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Mannatech, Sam Caster, and the Real World

Category: MLM Companies, home based business
1 Comment »

Probably my favorite nutritional company in the world is Mannatech.  One of my favorite men in the whole world is Sam Caster.  If you know anything about what has been going on the last couple of years, the ruling came down and the Attorney General of Texas gave Mannatech a very serious blow, and Sam Caster took a pretty rough hit.

But, the real world operates differently than the direction either Mannatech or Sam Caster chose to operate with their primary product, Ambrotose. 

Two other nutritional companies I really like are Vemma and Xango.  The leadership of these companies are excellent as well.  The biggest difference I know between these two companies and Mannatech is that any average person can represent Vemma and Xango, but Mannatech almost required you to get a PhD in Ambrotose in order to be successful.

agDon't get me wrong, I like Ambrotose and Mannatech… I already said that.  But as a network marketing company, they completely missed the boat.  They got so focused on how excellent their product was (and to be honest, they had a right to that), that they became blinded to the real world and how the real world treats companies like Mannatech who lose their focus.

The real world (governed by lobbyists, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, etc) likes to pressure AG's to clamp down, fine, shut down, and otherwise cripple companies such as Mannatech (i.e. Sea Silver) so that they can barely exist… hopefully one day to shut them down completely.

Again, don't get me wrong, if I found myself in the hospital with some disease, or one of my family members, there probably isn't any product I would rather have given to me than Ambrotose.  I'm serious about that.  Just ask some of the top physicians, surgeons, or scientists in the world, and they would say the same thing.  Probably the biggest names in medicine to ever, ever endorse a nutritional product.  But, that's as far as I would go.

If I was going to work with a nutritional company, I wouldn't come close to working with Mannatech.  It's not even the cart before the horse… because Mannatech believes they don't need a horse.  As far a network marketing company goes, they have missed the boat and there is no sense of business building support whatsoever.  Now Mannatech people may throw their hands up and argue with me, but that's because they are not on the outside looking in.  Mannatech may actually have one of the best compensation plans available, but they have no business plan.  And that, ultimately, is what I believe has been their Achilles Heel.  And Achilles Heel here just doesn't mean their weakness, it means their doom.

Xango and Vemma have excellent, excellent products, but I honestly believe their products are not quite as good as Ambrotose.  It's kind of like McDonalds.  Does McDonalds make the best hamburgers in town?  No.. maybe not even in the top 5.  But, I find myself going to McDonalds for a hamburger these days more than Fudruckers, Chapps, Applebees, or wherever because McDonalds can out-market these companies like no other.  I like McDonalds.  If I had to go get a job, I would rather go work for McDonalds than any of these other companies because I like their image and how they do business.

Ultimately, I believe Mannatech's downfall came several years ago, long before the Texas AG attacked them.  When they chose to become a product company with a compensation plan, rather than a network marketing company, it was only a matter of time.  Worse days are ahead for Mannatech, I believe.  I wouldn't want to stay with a sinking ship… which has been taking on water for a long time.

Again, I like Mannatech (I already said that), but it certainly isn't a business for the average person looking for a home-based business.  If you wanted to make money working from home, then choose Vemma or Xango as a nutritional company, PrePaid Legal or Ameriplan as non-nutritional companies. 

I don't work with any network marketing company, so I am objective.  I have nothing to gain or lose whether Mannatech folds or blossoms out of this.

Mannatech may have the best burger in town, but you would never know it because their marketing sucks, just as I am sure there is a restaurant out there in my town that has the best hamburger in town, but I would never know it because their marketing sucks.  Therefore, the Xangos and Vemmas of the world will always dominate, just as McDonalds has, because they have the right focus and the right approach to growing a network marketing business.

Anyway, I wish the best for Sam Caster and Mannatech.  Great guy.  Great company.  Sam will probably be the first to admit he isn't a great business guy.  But it's too bad he didn't have a great business guy to lead his company.

About

Every year, millions of people across North America and around the world start a Home Based Business. Some are ready to leave their Job, others just want to make an extra $500 to help meet some of their financial needs.

Many people, however, don't know where to begin. They are spammed all day long by one gifting scheme, envelope stuffing, travel the world, and Free to start scam out there. But, it doesn't have to be that way. There are many options for you when it comes to starting your own home business.

Have a look around. We are not pushing any program, MLM company, or any other business. Read the posts, leave a comment.

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I Chat To Text

Category: Affiliate Businesses, Marketing, home based business, make money online
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I've been involved in many marketing, mlm and affiliate programs over the years. A good first rule is to find something you enjoy and give yourself some time to learn.

Another rule is don't sell something that you have zero interest in. You'll have a hard time convincing others what a great product or service you have if you don't believe it yourself.

Recently I found a new program that not only targets the internets massive social networking community but is also going to benefit from the ever-growing cell phone industry. These are two massive markets.

There new application available on Feb 27, is called chattotext.com. Users can send and receive texts back and forth between computers and cell phones. It will also work with facebook, and very soon many other networks such as myspace and bebo. If you have interests around this service you could do very well their reseller.

chattotextOne can use their site or use other sites such as facebook and you do not need an internet capable cell phone for this service. The cost for this incredible niche application is only $6.00 but they offer up a marketing plan which has an amazing 9 levels. I've joined http://www.ichattotext.com to use the application and to test the waters. So far I'm more than impressed with the signup notifications and the free tracking software provided. Very user friendly.

This is a real application for the internet and there are no limits to the amount of signups. Add to that the possibilites of an ever expanding nine levels, then I believe that the founders have themselves a winner. Alexa rankings over the last 2 weeks show this company is fast on it's way to the top.

According to it's founders, Shawn Pringle and Scott Messina, chattotext, is the only application of it's kind in the world. I've done a thorough search of the internet and I can not find anything that has anything near the capabilities of chattotext. I'm going to give this a bit of my time and attention as I like what I see.

Brian Johnson

Learn How to Earn Residual Income

Category: Affiliate Businesses, Non-MLM Businesses, affiliate income
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Learn How to Earn Residual Income by Joining Affiliate Program

Have you ever thought of making money by doing something that you love-blogging i.e. posting entries and comments. You are about to learn about the blog affiliate marketing that helps you to make money, if used intelligently.

Have A HundredThe blog affiliate marketing allows you to earn money for many years into the future from work done once. In other words, an affiliate program that you promote once on your blog, allows you to continue earning money from the program even after you stop promoting it. The money thus earned is termed “residual income”.

The way to start is to join an affiliate program that allows you to earn residual income for promoting the program. There are many benefits of joining such program: you get to do your favorite thing-blogging; you get an opportunity to promote an affiliate program of your liking; and you earn residual (extra) money even after you have stopped promoting the program.

When you promote someone’s products or do affiliate marketing while blogging, you receive a percentage from the sales of the product. One way you can learn how to make money blogging is affiliate marketing. In this way, both you and the owner of the product benefit, and earn profit.

The most common affiliate marketing is creating a newsletter for certain market and thus searching for products that need promotion. The affiliate marketers use blogs to find consumers.  The Cyberwize Blog is one example of how people are going beyond average results.  Many people are doing EXTREMELY well.

You should find affiliate programs that are similar to the information that you post on your blog. Some companies that allow affiliate programs are Commission Junction, Clickbank, Google AdSense ads, Yahoo ads and Amazon. When you have mastered the art of affiliate marketing, a buyer will rely more on you than the product owner for information about that product.

There are three main blog softwares: Blogger, WordPress and TypePad. These softwares will teach you to make money blogging. All these softwares-Blogger, WordPress and TypePad-are initially free for a period of time.

When you are doing affiliate marketing, you should pay attention to the keywords for the products you are promoting. You should attentively use those keywords in your entries and comments of your blog. You should also be attentive to the needs and likings of your readers to attract them into purchasing the affiliate products.

Also, don’t forget to leave your signature link to people to click on it.

I Fired Kiosk Web Hosting Today

Category: Affiliate Businesses, Business Advice, Internet
4 Comments »

Last year I launched a new website, Pro Email Leads.   I have been working with websites for about 10 years now, and have probably worked with about 25 different webhosts.  A couple have been excellent.  A few more are acceptable.  And most are either below average or worse.

I received a recommendation to use Kiosk web hosting.  There's a small business opportunity with choosing them for hosting, and so I chose to go with them.

Mistake. Headache.

When you have a headache, you take some Advil.  When you have a consistently bad webhost, you fire them.  Why live with the headache when you don't have to.  I have had more problems with down time than almost any other webhost I have worked with.  And, it seemed like every time I would send out a newsletter to my email list, begin to run a sale, or whatever, they would be down.

When your site is not up, or functioning very slowly, you lose credibility, sales, visitors, subscribers, and it is extremely unprofessional.

Host GatorI will never know how many sales I lost and credibility that was questionable because of the down time I have had with Kiosk hosting the last 4 months.  It is inexcusable!  Furthermore, their customer service is very slow for web hosting.  It can take 24-48 hours, or more, to get a response from them.  When your site is down, you can't wait 2 days!  Their live chat is very archaic and don't expect much from the live chat help either.  I tried using them about 6 different times.  No help.

People like Mike Filsaime claim to use Kiosk esclusively.  I'm not sure I buy that, or Mike is in so deep with Joel Therin that he would be a fool to leave because it would take away from his bottom line.  Either way, it is expensive hosting that is unreliable.

I am running about 80% of my websites on Host Gator.  I have been using them since December 2005.  I think I have only had one downtime with them, but I may be wrong.  If I need to rely on a webhost to keep my sites up, make it easy to add and configure new sites with their reseller hosting, or whatever I need, I trust Host Gator.

So, my personal opinion… it doesn't get much better than HG for all levels of hosting.  I have two main accounts with them.  One regular hosting account and one large reseller account that hosts about 20-25 of my sites.  There are other hosts that are good, but I think HG is the kind of host that you can set things up and forget about it.

There's enough stress as it is with internet marketing that you don't need one more headache like Kiosk, or other unreliable host, who can't reliably keep your site and email accounts up 24/7/365.

Oh My Gosh… Could be the best program EVER!

Category: Affiliate Businesses, Business Advice, Marketing, Non-MLM Businesses
No Comments »

Brad Callen has done it again.  PPC Web Spy may be the BEST way to make money EVER!!  I have been a follower of Brad for a long time.  When I saw the possibilities of making money with his program, I was absolutely blown away.

Here is what you need to do:

  1. Go to PPC Web Spy and sign up for the FREE copy.
  2. Upgrade to the Platinum version for $97
  3. Plug in and promote it so you can make money.

No ongoing fees.  No autoships.  Just a great way to make some very good money.

I will be writing more later… but don't waste time.

Rich

More Niche Profit Classroom

Category: Affiliate Businesses, Marketing, Non-MLM Businesses
No Comments »

I just want to give you a quick heads up about an amazing new Internet marketing
training community I just came across.

I haven't seen anything like it, anywhere:
 
Niche Profit Classroom

It's not just the 400+ videos of pure, nothing-held-back training on how to generate
income onlnie, or the 5 amazing pieces of software you instantly get access to, or
the buzzing community with like-minded people who are there for you when you need
them.

It's all these things combined, plus:

These guys break down everything in microscopic detail and tell you not just WHAT
TO DO, but more importantly *HOW TO DO IT* (This is why 99% of people never
generate income - they don't have the know "how").

Anyway, here's an 'inside scoop' on what's inside.

Things like:

- How to to create a whole profit producing info-product line for pennies on the dollar
(70% less than anyone else is paying). Plus these products are such high quality that
your customers will be practically begging to buy more stuff from you. This gives you
a HUGE advantage over every single one of your competitors.

- How to cherry pick the most profitable markets out there (using information that
other companies spend millions of dollars to collect - that you can use for F.REE). You
just have to know where to get it..

- How to tap into an unlimited source of F.REE traffic from the search engines and slip
right under the radar so that *NO ONE* has a clue as to how much you're really
raking in.

- How to set all this on autopilot so that that the *ONLY* thing you have to do is check
sales and collect profits (you don't even have to spend a single minute on customer
service).  Plus, a little place to 'outsource' your customer service that all the gurus
use, yet none talk about…

I got that straight from the web site, but it's just a small taste of what's inside.

You also get:

- The MoneyWord Matrix Keyword Tool - Yep, better than about 99% of the keyword
tools out there, and it's included with the membership.

- Market Scorecard - Tells you if a market and product is going to be profitable, before
you even consider going into the market. Let your competitors burn dollars on losing
markets while you cherry pick the profit pulling markets.

- Market Profiler - Let's you *Profile* a market and know exactly who's doing what. You
get a birdseye view of the entire market in a single snapshot.

- Market Checklist - Lets you milk every single dollar out of the market (you don't miss
a beat when it comes to generating profits online with this tool).

- 15 Minute Sales Letter Wizard - Let's you create a converting sales letter in minutes
…yes minutes…and it's better than what most *professional* copywriters would charge
you an arm and a leg for.

Ok, that's a little more than I planned to write you, but I got carried away!

So go here and check it out:

Niche Profit Classroom

Sincerily

Rich

p.s. I almost forgot (couldn't let this one slip by me). The forum in there is the single best
place on the entire Internet to get in touch and meet like minded, success-oriented
individuals such as yourself who are on the path to building a successful online income.