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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What Advantages Do Women in Network Marketing Have?

Why are there so many women in network marketing?

Good question! According to the Direct Selling Association about 82% of network marketers are women.

Is that surprising? No, not really. When you really think about it then it actually makes a lot of sense.  Why is that?

Are women just better networkers?

Well, they do have some advantages over their male counterparts.

Here are just 7 advantages women have over men in network marketing. I’m sure there are quite a few more…

1) Women want to stay home with their kids

This is probably the number one reason why there are so many women in network marketing. Moms want to stay home with their kids. They don’t want them to be raised by nannies or grow up in day care. They don’t want to miss out on those all important ‘firsts’ in their children’s lives. At the same time, stay-at-home moms want to contribute to the family finances.

2) Nurturing instinct

Women are natural nurturers. They want the best for their families. They make the purchasing decisions in their household and know quality whey they see it. They are also very community oriented.

3) Better Networkers

Network marketing is a people business. It’s based on building strong customer relationships. Women know the importance of relationship building in business. They are great listeners and have a natural ability to relate to other women’s situations which helps them to understand and meet their customers’ needs.

4) Better Communicators

Women share information all the time. Think about it? What group of population talks more to each other. There are school get-togethers, kids sporting events, scout meetings, birthday parties, luncheons. There’s always an opportunity to talk and build new business relationships.

5) Equal Playing Field

Network marketing offers and equal playing field for men and women. Equal pay for equal work and no glass ceiling. It’s not like that in the corporate world. Women are still at a disadvantage in the corporate world. They are neither treated the same nor is there equal pay for men and women .

6) Multi-Tasking

Women are great multi-taskers. They have the ability to focus on more than one task which is a great skill to have running a busy network marketing business.

7) Security

Women want security for their families. There has been no such thing as job security for quite some time now and women are usually the first to lose their jobs. Network marketing offers a “Plan B”, a security blanket for if the unthinkable should happen. A home business can be started part-time while still being employed.

So, there you have them,  the 7 advantages women in network marketing have over men.

If you can think of any more, please share them with us below in the comment box.

To your success,

Ilka Flood
The Enlightened Networker

P.S. Go ahead, I dare you to share this post on Twitter, Facebook or Digg it! And if you do, I sure appreciate it. Thank you!

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Fun way to get backlinks

Did you know that backlinks increase your page ranking in search engines?

So, the more backlinks you have pointing back to your blog the better off you will be.

There are many different ways to build backlinks.

But today I will show you a way that is not only very easy, but it’s also a lot of fun. And an added benefit is that it is totally FREE.

Build backlinks with blog comments.

Yes, you read that right. Blog comments are a great way to get backlinks.

Here’s how to do it …

Find some blogs that you like and/or are relevant to your niche and you start commenting on people’s blog posts.

TIP: It’s best to comment on blogs that have a lower Alexa ranking versus a higher one. Because a lower ranking means that the blog receives more traffic. (You do want people to read your comments, don’t you?)

And here is why…

When you leave a comment on a blog you get to leave a link back to your own blog. A backlink. It’s usually linked to your name. So, do leave your full name when you leave a comment, because this also helps with branding yourself.

While commenting, leave something of value behind. Don’t just say, … “nice article” or “nice post.” If you give value in your comment your chances of getting your comment approved by the blog owner are much higher. And remember, never, ever, spam.

So go ahead, leave me a comment below, and besides a backlink I will also give you some blog love back.

How do I do this?

Well, I have two plug-ins installed that give my readers back some blog love when they leave me their comments.

The first one is “CommentLuv”, which shows a link to the commentator’s last blog post.

The second one is called “Top Commentators” and it shows … well, you guessed it… the top commentators for the Enlightened Networker. Thanks Ken & Melisa West for your awesome suggestion!

Anyhow, now you know of a fun way to get free backlinks, increase page rank and build relationships with other bloggers at the same time.

Have fun!

To your success,

Ilka Flood

P.S. Don’t forget to share this post if you found value in it.

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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.

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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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By becoming a source of leads for another person, you will become a magnet for your own. Have you ever heard the expression, “the more you give, the more you get back?” Well, it’s true.

Next time you are at a networking event why don’t you ask people what their perfect customer or business associate would look like and then ask for their business card so in the event you come across such a person you can refer them back to them. (Of course really be sincere and only do this if you really have the intention of referring people back to them.) In return, most will ask for your card as well.

Be different than most people who attend those networking events like, business breakfasts or luncheons. Most of them go there with the sole purpose of pushing their own business. Stand out from the crowd and be a true Giver. It will come back to you manifold.

For example: Later when you talk to your friend, Joe, who needs a new roof, you hand him Bill’s card which you collected earlier at a business breakfast. Bill is very pleased about his new customer and repays your kindness by sending you customers in return.

Or Sue is looking for some liquid vitamins and you refer her to Lucy who just happens to be with a company that sells them..and so on.

Remember, we are farmers, not hunters. If you spread enough seeds…and nourish them you will reap a great harvest.

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“Why Doesn’t Everyone Else Think Just Like I Do?”

By Bob Burg

The sages asked: “Would you be offended if, when walking into a room, you noticed that no one else has a face exactly as yours? Why then would you be offended when others don’t have a belief system exactly as yours?”

Interesting point, isn’t it? So often, we’re upset because somebody didn’t do something, act a certain way, or handle a situation as we would have handled it. Have you ever said to yourself, “I can’t believe he did it like that–anybody else would have done it like this!” (You probably have never done that…but I know I have.) Actually, “anybody else” would not necessarily have done it just as you or I would have, but we genuinely do think they would.

Have you ever been upset because a prospect didn’t respond with total excitement to a particular aspect of your business opportunity that you believe is a major benefit? It baffles you:

…that while you see “financial freedom” as the end-all be-all, he only wants to know more about the health benefits of the products.

…that while you are going on and on about how much more energy people are discovering in themselves after taking the company’s flagship supplements, she stops you and asks how long you think it will be before she can retire from her J.O.B. and spend more time with her daughter.

…that while you are totally enthusiastic about the friendships your prospect will make as a result of the business, he looks completely unimpressed and uninterested.

“How could he not get excited about what excites me?” you wonder. “How is it possible that she doesn’t get it?” you attempt to fathom.

Our bafflement comes down to this:

“Why doesn’t everybody else think just like I do?”

The Conundrum of Normal

Why? Because, as human beings, we operate from a belief system that, as Judy Piani, author of Trait Secrets: Working Together When You Don’t Think Alike (www.traitsecrets.com), puts it, “Normal is what I am.”

Normal is what I am.

It reminds me of a guy I met years ago, shortly after moving to Florida. He made what struck me as a rather odd, yet very definitive statement:

“Everyone who moves to Florida moves down here either to fish or to boat. Anyone who says anything different is lying.”

Hmm, I thought. I must be lying. Neither of these two activities are anything I’ve ever found to be particularly special for me. But his belief system was so strong in that area that, to him, anyone not having a similar belief must be lying–to themselves, if not to him. After all, as far as he’s concerned, “Normal is what I am.” And I must admit, I generally tend to think the same way of myself.

(By the way, had he mentioned golfing, that would’ve been different. I actually don’t golf either, but it would have been different.)

The point is this: there are times when your way of doing something will just not mesh with another person’s way of doing something. And it might be important to work that out.

Seek First to Understand

As this relates to the prospecting process, understand that just because you see your opportunity fulfilling a certain need or dream of yours, that doesn’t necessarily mean the same will be the selling point for your prospect. How will you know? By asking the right questions.

Before you can ever hope to persuade someone to your point of view, you need to recognize–and honor–the fact that this person may, at least in some areas, think differently than you do. This person’s entire method of dealing with a situation or problem solving is the summation of multiple factors, such as upbringing, associations, and innate character traits.

The same holds true for your business. Before you can ever hope to persuade someone to join your organization, you need to recognize–and honor–the fact that this person’s wants, needs, dreams and desires, all of which may well be fulfilled by working with your company and within your organization, may still be utterly different than yours.

A good start in determining another’s position or belief system is to ask questions and gather information. As Steven Covey puts it so beautifully in The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, “Seek first to understand; then to be understood.”

Once you understand where another person is coming from and, just as importantly, after she knows that you understand where she’s coming from, you are finally in a position to express your view in a way that she will likely be much more open to receiving. Then you can work out whatever you need within that interpersonal transaction so that you both come out as winners.

Remember: “Normal is what I am” fits you precisely–and it also fits your prospects, each and every one of them, exactly the same way!

BOB BURG
is author of Endless Referrals and Winning Without Intimidation, and a free weekly e-zine (www.burg.com) on networking

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