Facebook ads are great for truly targeting your market when it comes to a specific group of people.  I can’t think of any type of internet advertising that gets as targeted as age, sex, location, and shows ads to users based off of the content that users include in their profile. The problem is that Facebook is very picky about the ads that they approve, and it could take anywhere from 8 to 24 hours before you hear their “verdict” on your ad.  Unlike Google Adwords (where your ad runs immediately), Facebook will analyze your ad all the way down to proper English grammar before they will approve it. 

I think that this is a good thing, but I have changed my ad over 6 times, yet they still won’t approve it.  I followed their guidelines as well as suggestions from Ryan Deiss’ Facebook Ad Power, but I’m getting nowhere.  Keep in mind that the ads that I have tested so far are all promoting affiliate products in the weight loss/fat loss niche, so I really wasn’t too surprised that they disapproved them due to the fact that there are other affiliates promoting these products too.

Yes they are driving me crazy, but I guess I will have to test ads from another niche that promote my own products and services.  You might say why go through all the trouble when I can just use Google Adwords…but I say why play Google’s expensive little game when you can target your market better and cheaper with Facebook.    On the other hand, people in Google are looking for something specific while people in Facebook aren’t looking to buy anything. 

This is why my next ad will just be for lead generation purposes only.  I’m done tweaking and testing out the current ads I created because Facebook is known for banning accounts due to ads they are not pleased with (yes they are the ones who approve ads so I really don’t understand why they would ban someone unless it’s based off of too many ads being submitted that continuously get disapproved).

It really doesn’t matter whether or not Facebook approves my ads because I use various internet marketing strategies for myself and my clients; however, there’s nothing wrong with adding a new tool to your arsenal.  Facebook is the hottest thing online right now and everybody in every niche with various interests are all hanging out there.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to get into the Facebook Ads game while there’s little competition, but if you’re marketing an affiliate product, good luck on getting your ad approved!

Let me start of with the network marketers…

As I told everyone on my list (the vernitasherman.com list) before the holidays, I have been working on a special video training series.  This series is a complete course consisting of 24 step by step instructional videos that will teach you exactly how to sell your network marketing company’s products and services online.

I cover EVERYTHING – from basic purchasing of a domain name to Advanced traffic generation strategies.  I cover Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing, Video Marketing , Article Marketing , Press Releases, Forum Marketing, Pay Per Click Advertising (via Google Adwords), and more.  I tell you what tools you need, where to get them, and how to set it all up.

This will not be another attraction marketing course, nor is this about recruiting people into your downline – everyone is teaching that, but no one is teaching you how to sell products and services.  Most people are telling you to just focus on building a downline, but with the high attrition rate in the network marketing industry, you can’t rely on your downline’s efforts as stable income.  Also, it takes too long to build a downline of dedicated business owners who won’t jump around from opportunity to opportunity every three months.

If you truly want your business to produce long term stable income, then you need to start offering  products and services as a solution to your target market’s problem – not your network marketing/work at home/home business opportunity target market, but the target market that your network marketing company’s products and services cater to.

All the videos in the training course have already been produced and uploaded; it’s just a matter of setting up the membership software and sales page.  I’m trying to have everything ready by next Wednesday.

Now, for the return of Virtual Marketing Media…

Actually Virtual Marketing Media as a whole is two parts: www.virtualmarketingmedia.com for small business owners who want someone else to do their internet marketing for them; and www.vernitasherman.com for network marketers who want to do their own internet marketing.

Back in October I had stopped offering internet marketing services to business owners because I wanted to focus on helping network marketers, but many business owners were still coming to me for help because they had wasted money on inexperienced internet marketers who couldn’t produce results.

So what I’ve been doing for the last two months is coming up with a way to leverage my time so that I can help both target markets.  What I came up with is having an instructional video course (mentioned above) for network marketers, and only offering internet marketing services (no more web design) to small business owners who want to increase sales and establish an online presence.

The services offered at www.virtualmarketingmedia.com is all about website optimization (optimizing a business’s current website for search engine friendliness and on page conversions), and giving business owners a complete online presence outside of just having a website.

I also plan on blogging more and creating more videos, so lookout for that.

Until next time…

Aweber has made their web form generator very user friendly and easy to customize as well as the fact that they offer various attention grabbing graphical form templates to choose from.

Watch the video below to see how to create a web from using Awebers new web form generator…

I’m very impressed…Great job Aweber!

Well guess what?  Thousands of other independent reps for your network marketing company are doing the same thing that you’re doing (promoting the network marketing company) which doesn’t set you apart in any way.

The only people that are going to support you are the ones who know you personally (and that’s if you were able to convince them to join), unless you are able to establish a relationship and credibility with others who you have shown your network marketing opportunity to…and you can’t do that without having your own website!

A network marketing company’s main focus is to brand their name and get their products and services sold.  This is why they pay their independent reps to not only to sell their products and services, but to also recruit others into the business.  The more independent reps, the more the word gets out about the company.

So where does this leave you when it comes to company training? Full of knowledge about the company and what it offers, but frustrated and financial broke.

Most network marketing companies spend more time making a name for themselves than helping their distributors; but understand that this is not a bad thing, this is business.

That is why it’s important to break away from the company and promote yourself, and use the company’s products, service, and business opportunity as a solution to other people’s problems.

Sometimes when people are trying to figure out how to promote their business online they get caught up in so many advanced marketing techniques that they miss out on the simple things they can do to get traffic to their website.

Today I want to tell you about one of those simple things that will get you found in Google in a only a few minutes.

The first thing you need to is go to www.google.com, click on the sign in link in the top right corner, and sign up for a free Google account.

Once you get your account (or if you already have one), go to your account settings area and click on profiles. Set up a profile for you account and make sure that you add a picture of yourself, your website address, and social networking sites to your profile.

After you finish setting up your profile, wait a few minutes and go back to www.google.com and search for your name. Scroll down to the bottom of the search results and you will see your picture and your name right there on the first page of Google.

The great thing about this is that your name will be a clickable link where people can go to your profile and see a short bio, your website link, and your social media links.

Not bad for a few minutes worth of work!

If you haven’t created your Google profile yet, go ahead and create one right now and take advantage of the easiest way to brand yourself and get more traffic to your site.

Many network marketers trying to promote their business online are always looking for a simple marketing system where they don’t have to do much work.  Actually, most internet marketers in general are looking for that same system.  What they don’t understand is that there is no such thing as a simple system where you don’t have to do much work and still be able to make more than gas money.

Some online network marketers are so dependent on generic systems that if their system was taken away from them they wouldn’t know what to do.  Those are the marketers who chase after the “latest and greatest” system making other online network marketers rich, because they don’t want to take the time out to learn how to do things for themselves.

There are two kinds of internet network marketers:

1. The money chasers
2. The business builders

Money chasing internet network marketers are always switching from one online marketing system to the next, searching for the system that allows them to make money the fastest.  These marketers are the ones who wind up spending more than they ever make because they are looking for fast money.  They don’t realize that there is no system that’s going to do all the work for you, and help you make thousands in a few days.

The business builders are network marketers that have learned internet marketing principles and have taken the time out to build a marketing funnel by creating their own system to help them reach their financial goals.  Business builders know that fast money doesn’t come until after you have put in all the work to set up your marketing funnel.  Business builders know that once you place learning marketing principles before chasing the money, you will start to succeed.

The more you chase money, the more scams you will fall for;  the more money you will spend on the next “latest and greatest” online marketing system; and the more debt you will incur spending money on supposed “we do all the work for you” systems.

So what is the best online marketing system?  It’s the one you create for yourself!  The system you create for yourself is the only one you will ever need.

Below is a link to exclusive training where you will learn the internet marketing principles that will allow you to create your own online marketing system which will be your unique marketing funnel.  Once you learn these principles and implement these strategies, you will start to see massive results.

Get your free exclusive online network marketing training here so you can start creating your own system, and improve your financial situation.

Using social media marketing to promote your network marketing business online is great, but it’s the worst way to build your foundation.  Why?  Because it’s not stable.  For example, Back in 2007 Myspace was one of the best things to take advantage of for internet network marketers, but now everyone is using Facebook and Twitter.  If your foundation was built just on Myspace, your lead generation success should be taking a nose dive right now.  Also, with the way that people are using automated this and that for Twitter, who knows how long it will be a valuable tool in an internet network marketer’s arsenal.

My point is there are basic internet marketing principles and certain elements that need to be utilized in order to build your foundation.  After your foundation is built, that’s when you add social media marketing to help take your business to a whole new level.  Internet Marketers have been promoting all kinds of products and services online for years way before Myspace, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. became popular.  Some of the strategies used back then work just as well today.  For example, article marketing, list building with the use of autoresponders, participating in forums, and PPC are a few very powerful strategies that still work today.  You would be surprised at the number of successful internet marketers now who don’t have much of a presence on social networking sites.

The biggest test of the skills of an internet network marketer is to see if they can stay alive in the game without blogging and without Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Squidoo, etc. Those that can survive are the ones who really know their stuff and have built a strong internet marketing foundation.  Those who can’t survive have built a weak foundation.

Why build a weak house because it’s summer time now, when you know that the cold winter storms are coming in later months?  You need to build a foundation that will last in all whether no matter how many years go by.  At the same time, you still need to take advantage of current trends.

Don’t just be an internet network marketer for today; make sure that your foundation is strong enough to continue your success tomorrow. Once again, Social media marketing is great, but it’s just icing on the cake.

You join a new network marketing opportunity, get all hyped up about your new business, and think you joined the best company out there because they give you a brand new free website and the latest state of the art back office.  You learn about Pay per click advertising (PPC) and online classifieds, write a few ads, and can’t wait for the prospects and sales to start rolling in.  A few months go by and you lost a couple hundred on PPC ads, didn’t make a sale, and only recruited one person into your business (if that).

You get frustrated and ask your Sponsor for help, and your sponsor gives you the website of a lead generation company where you can buy some leads, and use a phone script to get them on the next conference call.  You tell your sponsor that you want to promote your business online without making any cold calls, so your sponsor tells you to just buy autoresponder leads from a lead company.  You find out that your network marketing company has partnered with a certain lead company that will provide you with high quality autoresponder leads that were generated specifically for your company.

You get all hyped up again, purchase the leads, and the lead company automatically uploads the leads into your top of the line prospecting system that your network marketing company gave you.  Your heart starts beating a mile a minute out of excitement.  Your leads are emailed the messages that your company has already pre-written in your state of the art back office.  Now you just sit back and wait for people to start joining your business left and right, and sales of your product to roll in.

Two months go by and nothing.  No sign ups, no sales….Nothing! You give up and join another network marketing company, and the process repeats itself, over and over and over….

Look, the fact is that everything your company gave you has been given to thousands of other distributors in the company.  Your leads have seen that same replicated website from all the other distributors, so why would they be interested in what you have to offer? You’re no different than anyone else in the company.

So how is it that other internet network marketers in your company are making money and you’re not?  Because they have their own websites with their own marketing systems!  If you really want to succeed with internet network marketing then you have to set yourself apart from the thousands of other distributors and create something that your prospect hasn’t seen before…Your own website and your own follow-up system.  In time, those leads will be ready to go to your replicated website so that they can join you and/or purchase products from you.

Don’t be like everyone else; stand out from the crowd so that you can succeed with internet network marketing.  It’s not hard; you just need to learn the basic principles to set up the right profitable foundation.

Never give up, you can do it!

Offline you have business cards… Online you have a website.  Offline you use direct mail…Online you use autoresponders.  Offline you have home parties or hotel meetings…Online you have social networking sites.  Offline you have conference calls…Online you have webinars.  Offline you have newspapers…Online you have PPC Ads, article directories, and online classifieds.  The fact of the matter is, marketing is marketing and the only way you make it work is knowing basic marketing principles that can be used no matter if you are promoting your business offline or on the internet.  The only difference is the tools you use in your business.

If you don’t know basic marketing principles, then it will be hard for you to create a foundation that you can build a successful business on, whether you’re using the internet or not. That is why it is important for you to join a network marketing business opportunity under someone who can teach you these principles and know what internet marketing tools to use to make it work.

If you have a job mentality or get rich quick mentality, then online network marketing won’t work…But network marketing will not work offline either with the wrong type of thinking.  It takes time and dedication to make network marketing work no matter how you promote your business.  Everyone that you hear of making thousands of dollars using the internet in their network marketing business are people who know what it’s like to fail before they had success.  They know what doesn’t work from years of trial and error; they didn’t just become overnight success stories.  They put in hard work, they lost thousands, they been through the trenches and “earned their stripes” so to speak.

These are the people that you need to seek out to lead you to online network marketing success.  These coaches and mentors will make sure that you don’t have to go through what they went through in order to be successful.  Just make sure that you are careful about the coach you choose, because there are many deceiving people online.  I know because back in 2003 I came across them.  I’ve been burned, I’ve lost thousands, and I failed miserably for a long time; However, I never gave up.   It took me 5 years to figure it all out, but fortunately I did.  With the right coach, I know you will figure it all out too.

The main reason why people look at them as complete opposites is because network marketers tend to focus on recruiting, while affiliate marketers focus on selling a product.  The fact of the matter is, if network marketers would stop focusing so much on recruiting and use affiliate marketing techniques to sell products, they might see a little more success in their business.

On the other hand, if affiliate marketers were willing to teach a team of people what they know instead of keeping all the “secrets” to themselves, they might experience receiving 3x the income that they are getting now because of the commissions that they receive off of their downline’s efforts.

That said, not everyone cares for training people, especially when most new network marketers complain about not having enough money to get the tools they need to effectively  promote their business online.  This can be very frustrating and is one of the reasons why I left network marketing back in 2004 to experience affiliate marketing.  I said to myself that I don’t have time to waste with a bunch of cheap people who have a job mentality.  A job provides you with everything you need to get the job done, but with a business, you have to purchase the tools you need to make your business successful.  Many network marketers are not willing to purchase those tools, yet they actually expect to make some money.  My thing is, if you don’t have the money to invest in your business, then why start a business in the first place?

Another reason why I left network marketing is because you make more money per sale than with network marketing.  With affiliate marketing, your commission percentage is much higher (some are as high as 75%) compared to the under 20% network marketing commissions on products with a lower profit margin.  However, I later realized that affiliate marketing was not the best long term solution for me.

The problem with affiliate marketing is that you are all by yourself trying to make things happen.  You can make thousands of dollars, but no matter what you do, you have to continuously promote, promote, promote in order to keep the money rolling in.  The only way to really experience residual income with affiliate marketing is to create your own products and build an army of affiliates promoting your products for you.

With network marketing, you don’t have to create your own products for the highest residual income potential.  With network marketing all you have to do is recruit hard working coaching people, teach them your affiliate marketing and prospection strategies, and you will eventually have an army of people under you that are helping to increase your income.  Those little commissions over time become big commissions and can rival the checks of a super affiliate.  Of course there’s more to it than that, but the power of leverage from others is one of the reasons why I got back into the network marketing industry and why I only work with those who are serious about having their own profitable business.