** Be sure to read the update at the end of this post **

The major thrust of my teaching is for you to have your own information products, and supplement your products with complimentary affiliate marketing.

You’ll likely come across network marketing opportunities that are like affiliate marketing programs on steroids (or crack – depending on how good they really are).

You may not know this, but network marketing is kind of like a secret piggy bank for most of the internet marketers I know.

In fact, I don’t know any successful internet marketer who ISN’T also generating some of their income from this type of revenue.

So although you should focus your energy on your expertise, you’d be missing out on a potentially important stream of income if you ignore this area completely.

However, picking the wrong opportunity can wind up costing you in both time and distraction.

Today, I’d like to demonstrate the thought process I go through when looking at any network marketing opportunity. I have a few tests I put these companies through, and thought you might find it helpful. To do this, I’ll also be using a real company that is trying to become the new “It”: Web Prosperity.

If you are on any internet marketers’ email lists, you will likely hear about Web Prosperity (if you haven’t already).

Like many MLMs that go through a massive “prelaunch” phase, Web Prosperity has been getting thousands of people to sign up for their spot in a matrix. Now, I have no idea if Web Prosperity will prove to be prosperous for all, but I’d like to share my thoughts with you about this before it launches on Tuesday.

First, let me say that I learned about Web Prosperity about 10 days ago from people I respect, but who also have little information to go by during pre-launch.

Here’s what I know, and what I conjecture.

According to the pre-launch videos and audio on the homepage of Web Prosperity, it promises to bring a suite of internet marketing tools together for a lucrative business opportunity.

They also say that they are teaming up with a company called Implix.

So doing a little research (as in going to Implix.com), I figure that the suite of tools will include the current offering of tools from Implix:

  • An autoresponder service (Implix owns Get Response)
  • A lead source
  • A website builder
  • A multi-media recorder/player
  • Ebook generator wizard
  • Website tracker software

** This list is quite incorrect it seems. Read update below **

They also say that there will be two price points for the tools, under $30 and under $60.

Now with any MLM program, you should look past the compensation plan and any promises of riches. Instead, the first thing you should look at is the product suite of the opportunity.

It should pass two tests for YOU (it doesn’t matter at all what other people say).

Test #1 “Usability”: Would you use and recommend this product even if you weren’t getting paid a commission? Or if there were no business opportunity attached with it at all?

Test #2 “Credibility”: Will it make sense for You specifically to recommend those products to other people?

Now if the product suite I predict above is what makes up the Web Prosperity offer, then you have to decide on those two tests. (If you have other tests, too, of course you should use your judgment).

A few more random thoughts…

For a network marketing opportunity to catch my attention, it needs to pass two more tests.

Test #3 “Profitability”: It needs to pay for itself quickly. Web Prosperity promises a “5 and its free” program.

Test #4 “Self-Explanatory”: Both the product and the business opportunity need to be self-explanatory. If it can’t explain itself and be simple to understand, then it will require too much work on my part. This is probably the toughest test for Web Prosperity to pass for me, personally.

For a business opportunity to make the grade as something to recommend, I have yet another test.

Test #5 “Residuality”: Is it likely for a customer to repeat month over month. This could be the best feature of Web Prosperity. Assuming they are using Get Response or a private label (remember, Implix owns GR) then the “stickiness” of WP will be excellent. This is because people don’t switch autoresponder services – it’s just too much of a pain.

Now this could also prove to be a challenge if Web Prosperity uses the autoresponder as its primary product. All of us Aweber fanatics will wonder why we need WP when we’re happy with what we have.

But for a new customer, once they start using an autoresponder, they may never leave. And that could be the most profitable point for Web Prosperity.

So without actually using Web Prosperity yet, here’s my grade…

Usability: B-.  With so many products, it may be confusing for people to get started. But having them all in one place may be extremely attractive for customers. As I’ve already been using competitive products for the last 2 years, it’s unlikely that I will get to use all of the services at Web Prosperity.

Credibility: B+. For me personally, as an internet marketer, having a suite of internet marketing tools makes sense coming from me. However, I do not use GetResponse, so that’s a negative notch.

Profitability: A. If the 5 and free model proves accurate, then it will pay for itself quickly.

Self Explanatory: C. With a suite of products and a 2×15 matrix plan with spillover, Web Prosperity will require a bit more hand-holding than I like to see.

Residuality: B+. As mentioned above, once in, a customer will be very likely to continue for a long time. And if the profitability test proves true, then downlines will be more stable than the average MLM. However, I’m concerned that it will be tough to get a good customer base at first if most are already using similar tools elsewhere (such as Aweber).

So averaging this together, I give Web Prosperity a B. This is enough for me to stay connected to it to see how it plays out, but I will likely not promote it unless I can see that score change to an A.

This will or will not happen as I evaluate it over time. But I hope this collection of thoughts helps you with this and any other network marketing opportunity you come across.

** UPDATE 1/5/09 **

I took a closer look at the policies of Web Prosperity, and discovered a few more things to be aware of.

First, the company describes 4 different products/services (emphasis added):

Within WebProsperity Premium Package the Customer is able to use
WebProsperity Meeting tool for organizing 5 web-based conferences a
with maximum of 50 phone conference recipients.

Within WebProsperity Premium Builder Package the Customer is able
to: (a) use Address Book applications, add and process 200 unique
contacts; (b) gain access to the Calendar;(c) use Media functionalities
to stream, send and transmit up to 50 pictures and/or documents and 10
audio and/or video files; (d) use Meeting for organizing web-based
conferences a with maximumof 50 phone conference recipients (e) gets
access to personal WebProsperity website.

The Customer gives his/her explicit consent that the WebProsperity
Elite Package enables them to use WebProsperity Meeting for organizing
20 web-based conferences with a maximumof 200 conference recipients.

The Customer gives his/her explicit consent that the WebProsperity
Elite Builder Package enables them to: (a) use Contact for creating and
streaming 1000 unique marketing campaigns; (b) use the Address Book for
collecting, organizing and managing WebProsperity business partners’
details and private contacts, adding and processing unlimited
contacts;(c) gain access to the Calendar (d) gain access to the Finder
(e) use the personal WebProsperity website; (f) use Media for
streaming, sending and transmitting unlimited pictures, documents and
media files; (g) use Meeting for organizing web-based conferences witha
maximum of 200 conference recipients.

So this tells me there is no autoresponder service included in this product suite for other businesses.

As for compensation plan, you receive $6 (Premium) or $12 (Elite) each month for each customer or team member you personally sign up.

You also receive a matrix bonus, depending on how many customers you personally have.

The additional bonus due to an active WebProsperity Premium Package
Subscriber is a Momentum Matrix Royalty bonus. The level and amount of
the Momentum Matrix Royalty bonus depends on the level of association
of a Member and the structure of the Member network organization. At
any time the Momentum Matrix Royalty bonus shall be calculated from the
15 levels of the network organization structure.

The Members at the “Association” level are the Members who have
personally enrolled less than 3 active WebProsperity Team Members. The
Members at the “Silver Association” level are the Members who have
personally enrolled from 3 to 6 active WebProsperity Team Members. The
Members at the “Gold Association” level are the Members who have
personally enrolled from 6 to 12 active WebProsperity Team Members. The
Members at the “Diamond Association” level are the Members who have
personally enrolled from 12 to 24 active WebProsperity Team Members.

The Members at the “Platinum Association” level are the Members
who have personally enrolled 24 or more active WebProsperity Team
Members.

Association Members shall receive the Momentum Matrix Royalty bonus
from the first 5 levels of their network organization structure. Silver
Associates shall receive the Momentum Matrix Royalty bonus from the 8
levels of their network organization structure. Gold Associates shall
receive the Momentum Matrix Royalty bonus from the 10 levels of their
network organization structure. Diamond Associates shall receive the
Momentum Matrix Royalty bonus from the 13 levels of their network
organization structure. All 15 levels of the network organization
structure are included in the calculation of the Platinum Associates’
Momentum Matrix Royalty bonus.

The Momentum Matrix is paid out according to the following chart. You get paid as many levels down as described above, dependent on how many team members you have personally enrolled.

Level Affiliates % Commission
1 2 5%
2 4 5%
3 8 5%
4 16 5%
5 32 5%
6 64 5%
7 128 5%
8 256 5%
9 512 5%
10 1024 10%
11 2048 5%
12 4096 5%
13 8192 5%
14 16384 5%
15 32768 20%

The percentages above are applied to $10 for Premium packages, and $20 for Elite packages.

There are a few other bonuses depending on your level of team development. To see all the details look at the policies of Web Prosperity.

So with all that in mind, there’s a lot of work that would need to be done for long term success in Web Prosperity. I will continue to monitor this as time allows, but do not believe this is an appropriate opportunity for most people who are focused on their own product line and information marketing.

Bob Jenkins

p.s. Do you use another test to help evaluate an MLM? What are you thinking about Web Prosperity? Add your comments below.

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