Network Marketing - The Ultimate People's Business

If you've ever heard of Network Marketing, you've probably heard it said that it is essentially a people's business. Some have also labelled it a people's franchise because of the similarities between the business models of network marketing and franchising. Advocates of the industry name it as the ultimate people's business and say there is nothing quite like it.

Of course people that are in network marketing will immediately respond positively to this whereas those that are not familiar with the industry, or have had some bad experiences might be strongly opposed to this idea. One of the unique characteristics of this type of business is that every individual distributor is in business for themselves but never by themselves. They will always be part of a larger organization and the compensation models are designed in such a way that every person can count on some form of support from their upline.

It is no secret that fortunes can be made in this type of business and many have done just that. Of course this is not the majority of network marketers, but every individual distributor does have the same chances. Success or failure in network marketing is not dictated by politics, race, age, background or gender, but always by results. In that respect it is probably also the fairest business model in the world.

For many people however the true value of their home based business is not directly in the financial return. The lessons a person can learn while building his or her own network marketing business are truly priceless. Many people are totally transformed through the personal growth they experience as a direct result of their challenges in their MLM businesses. It forced them to get out of their comfort zones, grow, and in many cases become a better person.

So what is so unique about network marketing in this respect? Doesn't every entrepreneur have to deal with challenges? The answer of course is: Yes, they do. And they also experience personal growth as a result from this. However there is a significant difference. Most entrepreneurs are self made and many of them learned their trade largely outside of formal education. Either they were taught by a family member, a mentor or perhaps they learned everything the hard way: by trial and error. Very rarely will you find an entrepreneur that has an extensive library of books and tapes on personal development. Most businesspeople don't attend seminars and motivational trainings. They think it's all a bunch of hype. While in some cases this can be true, there are many trainings and seminars that teach the principles of success better than any textbook found in business schools.

One of the great things about network marketing is that this type of education is built into the training systems of all good companies. There is no business on the face of the earth that places such a strong and direct emphasis on the importance of personal development as the network marketing industry. Many companies might argue that they spend a great deal of their budget on education; training employees and as such assisting them in personal development but in most cases what they are actually talking about is personnel development. Although the words are almost identical, their meanings are vastly different.

Network marketing is all about building people. It is probably the best school on the planet if you want to learn about what it takes to be successful in life and you don't need rich parents or some kind of scholarship to enroll.

About the author:

Timothy Spaulding is the owner of the Work At Home Business Resource Center and Home Made Profits providing opportunities to make money online with your own home business.

NOTE: You have full permission to reprint this article within your website or newsletter as long as you leave the article fully intact and include the "About The Author" resource box. Thanks! :-)

5 Tips on Using Private Label Content

Private Label Content is becoming increasingly popular as people join the rush to fill their websites with high-quality information. Admittedly, you can have articles written by freelance writers at sites like Elance or Rentacoder, but it gets expensive. For those who are not yet generating a high income through AdSense or affiliate sales, Private Label Content (PLC) provides a welcome alternative.


=== What is Private Label Content? ===

PLC generally refers to articles, e-books and manuals that are free for subscribers to use as they wish. There are a few restrictions, however: you cannot claim copyright to PLC, or submit it to article sites, unless you change the content significantly. (Interpret 'significantly' as 'unrecognizable as the original article'.) The cost of membership varies, but typically ranges from around $24 to $67 a month. For this you might receive anywhere from 150 to 300 articles per month. Some sites also offer graphics (e-book covers and site header graphics) and even ready-made sales letters.

To use PLC to the best advantage, you need to be aware of a few things.

=== 1. How Can You Use PLC Articles? ===

The most common use for PLC articles is to provide useful, interesting content for websites. There are other uses, however. Think about your immediate needs. If you require an incentive for people to sign up for your newsletter, you can offer an e-book or training manual made up from PLC articles. It's easy to tweak these to be more relevant to your website and your clients. (As well as putting yourself in Google's shoes, put yourself in your clients' shoes. What do they most need to know?)

You could also create an e-course (anything from 6 to 52 articles - a short e-course, or one that offers an article for each week of the year). This gives you an excellent reason to stay in touch with your clients.

=== 2. How Can You Alter PLC Articles? ===

Submitting articles to public article directories along with your resource box is a great way to generate traffic to your web-sites. However, many directories don't allow you to submit duplicate content - ie, you have to submit your own unique article. Therefore, when submitting an article that you obtained from a private label content resource, it's advisable to first alter the article before submission. Here are a few tips in that regard...

(a) Change the title of the article. If you are using keyword-optimized articles, make sure you keep the keyword in the title - but be creative about the words that surround it. So if your article is based on the keyword "Mongolian Guinea Pig", your title might be "Where to Find the Mongolian Guinea Pig" or "Taking Care of Your Mongolian Guinea Pig" and so on.

(b) Change the opening paragraph. All you need to do (usually) is make sure that your keyword appears once. Take a look at the rest of the paragraph. How can you say the same thing in a different way? Look for synonyms - using your thesaurus - or alter the tone. Perhaps you can adopt a more casual approach (this might work better for your readership anyway). You might prefer write a different introduction altogether.

(c) Work through the article. Add a sentence here; subtract one there. Present the facts in a different order. Expand by adding some new points. Break a long article into two shorter articles. (If you do this, make sure each article seems complete in itself.)

(d) Rewrite the ending. When you do this, think about what you want the reader to do. Is this a good place to put your own affiliate link, or write a lead-in to your own product or services?

=== 3. Blend Several Articles Into One ===

You can get a whole new look if you take two or more PLC articles on the same theme and blend them into one longer, fact-packed article. Sometimes you might find you HAVE to do this, if an article seems a bit 'lightweight'. Not all PLC articles are created equal! Sometimes it's obvious that the writer was low on inspiration.

=== 4. Think Outside the Square. ===

Most PLC articles are presented in batches relevant to one niche. For example, you might find that over the course of a month you get 20 articles on golf, 20 on cell phones, 20 on credit cards and 20 on travel. Let's say that you are busy building a golf site. It might seem at first glance that only 20 of the 80 articles are relevant to your needs.

Not so! Golf vacations, for example, are very popular. Could any of your travel articles be massaged to fit the theme of golf vacations? It's very likely that they could. And what about communication while you travel - or while you play golf? Does the golfer need a new cell phone that will easily adapt to overseas communications? How will the golfer pay for a new set of clubs or a golf vacation? Might he need to explore credit card options?

You see how it's done. Be creative in your use of Private Label Content, and you will definitely get your money's worth.

=== 5. One Final Tip - Hold Out For Quality! ===

Now that Private Label Content is becoming popular, more and more PLC sites are opening up. You can afford to be choosy. Check out the quality of the articles on offer, and especially the niches being targeted. Niche areas like golf and credit are popular, and that's exactly what you want. You want to go where there is an *existing* demand. You do NOT want obscure niches where there is little activity. You WANT to go where there is competition. Naturally, the profitable niches will always have competition. Where there is competition, there are buyers! So you want to look for demand, look for competition, and carve your niche!

Finally, consider being a member of more than one PLC site. Is it worth it to you to spend $150 a month on quality, no-strings-attached content? That would get you membership of 3-4 sites and upwards of 400 articles each month. Even if you can use only 50 of those articles, you're getting them for $3 each - a bargain!

About the author:

Timothy Spaulding is the owner of the Work At Home Business Resource Center and Home Made Profits providing opportunities to make money online with your own home business.

NOTE: You have full permission to reprint this article within your website or newsletter as long as you leave the article fully intact and include the "About The Author" resource box. Thanks! :-)

Set Up Your Online Business for Less

Are you starting an online business with a small budget? That's
OK. Online businesses are one of the lowest cost businesses to
run - if you know what you need to pay for and where to go.

Follow these suggestions for getting your website set up
inexpensively while not sacrificing quality. There are some
things you need to pay for (and this will tell you how much) and
other things you can do just as well for free.

STEP ONE: GETTING A DOMAIN NAME

There's no reason to pay more than $10 for a domain name, so feel
free to shop around. Domains are important because they give you
credibility as a business.

Free websites do not enable you to have your own domain name so
instead you end up with mybusiness.freespace.com instead of
mybusiness.com. See the difference? Your customers expect you to
put some money into your business and this is a clear tip off
that you are not doing that - and for $10, why shouldn't you?

STEP TWO: FIND A HOST

Hosting plans vary considerably. Much of what you pay for will be
determined by the features your hosting account provides with its
service.

Are you setting up a simple, one page site? You could probably
use a low cost host for $5 per month. Do you need some extra help
with templates and layout or expect a high amount of traffic or
downloads? You may have to pay more but it can be well worth the
extra expense to have integrated webpages already set up or to
ensure your host is providing you with enough bandwidth to handle
the traffic on your site.

Never use a free host, unless perhaps you want to start with a
blog or similar format while you get your own website up and
running. Free hosting usually means you pay in other ways - lack
of a domain name or a lack of quality. Many free hosting accounts
are for personal use only and do not allow commercial accounts.
Try to get recommendations from others when looking for a good
host.

STEP THREE: DESIGN

As previously mentioned you can find professional templates on
some hosting services. These can give your website a professional
polish without the expense of hiring a designer. You are limited,
however, on the look you choose depending on the variety of
designs available.

Templates are also available to others so your site may have the
same appearance as someone else. If you need custom work done
consider hiring a freelance web designer from a site like
elance.com or ask a local student studying web design. Freelance
sites often put you in touch with new designers who will charge
less while building on their experience and adding to their
portfolio.

Spending money wisely is important when starting any business,
but some free services will cost you in reliability or image. On
the other hand there are some cheap deals you may not hear about
so don't give your hard earned money (or worse - your credit) for
a service you can pay less for and get the same results.

About the author:

Timothy Spaulding is the owner of the Work At Home Business Resource Center and Home Made Profits providing opportunities to make money online with your own home business.

NOTE: You have full permission to reprint this article within your website or newsletter as long as you leave the article fully intact and include the "About The Author" resource box. Thanks! :-)