There are plenty of fan page services now a days and they seem to be popping up on a weekly, if not daily basis, you have most likely run into a few if you have any interest in creating a fan page for yourself or your business.

I use a couple of them, I play around with the different features and apps, I happen to like ShortStack the best at the moment because they make it very easy to add all of the various apps to any fan page. I also use pagemodo because of the templates they offer. You can even use both services on one fan page if you want.

Read more on TheSocialNetworkManager.com : http://thesocialnetworkmanager.com/fan-page-services-will-and-wont/

Just as the Internet was created to share information but quickly turned into the Mega Epicenter of Porn, Dating & Shopping, facebook and Twitter were created to allow us to socialize, keep up with and share with others, however they are falling fast into the realm of uninteresting fluff and these 5 constant habits are not helping.

1. Posting what you are having for breakfast, lunch or dinner along with a photo of said breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Who are you telling? Why are you telling all 1200 of your facebook friends plus 800 of your twitter followers?

Telling what you are about to eat came first, the pictures then followed. A picture of a plate of food. Really?

There is no value at all to this post, it’s not informative, it’s not entertaining, it’s not funny, clever or thought provoking. It’s not even something interesting that happend to you, that you did or are doing.

No one cares, not at all, unless they are on their way over to your house to share in this fancy feast of yours.

If you must, absolutely must do this, at least be in the picture, people do enjoy pictures of their facebook friends, that’s an obvious fact and we don’t need to understand why that is the case, it just is, but an image of a plate of food or food cooking on the stove is of no interest to anyone.

Acceptable Use Policy. The only time this is acceptable is if you happen to be at an event, a wedding for example and the dessert table is absolutely insane, with 80 different desserts from around the world, complete with ice sculptures and hottie servers. Take a picture, share, enjoy the comments.

2. “I Love My Kids” or the other variations, my kids are my world, my kids come first, my kids are my life, my kids are everything to me, I’m a mother/father first, etc.

Yes, we know.

Really, we already believe this to be true by default. If you are a somewhat normal human, it’s in your DNA, it’s instinct, it’s not even something that you can help or control, you love your children, we all do so pointing this out on a profile or post is redundant and makes us wonder who you are trying to convince.

You could point out the opposite if you felt the need, that would at least be of interest to people simply because it would be different, something out of the ordinary, “Wow, Gina just posted that she can’t stand the site of her kids, how odd.”

People that constantly post about their children and only about their children, their love for their children, their children’s activities, events, grades, what they just said, what they just did, really do appear to have one aspect to their lives, their children. If you are doing this on a profile and you happen to be single and looking, it’s an instant red flag to anyone interested to run like the wind. Any belief that people do not meet on Facebook in a romantic capacity is invalid, it’s 2011, keep up with the rest of us please. Even if you didn’t meet on facebook, that potential partner is checking you out on facebook after you met at the local Fresh Market. If you do happen to be a professional person, which isn’t likely but is possible, it tells prospective employers, clients, business associates that you are not very interested in your profession at all.

Keeping in mind that your children are more important than the cute guy/girl you just met or your co-workers, it’s still simply annoying to the rest of us. We aren’t facebook friends with your kids. We have our own kids and we aren’t all that interested in them, much less yours.

Acceptable Use Policy. You are talking directly to your kid, who is also on facebook. Your kid just graduated from medical school, just cured cancer, just got their dream job as a (insert dream job), just got accepted to Harvard, just created the next great gadget, just killed the really big bug in your bathroom for you, just rolled over the cat, fell on the other kid, is laughing uncontrollably at you and you got this all on video, it’s Mothers Day, Fathers Day or the kids Birthday.

3. The daily stalker tracker.

This one could be the most mind numbing of them all and also seems to be the most common.

I’m awake.
I’m at the bagel shop. I ordered a cinnamon raisin bagel with strawberry cream cheese. Show picture.
I’m at work.
I’m at jojos for lunch. Along with what you are having and of course a picture.
I’m back at work.
I’m at the super market. Along with what you are buying.
I’m cooking dinner. Along with what you are cooking and of course a picture of the finished product.
I’m driving the kids to football. Along with how wonderful those kids really are and how much you love them.
I’m finally sitting down to watch Dancing With The Stars.
I can’t believe that bitch won.
I’m watching CSI Charlotte.
I knew he did it.
I’m going to bed, good night FB buddies.

Wow. Yes, you know who you are.

The only person interested in a blow by blow of your daily routine is your stalker and he/she already knows.

This is just boring, really, really boring. You are filling up the main facebook feed or twitter feed with this information, which is of no use, no value and no interest to anyone. Even your stalker is bored.

Acceptable Use Policy. Foursquare. You are at a bar/club and you want to let everyone know they should come hang out. You are at a wedding, graduation or other party of some sort, pictures are expected. You are at a sporting event, concert or other interesting place, doing something interesting with interesting people, more pictures are expected.

4. The conspiracy, wake up, you’re all being screwed information junkie.

This is the guy that believes it is his job to let everyone know how the government, the new world order, the world bank, the powers that be, big brother, NSA, CIA, FBI, is doing all sorts of things that we need to know about.

The problem with this is not actually the information shared, some of it can be fairly interesting. The problem is the arrogance, the superiority this person feels over everyone else who doesn’t know, doesn’t believe or doesn’t care, the added insult that not only don’t you know what’s going on but that you are a fat, lazy, TV addicted loser that better wake up right now or else, is, well, insulting.

The posts will go something like this;

Keep watching American Idol while your money is losing value because you are too stupid to care.
Keep eating that cancer causing food, the government wants you to be sick, wake up already.
Enjoy the distractions of sports, video games, TV and all of the others created by the New World Order to keep you mindless and lazy.
Don’t look now, but you are being brainwashed by the Super Bowl, while the CIA is injecting your kids with microchips.

You get the idea. Again, some of what they present may have value, may be of interest, may even be true, I wouldn’t know, I’m too busy blogging about annoying facebook posts, but I certainly don’t need them to tell me what type of pathetic loser I must be because I may not agree or care to worry about every different way I am being manipulated by the powers that be every single hour of every single day.

Give it a rest once in a while and post a video of a cute cat doing something funny like everyone else in the world.

This will not only limit your friends, it will limit your work associations, your clients, your customers, basically, everyone that might deal with you for any reason. It is seen as a very negative view point and no one wants to be made to feel like they are just floating through life without a care, while the world around them is going to hell, they may be and it may be, but they didn’t friend you on facebook so that you could inform them of this fact.

Another issue with this. I think “they” are watching you and I don’t want “them” watching me.

Acceptable Use Policy. Twitter or the world is actually coming to an end, right now and you are watching it from your back yard.

5. Pets.

There were a few different candidates for number 5. I had to really consider which was the most popular, the one used the most by the most people that I found the most annoying.

Pets are even worse than #2 since we can at least understand that you love your kids, can’t help yourself and think everyone else should love your kids just as much as you do, but why on earth you would think everyone else is as enamored with your dog, cat or horse as you are is anyones guess. The only reason this is #5 instead of #2 is because it’s not as prevalent.

Pictures, videos and little tid bits about your pet are, like the rest on this list, of no interest to anyone but you.

No one cares what your pet did, no one cares what your pet looks like, no one cares that you even have a pet.

It’s a dog. It’s a cat. There are millions of them, millions own them, they are not anything worth mentioning, talking about or sharing a picture of.

If the pet is an accessory in a picture of you, that’s fine. A picture of your pet in your photo album, that’s fine. A constant barrage of pictures and videos of your pets or an entire album of 237 pictures of your cat and dog, not fine.

I can’t even think of an amusing way to share with you why this is annoying to the rest of us, that’s how boring your pet is.

Acceptable Use Policy. You just got your pet, you must also be in the picture. Your pet just saved someones life, video optional but certainly recommended. Your pet just did the most amazing, most incredible, most unbelievable or funny shit that any pet has ever done, video necessary. Your pet just talked, you better have video or people will worry about you.

Honorable Mention:

Make Money Online Now, unless everyone on your friends list is involved in that industry, you are pissing them off. Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks are better for this purpose. You can also create groups or fanpages for people that are interested and only post to them when you are posting Make Money info.

Quote Junkies. Think of something to say once in a while that wasn’t said by some dead guy 300 years ago. Movie quotes are ok because let’s face it, movie quotes rock.

Husband/Wife adoration. It even annoys those who do it, when others do it. Keep it to holidays and birthdays.

Food Police. Telling me what’s in my food, where it comes from, what’s wrong with it and why I shouldn’t be eating it. Unless you are in that industry and I am specifically following you or a fan of your fanpage, then I’m asking for it.

I’m the first one to say that it’s your facebook – Twitter account, do what you will, this is just a bit of friendly advice to help you along the way.

Have Fun,
Jim Vigilante

The Social Network Manager

http://thesocialnetworkmanager.com

We understand that you are very busy running your business, you don’t have time to worry about posting on Facebook, tweeting on Twitter, managing your profiles on LinkedIn, FastPitch & MySpace, just to name a few.  You have enough to do without spending time reading all of the articles, blogs and web sites dedicated to Social Networking and Social Media. 

You would hire an offline marketing service, you would hire a website developer and designer, you would hire a search engine expert and 5 years ago that’s exactly what you should have done, but today, it’s all about Social Media and blogging.  Today, you hire a Social Network Manager to take care of your Internet Marketing needs.

CitySearch and Insider Pages, along with other similar sites, come up in search engines higher than regular websites, because they are relevant directories.  Are you listed?  Is your information up to date?  Are you paying attention to the reviews?  A Social Network Manager should do this for you, The Social Network Manager will.

Just as many people are searching for your Facebook Fan page and Twitter account as are searching for you on Google.  Not only do they want to find you there, but they want you to interact with them through posts and tweets.  Notify them of your dinner specials, your drink specials, your entertainment for the night, your sales, your events, your schedule, your pictures and videos.

Here’s the bad news, they don’t just want it, they expect it.  It’s no longer an option.  You are either in front of them on the social networks or you will not be in front of them when it’s time for them to spend their money.

Here’s the good news, there are now people who specialize in Social Network Management, like us, The Social Network Manager, who are experts at doing all of this for you.  We save you time, we save you from having to learn all about Social Network Marketing, we create the Internet presence that your company needs and now a days, it does need it.  Built into Social Network Management is also search engine optimization, since search engines now view social networking profiles, blogs and fan pages as more relevant than web sites.

More good news, it all costs less than traditional offline marketing and even Internet marketing.  A Social Network Manager is less expensive than a Search Engine expert or Internet Marketing company and most social networks are Free, so instead of paying for ad space or Google traffic, you get all of the same advertising benefits at zero to very low cost.

Pick a package or contact us today to get started, it only takes a few days to be all set up and running.

http://thesocialnetworkmanager.com

I have retired from Network Marketing after 11 years.  I now manage the social network marketing efforts of offline businesses that want to create and maintain a serious Internet presence using Social Media.  My reasons for leaving Network Marketing are not important, my passion for Social Media and Marketing can be better fulfilled by providing a valuable service to the small business community.

Everyone is a “Life Coach” now, I just watched a video of a woman talking about how she had to bartend and waitress to make cash while she was building her life coaching business, I admire her desire and there certainly isn’t anything wrong with being a bartender or a waitress but it proves that she was BROKE before she started her life coaching business.

Being successful because you built a life coaching business is absolutely ridiculous. It makes no sense, it simply means you marketed yourself well enough, avoided enough questions, had a very charming personality and convinced people into thinking that a broke person with no real career or business could help them in their own life.

Isn’t the idea that the person is successful in their own life first, if all of your success has come from being a life coach, that seems a bit ass backwards to me.

She’s not the only one of course, there are many, most have success financially first at least, Internet entrepreneurs love to name brand themselves, in many cases, it’s a must for success anyway, so they find business success, they find they have a lot of people following them on Facebook and Twitter, they build large lists, they have huge downlines or thousands of customers and they decide that they will add “Life Coach” to their portfolio of income streams. As an entrepreneur, it’s only reasonable that they look at their business and see what they can do to add income to it, most of us are serial entrepreneurs anyway, that’s how we get into Network Marketing, Affiliate Marketing and Internet Marketing in general.

The issue is, how does this help you, as the client?

The person who has had business success should be a business coach, right? Not a “Life Coach”. Life Coach is too broad, it implies that they will help you in all aspects of your life, but what is their qualification for that? Making money online is not a qualification for relationship or parenting advice.

I have noticed in my 11 years online, that people that become successful online, especially in Network Marketing, tend to become ego maniacs, this is because the success rate is so small that they convince themselves that because they were able to become successful in the industry where most people fail, they must be special, they must be smarter, more driven, more attractive, etc. This all may actually be true, what is also true, is that most were complete failures before they found the network marketing industry.

You have heard all of the stories, I lived in my car, I lived in my parents basement, I lived in a one room apt. with rats the size of cats, I lived on the street and on and on, the I was broke, homeless, stupid and ugly story and now I’m rich, smart, beautiful and live in a huge mansion, thanks to Network Marketing or Affiliate Marketing and you can do it to, just buy my course or join my downline.

That doesn’t annoy me half as much as, I was broke and had no clue what I was going to do with my life so I decided to be a Life Coach, c’mon, that’s just not right on so many levels.

To top this all off, most are 20 somethings with no wife/husband, no kids, no life experience, their entire life has been lived online, their only success, if they had any at all, has been in Marketing themselves online, which is great, but again, that qualifies them to be a marketing expert or Internet business coach at best, not a life coach.

Don’t talk to me about relationships if you have only had six girlfriends, all under 25 and all lasting less than 2 years.

Don’t talk to me about parenting if you don’t have any kids.

Don’t talk to me about mind-set, happiness, positive thinking, law of attraction, and all that good stuff if the biggest problem you have faced in your life was that you didn’t know what career path to take.

There are two types of people that should be life coaches.

Those that have always been successful and happy in all areas of their lives and have experienced what most people are experiencing, that includes, relationships, marriage, children and financial areas.

Those that have been to Hell and back. That means, you were really down and out and have clawed your way to the top financially (not by starting a life coaching biz), have built strong relationships, have a wonderful marriage, have children that are exceptional and thriving and are so happy you have wrinkles from smiling so much.

That’s it, otherwise, pick a new name, Business Coach, Marketing Expert, Network Marketing Guru.

I have to add that this business has taught me so much about people and relationships, so it does have more value than just money, the way I was taught, by someone who had been in the industry for many years, offline and online, was more about the psychology of the Network Marketing business than how to show up on the first page of Google, really did help me when dealing with all of the people in my life, including my children and of course, financial success does help your marriage, money is one of the top reasons for divorce, but overall, especially now with Network Marketing being less and less about dealing with people and more and more about getting traffic to your web site, I don’t see how your Network Marketing success or any business success for that matter qualifies you as a Life Coach.

Donald Trump is brilliant in business and with money in general, I believe he is on his 3rd marriage. I don’t have a problem with getting out of an unhappy marriage and maybe he was not to blame for any of them, but it at least means he has an issue with knowing whose right for him, picking the appropriate person to spend your life with would seem to be an important trait to have, so life coaching would not be for Mr. Trump in my opinion. So if one of the most famous, wealthy men in the world should not be a life coach, what in the world makes anyone think that the ex-waitress who figured out how to market herself online should be?

Even Tony Robbins, who I think is just amazing, will admit to not really creating any new ideas, he studied others and puts out the information in a way that appeals to the average person. That’s all he did originally, take solid information from successful people and share it in a way that was easy to understand, fun and interesting. He has come up with some of his own stuff now, after years of helping people and that’s to be expected, but if Tony Robbins was simply sharing what he learned from others when he started selling Personal Power, then your success with Youtube, FaceBook and Twitter doesn’t give you any insight into how to help people with real life, real world problems.

It’s just silly.

It also shows how important packaging is. Tony Robbins re-packaged old information and got rich. The hot new Internet video marketing chicks that I mention in another post have great packaging and are doing very well because of it, the charming, charismatic new breed of Internet marketers that are all too aware of the power of name branding have great packaging, even if they have to hire a designer to make it for them, this is selling, this is marketing, but when it comes to Life Coaching, shouldn’t their be more substance, more quality, after all, this person is going to advise you on your life, which is everything to you.

I don’t even mean to pick on that one person who started me ranting, I’ve actually been thinking about this topic since a well known Network Marketing Guru has started telling everyone how to live their life on his videos. My first thought was not, oh goodie, he’s going to teach me how to live, it was, Wow, if there is a pill that lowers your ego, he should be taking it. It’s like celebrities that start getting all into politics or wealthy people that start talking about the power of ZEN and are all of a sudden Buddhists or Scientologists.

It’s all good for them, whatever makes them happy, but it doesn’t help you at all.

They simply cannot imagine that you would not want to do what they are doing, the problem is, they weren’t doing it first, what they are doing now did not make them successful and that is what it all comes down to, what did you do that made you successful is what’s important to others, not what you are doing now after the fact.

Before you go giving your money over to a life coach, maybe it makes more sense to figure out what is wrong in your life, what would fix it and if you can or cannot fix it yourself. If you cannot fix it yourself and you need help, buy a book, if that doesn’t work, try different tactics, if that doesn’t work and you decide that you really need to hire a person to help you, find a person that specializes in that area, relationships, marriage, health, wealth, business, whatever it may be and make sure they had success in that area of their life before they started coaching others on that subject.

That makes sense to me but I’m no Life Coach, so you really shouldn’t listen to me anyway.

Jim Vigilante
Not a Life Coach

I wasn’t going to rant about the new trend in Network Marketing that has been getting under my skin a bit over the past year, I had conflicting thoughts on the subject, so I figured I would just keep them to myself, but I saw something recently that made it impossible for me to keep my mouth shut.

The new trend is the beautiful young marketers who have realized that video is fun and profitable, especially when you look like they do and plaster yourself all over the Social Networks.

I didn’t really have an issue with this, it’s not their fault they look the way they do and video is now the popular marketing format, so they are just being smart in getting the attention of prospects. Not to be one sided, I’ve seen guys do it too, only with them it’s more like, look at us, we’re young, cool and rich, wouldn’t you like to be too? Yes of course, sign me up.

So, thanks to video marketing, we are seeing exactly what we see on our TVs, young and beautiful, successful and having fun, selling whatever they are selling that is going to allow you to be just like them.

No problem right? I shouldn’t be saying anything about it, it’s marketing, it works, it’s not nearly as bad as the hype and misleading information that this industry is well known for, which is exactly why I haven’t said anything about it until I saw this ad on Facebook;

—————-
Yes, I Want A Rich Boy

(Insert Picture of Hot Girl Here)

Make money on the internet right now. I can show you how to fill up your
bank account. No boss, No 40 hour job and hot girls like me!
—————–

Really? You have got to be kidding me.

Not only do I have to compete with the best marketers online, people spending massive amounts of money on advertising, slick, beautifully designed systems, teams, groups, hype, people that will say anything to get a sign up, Name brands, etc. etc. etc. but now I have to compete with the hottie selling sex.

Oh, yes she did.

“Yes, I want a rich boy” means that if you get rich you may have a shot with her and that last line doesn’t even really make sense,
but it implies that you will be able to hang out with hot girls like her if you get involved in the industry, with her at least.

Is this really where we have gone with our Network Marketing businesses?

To top it off, this is not a desperate person, this isn’t a fake person, not someone pretending to be a beautiful young lady, this is a real marketer who is well known and is supposedly very successful. I’m not going to name her and I don’t know her personally, but over the past year or so she has gotten very popular and has been hanging around with some of the Guru guys.

My problem is not just the “sex sells” aspect of the ad, although I think this is going to effect the way some of the others market, who as I said, love to show off on video but have kept it very “G” rated so far, although I find it amusing that they do jump in front of the camera everytime they have the slightest little thing to share. Hey, whatever works right.

What I’m really bitching about is this:

I can’t compete with this. If you are a better marketer than me, if you have more money to spend than me, if you are just plain out right smarter than me, I can learn, I can make more money, I can spend more time, I can work harder, I can find other ways, but I cannot be a hot 20something woman, so yes, I’m straight up complaining.

I’m totally annoyed and am ready to photo shop some pictures of myself, start working out, dress myself up or leave off the shirt if I can get myself nice and buff and start putting up ads saying that I’m looking for women that want to hang out with me to join my business, I’m sure my wife would love that and my kids, well, who cares what they think, nothing wrong with pretending to whore myself out, it’s all about sign ups right.

Even better, I can call up my 30 year old swimsuit model sister and ask her if she wants to join the party, since this is where we are headed, she wouldn’t have to do much of anything, just look hot on video and read off what I write, sign ups will be rolling in and my job title just changed to PIMP.

How nice.

Another reason and this effects all of us, not just me, you can’t do what they do either.

If you join with them, you can’t do what they do, they can’t teach you anything because all of their success is based on video marketing, social networking and looking the way they do.

You can video market, but it won’t work as well and you may look like them, but that doesn’t mean you are going to be comfortable jumping in front of the camera 4 times a week to show off.

You certainly may not be willing to place ads like the one above on Facebook.

These young ladies like to teach social network marketing along with video marketing, good stuff to learn, however, once again, social networks favor them, let’s be honest, it’s going to take a 40 year old man a really long time to get 5000 friends on Facebook, a 25 year old hot red head can do it in a few months and it only takes that long because Facebook will red flag your ass if you are collecting friends like you’re Megan Fox.

Someone that’s not even interesting in Network Marketing, never had any intention of starting a home business, would be enticed by one of these marketers, sign up, make no money at all, cry about it and become just another casualty, trashing the industry to everyone they know. People join this business for all the wrong reasons all of the time, but I can’t think of a worse reason than how hot your sponsor is or the implication that you may get a girlfriend out of it.

Someone that is involved in the industry, but doesn’t have that much experience and is sponsor shopping, could also be taken in by one of the new wave of marketing beauties, but again, what does that do for them? How does that help them? Unless you are holding out for some spillover, signing up with her didn’t help you at all.

Now, I will say, I am all for using your talents, skills, attributes, money, intelligence, good looks, whatever benefits you may have to help you become successful in life, however, in this case, what they are doing is equal to me promising you $90,000 in 90 days, money for nothing, just sign up and get paid and all of those other misleading tactics that are used in this industry. It is the same, you may not agree, but when you are promising “Hot Girls Like Me” in your ad, what’s the difference?

I completely understand that everyone will not agree with me on this subject and I am positive those women could care less what I think, they shouldn’t, just as I don’t care what anyone thinks about this post, you can agree or not, they can be offended or not, I’m still right and this is a bad direction for our industry, if anyone actually cares about the industry as a whole anymore, if anyone cares about the people in the industry anymore, but maybe the Internet has finally destroyed it completely, it’s been doing that for years, this could just be the way it is now, money, sex, power, just like everything else in life, shouldn’t be surprising, but it does make me a little sad.

Time to go exercise!

Jim Vigilante

I think we all miss something when marketing business opportunities and that is the important fact that everything is not for everybody.

You may feel, actually, you should feel that your business opportunity is the best one available, that’s why you got involved, but what is never said is that your business opportunity isn’t really the best one available, it’s the best one available for you.

Every product cannot be the best, every compensation plan cannot be the best, every company can not be the best. None of them are the best business opportunity overall.

I’m not talking about Add-Ons, businesses that we add on to our primary business, normally offering marketing services, like APSense for example, I’m talking about that one company that you just love, the one that is going to make you wealthy, the one you just can’t understand why everyone doesn’t see what you see, that it is without a doubt the best opportunity on the planet and everyone should be joining right now.

One unfortunate aspect of marketing business opportunities online is that people jump from one to another, they don’t really care what the company is all about, they don’t care about the product and don’t really even care to understand the compensation plan, someone said it was the best, they signed up, if they don’t make any money in a very short period of time they are off to the next “best” opportunity. They have no reason to stay since they had no real reason to sign up to begin with, they just did because someone told them to.

That makes no sense at all in the real world of business, but I’m no hypocrite, I’ve done it, I’ve been through phases over the past 11 years where I have jumped around like a newbie with a gold card.

What I failed to realize then and what many of us still fail to realize when we are marketing or when we are being marketed to is that no business is for everyone.

A compensation plan that’s great for you may not appeal to me, a product that you think is incredible and amazing may just bore me to death and there are many other aspects to any business opportunity that may or may not appeal to someone.

It is your job as a marketer to make me see things your way, same with any commercial on TV or any salesperson, however, what people seem to forget is that they need to convince me why it’s a great opportunity for me, not why it’s a great opportunity to them. The trick is to find out what’s important to me, this was easier when Network Marketing was done offline, but with social networking so popular now, we are getting back a little bit of the personal touch that was lost when the Internet came along.

I’ve made this mistake, rambled on and on about a compensation plan that I knew was a real winner to someone who had no interest at all in compensation plans, I still don’t get that but that doesn’t matter, what matters is what’s important to your prospect.

This all comes down to what I was saying at the beginning, your opportunity is right for you, mine is right for me, none are right for everyone. When marketing, explain why you feel your opportunity is so wonderful, market to those that are already interested in your opportunity or at least your type of product, market to those in the competition or those checking out the competition. Always keeping in mind that if I hate matrix plans, you aren’t going to sign me up into your company that uses a matrix plan no matter what you say and it’s ok, it doesn’t mean anything except your business is not right for me.

Even more important than the marketer side, is the side of the person being marketed to, if you are in the market for a business, you really should know what fits you best. What type of payplan works best for you, what price point are you comfortable paying and promoting, what product gets you excited, do you like start-ups or established companies and do you feel passionate about the business opportunity overall, if you don’t, if you are thinking about signing up because someone promised you riches overnight, spillover, money for nothing, a cure for every illness known to man, then you should stop yourself and say, “is this right for me?”.

If you don’t do that, then you are just chasing money and you will always be chasing money because you will never find the business that fits you best because you simply don’t know or don’t care what business that is.

If you are thinking, “I don’t really care, I just want to make money”, I can tell you from experience that unless you get really lucky, you better start caring or you never will make the kind of money you have in mind.

Learn compensation plans.

Learn the product categories for our industry.

Decide what price point is comfortable for you to get started.

Decide what price point is comfortable for you on a monthly basis, if at all.

Decide on if you want to get involved in a start up or an established company.

Decide if you want to focus on marketing tools and services (add-on businesses) or if you want to focus on one primary company.

Understand how you will need to market a particular company, I turned down a very well know, successful company that had a lot to offer, great products and compensation along with a solid track record because I realized that I would have to market it offline to be successful and that just wasn’t for me. They were teaching home parties and stuff, it was like being stuck in 1995, but that works for them, it would not have worked for me.

So, what is your skill? Phone? Writing? Face to Face? Videos? Social Networks? It will take you some time to know your skill, but once you do, you will then be able to see if the way you market best fits with the way the company you are checking out needs to be marketed.

Taking your business to another level, taking it seriously, means finding the business that’s best for you, not the one that’s the hottest of the month, not the one everyone has jumped on this week, not the one that leader is pushing or your buddy just got into, the one that is best for you, because at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

Wishing You Amazing Success,
Jim Vigilante

I am not involved with Aaachoo. I am not one of the owners, I am not a member, I have no involvement. It has become obvious that people think I am involved in the ownership of Aaachoo, I’m guessing it’s because the owner of Aaachoo is the company that owned Wowzza, which I created and managed but did not actually own. I was out of Wowzza in Feb. 2009. I am not sure when it closed, if it has even closed, but I have no involvement with Wowzza either anymore.

So, this is really just a public service announcement and to save myself time on questions about Aaachoo.

Looking Forward,
Jim Vigilante

This is a nice little deal. Sign up free to get discounts, special offers and coupons to your cell phone, plus, get paid each time an advertiser sends you a message.

They share Ad dollars with you. You can also get paid when someone you refer gets messages.

If you refer a business, you can make some big money.

Your cell number is kept private, you do not need to be a Networker to benefit from this, it’s for anyone.

http://www.TurboTycoon.com/jimvigilante

–

I’ve had it. I just watched a video that was the last straw.

I’m sick and tired of it.

Here comes the rant.

How many people do you think will tell us to Stop Selling this month.

I just watched one more video, created by some chick with a couple of years experience, who thanks to creating god knows how many videos of herself sitting in her home office and rambling off reruns of other marketers content thinks she’s a Guru, telling me that I need to stop selling while using Social Media.

Hmmmmm.

Don’t sell on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the others, plus, I guess that also means I should not use social bookmarking sites like Delicious and StumbleUpon to promote my web site or blog.

It’s not just her of course, I’ve been hearing this bullshit from many different so called experts for 2 years now. Her little video just hit the last nerve.

Here is what really drives me nuts about this.

1. They will say, it’s called Network Marketing, NETWORKING is the key.

Well, I’m here to say that MARKETING is the key. You want to sign up your friends and family members, go ahead and believe that Networking is the main focus of your network marketing business. It’s called Network Marketing because you are building a Network of distributors/members.

The word Network in Network Marketing does not mean Networking, it means a Network of people and it is referring to the network of people in your orginization, those that are already in the business, not networking as in Social Networking.

Originally called, Multi Level Marketing, the word Network was not even in the original version, but Marketing was.

This isn’t just about Network Marketers though, plenty of other Internet Marketers are spewing out the same garbage.

2. They are pretty much telling you to be a scam artist. To pretend that you have nothing to sell, that you have no motive, just hanging out here, making friends, nothing to buy, nothing to join. I’m here to help you, that’s all.

Really now? That’s a bold face lie and a misleading tactic to get people to think you are actually interested in them and not their credit cards. You may care about people, you may want to help them, you may want them to succeed, but you didn’t create 200 videos and countless blog posts for their benefit, you did it to name brand yourself, to get visitors and subscribers, to get sign ups and sales.

That’s the fact and everyone knows it.

3. This is the proof that they don’t even follow what they say. Look on their blogs and videos, what you will see is the same, Retweet buttons, the same, Share On Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and all the other social networks and social bookmarking sites available, just like you see on this blog but I’m not sitting here telling you not to sell. So, they tell you not to sell
on social media, then they ask you to share their content with all of your social media contacts by clicking on the little buttons that go to all the social media sites.

I’m not sure exactly how someone even does that with a straight face.

What would they say if asked, oh, but my content isn’t selling. No, but the banners and buttons all over your blog are selling, the newsletter you want me to subscribe to will eventually send me messages selling me something. Selling a business opportunity is selling, no different than any other product or service. You are selling.

4. This is the biggest, most annoying, most unbelievable point.

The same people, the exact same people, will then sell you a book, course, membership site or some other product that promises to teach you how to get rich using Twitter, how to create an endless supply of leads using Facebook, how to drive massive amounts of traffic to your site using social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Tumblr.

Basically, they are going to sell you a solution to a made up problem they created.

They are going to show you the correct way to do it, since the way you are doing it is obviously wrong, why is it wrong, because they said so.

That just makes me want to go work at Costco.

How on earth do you do that. How do you create videos and blog posts chastising people for using Social Media to promote their businesses and then have the nerve to sell them a product that teaches them how to do exactly that.

It’s like bizzarro world around here.

Here is my conspiracy theory. There are a bunch of Guru types that got together and said, hey, let’s tell everyone not to sell anything using Social Media, then we will sell all our products, services and opportunities using social media and we will be the only people doing it. HA! Brilliant!

Another point.

Most people can’t sell, you see what they do, it doesn’t work.
Most people, using Facebook for example, will send a friend request, you accept, you immediately get a message from them telling you to check out the greatest business opportunity ever created or the latest get rich on Twitter ebook. That’s not the way to do it, I’m not saying it is, but building a relationship with someone for 6 months just to feel comfortable enough to invite them into your business opportunity isn’t the way to go either.

Creating intelligent, helpful, interesting content and then sharing it with me,
yes, that helps me to remember your name and if you are selling something
that I am looking for at the time, I may buy it or join it.

You should do that too. Obviously doing that helps your business.

You are selling the entire time though. Don’t say you weren’t selling anything because if
that was true, there would not have been anything to buy.

What really works for most people? The name branded, famous, ICONs, don’t count, people join with them or buy from them because of their Name.

What works for most people is the numbers. Plain and simple. The more people that see your product, service or opportunity, the more people that will buy or join.

That’s it. No big cosmic secret.

The reason we use Social Media to promote our businesses is because everyone else is using Social Media. It is the cheapest, easiest way to get your business in front of a billion people. Again, plain and simple.

The reason we create videos is not to be helpful little teachers, it’s because videos come up first in search engine results and they catch and hold a prospects attention better than a web page.

The reason we create blogs is to show everyone that we know what we are talking about and because they are keyword rich, so like videos, they do well in the search engines.

The reason we create webinars is to create momentum and excitement.

We do all of those things to drive traffic, to name brand, generate leads and build a mailing list.

The reason we create mailing lists, ezines or newsletters is so that we have a list of people to SELL STUFF to.

It’s a sales/marketing funnel.

No one is creating videos and blog posts just to help everyone else.

You can create all the content, systems and training you want, that’s just wonderful, but don’t pretend you did it just for my benefit, don’t pretend you aren’t selling anything.

You want me to subscribe to your newsletter, you want me to click on one of the banners or links on your site, you want me to buy or join something.

We are Marketers, Network Marketers, Affiliate Marketers, Internet Marketers and there is nothing to be ashamed about, nothing to hide,
no reason to feel insecure. Sales person is the highest paid profession in the world.

Look up the definition of Marketing on Dictionary.com and you will see this:

“Many people believe that marketing is just about advertising or sales. However, marketing is everything a company does to acquire customers and maintain a relationship with them. Even the small tasks like writing thank-you letters, playing golf with a prospective client, returning calls promptly and meeting with a past client for coffee can be thought of as marketing. The ultimate goal of marketing is to match a company’s products and services to the people who need and want them, thereby ensure profitability.”

I just love that. It makes my point.

We are using Social Networks and Social Bookmarks to market our businesses.

There is nothing wrong with that. It is smart business, perfectly acceptable.

There is something wrong with watching some guy in a Ferrari or some woman on the deck of her beach house telling you not to sell.

Trust me, they didn’t get that Ferrari or beach house by not selling. It’s a gimmick, a magic trick, look I don’t sell anything and I have this amazing house and car. Bullshit, they are selling their little hearts out and doing a really good job of it.

I saw Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys on Joe Buck Live on HBO and he said something like this,
“I’m not the greatest or smartest sales person in the world, but I know the 3 rules to selling:
Rule #1, ask for the Money.
Rule #2, ask for the Money.
Rule #3, ask for the Money.”

I don’t remember his exact words, maybe it’s on YouTube, but you get his point I’m sure.

So, stop telling me how to run my business and I will sell wherever I like, however I like, to whomever I want and I will be upfront and honest about it, this is my business, I’m proud to be a self employed home business owner, I’m a marketer, I sell business opportunities and other various products and services. That is what I do. What do you do?

That’s it for now, I feel so much better.

Go Sell Something!

Jim Vigilante
Professional Internet MARKETER