The Internet is so perfect for network marketing that I'm not sure how MLM survived for so long without it. The Internet is one huge, global network of people all within a mouse-click of each other. Network marketing is all about building networks. Could there ever be a more perfect fit?
On top of that, the Internet solves all the problems of building and supporting a downline long distance. And it does it at a fraction of the cost of direct mail and long-distance phone charges!
The Internet can allow network marketers to sponsor and work with many times the number of people they would ever be able to serve offline. It makes it possible to build duplicable systems that an entire downline can plug right into and get productive with.
The basics of network marketing are the same whether you do it locally, through direct mail, or online. You still must get the message out, sponsor people into your downline, and support them and help them build their business. If you are successful at that, you'll build a large income.
But the power of the Internet allows us to multiply our efforts and our investment exponentially. We can reach many times more people, work with a downline many times larger, and automate all the routine, repetitive tasks that used to take up all our time. And we can do it at a fraction of the cost.
The Internet makes it possible for many more people to succeed in this business than ever before. Then why, you must be asking, are so few network marketers successful online?
In my experience, there are two big reasons.
Number one, most would-be network marketers aren't successful online because they were never successful offline either. Most of the people who join an MLM program don't really understand how to build a business with it. They've never been in sales. In fact, often they feel an aversion to it! That means they don't understand the sales process. They don't know how to find qualified prospects, how to share benefits, and how to explain the opportunity.
They don't know how to write hard-hitting sales letters that reach their prospects, or how to use follow-up to multiply their effectiveness. And even if they are successful in sponsoring a few people, they don't understand how to work with a downline and get them productive.
Number two, they don't understand the Internet and how to use its many benefits to build their business. Building an MLM business online requires an understanding of marketing, just as it does offline. The benefit of doing it online is that there are so many places to interact with prospects, such as Twitter, Facebook, and hundreds of other social sites. There is also the possibility of generating prospects using a number of online advertising resources and then using email marketing to further qualify them and eventually train those who join your program.
If you really want to be a successful online marketer, you need to first understand marketing. Then you need to learn how to put your knowledge to use online.