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There are basically two types of bloggers in the world - reporters and experts - and some people perform both roles (usually the experts, it’s hard for reporters to become experts, but it’s easy for experts to report).

If you have ever taken an Internet marketing course or attended a seminar specifically for beginners, you have probably heard about the two different methodologies. Whenever the business model is based on content, and if you blog for money then the model is based on content, people are taught to either start as reporters, or if possible step up as experts.

I’ll be frank; you want to be the expert.

Reporters leverage the content of the experts and in most cases people start off as reporters because they haven’t established expertise. Experts enjoy the perks of preeminence, higher conversion rates because of perceived value, it’s easier to get publicity, people are more likely to seek you out rather than you having to seek others out, joint ventures come easier, etc… experts in most cases simply make more money and attract more attention.

Most Bloggers Are Reporters

The thing with expertise is that it requires something - experience. No person becomes an expert without doing things and learning. Bloggers usually start out without expertise and as a result begin their blogging journey by talking about everything going on in their niche (reporting) and by interviewing and talking about other experts (reporting again).

There’s nothing wrong with reporting of course and for many people it’s a necessity at first until you build up some expertise. Unfortunately the ratios are pretty skewed when it comes to reporters and experts - there are a lot more reporters than there are experts, hence reporters tend to struggle to gain attention and when they do, they often just enhance the reputation of the expert they are reporting on.

Don’t Replicate Your Teacher

If you have ever spent some time browsing products in the learn Internet marketing niche you will notice a pattern. Many people first study Internet marketing from a “guru” (for lack of a better term). The guru teaches how he or she is able to make money online, and very often the view that the student gleams is that in order to make money online you have to teach others how to make money online.

The end result of this process is a huge army of amateurs attempting to replicate what their teacher does in the same industry - the Internet marketing industry - not realizing that without expert status based on a proven record and all the perks that come with it, it’s next to impossible to succeed.

Even people, who enjoy marginal success, say for example growing an email list of 1,000 people, then go out and launch a product about how to grow an email list of 1,000 people. Now I have no problems with that, I think it’s fine to teach beginners and leverage whatever achievements you have, the problem is that people gravitate to the same niche - Internet marketing - and rarely have any key points of differentiation.

How many products out there do you know of that all claim to teach the same things - email marketing, SEO, pay per click, affiliate marketing, and all the sub-niches that fall under the category of Internet marketing. It’s a saturated market, yet when you see your teachers and other gurus making money teaching others how to make money (and let’s face it - making money as a subject is one of the most compelling) - your natural inclination is to follow in their footsteps.

If the key is to become an expert and you haven’t spent the last 5-10 years making money online, I suggest you look for another niche to establish expertise in.

Report on Your Process, Not Others

The secret to progress from reporter to expert is not to focus on other experts and instead report on your own journey. When you are learning how to do something and implementing things day by day, or studying other people’s work, you need to take your process and what you do as a result of what you learn, and use it as content for your blog.

It’s okay to talk about experts when you learn something from them, but always relate it to what you are doing. If you learn a technique from an expert it’s fine to state you learned it from them (and affiliate link to their product too!) but you should then take that technique, apply it to what you are doing and then report back YOUR results, not there’s. Frame things using your opinion - your stories - and don’t regurgitate what the expert said. The key is differentiation and personality, not replication.

Expertise comes from doing things most people don’t do and then talking about it. If you do this often enough you wake up one day as an expert, possibly without even realizing how it happened, simply because you were so good at reporting what you did.

You Are Already An Expert

Most people fail to become experts (or perceived as experts) because they don’t leverage what they already know. Every person who lives a life learns things as they go, takes action every day and knows something about something. The reason why they never become an expert is because they choose not to (which is fine for some, not everyone wants to be an expert), but if your goal is to blog your way to expertise and leave the world of reporting behind you have to start teaching and doing so by leveraging real experience.

Experience can come from what you do today and what you have done previously; you just need to take enough steps to demonstrate what you already know and what you are presently learning along your journey. I know so many people in my life, who are experts simply by virtue of the life they have lived, yet they are so insecure about what they know, they never commit their knowledge to words for fear of…well fear.

Blogs and the Web in general, are amazing resources when you leverage them as a communication tool to spread your expertise because of the sheer scope of people they can reach. If all you ever do is talk to people in person and share your experience using limited communication mediums, you haven’t much hope of becoming an expert. Take what you know and show other people through blogging, and you might be surprised how people change their perception of you in time.

Reporting Is A Stepping Stone

If your previous experience and expertise is from an area you want to leave behind or you are starting from “scratch”, then reporting is the path you must walk, at least for the short term.

Reporting is a lot of fun. Interviewing experts, talking about what other people are doing and just being part of a community is not a bad way to blog. In many cases people make a career of reporting (journalism is about just that), but if you truly want success and exponential results, at some point you will have to stand up and proclaim yourself as someone unusually good at something and then proceed to demonstrate it over and over again.

Have patience and focus on what you do to learn and then translate that experience into lessons for others, and remember, it’s okay to be a big fish in a small pond, that’s all most experts really are.

This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and my blog mentor. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.

To get more information about Blog Mastermind click this link:

www.BlogMastermind.com

In every bloggers life comes a special day - the day they first launch a new blog. Now unless you went out and purchased someone else’’s blog chances are your blog launched with only one very loyal reader - you. Maybe a few days later you received a few hits when you told your sister, father, girlfriend and best friend about your new blog but that’’s about as far you went when it comes to finding readers.

Here are the top 10 techniques new bloggers can use to find readers. These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next-to-no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.

It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually once you establish enough momentum you gain what is called “traction”, which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers. Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth.

Top 10 Tips

10. Write at least five major “pillar” articles. A pillar article is a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.

9. Write one new blog post per day minimum. Not every post has to be a pillar, but you should work on getting those five pillars done at the same time as you keep your blog fresh with a daily news or short article style post. The important thing here is to demonstrate to first time visitors that your blog is updated all the time so they feel that if they come back tomorrow they will likely find something new. This causes them to bookmark your site or subscribe to your blog feed.

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The Proven System

This is the most important chapter in the book where Ann takes over 4 pages to explain the problem with so called proven systems which have an inbuilt failure rate of 90%+ and how she developed her own system which has revolutionized the way MLMers build their businesses.

The system she developed is described in her ebook.the Renegade Network Marketer

I also wrote a blog post entitled It’s the System, Stupid! you might want to take a look.

Because this is the most important chapter in the book I cannot do it justice by trying to summarize here so if you haven’t already downloaded the free ebook all I can says is “You must be st….d!!!”

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If you apply the system Ann devised you’re business will take off like never before - just click on the link below and grab a copy now:-

 ”You don’t have enough belief”

Aren’t you just sick to death of this one?

Don’t you just want to throw up when some big shot stands up on the stage and says you’re not successful because you just don’t have enough belief - or you just don’t have a big enough ‘why’.

If you believe this stuff you buy so called inspirational CD’s and DVD’s, you go to every meeting, and you cut out pictures of cars and houses and stick on every surface in your house and car to motivate yourself. You think positive. You go to the annual conference because you are told that you will be motivated when you hear all the big stars telling their stories.  And you are pumped up and excited and raring to go - you just can’t wait to get home and get stuck into your business again!

External motivation is like a drug - you get the ‘high’ at the time but a few days later when the realities of life kick in…….well, you know the rest.

It’s too easy to tell someone that they just aren’t motivated enough; in fact it’s a cop out!

External Motivation isn’t the solution - a good Marketing Plan is the only answer.

If you are one of the 5% who have stuck with your company for more than 12 months - you obviously have the belief, you just need that effective marketing system.

The best motivation comes when you begin to get results from you marketing efforts!

Ann discusses this subject in three and a half pages. To read it all go get the FREE ebook now and enjoy!

We’ll build the business for you

If you are involved with a genuine MLM business, it’s unlikely that your sponsor will say this to you -Yes, they may help here and there and even perhaps place one of their personally sponsored people into your downline which is likely to help not just you but them as well.

What Ann talks about in this chapter are the ridiculous promises we see on the internet such as:

“Just secure your position today and we’ll build and manage your downline for you. There are already hundreds of people waiting to be placed underneath you, all you have to do is secure your spot! With our amazing automated system, even a couch potato like
you can get rich!”

This sort of advert is pandering to the current desire for ‘instant gratification’ which is plaguing society at this time. The desire to get rich quick without having to work for it just doesn’t happen - you have to put some personal effort into building your Network Marketing business.

No matter how automated the system, it will not produce the desired results without the human element to monitor and manage.

Network Marketing offers the chance for just about anybody to own there own business for a modest initial outlay - unfortunately most folk know very little about running a business simply because they have been an employee most of their life.

Fortunately, there are systems out there which literally show you step-by-step the ‘how-tos’ of building a successful MLM business but you have to do it - no one will do it for you!

If there were systems out there that did it all for you we would all be sunning ourselves on a sandy beach somewhere whilst the automated system made us rich! La La land folks!

Ann thoroughly discusses this topic in the FREE ebook.

Anyone can do this!

Oh really? - If that were so how come 90% plus fail to do so?

As Ann points out people have different skills, time and money available to support their new business and so will experience different results.

Take an example of an experienced corporate sales exec on a six figure income joining an MLM business compared to a stay-at-home Mom - do you imagine they will find building an MLM business as easy as each other?

The Sales Exec will have contacts in the corporate world who are likely to listen to their respected colleague. The Exec will also have the finance to fund the growth of their business - the stay-at-home Mom’s contacts are likely to be friends in a similar position to her. She is possibly desperate for extra income to manage the family budget and is unlikely to be in a position to either by leads or advertise to generate her own leads.

What you start off with in the beginning will have a direct impact on how easy or difficult it will be to build your business.

In my MLM we are often told that you need to generate at least 50 MLM leads a week to stand a chance of building a business - it’s practically impossible to do this using the ‘old school’ methods of lead generation without spending a load of money, which so many Newbies just don’t have!

You have also probably heard of a successful Upline in your business who went flying up the Pay Plan in no time at all and is looked upon as an example of what can be done - if they can do it, so can you is heard only too often at company meetings. Years later you discover that they brought a loyal team with them from their previous network!

Not all Networkers are created equal!

Ann discusses this item in three and half pages so you need to get the book if you want to get the full story.

“It’s not selling, it’s sharing!” 

 If it’s not selling why do so many MLM/Network Marketing companies join the Direct Sales Association?

 Ann suggests that the two major side effects of this approach is:

          (1) There’s a huge deficiency of proper sales training because if it’s not sales there’s no need for sales skills and

          (2) People are set up for failure because they are given false expectations of how easy it’s going to be.

Newbie distributors are in for a very rude awakening if they believe this lie and as a result will probable leave the business very soon after joining. The idea of ‘sharing’ is often spread because we know that most folk can’t sell and definitely don’t like to be sold to!

Fact: If you are in Network Marketing, you are in Sales!

Word of mouth advertising is the most powerful form of advertising - no argument there.

You see a great movie, discover a new restaurant you tell your friends about it and chances are they will check it out. You recommendation is powerful because you have nothing to gain by sharing these findings with your friends.

As soon as you bring money into the mix everything changes. 

For starters you will not feel so comfortable and your friend will know the recommendation is biased and will smell a sales pitch a mile away!

As Ann says “The fact is, in Network Marketing you have now crossed over from the world of personal recommendation to the realm of direct sales. Don’t lei anyone tell you they are the same because they’re not!

Ann discusses this approach in more than three pages -if you would like to read the rest get the FREE ebook.

I know of only one MLM business in the UK where the first time you see a customer is when you deliver their order -the company has a catalogue of more than a thousand household products for sale. Take a look at www.thebestbiz.co.uk

Has she gone too far this time?

Frustrated by her lack of success in building her MLM business despite following the advice of her Upline for some two years, Ann began to question that advice and came to the conclusion that most of what she was told was downright lies! Has she gone too far this time? 

Some 90% plus on new joiners leave within 12 months of joining a network marketing business. Are these lies responsible for the terrible attrition in our business?

She identifies 7 Great Lies:-

Lie #1 - Everyone is your prospect!

Lie #2 - This really isn’t sales. We just share products with people.

Lie #3 - Anyone can do this!

Lie #4 - We’ll build your business for you.

Lie #5 - We have the best product ever!

Lie #6 - You just don’t have enough belief!

Lie #7 - The proven system.

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Lie #1 - Everyone is your prospect!

Ann struggled to decide which was the worst lie and this one came as close as any for that accolade. You must have heard it said that ‘if they can fog a mirror’ they are a prospect!

As Ann Sieg says this insane belief has led to the ridiculous practices of the ‘3 Foot Rule’ and to pestering family and friends. My feeling is that it good practice to tell them what you are doing and leave it at that - if your friends and family want to know more , they will ask.

Don’t you just feel bad about having to approach everyone and anyone to join your business? Would you really want just anyone in your business? I sure don’t.

It just isn’t true that everyone is your prospect - some folk love their job and wouldn’t give it up for all the tea in China (that’s an old English expression, folks).

This approach does not project an image of Professionalism and it rarely does much good for your friendships.

An important point Ann Sieg makes is that ‘No one is worth your time until they’ve shown an interest in what you’re offering and have asked for more information’

A final point Ann makes before I move on to Lie # 2 is

‘Who finds who first is very important’

 To quote Ann again

“When you go head hunting and chase your prospect, the whole operation is doomed to failure because you’re viewed as a nuisance! When they find you and seek you out, you’re viewed as an expert.

To check out the other lies get your hands on the FREE ebook here.

Are you tired of the old school network marketing techniques? You know the 3 foot rule, flyers, Excuse Me cards, bugging your family and friends, and holding Business Opportunity meetings.

I know that when I joined my first network marketing company, I was told to use these techniques as well as buy Names Lists to mail out flyers.  I was told to make a list of 100 people that I knew and basically call every one of them to ask and see if they would be interested in making some extra money. I was told stupid things like get 90 ‘No’s’ to get close to a ‘Yes’.

I was faced with nothing but rejection.

When I was avoided by just about everyone that I knew, all my upline told me to do was to go out and buy some opportunity leads. Leads which had probably been sold several times over to other networkers

This led me to more rejection and spending a bunch of money I didn’t have in the first place!  I was out of money, and had nothing to show for it.

Then just as I was going to give up, I found what I consider to be the “life saver” for my business. 

This life saver I speak of was Mike Dillard’s 7 Day Free Video Boot Camp.

In these 7 free videos Mike explained how I could attract an endless stream of prospects to me ready to join and actually get paid to prospect.  His system is probably the best one available for generating MLM leads.

These videos have really changed the way I do my business, and I think they can help you too.

You can get free instant access to these videos here…

7 Day Free Video Boot Camp

Enjoy,

Bob