IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY ALL IS SECURE

T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, HE LIVED ALL ALONE
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF PLASTER AND STONE
I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE
AND TO SEE JUST WHO, IN THIS SMALL HOME DID LIVE

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT, A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE -
NO TINSEL NO PRESENTS, NOT EVEN A TREE.
NO STOCKING BY THE MANTLE JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES OF A FAR DISTANT LAND
WITH MEDALS AND BADGES, AWARDS OF ALL KINDS.
THEN A SOBER THOUGHT CAME INTO MY MIND

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT, IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
T'WAS THE HOME OF A SOLDIER, ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY
THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING, SILENT, ALONE
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE, THE ROOM IN DISORDER
NOT HOW I PICTURED A LONE SOLDIER..
WAS THIS THE HERO OF WHOM I'D JUST READ,
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO, THE FLOOR FOR A BED

I REALISED THE FAMILIES THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS, WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT
AND SOON ROUND THE WORLD THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY

THEY ALL ENJOY FREEDOM EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS, LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.
I COULDN'T HELP BUT WONDER, HOW MANY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME?

THE VERY THOUGHT BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES AND STARTED TO CRY
THE SOLDIER AWAKENED, I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE
"SANTA DON'T CRY, THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE.
I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, I DON'T ASK FOR MORE
MY LIFE IS MY GOD, MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS"

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP.
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT, I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS, SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SAT AND SHIVERED FROM THE COLD NIGHTS CHILL.
I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE, ON THAT COLD DARK NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOUR, SO WILLING TO FIGHT...

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE
WHISPERED "CARRY ON SANTA, CHRISTMAS DAY IS SECURE"
ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT
"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND - AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!"

THIS POEM WAS WRITTEN BY A BRITISH PEACE KEEPING SOLDIER STATIONED OVERSEAS.

THE FOLLOWING IS HIS REQUEST - I THINK IT IS REASONABLE.

PLEASE WOULD YOU DO ME THE KIND FAVOUR OF SENDING THIS TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN

CHRISTMAS WILL BE COMING SOON AND MUCH CREDIT IS DUE TO OUR SERVICE MEN AND WOMEN FOR OUR BEING ABLE TO CELEBRATE THESE FESTIVITIES.

LET'S TRY IN THIS SMALL WAY TO PAY BACK A TINY BIT OF WHAT WE OWE!

YOU Are The Product!

When promoting a network marketing or mlm opportunity indirectly,
as described in previous posts, it's important to 'tell' not 'sell'
to your audience - you have attracted their attention, so there's
no need to try and push your opportunity on them. Instead, tell
them about the advantages of using your product, tell them what
you are doing to grow your business, and how you're using the
system or product you are promoting. Give them information of
value, make them see that it's not all about you but show them
that you are willing to help them get what they want. Because
ultimately that's what it's all about - you. People will seldom
buy into an opportunity just because it's so wonderful they can't
live without it - they will buy into working with you and being
part of your team.

In other words, YOU are the product you must promote.

Indirect Marketing Using A System

Using splash or capture pages in your traffic exchange marketing
campaigns makes sense from so many angles.

Firstly, people are more likely to sign up for something you offer
that is of value to them, rather than using an affiliate page for
yet another program that is just another money spinner for you -
the online audience is far more canny now than they were a few
years ago, they can see when something is of benefit to you but
of little benefit to them.

So if you're offering something of value, at no cost to them,
they are more likely to enter their details on your capture page.
Once they've signed up to receive details of your HIT system,
they will revisit the site time and time again, increasing your
chances of them signing up for at least some of the programs in
your downline builder, including traffic exchanges. Getting a
downline in the traffic exchanges should be high on your list of
priorities, as you will get free credits from your downlines'
surfing, gradually reducing the need for you to spend any time
surfing. Saving time is the same as saving money, remember! I
have also made money from my downline upgrading or buying
adverting in the traffic exchanges.

Once people see the numerous benefits of the HIT system, and start
promoting it too, you will reap the rewards, because their downline
will be your downline too! And the more programs they sign up for,
the more you benefit from it. They may not sign up for all the
programs in your downline builder, but that doesn't matter - in
time your web of influence will grow and so will your business.

The correct way to market with traffic exchanges

Instead of advertising your affiliate sites on traffic exchanges,
which will get you hits but probably not sign-ups, there's a more
effective way to market with traffic exchanges.

Use splash pages, or lead capture pages, to build your downlines
in the traffic exchanges. Why would I want to do that, I hear you
ask, when I want to build my downline in my primary business? In
other words, advertise TE (traffic exchange) A in TEs B & C, or
use a downline builder like HIT to build your downlines in several
different TEs. Then when your downline surfs, you earn extra credits.
Once you've built up a healthy downline, you can use your extra
credits to advertise your main business. And you might even earn
some extra cash along the way if any of your downline upgrade or
buy advertising!

As part of your HIT system you'll get numerous splash pages with
your affiliate links embedded, and these have proved exceptionally
good at getting signups for my HIT system and the TEs it promotes.
So you'll be offering the TE surfers something of value which they
will be more inclined to sign up to than if you were just offering
them a TE. And in turn you're getting signups to your HIT team as
well as extra credits for you to use as you wish. This is known as
indirect marketing, and you should endeavour to use this whenever
you can - offer your prospects something of value, and you are more
likely to get rewarded in return.

Marketing With Traffic Exchanges

The HIT system will teach you, among other things, how to
successfully market with traffic exchanges (TEs). Many of
the programs listed in their downline builder are TEs, at
no time are you required to join any of these, but if you
are already a member, enter your ID, if you are still
looking for ways to promote your business online, then I
suggest you join at least some of these. HIT has proved
extremely useful to me for building downlines in the TEs.

So what is the best way to promote using TEs? There's a
right way - one that will bring you results, and ultimately
money, and a wrong way, which will see you clicking for
credits ad infinitum and getting nowhere. This goes not
only for TEs, but most other marketing methods - safelists,
advertising sites, classifieds etc.

So what is the 'right' way to advertise? Ok, so once you've
joined an opportunity and got your shiny new replicated
website, you need to get it up there and receiving as many
hits as possible, right? Wrong. Unfortunately this is what
most people will tell you to do, but this direct marketing
doesn't work - it won't make any difference how good your
website is. Very few people will ever sign up from your
affilitate website - you'll get the traffic but you won't
get the conversions from this 'direct' marketing.

So what should you be doing?

What Can I Promote With HIT?

On first signing up for the HIT system, it's essential to
get everything set up to maximise your promotional power.
If you're new to online marketing or don't feel you have
much technical expertise, don't worry, because they really
have made it easy for you.

On logging in to your new system, you'll see, on the left
hand side just below 'Main Members Area Home', 'HIT Success
System Training/Setup'. Clicking this will give you an over-
view of the system, and then take you step by step through
the set-up process, enabling you to update your profile,
including entering your Paypal details so you can get paid!

After that you'll have the option to enter your affiliate
id's for various programs - if you are already a member you
enter your existing id, or if not you can choose to join the
program - at no point do you need to join anything you don't
want to.

You will also be given the url's for your personalised lead
capture pages, advice on how to use these pages to best
advantage, and tips on driving traffic to your capture pages.
Some of this will take time to set up and read through, so
feel free to work at your own pace, but make sure that you do
follow all the steps - it really is worthwhile training for
you, as well as optimizing your system.

All this leads ultimately to the creation of your own personal
webpage, which can be uploaded to your own webhost or, if you
choose, to your new GDI account.

And you get all this help and training for.... no cost!

So What Are The Advantages?

What are the advantages of using a marketing system like
HIT to promote your business? Why not create your own
marketing material and build your business that way?

The main and most obvious advantage is it saves you time,
and as any business owner knows, time is money! You might
well be able to create your own traffic exchange splash
pages, and capture or 'squeeze' pages, but how much time
does it save me to have those already created for me,
ready to use with my affiliate links built in? I know
that this alone is worth a lot of money to me. I could
create them myself, but I probably wouldn't do quite as
good a job, so the alternative would be to outsource this
task (= money). Or use the HIT system, where I also get
ready-made downline builder pages.

Using these pages I can promote my core business through
HIT, as well as many of the tools and resources I use
every day as part of my online business - autoresponders,
trackers, traffic exchanges, safelists etc. All of which
are additional streams of income which come together to
build an online income.

Incentives to offer my downline?

I forgot to add to my previous post, that I wanted any system I was going to use and promote to my downline, to offer some incentives, particularly to those who might be new to the internet (having been there not that long ago, I know most people can use all the help they can get, particularly if it's from a real person and not some 'guru' in his million dollar mansion).

So what does HIT offer? Membership to the HIT system includes affiliate training - learn the correct ways to make money as an internet marketing affiliate, information which can cut the learning process by many months!

For further details of all the benefits involved, follow the link above, or take a look at my website MakeCyberDollars (my first website, built using the Home Income Website Builder)

Learn From Your Mistakes!

Anyone who has visited this blog before or read any of my old posts will realise that up until a few months ago I was promoting a marketing system which, while being reasonably priced and offering a good service, was costing me money every month without bringing any returns.

I finally saw sense (does wisdom really come with age??!) and realised it was time to change what I was doing. So, after some much-needed navel-gazing, I reached a conclusion. Free was better. Of course, I hear you say, but it's also true that 'you get what you pay for'.

So I needed a marketing system with no monthly costs, that allowed me to promote all my programs in one place. If it offered a 'funded proposal' or way of earning money while I build my business, then so much the better. Of course, it must include splash pages, oh and can it build a website for free? This would be a good selling point, because I want it to have an affiliate program too.

Then it dawned on me. I had this already, I'd just stopped promoting it actively. HIT (Home-Income-Team) was one of the first things I'd joined when I started online, but I'd allowed myself to get side-tracked. So I revisited it. And of course Michael Cobb has kept it updated and improved, so it's an even better system than the last time I'd used it. So feeling rather foolish, I set about getting acquainted with the system once again, and actively promoting it wherever I could. And guess what, it works!

Attraction Marketing & Social Networking

One of the most popular tools of attraction marketers is
social networking, and so it comes as no surprise that
GCT Resources intends to be heavily involved with the
brand new social networking and music sharing site,
MyMusicTicket, when the network marketing side of
the program launches.

Now you may well have heard about the problems
experienced last Friday when MMT Plus (the paying
side of the program) launched, and then shut down
a few hours later in order for some major software
updates. And unsurprisingly there has been some bad
press about this, but what many fail to remember is that
a great many of the major launches over the years have
experienced similar problems, and have simply gone on
to launch as more powerful programs with a better offering
for their paying public.

So my advice is, position yourself with a strong team, and
stand by for the relaunch of what promises to be an
excellent opportunity to make some money, doing what
you do anyway, and increasing your attractiveness to
other marketers!

Attraction Marketing - How?

We hear it all the time, the old way of network marketing is dead, use the new methods, use attraction marketing, 'become the hunted instead of being a hunter...' - but how do you achieve that? There are plenty of people out there telling us to do what they're doing, "use attraction marketing" they say, but very few will actually tell you how to do it! Surprise, surprise! It's the old story, tell them what they need to be doing, but not how - because somebody somewhere will be selling that information!

And then just occasionally you come across someone who is prepared to share some secrets with you, like the guys at GCT Resources, where you can get free training just for looking at the system. Or sign up for a 7 day trial of the complete system for just $1, before committing to pay $30 for the complete business system. Your choice.

Please also see my attraction marketing lens for more on this topic.