After discovering a network marketing business
that offers you great products and a great compensation plan it’s time to build your network marketing team with marketing techniques that have proven to work.

Article marketing is a great way to endorse your network marketing business for free. Write articles that have interesting content and then submit them to numerous article directories. Each time you submit an article you will be given a resource box, this is where you will have links to your website or network marketing business.

For article marketing to work you must be submitting at least 6 articles per month and you should be continuing this for at least 12 months. Article marketing also doubles as a great way to build links to your website. Write useful articles that draw attention to your resource box and this method of advertising will be one of the best ways to build your network marketing business.

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You have heard the networking term SIP, but what is it? SIP stands for Session Initiation Protocol, in which a phone company delivers telephony services over a wire called a “trunk”. This trunk connects a business’ PBX (private branch exchange) to a PSTN (public switched telephone network). The actual trunk hardware carries the phone calls from the business site to the PSTN, giving the business their phone service. The advantage of using a SIP trunk is that it replaces physical cables with telephone service over a data network. This data network can consist of a dedicated line, a shared connection with a data service or even by using the Internet for connectivity.

While SIP trunking services have been around since 2005, getting businesses to accept this form of technology have been difficult. The main reason being, most network managers don’t fully understand what a SIP trunk is or how it works. Another reason is businesses are only now understanding the need for this technology for their businesses. For companies looking to use VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology, they should also consider SIP trunks.

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Brands can benefit from advertising in social-media space. The approaches offer a means to engage consumers, enhance brand reputation and image, build positive brand attitudes, improve organic search rankings, and drive traffic to brand locations, both on- and off-line. The steps in any advertising campaign will begin with setting campaign objectives and end with assessing the effectiveness of the strategies and tactics to determine the degree of success in accomplishing the stated objectives and to inform the next campaign. The challenge is to develop a set of measures to assess success and plan for future strategies and tactics.

At this stage of development, social-media advertising lacks the standard metrics that have served as a primary advantage for online advertising. Online advertising as a form of direct-response advertising has measurability built into its very existence. Advertisers can measure reach (the number of people exposed to the message) and frequency (the average number of times someone is exposed), and analyze site stickiness (the ability of a site to draw repeat visits and to keep people on a site) and the relative pull of creative presentations (a comparison of the ability for different creative executions to generate response). They can also monitor clickthroughs (the number of people exposed who click on an online ad or link), sales conversions (the number of people who click- through who then purchase product), and viewthroughs (the number of people who are exposed and do not clickthrough but later visit the brand’s Web site). These metrics are applicable to the use of display advertising in social spaces. If L’Oreal buys display ads on Facebook, all of these metrics are available to gauge effectiveness.

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Social media encompass communication possible throughout all of the forms of social communities online. Social-media communities include forums, virtual worlds, social news organizations, social opinion-sharing sites, and social networks. Social networks are built around site platforms that enable members to develop identity profiles, interact with other members, and participate in various site activities. Social networks are 2D environments with identity representation limited to one’s profile rather than by visually detailed avatars common to virtual worlds. Although interactions with others can seemingly approximate synchronous real-time communication, the messaging structure is static rather than dynamic. Networks can be thought of as utility-based tools. They are an elegant but fun way to organize content, socialize, and promote one’s self-identity.

Despite this, social networks have grown in popularity from their ability to provide a platform for information sharing, communication, and relationship development and maintenance. In a world where individuals may have reduced physical contact and heightened time spent interacting with electronic devices, social networks have evolved to provide an online platform for personal, intimate, informal neighborhood and office chatter. They offer a sense of “contact comfort” in a society where many of us spend less time with actual people than we do with machines. Contact comfort helps to meet individual needs for affiliation and socialization. Social networks meet our need for contact comfort while also providing entertainment and information sharing.

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Dear Wendy,

I am brand new to networking. I just joined two different groups, so I’m meeting people, but no one has ever taught me how to build a healthy network. Any advice?

Dear Courageous Socialite;

You have my congratulations.

Not because you are consciously building a network – lots of people do that – but because you are taking the responsibility for whether your network is toxic or effective. Bravo to you!

Here are the first three rules, let me know when you’re ready for more:

Say good things: It doesn’t impress anyone when you share that you had a hard time finding the place, or that traffic was bad, or that your allergies are kicking in. You are impressive though when you compliment a board member on bringing in a great speaker, or thank the president for a meeting well run, or volunteer to serve on a committee. When you’re new you get the golden once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make first impressions. Make them good.

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Dear Wendy,

My boss made me to join this association, and I hate it. They meet early in the morning, they don’t like me, and I skip as often as I think I can get away with. How can I assert my independence and tell my boss that I’m not going to go any more?

Dear Unhappy Ms. Independent:

We’ll come to several forks in the road on this journey, so keep both hands on the wheel at all times.

First: Why did your boss “make” you join the association?

a: If she wants to brand the company within that organization, then either find a certified morning person who would love to trade you for the evening networking group she yawns through, or find a new job. (You might also see if there is a different chapter of the organization that you could transfer your membership to.)

b: If your boss used to be a member, and liked it, and she thought you would too, you can come to her with an alternative – suggest a particular luncheon meeting and tell the why the people you meet there will be better prospects and GateOpeners. (But be respectful of this group, because if your boss liked these people that means you would be complaining to her about her own friends.)

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In American surveys 88% of the population says they are shy. If you’re in that group networking events are uncomfortable. It seems that the friendly people interrupt conversations to hand their business card to strangers. That perception isn’t reality.

Friendly people use their eyes to guarantee a warm welcome from everyone in the room.

First Make Eye Contact: Eye contact always comes before words. The farther away you are when you make eye contact, the more time you give the person to remember you and think of a way to introduce you to their current conversation partners.

At 10 Feet, Smile: Your smile signals that you are going to join them. You’ll get a warm welcome because they are expecting you.

At 3 Feet, Extend Your Hand: In our culture a handshake is a business requirement.

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Paint-by-number kits first appeared in 1951. By 1954, twelve million kits had been sold.

While there were critics, of course, (“It’s too formulaic”; “It isn’t really art”; “It’s tacky”) paint-by-number kits gave aspiring artists results they were proud of, and bought again.

Richard Hess’s portrait of President Lyndon Johnson as an incomplete paint-by-number work was even exhibited at the Louvre in Paris. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History has a current exhibit about this universally accessible art form.

Imagine if you had the template, the numbers, to build a network.

Here are 4:

Be visibly active in 3 different types of associations: That’s the number of people you need to be in regular contact with in order to get and give referrals.

Follow through 5 times with each person you meet: This year’s NASE survey once again found that 80% of all sales or referrals happen after the 5th to 7th contact.

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Chris confessed:

“I am not shy. I can talk to anybody, but I would rather be funny and amusing than taken seriously. (It is safer.) I end up ‘performing’ and make no progress. How do I get past this?”

Kim complained:

“He’s asked me five times if he can give me a quote on my insurance. So now, I just avoid him at meetings.”

Here’s what I think: I think Chris fears people will think he is like the person Kim is talking about. How unattractive.

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Dear Wendy,

Is there an art to creating the right mix of networking activities? How do I know if I’m going to enough or the right combination?

Dear Artistic Networker;

Bravo! your instincts are correct. Successful results do indeed include both harmony and dissonance, just like an opera. Here are three components that will ensure grand reviews and encore engagements:

Think love triangle: Every opera has a 3-way. It creates a little tension, adds a little spice, without it there isn’t a story. Effective networking requires divergence too. There are 21 different types of networks: Industry specific associations, Single occupation associations, Trade associations, Close-contact associations, Charitable and civic associations, Philosophical associations… you get the picture.

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