by Natasha Nassar

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

Just stick with me for a second though, you might get an idea you haven’t thought of before ; )

I’ve been instructing a lot of people over the past few of months, and I’m starting to see some recurring, what I consider to be- significant, 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 visitors to their site, but they have un-targeted websites that don’t convert AND aren’t monetized appropriately.

So… what’s my point?

Well, if you want to make it on the internet- you must comprehend one very important thing:

All the web traffic in the world doesn’t mean much if you don’t have a marketing plan that’s focusing on a specific niche AND that is structured in such a way that you actually MAKE MONEY…

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

I wanted to be specific about some of the errors that I’ve seen over and over again, in the hopes that if you’re making any of these errors- you can recognize them, and make corrections!

FATAL MISTAKE #1

Thinking that you are “Marketing Your Business” When You Have NO CLUE Who Your Target Audience is…or you are Just focusing on “Network Marketers”

The fact of the matter is that “Network Marketers” or even “Online Network Marketers” is too broad of a focus…you must be much targeted than that! Not only must you be targeted, you need to ponder about the troubles that your niche is having AND offer solutions to those issues.

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 candid now…

spending time thinking about getting visitors to your site when you don’t have a monetized, focused marketing funnel is about as insane as worrying about “launching a product” when you don’t have a list…it’s basically wasted time!

You need people who are willing to buy from YOU, in order to do a product launch. So you need an e-mail subscriber base. You’re not going to get a responsive list until you have a TARGET MARKET and a SALES FUNNEL.

Do you see how all of this stuff really all ties together? Hopefully you do!

FATAL MISTAKE #3
Driving Traffic & Providing Value, But Forgetting About, Ummm…Leads

You know, I’ve been amazed at the number of blogs I’ve come across that are really “nice-looking”, and have great content….but no capture form.

HELLO?!? Generating leads for your business is the whole point, right?

Or some people just have a lead capture form that says “Sign Up for My Newsletter”.

If you get as many e-mails as I do, you probably realize that most people are going to have to be offered something of value in exchange for them being willing to take on more e-mails.

You need to make sure that you are offering something valuable to encourage them to subscribe to your newsletter.

BUT, getting them to subscribe, is only half of the battle… if you are blasting them with pitch after pitch, they’re going to opt-out of your list in a hurry!

So you need to be communicating with your subscribers, through your auto-responder, by continuing to give awesome 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 good balance between valuable content and marketing.

FATAL MISTAKE #4
Complaining about not earning money on the Internet, but having a website/blog without literally a single place for a propsect to give you money EVEN IF THEY WANTED TO!

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

It’s understandable that you want to provide value and not come across as puchy salesman. 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 paid for your value somehow.

Whether that’s a portion of your site where people can have the chance 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” section on your blog… you need a way for visitors to give you some dough in exchange for
your valuable content!

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

FATAL MISTAKE #5
Claiming to be an leader in “attraction marketing” when all you have is some generic replicated site that isn’t even customized with your information OR haven’t so much as generated a single lead OR made a single sale.

You may know from my post “The Truth About You Inc” (or if you haven’t read it- go read it on Better Networker) 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 offer.

Faking it ‘til you make it used to work, but it doesn’t anymore. Because when you do that it’s like building a home 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 actuality is problem for building a business online.

Stick with me here… ; )

You see, since the Internet is LOADED with information…tons of products, tons of services, people, in order MAKE MONEY on the Internet, you’re going to need to know how to actually “market” you and your business.

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

Most people starting out in their online business have NO marketing experience whatsoever.

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

Dont’t worry though, there are tons of courses and books that you can get your hands on, that can teach you what you need to know- but you just have to realize that you’re going to have to learn some new things if you want to be a successful internet marketer.

Having said that, just spamming your opportunity isn’t a viable way to promote yourself or your business on the Internet.

Neither is, “friending” someone on Facebook, and then sending them a message with a link to your website trying to promote your business or, asking someone about their business and then shredding their product and compensation plan and telling them about your product/comp plan belongs in this
category as well.

Why?

It ruins your credibility, and like I mentioned in a previous post (“Climbing the Ladder of Success”) reputation is everything in this industry!

If you plan on trying to build your business by spamming, you probably won’t last very long in this business.

I apologize if I seem 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 concentrate your efforts
on more productive responsibilities.

FATAL MISTAKE #7
Going From Product To Product Hoping That You Will Find The Magic Bullet For Succeeding On The Internet.

Here’s the thing- 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 significant money online has done….

Find a coach that an teach you how they become successful OR find a team in a business opportunity that can teach you how to market your business successfully using the Internet.

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 may be better than nothingthough)- but instead one that’s created based on your skills, primary business and niche 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! : )

If you liked this post, pick up a copy of my Attraction Marketing Crash Course and leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts.

To your success,

Natasha Nassar

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