While surfing for traffic or browsing your safelist emails, you are sure to have noticed the very large number of networkers promoting similar, if not identical, programs. Empowerism and Profit Rally are everywhere, as are health related and telecom based MLM opportunities. This is an incredibly competitive time for net marketers. It's difficult to stand out among thousands of other people when everyone is promoting basically the same thing, albeit in slightly different "packages".

Two years ago, a networker could collect daily sign-ups for their favorite biz-opp by simply driving lots of traffic to a nice splash page. While splash pages are still a highly effective form of advertisement, they are less likely to pull sign-ups directly into an opportunity.

Disclaimer: I am not saying you can't build referrals directly through a well built splash page. I am only suggesting that it is more difficult in the year 2005 to grab a surfer and bring them directly into your opportunity than it was in 2003.

We network marketers can be a stubborn lot. Why would we want to join someone else's health related MLM when we are already promoting a very similar program?

Or, from another perspective:

Why would a surfer, who has seen 100 ads for Profit Rally in the past hour of clicking, decide to join from your splash page instead of any of the previous 99? Sure, it could happen. But are the odds of catching that stray surfer good enough to wager your time and/or money on traffic credits?

"Aw Tim. You're full of it. I get loads of active, paying sign-ups into my opportunities every day directly from my adverts."

Fantastic. Thanks for stopping by. The rest of this article is for the folks who are frustrated from clicking their butts off and falling short of any kind of decent results.

In these highly competitive times, a smart network marketer will employ a free front end product or service that allows him/her to meet prospects and share information without coming across as just another cyber recruiter. This "front end" can be anything of value that allows you to make and maintain contact with other networkers. The idea here is to avoid "pitching", and simply give them something they can use and enjoy. Build relationships with people through your front end, and the process of building mutually profitable networks will take care of itself.

Here are just a few examples of front end products you could use to help you network.

- Host your own forum. These resources are very popular, and they are a terrific way to meet like minded people.

- Run your own safelist or banner exchange. This is an easy way to attract a fairly large number of people, because you will be offering a valid form of promotion.

- Build and advertise a resource site that reviews and recommends your favorite marketing tools and resources. Run a mailing list from this site, so visitors can stay informed of any updates or changes you make.

- Start a Yahoo group. It doesn't have to be another "marketing experts" type group. It can be focused on any aspect of this business you feel comfortable with.

- Set up your own chat room and advertise weekly or monthly conferences. You might even think about lining up some cool guest speakers to add some appeal to the events.

By focusing all your promotions on a strong front end product, you can build a large list of contacts and promote any number of programs passively on the "back end". This approach will separate you from the mass of desperate clickers, and put you on the road to quality networking.

Tim Whiston

Tim Whiston is a full-time entrepreneur and who lives in northeast Tennessee. In addition to marketing on the web, Tim enjoys reading, writing, playing video games, getting his exercise, and arguing with his friends and family about politics and religion. ;-)