Online Marketing Forum

Is it worth spending time in online marketing forums? Does forum marketing really work?

I would definitely say “YES!” Considering you are following the forum marketing tips below.

You can make some great connections there. Find answers to your questions by posting threads. Well, even find prospects for your business opportunity.

However there are some rules you need to follow.

Some are common sense but still I see people violate them all the time.

Just like blogs, or social networks, online marketing forums are very public. People can follow and observe you without you even knowing it. So it is of utmost importance that you are at your best behavior at all times.

I think it goes without saying that you should be treating people with courtesy and respect.

Here are some forum marketing tips that will make your experience in online marketing forums more fun:

1. Read the rules. That should be a no brainer, as not following the rules can get you banned from online marketing forums altogether.
2. Be transparent. Don’t hide behind an avatar, company logo, picture of your dog or any other such nonsense. People want to know who you are. They are much more likely to connect with you when they can see your face.
3. Be kind and polite to fellow members. Think twice before cutting someone down, leaving a rude comment, or being darn right nasty. Remember, these are real people you are interacting with. Just like you, they do have feelings. Offensive language doesn’t get you anywhere. It can actually get you banned from the forum as well.
4. Never sell or promote anything. People don’t like to be spammed. An online marketing forum is not an ad board, but a place to communicate, share experiences and help and support other members.
5. Always give value. If you have helpful information that you can add to forums, or the solution to someone’s problem ,  by all means share it. Share freely without expecting anything in return. The more you contribute the better people will get to know you.
6. Be appreciative. If someone helped you out, please let them know that you appreciate their help and support. A little “thank you” can go a long way.
7. Create an attractive signature file. This is the place where you can link to your opportunity, your website or your blog. The only place where you can toot your own horn. So make it interesting for people to want to find out more about you or your business.

There you have it. It’s not rocket science. Most of it is common sense.

Remember, whatever you say in online marketing forums is public and out there for everyone to see.

I hope these forum marketing tips have been helpful.

Oh, by the way, you can find some great online marketing forums by doing a search on Google.

However, the best online marketing forum I have found is BetterNetworker.

If you are already at Better Networker, make sure to connect with me. I’d love to meet you.

To your success!

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. If you found value in this article please share it with your friends on Twitter and Facebook. Thank you!

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Instant Gratification or Lifelong Customer?

Instant gratification or delayed gratification?

Would you like one marshmallow or two?

Marshmallow? Okay, now you may think I have completely lost it. But please stay with me for a moment and I will explain where I am going with this.

A study was done on a group of four year old children. They were taken one at a time into a room with a two-way mirror and given a marshmallow. They were then told they could eat the marshmallow right away, (instant gratification), but if they didn’t and instead waited until the person who gave it to them returned from an errand they could have two marshmallows. (Delayed gratification).

Some children grabbed the marshmallow and ate it right away others waited up to 20 minutes until the person returned.

Watch this video of a similar Marshmallow Test...

The same group of children was tested again at age 18. Those who had waited for the second marshmallow scored an average of 210 points higher on their SAT tests.

Researchers find that the group of kids who could force themselves to wait, tend to have better lives and better relationships.

Hmm, tough choice … Instant gratification or a chance for a better life? But a four year old is just that, a four year old.

So, how does that relate to your network marketing business?

Well, you can either go for the quick sale by promoting your opportunity every chance you get on Facebook, Twitter or any of the other social media sites.

Or, you can really make a conscious effort to cultivate and nurture the relationships with people you meet in your social networks.

Let’s take a look at the marshmallow study example above and substitute the marshmallows with customers.

Let’s say Sue is your newest friend on Facebook. You exchanged “nice-to-meet-you” messages and now you just can’t wait to tell Sue all about your business opportunity. So you keep sending her messages telling her how great your products are and that she surely could benefit from using them.

Sue breaks down and buys something from you. (Quick sale – Instant Gratification.  But, she is so turned off by your method, that she deletes any further messages you send to her or even ‘unfriends’ you altogether.

Different scenario…

You and Sue have exchanged messages for several months, maybe even talked on the phone a couple of times really getting to know each other.

One day she calls you up saying … “You know, I am really glad we connected and got to know each other. I have been checking out your products on your website and I think I would really like to try some. As a matter of fact, I have talked to my friend Jill and she would be interested in learning more about them too. Would it be possible to set up a time to do a 3way call so you could tell us more about your products and your company?” (Lifelong customer or maybe even business partner).

So which would you rather have?

One marshmallow or two? Quick sale or lifelong customer/business partner?

It’s really not that hard to figure that one out, is it?

Do you think relationships count in business? Just think, how much of your product would one customer treated well buy in a lifetime? How many referrals would he send your way?

The value of a relationship build and nurtured over a lifetime is worth much more than a quick sale.

By delaying gratification you could actually win big. Therefore it is very important to build customer relationships and nurture them.

So, my question for you …Do you want one marshmallow or two?

To your success,

Ilka Flood
The EnlightenedNetworker

P.S. You don’t have to share this, but I would sure appreciate it if you did. Thank you!

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Have you ever wondered how you can show a certain group of your Facebook friends?

Well, I just found out and would like to share it with you.

For whatever reason, there may be a certain group of friends you would like to show to everyone who comes to visit your Facebook profile.  They may be highly respected business people, co-workers, close personal friends, or maybe family members.

Usually Facebook just rotates through all of your friends randomly. But you can select certain people or lists of friends to be rotated through instead.

Here’ s how you do that…

When you are logged in and on your “Profile Page” click the little pencil icon in your Friends box.

You can change the settings in the “Edit Box” to whatever you would like to display.

Where it says “Always show these friends:” you can either type in individual names or you can select a certain list of your friends.

If you haven’t grouped your friends into lists yet, here’s how you do that …

Go to your “Home” page and click on “Friends” in the left menu. Your friends will show up and the “+ Create a List” button at the top right corner. Click on it.

Enter a name for you list and highlight the friends you want to add to that list by clicking on them. When you have everyone selected, click “Create List.” And you’re done.

Voilà! That’s it! You just selected a certain group of friends to show off.

You can change things at any time. You can highlight a certain group of your friends this month and a different one next month. Or you can change it every week. It’s totally up to you.

To Your Success,

Ilka Flood

P.S. If you found this tip valuable please share it with your friends on Twitter, Facebook or Digg. Thank You!

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When I started this blog about a year ago, I knew very litte about blogging. But I knew, in order to grow my business, I had to have one central hub or nerve center to send all my traffic to. I also knew that I had to provide my visitors with good quality content so they would come back for more.

So I did all that but still, until just recently it was slow going. My Alexa ranking was hovering around the 2 to 3 million. Not really what I hoped for. Clearly, I needed some major help in order to increase my blog traffic.

Everything changed when I stumbled on to Jason Better’s blog.

Hanging out with the Better Bunch I learned some very valuable tricks. My traffic increased and my Alexa ranking dropped considerably. (To know what your Alexa rank is and to actually be able to watch it drop daily you need a little browser plugin called “Alexa Sparky.” – Thanks, Wayne Vassell! for the reminder.)

I also found out about a TINY button who delivers a VERY BIG punch.

I’m talking about the “REPLY” button on your blog comments. Funny, I had never noticed it before. I had left comments on blogs I had bookmarked to follow, but never had I actually “replied” to any of them. Well, I had never even replied to the comments people left on my own blog. (Sorry guys! It really wasn’t on purpose.)

As funny (or elementary) as it may seem, this tiny little button opened a whole new world for me. I have used it a lot lately and guess what … My Alexa ranking dropped down to 328,108 (as of today).

But what’s even more important, I have been building relationships with some of the greatest network marketers out there.

By blogging regularly and visiting and commenting on other people’s blogs I am learning something new every single day.

So before I go, I want to share a few tips if you are blogging for your business.

• Update your blog on a regular basis and give something of value to keep visitors coming back.
• Make sure you have comments enabled so people can ‘talk’ to you and leave their thoughts about your blog post.
• Leave comments on other people’s blogs. When you do, again, give value. Remember, you will gain a backlink to your own blog.
• Get your face out there. Remember the KNOW, LIKE, TRUST. You can get your avatar on Gravatar.com
• Provide a means for people to bookmark and share your blog posts.

If you have any other tips or tricks, or if you would like to share what works for you, we would love to hear about it in the comment box below.

Oh, and by the way, if you like this post, please don’t forget to re-tweet it or share it on Facebook.

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Or …What NOT To Do When You Receive A Friend Request At Your Social Network

Ouch! Someone hit me over the head with a baseball bat again. Not literally, of course, but it hurts just as much and it had me run for the Aspirin.

Over the weekend, I invited several people to be my friend at one of the top social networks. Unfortunately, one person mistook it as an invitation to spam me with his business opportunity.  Now, I will give this gentleman the benefit of doubt and assume he didn’t know any better. But this is a sure-fire way to get scratched off of my friends list. Like most social network members, I am there to build relationships.

Don’t take your clothes off on the very first date …

Spamming people who sent you a friends request with your business opportunity, is like taking your clothes off on the very first date. It accomplishes absolutely nothing. Rather it sends people running. Not a good way to start a relationship.

Let  me ask you this …

If your husband (or wife) would have asked you to marry them on your very first date, would you have said “YES?” I certainly wouldn’t have. My (future) husband would have scared me off and I would have run for the hills. And what a shame that would have been, because I would have never found out what a great guy he is.

So please, don’t make that mistake. Don’t rob people of the opportunity to get to know you, by spamming them with your business opportunity on your first ‘Social Media Date’. Don’t make them scratch you off of their friends list.

Instead…

• Get to know them.
• Share some valuable information with them.
• Offer your help.
• Start a discussion by asking questions about their family, their hobbies, etc.
• Comment on their pictures or on their bio or status.
• Get involved and find out if you have common interests

People will buy from and/or join people they know, like and trust. So give them a chance to get to know you as a person first. Eventually they will ask you the $64,000 question … “What do you do?”

What kind of behavior do you dislike? In other words, what makes you drop people off of your friends list? What tips can you share on how to social network in online communities? Please share them with us in the comment box below.

And by the way, if you like this post, please don’t forget to retweet it and share it with your Facebook friends.

Related posts:

1. How To Put Your Favorite Friends In The Spotlight On Facebook
2. Invasion of the Face Snatchers
3. 7 Forum Marketing Tips For Network Marketers

With A Little Help From My Friends

My Mom always told me, …”Tell me who you hang out with and I tell you who you are”.

There’s also another saying that goes something like this … “Surround yourself with successful people and you yourself will become successful”.

If you want to learn how to become a champion golfer, you hang around people like Tiger Woods.

If you want to learn how to become a top notch business person, you hang with the likes of a Donald Trump.

If you want to become a world class network marketer you hang out at Jason Better’s blog and BetterNetworker.com.

And that’s exactly what I have done.

As a network marketer we wear many different hats and we have to accomplish many different tasks. Especially if we market on the internet, there’s just so much to learn. We can’t be experts in everything, so the next best thing is to hang around people who are.

Part of marketing online these days involves blogging. If done correctly, it can result in new leads and/or referrals for your business. It’s not as easy as just setting up a blog and people magically appear. Nope. There’s a whole bunch more to it than that.

I had been blogging for a little while before I started visiting Jason Better’s blog on a regular basis. But what I soon found out was, that there was a group of very talented people who were regular visitors there like me, whom I could learn a great deal from.

Each one of these regular visitors has taught me something. These little pieces of knowledge when put together, made a very complex puzzle of online marketing much easier to understand.

For example, I learned about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) from Josh Garcia. Josh also shared a wealth of information about Facebook Marketing on his blog. Dubbed the “Comment Ninja” he’s an expert on commenting on blogs. His witty writing style keeps you coming back for more.

I am improving my copywriting skills with the help of Derek Alvarez. I always pick up some golden nuggets visiting his DriveTheLine.com blog. BTW, when you’re there, check out his wife, Monique’s videos.  They are Super!

Chris Owen keeps me inspired, makes me laugh and always leaves me some kind words of encouragement when he visits my blog. Here’s a person who’s been through a heck of a lot in his young life but he’s a true Go-Giver. You’ve got to check out his blog, ChrisOwenAcademy.com.  It will truly inspire you. Lately his beautiful wife, Tragena, is stealing the show over there though.

Dwayne Huggins is just simply amazing. A very talented young man who is eager to learn and put into immediate action what he’s learning and sharing it with others. Check out what he has to say about “The Betters”, Jason Better and The Better Networker.

Jerome Ratliff is always good for some sound advice on network marketing and some encouraging words. I love visiting his blog. His MaverickBusinessBlog.com is another great place for very valuable information.

Twila Jacobs. Gosh you’ve got to love her. Here’s a young mother who although very busy with a 4 year old whirlwind.  She still finds the time to fill me in on the Twitter Scene and other “Must Know” social media stuff.

Susanna Hess, my newest online friend, has a great writing style. Her videos are a must see. So make sure you stop by her blog.

Mitchell Dillman, my ‘neighbor to the south’ shares his knowledge about network marketing and I’m always learning something new there.

There are more cool people over there you’ll get to meet. Like Wayne Vassell, Eric McMillan, and Tommy DiPietro.

(I hope I didn’t forget anyone. I feel like I’m at the Academy Awards giving my acceptance speech in thanking everyone and they’re cutting me off, lol.)

These are the friends I’m hanging out with and learning from. It’s all about sharing what you know so others can learn from you and with you. I would have never met all these cool people had I not one day stopped over at JasonBetter.com and got hooked on all the valuable information there.

So if you find yourself navigating the hostile waters of network marketing in your canoe without a paddle, or if you are looking for some cool new friends to hang out with, come on over so we can lend a helping hand.

If you liked this post, don’t forget to re-tweet it and share it with your friends.

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2. The “Rinse and Repeat” Formula for A Successful Network Marketing Business
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Common Sense Rules To Protect You From Tarnishing Your Reputation

A couple of days ago I added a comment to a post on Jason Better’s blog that left me with egg on my face. Or so I thought. (By the way, if you haven’t visited and bookmarked his blog yet, I would suggest you do so immediately. You will find great information there as well as a community of very experienced online marketers.)

But anyway, back to my story…

I posted a comment and thought I made a mistake and gave credit to the wrong person. (You always want to make sure you give credit where credit is deserved when you leave a comment.)

As it turned out, I had been correct in the first place and had given credit to the right person. But I didn’t know that for about two hours. I was totally miserable. I was so embarrassed.

In a way, I am glad now that this happened because it gave me a topic for this post and it reminded me how public a place the internet really is. Once you hit that “submit” button, whatever you say is out there for the whole world to see. There’s no taking it back.

What happened to me was just an honest mistake, a little blunder. But nonetheless, it’s ‘out there.’ And it taught me a great lesson. I will be much more careful next time before I hit “submit.”

Just remember these ground rules…

Always be polite.

Always be honest.

Always be kind.

If you made a mistake, fess up and try to correct it immediately.

Don’t say anything you could regret later. Because, whatever it is, it WILL come back to haunt you.

Be like “Thumper” … “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say nothing at all.”

Especially as a professional, marketing and growing your business on the internet the last thing you want to do is tarnish your reputation.

Oh, and if you ever had “egg on your face” I’d love for you to share your story in the comments below … IF you dare =)

Related posts:

1. Don’t Assume Anything About Your Prospect – Ask Questions Instead
2. 7 Common But Deadly Mistakes of New Network Marketers

Jason Better wrote a post the other day about the ‘Invasion of the Face Snatchers’. You see them all over the social media world.  Take a stroll through Plaxo, Twitter or Myspace and you see them, the ‘faceless’ people. Even on Facebook. Uhm, it’s called FACEbook. So put your face out there. Especially if you are networking for business.

Most social networking sites (if not all of them) let you upload a profile picture. Usually that is very easy and in the event you should get stuck there should be a help menu that will guide you through how to do it. Or just ask one of your friends on the site how they did it.

But not only on social media sites you find them, even the blogosphere has its share of people without a face. I used to be one of them. Not because I didn’t want my picture out there on the comments I left, but because I had no clue how to do it. Well, if you don’t know how to do something … just ask. So I did ask Jason just shortly before he posted about the ‘Invasion of the Face Snatchers.’ He told me about a little site called  Gravatar.com

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a techie to set it up. It’s really easy and they even have a little video that shows you how. In just a few minutes you can ‘have a face.’

Put your face out there. Especially on your profiles. People are much more likely to connect with you and accept your friends requests when they see your smiley face.

Just think about this scenario…

You go into a store and there behind the counter stands a clerk with a ski mask asking how he could help you. You’d be out the door in a split second.  Wouldn’t you? I get shivers down my spine just thinking about that. Pretty creepy!

Remember, people do business with people they know, like and trust.

Looking forward to see your smile.

Oh, and by the way, moosey on over to Jason Better’s Blog you will find some great information and meet some cool people there.

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If you can’t keep your tweets to the 140 character maximum like me sometimes, then there’s help. Twerbose is a neat little twitter plugin that lets you post longer tweets (up to 500 characters) and also allows you to add pictures or youtube videos.

Sometimes 140 characters just aren’t enough for what you want to say. With Twerbose that’s no problem. You can even choose to set your tweets as public or private (friends only.)

So, here you have it:

• Post massive tweets easily
• Share photos and videos on Twitter
• Comment on other people’s massive tweets
• Optional advanced wysiwig editing
• Add YouTube videos to your tweets
• Control tweet privacy
• iPhone friendly!

Pretty cools stuff, huh?

Here’s a screenshot.

Happy Tweeting!

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Many of you know I’m a great fan of Kim Klaver’s. She’s always on top of things. (Btw. I do recommend joining her mailing list.) I received an email from her today about the FTC’s new regulations which take effect December 1, 2009.

According to the article, the FTC mandates that bloggers must disclose freebies or payments and testimonials must reflect typical results. No more outrageous claims that are atypical and can’t be obtained and no more hiding behind disclaimers.  The FTC will now be regulating blogging for the first time.

Read the full article here:

Please leave me your comments. I’m sure as a blogger you’ll have your own thoughts on these new regulations.

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