Are You Making Any Money Yet?

Honey, Did You Make Any Money Yet?

How many times have we all been asked that question by our spouse or significant other?  Probably too many to count.

The problem is that in this business of internet marketing, we are led to believe that it is a "get rich quick" business and that is just not the truth.

I always tell my children, anything that you will achieve in life that is worthwhile will take much time and effort.  This business is no different.

Furthermore, why would anyone think that this business should be so much different than any other brick and mortar business that one might enter into?

Keep this in mind most businesses take time, and much effort and after months and even years of persistence and hard work they finally turn a profit!

I hope this helps keep things in perspective.

To your success,

Bob Swetz
Rjs@Home

How To Find a Good Mentor

Help Me Please

Ok, so you really love this Internet Marketing business, but just can't seem to figure it out.  Well, that puts you in the same category as most of the folks out there.

Maybe what you need is a good mentor, friend, partner or just someone who is willing to offer a little help and support.  How do your find this person and what should you look for?

As with any relationship, I think the best way is to begin with a friendship.  Find someone who has similar interests, common goals, someone who "gets" you.

So where do you find this person?  Here are a couple places they may be hiding:

• Facebook
• A sponsor in a new business you just joined
• Someone you "bump" into on a TE
• Twitter or other social media

What to look for in a good mentor:

• Someone with common goals
• Someone with integrity
• Someone with common interests
• Of course, someone with knowledge of internet marketing

What to avoid:

• Someone who is always looking for something in return for their advice
• Someone who is constantly asking or trying to convince you to join their stuff

Hope this helps folks

To your success,

Bob Swetz

Rjs@Home

When is the Right Time to Promote an Opportunity?

Why Isn't Anyone Signing Up for Your Program?

It is quite possible you may have come across the best opportunity since sliced bread and are advertising it like crazy but...

No one is singing up and you just don't know why!

Well, that can always be a mystery.  One possible reason is that you are not promoting opportunities at the right time.

I'm not totally sure what the wrong time to promote is, but I can give you some great examples of when the right time just might be.

Generally, a great time to promote is centered around a time when the admin is offering awesome One Time Opportunities (OTOs) or special promotions for holidays, anniversaries, etc.

So here are a couple great examples:

• A New Launch
• During a new product launch the admin generally offers great OTOs that are really hard to pass up.  Everyone loves a new launch.  This is a great time to promote and pick up some referrals and probably some commissions.
• A Site Anniversary
• During and anniversary the admin usually offers great promotions for new sign ups. Again, a great time to sell the heck out of this site and pick up new referrals and commissions.

Your job is to watch for these opportunities with programs and ad sites you currently own and get your ads ready for when they come along.

Tip:  If you haven't already picked up on my previous tip regarding Conversion Surf and the TripleA Plan, there is a big 4th Anniversary Celebration coming up on Monday February 29th.  Doug Forbes, the Admin will be having promos all week, so this would be a great time to hop in, grab an upgrade and sell this thing like crazy.

To your success,

Bob Swetz

Rjs@Home

Don't Forget to Verify Your Sign Ups

Verify Or Nothing Happens

When you sign up for a new program, eBook, ad site, or just about anything, NOTHING HAPPENS until you verify your email address.  Well pretty much most of the time.

I am going under the assumption here that if you have taken the time to review an advertisement and thought enough to fill out a form that you are interested in that program or site.  But...

You must, in most cases, remember to verify your email address to complete the sign up process. Many online marketers have multiple email addresses, so it is important to keep track of what email address you used to sign up with so you can retrieve that verification email to click on the verification link.

It always surprises me when I get a notification that I have a new referral in a program or on an advertising site and they never verify their email.  I wonder, did they just forget, lose the email, or change their mind?  

Would love some feedback here.  Does someone really change their mind about signing up in the 30 seconds between filling out a form and receiving the verification email?   I Would love to know the answer to that question.

So, I guess my message for today is 2 things...

First, don't fill out the form unless you really intend on completing the process.

Second, remember to complete the process.

Click on that verification link.  Please.

To your success,

Bob Swetz
Rjs@Home

Find Something That Works and Stick With It

Stop Changing Your Mind, It's A Waste of Time!

Ok, I have to admit, this article is perhaps more of a speech to myself as well as an instructional blog to the masses, but here goes.

This applies to advertising, money making programs, online tools like trackers, autoresponders, you name it.  But I am talking mostly about tools.

Find something that works and stick with it!

Let me give you an example or two...

Let's talk about autoresponders. If you are using an autoresponder, you know that it takes a long time to build your list and set up emails.  Especially if you are using an email series in one or more programs.  You could have 10, 20 or more emails, and who knows how many list members.  Then comes along a new program that has a FREE autoresponder included with it.  The question is, should you move all your stuff from that other autoresponder to the new one?  

Well, I suppose that all depends...

The new one may be free, but how much is your time worth?  Is it really worth the time to move all those prospects and emails to the new FREE service.  You be the judge, but remember, time is money.

Another example and a BIGGIE is trackers.  I have had been using a tracker for a while now and decided to switch.  Do you have any idea how many links I have all over the internet from that tracker???

This is a monumental task finding all of the places I now have to go to change out my links to the new tracking system I have switched to.  Do I regret making the switch?  Probably not, in this case, I have good reason as I am changing to a new platform at Leads Leap.  But, it is a daunting task to make the change and one that should be done with careful consideration.

Let me tell you it will be the last time I ever change trackers!

So, just remember.  There are great tools, programs and the like.  Find what works and stick with it. If you need to make a switch, make sure the pros outweigh the cons!

To your success,

Bob Swetz
Rjs@Home

Teamwork, The Key to Success

Don't Try To Go it Alone, It's a Lonely World Out There

As with nearly anything we attempt in life, working together with a team of qualified and hard working individuals brings much better results than "going it alone."

Remember the old saying...

Together
Everyone
Achieves
More

Well in the world of network marketing this is so true.

We really need to find a team of a few core members that have a common goal and purpose to share successes and failures, ups and downs.

Now, when I refer to a team, I do mean everyone working together.  Not just one person doing everything.  As you work online, look for folks that have common interests.  People that share the same vision as you do and conduct business in the same manner as you.  Not everyone does things the same.  Remember my post about Integrity.

Once you find a few good people to work with, divide up the responsibility using each persons strengths and you are off to the races.

To your success,

Bob Swetz
Rjs@Home

Keeping Good Financial Records Makes for a Healthy Business

Keeping Track of Your Financials is Not Fun But it is Important!

Ok, I know this is probably the most boring topic I may write about, but it is important to track all of your income and expenses related to your online home business for several reasons.

• In an earlier post Keeping Your Online Biz Financially Afloat I wrote about the importance of budgeting.  Well, if you are not tracking all of your income and expenses, you won't be able to properly track your budget, which means you really won't know where you stand financially and whether or not you are doing well against your goals.

• Keeping track of the ins and outs in your bank account helps you know how much you have to spend at any point in time and helps you make a quick decision (which is sometimes necessary) about whether to join that program or ad site.  No money = no new program.

• Tracking ALL of your income and especially your EXPENSES can help save you big time when tax time rolls around.
• Now, I can't speak for other countries, but this is very important in the US

Some expenses that are often forgotten about are:

• Internet fees
• Paper supplies
• Computer and printer supplies
• Vehicle expenses if you have to run around to buy stuff
• Cell phone usage and fees
• The cost of record keeping systems
• And of course, the obvious
• Program fees
• Ad site fees
• Fees for tools like trackers, autoresponders, etc.

You can do all this book work on a simple spreadsheet.  Also, some banks have a component on their online banking site that will help.  Finally, there are many online sites, some even free that will help with your bookkeeping.  So, good luck and start tracking that money. 

To your success,

Bob Swetz

Rjs@Home

Don't Waste Free Advertising

Free Advertising is Just Waiting For You...
Don't Waste it!

You may have a ton of free advertising already at your fingertips and not even realize it.  

Every time you join a new safe list mailer or traffic exchange there are 2 things you MUST DO...

1. Do not forget to enter the PROMO CODES
2. Do not forget to set up your BANNERS and TEXT ADS

Promo Codes:

Most sites (but not all) offer a promo code to new members just for joining.  You need to find the code and the right place to enter it, which can be a little tricky sometimes. Enter the code and this usually gives you free credits, banners and text ads.

Banners and Text Ads:

Again, most sites have a place for you to set up banners and text ads.  Here you can place ads for your favorite programs and ad sites that you want to promote.  

This stuff is absolutely FREE folks.  You may not get a lot of clicks, but if you have 10 or 20 mailers and TEs with 10 ads on each, that is HUNDREDS of free ads that people are seeing EVERY TIME they log into the site to do their business.

So, the moral of the story today is...

Don't ever waste free advertising.  

We spend enough on this stuff, let's grab the freebies when we can.

To your success,

Bob Swetz

Rjs@Home

Persistence, Upline and Finding a Partner

How Are You Progressing in Your 

Home Based Network Marketing Business?

For many in this business, progress can be a very slow road.  We join programs, post ads, it seems like we are doing all the right things and NOTHING HAPPENS!

This can be very discouraging.  The best advice I can give is to forge onward!

BUT, do not move forward without a plan!  So, how do you get the right plan you ask?

Well, most programs you join must be joined from an upline sponsor, correct?  I cannot stress enough the importance of connecting with your upline to find out what they are doing to succeed.  If you have a trustworthy and reputable sponsor, they will help you!  Work with them, find out what they are doing and listen to them.

If that fails, or if they are unwilling to work with you, sometimes you can go a level above.

If that fails, you can look on Facebook.  Find someone who is successful and is willing to work with others.

The bottom line is there are honest, hardworking, successful marketers out there who are willing and able to partner with others.  These are people you want to PARTNER with in your networking business.  Let them guide you and help you formulate a plan.

Then follow that plan religiously day after day and DO NOT STOP until you SUCCEED!

To your success,

Bob Swetz
Rjs@Home

Time, Money and Clicking for Pennies

How Much Time Do You Spend Clicking for Pennies?

This post is somewhat related to my recent post on Home Business Finance.  When most of us start off in the online home business world or network marketing business money is very tight.  In order to get started, we must begin advertising on free sites.

Many of these free sites come in 2 forms:

1. Traffic Exchanges
2. Safelist Mailers

I have a slew of them listed out on my Advertising Page on my website.

In order to earn credits or "views" of your own ads at these sites, you have to click on other's advertisements.  When you do this, you earn views.  To be honest, if you have the time to do this, it is a great way to get your program seen and begin to build your "brand".  For those on a tight budget, this is a MUST to get started.  

But, you need a plan to break this cycle of what I refer to as "Clicking for Pennies."

As I mentioned in my previous article, the plan is to join Traffic Exchanges and Safelist Mailers for free, put the time in to promote these sites and earn some commissions.  Use your commissions to UPGRADE, then you can stop the CLICKING and really begin the work of BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS.  

Now here is the really important part, and it took me a little while to learn this... 

Don't join just any TE or Safelist you see come across your web browser!  You need to join the right ones, you need to have an organized plan.  That is where the TripleA Plan come in.  This is a plan that has been over 4 years in the making that has been re-worked to perfection.  This Plan will guide you through step by step what works and what doesn't.  How to sell and how not to.  What sites to join and why, and what to avoid.

Don't try to re-invent the wheel when a successful, professional marketer has already done it for you.

It all starts here>>

Conversion Surf Home of the TripleA Plan

To Your Success,

Bob Swetz

Rjs@Home

Integrity in the Network Marketing Business

Are You Conducting Your Networking Business 

With Integrity?

This is such a tough topic to tackle, but I'm going to give it a shot.  There is so much going on in this business and everything changes so rapidly that it is hard to keep up.  Every day a new program is launching that offers potential members the opportunity to make hundreds if not thousands of dollars per week, no maybe even every day.

Now, is that really possible?  Maybe.  But, I don't know anyone who has accomplished that feat.

We must be careful in this business, because truth be told, the smallest possibility of "getting rich quick" is truly exiting, but it is just that a small possibility.

I could go on and on.  So here are some things I try to think of when offering a new program to a potential buyer:

• Do I really believe the results I am selling are possible?
• Do I believe everything the ad copy is selling?
• Does the Admin have a good track record with this or past programs?
• Do I think the program I am offering will be around in the long term?
• Now here is the biggie...
• Would I want to sell this program to my Mother, Son, Daughter, Best Friend?

If you can answer YES to these questions, then this is probably a good program to sell as part of your network marketing business.

These are just my thoughts, just something for you to think about.

To your success,

Bob Swetz

Rjs@Home

Keeping Your Online Biz Financially Afloat

How Do You Keep Your Online Home Biz Financially Afloat?

One reason most businesses fail, and I do mean most business, not just online businesses or home businesses is lack of money.

You may be feeling the financial crunch in your online home business as you are reading this article. Or, maybe it hasn't hit you yet.  In any case, it's time to start treating the finances of your business with the respect they deserve.

Let's face it, I'm going to state the obvious.  For ANY business to survive...

Money In MUST BE MORE than Money Out!

So, how do you make sure this is the case with your home business.

First, when you are getting started, you have to make sure you have at least a little bit of money set aside to invest in some advertising and a program or 2 to advertise.  These don't have to be large investments, but you will need money to invest.  Next, find ad sites that allow you to earn commission on referrals EVEN IF YOU DO NOT UPGRADE.  Once you start earning some commission, you can invest in some advertising upgrades which gives you more advertising power.

Finally, set a Monthly Budget based on what YOU CAN AFFORD to have going out each month even if you have nothing coming in.  Once you begin earning some cash with your advertising and program commissions, you can adjust your budget accordingly. DO NOT FALL PREY to folks trying to convince you to join every program that comes along.  Many try to make you feel guilty if you don't join.  This just wastes your precious financial resources.

To summarize:

• Make sure you have some cash to get started
• Start off with free ad sites that pay commissions to free members
• Don't swing for the fences right from the start
• Keep a budget and KNOW what you can afford
• Use commissions to upgrade to increase your advertising power
• Adjust your budget as your situation changes

This would be a good article for some conversation!!!

To your success,

Bob Swetz

Rjs@Home

Do You Need Your Own Website for Your Online Biz?

I Like Having My Own Website, But Do You Need One?

That is a darn good question.  To be honest I think the answer is a matter of opinion, so I can only give you the reasons why I choose to have my own website and let you try to make an educated decision on your own.

Here are some of the reasons I have my own website:

• To tell people about me and what I am doing 
• This is more of an overall approach that goes beyond any one program or advertising approach
• To have a place where I can consolidate and showcase multiple programs that I am involved in
• This will bring together the various programs I promote to give people an idea of what I do and what my business approach is all about
• To have a place to offer business tools to my team members
• To showcase all of my ad sites on 1 page
• I spend a lot of time gathering advertising sites that get results.  It is impossible to promote and share all of them.  I use my "Advertising" web page to showcase all of them in one place so folks can pick and choose which ones may work for them

Finally, I just like having a place where I can share content where and whenever I choose when something new comes along.

I have my website through Go Daddy, though there are many places that offer free website registration and hosting. Just Google it.

To view my website, just click the link below if you want to get some ideas...

Click Here to Visit Rjs@Home

To your success,

Bob Swetz

Rjs@Home

Grab About 160 Promo Codes at 1 Site

Everyone Loves Promo Codes!

I can't even place a dollar value on this one.  I just couldn't pass up sharing this deal with all of you.  I know this may seem like more of a sales pitch, and maybe it is.  But sometimes, a great deal is just a great deal.

A good friend told me about this site Truckload of Ads that offers promo codes to Traffic Exchanges, Safelists, Mailers, Text Ad Exchanges and a few other types of ad sites.  There are 16 pages of promo codes with about 10 sites on each page. So, by my calculations, that's about 160 promo codes. 

To grab all these codes, the cost is $10 for a lifetime subscription.  That's a one time investment that will pay for itself in about 10 minutes.

Here is the link if you would like to check it out and get more information.

Click Here for Truckload of Ads

Happy Valentines Day to everyone.

To your success,

Bob Swetz
Rjs@Home

Staying Organized in the Network Marketing World

So Much To Keep Track of!
Where Do You You Keep It All?

Ok, Let's think about this for a minute.  In the Network Marketing business, we have a few things to keep track of:

• Programs we have joined
• Affiliate URLs
• Banners
• Text Ads
• Email Copy
• Team Members
• Am I forgetting anything?
• Advertising sites
• Referral URLs
• Banners
• Text Ads
• Email Copy
• Monthly subscriptions
• Meetings
• Tools we are using
• Skype
• Meeting rooms
• Trackers
• The list goes on and on

If you don't have a good way to keep all of this information organized you will be pulling your hair out on a daily basis.  Not to mention, wasting a ton of time trying to find the information you need when you need it.

I recommend finding a good record keeping management system.  If you are somewhat computer savvy  (and hopefully you are in this business) then I have just the thing for you, and it is 100% FREE!

Have you ever heard of Evernote?  It's a totally free online system used to sort and keep notes, and notebooks.  You can organize just about everything.  Take pictures, screenshots, copy, paste, you name it.  I use this tool every day.  And, it syncs between devices, so I have it available just about everywhere I go.

Just click the link below to go to their website to check it out.  Sure, there are others but this is the one I happen to know and use all the time.  Happy Organizing.

Click Here to go to their site >>   Evernote

To Your success,

Bob Swetz
Rjs@Home

How to Mail to 90+ Sites In 5 Minutes.

Really, You Can Do it With a Little Help!

So, I am learning viral mailers are a big key to successful promotion.  

I found this site Referral Frenzy that lets you send to 94 mailers at one time. Of course, you don't have to join them all. Also, most of the mailers give you MONTHLY bonuses through Referral Frenzy, so you can pretty much join them for free and only upgrade at a few if you want or just stay free and there is no cost at all.  

To do this Referral Frenzy costs $15 per month, but it is well worth the investment.  I can be a little stingy with my money, but sometimes, you have to spend a little to help grow and advance your business and let me tell you the bonus advertising you receive probably more than pays for the $15 monthly investment.

Listed below is the link for Referral Frenzy as well as some of the mailers I really like there, ones I am getting good results with. Feel free to check out the goods.

Click Here for >> Referral Frenzy

Click below for Mailers>>

• 75% Mailer
• Land Marketing Mailer
• Lister Builder Mayhem
• You Got Mailz
• Almighty Safelist
• Viral Ad Magnet
• 1-2-3 List
• Lazer Hits
• Prodigious List
• Email Hog
• Guaranteed Mails

To your success,

Bob Swetz
Rjs@Home

How to Manage Your Passwords and Logins

How Can You Possibly Manage All Those Passwords and Logins for So Many Programs and Advertising Sites?

That is the Question

I have the Answer

In this business, you can wind up with hundreds of web sites, user names and passwords from all of your affiliate programs and advertising sites, it can be maddening if not impossible to keep it all straight.  And, with so much to do and so little time, it is very important to have all that information at your fingertips in a moments notice so you can log in quickly and efficiently to get about your daily business.

Many years ago (and not even for the networking business) I stumbled across the wonderful world of Password Managers.  These little programs keep all your passwords and logins safe and secure in one place and only require 1 password to access the entire "vault".  Then, in most cases, with 1 click, you can launch the website you desire and the program will log you in and you are ready to go.

You may want to spend just a little time researching as they each have different features and pricing and some are even free to use.  The one I use is Sticky Password, which has a Chrome Extension, so all I have to do from within my Chrome Browser is hit the extension, select the site I want, and voila, it launches and logs me in to the site I want like magic.  It costs me around $20 bucks a year for the premium version so I can sync it with my phone.  Here are a few others I have tried in the past.

• Sticky Password
• Roboform
• Dashlane
• Lastpass

Hope this helps to make your life much, much easier.

To your success,

Bob Swetz
Rjs@Home

Loyalty, Teamwork and Downline Builders

Network Marketing only really works when we act as a team and are loyal to one another!

I have found that I have the most success and most growth in this business when I work as a team with others helping them to grow along with me.  

There are many ways to do this.  One way is to be loyal to the program you have entered by working the downline builder in that program.  If you are not familiar with downline builders, most programs have a section where you can enter your referral IDs for other (generally related) programs.  Here, you can join these additional programs under your initial sponsor, and TEAM MEMBER, thus enhancing your relationship and building your team.

Now, it is to your benefit to enter your referral IDs in the downline builder of your programs so that your referrals will go to that page and join these programs under you.

If people are loyal to this process, you begin to build a strong team that you can work together with to build a successful network of programs and everyone benefits.

The moral of the story...

Don't just go joining programs haphazardly!

Be Loyal!

Work with your Team!

And Join Programs from the Downline Builder!

To your success,

Bob Swetz

Rjs@Home

An Autoresponder Really Makes Life Easier

Do you use an autoresponder in your online business?

If the answer is NO, you really need to consider picking one up today!

Many programs include a free autoresponder as part of the plan, there is a good reason for that.  It is an extremely effective way for keeping in touch with your prospects and program members.

Just imagine a new program or tool comes along that you want to share with your team.  You can gather up all the email addresses and copy and paste them into GMail to send off your message, or you can type a quick message, select the list you want to send it to, and off it goes.

Also, when I get prospects in a program I am promoting, I like to send them a series of a few personally written emails to stay in touch with them.  An autoresponder series is a very easy way to do this.  Just enter the prospect into the list and the program takes care of the rest.

These are just a few examples of how to this email tool.  If you don't already have a system you are using, take a look at Mailer Lite.  Mailer Lite is a FREE service for up to 1000 list members, then it is $10 per month, at least that is the current price.  So, it is a GREAT way to get started with an autoresponder service.  I really love it!  There is no affiliate program here, so I don't get any commissions or bonuses for referring it.  I just hope I am able to help out with this one.

To your success.

Bob Swetz
Rjs@Home

Time To Start Tracking Your Ads

Is Your Advertising Getting Results?

It's pretty clear to most that you can't sell anything without advertising  However all the advertising in the world may not be very helpful if we are not tracking the statistics of that advertising.  What I mean by that is what advertising is successful vs. what advertising is essentially a waste of time and perhaps even money?

Now don't getting me wrong, getting the word out about your program, product or service is generally always a good idea, but tracking your ads can provide very useful information such as...

• What ads are getting the most hits?
• What ads are actually converting?
• What squeeze pages are working the best?
• What ad sites are getting the best results?
• and so on...

I use Trck.me as my tracker.  You can also use this service as a rotator, which is a story for another day.  Another good tracker is HitsConnect.  You will also find many of your programs provide free trackers, so find out what works best for you and your budget.

One word of warning.

If you do a lot of advertising with Mailers and Traffic Exchanges, the trackers will show a lot of hits, due to the nature of these sites, which does not necessarily mean you are getting clicks, so just be careful with these stats.

Happy tracking.

To your succcess,

Bob Swetz
Rjs@Home 

Don't Push Too Many Programs

About 5 years ago I embarked on a career in network marketing and boy did I work it hard.  Up early every morning before my "real" job, posting ads and all that.  Went to work, came home and posted more ads.  Repeat all this over the weekend and so on.  I did this for about 6 months only to fail and quit.  The moral of this story was that by the end of that time I was in about 20 programs none of which produced anything.  Do you know how hard it is to adequately promote 20 programs?

I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about.

Since then I have learned that focus is the key.

How many programs should you promote?  That is up to the individual.  For me, it is 3 or 4.  Study them, learn them, understand them and believe in them so that you can confidently share them with others.

Don't make the mistake of "I'll join your program if you join mine." Have faith in your programs. Know why you are offering them and why others should too.

To your success,

Bob Swetz
Rjs@Home

Welcome To My Blog

I like to share!

What better way to share my thoughts and ideas with you all than with this blog!

I'm into online network marketing and strongly believe in the team approach.  I am always looking for folks who want to work closely with me to build a lasting online income.

Today's share is three words...

Advertising
Advertising
Advertising

You will never sell 1 penny of your product or service if no one knows about it.  I have compiled a list of a variety of advertising programs on my website that get results.

You can check it out by clicking the link below...

Click here for Advertising that Gets Results!

More to come.

To your success.

Bob Swetz