The FTC is coming and Jeff Walker and Jeff Johnson are prepared...You?

Big time Internet Marketer Jeff Johnson (see here) is promoting what looks like a fabulous seminar for someone who wants to build "an online publishing empire." Product Launch guru Jeff Walker recently launched his superb Product Launch program, which I have.

These guys report they've made millions online, especially marketing their programs. And they've helped others earn income they might never have earned.

Here's why I'm telling you. In VERY BIG PRINT at the very bottom of the sales page, both of these successful gurus put the same disclaimer (red added - KK):

"TESTIMONIAL DISCLAIMER: THE PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCED BY THE FOLLOWING USER COMMENTS AND TESTIMONIALS, ON THIS PAGE AND/OR OUR WEB SITE , IS NOT WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT TO EXPERIENCE. ALTHOUGH COMPANY ACCEPTS THE TESTIMONIALS IN GOOD FAITH, COMPANY HAS NOT INDEPENDENTLY EXAMINED THE BUSINESS RECORDS OF ANY OF THE PROVIDERS AND THEREFORE HAS NOT VERIFIED ANY SPECIFIC FIGURES OR RESULTS QUOTED THEREIN. THESE RESULTS ARE NOT TYPICAL, AND YOUR INCOME OR RESULTS, IF ANY, WILL VARY AND THERE IS A RISK YOU WILL NOT MAKE ANY MONEY AT ALL. SOME OF THE USERS MAY, IN SOME CASES, BEEN INCENTIVIZED TO SUBMIT THEIR COMMENTS.

The FTC is preparing regs that will cover testimonials (bad ones might need to be added along with rosy ones), among other things.

I suspect all the Internet Marketing guru programs will have words like this - if they don't already - and while that is well and good, there's a very important part that is missing: The time, effort and money it will really take you to get results.

Not that results cannot be obtained, they can. But NOT in 24 hours or six months - UNLESS you have the same years of experience, the drive, the talent, the patience and the will the sellers had. The Internet market (and especially Google) changes almost daily and what worked even last year in say, PPC advertising (Pay Per Click), doesn't work anymore today.

It's like saying: "Here's how I got my M.D. in ONE DAY. You can too." Then you read...yes, they crossed the stage one day and got their M.D. letters. And so can you...after you go through the grind, the expense, the frustrations and experimentation that they did.

It's not easy, and no, anyone can NOT do it. Does this sound familiar or what?

Going in with your eyes open is a good thing. Think of these wonderful programs as CAREER choices, NOT quickie part time money-makers. Because they are career moves. And if you are not ready, willing and able to put in career-like effort, plan on a credit card bill of $1997 next month. Or five monthly payments of $395.

Think these relatively new big fat disclaimers might help keep out the wrong folks? Those hoping for a quick change of fortunes?


P.S. Obviously the same types of FTC attention will be focused on direct marketing and network marketing advertising.

When free pizza didn't work, he charged them.

Archie's job was to sell a pricey piece of business equipment. To get the potential buyers interested in "Product XP", he invited prospects to lunch. He bought everyone pizza and did his product presentation. After doing about a dozen of these, he made almost no sales.

One day he talked to a business consultant. Having nothing to lose, he decided to test a totally different approach. He put together a three day training course for the product.

Here was his next ad:

"Product XP boot camp: $1500

7 people showed up. Several months later, Fortune 500 companies were sending him their employees so he could show them how to use the system he was trying to sell (!).

Each one paid $1500.

What happened here?

He had repositioned himself as an expert offering information. Versus a salesman. (Thanks, Perry).

Can you do something similar in your business? How would you do it?

Use the comments below...

Top 40 Network Marketing Start Ups: Week 38

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 June, 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 23,194
2. My Power Mall 57,826
3. Wealth Masters International 60,201
4. Talk Fusion 70,803 (+1)
5. Max International 76,534 (-1)
6. Agel 82,949
7. Vemma, Liquid Vitamins & Minerals 89,228
8. MXI Corp 114,511
9. One Group 143,835
10. Freedom Rocks 156,942
11. Xooma Worldwide 185,107
12. MyVideo Talk 210,573
13. Acai Plus 225,972
14. Ignite 357,367
15. Citizenre 520,204
16. IGONET 743,654
17. Fruta Vida International 1,028,041
18. Ad Calls 1,043,716
19. Cleure 1,256,579
20. The Balance Company 2,710,085
21. Plexus Pink International 2,925,569
22. Amigo Health 3,444,904
23. BioNovix 3,559,256
24. Zenza Life Scliences 4,808,684 (+2)
25. Get Green Organics 6,199,086
26. VitaLifeNetworks 6,929,456 (-2)
27. GBG 7,781,371
28. Univera Life Sciences 8,388,607
29. 4-Ecorp (Ethos Fuel Reformulator) 8,388,607
30. BookWise 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 68

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 June, 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 2,887
2. Mary Kay 12,311
3. Melaleuca 13,626
4. Quixtar 14,758
5. Usana 17,311
6. A C N 22,462 (+1)
7. Ytb Travel 22,833 (-1)
8. Take Shape for Life/Medifast 28,880
9. Send Out Cards 30,199
10. Nu Skin Enterprises 30,803 (+2)
11. Herbalife 30,957 (-1)
12. Isagenix 31,625 (-1)
13. Tupperware 31,767 (+1)
14. Pre-paid Legal 32,167 (+1)
15. Shaklee 32,259 (-2)
16. Trivita 34,975
17. Success University 36,539
18. Pampered Chef 40,220
19. Arbonne International 41,476
20. Forever Living 42,014 (+1)
21. FreeLife International 42,369 (-1)
22. Amway 61,861 (+3)
23. helloWorld 62,037
24. Tastefully Simple 62,378
25. Young Living 63,394 (-3)
26. Tahitian Noni 65,108
27. Liberty League 70,138
28. Creative Memories 72,595
29. VM Direct 78,927
30. Scent-Sations (Mia Bella Candles) 81,948 (+1)
31. Longaberger 82,101 (+1)
32. AmeriPlan 84,412 (+4)
33. United First Financial 85,777 (-3)
34. Lifewave 86,136 (+1)
35. Nature's Sunshine 86,326 (-1)
36. Primerica 87,419 (-3)
37. Xango 88,254
38. Waiora 91,929
39. Watkins 92,665
40. Nikken 100,219
41. Vitamark International 100,465 (+2)
42. 4Life Research, LLC 102,429 (-1)
43. Mannatech 107,592 (+1)
44. Healthy Pet Net 109,980 (-2)
45. Unicity 116,201
46. Ecoquest International 126,126
47. Passion Parties 128,201
48. Neways 130,723
49. Sunrider 138,938
50. Youngevity 168,361

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.