One of the reasons I provide free replicated websites to my team at NHR Products is to help them avoid the expense and complications of setting up their own websites.

I was talking to a friend recently that had their website redesigned…  They paid $2,000 for a site that really does nothing for them!  It is a simple brochure site that provides visitors nothing and it certainly does nothing to convert traffic into sales. Since all of their budget went to design, they have no money left over to properly market the site. Mistake #1, don’t pay $2,000 for a branding exercise.

A home based business website is about supporting the business. The beauty of the Internet is there is no guessing. You can measure pretty much anything. What are you trying to accomplish? Increase traffic? Generate leads? Increase sales? If it is yes to one of these questions, then a $2,000 investment should get you another $20,00 to your bottom-line? Can a brochure site deliver an 80-95% ROI?

Web design is a commodity today. The cost of design should represent about 25% of your total spend. Design costs are competitive today, so spending more than you have to should be the last thing you do. There are excellent open source Content Management Systems (CMS) that give you the power to manage your own content. The cost of the software is $0 to you. I recommend using either Wordpress or Joomla. Both of these platforms provide you with Web 2.0 compliant back-end at low cost for setup and maintenance.

The worth in web design is working with companies that can properly produce a Search Engine Friendly website that permits a marketer to manage content on the site. Prior to working with wordpress, my website was not listed in the top 100 on Google for the popular keywords. Since working with Wordpress, visitors and page views have increased. But most important, it has greatly increased conversions. And, I did not spend $2,000 on web design.

If you need help in evaluating a prospective vendor, here are some question that may help you understand their knowledge:

1. How do you capture visitor traffic off the Internet? Can you track their movement through my site? If so, how?
2. How do manage pay per click advertising dollars to ensure I am maximizing my spend and not wasting money?
3. How do you measure whether my site is friendly to my users?
4. How many page views would you estimate my site would get to determine the right level of hosting?
5. What things will you need to change on my website? What things can I change on my own?
6. If I want to change the look, does it require changes to the backend scripting on the site?
7. What will it take to add a new page to match an ad we are running to the new site? For instance, I want to advertise a special and build a page specific for it, what will it take for us to do this?
8. What do you anticipate the average cost per lead for the website to be?
9. Who owns the source code to the site?

So, think about your objectives. Think about what you want to accomplish and spend your money according to the results you want to achieve. A pretty website just does not generate the type of results you should and can get using the Internet. Don’t get mugged for $2,000. It’s bad for your home based business opportunity website.

The best way to build a downline in NHR Products, or any other MLM is to focus on recruiting established network marketiing professionals.  In your Network Marketing Business, the very best target market is other network marketers. They have already been sold on the idea of network marketing. Your main focus will be to attract them to join you, so selling yourself is really your main challenge. When you are positive it will show through your marketing and sales efforts. This will be your best network marketing lead generation tool.

Looking at the opportunities that you have chosen, discover what people are looking for in those areas. Many folks want to find a good Work At home Business opportunity. If it is wellness, become an expert in that topic. If it is health and fitness you enjoy, then learn more in that field. People researching on the internet are looking for answers to problems or researching interests they have. Becoming an expert in a field will help grow your business through attraction marketing as people read your articles, blogs, or websites. These web properties will become your online sales force and will develop your network marketing lead generation force.

In attraction marketing you will learn that it is not the product or opportunity you are selling, but rather yourself. If you love networking you will be great at network marketing. Besides enjoying people the three greatest assets you can possess are Attitude, Belief and Honesty.

Attitude: Be enthusiastic and passionate about your opportunity in the marketplace. Dig in and learn what you really have to offer and how you can help others to become successful. You may not know a lot about marketing but you can research and become a consultant. Remember, your most important job in building your business is to become valuable to those you attract. As you learn more your confidence will improve and you will have more to give those who join you. Networking it is all about them (your new clients) and helping them reach their goals. The more help you can offer, the more people will be attracted to join you.

Belief: You don’t need a degree in marketing to get great results. All the tools you need are available on the internet. Believe in yourself and follow the plan laid out by your mentor. If you believe you can learn how to produce great marketing results, you will. The more results you produce through following the ideas you research and then testing them, the more belief and confidence you will gain.

Honesty: Be sure you are not selling hype. Sell honest opportunities and a real system that works and people will beat your door down to join you. Too often what is offered on the internet is not an honest opportunity but hype and lots of claims. People are becoming gun shy because of all the hype. Being honest in what you say and do is one of the most important pieces of your business.

If you’re persistent in pursuing your small business, and marketing it with a positive attitude, belief that you can, and honesty and integrity, sooner or later you’ll find what works for you in network marketing lead generation, to help you get those top quality MLM Leads. You’ll discover the marketing strategies and tactics that allow you to begin attracting attention and bringing in new clients consistently!

In my NHR Products business, people often ask me about leads…  The best network marketing leads are those which are targeted. Even better, they are people who come chasing you. Network marketing has developed an unsavory image on occasions of desperate marketers chasing and harassing people to come take a look at a business opportunity.

In many instances, this is true and it’s a business model which smacks of non professionalism. But times are changing and the industry is entering a new era. It’s two-fold and a combination on the internet and a community based system.

But getting back to what are the best MLM leads and as we mentioned, it’s those people who respond to a message put in front of them who seriously want to hear more information. Many networkers reading this would be thinking “that’s impossible!” But the truth is, it’s real.

Targeting the leads you want has never been easier. Put up online real estate targeting specific keywords and place your message in front of a hungry, targeted audience. What could be more simple?

When Ann Sieg released her blueprint The Renegade Network Marketer in 2007 many old school networkers scoffed at the thought of using attraction marketing principles and even more, at the idea of using the internet to build an MLM business. She is now having the last laugh.

A few teams in the industry have entered a new era of professionalism in lead generation, and actually require prospects to apply to be a part of their business. Having this solid working base of interested parties, you are sure to find others in the same position as you with similar goals in mind.

There is an age-old saying that reads: birds of a feather flock together and with that you will find others who capitalize on the positive aspects of the lead generation of today.

The result of this new method of lead/applicant generation results in:

- stronger more professional, motivated people joining your team.

- when examining the home business lead generation aspect of the MLM opportunities, you will want to surround yourself with those who are genuinely concerned with your successes

- who want to see you succeed and prosper and who have the tools to help you achieve your personal and financial goals.

Professionalism is of utmost importance when starting any business and can make or break you when you work from home if you find that others are not as professional or genuine as you would have hoped.  A commitment is required and if the effort isn’t there, then neither is the success.

One of the things I have seen in my NHR Products business is that network marketing lead generation is the most evasive thing for beginning network marketers.

Beginning network marketers have a trying time creating a successful home business because they don’t realize their target market. Many folks who will get into network marketing rely heavily on their upline. The first thing that the new business owner hears is, “build a list of at least 100 people you know!” This terrifies many folks and they go into a blind panic.

Are their friends the main market? Some may be but the reality is that of your buddies most are not. When you take a business proposition into a friendship then things change. Most folks cannot handle that and many friendships have been destroyed because of it.

So who is your target market?

Well it is pretty simple: it is someone looking to generate extra income. Here is a problem: many networkers make the error of thinking that “generate extra income” is the same as “want more money.” Everyone wants more money but few folks want to make extra money.

You see to generate extra income you have to put in extra effort somewhere. The reality is that many folks do not want to generate the extra effort because it would get in the way of what they are comfortably doing. Some of the folks are extremely lazy to buy a lotto ticket. Would you want to be partners with a person like this? Most likely not!

So how do you get folks in your business that want to generate extra income and will put the effort into get it? You run an attraction marketing campaign.

Attraction marketing is when you give out valuable information that can help folks and this is the biggest key in network marketing lead generation. A quick example would be if you have a home based business you could give out an outline of your proven time management system. This would show folks how they could manage their day so they can have enough time to take care of their responsibilities plus have enough time to manage their business.

How do you get the information out?

Article marketing offers the best way to share your information on the internet. Sites such as EzineArticles and Buzzle will take your article and post them to their site after they have been approved. These sites have fantastic ratings with the search engines. So when a person finds your article or post they will click on the links inside the article taking them to your site and hopefully into your sales system.

There are more advanced methods to distribute your information. These techniques are more advance and require membership to some very exclusive marketing sites and coops. There is one coop that has a network of about 1000 blogs on all sorts of themes.

This would enable you to post an article to at least 30 blogs. You can have up to 3 links in a 450 word post. So think about the kind of traffic that you could generate to your site. 3 links times 30 blogs equals a total of 90 links pointing to your sites. That is definitely called leveraging. This is just the beginning because these site has some secret weapons.

Most upline and product companies realize very little about lead generation. It’s easy to walk up to someone in a parking lot or in the middle of the grocery store and ask them if they would like to look at a “business opportunity.” That’s a huge numbers game that most people cannot handle.

So - do you want to rely on the old techniques or do you want to take advantage of proven internet marketing methods that the IM pros use today to generate the best quality leads for your home business? Sure you do!  Take at look at my teams free marketing system for NHR Products!