Network Marketing Training: Deciding Which Program is Best For You (Part 1)

Once upon a time a few years back, it was really difficult to find a decent program that would teach you how to grow your online Network Marketing business, or online Home-Based business. Fortunately that is no longer a problem, as there are more options available than ever before on the Internet. The problem now is trying to determine which program is right for you.

In my past, I’ve been both a Network Marketer, and an Internet Marketer, completely independent of each other. The last time I was in Network Marketing about 6 or 7 years ago, I was still using mostly offline marketing methods. Then a few years ago I created a few micro-niche sites and started getting into Internet/Affiliate Marketing arena.

The Two Groups

Now that I’m back into Network Marketing, and mainly using online marketing methods, I’ve noticed what I’m calling two different groups of programs that are offering Online Marketing training.

The first group is the group that aims to bring in the novice, who knows nothing about Internet Marketing and teaches them the ins-and-outs of how to build an online business. Programs like Site Sell, Affilorama, and Bring the Fresh fall into this category. You can even put the Problogger Community in this same topic, as they offer community based Internet Marketing training as well - although the name contains the word “Blog,” it’s a lot more than just blogging tips.

The second group, and the one that I want to focus on for this article, seems to be geared more for Network Marketers, or people who aren’t having a good go at making money online with their current program or methods.

Some people are calling these MLM or Pyramid Schemes, and of course are using the word scam to complete the sentence. The one’s that I have researched are Empower Network, Elite Marketing Pro, My Online Business Empire (MOBE), and Income Society.

Scams

First, I hate to see so many of these good programs being called a scam, because they are not. However, the marketing message by some of these programs, can sometimes be misleading. Once you throw that onto the fact that some of the products are overpriced, it’s easy to start to see why people perceive these programs as being scams.

You may also read that these platforms do not have any products and that the only way to make money is by recruiting. If you read my article, Ways to Identify Whether a Business Opportunity Is a Scam, then you may remember, that the main way to tell if an opportunity is a scam or not is if there is a product being sold - or not being sold.

In the case of these programs, they all have products for sale. The product, is the Online Marketing training that you receive. Just like if you’ve ever taken or attended CPR, Forklift Safety, Project Management or any other kind of training, the product itself is the training. It’s not the certificate or the card that they hand you at the end.

Users of these programs, may normally try to sell the same program and training to other people. That’s why it may look like people are only recruiting. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of words or how people are spinning the program.

So, although they may not be scams, as the name of this post suggest, they may not be right for everyone.

The Basic Concepts of the Programs

There are small differences in the products for each company, as well as the way each one operates. The main take-away is that each program offers training at an entry-level price, then provides different entry point’s where the information is upgraded. To get to the next level of training or education, you must pay to access or unlock it. Of course, this is also known as Upselling, as I’ve talked about before.

Each program provides you with landing pages and/or sales funnels, and the tools that you need to market your online business. Now, the thing to recognize here is that they teach you concepts and give you the tools that should work with any business that you may be running online. The thing is, and likely by design, it’s far easier and potentially more lucrative to promote that program itself, versus using the tools and training to promote your existing business or another opportunity.

While Empower Network actually provides you with a blogging platform or network, the others teach you how to set your own up. It’s actually better to set up your own blog, instead of helping them promote their network. That is, unless of course you want to promote their network because you want to recruit people into Empower Network. But, think about what happens when you want to leave.

You may be thinking that the other programs have it right by just teaching you how to set up a blog and not making you use their network, but to learn this then you must purchase an additional package, or Upsell.

Continued in part two of this series...

#Training #Scam #InternetMarketing #BusinessModel