the “Install Now” button.

See the image below for graphical instructions.

3) Have someone else Customize a Template for you.

There are lots of people around, who can install a template for you.  However, the hardest part is actually selecting something you like.  When you find someone to  customize a template for you, make sure to give them detailed instructions on what you want.   Find  another website or blog that you really like and ask them to do something similar.

If you enjoyed this post, leave me a comment below to let me know.  I’ll appreciate that!

Technorati Tags: mlm blog, wordpress

WordPress.org is a platform (or tool if you like) on which you can very easily create a website.  A blog is just another  kind of website, except that it’s much easier to create and update.

TWO main kinds of platforms for creating your MLM blog  are:

1) A “Server Side Web Based”  application completely controlled by your Web host and by YOU. Examples of these are WordPress.org,  MovableType, and TypePad.

2) A Web based application which is controlled by the web hosting community.  Examples of these are Blogger, WordPress.com, Wetpaint, Mindsay and numerous others.

There are Seven Terrific Reasons to Use WordPress.org

Sidenote: I am going to post one reason a day, so I can expand fully on each reason.  I started doing these and found there’s so much to write about, it’s going to turn into a HUMUNGOUS post:-)

REASON NUMBER 1:   Google loves WordPress  blogs

With just a  little knowledge about keywords and search engine optimization, it’s VERY easy to get listed on Google for your keywords.

The best way to have google index your new WordPress blog, is to submit your blog’s RSS feed to some search engines.  Don’t worry about what an RSS feed is, if you don’t know.  You don’t need to know what everything means, you just need to know what to do with it.

So, after you create your blog and your first blog post:

• Type in the URL of your blog in the Address Bar of your Web browser (preferably Firefox).
• Once your blog is displayed, look to the right of where your URL is typed (see the Big Arrow in Figure 1 below) and you will see a little orange box.  See  Figure 1 below to find out where  your orange box can be found.  This little orange box will give you the RSS feed of your blog (see more directions below
  Figure 1.

• Now that you’ve found the little orange box, click on it, and your RSS feed URL will be displayed in the Address bar on your browser.
• Copy that RSS Feed URL and Paste it into Notepad or your favorite Text Editor.
• Click here to go to  Feedage.com and Submit your Blog’s  RSS Feed URL you just copied into your Text Editor.
• Click here to go to Feedagg.com and Submit your Blog’s  RSS Feed URL you just copied into your Text Editor.

The next day – after submitting your feed….

Look in Google’s index to see if your  Blog is listed.  To find your blog:

• Go to the Google Search Engine at  Google.com

In the Search box, type in the following:

site:yourblogurl.com

See Figure 2. below for what to type into the Google Search Box

After clicking on the Google Search button, your Blog should be displayed in Google’s listing.   If it’s displayed come back here and leave a comment, along with the URL of your blog. I will have a look at your blog for you  and see why it’s not listed.

Have fun Blogging!  Leave me a comment below if you found this post useful to you!   I will be posting another big reason for using WordPress.org soon!

Technorati Tags: mlm blog, network marketing blog, wordpress

Have you been wondering what all this stuff about personal branding is about?  It’s
something you’ll need to do online. It’s amazing how much it has to do with
belly dancing and scuba diving, read on to see what I mean….

Have you ever wondered how to brand yourself, when there’s so many others blogging and wanting attention and branding themselves.

There are all these “leaders” on the internet who’ve branded themselves already.

You might be thinking to yourself, “why should I bother when there’s so many others out there?

Well, here’s why I think you should bother

- because there’s no-one else like YOU, and only you can be you!
Thinking back to when I learned to scuba dive, my instructor branded herself just by being her.

The scuba diver above is a picture of me just after I learned to dive, I love this picture because it shows I can actually achieve whatever I want to do. (learning was a
real challenge for me:-)

Anyway, back to my diving instructor. She loved diving so much, and she wanted
all her students to be good divers so they could enjoy themselves.

She was always there when I needed her.

Like one night when I went on my first night dive, and my buddy and I got lost (because it was so dark), she found us while making sure everyone else stayed
with her as well.

Now, you might choose a niche which is belly dancing, or  scuba diving, or just being YOU.

The trick (not really a trick – the skill) is to just be You. My scuba diving instructor doesn’t teach people to swim, even though they need to be able to swim before they can learn to dive.

She limits herself to teaching people how to dive underwater because that’s what she knows and loves best. You can’t be known for everything, so stick to what you know and love.

Or, stick to something you really want to know and love.

Create your Persona

My scuba diving instructor is pretty funny and sometimes scary underwater. One time there were about 8 of us diving together and we came across this
rather large stingray. It was not long after Steve Irwin had passed away, so we all kept our distance, even though we were in awe of this magnificent creature.

Our diving instructor went pretty close to it, and afterwards she told me she was going to get really close, but she thought we might all freak out.

Anyway, sometimes on the internet, it’s not easy to just be yourself, so it is easier to create a persona that mixes who you are and who you want to be.

That way you may find it easier to magnify the personality traits needed to attract the right people.

It seems that…

We fall in love with those who are brave enough to do what we think we can’t.

Look at how so many fell in love with Steve Irwin! As long as you’re basing your character off who YOU really are, you’ll be able to keep it authentic and still
look great as just yourself.

Finding Your Voice

My scuba diving instructor talks and laughs with all her students, just like she’s one of them.

She never looks down on anyone even when we do something really stupid underwater like getting caught in some fishing line and not being able to get out.

She just helps you out, and we get on with having fun on our dive.

So…..  branding yourself online is the same as someone like a scuba diving instructor branding themselves. It is all about being genuine and showing people that you are one of them. Sometimes we try to teach people things and sound more authoritative.

We do this because we think our audience will trust us more. Instead of that, it can alienate you from the people you’re trying to connect with.

Another tip for branding…

Make your brand accessible.

My scuba diving instructor creates a community around herself. She has social barbecues and social dives, and makes herself available. People can go down to her shop and talk to her whenever they want. She’ll take us out diving with her if that’s what we want.

When you make your brand accessible, you become part of your community.

Answer questions and praise those who are doing well.

Your personal brand is YOU

It’s who you are, what you believe, and what you want to put out there to others.

So, what does a personal brand mean to you?

Let me know in the comments on this post here…

Remember to always have fun whatever you choose to do!

Julieanne van Zyl