So we’ve covered a lot of ground on the blogging front. If you are still wondering how to set up or what to write on your blog then I recommend you revisit the previous postings on my blog so you can follow along with us.

Today I’ll point you in the direction of how to add some great features to your blog, and how to leverage tools so that your blogging life becomes systematised and easy to maintain.

Like everything, if we want results we need to be consistent and the best way I have found of being consistent is to make the process easy and fun.

Otherwise it becomes another chore on your ‘to do list’ and your blog may just fade away like a distant memory.

The best blog software I have found for posting your blogs is here: http://www.BlogDesk.org It is completely free and makes it so easy to create your posts.

When I started blogging I found that blogging direct to the blog was tricky because the fonts didn’t seem to come out as I wanted and it just didn’t flow well.

Blog Desk allows you to paste in your new article, choose the categories to post it to and with 1 push of a button it is uploaded to your blog and looks exactly as it should!

How about Widgets? What a super little word that is don’t you think? Widgets are essential for adding features to your blog and they are much easier to integrate than they may sound!

Whichever blogging platform you’re using there will be a way to copy and paste some html code into a ‘widget.’ This may be in the ‘Sidebar’ section if you’re using wordpress.

On Google blogger it is very easy to find as there is a step by step tutorial on how to set up your blog.

If you don’t yet know what the goal of your blog is then now is the time to get clear on it unless you are just writing for fun. Either way your blog readers will want to know what kind of content they can expect from you so having focus is essential.

If you’re in Network Marketing and you want to generate leads and monetize your blog (more about this in my recent posts) then I suggest you choose a couple of banners provided by the affiliate programme you’re aligned with.

Too many links and widgets can detract from the effectiveness of your blog. I have found it best to choose a couple of banners, ie in my case for MagneticSponsoring  All the html for the banners for a range of products and information courses is provided so it literally takes a few minutes to set up.

This will allow you to attract your target market to you and enable you to build your list and earn commissions whilst you do so.

As long as you provide useful content on your blog, readers will come. They are starving for good, focussed information about how to improve or how to get started in a home business. Even if you’re in a totally different industry you can cater to your target market by joining an affiliate programme (visit Clickbank.com) which is in line with what you do.

If you’re set up on Facebook and Twitter (and if you’re not then why not?!) connect your blog up to them so that you can gain new readers from all those points of entry.

There is a Twitter widget on the side of my blog which you can click on and customise for your own blog. This lets your blog readers know you are on Twitter and encourages them to connect with you there also.

Facebook has a very useful application called ‘Networked Blogs.’ Again you can see this on my blog and add it to your own account.

Once your blog is networked Facebook will automatically publish your posts for you and it’s very cool because it will be broadcast right across your Facebook network.

Ok I think that’s enough to be getting along with for today. Remember that a blog takes time to develop and you can easily add and remove features as you go along so that you can achieve the look that works best for you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rachel Henke coaches people to be more successful and to have more fun in their home business. Get Million Dollar Training Info and Subscribe to the Professional Networker Blog 

By Rachel Henke, (c) 2009 If you’d like to use this article for quality content on your website or blog please do so with our blessing but ensure the author’s links remain intact.

I’ve been playing around with attraction marketing for quite some time now and have been very excited by the possibilities it represents. However, for all the very smart concepts around it I’ve also seen a lot of confusion and misunderstanding around it, much of it in my own head!

Recently I decided to approach the new business model full on and to research, analyse and practice it so I can see how it really works, and tie up all the components. Why did I do this? Well several reasons really:

1) I love the idea of having an automated cash machine so that I am building other streams of income that don’t compete with my MLM but allow me to have a cash flow engine on the front of my residual income.

2) I think if we don’t move with the new technology and take advantage of Social Media (Web 2.0) we will be left crying on the sidewalk wondering what happened.

3) All Network Marketing leaders look for ways to help their group to be more productive and profitable and of course if we can make it easier then why not?

4) I have come to understand that if you want to be an effective marketer in any business you must learn to develop your own list of subscribers.

My background is in traditional Network Marketing and I have now been in the industry for 6 years, with 2 different companies. It has been an emotional and exciting journey and some parts of it have been better than others!

On the whole it has been an amazing journey of self discovery, personal development and I have come out the other end as an entrepreneur with a range of valuable skill sets which I don’t think I could have got in any other industry. (Certainly not in my previous roles as a fund administrator, banker and multi-tasking PA) I am thankful for that and to all the wonderful mentors and upline who have helped me to become the person that I am today.

All of that being said the only thing we can really be sure of is that things always change. Why should that then not be the case for Network Marketing? I joined a new emerging company which does things in a very different way to the first very ‘old school’ company which was a giant leap forward for me.

I learned about building culture and duplication in my organisation, and I learned how to leave the old school methods of buttons, flyers, parties and full on selling behind. Phew what a relief!

My new business model has a great training and support system in place that works without me, and also an easy autoship which completely scaled up the way we do business. Gone were the heavy monthly volume requirements along with the frontloading of tons of products for new members to ’sell.’

When I first discovered the ‘7 Great Lies of Network Marketing,’ I found it irritating and enlightening all at the same time. Much of the content rang true with me in relation to the way we did things in my first company.

What irritated me was the way the marketing around the book seemed to lump all companies (even modern ones like mine) into the same old pile of … well if you’re not doing everything online and you’re daring to share something you’re excited about with your friends and family you are old school.

I admit I did not like the message and I even blogged about it at the time. I think it is damaging to the industry to advertise negative messages about Network Marketing companies. I still think that but I also understand that without a little ’shock’ marketing nobody would bother reading it!

Many of the unscrupulous marketers have no clue what the company they are talking about is even doing… never mind how successful your individual sponsorship line may be. So what has changed? What caused me to reassess and actually buy Ann Sieg’s book despite some of the negative publicity around it?

Well I have been using Mike Dillard’s Magnetic Sponsoring system for quite some time now and I have been very impressed by the products and affiliate programme he offers. I have also made some great commissions on autopilot which gets the vote in my book!

The problem I came up against and I imagine many others come up against is how to actually implement what he teaches into a full and comprehensible step by step business model.

If I was to automate the business and monetize my leads then I needed to find a way to take it to the next level. Enter Renegade University. I initially dismissed this opening door because I presumed that it was a part of Ann Sieg’s system and at that time I wasn’t open to research.

Oh what a mistake! I nearly missed out on what for me has been some of the most enlightening and detailed training about marketing online in one place that I have ever found. Mike Klingler is a gem of a trainer and he understands the need for step by step systems that enable your team members and business partners to go at their own pace.

Why did I go back to ’school?’ Well for the Network Marketer and Home Business entrepreneur school is never out. If it is then we’re in the wrong business!

I’ve found a resource which enables me to learn advanced skills in email marketing, how to generate better performing original web content, how to build my own marketing system, and at the same time enabling me to offer to my current and future team members a way to plug into a comprehensive training system designed for the beginner to learn how to apply the new model of attraction marketing.

All of that then leads into my primary business where appropriate. No begging and no drama. It is a sorting and sifting machine on steroids. I stopped begging a long time ago but I know that many feel that is the position they are in with some of the business models they follow.

This is absolute heaven and very good news for all those leaders who are wondering how to apply Web 2.0 to their business and even more challenging how to teach it to their team! Mike shows you how to implement what you learn and simultaneously produce the content so you are time efficient. It’s a very cool process.

The Renegade University and Renegade Professional is the place where you can plug in your affiliate links, including Magnetic Sponsoring and Ann Sieg aswell as other streams of income from services that people need to build their business anyway.

One can choose to study just Magnetic Sponsoring or just The Renegade Marketer as one wishes. Ann Sieg a bit in your face? No problem, just leave her out of your cash machine for now. It’s up to you as this is YOUR cash machine.

You may find as I did that when you get past the hype about her book, she actually has some very solid marketing ideas and compliments the new model very well.

If you like Mike Dillard but don’t know how to get it all in one place then here’s the
solution. Visit the Renegade University and check it out for yourself. Serious marketers need to go to the Professional Level asap. And if the trial offer for $1 is still available then grab it here by signing up and going to Step 3: Learn More About Attraction Marketing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rachel Henke coaches people to be more successful and to have more fun in their home business. Get Million Dollar Training Info and Subscribe to the Professional Networker Blog

By Rachel Henke, (c) 2009 If you’d like to use this article for quality content on your website or blog please do so with our blessing but ensure the author’s links remain intact.

Are you speeding along, leveraging all the new technologies and having fun, or are you stamping your foot, resisting change, and wishing everything would just slow down and stay the same? Facebook, Blogs, Google Adwords, Twitter, You Tube, Skype. Whatever next?

Technology is changing so fast and on top of all those daily tasks that you probably need to do in your business already, there seems little time to learn how to use all these new tools. Am I close?

Let’s face it some of them can be a little overwhelming, especially for those who are not technically or computer minded. So what can you do? Well as with all things you have some choices:

a) Do nothing and hope that your business thrives even if you don’t move with the times.

You may think that all of this Social Media ’stuff’ is great for other people, and for those who have time to play around online. Meanwhile you have a ‘real’ job to do! Maybe you spend many hours a day on the phone convincing and selling your prospects on how great your opportunity or product is. Well I sincerely wish you luck here and you are going to need it!

b) You want to implement and grow your business using these new exciting tools but you just don’t know how to break it all down so you still take no action.

This is similar to the first choice but you know deep inside that it isn’t the best way to go.

c) You understand that if you don’t go with the flow you will probably drown!

You decide today to update your skills and position yourself in time to benefit from the prosperity and opportunity that is being created with Social Media and Web 2.0 technology. This is true for every business owner but even more so for those in the Network Marketing industry because the business is all about connecting and attracting people to join your team.

The wonderful thing about plunging in and learning about Social Media and cutting edge marketing is that all of the skills you learn are transferable to any industry.

In my 6 years in Network Marketing I have been shown how to do a lot of things. In my first company when I was an MLM virgin, I was primarily shown how to buy leads ie; spend money. Even in that scenario which I don’t recommend to anyone, I developed some key skills such as how to handle my cash flow, and how to use the telephone to make the most out of my leads.

The results were not great but my point is that in every action you take for your business, especially when you are hanging way out of your comfort zone, you will learn new skills.

Your skills and your brand are more valuable to you than money. You may be flat broke now but if you are developing the skills you need to succeed in Network Marketing in the 21st century then you are way ahead of the crowd and riches will soon follow as long as you have a correct strategy and mindset.

If there is ever a time in our history where leaders can elect themselves then this is it! Using these technologies you don’t need to ask permission from your upline to be a leader! You just need to position yourself as one and because you have the skills that many of the traditional marketers (who may have other amazing skills that you need also) don’t have, you automatically become an authority in your field of online marketing, and you become ATTRACTIVE.

I always write specifically for Network Marketers but there are so many businesses that can apply the same principles. For instance, Information Marketing seems to have merged with Network Marketing in many cases so you no longer really need to create your own products unless you want to. Using social media allows an entrepreneur to market themselves on a very low budget.

There are so many information products you can offer on the way in your attraction marketing process that it is becoming very easy to make money online. If you don’t yet have a funded proposal set up in your business so that you can make commissions every day whether people join your business or not, then I recommend that you implement one immediately.

Remember when we used manual typewriters and listened to tapes? We managed fine right? The thing is as soon as we had the option to have better technology it was only a matter of time before the new standard became the norm and if I don’t have my emails coming through on my blackberry and my tweet alerts then I feel quite lost!

I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t go back to a typewriter and a tape player when I can use a beautiful laptop and an I pod. I mean why would I?

The point of this is that technology can be used to speed up your success and leverage your time, not slow you down as you try to learn how to use it. That is just a learning curve and results can come very fast in this arena. Social Media tools are becoming much simpler to understand as they are being designed for the masses, so with a bit of application anyone really can get the hang of using them.

Once you know these skills they are skills for life so update your skills and be daring. You can be the leader here. Its wide open for anyone who wants to run with this and learn how to blog, learn how to produce a video on You Tube, build a group of followers on Twitter. Why not you? As Jim Rohn says, ‘What you don’t know will hurt you!’

In Network Marketing you can be aligned with the greatest company in the history of the world but if you don’t have enough people looking at it, it means nothing.

Be the leader, and be the change. For Magnetic Sponsoring online marketing and social media training, including how to set up a funded proposal visit Magnetic Sponsoring

By Rachel Henke, (c) 2009 If you’d like to use this article for quality content on your website or blog please do so with our blessing but ensure the author’s links remain intact.

Well I promised to continue to review the trainings as I go, and to share with you my dear Blog readers what I am learning as I go along, and how useful I think the training is. The subject for this video was ‘Winning At Twitter.’

I settled down happily with my cup of tea (I am British after all!) and prepared to be wowed once more. The 2nd video was just short of 2 hours and I took 9 pages of notes so it’s fair to say there was some great content and I was inspired by the Social Media training.

This time Perry Belcher was doing a solo act, and considering it was such a long video he kept it light and entertaining for the most part. There were a couple of sections where I thought it was a little heavy going as Perry gives so many valuable resources to use with Twitter that it can get a bit overwhelming. Sometimes I wish I could just know it NOW, don’t you? I am of course working on developing more patience!

Twitter is a giant playing field so as with many things it’s a case of picking and choosing what is useful to you, and what will make your life easier and your posting more effective.

The good news for newbies is that the videos take you right through from A-Z. They show you exactly how to set up your twitter account and how to make it look attractive and what details to include. Also of course once you invest the time to learn valuable skills they are yours to keep forever, and are so transferable for any industry.

Top Tip 1:

Use your blog as your website link. That is the equivalent of inviting your friends to your house for the after party! If you don’t know what I mean then review my previous post this month about the overall concept. You can also watch the short intro video there to get the idea. If you don’t yet have a blog then use your Facebook profile or something more personal than a basic business website. This is all about Personality marketing and that just doesn’t come through with a replicated company website.

There were so many useful resources that I haven’t got to grips with checking them all out yet but I certainly will apply the best ones that are useful for Network Marketers so make sure to keep an eye on this blog. You can subscribe at the top right hand side of my blog to receive notification of my updates so you don’t miss out.

Top Tip 2:

Don’t be tempted to just build a huge following of just anyone! Be smart with this; ie if you are in Network Marketing you will want to connect with like minded people. Sure you can connect with people outside of the industry but make sure there is a synergy. Ultimately you want to be providing good value to your followers so you can re-tweet quality content from other professionals. Connect with people who know more than you about the niche you want to become more proficient in.

This is the age of information so you need lots of good and entertaining stuff to keep your blogs and tweets interesting. Perry mentioned several sites such as www.Cracked.com and www.Fark.com where you can find funny stuff. (I tend to be a bit serious so will probably need to plug into some of that!!)

Final Top Tip For Today:

When you set up your account, if you haven’t already, then Perry recommends making 10 good quality postings on your home page so that when you start following people they will come back to follow you and find something interesting there, and be more motivated to follow you back.

I hope this has been useful for you. Not everyone wants to be a twitter fanatic so a couple of top tips here and there can certainly help you to get good value from your twitter activity if that is the case.

At this time the trainings are not available for purchase but I am pretty sure that soon they will be opened up and offered as a product once again on Magnetic Sponsoring. When they are be sure to grab it if you’d like to develop a huge audience of loyal followers who want to hear what you have to say.

This is all about giving but ultimately if you apply what Perry teaches and offer value, build an audience of 10,000+ people who like what you do, you are going to start to reap the rewards financially.

The playing field is level and anyone can become a celebrity or guru in their chosen field with Social Media. Why not you? Your comments or questions will be well received so please feel free to check in with your thoughts.

If you’re not yet a student of ’Magnetic Sponsoring’ or even if you just want access to cutting edge marketing that can be applied to any industry make sure to click here:

where you will receive free trainings and Mike Dillard’s marketing newsletter which will update you on all available resources.

by Rachel Henke, (c) 2009 If you’d like to use this article for quality content on your website or blog please do so with our blessing but ensure the author’s link remains intact.

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I’ve been spending the weekend doing some research on our industry and I tell you what; it just seems to get more and more confusing here!! Talk about confused.com (An annoying advert in the UK)

Everyone and his brother is claiming to be an ‘expert’ and whichever internet route I meandered through to learn more about attraction marketing I just kept coming up against ‘conspiracy theories.’ We have the ‘The 7 great lies of network marketing’ and all of those ominous sounding google ad words adverts that go with these endless conspiracies. You know the ones.. all about your nasty upline and what he or she doesn’t want to tell you. Golly and those upline guys seemed so genuine in every other way…. Is it possible these people are living a wicked double MLM life?

I absolutely love the principles of attraction marketing but all of this hype saddens me and confuses the socks off all the newbies. Not to leave it there though as the plot thickens. For those who can’t implement the ideas in Ann Sieg’s Renegade Marketer e book right off the bat, there is a next step… (Of course) Mike Klingler who seems like a pretty genuine and good guy to me, has come up with something called the ‘Renegade University’ which helps one learn how to implement the geeky stuff discussed in her book. It all looks pretty cool but of course what everyone seems to forget to mention is just how looooooooooooooooooooooong this stuff takes to implement. I was reading one of the mentor’s blogs and she wrote that it took her 6 weeks to set her site up. 6 weeks!!

We have people in our industry whom reach the top level of the pay plan in 3 months. (Okay not so many!)  Does the geek route sound like a recipe for showing someone how to get out of the rat race?  On paper, or on the screen, these systems of course always look really impressive with testimonials of guys sponsoring 10-50 reps a month. I’m not sure about you, but personally (i.e. personal enrolees…) I don’t think I could handle 50 reps signing up whom I have attracted to me because of my amazing IT and teaching skills. Of course I would always have to be on call as well. I have declared myself to be their saviour and superhero for all things they can’t understand or work out on their blog. (Lord help me – please don’t let it be a Word press or I’m stuffed! It’s all I can do to run my own.) So that kind of messes with my 4 Hour Work Week mentality!! Sorry Tim. In this industry if we build it once and build it right, we’re promised walk away income and freedom to travel the world with 24/7 residual cheques while we sleep. I don’t recall signing up to be an IT support engineer do you? Or perhaps a Virtual Assistant would be more on the money. I would certainly need to get outsourcing ASAP!! (I didn’t want the hassle of employees though did I?)

I have ranted slightly on my blog about this before because it irritates me that these guys use negatives to draw people into their own names’ list. They use standard adverts and really have no idea what each company or sponsorship line is teaching, but lump them all together in one ‘old school’ pile. I hear now that some are under fire from the DSA for exactly this reason. If only they would go about implementing these new principles with more finesse that wouldn’t be necessary, but they seem to live and die by the philosophy that they are single-handedly saving the MLM world from the upline demons who don’t want to work on the internet all day, and insist on actually talking to people they know and trust about their business. Honestly whatever next?

The irony is that there are great principles and systems contained within both styles of marketing. To cut out the basics is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Likewise to say attraction marketing doesn’t work is just plain silly. The guys who moan they ‘don’t know anyone’ when they do their warm list will be the equivalent of the guys who moan ‘I don’t know how to do all this techie stuff.’ The point being this is a challenging industry where we need to talk to people in one way or another. What concerns me is that many of the timid ‘I don’t know anyone’ people are hiding behind their computers, building websites and have been in the business with their new company (whilst their wicked sponsor calls them repeatedly, trying to work out why they haven’t exposed their exciting business to even one person yet) for months without getting into action. Meanwhile they are spending money faffing about learning social book marking and watching more gurus’ videos. By the time these poor folk work out how to generate a lead they’ll have lost heart and talked themselves out of their opportunity.

So what’s the secret? As one of my very successful and surprisingly truthful (!!) upline said, ‘there are no secrets when there is a pay plan this good as there is no benefit to stopping your people doing well.’ That’s very true but of course there are always new and better ways to do things.

If you’re still sharpening your pencil, picking up that heavy phone and putting it down again (after giving it a quick polish) and in confused.com land… I recommend not reading every conspiracy report that comes your way. It is a basic principle of this industry that mindset is a key element to your success, and so therefore dwelling on what you don’t have cannot be a positive thing. The sensible and sane thing to do is to follow the basic plan from your successful sponsorship line which is active in the field today and (most companies don’t have one so don’t be confused by those glossy brochures) Your warm list may be of great value to you and the people on it need to be told what you’re doing and given an opportunity to review a 3rd party tool. (Note 3rd party tools deliver the business message instead of you begging, pleading and whining!) Then you can focus on meeting new people as you go about your life, and learning the very complex strategies needed for online attraction marketing. The point being that you are already in action, whilst you learn. If you’re not excited enough to whiz over a video link to a friend to let them know what you’re doing then maybe you should rethink your career path!

The 3 foot rule does not exist anymore except for MLM psychopaths… this is a relationship business and if you focus on expanding your network both on and offline you will be moving in the right direction to becoming a Professional Network Marketer. Social Networking has opened up a whole new world for those who want to build online but also to keep it simple.

If you want to advance beyond the basics then I favour Mike Dillard’s attraction materials because in a confusing world they are simple to obtain and easy to absorb. They are also very good value for money, and Mike spreads a positive message. Click here for more info on Magnetic Sponsoring and how you can apply it to the business of your choice.

Note added as of 2 February 2009. I confess to having misjudged some of the resources I reviewed in this post. As Social Media has become more and more accessible to the masses and I have achieved some fabulous results generating leads and cash with the ‘geek’ route I have since researched the Renegade University and have been blown away by the training that Mike Klinger gives. It really is ‘click by click’ even for those in your team who are very non technical.

If you are not one of the fortunate golden ones that makes it in 3 months (not many are!) then I recommend you take a serious look at establishing your own web of content and cash machine online.  You can learn how to do it here

by Rachel Henke, (c) 2008 If you’d like to use this article for quality content on your website or blog please do so with our blessing but ensure the author’s link remains intact. 

Mike Dillard is well known for his ground breaking training materials in the arena of MLM attraction marketing. His Magnetic Sponsoring course has opened up a lot of doors (mostly in my mind!) and has shown me how to position myself as a leader in the industry and attract the right people into my organisation.

I was very interested to learn about his new course and although I wavered before purchasing because I’ve been going back to basics and sponsoring some really good people whom I actually already know…gasp…, I took the plunge. After all I know that readers are leaders and that even if there was one good tip in his course it would be worth every penny and can accelerate my business. I am careful to avoid distractions though as I have mentioned in previous postings.

The crisp and beautifully bound book arrived within a couple of days and I dove into it with glee. I am nothing if not a good student committed to lifelong learning! Settling down to read it, which is such a pleasant change from hunching over my laptop reading e books, I found that true to his word Mike delivered more than he promised.

The claim of the course or handbook is to teach us winning strategies to drive traffic to our websites on a budget of $500 or less. There is a whole chapter on using Video which even a technophobe like me could understand and follow. Other hot topics covered in detail are how to advertise your opportunity effectively on Craigslist including how to automate your advertising. Blogging is really the hot topic of the Web 2.0 wave and the book covers how to research and plan your blog, how to physically set it up and which blog platforms to use, how to brand yourself with your blog, how to drive traffic to your blog and the list goes on. For anyone thinking, ‘I should start a blog,’ this will inspire you into action.

Many other things are covered in the book and there is a bonus copy of his new monthly Newsletter, ‘The Magnetic Sponsoring Inner Circle,’ which reveals ‘the latest online marketing and recruiting secrets for Home Based Business Owners.’ As Mike so rightly says and as I have mentioned in my article ‘The Myths of Online Networking,’ the internet, and Web 2.0 changes so quickly that it is very difficult to stay on top of things. The newsletter will keep all serious online marketers up to speed in bite size pieces so that they won’t be the last to discover things that can drastically affect their online results. I particularly enjoyed the ‘Web 2.0 Traffic Secrets,’ and found that to be a very useful step by step guide.

The other awesome thing about the entire Magnetic Sponsoring ethos and service is that upon purchasing the book you receive an automatic membership to the affiliate programme which is a hassle free and profitable way to build your rolodex of Network Marketers, and to pay for your own education.

by Rachel Henke, (c) 2008 If you’d like to use this article for quality content on your website or blog please do so with our blessing but ensure the author’s link remains intact.

More details here: Building On A Budget

Word of warning… Randy Gage, AKA the Millionaire Maker and my upline mentor, has some sage advice for us that I heed: He says to do online or other activities only ‘in addition to’ the basics. If your company has a strong duplicative system whereby you can grow your business month on month by teaching people to take a few simple actions then take care to follow that system. It is there for a reason. Online marketing takes a lot of consistent effort and many people joining your team may not have the time or the will to become online gurus.