Twitter For Dummies - 6 Steps for Better Tweeting!

Ok, so you have decided to finally throw in the towel and join the online community known as Twitter. Should you really do it, even though you are not to sure about it? I say YES, YES, and don't even think about it. Twitter is a great way to build your online presence and can actually be alot of fun. Just to give you an idea of how popular twitter is visit www.alexa.com which tracks the most visited websites in the world. Twitter is currently #23 up from #26 a few weeks ago and #38 a few months ago. I believe twitter will be in the top 10 within a few months. Here are 5 Steps that I believe will make your experience much more enjoyable.

Step 1 : Unless you are using twitter to market your Brick & Mortar Plumbing Company, always use a real picture of YOU. Preferrably your head shot. It doesn't have to be a professional shot, but must look friendly. No unwanted facial expressions, sexual body shots, or flipping off the camera, just a friendly smile. I personally, won't add anyone who doesn't look like someone I would have over for supper. I would recommend a custom twitter page like mine, but if you don't have the $50 - $200 to spend than you can go to a website like twittbacks.com.

Step 2: Try finding your friends or family members who are already on twitter. This is pretty simple, once you log into your account just enter their name or username. Obviously if people already know you, you will have a much better chance of building your following with people you know first.

Step 3: try to connect with like-minded people. There are 2 websites that will allow you to stay in touch with others who have the same interests, they are www.twollow.com and www.twellow.com (The Twitter Yellow Pages). I highly recommend you use both of these sites as who wants to follow people who don't have the same interests???

Step 4: Find people on Twitter who you look up to that are leaders in your industry or hobbies. Obviously most of their followers are going to have the same interests. Just click on their followers and start following. But don't follow too many people at one time, as Twitter could suspend your account. I personally, wouldn't add more than a 100 new people per day to any one twitter account. If you want to gamble and do more, just keep twitter in the background and only add people intermittently throughout the day.

Step 4: Find People in the area: You can do this by doing an advanced search on twitter, but I personally find it just as easy to use www.twellow.com and enter the name of your city or local cities in the search look up. This is great! Especially if you are offering a service/product/business that caters to your local market.

Step 5: Use 3rd party apps to build and manage your following the 2 most important ones that I recommend are Tweetdeck and Huitter. Tweetdeck will let you manage your twitter accounts much easier and Huitter will allow you to eliminate those that don't follow you back. The latter is very important, as Twitter puts a maximum on how many followers you can have versus those that are following you.

If you couldn't be bothered with the above, or would like a one on one coaching session on Twitter you can always email me directly at john@sellingwithintegrity.net I have helped many getting started on twitter and I can help you as well. To visit my 2 twitter pages go to: www.twitter.com/homebiztrainer and www.twitter.com/integritymktg

How To Pick A MLM Company

First let me say, that I have yet to meet any network marketer who has made any real money with a company after joining one that has been around for more than a few years. Why is this? I think it is like anything else. If you were to buy Microsoft Stock today it would be much harder to make money with it, than if you had bought in back in the early eighties. I think it is the same with network marketing, or any business for that matter. Once a company gets saturated with distributors it's just much tougher to build as more and more people already know about it. If a company has already hit critical mass, there is no longer any wave to ride and you will just be fishing in "The Red Sea". Of course, the company isn't going to tell you that their top income earners got in early, as they have to keep your hopes alive. Here are my suggestions for picking an MLM Company.

If you only want to make a few thousand a month and don't mind grinding it out for a few years to do so, go with an established company like Amway, Herbalife, USANA, XANGO, Mona Vie, or ACN. These are all great companies, and have great reputations, and great training. I doubt very much they will be going anywhere in the near future and even though you won't probably make a million dollars, they are a safe bet.

If your like myself and want to be earning over $10K per month, you need to find one that is fairly new (within 2 years old or less). This can become challenging as most network marketing companies go belly-up in their first 2 years. Below are a few things I have used to join a newer company.

• Leadership (Are there any top income earners already involved willing to put their reputations on the line. See if any of your leaders are on this list. Even if its a start up more than likely the company would have recruited some of these folks. If the person recruiting you isn't on this list, hopefully someone in their upline is).
  
• Pay Plan (Is it easy to understand, do I get paid on my entire group volume. Pay plan must be easy and good to avoid high attrition). If it takes 3 hours to understand pay plan go elsewhere.
  
• Product (Is the product part of a trend, will it be easy to share and market. I usually go with the opportunity over product, but product must be good and popular to sell. Don't want to be marketing an outdated product or something that requires a 1 hour reading of a scientific report in order to sell). Extremely important for duplication.
  
• Ranking. (I would only pick a company that has a high ranking in terms of $$$$ for the first 12 months and would probably make sure company has been around a little while). Here is a site I found recently that shows all the top companies in MLM. If the company you are marketing isn't on this list - seriously re-consider.
  
• Momentum (Does the company have momentum, is it growing fast, and can I benefit from the growth - Spillover from sideline, upline, etc.... If I have to build it myself, I may think twice before joining. The average network marketer only recruits 2.5 people on average. I want to be with a company where everyone has a chance to make money).
  
• Does the company have a hook??? (Has the top distributor or company owner made history elsewhere. Were they a famous author, speaker, health guru. This is a storytellers business, so if you can share a hook of some sort, or compelling story- that makes it much easier to market your business. There is a reason why a company will have a distributor who is a former gold medalist, pro basketball player, or someone who endorses their product.)
  
• Brand (Does the company have a website that looks like it was developed back in the early nineties?). As a former Advertising Executive, I cannot stress how important your Company's Image is if you are going to be marketing a product/company. You are putting your name on any brand you market. The company website must be able to compete with the mainstream or you are going to have a tough time marketing. If the company isn't willing to invest in a smokin website, how do you expect them to invest in you. This is network MARKETING.)
  
• Tools (Does the company have good 3rd party tools? I personally don't want to be with a company where I cannot share my story primarily over the net. I've done my work with CD's, tape, and brochures, and product samples, they do work, but will cost you tons in mailing, follow up, etc.... I want to build fast, so I want something I can email to people quickly.)

So far, I have only been able to find 1 company recently that has all the above ingredients. Go to my website at http://www.bigmoney4you.info to learn more.

How To Have Fun In Your Home Biz

If you are seriously considering a home based business, or you are already in home based business it is essential that you learn marketing. 95% of all people in the network marketing business do not know how to market and that is why they usually fail. One of the best programs to help teach you how to become the hunted instead of the hunter is a program called "Magnetic Sponsoring". If you haven't already seen it before, I highly recommend you take a closer look. This program will show you the tricks of the trade, and why becoming a leader is essential to your success in your business.

Hopefully you are already having fun in your business, but if your tired of chasing your friends and family members go to www.bigmlmsecrets.info to pick up your free 7 day video series.

7 Things Not To Do

7 Costly Mistakes You Don't Want To Make In Network Marketing

7 Costly Mistakes that most every new network marketer makes. First of all, if you are just starting out in network marketing one of the best ways to get going is to make a list of people you know personally and contact them. Many of these people will not be interested in what you have to say, but a few will. As one of the top network marketers I know says, "Everyone knows at least 2 people who would do great in this business". However, keep in mind your family and friends are more than likely not going to be interested in your offer. However, many may become loyal customers. The latter is the main reason that I would never avoid my warm market. Now When you are contacting others about your opportunity, here is what you don't want to do.

Part 1: You call your friend and they say they are not interested in learning more about your opportunity. DO NOT keep calling them back trying to invite them to your meetings, phone calls, etc... A friend of mine the other day called me about her new opportunity and how great it was, and I kept telling her I wasn't interested, even though I was very happy for her. After I told her I was not interested, she even went on to call me a half a dozen times over the course of 2 days and has even put me on the phone with 2 of her business partners. She even tried to get me to cancel a very important date, to go to a meeting. Pro's don't act like this and you shouldn't either. This is very old school.

Part 2: Don't invite a friend you haven't seen in 10 years to coffee and make them think you care about them, to only have your sponsor show up and spend 30 minutes pitching their business opportunity. This happened to me a few weeks ago. I was very excited to meet up with an old friend and learn more about what he was up to, to only find out that I had to spend the next 30 minutes listening to his friend pitch me on another opportunity. Would a professional doctor, realtor, or lawyer behave like this? Be a pro, and if you want to introduce someone to your business call them and tell them about it, if they would be open to meeting with you for this purpose, than bring your sponsor, only and if only they know they agree to it. Do not be secretive, it will only make you look bad, unprofessional and probably lose you lots of respect.

Part 3: If you share your opportunity with others and someone puts their hand up that they want more information. Don't wait too long, keep in mind if someone puts their hand up, it could be time sensitive, so don't let time pass too long before putting them on a 3 way call, or getting them on a conference call. If you are new to network marketing, never enroll people on your own, always, always, always get them on the phone with your closest leader.

Part 4: Don't buy leads for at least your first few months, if ever. You have to develop some pretty phenomenal phone skills, before you just start randomly calling people. I would seriously just go through the white pages of your local telephone book and spend a few hours a week just practicing your phone posture and dealing with rejection, before you pay $3 - $7 per lead through a lead company. To be quite honest the leads you purchase, are not going to be much better than your phone book. All you got to say is "you responded to an ad on the internet about a home based business". Most people are on the internet nowadays and everyone is filling out forms, so who is to say they didn't.

Part 5: If you give someone a product to try, do not make the mistake of not following up with them. You wouldn't just randomly hand out $5 Bills to everyone on the street, be selective and ask permission first before you just put a bottle in someone's hand. If they give you permission always follow up at least within a few days to see if they liked it. If they didn't like it, move on, they will never join your biz....

Part 6: Don't pass up an opportunity when you see a car with an advertisement for another MLM. Most people in this situation know how to do MLM and direct sales and could be a great candidate for your business and most are probably not making any real money. They are also probably working a business model where they have to work lots and lots of hours, do home parties and always be selling products. Hopefully, your opportunity is unique to theirs and you can show them a much better way. Just leave your business card in their window wiper and see if they call you back.

Part 7: Don't talk to everyone within 3 feet. How stupid is that. First of all the only reason you go after your warm market is because people already know you and hopefully you have some respect. At least enough respect where someone gives you the benefit of the doubt to look at your opportunity. But approaching strangers and randomly telling them about your opportunity before you get to know them is just STUPID. Now if your one of those people who cannot resist sharing your opportunity with the world than the only way this would ever work is, "To tell others that you are starting a new business venture and you are looking for people who need to make extra money and are entrepreneurial, ask if they would know of anyone like that?" The chances are great that they might say ME, ME, ME.

That's it for today, but hopefully by not making these 7 Costly Mistakes you will see your business grow.