Results: Is MLM a Buyer's Club or Financial Opportunity?

So far 249 readers responded to the survey last week. Here are the results:

Is MLM a Buyer's Club or Financial Opportunity? Kim Klaver Survey

The results are interesting from many perspectives. Of the 249 who responded:

1. The great majority of MLMers say it's the product, not the money, keeps them in the business. ( See Q 1.) 61.4% stay because of the product. Only 22.9% for the money. You're invited to read the comments, too.

2. Companies and upline clearly make significant income from the monthly minimum forced product orders. Nearly ALL (79%) respondents (Q 3) reported they had to make a minimum product purchase each month to qualify to get paid on any possible sales activity.

3. The majority (50.2% - Q 4) said they spend more on the minimum monthly purchases than they earn in sales commissions. 45% said they didn't.

4. A whopping 81% (Q 7) say the products alone are worth being part of the business. Clearly buying the products trumps earning income. And that is a very good thing for the companies and upline.

Observations. We all know that most folks aren't making money (they spend more than they earn) in their MLM business. The fact that 81% think that's ok is a good thing for the companies and the recruiters. Because the company and everyone up the line benefits from those monthly orders.

So why complain about the fact that most MLMers don't make money? Most don't seem to care all that much. They're in it for the product. Whether that's a rationalization or whether it's just how it is, who cares? They say they're not in it for the money. At least not anymore.

So, shall we stop complaining about why so many folks are not earning much income in MLM?

Seems that is not the reason most networkers stay in the business. They may have come for that reason, but it's not why they say they're staying in. Sodden thought:

Should we reposition the business to new people based on this information? So they're not so discouraged when they don't earn the promised quick and easy income?

You thoughts?

P.S. Of course, it may be my readers who are peculiar. Perhaps another cross-section of MLMers from 40-50 companies would respond differently. Who knows?

Are you paying the "Stupid Tax"?

A Google employee was describing the "stupid tax" as the extra money most people who advertise on Google pay for their ads.

Huh?

Yes. Because their ads are not the most relevant to what buyers are looking for. I.e. not the most specific and narrowly focused.

For example, compare these two ads.

Keyword: Scrap Gold

AD: How to Buy Scrap Gold
Scrap Gold Profits Guide
Start Buying Scrap Gold Today
www.buyingscrapgold.com

When a person clicked on that ad, they got to a "landing" page with the headline:

"How To Buy Scrap Gold For Fun and Profit."

Cost per click for that campaign: $0.17. (Each time a person clicked on that ad, it cost the ad owner $0.17.)

Compare that to THIS ad:

Keyword: Scrap Gold

How To buy Scrap Metal
Scrap Metal Profits Guide
Start Buying Scrap Metal Today
www.buyingscrapmetal.com

Landing page headline: "How To Buy Scrap Metal for Fun and Profit."

Average cost per click for this campaign: $0.62

See the difference?

This second ad, instead of targeting the ad to specifically scrap gold - the keyword chosen - this ad and landing page are really about the more generic scrap metal.

A searcher who clicked on 'gold scrap' would be disappointed here. Scrap metal is much more general than scrap gold. So they'd have to keep clicking to find what she clicked on, scrap gold. Google doesn't like that because their customers don't like it. Wastes time. NOT relevant. Pay stupid tax.

In this case 300% more for your ad clicks.

"That's why," writes the author of this cool $27 report, "the advertising costs are 300% higher for the SAME ad in the same position on the page." He adds:

"This is the Google Stupid Tax being played out right before your eyes." Get report here. (Scroll past all the loud colored text right to report.)

Google focuses on search satisfaction so their customers keep using them to search for what they want. You want to do the same. Offer your products or business specifically to people who have an interest in them. That means NOT everyone.

You are paying a giant stupid tax when you offer your product or business to everyone.

You spend way more on irrelevant ads than you need to, buy way more leads that are not targeted properly than you need to, get more no's than you need to, and spend much more than you need to. Then you quit. You've just paid the ultimate stupid tax.

Relevance for us: describing and then approaching people who DO want what we have. And who will find the money to pay for it.

We've all learned it's far from everyone. And we're all paying the stupid tax because we didn't know that. But now that we have all discovered it, what now?

How would you write an ad that would be relevant for (attract) someone who'd be the ideal prospect for your business? Can find money, AND want to pursue a business of their own? And stop paying the stupid (irrelevant) tax?

Top 40 NM Start-Ups: Week 37

Top 40 NM Start-Ups: Week 37.

Don't see your company? Check the Top 50 here.

The current Top 50 Network Marketing Companies represents the most highly trafficked companies online, as rated each day and updated each week by Alexa. The Top 50 are also 5 years old or more.

Next Top 40 Start-ups update: Mid March, 2009, probably.

Top 40 Start-Ups list.

Network Marketing companies with 1) the highest internet traffic as ranked by Alexa, AND 2) that are LESS than five years old as of the date of the update. That data is also obtained from Alexa for each company. We are adding more companies to this list.

Alexa, while not perfect by any means, is the most widely used tracking service for website rankings since 1996. Alexa ranks millions of websites.

Rank 1 is the highest; Rank 10 million the lowest.

NOTE: When you click on a company, you will usually get some live humans who are independent reps for that company. Those folks are all members of Network Marketing Central (NMC) or the iGaggle Network. For a company that has no NMC member yet, you will go directly to that company page.

1. Mona Vie 31,141
2. My Power Mall 41,205
3. Max International 61,520
4. Wealth Masters International 72,298
5. Waiora 90,742
6. Vemma, Liquid Vitamins & Minerals 94,581
7. Agel 96,556
8. Freedom Rocks 105,945
9. Talk Fusion 108,231
10. MXI Corp 135,172
11. One Group 175,367
12. MyVideo Talk 183,368 (+1)
13. Acai Plus 191,018 (-1)
14. Xooma Worldwide 226,888
15. IGONET 470,993
16. Ignite 503,454
17. Citizenre 700,470
18. Ad Calls 792,646
19. Fruta Vida International 909,379
20. Cleure 1,105,064
21. Plexus Pink International 2,321,434
22. The Balance Company 2,552,448
23. Amigo Health 2,639,228
24. Zenza Life Scliences 3,894,003
25. BookWise 5,129,773
26. BioNovix 5,711,696 (+1)
27. GBG 6,092,531 (-1)
28. LifeFoods, LLC 7,542,629
29. Univera Life Sciences 8,121,560 (+1)
30. Yoffi Fine Jewelry 8,388,607 (-1)
31. VitaLifeNetworks 8,388,607

It's now the Top 40 Start ups. Comment below if we missed you, and include the company website URL. We'll check it right out and add it if appropriate. We try to be perfect, but if not, please give us the fix you think we should make.

Top 50 Network Marketing Companies Week 67

Just updated today by Alexa.

Don't see your company? Check the Top Start Ups here.
The Top 50 Network Marketing Companies are ranked by Internet popularity – number of visitors to the company websites averaged over 3 months.

For the Top Start-Ups (companies less than 5 years old and with highest Alexa rank), go here.

The numbers are compiled by Alexa.com, the most widely used tracking service for website rankings since 1996. Alexa ranks millions of websites. Rank 1 is the highest; Rank 10 million the lowest. Alexa updates weekly. This week, Yahoo.com is No. 1.

In the list of the Top 50 network marketing companies below, the Alexa rank appears to the right of each company. If a company has gone up or down in rank from the previous week, the change appears as a + or -. No change, no mark.

Next update: Probably mid March, 2009.

NOTE: This list includes companies that are top ranked, AND are 5 years old or more. Some companies have disappeared from this list, and are now on the Top Start-Ups list here because they're less than 5 years old. If we missed one, Comment below, we'll check into it.

NOTE 2: In most cases, when you click on one of these Top 50 companies, you will be taken to a page of an Independent Rep for that company. All such Reps are members of Network Marketing Central (NMC), a community of network marketers who believe in working together, and who subscribe to the "No promises. No Problems" mantra of NMC.

1. Avon 2,669
2. Mary Kay 13,263
3. Melaleuca 13,892 (+1)
4. Quixtar 14,096 (-1)
5. Market America 17,697
6. Usana 19,220
7. Ytb Travel 20,095
8. Success University 27,913
9. Isagenix 29,827
10. A C N 31,713 (+1)
11. Pre-paid Legal 32,565 (-1)
12. Shaklee 32,881
13. Take Shape for Life/Medifast 33,081
14. Herbalife 34,101
15. Pampered Chef 36,117 (+1)
16. Nu Skin Enterprises 36,350 (-1)
17. Arbonne International 37,546 (+1)
18. Tupperware 37,767 (-1)
19. FreeLife International 45,154 (+1)
20. Forever Living 45,418 (-1)
21. Send Out Cards 51,007
22. helloWorld 60,257 (+1)
23. Tahitian Noni 62,109 (-1)
24. Amway 66,254
25. Tastefully Simple 71,440
26. Young Living 72,344
27. Xango 79,420 (+2)
28. Creative Memories 80,453 (+2)
29. AmeriPlan 82,388 (-2)
30. Liberty League 83,401 (+3)
31. VM Direct 83,723 (-3)
32. Scent-Sations (Mia Bella Candles) 85,719 (-1)
33. Trivita 88,781 (-1)
34. Primerica 93,825 (+1)
35. Healthy Pet Net 97,355 (-1)
36. Longaberger 100,163
37. Unicity 108,447
38. Nature's Sunshine 109,722
39. Mannatech 120,390
40. Watkins 123,279 (+1)
41. Nikken 123,440 (+1)
42. United First Financial 123,869 (-2)
43. Vitamark International 124,180
44. 4Life Research, LLC 129,057
45. Sunrider 140,603
46. Lifewave 150,087 (+2)
47. Home & Garden Party 150,486 (-1)
48. Ecoquest International 155,497 (-1)
49. Oxyfresh 167,146
50. Reliv 185,649

Alexa rankings of our Network Marketing group are most impressive. Our Top 50 Network Marketing Companies are in the top 10% of Alexa’s first million sites.

Most of our Top 50 are also ranked 100,000 or better (remember lower numbers are better - it's closer to #1.)

Alexa says that "Generally, Traffic Rankings of 100,000+ should be regarded as not reliable because the amount of data we receive is not statistically significant.

Conversely, the more traffic a site receives (the closer it gets to the number 1 position), the more reliable its Traffic Ranking becomes." (emphasis added) Source: Alexa.com So we're in the highest ranked group!

You can check your company ranking by going to alexa.com, and entering your company’s website address. If your company doesn’t appear in this list and you think it should, let us know by posting a friendly Comment, below.

Remember, in addition to the Alexa ranking, a company must also be 5 years old or more to be included here.

Learn about Alexa.com here. For a discussion of its limitations, see "I did a scary thing..."

NOTE: This list does not include affiliate programs. No enroller sites (although some slip in), no landing pages or distributor websites. No shopping discount programs if they are not really network marketing. We correct and update errors as we find them.

Need a Creative Boost? Find the Blue Room

From the New York Times...

"Trying to improve your performance...or write that novel? Maybe it’s time to consider the color of your walls or your computer screen.

If a new study is any guide, the color red can make people’s work more accurate, and blue can make people more creative..." MORE here
(PDF here in case)

So you think you know your numbers?

I mean your sales numbers of course.

What should you expect when you do online promotions, in the way of results.

Five questions. 20 seconds.

Do you know your numbers? Kim Klaver Survey

First person to get closest to the actual numbers wins any MP3 or E-eBook on my Marketing order page.

(Or an MM ticket to Dr. Heidi's ER Fat Burn program).

UPDATE. Duh. Of course I don't know WHO is responding to the survey. So I'll find another way to offer these fun prizes.

Suggestions, anyone?

One option: You tell (in comments below) what prize you want and why. I will pick someone (or two) with the most specific and compelling reasons they stated, for why they wanted whatever they chose.

Use the comment area below. You do not need to be a member of anything. Remember to include your name and email so we can contact you if you win.

Have you tried cleavage marketing?

Show-all or cleavage?

How do you attract the Unstoppable One? The one with no inhibitions? The one who could care less what the neighbors think. The one who's totally committed and driven to do the business?

Well the best way is to tickle their curiosity. And to do that, less is more. Mystery creates curiosity. That's why a little cleavage beats a totally stripped down person everytime.

Our tendency - as sellers - is tell-all marketing. To bowl them over with our first pitch. We want to make it big, persuasive and impressive. People would be dumb to say no, right? But alas, it also leaves many people cold.

Consider this email 'pitch' I got from a reader yesterday (in response to my 'trumped up crap' email):

"The Company I am with is traded on the NYSE which means everything is available about what we do. We, also, have a 5A1 rating on Dunn & Bradstreet. We have been on the Today Show, NBC, CBS, FOX News. Want to check the News clips out? Go to: www.xxxxxxx.com and see for yourself. It is totally amazing what our 100+ PhD scientists have found.")

That's a pretty standard opener - telling lots of stuff about your great company.

Compare that to Madonna's mystery marketing approach. For 25 years, she has earned hundreds of times more each year than what the best strippers make. Why? My guess (forget the singing)...she NEVER takes it ALL off.

She knows the power of showing only some cleavage. It generates mystique. She never shows it all. And her fans (millions and millions) keep coming back and buying again. And again. And again. She knows cleavage marketing works way better than tell-all marketing.

Works in the weirdest places, too:

'I suppose I can take a little off the sides Bob,
but this is your fourth haircut this week.'

What's a little cleavage talk for your business? So they keep coming back for more? You know, show a little, and leave them hankering for more...Feel free to comment below.

If you're not sure, check out "The Art of Recruiting" That's filled with cleavage marketing tips and openers...

Cleavage marketers: Get the Art of Recruiting (MP3s here or CD version here) at 33% discount. 24 hours only. Or first 25, whichever comes first. At the end of the order process, it'll prompt you for a discount code. Enter: cleavage

I'll do a live call for all buyers of the Art of Recruiting program this THURSDAY evening. Will email you with the number and pin. (Everyone who bought the A of R program with the 'cleavage' discount.)