One of the essential Tools of an online marketer is an auto-responder.

If you want to keep your message in front of your prospects and to increase your chance of converting them to buyers, then you need to put an auto-responder to work.

You can use an auto-responder to send out sequential, follow up messages following a first contact. You can send out broadcast messages with news and updates to your offer or share free information to your list of prospects to build up relationships.

No website or blog should be without a web form or contact form. You cannot just rely on someone buying on their first visit, so you need a form which offers some free information in the form of a newsletter, video or report that will help them to achieve their objective.

Your auto-responder will have the facility to create a web form for your blog or website. You could use a free service to create html code such as Kompozer.net and your auto-responder will provide you with a code to input onto your website or blog. With a blog you just need to post the code into a text widget and then place that in your primary side bar.

So now you are building up a list that you can monetise, either with your primary business or affiliate links that have keywords similar to the market niche you are catering for.

An auto-responder can immediately begin to engage your subscribers if you put in decent email copy into your follow up emails. Remember, new subscribers require special attention. They’re eager to hear from you, but they don’t know your company as well as established subscribers do. Build profitable relationships with them using a sequence of automatically delivered follow up emails.

• Welcome new subscribers, then drive them back to your website
• Answer questions, deliver downloads and provide product information
• Build subscriber trust and confidence
• No manual sending needed
• Personalize emails with subscribers’ names and other information

Some auto-responders, such as Aweber will allow you to create great HTML emails. They provide templates for you to use, with different colour schemes and other images or you can just use plain text emails if that is what you prefer.

You can track your performance. See who has opened your messages, who clicked links in your messages, how much income your messages created.

It is possible that your broadcasts can go direct to Twitter and Facebook, thereby generating more interest for your blog or website. This will create more prospects and give you a greater credibility on the internet.

You can set your own delivery times and dates. Create your broadcast messages and then plan when you wish them to be sent out. So you can create your messages to go out while you are on holiday or away from the office for any length of time and still make money on the internet!

So having an auto-responder is essential to your online business. Make sure you get something set up soon if you don’t already have one.

My recommendation is Aweber, that’s what I use for my business and blog. But there are lots to choose from.

What is certain, if you want to monetise your blog, create a significant online business in any field. An auto-responder is absolutely essential.

Do you have an auto-responder? Then let us know how it has helped your business!

Try AWeber Email Marketing Risk-Free

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Each of us is pursuing our dream or goals of being successful – in whatever way or form we judge that success to be. Many of the things we learn on the internet and about each other through social networking, checking out blog posts and so on, do more than just provide tools to be more profitable, more skillful, more competent, but help us to get the most out of our lives in many other ways.

We grow each day as we read and share knowledge. That is true of the giver probably even more than we who receive it. It has reminded me of the journey of the shepherd boy in the Alchemist. The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream

The Alchemist teaches us that there is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve and that is the fear of failure. The message from the Alchemist also teaches us that, “When we want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

I am reminded about Christmas. Whatever the rights and wrongs of it, when a child desires a particular present, Santa always seems to bring it!

Network marketing can deliver many things, financial independence, tools and products that can make a difference, friendships, lots of cool stuff. We can learn about business, how to use the internet, create great new communities that share great information. There are many benefits to being part of an online network marketing business. But it can also be challenging, frustrating, disappointing.

We must remember, “that every search begins with beginners luck and ends with the victor’s being severely tested.” So says the Alchemist.

So we need to remember, if we follow the Alchemist’s observations on life, that when we begin to find challenges and obstacles in front of us, we are near to our goal. I remember Tony Robbins sharing this, “when we are confused, we are about to make a breakthrough.”

Now the Alchemist is fiction, enriched with the philosophies of the author, Paul Coelho, but it is a fact, that often we give up before we get to the winning post because we are put off by the difficulties we face, people counselling us that we are crazy to do something new and different, that we should just stick with what we know, work hard at our job and be normal!

Robert Frost’s famous poem said:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -

I took the one less travelled by,

and that has made all the difference.”

I am thankful that I have learned this much, that we need to have courage to overcome challenges and obstacles to achieve your goals. Not the courage it takes to fight an external battle but courage to overcome our inner fears and defeat the overwhelm that can overtake us as we take on something new or go in a different direction. Moving out of traditional business and embracing the internet market place is no less of a challenge than any other we face.

But once we have set our goals then “you have got to find the treasure so that everything you have learned along the way makes sense.”

If you want to share the journey with me then just optin to the newsletter and you will learn about my latest, exciting project before it is revealed to the rest of the internet!

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Network marketing can have its ups and downs. There are many things that can hinder our progress. Now and again our recruitment might not be as we would hope, people might cancel, payment may be down a little, our mood swings may kick in…lots of stuff.

It is crucial that we are in “long term” mode with our thinking. Network Marketing is not a get rich quick scheme. It is a long term, residual income business that will reward you if you stick with it long term.

Think about the reasons why you started an online business in the first place. The dreams you had, the vision of freedom and financial security. These are big goals, I am sure.

We can earn a lot of money in online network marketing.  We have the chance to really reach our dreams. But to live our dreams we need to be willing to pay the price.

Freedom, success, financial security never comes easy…..you have to work at it….and sometimes if can be hard, very hard. I know, I have struggled for many years in this business….believe me! I have struggled financially in one opportunity after another, until I found this new approach, online network marketing. Now I don’t have to bother my friends, family, neighbours with business. I am not waiting in hotel rooms for people who don’t turn up. Have to be happy clappy watching the same presentation over and over again. I can work in my home office and enjoy a relaxed environment, dressed how I want to and build new and fulfilling relationships with fellow entrepreneurs!

Now I have the tools to market my network marketing business to people I don’t know personally but have the strategies to make these my friends of the future!

If you are familiar with this blog then you will know I love Goethe, his wisdom is astonishing. “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”

Dreams come true because they are bold, daring, and imaginative. You need to be strong to bring them into reality. Focussed on the dream. As I write these words, my dreams become closer into my mind and stir things up in my heart! I can touch them!

Everyone can quit! It is the easy thing to do! But goals are there to be reached! Mountains have been climbed, man has conquered the dreams of flight and speed. The marathon was an impossible thing to do and now millions have done it!

There is freedom in having dreams and setting goals that reach for the sky! Your dreams are only limited by your thinking – think big!

Which brings me to the cheese thing. Have you read the story, “Who ate my cheese?” Well there are many lessons to be learned from this simple story of Sniff and Scurry the mice, and two little people Hem and Haw. The cheese in this story is representative of happiness and success.

They all end up finding cheese having paired off and travelled through the maze. It was in Cheese Station C. So they memorised the routes and every day they ended up in Cheese Station C. Hem and Haw were satisfied with their lot and remained where they were, but Sniff and Scurry always travelled the length and breadth of the maze to search out new places where they could find cheese.

The inevitable happened and one day, the cheese was gone from Cheese Station C.

Sniff and Scurry were not surprised. They noticed the cheese supply dwindling, they have mentally prepared beforehand for the arduous but inevitable task of finding more cheese and they began to hunt for new cheese together. Later that day, Hem and Haw arrive at Cheese Station C only to find the same thing, no cheese. Angered and annoyed, Hem demands, “Who moved my cheese?” The humans have counted on the cheese supply to be constant, and so are unprepared for this eventuality…..and the story goes on. Check it out.

My Point is this. Are you going to be angered and annoyed at the least set back, or are you going to work at achieving your dreams?

Life shouldn’t be about watching others be fulfilled, reading and watching other people living their dreams in newspapers, magazines, T.V. and the movies. It should be about us, being fulfilled, having achieved our goals, whatever they may be (and many of mine do not involve money!)…and to do that we need to apply ourselves, never give in and searching for strategies, tools and relationships that will help us to achieve them.

Talking about cheese and mice…I was introduced to this little video clip today…which made me think of cheese! It is funny. I hope you enjoy it!

Let me know what you think, place a comment, or get in touch.

And don’t forget….set the goals, apply the action…and make the dreams come true!

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“As she has planted, so does she harvest; such is the field of karma.”  ~Sri Guru Granth Sahib

I remember quite clearly, listening to Jim Rohn on the law of sowing and reaping. His was an amusing wisdom about inviting prospects to a traditional network marketing meeting.

He said, “the sower was ambitious, he had an excellent seed.” That seed is your opportunity, your primary network marketing business. That is really important, don’t you think? To have a primary business that is an excellent seed? Sure it is. How can you progress without being sure that what you are offering is going to be the right vehicle for your progression in network marketing? You are aware that my primary business is NPN. You will be amazed at how many people join,then leave, then return. They blame the business, go searching for something else and then realise what they left behind is better than what they left for. So I have an excellent seed. Search out your own.

Jim says: \”that the birds come and get some of the seed.\” Sometimes, we are persuaded that network marketing isn’t a good idea. That this great business opportunity is not so great after all….and we fail to follow up and take it seriously. This is going to happen to you, for certain. People will view your site and then fail to follow through. The birds got them!

The sower kept on sowing though….and eventually he succeeded by sowing his “excellent” seed onto good ground. That’s the way to succeed in this business, keep on sowing.

How does Karma come into this. Well as we plant, so do we harvest. It is not just having an excellent seed that is important. It is the manner in which we sow. If we represent ourselves and our opportunity in the right way then people will follow us. If we give more than we take, then people will reciprocate.

It is important, I feel, to create a foundation for long term relationships within your network marketing business. For example, I recently offered a free advertising co-op for new members, giving them a chance to get early success. One of those new members in my business is now the top duplicator I have at the moment. He is committed to the opportunity and he is providing free resources for his team to do the same.

Be the best sponsor you can be. Keep sowing and discipline your disappointment. I have heard this on many occasions:

“some will, some won’t, so what, next!” Well, I don’t hold with that. I cannot say, “so what!” but I can recognise that sometimes it just isn’t the right time or opportunity for some people. I have learned to let go of being attached to disappointment and treat everyone on my list as friends and give them the same service as I give to the best people in my team. That way, I feel good about myself, carry on giving and accept what I am given….and lately, it has been quite a lot!

Good Karma comes from sowing excellent seed in an excellent way. Find your seed, give great value to your prospects and members, enjoy your online network marketing experience and the mutual benefits will surely come.

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Now out of those 1 billion people, how many would benefit from an online business? Lots, yes? Well prove it to yourself. Google “Network Marketing” – I just did and got 1,190,000 results! And check out this site https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and search for network marketing and see how many searches there are with network marketing related keywords! Thousands of people each and every month searching for an online home business or network marketing opportunity!

Why wouldn’t they want to join you?

Developing a home business means that you can sit at your computer a few minutes every day in your shorts and T-shirt, just like me right now, communicating with people who are highly interested in working with you to mutual benefit.

Maintenance costs are low, you have systems in place to support you because you have chosen wisely and you can fit it round your full time job until you have replaced your income .

…..and, you make money while you sleep! I love that! Your website is up and running 24/7, you have members in your team who have their websites up and running, the time differences mean that your world-wide team are active all day and night! It is just amazing once it gets going!

Step 1. Choose your Opportunity and sponsor

Step 2 Get your site built(preferably) or set up the site provided for you by the company or sponsor

Step 3 Market your site – using recommendations from your sponsor or company

Step 4 Build a relationship with your optin list

Step 5 Look after your team and continue to support them and their members

Step 6 Do something every day to market your business

If you are looking for tips on how to market your business there are some links and tips in the Marketing Toolbox on this site.

Remember, the keys to network marketing online are a solid presence, consistency and persistence. So stick with it until it produces the results you seek.

Now many sponsors or network marketing businesses will provide you with an email series of sales letters to woo your new leads into choosing your opportunity. These emails are probably going to last a month.

The important thing is, not to rely on these emails to develop that special relationship that you need to develop with these prospects. Send out your own welcome email. Be yourself. Remember, you are marketing YOU! I am often surprised about the reaction that people have when I have contacted them personally, giving my SKYPE, phone and email contacts etc They are pleasantly surprised that I am a real person!

Anyway, follow up all your leads. Begin that special relationship….and remember, offer them value.! If you have something you can give them, like an ebook, video or some helpful tips, then do so right at the beginning. Believe me, you can profit from your list EVEN if they do not join your network marketing business. It is worth spending some time with them!

You CANNOT be a network marketer with any level of success if you DO NOT communicate!

Many people will have someone optin to their site who is interested in their business but do not follow up with them. This is the biggest mistake you could make. Remember, it is all about relationships and building up trust!

Remember, this is a BUSINESS and people are IMPORTANT to your business success! So FOLLOW UP and maintain the relationship!

Let me know what you think – place a comment below!

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That is one of the reasons I have created this blog and the Marketing Toolbox, because it provides the exact information that I have used to build up a considerable downline in my primary business, the New Plan Network…but the blog has now developed into a resource for any online network marketer to use. It’s just the way it developed.

Anyway…. I understand there is a term for people who join a network marketing opportunity and are left alone to fend for themselves….they are called “Orphans”.

Well this is a catastrophe! People need support and help at the beginning of any endeavour and this is no different in our industry.

If we are too busy recruiting new people but do not spend the time with our people, then we are bound to fail! You need to spend time teaching and mentoring your new people so that they are given every chance to succeed. This is one of the reasons I am creating a new system for my primary business – a system that provides a recruitment resource AND a training and mentoring facility.

I learned today that SYSTEM means Save Your Self Time Energy and Money. Cool eh? Got that from Mike Filsaime and Chris Farrell just today!

So you need to have a system of support for your team.

So, are you willing to spend the time with the people you bring in? Will you be around when they need you? Talking about Mike and Chris, they talk about RROI – Relationship Return on Investment. Well online network marketing is really about really about long-term relationship building. It’s not about just bringing people into the business and just moving forward. It’s about working with these people and helping them to develop relationships.

If you have a real desire to help others then you can make a fortune from online network marketing. You can build long term relationships with people that can profit you all. Network marketing is about sharing wealth and fortune, sharing knowledge and skills, developing friendships and a professional life together for mutual benefit!

Choose wisely and enjoy the ride!

Then something changed. We had a visit from one of the clubs coaches and then they got it and went on a winning streak of their last 5 games in the league..it was wonderful to be there, great to be part of and will last in their memory forever of that I am sure. They showed those cocky guys who laughed at them for the first 10 weeks or so…we thrashed teams that were considered the best! It was an amazing time for all of us!

There are many other times that my life has been blessed by achievement. I have been very lucky. There have been many times that my life has been hampered by problems and difficulties…but I always come back to uplifting music like this. Makes me feel good…and searching for something each day to make me feel proud!

What has this to do with Online Network Marketing? Well, everything! Be proud to be a networker and be indefatigable…never give in…and know that in the end, whatever the hurdles we have to jump, there is a winning post we can all reach!

How many of you are suffering from overwhelm? Do you find it hard to concentrate with all of these offers flying at your inbox every day?

“Follow this programme and be rich! Do this, do that! This is the secret of online wealth! New launch will make you rich if you get in at the beginning!”

Well as I have said many times, Choose wisely and stick with what you have. Often these new launches are just fly by night things anyway……and there are really no great secrets out there!

I have many people join me one week and promote something else to me the next! It’s crazy!

There is so much window dressing out there…believe me, it has cost me a fortune to learn this.

The skills you need are these:

Create your own capture page, link it to an auto-responder, learn how to market your page, develop a relationship with the list you are creating, follow up your prospects and look after your team!

So if you are looking for a guru to help you succeed  with your online network marketing business, then pick someone who has a solid track record of building a list, helping you develop a relationship with that list and profit from that relationship.

If you go too far down the online education and skills route, you will just get confused, fill someones pocket…and in most cases a good sponsor will provide you with all the tools you need to succeed anyway!.

It truly can be a one stop shop. All you need can come from one, excellent sponsor who will help you do all the things you need to do to succeed online.

Learn to swim…but don’t enter the Olympics until you have spent time developing your skills and techniques otherwise you will fail to stay afloat amongst all the flotsam out there.

Let me know what you think,. Comment on the post!



There is also that experience of friends or family pressurising you to attend a hotel presentation where a  slick presenter demonstrates to you how you can become a millionaire if you sold doodads, vitamins or creams to your friends and family and get them to do the same!

Oh! And there is that fear that your garage is going to be full of stuff that you have not sold or could not use yourself!

Well this is not a reality with online network marketing. It really is a realistic opportunity to earn money from your home computer.

But what should you be looking for? How can you make a wise choice in your search for an online network marketing opportunity to base your business upon?

1. Look for an established company – a business that has been around for a while, has an excellent reputation and has a consistent record of payment to its members. Do you feel the company has integrity and has an honest approach in its marketing? Cut through the hype!
2. What are the products? Are they useful to your customers? Do you like them? Are they effective? You preferably want something with information products or online services so there is no stock to deal with! Do you feel comfortable representing them? Are there testimonials of their effectiveness?
3. Is the pay plan generous? Does it reward you fairly. Is it reliable? Does it offer you some benefits from upline activity?
4. Is the company growing? Are there new ideas and improvements? Is it continuously improving its services?
5. Is there the support you need? Is your sponsor able to offer you the kind of personal support you require to succeed in the short term? Does the company offer you a system that provides training and development and marketing strategies that work. Does your sponsor provide you these too?

Characteristics YOU need to succeed:

1. You need to be teachable and willing to listen and learn from mentors
2. You should follow successful strategies that have worked for others – don’t re-invent the wheel
3. Get your life in balance. Be a part time business owner with a full time mentality!
4. Don’t expect miracles and be patient..because it WILL work if you stick with it for the longer haul!
5. Always do something every single day to market your business.
6. Learn from mistakes and don’t repeat them
7. Build real, friendly relationships with your upline, downline and most important, every prospect you get. Because you can make money from all the people who DO NOT join your business, if you build up a good relationship with them!
8. Have fun and enjoy your new business! Don’t be so serious that you lose your sense of humour!

Well, some of us have made these choices already and are enjoying success online. It really is an opportunity with minimal risk…but remember, choose your opportunity and sponsor wisely and then stick with it! This is not a get rich quick business and you need to be a long hauler for the real rewards to kick in. Remember, you are sponsoring people just like you! So be a sticker and then your people will stick too!