Network marketing is a booming industry now. There’s no question about it being an effective marketing system. With nearly two decades of growth (and still on the running), it’s a proven way to start a business and make money online or offline.

What I love about network marketing is that the opportunity is available to everyone.  It doesn’t take into account if you have an education or the right kind of college degree. It can work out even if you have a big or low budget to start and run the business. It takes no notice if you have bigwigs or unknowns for connections. Seriously, if anyone is willing to work hard to make things work, you can jump right in along with the big dogs and break barriers and go beyond limits and be successful in this!

The very first few challenges in the setup of your sales funnel for leads and sales will be on

1.       site designing, and

2.        producing content

These 2 elements will be largely responsible for exposure and public relations. Whatever marketing methods you will choose to mix up in your marketing strategy(pay per click, social media, article marketing, etc), you will be utilizing your site and content actively in them to help get you found, for acquiring customers, for building your relationship with them, to relay product information or to convert readers to buyers.

Here are the very basic network marketing tips during construction stage:

1)      Make it your own

Your website will be your online store and your domain name will be your online business address. To dominate your online exposure from the get go and achieve complete branding, pick out a URL that clearly labels what your business is about and register it exclusively as your website address.

2)      Help people to find you

• Use keywords and keyphrases that you want people to seek you out for so that when they type in those words or phrases to do a search, your site always comes up in the search listing for them to see.
• Use those keywords and keyphrases correctly to create all your site content, from pages to posts. Put keywords and phrases on the title, intro and end section of each page and post.
• Distribute your content everywhere through your links. People don’t just find you by doing a search, they can find you by reading your blog post in Facebook or Technorati. Sometimes people can come across your site because someone recommended a post or page through a tweet. Your site can get discovered through your URL link in an article you posted on Ezine or ArticleBase. Get your site listed on major traffic directories where people can discover you, bookmark you, subscribe to you, share or tweet your content.

3)      Plan out content well

• Determine what your site is all about and choose topics that relate so that you promote yourself as an expert in the area you’ve chosen
• Track your comments and listen to what your readers are saying so you get ideas of what they need from you and then write useful and helpful content addressing their needs
• Write content that builds relationships with your readers during regular communication in your email marketing

4)      Track results and make improvements

You can’t get everything perfect at one go. Expect the early stages to be mostly trial and error. Monitoring statistics, comments, page views, page ranking, will help you examine what’s working and what’s not so you can change things up and keep everything working better for the bottom line.

Two key points to keep in mind when you’re doing all these construction:

1)      Keep everything integrated

2)      Always convey a professional image

When people realize that you know what you’re doing and that you make sense, they will choose to get into network marketing with you.

The First Steps are Crucial to Network Marketing Success

Many people come and talk to me about how I started this network marketing business of mine. One of the first things I say is that network marketing is definitely not an easy business. What others say about getting rich quick and that this takes no effort at all to work is all hype – total exaggeration, totally misleading.

You definitely have your work cut out for you in network marketing because there are just so many things to figure out and so many elements to put together. There’s:

• Domain name registration
• Web design
• List building
• Lead generation
• Content development
• The selling process
• Customer Management

That partial list can go on and on as you’ll have to think over the startup phase, the marketing mix, the financial inflow and outflow, the daily operations and then expansion and growth. It’s tricky and can be overwhelming as you’ll work on different strategies and different tools to find the right approach for everything.

Since starting out is always the difficult step, here are my top 3 network marketing tips to help start you out the right way:

Step 1 – Choose your network marketing company wisely

Think long-term; don’t jump in from one company to another. Look for a company or a product or service that has a track record of success. Five years of successful business is a good track record. Research further if it has potential for growth, is market demand likely for many years or is it headed towards a dead end. You can refer to our previous blog post if you need help on choosing the right network marketing company: SELECTING A NETWORK MARKETING VENTURE:  The Marks Of A Solid Business Opportunity

Step 2 – Choose your upline wisely

Don’t feel compelled to sign up with someone you barely know or you’ve never worked with before just because that someone is the one who presented you with the offer you got interested in. You can definitely choose who to sign up with or you can go at it alone using only the training provided by the company and your own marketing methods. Upline support is crucial to your success because a strong upline can provide you the right training and mentoring to keep you motivated.

Step 3 – Create a funnel for new leads and sales right away

Remember that the whole idea of network marketing is networking. It is very important that you amass an army of marketers who will continue promoting and selling under you. As you build up your group of marketers, new sales get pumped into the business. This ensures continuing income for you and growth for the business. When new leads stop coming in, you discontinue new sales. Without new sales, you’re stuck and not developing. Two things can happen when you get stuck: First thing, you have to make certain to keep things stable, that is, you have to manage to keep all (or a substantial handful) of your existing downline and make sure that they keep on selling, then maybe you can survive on a steady stream of income. Second thing, you can very likely go downhill, as just like in the stock market where stagnant prices indicate economic troubles, a stagnant business is not making progress and can’t go nowhere at all. That’s why you need new blood, to maintain the continuity of sales and income.

The starting steps are critical to your road to success in network marketing. The business is not easy because it requires intricate work. It contains many parts and many details that can really consume you. But, the parts and details are really not difficult to understand and sort out. The business can be easy in the sense that it can be understood and resolved, you don’t need to be an intellectual genius to figure things out. You just really need to devote the time required and put your mind to figuring things out. You can get the right help that’s widely available out there to help you sort things out and with proper decision making on your part you can really make a go of things and be successful in network marketing.

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If you’re looking for more information on network marketing, please check out our Resource Page: Wealth & Truth About MLM and our FAQ’s Page: Industry Knowledge and Resources on Network Marketing

If you are looking to join a network marketing company with a successful track record, you can check out our Winning Team

Every year since 2007, the unemployment rate has been steadily rising. The soft economy has displaced a large number of income earners.  That means each year since, more people have lost their jobs, more households have lost their income and more people have been forced to dig  into their retirement savings in order to survive. The present times have left us with anxiety just getting by day to day. Subsequently, add to this the further dread of facing a very uncertain future.  In the face of the entire crisis, many have found relief in network marketing opportunities.

It had, maybe still has, a shaky reputation with schemes designed to trick and mislead. However, I have found that network marketing has grown into an industry where the honestly successful now outnumber the scammers. Those who have earned an honest buck through network marketing know and endorse it as a feasible option to replace a nine-to-five job and earn additional income.

A network marketing business can be the best solution in this recession mainly because of its practicability.

1.       It is a business that does not require a great amount of financial capital to start or grow.

2.       It is a business which anyone can set-up at home making their own hours by working through the Internet.

3.       It is a business that guarantees huge pay-offs versus investment if it is done correctly.

No other type of business can offer all three benefits. Only network marketing can get all three advantages to work for you if you have the right strategy. For someone who has been in this business for three years and who has gone through several economic highs and lows, I am convinced that anyone who is determined to work hard to put together a feasible strategy can thrive in this industry. Success in network marketing is largely dependent on skillful planning. That is, formulating a tactical plan of action for joining at the right time with the right company. Look for a company that offers the right product or service and an honest earning structure using the most effective marketing formula to recruit and sell.

With the recession, the network marketing industry is ripe for the harvest. It is the fastest growing business trend in today’s economic market. As a distributor, this places you in a very favorable position to grow your existing business or venture into new products and ideas. Do your research and examine your strategy because in the end, it all boils down to having the right strategy.  A typical network marketing strategy involves:

1.       The right time. This opportunity can open a lot of open doors for you and others. With a lot of people looking for new financial opportunities, many are ready for the chance to try out new ideas to make more money. But, also, it’s a wonderful time for you to bring in potential leads and grow your downline.

2.       The right company/ product/earning potential. Remember, these three are your selling points: a reputable company, a strong product, a lucrative income structure.  These are the marks of a great network marketing opportunity. They are what people will look into when searching for a network marketing group to join in. They are what potential leads will scrutinize when you finally get the chance to talk to them and make your presentation.  When marketing your network marketing opportunity make sure you consider these facts:

• The recession has turned the economy into a “need” consumer market. Present your products or services to consumers in such a way that they will regard them as necessities rather than mere luxuries.
• Income and profit is always the bottom line. Present your income structure in such a way that potential leads will see it as more lucrative than the competition. Highlight discounts, opportunities for growth and other benefits as they increase their sales and go up the organizational ladder.
• Highlight the company’s track record for achievement and growth to make for a more convincing presentation.

3.       The right marketing formula. The right formula turns leads to actual buyers. Conversions are the real indicators for success. A formula for success is not just individual selling but includes building a strong downline that can duplicate your efforts. You need to recruit people who are as determined to grow their business as you are. This is a very necessary strategy in network marketing because it is a numbers game. Without a strong team that can give you repeat sales and repeat recruitments, your own efforts become slow-moving.

These are significant factors that can mean success or failure for you in the network marketing industry. It is definitely not about signing up with every available business out there and expecting things to just fall into place and the money to start rolling in. Network marketing is serious business. Network marketing is hard work. A victorious mindset is one that is properly adept at starting up this business, organizing and running it every day and working out every possible hindrance to your progress.

I don’t pretend that there is a “Big Secret” to success or a “Fast and Easy way” to make money. As a trained athlete, I live out, and therefore recommend, the principles of planning, hard work, discipline and commitment.  Much of the information I pass on to my partners in business is aimed at preparing them for the hard road ahead and to help them get rolling towards success.

While I am of the mindset that there is no fixed formula to making a business successful, there are, however, a few basic guidelines that I consider as the groundwork to success–basic preparatory tasks that form the foundation of the online marketing business. These tools are fundamentally important as they will mark the starting point from which the marketing business develops, whether the road chosen to go into is affiliate marketing, network marketing or multi-marketing.

1). BUYING THE DOMAIN NAME. I always suggest buying a domain when you’ve decided on what market you’re going to promote because it will be a great branding strategy to have a domain name that’s registered as closely related to your business as possible. Free domains are not a wise long-term investment, as search engines and directories don’t include them in their listing and so your site will hardly show up in any search results. Also, it may be regarded as a “personal home page” by potential leads and business partners, rather than an active marketing site with an opportunity offer.

2). DESIGNING THE SITE STRUCTURE. Imagine losing out on a sale because a potential buyer gets frustrated with navigating through the website. Build it simple and easy, giving consideration to the likelihood that not every one of your potential leads will be adept at handling the computer. If you’re dealing with content and computer terminology that most people might not be familiar with, then you will need to consider that any information you put out is readily understood and that the site interface is easy to deal with. As much as the product line-up will greatly influence buying decisions, the sales process also has a strong effect so put some emphasis on the ease and speed of filling out an order form, and directly linking to the merchant site or to a payment processor. Also remember to put your own mark on things, especially in automated communication. A well-designed site is also a mark of professionalism and will attract potential leads to partner up with you.

3). THE CONTENT PLAN. You will need to decide at the start on what kind of site you will be promoting in order that all the content will match up to that concept:

Content sites are sites intended for teaching and training. Information that is given out here has subject matter which the target market will find instructional or gives a hint to the products being promoted. To a certain extent, details will be given out on product promotions, but only as a side feature.  The objective of getting people to click through to the merchant website is covered up by the use of links that are not immediately obvious.

Product Information sites – The content here is entirely about product details: prices, descriptions and images. There is absolutely no attempt to teach or train in this type of site. Instead, all content is geared towards an up-front presentation of the products and to get site visitors to click on highly visible links to the merchant store to buy the products.

4). FORMING THE MARKETING/PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY. Though there is no fixed formula for coming up with the winning strategy, a plan of action is the very keystone to attaining it. All the supporting elements of your business are interrelated to one another. Once you’ve got them all planned out it will be easy to form a course of action and lock everything in place. This is where your creativity and motivation are really tried and tested. At the very least, you will need a plan of action for these vital elements of the business:

• FOR GETTING FOUND – You can easily get found when you increase traffic to your website. Getting traffic will be one of the most challenging strategies to put into effect. Seeing that traffic is where the bulk of people are, the strategy you implement here will greatly impact your volume of leads and sales. You can get traffic in the usual ways:

1)      Pay for it through pay per click advertising

2)      Get it for free from the search engines

• FOR LEAD GENERATION – Expanding your base group will get you more targeted leads:  those people who are highly likely to be interested in your business. RSS feeds are a fast and simple way to build your list and because they are opt-in subscriptions you can be more direct in your marketing communications. E-mail marketing is another direct way to promote, get potential leads and do targeted follow-up if you can provide relevant material that will not be perceived as junk mail.
• FOR SALES CONVERSION – The idea of increasing sales conversions is to get site visitors to actually buy your products or to contribute to the advertising revenue of your site by clicking on the ads. Popular ways to do this is by holding a contest, giving out bonuses or you can break the mold and offer something totally new that other people will really catch on with.

5). BUILDING YOUR TEAM. The technique to making productive business partnerships is to find top-quality marketers. What you really want to get are those people who are able to produce traffic and convert them to sales. These partners may be trained to duplicate your system or they may completely think out of the box on their own, what matters is that they are effective and active and will produce real results for them personally and for you as well in partnership with them. To achieve this:

• Offer more lucrative terms than the competition – this is sure bait as nothing beats the appeal of a higher profit advantage
• Even something as simple as an exclusive link layout or advertising and training provisions, and especially a real, sincere offer of assistance and friendship will help mark you out considerably from the entire crowd of marketers out there and will help potential business partners decide that you are the only man (or woman) they want to do business with.

These two marketing methods are extremely popular home-based businesses, online and offline, because both are proven powerful money-making systems that can generate lasting income if done with the right companies and if carried out correctly through an effective promotional method.

There are varying points of views as to which marketing system is better, MLM or affiliate marketing. I think that the most noteworthy differences are the following:

1). Income Potential. The bulk of income in affiliate marketing is through a one time payment based solely on individual sales. Some affiliate companies can let you earn additionally from the sales of people who become your affiliates but this is usually limited to your first affiliate or at most up to the second affiliate only.  In MLM network marketing, you have the power to leverage your income depending on the number of down-line levels you can create.  The big advantage in this system is that other people can produce income for you.  Once you set things in motion, you start to earn from your own sales and the sales of those who sign-up under you, and you continue making money from your initial efforts as long as you keep things moving.

2). Limitations in promoting and marketing. Affiliate marketing is a faster system to set-up and start-up since there are no rigorous restrictions from the parent company. While affiliate marketers have the liberty to employ all kinds of strategies to promote, recruit and gain new customers, MLM network marketers can only carry out promotional activities that are in compliance to the policies and procedures of the parent company, otherwise they risk termination due to contract violations.

3). Support System. There is better support in MLM from the upline, downline and parent company. This support comes in the form of training, advertising provisions and networking relationships.

I think the choice of which marketing system is better is a matter of preference, discretion and careful research. There should be no issue as to whether both MLM and affiliate marketing can be incorporated in one business because the two can definitely be used to supplement one another successfully. We see this in a great number of successful marketers who have become “multi-affiliates” or “super affiliates” simply because they have put together lucrative multiple streams of income from selling MLM products, by generating leads through an income opportunity or through affiliate programs.

I think it is good business sense nowadays that every small business owner should implement as many income streams as is viable into their business plan. The key point to remember so that both affiliate marketing and MLM network marketing can work profitably in combination with one another is to set up multiple streams of income that go together. Important points to consider when doing this:

• Choose your products. You need to make sure that the products you choose to market are in line with your overall business plan. It is vital to the branding process that everything about your business should convey a consistent and unified idea. Never make the mistake that a great deal of other people have made when they choose to market anything and everything they assume they can make money out of and then find out in the long run  that they have sacrificed their credibility. Choose products that are not available elsewhere in the market and are at a competitive price.

• Choose the right company. Partner up with companies that provide products and services which people simply want to pay for regardless if they need to recruit other people or not. This is a good indication that the company is not a pyramid or “ponzi” scheme as this ensures that even the last person in will be able to benefit.

• Use good judgment. Always provide value to your target market. This way, anything and everything that you market that is useful and helpful to them will only add to your credibility. Always operate with integrity.  Study the terms of agreement between you and the companies you are in association with and where needed then comply with their policies and procedures.

There is good money to be made in both MLM and affiliate marketing. You can make thousands of dollars from a single affiliate product in just one launch or you can earn continuous money from a steady stream of MLM networks. Some people are making every effort to have both opportunities work for them. They earn money from a primary MLM or affiliate program and they also earn more money from other affiliate products.

Other people use MLM marketing exclusively because they like the long-term income potential that results from the multi-level compensation structure, but they also need the benefits of affiliate marketing and so they expand online by selling to and recruiting affiliate marketers through niche websites that are interconnected to their MLM business.

I honestly prefer to use both MLM and affiliate marketing simply because I like the idea of multiple income opportunities. It’s a tricky, complex and demanding approach to use, but every business is hard work anyway and any success will not just come easy, so I figure the added effort will pay off.

Distractions make your workday much longer than necessary as they disrupt your thought process and flow of energy. Studies have found that people who get distracted take about 10-20 times the length of time of the disruption to recover their earlier level of concentration.

There are lots of time management mistakes that home-based business owners make that cost them hours of work time — procrastination, not concentrating, breaking the schedule, etc.  Let’s narrow down the list and pinpoint the one thing that majority of work-from-home business owners really struggle with—unscheduled interruptions. Research confirms that people waste an average of more than two hours everyday on avoidable interruptions.

Try these tools and tips for drowning out distractions and keep the energy and thought process flowing. They may seem petty but every little bit can help increase productivity.

1. Block off or reroute digital signals. Yep, the digital devices are the number one distractions. Turn off your mobile phone, IM settings, Twitterrific, the automatic pop-up function in your email, or just forward calls to your voice mail. Get all similar tasks done all at once then move on to the next set. So, make major phone calls all at one time, check emails at set hours, and allot a fixed time to chat with people you really need to settle concerns with or update communications in all your social media business accounts.
2. Regulating email and SMS. You don’t really need to reply to all your emails or text messages. Skip those that just need a “thank you” or “okay” or “see you.” If you need to reply to an email or text message at length, call instead. This saves time and your thoughts are spoken straight out from the moment you think them.
3. Go “Invisible” on IM, Facebook, Google chat so everyone thinks you’re, offline but you can still contact the people you need. The “Busy” mode does not usually work as some inconsiderate people still choose to interrupt you.
4. Work some place else. That’s the flexibility of a work-from-home business. You can take work anywhere other than your home office. For some people this works. The change in setting stimulates creativity, recharging your thought process and energy level up to 50% helping you concentrate on work more. Try the coffee shop, the mall or in your parked car while waiting for your kid to end school. Also, the change in your routine can help sidetrack some people for awhile, giving you a bit more uninterrupted time to get some work done.
5. Drown out background noise like the sounds of the TV or radio by wearing earplugs, play instrumental music or use ChatterBlocker.com, a free download that plays out natural sounds to mask distracting noises.
6. Firefox LeechBlock is a free downloadable application that aids you in self-control. You can set it to block specified sites like Facebook or YouTube that can really eat up your time during periods you’re tempted to wander off from work.
7. Make a habit to jot down random thoughts. It avoids mind clutter and regulates your brain to focus on one idea at a time so you don’t get worked up on starting at every new idea every time they pop up in your head.
8. The Mac Isolator or Windows DropCloth are free downloads that help in visual distractions. You can blur out or completely hide from view all the other desktop and icons and focus on just the application you’re working on at present.
9. Avoid worry. Worry is an irritant. It increases stress levels and interferes with your normal line of thinking. It makes you more prone to sporadic work habits like indecisiveness, changeableness, unreliability. A daily To-Do list will help you center attention at the present time, the here and now. Finish the to-do list at the end of the workday so that it’s one task that will no longer distract you when you start work in the morning.

Distractions will always be present. But, there are few issues in business that are a matter of life or death, so it’s really okay if you’re not able to attend to all the concerns right away. Understand that if you let them, distractions can really take a substantial amount out of your working hours. Figure out what your distractions are and get to work managing them without delay.

To every business owner, time is a valuable resource. With so many concerns needing urgent attention, it is easy to lose track of time in a frenzy of activity and then to find out that nothing major has been really accomplished at the end of the day. Every minute counts in business. How do you manage time so that every minute of the workday is productive?

These time-saving tips can give you extra hours in the workday:

Set doable tasks. Starting a task, but not finishing it can frustrate you and wear down your energy level. So, break a major task into smaller tasks at the level of effort and time physically possible for you to attain. Then, check each off your list as you get them done so you feel your energy levels restored each time and you can get moving on to the next task.

Limit warm-up time. It’s easy to let time run away when you think that you have the whole day ahead to get things done so that by the time you get to actual work you already took way too long browsing the Internet or checking out other blogs. It’s okay to allot for warm-up time at the beginning of each workday, but know when to end it and then get started on your to-do list.

Be guided by your Top Two. Arrange your Top Two priority tasks of the day as the first two tasks in your “To-Do” list. This way, you finished two demanding tasks with less stress as your energy level is still high. You will still feel productive if you’ve completed two major issues concerning your business at the end of the day, even if you have eight other less demanding tasks to do in your, let’s say, ten item list.

Peak Time & Down Time. Figure out your most alert moments for deep-thinking and for doing actual work. Most people find they like to do the manual, tangible work by mid-afternoon and upwards and do the brainstorming usually in the early mornings or early evenings when they’re cool and calm.

Now/Later/Delegate. As new tasks come your way during the workday, decide on the spot if you need to work on it now, if it’s something you can get back to later, or if it’s something you can assign to someone else in your team. You can save hours by simply not lingering.

Multitasking does not work. Recent studies show that it is normally impossible for the brain to focus on more than one task at a time. You think you’re doing a number of things at once, but you’re really only switching hastily back and forth between them. This kind of work habit is irregular. It drains your energy level, your brain won’t absorb as much info and you’re more likely to make more errors. Instead, group similar tasks and then finish them all at once.

Organize daily. Spend at least 30 minutes each day putting things in order. Better yet, organize as you go. Hours get wasted trying to find lost papers and other stuff. Psychologists say you can train yourself to be organized by consciously putting things back in their proper places. Do this for three straight weeks and you’ll form the habit of it.

Learn to cut back. Lessen meeting time by getting together only for major brainstorming sessions. Shorten work calls by getting straight to the purpose of your call. Meetings and phone calls have a tendency to drag and get you waylaid by idle chatter. If an email requires you to write out at length, call instead. Learn to say no to activities that are trivial to your business or those you cannot commit to.

There are only a maximum of 12 hours in your workday to do everything without burning yourself out. The better you organize your time, the more you can fit in the day.

“Business is like a wheelbarrow–it stands still until someone pushes it.” Anonymous

A business strategy is the game plan for any business. An effective line of attack guides the business direction clearly. From the point of launch, to the moment the business levels off, encounters setbacks, and gains momentum again or pushes off to another direction, the business strategy is at work non-stop. It’s a working plan, a thought out strategy, you constantly refer to when making your business decisions and solutions. It’s Plan A, Plan B, Plan C — which one will you play out during specific conditions in your business? Without a business strategy as a guide, you will lose direction. Simply put, your business success or failure, whether you win the game or not, largely depends on the business strategy you as business owner put at play.

Like any trained athlete, I know not to get into the game without a game plan. I know I had to have a planned direction to maneuver my business or else I’ll fail. There is no perfect game plan at the onset of any business. Just like coaching, you review stats and tweak the game plan from time to time according to what’s working and what’s not.Here are a few basic rules I considered in setting up my own business game plan:

1. Outline the business as clearly as you can at the start.

• Be precise about your business idea and research your market thoroughly
• Take on the business mindset, know what challenges to expect in running your own business

2. Form your short-term and long-term goals

• Remember to be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-directed) when setting goals
• Plan short-term for the quick-fixes and immediate deadlines. Plan long-term for your bottom line.

3.  Set your action plans, giving attention to the income-generating aspects of the business:

• Marketing (traffic-generating) strategies to make use of
• Advertising plan to promote the business
• Selling plan for finding leads, bringing in actual buyers, increasing revenue

4. Check your business progress.

• Implement your action plans, then measure and correct or adjust after that.
• Be ready to act on any setbacks. Time is critical in business, the sooner delays and drawbacks are dealt with, the better the chances for the business to get back on track.

I manage my business like going into a game — all geared up with a game plan, with several plan options on stand-by in case I need to change the game up at anytime. Each day, I go in for the play, put my best foot forward, change up the game plan when called for, and play the game all over again.

“I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big.” Donald Trump

Before the setup of my marketing company, Perfect Pitch Marketing Group, I had no idea what kind of business to go into. I just knew I wanted to go into business and was determined to make things work. I had the right attitude, but the hardest part was deciding on a business idea I felt confident I could do … until someone gave me some information about the VoIP business opportunity. That got me thinking big in this direction.

Figuring out what online business to go into can be overwhelming. Just look into Google and you see pages of suggestions. Which ones are the legitimate ways to make money online? What kind of business is the right business idea? Just like me, I know a lot of people who want to start their own business, but don’t know how or where to start, and just need a helping hand towards the right direction.

Basically, I just ask myself this question when figuring out ideas: “Is my good idea, a good idea to others, too?” It’s the basic economics of supply and demand. For any business to work there has to be consumer demand. If I believe in a product or service and many other people think the same way, then I go for it. It’s all about market research and gut-feel for me … knowing the great product in detail, zeroing in on the target market, studying the competition,  estimating market challenges, and trusting my instincts.These are some of the online business ideas I am into, which I believe are legitimate, long-term, guaranteed ways to make you money online. These business ideas cost very little to start up, but have very promising returns on investment when done correctly:

Through your Blog or Website

1. Renting out advertising space to marketers, if your site has high traffic then advertisers can pay you to place their banners or pop-ups on your site
2. Contextual advertising by simply displaying ads related to the content on your web-page and earning from the number of clicks made (Google’s Ad-sense program or Kontera)
3. There are actually different blog styles to fit your business concept. You can find out here: Dosh Dosh: How to Make Money Blogging
4. You can make money with your blogs by means of paid blogging. See how here: Dosh Dosh: A Definitive List of Paid Blogging Websites
5. Use your website as an e-commerce storefront to sell products/services complete with online catalog, shopping cart, multiple payment options
6. Use your website to sell informational products.  Highlight your expertise or any skill you’re good at and then promote. There are people who would pay to know what you know.

Through Affiliate Marketing and Network Marketing

No matter what you might have heard about online affiliate marketing and network marketing being scams and all, I know for a fact that most affiliate and network marketing programs are legitimate companies and that you can make substantial income through them.

• In affiliate marketing, you earn one time commission on each sale made. Good examples: Amazon, Clickbank, DISH Network affiliate program

• In network marketing, earnings are based on the number of levels achieved, personal sales plus downline sales and referral fees. Good examples: 5LINX VoIP network marketing program and other network marketing ideas here.

No matter which marketing method you use, make sure you examine the product/service and the income structure so that you get the most out of these two systems for your business.

These are all legitimate and profitable business ideas to start with. I hope one of them inspires your business vision. And keep in mind, there are countless get-rich-quick scams out there, so be careful. There is no easy road to success. If any business idea sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Do research, weigh up all the pros and cons, don’t procrastinate, make the decision and then get started on making the idea a reality right away.

“In business, I’ve discovered that my purpose is to do my best to my utmost ability every day. That’s my standard. I learned early in my life that I had high standards.”

Donald Trump

One of the reasons I started this blog was for it to be a platform where I could share ideas about what I learned as I continue to grow my business. I share my personal success by giving out information of value to anyone starting  their own business. To show them how stuff I learned has worked for me, with the hope that it would help others too.

Starting Perfect Pitch Marketing Group has kicked off many challenges to me as business owner. For one, I am eager to gain  a lot of business advice,  so there is a lot of information to process. I think I suffer more from burn out via information overload than on any other aspect of the business.

As I grow my business, the struggle for me is in:

1. dealing with so many emotions about it’s direction — fear, worry, insecurity, impatience, eagerness
2. learning to focus, balancing things, pacing myself
3. coming up with business ideas

The road to business triumph is not easy, but here’s what I learned along the way so far:

RESEARCH can really help switch on that light bulb of ideas. By making inquiries, delving into several recommendations, and studying a number of options I got beyond the confusing first step of forming my own business model. Information empowers me. I think information can change the direction of any business–it can develop it or destroy it. When you have correct facts, data, figures, expertise, comprehension, ideas on any business you want to get into, then you can plan on a course of action that can help set you out in the right direction. So, gather information, make the decision, and then get started on it right away.

PLANNING is really needed because now I have a guideline to operate my business on. A business plan starts with researching on business ideas followed by outlining your business strategy for branding, advertising, selling, dealing with setbacks, and making profits.

HARD WORK, TIME MANAGEMENT AND MONEY are critical in business. I didn’t expect to make tons of money right away, but I did count on making money at some point through hard work and persistence. Time management is a skill I am learning to master daily; by prioritizing I can actually get more things done. Money makes it easy to set all my ideas in motion.

ANTICIPATE some bad days. Reality check: there will be setbacks to the good days. I always try to take away something of value from all the hard times that come my way and the mistakes that I make. I believe that difficult things happen because I need to learn something from them. So, take the loss along with the profits, the criticisms along with the praise … overwhelmed with hard luck? All successful business people have had their share, let’s just keep getting up, never give in, and keep moving forward.

WORK OUT THE BASICS. I didn’t know everything when I launched my marketing business, I wasn’t technology savvy and didn’t know the in’s and out’s of the marketing game, but I knew enough computer skills to make things work, and had successful associates to mentor me. You can’t know everything all at once when you start the ball rolling, but at the very least go into your business equipped with the essentials. Invest money wisely on the foundational work such as the structural design of your website/blog, educating yourself through online trainings that can help you put everything together and acquiring tools/plug-ins/apps and how-to materials that are only really necessary.

CREATE A POSITIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT. I owe my success to hard work, persistence and the great people whom I work with. I think it’s basic business wisdom to partner with people who can be solid business allies to you. Pick out business associates and employees whom you can trust to share your vision with, whom you can call on during tough times and help you press forward.

CONCENTRATE. To persist, I focus on the task at hand and stick with it through thick and thin. I refuse to get sidetracked, so I gain confidence by concentrating on completing what I can do one task at a time, one day at a time — and then, give myself a pat on the back for those little achievements. My business strategy helps out a lot because it gives me direction and keeps me on track. I set a deadline for each task each day always aiming towards the time lines I’ve set for the bigger outcome.

One thing I know from my own experience is that starting a business and running it daily, will require great commitment from you as business owner.  It takes a lot of effort to keep going despite the setbacks.  As a pro-athlete, I have been trained to focus and persist. But I’ve realized that building a business calls for twice as much focus and persistence — it’s a whole new ballgame I take on everyday.