Matt Koshko

Let's take a poll. Maybe you're not in to MLM or have never tried, or refuse to get back in to the form of business. What has been your involvement and experience? I think there's tons of potential if you're focused and you must hustle doing whatever it takes to grow. Average individuals have become millionaires through hard work and hustle, and no special skills. What would you do differently if you knew what you know now?

Nice post, Paul. I'll get in touch with you - might have a couple suggestions.

We should be treating customers, whether they have bought something or not, like our significant other. It's easier than ever for an unhappy customer to leave you for someone else, whether it's your training, an advertising service, or some web-based software application. Nurturing customers is essential - send them love, they'll stick around. What are some practices you follow to build those relationships? When a customer cancels paying for your product/service, how do you handle it? Any follow-up? Is there particular tools you use to nurture such relationships?

Thanks for coming by and sharing the kind words, Joe! Don't be a stranger.

Usually I get turned off when logging in to a TE that has tons of "stuff" floating in the members area. A couple days ago I logged in to one I hadn't used in a while and was completely overwhelmed, and the surf area was quite bloated, too. I certainly agree it's important to keep people engaged but there are plenty of ways to do so without packing the interface without room to breath, if you catch my drift.

I agree, John. It's hard to know those numbers up front, though certainly less damaging by starting low...however, as you pointed out, may be less appealing to those who've been in the industry for a while.

When I look at using services on the web, whether it's a CRM, project management tool, or joining an advertising service, "free" is usually compelling. Why? I'm the type who loves to try something before I buy. Let me through the gates, show me the sexiness if your product/service, and I'll either want to upgrade or not. The "freemium" model is attractive because it allows a consumer to get a taste of what you're offering...without giving it all away. I know nearly all services I create going forward will follow along those lines, mostly because I know it works but also because I think it's the most effective way to building happily paying customers. These days if you don't focus on your customers' experience, they can EASILY switch to your competitor in nearly any niche. Would you rather a consumer signup for your paid service, find out they are unhappy, and then have to refund that purchase...or have them signup free, check out what it has to offer (even if you give them a paid version for a limited time), and get a happily paying customer? The customers' experience (using your service, or whatever your product may be) is one of the most important needs you could focus on, along with customer support (which is directly connected). And on that note, I'm happier paying for something where I know they product/service comes with healthy support over the same (or better) product/service which doesn't have the healthy support.

@Tony - As others in the niche have alluded, people who launch a TE (for example) every few months are simply doing so to grab infusions of cash...at least that's the speculation. Technologies and scripts have certainly made it easier now than over the past 10 years to start and operate a TE, and mailer for that matter. "Owners" come and go, just like in nearly any market...some faster than others, for sure...both online and offline. It certainly helps when the individual running the TE has built up some credibility.

Whether it's Paid-to-Click, Manual Exchange, Auto Exchange, or something similar, there's no question the value has changed over the past several years. There are countless traffic providers through the mentioned platforms - the list is very long. However, the number of surviving services after 3 years of operation is certainly different. We all have many distractions every day; family, phone calls, text messages, meal preparation, emails, "jobs", facebook/twitter/youtube, and the list goes on. Such distractions have only increased over the course of the past decade and yet we seem to (at least somewhat) manage to handle quite a bit all at once. Do you see a positive or negative value in these traffic exchange services looking back 3 years ago? How have the changes had an impact on you? I'm guilty of trying to take on too many things. I have what I call "Yes syndrome". Just kidding, I've yet to be disagnosed.

Yes, it is indeed a little scary when all your processing is through one source, such as Payza which recently stopped nearly all transactions for US customers. Paypal is one of the biggest with the longest standing history in it's class - I trust the issues will always be few and far between.

The nice thing about using services like Stripe is your eliminate steps for customers to make a purchase. Yes, they need to have a Credit Card ready but sometimes they also need that with Paypal anyway. There are fewer necessary clicks allowing someone to checkout directly on your website than redirecting them elsewhere. Not everyone is willing to trust using their Credit Card directly, and that's okay, but if you think back a short 5 years ago...online purchases have flourished; consumes are getting very comfortable with the process...and trusting options besides Paypal. I can say that there is certainly a percentage of buyers who, when faced with Paypal or Credit Card options, they choose Credit Card. Remember the days of processing being a massive hassle? Gone are those days!

Any processor/merchant where payment data (such as Credit Card numbers) are entered in a form directly on your website will/should require an SSL certificate. Without the SSL there's no security measure to inform the buyer on the security of the data they're submitting. The SSL helps to ensure the data is going directly to the processor/merchant rather than being sent through open airways. Stripe requires an SSL certificate, but again the consumer can simply enter their credit card info directly on the website (unlike being redirected to Paypal). In fact, Paypal allows the same process when using some of their optional services, which requires an SSL. In this case consumers wouldn't be redirected to Paypal to complete the payment.

Awesome, Jerry. Love seeing those results!

Back 6-8 years ago people were really only using Paypal for payments because, in reality, it was one of the only trusted solutions. This applied to sellers and buyers in countless markets where online purchasing was acceptible. We're now in a much different position technology-wise where options are certainly in our favor. Gone are the days where we have to rely on Paypal for all of our transactions. In fact, after being introduced to Stripe nearly a year ago, it's hard to want to use anything else. Paypal is convenient but Stripe has less restrictions and is certainly more appealing for us (on-site Payments, especially) when it comes to accepting Credit Cards. I don't typically trust payment gateways unless they have a history, and a positive history at that. New solutions are much harder to accept, and even more so if they are headquartered in a country that raises from red flags.

The situation we ran in to the first 6 months of the previous site was the activity shrunk to very, very little except that the mailing portion was the only thin people used. Our goal with the site is specifically to be a combined effort of community/engagement AND mailer, not just a mailer and not just a community. In order to drive home the value and get people to become members of the site they need (and want) to see the value. Keep in mind, we may reduce the requirement in the future or extend the time frame for activity in order to send a mailing, but we're giving it a shot for now as is...and so far it's going well. It's important that we carefully monitor the amount of mail being sent as we do not want it to turn in to a mailer but rather a social community with the value add being the mailer. Otherwise, we might as well not even have the site at all. Does that help?

Blanket statement: Play nice, play fair, be respectful. As a member of our community you are expected to follow the rules. Most importantly, the use of common sense plays a factor. But, to make sure everyone is on a level playing field, here's how we have structured the community. RESPECT. Whether you're a seasoned professional or a brand new marketer, we treat everyone with the same respect and expectations. You are welcome to bring your opinions, just be respectful. Administrators: These are individuals in the community who oversee all content and decisions, ultimately making sure all is running smooth. Administrators are real people, too. Moderators: Individuals labeled as Moderators help maintain appropriate content. They may move articles, topics, replies, comments, etc. without notice, but they also follow the same guidelines. We rely heavily on our Moderators to help be the first stage when an issue arises. And if you have a question, feel free to ask them. Discussions: This is the heart of the community content sharing where you are free to engage through questions, experiences, and the long list of categories. Do your best to fit your topic and replies in the appropriate categories, and if Admins/Mods think they are better suited elsewhere, we'll make the change. Users who repeatedly make short posts that are meaningless just as a qualification to earn rewards will be banned from posting. Please make sure that you are making posts that contribute to the discussion. Discussion Signatures: Branding is important. We want you to build yourself as the sought-after professional. You may utilize a forum signature to showcase yourself with a short bio or other kind of catchy content. You may use one banner, no taller than 90px, and one affiliate link. Affiliate Links: Generally affiliate links are off-limits unless otherwise specified. However, because of our unique mailing opportunity as well as the ability to advertise banners, you are still able to get in front of people with your advertisements. Adult Content: Sorry, wrong place to share. Simply put, if you're caught sharing content of this kind in any way, consider yourself banned permanently. Private Messaging: Privately contacting members is a valuable capability but is monitored carefully. Spamming your links, mass messaging, and otherwise harassing members will get you blocked from this capability indefinitely. Foul Language: Western culture has decided there is an ever-growing list of insulting, foul, and "bad" words that make people uncomfortable. Intentionally utilizing such language against someone else may result in censorship and/or warnings. Your reputation will take a hit; think before posting. The "Program Threads" forum has it's own rules. Please read them here.

@Jim - Certainly interesting to hear. I'm not sure how many of us Payza users know much about where the processing has been taking place. Either way, it's certainly a bit alarming to hear processing was being handled in Russia.

Just this week news has been spreading about something called "Safelist Pirate". One might think it's a safelist where you can advertise, but it's nothing of the sort. Taken directly from a website: "Safelist Pirate is the software package automates everything. From reading the e-mail, observation the ad, and filling out the captcha. affirmative that’s right – we tend to got our own captcha technology integrated with this software package. this implies folks don’t have to be compelled to purchase credits with their captcha breaker account. The workers is incredibly responsive, therefore if a secure list web site has modified we tend to update the software package." Now you may be thinking "Sweet, I can automate my advertising and reach thousands without lifting a finger!". Let me explain...if you're advertising to people who are not reading your messages, and instead those people are using automated software to read your ads, what value does it have to you? It means that advertising is worth little to nothing, rendering the entire process as useless. If you're a safelist owner it is recommended to ban safelistpirate.com from your site. Also, don't bother going to the website for the software - there are concerns of malicious scripts encoded on the website, and you're probably opening up more risks downloading the software to your computer.

There are a LOT of variables which come in to play. Promoting plain blogs without appealing content and/or a way to captivate the visitor will likely take thousands of visits before you see any kind of results. Traffic Exchange members typically don't sit on a page for a minute or two reading content. If you can't capture their attention in a handful of seconds, you're likely going to get nothing except a "visitor". And out of those visitors you'll need hundreds before a couple stick around to read what you wrote. Essentially, promoting a blog in Traffic Exchanges might not be the best route unless you've got a really slick way of catching the attention of those visitors. Simple, lightweight pages (otherwise known as Splash Pages) have always converted the best.

You've probably heard of Empower Network as it has grown tremendously well during 2013, and will likely continue to grow strong in 2014. Being a premium blogging platform with premium training products attached, the reviews spread around the internet certainly cover both sides of the isle. The training has been touted as powerful, psychologically brilliant, and others have said it's not worth the investment. I'm not here to voice an opinion but rather gather experiences from the community. (Be sure to state if you are active or non-active) Here are the questions for active Empower Network members: Has the price of the training (the training you've paid for (so far)) paid its value back to you? Are you building an Empower Network organization/customer base or just a customer? What would you say is the least valuable part of the entire EN sphere?Here are the quesions for non-active Empower Network members: Do you know about Empower Network and/or looked in to joining? What turns you on/off about the platform and training? Does it offer any value to your business outside of EN?As always please feel free to add any thoughts you'd like to share!

Hey Maria! You're so kind, thank you. Yes, Paypal and straight Credit Cards now - much better. We removed "blogs" as it was mostly all spam or copy & paste content taken from the web. 9 our ot 10 posts were not at all unique, in addition to many being ful of spam/links. There really wasn't any value. We may bring blog back in the future but, for now, the discussions are what we want to focus on.

Faster, indeed. It is a massive improvement and makes it easier for us to manage as well. You should have seen the mess before! Thanks for the kind words!

Definitely plays a factor. Clutter in TEs drives me crazy - I won't buy anything if there are too many distractions. As an advertiser, I don't to pay for ads that are rarely seen.

Darren said it best - conversions. It's the most important statistic to track. For example, if you're getting 10,000 visits to a website yet are not able to track the results for leads, sales, customers, or signups, you'll struggle to make any progress. Are you sending the traffic to our Gano Excel main page? Maybe that's the problem, but without testing as Darren mentioned, you won't know what is producing results.

Can you be a little more specific? Where is this revenue coming from? What are these "random clicks" occuring?