Succeeding at Network Marketing — Are You Trying To Reinvent The Wheel?
A couple of days ago, I was watching the Subway Series on TV…. the Yankees against the Mets. As always, it was a hard fought series.
What I saw in the first game of the series really intrigued me. The Yankees had a young, 23-year old pitcher going against the Mets. His name is Joba Chamberlain. Joba is very talented but extremely inexperienced, especially in big series such as the Yankees-Mets rivalry.
Catching for the Yankees was veteran Jorge Posada. Jorge has been through it all… the pressures of big games, hostile crowds, and even a few World Series. He knows how to call a game, and is generally trusted among the pitchers.
So what do I see on Friday night?
I see this young, inexperienced pitcher calling off his catcher time after time (NOTE: for non-baseball fans, the catcher generally indicates a sign to the pitcher, telling him which pitch to throw. The pitcher can accept this call, or he can “shake it off” by shaking his head NO, and the catcher will try another pitch).
Here is Posada, one of the most experienced big time catchers in the league, and he is being shaken off by the 23 year old “know it all” pitcher. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
So what happened?
Not surprisingly, Chamberlain imploded, walking in a couple of runs, hitting batters with the bases loaded, and totally losing his cool. It was obvious that Posada was steamed, and with good reason. Chamberlain was gone by the 4th inning.
Chamberlain decided to REINVENT THE WHEEL. He decided that, even with his inexperience, he knew better than the experienced catcher on the right pitches to throw. Posada, having been in numerous big games in critical situations, knew which pitches Chamberlain should throw. He knew what would work. He had a proven system that has worked time and again in the past.
But Chamberlain thought he knew better. And he failed miserably.
Why am I telling you this story?
Because I see the same mistake being made by Network Marketing newbies every day. They come into the business, all gung-ho and excited to light the Network Marketing world on fire.
But rather than going with a system that has proven to be successful, well established strategies that have worked for some of the top leaders in network marketing, they decide to “go it alone”.
They decide their way will be better.
And they fail. And they quit believing it’s all a scam and can’t be done. Thinking only the leaders make the money.
In reality, all they had to do was plug into systems that already work.
As new home business owners, there are so many new things to learn and implement. It can be a bit overwhelming.
Don’t exacerbate this by trying to reinvent the wheel.
To your success!
How To Use Free Keyword Research Tools to Maximize Your Efforts Online
If someone asked me what is THE MOST important thing I’ve learned since I first started network marketing several years ago, I would have no trouble answering….
Welcome to Day 28 of the “30 Tips in 30 Days” Holiday Blog Special. To see other posts in this series, click on the “Business and Marketing Tips” link in the Category section.
What is the most important skill I’ve learned? No contest.
KEYWORD RESEARCH
Keywords are everything in online marketing. Let me repeat that.
KEYWORDS ARE EVERYTHING.
Why? Because everything you do on the Internet means nothing if nobody sees it.
And how do you get people to see your work? By finding the proper keywords that people use in their searches.
Seems simple, right? Not so fast.
Think about the way you search for something on Google. You type in whatever you’re interested in.
Let’s say by way of example that you are interested in visiting Puerto Rico and you wish to know the best hotels to stay at in San Juan.
If you simply type in Puerto Rico in Google search, it’s not likely that you’ll get exactly what you’re looking for without going through several pages of search results.
But if you type in “Best Hotels in San Juan Puerto Rico”, voila! Right before your eyes will be exactly what you need on page 1 of the search results.
Because most of us want to find things the easy way, and we want it on page 1 of our Google search. Right?
The same holds true with online marketing. Your aim is to get your material on the FIRST PAGE of Google. Otherwise, it’s likely lost in the great Internet abyss.
How do you do this? Keyword Research.
There are various ways to perform keyword research, using both free tools and those that you purchase.
I use only the free tools, and so far they seem to work for me just fine.
Rather than explain how to do keyword research,
let me use this BLOG POST as an example.
STEP ONE: What do you want to blog about? (or talk about on videos, or write articles, or do squidoo lenses, or write a press release, or perform pay-per-click advertising…. see, I told you that keyword research is the one skill that you use for everything in network marketing!).
In my example, I wanted to post a blog about keywords. More specifically, how to do keyword research. The first step in the process is narrowing down exactly what general keywords you have in mind.
STEP TWO: Go to a free tool called Google Suggest. This tool allows you to see search volume as you type a phrase in the Google Search box. You’ve probably used it before without realizing it was Google Suggests.
When I typed in “keyword research”, it gave me a volume of 14, 200,000. That’s ALOT of searches! This means that people are definitely interested in this subject area, which is great.
But it also means that there is likely to be a lot of competition for the keyword phrase, “keyword research.”
So we need to dig deeper.
STEP THREE: Go to another free keyword tool, Google Adwords Kayword Tool. This is a fantastic free tool that you can use whether or not you have a Google Adwords account.
It provides the average monthly search volume for your keyword or keyword phrase, and for several related keyword phrases. It also gives you an idea of the competition for that keyword.
The Google Adwords Keyword Tool is very easy to use:
- Indicate you want to search for “Descriptive words or phrases”
- Enter the keyword or keyword phrase
- Click “Get keyword idea”
And you’re off and running.
For my example, I typed in the term “keyword” first. That was way too competitive, so I typed in “keyword research”. Still too competitive, so I looked for longer variations of this search phrase for something less competitive.
You may have seen the term “long-tailed keywords”. This is what they are referring to.
Here are the results for my research
keyword …………………………….. avg. search volume 450,000……… very competitive
keyword research...…………….. avg. search volume 49,500……….. very competitive
keyword research tools .……… avg. search volume 1.900 ………… less competitive
free keyword research tools… avg. search volume 320…………. no competition
By doing appropriate keyword research and using longer keyword phrases that were searched less often but with far less competition, I was able to come up with a long-tailed keyword phrase that will rank well in the Google search engines.
So the next time someone searches on “free keyword research tools”, it’s likely that my blog post will come up on page 1 of the search.
Keyword research is POWERFUL. It’s also an essential tool to learn if you are going to market anything online.
In fact, if I were going to pay for more training in ANY skill, I would pay for additional training in keyword research.
It’s THAT IMPORTANT.
That’s it for today, guys. Coming down the home stretch…. two more days left in this blog special series….
and I have SO much still to teach you.
Til tomorrow,
When Quitting Is Not An Option
One year ago yesterday, my then fiance (and now my wife) Rosemary was diagnosed with breast cancer following a routine mammogram. Over the next year, she faced 4 surgeries and challenges beyond anything she ever thought possible.
Welcome to Day 27 of my “30 Tips in 30 Days” Holiday Blog Special. If you’ve missed any of the previous posts this month, click on the Business and Marketing Tips Category on the right sidebar.
Today, Rosemary and I shot a video to tell her story. It is one of courage and hope for anyone diagnosed with a life threatening illness. And don’t worry — it has a happy ending.
Usually I provide you with a daily marketing or budgeting tip straight out.
But today I’m going to make you work for it.
Watch the following video. Figure out how the messages provided by Rosemary relate to how you run your home based business.
And when you figure it out, leave a comment and tell the rest of the group.
Here is the video:
May your new year be filled with health and happiness,
Bob
See our other videos on YouTube!
LIVE COMMENTS
Latest on Thu, 03:08: Mary.. let me know my error... let's discuss!
: I think, that you commit an error. Let's discuss. Write to me in PM, we will communicate.
: Sweet blog. I never know what I am going to come across next. I think you should do more posting as you have some pretty [...]
: Hey doc, right on! Need more people like you on the planet
: I was just introduced to your site through CCPro Forum. My initial question - how should one define "TRUTH"? (I love word-studies and that's a [...]
-
"