by Joel Yount

Many people today are searching for all kinds of ways to network and connect with others. A couple of reasons for meeting new people may be just for friendship or a possible business contact. As many people know, a lot of connecting with new people today is being initiated using social media. 

In addition to networking with people online, there is a way to connect with others while helping your community. The first step would be to find a local organization that you would be interested in helping. There are so many charities in communities today that anyone can find using a search engine. There are many organizations that seek help during the year for community outreach events. Normally from my experience, there is always a need for volunteers. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer for an event, contact the organization and see where they could use your help and talents. When you help and contribute your time for something, you don’t just meet new people. In just a short length of time, new people can become friends and important connections. When you continue to look for ways to benefit your community, you will be able to see your network of connections grow.

How many local organizations can you help volunteer for today, tomorrow, or during this year?

Joel Yount is a Member of Freeway To Success and loves helping people organize and promote their events.

Website: http://www.jgyount.freewaytosuccess.net

You need more than a replicated website from your company to market your business online. If you’re in a party plan, direct sales, network marketing business, chances are you were given a website to sell and sponsor new recruits. With so many business opportunities, you can’t afford not to have an online presence! There’s nothing wrong with promoting your business using a party plan format however your friends will eventually stop hosting parties for you. Here are some easy tips to get you started and get on board with internet marketing:

1. Set up a blog – Did you know that most search engines like Google and Yahoo generally do not pick up a replicated website from a company? That’s because these are assigned to thousands of distributors so they’re not likely to be indexed by search engines. Setting up a blog or website that is yours, is a must in order to be found on search engines. You can easily start a blog at Blogger, WordPress, Tumblr, to name a few. Another perk: Blogger is owned by Google so your blog will be indexed when you sign up. Once you’ve set up a blog, start connecting with other bloggers in direct sales, read their blogs, and be sure to leave a comment. A-list bloggers not only blog but they read and comment on other people’s blogs too.

2. Get Social with Social Media – If you’re serious about building a business, then you need to get on board with social media. Your competition is and wherever conversation flows, that’s where you need to be. Internet marketing is no longer an option and it’s a necessity if you’re looking to build big. It takes just a few minutes to sign up for Twitter or Facebook but you will need to learn the right skills to be good at social media. Google Twitter or Facebook and you’ll find a ton of freebies to get you started.

3. Join Groups – There are a lot of groups with thousands of members ready to network with you. I like Twittermoms and Ryze however there are so many to choose from. Yahoo and Google both have groups as well as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Ning. Join groups that interest you and start making new contacts. The more places you join, the more opportunities you’ll have to promote your business, and further be indexed on search engines. When you Google your name, you should be all over the first few pages!

4. Press Release – Press releases used to be for big companies but now anyone can do a press release. If you just started your business, do a press release. If there’s a new product launching, do a press release. It can be used for a lot of things so get busy writing and use this funnel to promote your business. Book I recommend is New Rules of Marketing and PR.

5. Network with people in your business – You’ve heard the saying, it’s not what you know but whom you know. If you’re on Twitter, you want to follow and be followed by people in your niche market. Use search.twitter to follow people that are potentially interested in your product or business opportunity. That’s not to say you should only follow people in your business. It’s more important to join the conversation and make a positive contribution.

Finally, with every marketing effort you implement, commit to a plan and work it diligently. Use these tips consistently and constantly to market your business.

If you’re stuck in your business and looking for additional tips on how to use internet and social media to market your business, visit my website http://www.janetteskincare.blogspot.com.

Without a doubt, the best way you can invite people to listen to your business is to have direct selling party plans. The main reason for this is because these people love to listen to a business idea and still get to mingle with other people. Through the help of a direct selling party, they can get to listen about a new business that they would want to join. This is why consultants usually take advantage of this opportunity to talk about the business that they are offering.

If you are looking for ways you can get more people to join your business, you should invite them to a party that you are hosting. When you do this, they will be shy to decline the invite. After all, they are getting free snacks along with the invite. If they have nothing more important to do, they will show up during one of your direct selling parties.

4 Great Ways to Get Interested Folks to Join Your Business

• Use the internet – Nowadays, almost everyone is on Facebook. Since it is a great way to reconnect with long lost friends, this website is being used by almost everyone on the planet. Through this website, many also post business opportunity announcements, marketing tactics and even event posters. You can use this to your advantage because you will be able to get more people to see your event.

• Offer delicious snacks – During your event, make sure that you offer delicious snacks to your guests. This is because if you have delicious food, they won’t feel the need to get out of the vicinity. In fact, there are some of them who will be back for seconds. This is a great way you can get them to listen to you attentively.

• Be funny and conversational – Since the point of the party is to get them to listen about your business proposal, you have to make sure that your speech is conversational and funny. You don’t necessarily have to train for a stand up comedienne. You just need to know how to hit the right marks in terms of keeping guests entertained. When you are able to do this correctly, your guests will want to stay until the end of your speech because they are so engrossed in what you are saying.

• Be direct and straight to the point – It is only common that people hate being lied to. When you are inviting them to your party, make sure that you tell them that you have a business proposal they might be interested in. Never keep quiet about your purpose of inviting them to the event. If you do this, they will only be disappointed and have a negative notion from the start of the event. Even if you are selling them something that’s highly marketable, they will not agree with it because they have been lied to.

Make sure that you follow the tips mentioned above. When you do, you can see a huge amount of people who will want to be part of your direct selling business in no time.

You must learn more about Online Marketing and the top ways to develop your Personal Marketing Strategy in order to explode your Direct Selling Business.

Joshua See is a successful Entrepreneur, Top Internet Marketer and Global Team Mentor who trains others to achieve Financial Freedom and Independence by creating wealth and prosperity online. For more information on the Top Internet Marketing Tactics for building a successful business, please visit http://www.Biz3827.com and request your free "Special Report"!

Last week, I was driving home from a lunch meeting and was thinking of who I needed to re-connect with. David Greenberg (a personal friend and one of the best speaker coaches I know) came to mind.  And I did something crazy. I didn’t search for him on Facebook. Nor did I Tweet him a personal message.  I didn’t even send him an e-mail. I actually called him on the phone, and believe it or not, he answered! We connected, shared some cool business ideas, and I hung up feeling great. 

Yes, I know I’m being a bit facetious here.  But I have to say that if there is one thing that drives this wingman  ‘wingnuts’ is when people abuse this whole social networking thing. In many ways, it’s gone from "Here’s what I’m doing" to "Here’s what I’m selling." From "Let me connect you to" to "Let me sell you."

Well, I’ve got news for you, ye social networking gurus. If I don’t know you, I probably won’t buy from you.   The reason I said ‘probably’ is because there are times when we will buy something from someone even if we don’t know them.  If it has value and can help our business/life, then hey, it’s worth a look.  And there’s nothing wrong with occasionally sharing our great product, seminar, or book with our contacts.  Social networking sites are a tremendous way to expose our market to our value.  But please, let’s not put our sales links and impersonal offers in EVERY POST we make on Twitter or Facebook!

We need to be careful not to abuse the social networking sites and our connections.  They are primarily for networking and making contacts, not direct sales.

I believe our phone book should still remain our primary method for building and maintaining our relationships.  One phone call equals 50 tweets and Facebook messages.  Phone calls are great at building trust, and trust what a wingman is all about.

So, here are some wingtips to augment your social networking efforts:

1. Make it a priority to call a few of your special contacts every day.  Do this first thing in the morning if able. These include your top clients, vendors, and yes, your friends.

2. Use your phone judiciously.  Before you head to the airport or Starbucks, make a list of a few wingmen to call while in your car or at the gate.

3. Give something of value to your contact on the phone (i.e. a referral.). Before you hang up, ask them this special question: "Is there anything I can help you with?"

4. ** If you really want to connect with a new e-contact, research their website and call them. I guarantee they will be impressed…and shocked.

In this high speed age of Twitter and text messaging where words on a screen are the norm, we need to hear each other’s voices.  Voices incur emotion and emotion is what connects people. And when connections are made, trust is built and relationships develop. How people make you feel is what initially builds relationships, not the product they sell.

So, if you want to be a Wingman – a trusted partner – to your network, don’t forget to reference your Phonebook in addition to Facebook when flight planning your next mission.

NEVER FLY SOLO!
Your Wingman,
Lt Col Rob "Waldo" Waldman

What does the most popular singer in the world right now have to do with your MLM business? Well, chances are Lady Gaga is not involved in your network, but how she operates the Internet to her advantage is both enviable and possible to imitate if you are serious about recruiting new people to your network.

Regardless of whether or not you like Lady Gaga’s music, it is worth taking some time to research how she uses social media in particular to promote herself as a brand. People listen, after all – you don’t get to over one million Twitter followers and Facebook fans without having a gift for engaging people. When you talk about your MLM business you should exhibit the same passion in keeping those in your network satisfied as the singer does in pleasing her fans.

Lady Gaga knows that her fans are responsible for her success. Every address to her “Little Monsters” is done with affection. Now, this doesn’t mean you need to refer to your MLM business networkers as “little monsters,” but taking to them to compliment their progress and encourage them to sell products and the opportunities can make a difference, a positive one, on your income.

How often do you connect personally with the people involved in your MLM business? You may wonder if you’ll gain a million followers (wouldn’t that be great?), but using social media to interact rather than inform people of your activity is a great first step in growing that network.

Respond to people in your MLM business circle. Ask them what they think of the products, and listen to criticism involving challenges they have in building their own networks. Offer advice, remember names, and remain positive as you think outside the box. Social media doesn’t have to be a “bad romance” if you know how to utilize it!

It is now easier than ever to succeed with direct sales from home because top network marketing companies offer programs where payouts are upfront. In addition, you can earn a residual income from commission structures which offer perpetual leverage.

What really makes it possible to succeed with direct sales is the LEVERAGE of the internet as well as a dynamic compensation plan. TECHNOLOGY will now enable you to maximize your prospective reach allowing you to put your opportunity in front of literally MILLIONS of people looking for what you have to offer.

The first step toward your ability to succeed with direct sales is finding the right MENTOR that will give you the skills and marketing you need to position yourself as a LEADER. A combination of TRAINING and ACTION can lead to a predictable outcome, one that can almost guarantee you a positive result.

SOCIAL MEDIA has now become one of the most popular mediums to reach multitudes of hungry prospects searching for the right OPPORTUNITY. Sites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, when used correctly, can make it easy to succeed with direct sales due the shear volume of people hanging out on these sites. You can meet hoards of like minded individuals where you can build TRIBES and deepen your RELATIONSHIP with them by driving them back to your blog or website and getting them to sign up to your e-mail list.

There are also SYSTEMS out there such as www.your7figureresidual.com/ that can provide additional training and marketing that makes your job so much easier saving you both a tremendous amount of time and money. These systems can also become INCOME streams in themselves through affiliate marketing. You can introduce all your business partners to the product and in turn generate even more residual income.

Bottom line is that direct sales gives you the ability to earn an income TODAY as opposed to traditional MLM where the time period to earn a substantial amount of money takes much longer to create. Combine that with the leverage the internet provides as well as all of the new technology now available and you have a recipe for success in direct sales that simply didn’t exist before. Older more traditional methods are quickly becoming outmoded and obsolete.

Fredric Schwartz-Social Media and Internet Marketing Coach and Consultant [http://www.FreedomWithGlobalResorts.com].