If you have a choice on whether to do a pay per click campaign or put an ad in the Yellow Pages, you are probably going to want to go with the pay per click campaign. In the past, putting a quarter page or a half page advertisement in the Yellow Pages was a sure-fire way to get your business to be successful, but nowadays, Yellow Page ads are going to pretty much be ignored, while pay per click is king. Why should you consider pay per click ad over getting your business in the phone book? Here are some of the reasons.

The telephone book has become obsolete in a lot of households. In fact, the only time you use it is to look up the number for your favorite restaurant – the rest of the time it just sits around getting in your way because it is big and bulky. Take your telephone book down and see how old it is – chances are it is not the current edition. Now, think about how you find all of the other telephone numbers that you need – you go to your computer. When you enter something into a search engine the results that you get are going to be pretty accurate. Of course there is a ton of junk out there, but searching for something specific (like your city name and the name of the fish restaurant that you love) is going to give you instant results. If you are computer savvy (or even computer proficient), you are probably going to find that locating information is faster on the computer than in the Yellow Pages.

So pay per click advertising is more convenient than Yellow Page advertising for people to find, but there has got to be other reasons why it is better. The vast majority of households have the Internet now, so it means that you are going to have everybody’s attention. Plus, if you think about it, a lot of young adults and even middle-aged adults are more comfortable searching on the Internet than they are using the Yellow Pages. It’s a lot more convenient to find what you are looking for. Plus, most people know that they are going to get a better selection of choices when using the Internet.

A lot of Yellow Page directories have gone entirely online, meaning that people are going to get on their computer to find the information anyways. The nail in the Yellow Pages coffin is the fact that many people aren’t getting free Yellow Page directories anymore. If you put a Yellow Page ad in, the number of people who see your company’s information decreases. A pay per click is going to increase that number to everyone on the Internet.

The next time you get a call from a Yellow Pages ad salesman telling you that he’s got a great special for advertising, you are probably just going to want to tell him the you have decided to use a pay per click campaign to get this traffic to your website and to get your business flowing.

Network Marketing is a way that companies market their products to the consumer. It is different from most other types of businesses because it doesn’t have any advertising, wholesaling, or retailing costs involved in it. It is done entirely by direct selling and referral, word-of-mouth type of advertising. This eliminates the middle man.

What do you mean by “No Middle Man”?

When companies use “middle men” they spend money, and lots of it, on things that don’t enhance the product. If they don’t have these costs, they can spend more on research and development. This means that they can produce a higher quality, more unique offering.

The other main benefit of the Network Marketing business model is the fact that some of the money spent on advertising and the distribution channel (wholesalers, retailers, etc.) can now go to the people who actually promote the products by their word-of-mouth advertising.

This person is referred to as an associate, independent agent, or distributor. He or she is a salesperson who has their own business or distributorship. They create income by building up a customer base that buys the products directly from the parent company, or by recruiting other entrepreneurs who in turn build their own customer base, or usually a combination of both. This increases the size of the overall organization.

Distributors earn commissions based on the sales efforts of their organization, which includes their efforts as well as the efforts of their downline. Commissions are paid to distributors according to their company’s compensation plan. There can be multiple levels of people receiving commission from one person’s sales. In addition, distributors can earn profit by retailing products which they purchase from their parent company at wholesale price.

What’s the Difference Between Network Marketing and Multi-level Marketing, or MLM?

In a word, nothing! The terms Network Marketing and Multi-level Marketing refer to two aspects of the same type of business.

First, network marketing. This term describes how the products are promoted, which is through a bunch of different people talking to each other, or networking.

Multi-level marketing is simply the means by which the people in the network are paid for their efforts. Commissions are paid to multiple levels of distributors, which creates leverage.

And leverage is….

Leverage can mean different things. In this context, it means the ability to earn commission on something that someone else sells.

The leverage concept is nothing new. It’s used by all for-profit businesses that have employees. The company charges money for something that the employee produces, then only pays the employee part of that. The owner of the company then keeps the rest, thereby leveraging the employees hours to create income for himself.

Network Marketing compensation plans are similar in the leverage aspect, but different in one major way: There are no employees, or the associated costs and hassles. They are leveraged off other independent associates instead. These people are also going to work harder, because they own their own business and are more motivated to succeed.

Hey, this sounds like a “Pyramid Scheme”!

If distributors are paid primarily from money received from new recruits, or if they’re required to buy more product than they are likely to sell, then the company may be a pyramid. Pyramids are illegal in all states and most countries. Legitimate Network Marketing companies are not only legal, but thrive in every state and in most countries.

There are illegal pyramid schemes that try to pass themselves off as legitimate network marketing businesses. If a company is legitimate, the distributor can only earn commission from sales of the company’s products or services, and not from recruiting sign-up fees alone.

Want to learn more about the industry of Network Marketing?

These resources, from a third-party perspective and not created by any specific company, are Brilliant Compensation by Tim Sales and The 45 Second Presentation That Will Change Your Life by Don Faila. I recommend both of these as not only informational, but as good resources to use in your prospecting efforts with skeptical people.

A really interesting career field, which many people don’t talk about, is that of the import-exporter. If you are wondering whether import-export is as glamorous as it sounds, then I’m here to answer your question. Don’t worry! It is! What other career is going to let you jet off to another country several times a year, meet tons of other people, and see the way other cultures live. Import- export is a very lucrative, exciting and wonderful business, but one where there are many risks too.

Although you probably don’t know this, many people work in the import-export trade in one way or another, but there are cultural factors, weather factors, and ecological factors that you have in this business, which you don’t in any other type.

Of course, how well you do, will also depend on what the product you are selling is , who you are dealing with, and what your financial capabilities in the country you trade with are.

Your Sale

Marketing will depend on the country you are selling in. Every country has different marketing strategies that revolve around a country’s beliefs, products, and the purchasing power of its consumer. It depends on factors ,like bank financing, credit card availability, and whether or not the country you deal with is a consuming country,or not.

Follow Government Rules

In any import-export business you have to deal with the country’s government regulations regarding trade, and you need to meet those requirements before you can import or export. These regulations can be found out at the government trade commission offices, and on their online sites.

You also need to know about the import policies of the country you are importing to. These will differ depending on the country, on agricultural or product regulations. You can find out about these requirements online or from the country’s trade commission. Meeting these requirements is not really complicated, often all that you need to do is fill out the right form and pay a small import fee.

Transporting of Goods

If you are in the import-export business then you will also have to learn about transportation. You will need to know which is the fastest, but most expensive form of transportation, and which is the slowest, but most economical. Some times you will even have to be a little creative in the way you get a product to a client. You may have to use transportation methods not generally used, but still very effective.

Any business holds a great deal of responsibility, and Import-export is no different, but it is still a wonderful business, one that is full of adventure. To be successful in import-export you have to be open to different customs and people and you have to use creative communication methods. It is an interesting and different career, one that will bring new challenges to your life.