MLM Company Internet Policy Changes
April 3, 2009
If you are working with an MLM or network marketing company that allows you to publish a personal web site that promotes the business directly (by name), you may be working on borrowed time.
The trend among companies in general seems to be headed toward tightening Internet policies and restricting more and more what you can say and do on a personal site. While this can be quite inconvenient and troublesome if you’ve already established sites that come under new policies, there are understandable reasons for this.
As the Internet grows, network marketing companies are faced with a dilemma. In past years, it was no big deal to allow personal sites. There were so few that any problem sites could be quickly identified and dealt with from a corporate level.
However, now, a strong opportunity can have hundreds (even thousands) of individual sites that promote the company directly by name. With that many sites, you’ll ultimately have some that will be questionable or misleading in nature. This can become a problem that quickly snowballs and could easily damage a company’s reputation.
What is the answer, then? I highly recommend that anyone wishing to promote a network marketing or MLM business online do so through a generic site that promotes network marketing as a business model, not based on a particular opportunity. Further, this site should reveal the person behind the business, with an emphasis on helping prospects know who you are and something about you.
This can work wonders for your business. By using your own personal, generic site to promote your MLM opportunity, you gain the following benefits:
- you establish a presence and reputation that transcends any company
- if something happens to your company, you don’t lose everything
- people join other people in business, not companies
- you become a truly independent business person in your own right
Depending on cookie-cutter cloned company web sites and sites devoted solely to a specific opportunity are becoming a thing of the past.
For good reason.
yes, yes, yes, this is so true. You must market and brand you online to be successful. Not only is using the company name in many cases against the company rules but it can hurt you more than help you.
Hi AnnaLaura,
I appreciate your comment. I think you work with Jackie, so you have the good fortune to learn about this from one of the masters!
Eldon
Branding yourself is indeed the way to go. One of the axioms of marketing is “People Buy People, not Stuff” In addition, the whole premise of Network Marketing is that the customers will buy your products on your recommendation. It is your credibility that makes the sale, not your techniques. Great article, thank you.
Gary J. Harris’s last blog post..Don’t Buy Leads
While I understand the legal ramifications, I would think it’s in a company’s best interests to allow personal sites that use the company and product names, even if for no other reason than for the Google juice. At the same time, I’m more than familiar with the consequences of zealous distributors making false claims, so it’s quite a balancing act.
It’s a shame that the regulatory issues force companies to tighten their grip on independent distributor marketing efforts when direct sales and the web are such a perfect marriage.
Brett Duncan, MarketingInProgress.com’s last blog post..Do Good Stuff: the Secret of Cutting Through