Building Your Network Marketing
Business
Building your Network Marketing business
is building a business from the ground up.
A traditional brick and mortar business
has lots of examples to follow, perhaps even the business of the owner's
parents. There are certainly similar businesses in nearby areas,
if not in the same town.
A book store is a good example.
If you wanted to open a book store, you would take a look around at
other book stores, maybe apprentice yourself to a good bookstore in the
next county and get the real scoop on stuff. You would find
out about inventory levels, markup, sales, staffing, advertising,
working with publishers and authors, and a whole lot more.
Now suppose you wanted to open a
bookstore online. Who do you go to? How do you apprentice
yourself to learn what you need to learn to be successful? There
are certainly bookstores online, but truthfully you have no way of
knowing how successful they are. Nor are they likely to tell you
about inventory levels or markup or advertising, for you are a potential
competitor. The internet opens up the whole world to you, so you
could indeed be their competitor.
There is no place to go to learn how to
build your network marketing business.
So let me give you some clues.
For starters, there are actually some strong comparables between the
brick and mortar business and the online business.
Let's go back to that brick and mortar
book store. During your apprenticeship you will likely learn:
1. Big discount stores have taken
over the market on most books. Only specialty bookstores really
have a chance now, and then only if they can build up a strong repeat
clientele.
2. Lots of small brick and mortar
book stores have gone out of business.
3. Staffing levels are much lower
than most industry reports show due to cut backs over the past year or
so.
4. Successful book stores have become
very creative in capturing and holding people's attention.
5. Many small bookstores have had to
diversify, and now offer coffee stations, editorial services, "how to
get published" classes, AND
6. ... Most small bookstores now have
an online presence.
Let's now apply those lessons to the
online bookstore that you want to create. Here are some things you
need to consider in building yur network marketing business:
1. Have you heard of Amazon.com?
Don't even try to compete. You can't make it. Look for a
niche market that isn't being over served, and serve it yourself.
2. Lots of online book stores
go out of business too.
| There are no hard and fast
statistics, but good estimates are that 90% of those who begin
building a network marketing business close up shop within two
years. |
3. Don't look for website
designers and phone lines staffed with order takers. You are the
business. You and only you.
4. Creativity is the password
for online businesses too. A "me too" network marketing store
doesn't make it very far.
5. Many of those online
business failures become failures because they don't know how to
diversify their businesses. Just listing titles and descriptions
of books doesn't cut it. If you want your online business to be
successful, look what Amazon has done: book reviews, author
notes, "also read" suggestions, comments from customers. They
make it a whole community, not just a book order. If they could
serve coffee while you browsed online, they would.
6. Just transforming a brick
and mortar business into building your network marketing business
won't make it successful. It needs the strength and diversity of
network marketing to make it zing. You can do that, and you can
make it successful.
And, speaking of multiple streams of
income (we were, weren't we?), what can our online bookstore do to
create income, other than selling books? How about:
- AdSense Ads
-
PPP ads
- Charge for editing books
- Put Amazon ads on site (If you can't
beat them, you might as well still earn a few cents)
- eBay ads for all things bookish
- Write your own ebook on how to get
published and sell it
-
Find a web host that you can recommend so that your visitors can have
their own website
- Go to art.com, and feature art
pertaining to your books or the writers
- Find other affiliates that have
bookish things, perhaps even bells, books and candles
In building your Network Marketing
business, there are two things you need to keep in mind, no matter what
your product area: find the right niche, and diversify your
streams of income. If you can accomplish those two things, you can
have a successful online business.
