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By Daniel Ngandu, October 12, 2010 3:52 am

People are frustrated! Whether it’s their jobs, their families, the economy, or their retirement - it all adds up to concerns about the future. But one thing is for sure – commerce is the backbone of all we do. No matter what happens, people are always going to be buying things they need for themselves and their families. And they’re always going to be wanting the best deal and the best value around. In addition, E Commerce and online shopping is on the rise. There are more than 1 million new Internet users every day! The Internet has seen explosive growth – from 1.2 billion users in 2006, to 2 billion in 2010 (that’s 1 in every third person in the world who now has Internet access).

And that’s where DubLi comes in. DubLi is a global online shopping portal, and consists of two major components – the retail component and the business opportunity. Dean Mannheimer, Country Manager for DubLi North America, explains ”it is a perfect time for a company like DubLi to position itself in this particular market, at this particular time”.

So let’s take a quick look at the customer focused side of DubLi…

This consists of the DubLi Shopping Mall, and 2 DubLi Auctions – the Xpress Auction and the Unique Bid Auction.

Dean Mannheimer says the purpose of the DubLi Auctions is simply “to bring the best products and brands, the newest products… in a fun, exciting, and entertaining shopping environment”.

Customers have additional confidence because they have the reassurance of the Best Price Guarantee. He states that if customers purchase something from DubLi but find the same item cheaper elsewhere, within 2 weeks of their purchase, DubLi will not only match the price but also better it by 10%.

What’s the difference between the Xpress Auction and the Unique Bid Auction?

With the Xpress Auction, customers will see everything on screen, including product, original price, etc, but they won’t be able to see the latest “current price” until they use 1 DubLi credit. The benefit of this is two-fold: not only can they see the price as it stands in the auction at the moment, but by doing so, they also contribute to driving the price down by 25c (US)! They can then make a decision to buy the product immediately or wait a little longer to see how much further the price will drop. Dean Mannheimer continues: “this group of customers is driving the price down, not up as in other online auctions”. This is known as a ‘Reverse Auction’.

By contrast, each Unique Bid Auction has a time restriction on it. Within that time, customers place bids at ‘Price Points of Interest’, in increments of 25c, each trying to place the lowest unique bid. The excitement is that they don’t know what the lowest unique price bid is (unless they’re the lowest unique bidder). During the auction, a bidder gets an instant message on the shopping portal screen which notifies them as to their position in the ‘race’ – telling them whether their bid is one of the lowest or the lowest, as well as whether their bid is unique or not. This allows customers to strategically decide in which direction to bid, to ensure they’re the lowest unique bidder when the auction closes. Dean Mannheimer adds that the Unique Bid Auction is DubLi’s “longest running auction – it’s very entertaining and one of our most popular auctions”. In fact some high ticket items have been won in this way for very low prices, such as this brand new BMW Z4 valued at $52,000, which sold for $1,106:

What’s the catch? There isn’t one! The question you should ask yourself is: was it money worth spent when Mr Daniel Gibbons (the winner of this BMW) used 1 DubLi Credit (80c) to place the winning lowest unique bid, thus saving himself 97%?

So what are DubLi Credits?

DubLi Credits are simply a ‘passport’ that enables customers to participate in the DubLi Auctions, to drive prices down. Customers can visit the DubLi website any time, but if they want to take part in the Auctions, they’ll need to purchase a minimum of 10 DubLi Credits (currently $8 or €5). So each DubLi Credit costs only 80c (US).

Compare this to annual memberships for Sam’s Club or Costco. On the other hand DubLi customers pay only 80c a time to take advantage of deep discounts up to 90%!

And when first time customers register with DubLi and purchase their first DubLi Credits, they will also each get a $500 resort voucher and a $25 restaurant voucher, simply as a thank you.

But that’s not all – you can share in the DubLi phenomenon as a Business Associate…

DubLi offers one of the best business opportunities around, simply because when people choose to join DubLi as a Business Associate, they’ll earn commission from customer sales in a number of ways. And because DubLi is customer focused, there are 3 methods of acquiring customers: personal customers that are referred to DubLi by each Business Associate and by other customers, organizational customers referred by the team of Business Associates under each Business Associate, and Partner Program customers.

The beauty of this business model is that it’s truly global, online and you don’t have to buy or distribute any stock. Customers will continue to get value and convenience from the DubLi shopping portal, and even more is being added to it over time (such as the new Entertainment Division, about to be launched in 2010). Thus Business Associates will continue to grow their income, and receive between 5% – 27.5% commission on customer purchases and activity, based on which of the DubLi Business Associate packages they choose.

It costs just $175 to register as a Business Associate, and then depending on your personal circumstances and the type of business you wish to grow, there are three packages of DubLi Credits you can choose from. These DubLi Credits are sold on to customers by DubLi, on your behalf, making you immediate profits. Business Associates also receive commission from customer purchases in the DubLi Shopping Mall and Auctions, as well as from purchases of customers referred by Business Associates you have recruited to your business team.

Dean Mannheimer states that “DubLi is one of the most unique business transitions taking place today. It’s simply the best business opportunity that exists today”.

He goes on to say that “When all is said and done we’re going to find books written on this model about a historical event and transition that took place that we get to be able to participate in – if we understand the value and we see what DubLi truly represents for each one of us and each one of our families”.    

More information

Why not check it all out? Register with DubLi for free to try out the auctions for a fun, innovative and real value for money shopping experience (don’t forget you’ll get a $500 resort voucher and a $25 restaurant voucher too); or find out more about making money and changing your future with the DubLi global business opportunity.

Questions? Simply contact Daniel Ngandu and he’ll get back to you with all you need to know.

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By Daniel Ngandu, September 17, 2010 5:08 am

There’s a statistic that’s often quoted in the world of Multi Level Marketing (MLM) or Network Marketing. It’s the “97% failure rate” statistic, by which is meant something along the lines of: 97% of all Network Marketers fail to make a living wage and/or they give up within 1 year of having started. Whether this figure is accurate or not doesn’t really matter – because the truth is that a lot of MLMers don’t make enough money to throw in their day jobs, and a lot do leave the industry, within a few months or their first year - often feeling negative and blaming the Network Marketing industry, their upline mentor, their downline distributors/reps (or lack of them), the products, or the company.

So what’s this 97% about then?

Let’s be fair - blaming all those things for your lack of achievement is not entirely incorrect either. It is no secret that the word ‘scam’ has been attached to this industry, and for two main reasons:

• Many MLM companies encourage their distributors/reps to use what I will call “soft melted chocolate” tactics when recruiting people to the business opportunity. Potential reps are told that the old style of contacting their ‘warm list’ of family, friends, colleagues and associates works; and they should work the list (and not give up). Often what happens is that they might gain some customers and distributors from this warm list, but it’s really difficult trying to convince a list of people that they need your products or must join your business opportunity (when many of those people are simply NOT in your target market). 
• It’s quite common for Network Marketing companies to overclaim the benefits of their products (especially those in the health field, which many are) - and thus have disgruntled customers wanting their money back, or even in extreme cases, taking the MLM company to court.

However, most Network Marketing companies are not scams. You need to evaluate the opportunities sensibly when being recruited, ask a lot of questions, and shop around before you join any opportunity.

These ‘scam’ associations are by no means the only reasons contributing to a large fall out rate. These are some other reasons for the low success rate in Network Marketing:

• Many new businesses (Network Marketing or otherwise) do fail in their first year, through lack of funds or skills. You only have to speak to the banks and new business support organisations, or look up company statistics for your country online. Remember this applies to all types of businesses, not only MLM.
• Sometimes people joining MLM are simply not cut out for it, or don’t learn or apply new skills quickly or appropriately. Network Marketing requires a healthy combination of marketing knowledge, sales skills, and personality traits like warmth, determination, discipline, resilience, and innovation.
• Often distributors are not shown really practical things they can do on a daily basis to make it work. They might have an active upline/mentor who says they will provide training, but the usual process when recruiting someone is to have a meeting or two with the new rep, communicate to them the old way of contacting people personally, and then simply leave them to it.
• New reps can feel overwhelmed with what seems like the sheer volume of work and different things they need to learn, including contacting customers, promoting the business opportunity, offline and online marketing methods, various internet marketing processes and tools, etc. 

All is not lost, however. There are thousands of people who earn a very good income from their MLM business.

So what can be done to ensure you have success?

The long answer on how to is a topic for another few articles! The short answer (and one that is positive, you’ll be glad to know), is that many of the essential skills and even personality traits can be learnt and practised, in order to make your business successful. Those who have achieved success already in Network Marketing will give various versions of the following advice: stay with it, work hard, work out the best ways to make it work for you, and spend most of your MLM working time each day on activities that produce income/results (not on filing papers, writing up client details, or answering emails that have nothing to do with your business, for example). This means organizing your day and activities in a more efficient way.

One of the best ways to help with your daily marketing activities is to use an online marketing system. The reason this tool can help you substantially with all your Internet Marketing activities is that it is designed to take care of the most important online marketing activities for you, all in one system, and they’re all as automated as possible, thus saving you time (and money!). Not only do you get to promote your primary MLM business opportunity as well as any other affiliate businesses you may be part of, but you are also able to recruit prospects and leads, via online offers and autoresponder emails, and you have access to good training about all the ins and outs of online marketing. The only online marketing system that I know of that offers all this - for free – is New Rich Report (usually other systems that do the same thing cost around $20-$50 a month) - check it out.

Finally, remember that success doesn’t usually happen quickly (no matter how hard you wish it to). Mixing up all these elements into a cocktail of MLM achievement takes time. So make sure you do a majority of ‘income producing activities’ everyday and that you organize your activities efficiently by utilizing tools that can help. But don’t forget you – you need to look after yourself by staying positive, learning all you can, applying what you’ve learnt sensibly to your particular business, trying, trying again, and asking for and getting genuine and helpful advice from positive, good people who are successful with the methods you’d like to emulate.

Need more info?

Read about the 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing – the Controversy at this hubpage.

Contact me, Daniel Ngandu, about the Network Marketing opportunities I’m involved with, to discuss how they can work for you.

97 sign image courtesy of: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_97.svg

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By Daniel Ngandu, September 10, 2010 10:46 am

There’s so many home based business opportunities and online money making offers out there, usually with huge promises, that it’s almost impossible to know what to choose and how to ensure it will be successful for you. And then there’s that dirty word, “scam”, that seems to raise its ugly head every now and then, especially with internet business opportunities. You need to be able to avoid those - while still finding something that is legitimate and profitable, that has a low cost to you, that you can easily do, and that you feel passionate and excited about.

I’d like to introduce an online only, new and exciting business opportunity that costs a total of just $10 a month! What’s more, you get to try it free for 7 days, so if it’s not for you, you can cancel without paying a cent. And it’s from a global, long standing and debt free corporation, GDI (website.ws), who own the worldwide rights to the .ws domain extension. Not only do you get to earn residual income from this business opportunity, but a website is included in the package!

Huh? What’s the .ws domain extension all about?

The original .ws domain extension was for domains registered in and for the island country of Western Samoa. However GDI have secured international rights to the .ws domain extension, which now simply stands for “website”. No longer do you have to worry about whether you should have a .com, .co.uk, .org, or .info extension, and what they mean – because websites have just become clearer and simpler. A lot of big corporations have already bought their .ws domains, in readiness for the future. Now’s your chance to get in on the action, while it’s still relatively new, before everyone else has a .ws website (did you miss the dot com boom? Well, don’t miss the dot ws boom!). 

So what is this business opportunity?

GDI is created with a Network Marketing or Multi Level Marketing (MLM) structure, which simply put, allows its affiliates to earn more income, because income is paid as commission not only from your own sales of the website package, but also from the sales of all the affiliates you refer, for 5 levels down. When you buy into the program (for just $10 a month), you promote the website package and business opportunity to others (as an affiliate or distributor of GDI), and when they sign up, they fall in under you in the marketing structure. They in turn then also refer and recruit more customers/distributors, and so on.

Can you think of anyone who’d want a low cost and easy to create website, and the chance to earn money as well? You can probably think of a few! Well, the company provides you with all the promotional banners, emails and videos you need for referrals (and leads too, if you want them), so the whole marketing and sales process is fully automated and stress free for you. 

The benefits of this business opportunity to you are:

• No stock for you to order, buy, handle, pack, ship or deliver!
• Everything happens online – you simply promote the website and opportunity, your customers and affiliates sign up online, and you earn commission from all sign ups, whether they take the website only, or the business opportunity with the website.
• You have unlimited markets and customers you can promote this to - from those who simply want their own family website; to sports teams, clubs and groups wanting to showcase their achievements and contact details; to serious minded home based business people making money from this as their main business; to small businesses needing an alternative source of income.
• There is a simple and good compensation plan – you earn $1 per person you sign up, every month, and a further $1 per person per month signed up below you in the marketing structure, for 5 levels down. Simple but powerful. $1 might not sound like much, but once you’ve got a few people signed up, and they have a few signed up under them, it can multiply into a comfortable monthly income. Check it out – use the Income Calculator to see what you could earn.
• Heard of residual or passive income? With the chance for you to promote this opportunity and build up a team of affiliates over time, who in turn will build up their teams of affiliates doing the same thing, your income will grow exponentially, and keep coming in, even at times when you’re not that active, or when you want to take a break.
• All of this, with a website included, comes for a monthly fee of $10. That’s it. No start up costs or any other costs, unlike many other MLM or work from home business opportunities on offer.

And there’s a website included too?

Yes, at no additional cost. You get your own domain name, hosting, and up to 10 email addresses at your domain, all included. The website can be whatever domain name you choose - such as your name, or your business name, and comes with a .ws extension, for example DanielNgandu.ws or MoneyDreamsAgain.ws.

You can use the website solely to promote the business opportunity, or for any other use you choose, such as a personal, family, vacation, pet, hobby or sports website, to name but a few ideas. Small businesses can use it as their main business website, perhaps with one of the web pages promoting the additional income opportunity, or they can use it as a supplementary website, promoting this business opportunity or anything else. The choices are limitless!  

You get easy website building software included in the package, and a number of attractive templates. You simply decide on how many pages your website needs, choose your template, and add your text and pictures. It can be up and running in half an hour - really! Plus if you need any support with putting your website together, we can help for a reasonable once-off fee.

It’s not for everyone, so who won’t benefit from this business opportunity?

You probably won’t want to take up this offer if:

• You’re not at the stage of your life where you’re ready to take on your own business and do the work required to make it successful.
• You prefer to build your websites from scratch, and you have technical expertize way beyond what’s required here.
• You prefer personal contact with people and products you can feel and hold; online communications, promotions and sales are not for you.

Maybe you’ll look at it another time, when you feel it suits you better. 

So for those who want to seriously look at it, where can you get more information about this opportunity?

==> Check out the official and fun company video (make sure you fasten your seatbeats!), which tells you everything you need to know: Your GDI business opportunity.

==> Visit the official company website, view a personal seminar, and read what other customers say about it: Global Domains International.

==> Use the Income Calculator to see how much you could earn from this opportunity.

Remember you can sign up for 7 days for free, to enable you to check out if you think it will work for you! You will only be billed your first $10 after 7 days; you can cancel anytime within those 7 days, and you won’t be billed at all.

Questions? Email Daniel Ngandu now.

Ready to sign up? Simply click on any of the top two links above (the official video or website) and then click on “Sign Up Now Free“. That’s it. And I’d like to say “welcome” to you! As soon as you’re signed up and ready to make it work for you, contact me, Daniel Ngandu. I’m your sponsor, and I’ll help you in any way you need to make you successful. If you’re successful, I’m successful!

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By Daniel Ngandu, August 31, 2010 8:12 am

Multi Level Marketing (MLM) or Network Marketing is defined as a business structure that is composed of multiple levels of distributors/reps, who earn commission from sales of the main company’s products/services, and usually also commission from the sales of a few levels of reps below them in the structure. Reps are usually self-employed, and represent the main company but market through their own home based business. The main MLM company usually provides the reps with products/services to sell, and all the marketing literature they need, plus often they put on training for their reps. 

But is MLM a legitimate and good business opportunity, for those looking for supplementary income and/or to start their own ‘work from home’ business? Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of Network Marketing.

The good….

Despite all the scare stories you may have heard about MLM and Network Marketing, there are various factors that make it a good home business option:

• MLM companies usually charge a relatively low start up fee to join them as a rep, compared to purchasing your own franchise business, or starting your own business from scratch. The MLM joining fee is often around $250 (although some companies have various options, to fit your budget), and this usually includes some products and marketing literature to get you going.
• When you have your own business as an MLM rep, you earn your income from two sources. Not only do you earn commission from selling the main companies’ products/services, but you also earn commission from the sales of the reps you have recruited into your network (the commission percentage amounts vary, depending on the main company’s incentive/compensation plan, as well as how many levels of reps below you that you will earn commission from).
• It is one of the only business opportunities that you can build up residual income from. This means ‘passive’ income paid on an ongoing basis, generated by only one or a few actions on your part. Residual income is possible in the MLM structure because of the reps in your team below you that you also earn commission from. Once you’ve built up a small team, and they’ve sponsored reps to their teams too, you will continue to receive income, even if you’re not particularly active with generating your own sales.
• The nature of Network Marketing is that it is possible to do it part-time, alongside your other work commitments, as a supplementary source of income; or full-time.

The bad and the ugly….

Unfortunately MLM has also attracted ”scam” labels over the years, and some of this is even warranted! What are the pitfalls of Network Marketing?

• Let’s look at the scam thing. Some MLM companies have had a backlash of scam accusations, because they or their reps have either over-claimed their product benefits (especially when the products are in the health field, as they often are); or when sponsoring new distributors, they have over-simplified the process of setting up your own business and selling products/recruiting reps, as well as exaggerated the earnings potential and time taken to achieve it.
• It’s not as easy as it looks! It will take time to build up a presence for yourself, recruit reps to grow your business, and develop a reasonably sized customer base. It will also take hard work, and you’ll probably need to learn and apply lots of new skills. Plus you’ll need to spend money to earn money – besides having to buy products and literature from the MLM company you represent , you’ll also have to shell out on marketing campaigns, depending on how you choose to promote your home based business opportunity and the products/services you sell.
• Although most MLM companies these days offer good online training for their reps, sometimes reps are left to get on with it, without getting the right type of support and mentoring from the person who sponsored them into the business. Sometimes this is because their sponsor is too new and inexperienced, but sometimes it’s simply laziness on the part of the sponsor. 

….And we all lived happily ever after?

Network Marketing can be an excellent way for you to get onboard with your own home based business and to make passive income for life. But be objective when evaluating any Network Marketing or home based opportunity that’s presented to you – make sure that you also check out the main company’s history, training offered, products/services, and the rep who is recruiting you. Great successes have been, and still can be achieved with MLM, but remember it will require hard work, discipline, time, and an open and enquiring mind. 

If you’re interested in a different type of MLM opportunity, have a look at this:

• Dubli is an online only business opportunity, which means no stock for you to buy or sell;
• You’ll get all the tools, tips, training and support you need to make it work;
• The Dubli online shopping and auction experience is something novel that helps customers save money on things they’d be buying anyway;
• It’s easier to recruit people to this business opportunity, because of it’s simplicity and novelty;
• Plus there are additional markets you can exploit: you can promote the business opportunity via the Dubli Partner Program to charities, church groups, sports clubs, and small businesses, as a way for them to raise funds and generate secondary income.

Find out more about the Dubli work from home business opportunity here, or contact me, Daniel Ngandu, for more information.

Please add a comment – we’d love to have your views - or visit the SavingMoneyBargains.com main website.

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Honey bees picture acknowledgement: http://www.virginmedia.com/science-nature/natural-world/apocalypse.php?ssid=3

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By Daniel Ngandu, July 23, 2010 12:21 pm

Maybe you’ve chosen your online business, and are ready, set to go. Or you’re looking for a work from home business opportunity, but feel confused or unsure how to market your business on the internet. So, how exactly do you go about reaching those millions of customers who you know are out there, if only they knew about your product/service and website?

Perhaps you’ve done some research, listened to the ‘marketing gurus’ in webinars or videos, and read some stuff about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media, Back-Links, Blogging - but it can all seem quite overwhelming at first, because there seems to be so much to the topic of Internet Marketing.

Really, though, the concept of Internet Marketing is simple. It’s the actual activities that take time, dedication, effort, discipline and creativity. Like any other marketing promotion methods, strategy or campaign, Internet Marketing is simply about communicating with a certain set of prospects or customers, in a way that appeals to them, in places where they are, and offering them products/services that will attract them, at the right price. So let’s break this down, and look at the issues surrounding your customers first of all.

Getting to know your customers

Who are they? You need to think really carefully about who would be interested in buying what you’re selling. And don’t think too broadly, because there are almost 206 million websites and 6 billion people on this earth! You need to narrow down what you’re offering, who you’re offering it to, and think “Niche Market”. For example, it’s no good thinking your customers are “all shoppers” (even if you wish it so!), because there are far too many competitors on the web trying to reach the very same shoppers.

Rather think about how you can reach a segment of those shoppers, maybe shoppers looking for specific items at a specific time of their life cycles, such as older people wanting to buy new technology. Then try to narrow it down even further if you can, even if your business is promoting something that many others promote too (such as affiliate or network marketing products).

Google’s free Adwords Keyword Tool can be very useful for this purpose – you can look up search terms that internet surfers might use, and see the global and local monthly volume (the number of people searching for those items or information). This will help you tighten your target market definition.

Where and how can you reach these customers?

Next, you need to think about where, on the Internet, you can reach the people who you hope to turn into buyers. Think about where they might be – social networking/media sites such as Facebook, specific forums (such as for grandparents), discussion groups and online clubs, etc.

And if you’re wanting to set up social media profiles and pages, such as Facebook Groups or Fan Pages, you will need to ensure your Friends/Followers are relevant. In some social networking sites, it is possible to search for people on certain keywords, and then add those people. Usually they’ll agree to follow you/add you back, which means you’ll be able to send them group and individual messages. The beauty of using Social Media, such as social networking sites and forums, is that this method of reaching and communicating with your customers is free!

Obviously, there are also other methods of finding customers, such as listing your website in online directories and using free and paid classifieds and advertising, for example Google Adwords pay-per-click advertising.

In the next few blog posts, we’ll consider other Internet Marketing issues, such as marketing communications, your products and prices, the various online media and tools, and so on.

If you’re looking for a viable, novel and clever new online business idea, check out DubLi – it’s global, it’s easy to promote, customers love it, and there’s no stock for you to buy or distribute!

Please add a comment – we’d love to have your views - or visit the SavingMoneyBargains.com main website.

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‘Frustrated internet user’ Picture thanks to: http://www.bauer-power.net/2009_01_01_archive.html

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