Forum Moderators: phranque
I have a technology mlm that uses innovative techniques to promote mlm and products. After going to a talk at Cambridge University by the top guy in Europe from Google, I started to advertise to Adwords, but since then the costs have spiralled because every one got in on the act. Now I'm struggling to bring in the business.
Who buys into technology mlm?
sgg24
isn't it a bit like affiliate marketing? I could be wrong, I mean I'm only new to this, but if you build links then you can build a business - right?
your feedback is appreciated - thank you.
but if you build links then you can build a business - right?
The link structure of the web breaks the chain of recommendation traditional to an MLM environment.
Affilliate marketing on the web is actually the opposite - there are only middlemen, there are no "middlemen of the middlemen".
We're all targetting the same traffic, and it's direct traffic.
It sounds to me like you want to sell pre-fabricated websites ("Just add marketing and links")? That's not MLM - any affilliate links will be direct to the affilliator.
TJ
I bought the website from an mlm company.
I guess my question then is how to target the direct traffic. I'm not sure about how the affiliate marketing works - could this be a way of targeting?
is there a difference between direct traffic and (maybe) indirect traffic?
SGG
Essentially, you send an online vendor a "lead" by sending someone to their site. You get paid for the lead - usually more money if they then buy the product. Sometimes nothing if they don't buy the product.
To be able to send leads you need to have targetted traffic coming to your site, and that means promoting your site. You need unique content and inbound links.
Did you buy a site with ready-made content? If so, it's probably next to useless, and you might need to consider putting it down to experience and starting from scratch.
If you manage to get some links into it, you might do OK, but you'll be competing with all the other people that have bought the exact same website.
There is no shortcut to making money on the web. You need to supply something that is unique and of value.
TJ
I bought the website from an mlm company.
Here's an idea- make your own web sites and sell them to a downstream that will funnel leads to you, which you then funnel to the head company's site. Then your downstream members have to cover the brunt of the costs of customer acquisition instead of you. Of course, this creates even more AdWords users for your key words, further driving up the advertising costs. So eventually they will start making web sites to sell to their downstream, creating more AdWords users for your keywrods, driving advertising costs up even more, causing them to make sites for to sell to their downstream, creating even more AdWords users foryour keywords... et cetera ad nauseum. (Of course, at each level downstream, the member must pay for the leads from his downstream, even if the lead doesn't end in a sale.)
You see, the head company figured this out long ago. Rather than front the costs themselves, they sell sites that other people have to market. Then those people have to cover the brunt of the marketing costs. Much better to let all the people in the downstream take all the risks and front all the expenses. If they don't make a sale, the head company still has the setup fees (web site sales). If they do make sales, then the head company pays a part of the sale, which is often much less than they would have paid to get the customer themselves.
In some cases, this is actually a viable model that works for everyone, up to a point. Eventually, the whole system either runs out of new downstream members (typical in pyramid schemes) or you get to the point of diminishing returns where no new downstream members want to join because they can't make any money.
Don't forget that the technology mlm promotes more than just technology, please. There is a commission from each and every purchase that is made through the webshop and this is connected to some enormous distribution networks that span the globe.
So think inverse pyramid, where the innovators who understand the technology benefit from their innovation, and from their ability to bring in the traffic to the site.
Here's an idea - you know how to sell to a company that is interested in building a presence on the web, through years of experience. Now you couple that experience with learning about a set of products globally available. What do you get?
I know my answer - but do you know yours?
There is a more accepted appellation for mlm and that is direct sales. So I'm interested in building the direct traffic to drive the direct sales. And that way the interest - financial and intellectual - will flow up.
What's exactly the loophole in the human brain where mlm, pyramids and so on hit once and again?
Maybe a mix of greediness (You will be rich...) and haughtiness (...where others, not so smart, have failed.)?
Because at every stage people are trying to make money and this is why the head company is able to produce the site to be sold.
With affiliate marketing, people monetize their existing website (that presumably already has a solid traffic base and loyal visitors) by promoting other sites that are related to their site's topic(s). If things don't work out with one affiliate program, there are usually many other to join. Also, even though there may be thousands of other affiliates trying to promote the same program, each affiliate's site is unique, which usually gives them niche keywords they can target cheaply.
In your case, every "affiliate" is putting all their eggs in one basket by only having one company to promote. Every "affiliate" is marketing the exact same site, using pre-made sites (that presumably look very similar to all the other sites). I'm not sure how much room they have to develop their sites into niche areas, so they're all going to be targeting the same keywords, which makes things more expensive for all invoved.
With your method, people coming in have upfront costs. So they're not going to join unless they are reasonably sure they can make a profit. Since you're having trouble bringing in the busienss, it sounds like most people don't think they can make money. With affiliate marketing, there is no setup cost, so anything an affiliate bring in is (almost) pure profit. With no risk, people tend to be much more willing to join an affiliate program.
So affiliate marketing seems to be an option, thank you.
Technology mlm is still, I think, an innovative way to build on the strength of distribution networks and it's readily accessible to those who have skills in directing web traffic. Don't forget that you only have to get the customer to sign a delivery contract with the head company and then you'll gain a commission on the sale in perpetuity.
