The holiday rush is over; you?ve eaten the last of the cookies, stored away the glittery fancy wrapping paper and bows, and with any luck, finished paying your holiday bills. Ah, time to relax, kick back, and wait a minute; how can you combat the post-holiday blues?

How about implementing a tested and proven new turn-key method of sponsoring pre-qualified prospects? Methods that are inexpensive, and allow you complete control over the process; not another company or person. Your very own sponsoring "system".

This article will spell out the first part Tucker Marketing exclusively developed process that will teach you how to set up this successful system.

Many individuals who come to our seminars are searching for a successful way to sponsor people or sell products using the Internet. Others come to the seminar to see if the Internet is something that they even want to get involved with.

More often than not, Network Marketers are misinformed about how to use a website.

This is due largely in part to the massive amount of misinformation they have received from peers, TV, radio, magazines, web-sites, or other sources of incomplete information. As a result, most people are very confused about how to effectively market, and overwhelmed with tons of choices. Unfortunately, they end up with dismal results and end up yanking their web-site without ever learning an effective way to use it.

Let?s start the New Year off with a different outlook of the Internet and help some of you put this marketing on the web into perspective. First of all, this article is not for the .01 percent that we all hear about who become Internet geniuses, or the other .01 percent who, for whatever reason, hop on the Internet, stumble upon a great website idea, and make it big. And then there?s the other .01 percent that are just savvy know-it-alls that leave us with the impression that everyone and anyone can do exactly what they do, and make it big like them.

This article is for the rest of us who are grappling for a clue to cut through the overload of misinformation. Heck, we just want to know how to sponsor people; not get a degree in Internet skills.

A common situation that creates Internet misunderstanding is when an MLM company offers a distributor a free web-site. The idea is to help the distributor sponsor people by using a company replicated site, thus promoting the company as the reason to join. Many MLM companies offer their distributors a free web-site. Oftentimes, FREE can be a two-edged sword, and this is no time to be stabbing yourself.

Because most distributors will do ANYTHING to sponsor someone, they send potential prospects to these sites and then can?t figure out or understand why no one wants to join them. What happens is the prospect visits the site, and then is confused about all of the information that is placed there by an over zealous techie computer nerd that has no clue about who our prospects are or what they really want.

We have all heard that the Internet is an excellent place to sponsor people, sell product all over the world, and all we have to do is get on the web and our lives become a Mecca for money and prosperity like no other time in history. Ok, and we all have the opportunity to climb on a spaceship right now and go to the moon. So, let's come back to earth for some exciting information that most of you can use right now, and start to locating and sponsoring leaders right where you are: in your own back yard. No matter how technical our world may become, Network Marketing is still a person to person relationship industry, the Internet is just another tool for making contact with others.

You do not have to own a computer to use the Internet

In order to use this Internet sponsoring system, you must have access to email. This is how your leads will come in from prospects. There are a few ways to get email service. If you do not own a computer, you can use a friend?s computer, one at a library, or go to a copy/print store that has a computer hooked up to the Internet that you can pay to use by the hour. There are plenty of free email programs available such as hotmail.com.

If you choose to work from home and have a computer, then you can get free email from juno.com; all you need is a modem. You can also connect to a local ISP (Internet service provider). Just ask some friends what company they use, or look one up in the Yellow Pages. This company will provide an email address for you to use. Once you have figured out how to get email, you can begin laying out your system.

Putting together a real simple system you can use

STEP ONE- Your Domain Name

You must think of a domain name for your homepage.

The domain name will be your homepage?s Internet address. It has a number assigned to it that helps the computers find your site. This is what people will type in to their address bar on the computer to get to your website. For ex: fortunemakers.com. You would type in http://www.fortunemakers.com. You don?t have to type in the http.//www. Just typing in the actual domain is fine.

Every day Network Marketers call our office all excited about their free new company self-replicated page. Their main question is; how do I market it? Unfortunately that is a difficult task to explain. Marketing your site has to start with the actual domain name. Let?s say you have a company replicated page and the domain name is http://www.companydomainname.com/~/janedoe. What kind of picture does that put into yours or the prospect?s mind? If you see a picture of confusion in your mind; welcome to what your prospect sees. Like who cares! Nowhere in the domain name is a dripping benefit statement that would have me or anyone else scrambling for a computer to see what it the opportunity is all about.

Now let?s take exciting-paychecks.com. See the difference? You can easily market a site like this because your prospects see money in their mind. Let?s apply the billboard test. You are driving down the highway in your red VW and it is rush-hour traffic. You drive by a billboard with a picture of a fistful of cash and the headline reads, " FREE $1,000 to every person driving a red VW today. Go to http://www.companydomainname.com/~/janedoe. Unfortunately, you couldn?t remember the domain name and the traffic was too heavy to turn around. If this was your domain name, how many years would it take for someone to remember your domain name?

Register your domain name

To see if a domain name is available, you can go to Tucker Marketing?s web services site at http://www.wehostsites.com. We have a domain name search link free to use.

Once you have decided what domain name you want to use, the next step is to get it registered at Internic. Internic charges $70 to register a domain name for 2 years, after that, the fee is $35 a year.

There are a few ways to do this.

Do it yourself: Go to http://www.wehostsites.com and we have a link to register a domain name. You can also go directly to networksolutions.com. You need to know the DNS numbers- you get them from the company you will host your site with. It is a real headache to transfer the information to your hosting company, and we?ve had some transfers take a month!

Find a web company to do it for you. They will charge you a fee for registering a domain name.

Have the company you will be hosting with register the domain name for you. They should include this service free as part of the package. This is the easiest method and can save a lot of aggravation for everyone in the long run.

Many marketers have a few domain names registered that all end up at the same site. This allows them to use various advertisements depending on the market they are targeting.

STEP TWO- Build A Sponsoring Homepage

Another very important part of your site is deciding what exactly it is you want your site to do. In this case, it is to sponsor distributors. After asking our clients a few questions, we quickly find out that the majorities want a simple site that will pre-sell and pre-qualify their prospects while getting their prospects to fill out a registration form. Having decided that, you are going to have to settle in and be willing to go through some trial and error.

When the purpose of your site is defined, this will keep your prospect focused on your message. There is nothing wrong with having a web-site that explains every aspect of your business. You just have to keep in mind that if you give your prospect too much to look at, they will become confused and might not make any decision at all. This is a common dilemma Network Marketers share; prospects come into the site and they are confused by the massive information overload.

To develop a successful sponsoring homepage that a) brings your visitors in, b) explains the purpose of the site, and c) sorts, pre-qualifies, and educates them takes practice. Your visitors get the information they need to determine if they are interested enough to register. This will sort them and pre-qualify the people you want to talk to. By the time they get to the end of your site, they have been made aware of their dreams and have been introduced to Network Marketing. From this point, the prospects are ready for you to contact them personally to begin the follow-up process.

A simple yet very effective approach is a pull-through sales letter that keeps your prospects focused and moving in one direction. A sales letter approach has been used effectively by many different professions to sort for the interested prospects. If you have ever received a letter from a stockbroker, insurance salesman, or Bankcard Company, then you have seen this approach used. They make simple, realistic offers, use headlines and free gifts to get you to send for their information.

These letters rarely include all of the different aspects of the company they are representing. Just the things you need to know so you respond right now. What is it that you want your prospects to do? Let?s be realistic about this question. Is to try and overload them with too much information, or is it to get them to the nearest registration page?

Let?s break down a simple sales letter and learn how to get your prospects begging you for information. There are 5 basic pages to the sponsoring site; Main or Home Page, Introduction, Presentation, More Information, and the Registration Page.

PAGE ONE: Main or Home Page

Purpose: A short introduction page meant to create further curiosity. Starts the pre-qualification process and let?s them know what we are looking for, offer free information, and create curiosity.

PAGE TWO: Introduces you and Network Marketing

Purpose: To tell the prospects about yourself, the decision you made and why you made it. You want to let the prospect know that you are just like them. At this point, we are simply building a relationship, letting them get to know you. This page has a brief bio, personal photos, and work at home opportunities. It filters, creates more interest, and sets them up for a presentation.

PAGE THREE: The Presentation; a brief explanation of Network Marketing.

Purpose: How many people sit and dream and then actually write out their goals? Many people feel that they have no real opportunity to change what they are doing. This page gets the prospects to dream and teaches about word-of-mouth advertising, getting paid for referrals, and the power of duplication. We explain how products get moved to market and how you get paid for being the one who tells people about the products.

PAGE FOUR: Gathering More Information

Purpose: Do your prospects have a game plan? They have learned a lot. They?re ready for your final offer. The commitment you are willing to make them might not be enough. This page is the close; right before the registration page. It qualifies the prospects, lets them know you have a team approach, offers support, and gives a breakdown of the report you want to send.

PAGE FIVE: The Registration or Call To Action Page

Purpose: To register the prospects. They have been through the sales letter and they want additional information. You want to make sure they have provided the information you need before sending anything to them. If they want the FREE book or gift and they are serious about your offer, then they will supply all the information you request. A few of the questions include; what do you dream about and when is the best time to call. Then offer them the opportunity to enter a Member?s Area.

STEP THREE: Advertising and Marketing Your Homepage Locally.

Marketing your site doesn?t have to be difficult if you understand what you are up against. The problem, as it was stated before, is the amount of misinformation that we receive on a daily basis. Most people simply do not have the time or desire to learn all there is to know to use the Internet effectively. Let?s look at one really good reason to concentrate your efforts on using the Internet to sponsor locally.

The Search/Keyword Dilemma ?

Here is where a lot of people are getting misguided information. The big buzzword is to get found on search engines; or to get placed high up in a search so you will be found easier. Let?s put this into perspective. You have probably heard about the importance of getting placed in the top 30 to 40 positions of search engines. If not, you will soon enough. In the mean time, let?s take a look at this situation logically.

There are basically 10 search engines most commonly used (Lycos, Yahoo, Webcrawler, Excite, etc.). Within those search engines people want to end up in the top 30 ? 40 search positions. That works out to about 300 ? 400 top positions for any keyword category. In other words, "Network Marketing" would be a keyword we would want to use. That means that only 300 ? 400 people could possibly use "Network Marketing" as a keyword to fill those positions. Then you have to ask yourself about all of the other keywords used and how effective they would be.

We don?t want to burst too many people?s bubbles, but there are already hundreds of thousands, if not millions of network marketers on the Internet all wanting to use these top 300 ? 400 positions. And how many actual words are there anyway? Is it impossible to place high in a search? Of course not. You have to determine your own experience, and amount of time you want to put into the learning process. In the long run, your time could be used much more efficiently.

Of course there are many other ways to use the Internet to locate potential prospects; if you want to compete with all of the other billion or so Network Marketers on the Internet. Some of these methods are Classified Ads, Auto-responders, Banners, ICQ or Chat programs, Newsgroups, Spam mail, Discussion Groups and online newsletters. These are all methods we can discuss in other articles.

For most of us, using the Internet to sponsor locally can make a major difference in building our business successfully. Specifically directing someone to your site is very effective. You can control who comes to your site, and ultimately who you choose to work with.

Targeting your market

There are many effective ways to drive local prospects to your site. As we stated earlier, you must have a good domain name to put a picture into your prospect?s mind. A good opening statement before the domain name is also very important. Then you can use any of the following local methods to drive traffic to your site.

Business cards, Letterhead, Bumper Stickers, Magnetic Signs, Promotional Items, Cable TV,Radio, Print News Ads, Postcards, even billboards.

We are just messengers. The better we get at being messengers the more effective our local marketing campaign will be. Let?s take the simple, yet effective method of sending postcards. You do not want to use a cheesy postcard you have made on your computer. However, using less expensive postcards to test headlines will cut your expenses. Once the effective headlines are tested, then use them on the more costly postcards.

Look for a good lifestyle postcard. Examples: You standing on the golf course getting ready to chip one in; or one with you and your family walking on the beach, looking for sea shells. Or how about a golf course with the words, "My Office" printed on the bottom?

In other words, use a postcard with a photo of you doing something fun and exciting, or a picture of a beach. Under your picture you can put something like "This is what I do when I am working". On the back of the card just ask a simple question such as, "Is your paycheck too small" or "Is your career what you thought it would be after college". How about, "There is more to life then 9 to 5", visit makemoneyhere.com.

*Here is something very important- Offer a FREE gift if they visit your site.

People love to get things for free. Be careful, you can waste a lot of money on freebie-seekers, that?s why screening your prospects is very important to your budget.

You can buy a mailing list of anyone who has a license on file with the state where you live. Drs, Attorneys, Massage Therapists, Etc. How you get a list from the state varies from state to state. What you want to do is just think laterally. Who do you think would have more access to a computer; a backhoe operator, or an Attorney? This will help you determine to whom to send the post card.

Another method you can use is an auto phone dialer. These are used by politicians, home improvement businesses, construction companies, various telemarketing companies and ad agencies, to name a few. They can make up to 8000 phone calls a day automatically. The message you program on these machines should be simple. For example: "Would you like to make money from home? Visit makemoneyhere.com. If you are looking for a method to make money at home, visit makemoneyhere.com, that?s m-a-k-e-m-o-n-e-y-h-e-r-e-.-com (spell it out) get your FREE gift". Every state has their own criteria for using these machines, so you will need to check into it where you live.

A simple magnetic sign placed on the side of your car or truck can be very effective. You can purchase two magnetic signs at Office Depot for approx. $50.00 and drive around town all day. Make sure your message is very clear and easy to read : "There is more to life than 9 to 5. Visit makemoneyhere.com FREE Gift (whatever it is).

The other local methods we listed are other inexpensive ways to advertise for little or no money. The nice thing about local market advertising is the opportunity to work with people close to where you live. The true definition of building a local group of distributors; creating a new warm market in your own area.

Ok, so we?ve laid out the first three steps to creating your own local sponsoring system. Even if you have distributors from across the globe, they still have to learn local sponsoring techniques.

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About The Authors:

Craig Tucker is owner of C.L.Tucker Marketing Inc. He is an MLM trainer, international speaker, and Internet webmaster for some of the top distributors in MLM. Craig is the author of "The A.M. Recruiter, How to Locate Local Leaders", and "The Internet Home Study Course".

If you need more Internet and Local marketing tips or his Internet Seminar Schedule visit http://www.tuckermarketing.com Email Craig at tucker@tuckermarketing.com or call 281-376-0963.

Amy Amsden is a copywriter, co-owner of C.L.Tucker Marketing Inc, and Craig Tucker?s business partner. She is an MLM trainer, speaker, and technical website designer. You can email Amy at amy@tuckermarketing.com or call 281-376-0963.