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I recently came across an article from the website BehindMLM, which makes several mistakes in its review of Webtalk, and I think it worth clearing up.
Information about the Company They open their article by saying that Webtalk provides no information about who owns or runs the business. Oddly, this appears true in the sense that they don't have an "About Us" page on the front end. But as soon as you've joined, you're connected to the founder, chairman, and CEO, RJ Garbowicz. His profile talks all about the company, where it's going, and the team that's running the company. Free Members DO Get Unlimited Contacts A bigger error the article makes -- especially because this error would really dissuade people from joining a promising service -- is in saying that free members are locked into having 50 contacts. I understand why they've made this mistake, and will explain this in a second, but this is entirely untrue. Like on any social network, free members can have unlimited numbers of contacts. Otherwise, it would definitely be awkward to invite people to Webtalk, as you'd basically be inviting them to something they'd have to eventually pay for while other social networks are free. But Webtalk is entirely free, and no one has to upgrade to get more contacts. So why does the article claim this? Because they've misunderstood a pro feature. One thing Webtalk lets you do is break people into different groups. Friends, family, acquaintances, and business contacts. This helps sort the posts you want to read as well as who you want seeing certain posts. This is a HUGE advantage of Webtalk for people to think about. And this feature is FREE. But if you want to get really specific about the types of business contacts you have, Webtalk even lets you use their system as a simple CRM (customer relationship manager). This means breaking business contacts into more refined groups like prospects, vendors, and so on. This is not for everyone. It's an advanced feature that some will use. And free members will only be able to have 50 contacts who get sorted in this more advanced way. To go further with using Webtalk as a CRM, then you would need to pay, much as you pay for advanced features on LinkedIn. (Pro accounts also come with additional features.) But free members can still have unlimited contacts sorted into friends, family, acquaintance, and business categories at the broad level. This is all that most people will ever need. ALL Members (incl. Free) Can Earn by Sharing Another error they make is suggesting that Webtalk's referral compensation is only available to their first million members. Again, I know where this is coming from, but it's wrong. Those who sign up during beta (originally suggested as just their first million members, but later extended to all who join during beta) have access to a 5-level referral program to help the company grow in its early period. And this is the only income opportunity the article mentions. But this is a beta only program. Once Webtalk leaves the beta period, it will have a standard 1-level affiliate program for ALL members. Or if people find out about Webtalk without a referral, they can join without one. There is no need to come in from a referral (after beta). But those who continue to bring in others will continue to benefit from any revenue generated by those people, whether from a pro account or because they do some advertising or because they sell products or services on the platform or whatever. The article IS ACCURATE in saying that you do NOT need to pay anything to take part in the referral program, though to qualify for commissions you need to have ONE referral who upgrades to a pro account (these start at $20/month and have several benefits especially to business users). Webtalk is NOT an MLM Social Network Another error the article makes is suggesting that this is an MLM social network. The article RIGHTLY points out that most people will never want to join an MLM social network, because in such a network, everyone's just trying to sell everyone else on something. And yes, because of the initial 5-level referral program, the early Webtalk experience is like that to a degree. But just don't connect with the people who are posting garbage on their feeds and the problem is solved. As the network leaves beta and people can join without referrals, and all new members will only have a 1-tier affiliate program, that flavor will rapidly disappear. Webtalk has no intention of being an MLM social network. They are rolling out features not seen elsewhere, gunning to be among the most advanced platforms for communicating in more targeted ways and seeing the news you want, when you want it, with advanced filtering that lets you sort between groups of people, types of posts (images, videos, files, etc.), and much more. All for free. The article specifically says: "Case in point, have a closer look at WebTalk's premium memberships. Benefits offered are strictly marketing advantages, in that you're paying to increase your advertising reach to WebTalk members. How does this benefit a non-affiliate WebTalk member? It doesn't." First, by non-affiliate, I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume they mean "non-paying Webtalk member." To the point, the tools are networking tools, precisely like those found in LinkedIn paid accounts. People use them for business purposes. Yes, some wrongly use them to just sell. But others are very good at using them to network, and this hasn't driven "free" members of LinkedIn away from that platform. Webtalk DOES Offer Something New The article's bottom line says that no one will join an MLM social network (I agree, and Webtalk isn't one) and that Webtalk brings no new features to social networking. I strongly disagree. When you join and view the founder's profile, you can see the extensive number of features they're working on that will make Webtalk different. (And they say that, unlike on Facebook, you'll never have to pay to reach your followers. Your followers get to decide what they see, including how heavily they want to weigh you or anyone else in their feed.) That's why I'm especially interested to see where it goes. Because I agree, if it brings nothing new to social networking, then they might as well bow out. But they clearly know that, and everything they're showing so far is that they're ready to take this well beyond. They may succeed or not. Every business needs good execution and a bit of magic to reach the tipping point. But that doesn't negate the solid foundation and vision that Webtalk has.
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I only hope you've stumbled across this post in time to take advantage of it. Webtalk has been promising a big giveaway when they reached 2 million users. In the last few days, they've surpassed that mark and have announced that they will be giving away more than $100,000 in Webtalk stock. (See the image of the announcement below.) Of course, once it's given away ... it's gone. You can read here why I think Webtalk is such a big opportunity -- especially because it's free to join and free to share. Or just note that it's free to join and they're giving away a bunch of stock, and just get yourself on board right away. To join, click the button below.  Webtalk is a social network that's taken off in just the last couple months, from nearly no users to nearly 2 million. It's done so in part because it's planning to be a whole lot more than just another social network (click here to learn more about why it's unique) and in part because of a generous affiliate program. It's free to join Webtalk, and it's free to refer the network as an affiliate. So if it's free to join, how can you make money by referring it, and does it represent a good way of making money? Let's take a look. 1) If it's free to join, how can you make money referring Webtalk? As you know, probably every social network is free to join, and they all make money. Facebook is one of the wealthiest companies on the planet. Now imagine that Facebook had agreed to pay all its earliest members a percentage of what it earned ... for life. They were already referring Facebook to other people anyway. Imagine how wealthy they would be today. That's the power of revenue from things like advertising. Not only is Webtalk offering a percentage of its income for referrals, but it will monetize much more than advertising. 2) Does Webtalk represent a good way of making money? Like any startup, there's no knowing how well Webtalk will succeed. But if it gets anywhere meaningful in the social network world (it's already in rapid ascent), its referring members could make quite a lot. Take a look:
 With Webtalk's affiliate program, you earn 10% of the money generated by any person or business you directly refer to Webtalk. So if they're selling their products and services ... or they upgrade to a pro account ... or they just occasionally click on ads ... or they start using Webpay on their own website to collect payments for things they do. You could earn 10% of Webtalk's revenue on ALL these activities. Crazier still ... if you join Webtalk while it's still in beta, you will earn more than just that 10%. If your referrals refer other people, you earn 10% off the revenue from those people as well. And that continues through 5 levels of referrals, which makes it possible to be earning 10% of the revenue generated by thousands of people, depending on your group sharing. Even without this revenue opportunity, Webtalk is attractive as something more than just another social network, and is worth checking out. But with the chance to earn 10% of all revenue generated by every referral ... for life ... well, it becomes something worth jumping on sooner rather than later, and seeing whether being social can also begin building up your wealth. I believe in educating about business opportunities so people can decide what programs best fit their interests and needs ... while avoiding scams. That's what this website is about.
That's why I've put together this video on the Vital credit card opportunity. I think when you see all its benefits while it avoids many of the problems of both MLM and affiliate marketing, you'll be pretty compelled to take part. Because there is a chance to earn some money by spreading word about the Vital credit card opportunity, some have wondered if it's a pyramid scheme. Thought I'd take a moment to clear this up. What is a Pyramid Scheme? You can't really know if something's a pyramid scheme unless you know how that term is defined, right? Let's start here: There is a difference between a pyramid structure and a pyramid scheme. Nearly every business in the world has a pyramid structure, even if it's just a small business owner and a receptionist. If the business works properly, the receptionist makes a relatively small, set salary while the business owner is making much more, in part on the work done by the receptionist. Obviously corporations expand greatly on this, with executives making huge sums of money, directors making less, managers making even less, and so on down to the blue collar worker. Each higher level makes more in part off the backs of those lower down the line. This is a pyramid structure. A pyramid scheme on the other hand is one in which money is passed up through a similar funnel, but where little or no value is being exchanged. In a legitimate business, each person is (ideally) creating value for a consumer, which is what brings money into the business. In a scheme, little or no value is being produced for the outside world; rather, people are enticed to take part solely on the idea that they could become part of a funnel where they are receiving more money (from those below them in the funnel) than they're spending (on people above them in the funnel). In short, they get little to nothing in value for the money they're spending, except the hope that they can make money by spending money. This is the heart of a pyramid scheme. Is MLM (Network Marketing) a Pyramid Scheme? Understanding what a pyramid scheme really is, is network marketing (also known as multi-level marketing or MLM) a pyramid scheme? Well, you need to go by the same standard. I've seen MLM schemes where very little of value was being offered to members. They were just being brought in with some nonsense product like an ebook of the month (and probably titles you could find for free online) and the idea that if they could bring in enough other people to buy the same nonsense, they could make money. I would qualify that as a pyramid scheme. But many MLM companies offer real products with real value, so by definition they are not a scheme or scan. This doesn't mean I necessarily like most of them. To be honest, I don't. I'm not a fan of startup fees, excessive monthly purchases, and complicated payment plans that not only make it difficult to calculate what you'll get paid each month but heavily rely on the work of other people to make much money. And in my experience, too few people are willing to work. Vital is Not Really MLM and It's Not a Pyramid Scheme
So that brings us to the Vital opportunity. First, there's no cost to join and there's no monthly purchase. This clearly separates it from any kind of pyramid scheme. In fact, there are simply no costs to be involved, outside of shifting some of your current spending (at least $250) from another card to the Vital credit card. For instance, you can move insurance payments to Vital and right there you're meeting your qualifications without spending a single new dime on anything. But on top of that, Vital isn't really MLM (multi-level marketing) at all. Not in my mind anyway. Multi-level? Yes. MLM? No. Here's why: With no startup fees, no monthly purchases, and only a 3 level point system (extremely simple), Vital doesn't look like MLM at all. It looks like an affiliate program (something used by countless businesses including big names like Amazon). Just a 3-level affiliate program. And most of the emphasis is on the work you do. You get 4 points for every active card member (spending at least $1/month on the card) you bring to Vital. You only get 2 points for those that your direct referrals bring, and 1 point for those that the next level brings. That's the entire plan. I've seen multi-level affiliate programs before, and that's what they look like. (With Vital, you build up as many points as you can, which is sort of like "shares." The company divvies up 1% of ALL card members' spending each month, and everyone who's built up points and has spent $250 that month on their card get a portion according to how many points they have.) Of course this may be splitting hairs with some people. Maybe you still see Vital as an MLM, and that's fine. Maybe you don't like it because of that (or maybe you love it because of that). That's fine too. But with no costs involved and a pyramid structure that's probably far more subtle than that of a corporation, it's very clear that Vital is nowhere close to a pyramid scheme. Interested to get a Vital card and earn by sharing it with others. Click here if you'd like to work alongside me. While I always talk about looking for value first in any opportunity (one that's so good, you're happy to be involved even if you don't make a dime), a critical element is the quality of marketing tools made available to you.
Most people don't know how to develop professional marketing tools of their own, and often a company will require you to have such tools approved for compliance reasons. And even if you can build your own materials, if you can't replicate these for a team then you're going to be stuck with your own referrals if the company isn't providing your team with a good way to spread the message. Again, I always feel this should come second to value. I get it: market something well and you can sell garbage. But garbage can only sell so long before people realize what's happening, and then you can't make any more sales. And then you're back to square one in having to find and build a program. So value (I don't mean cheap, I mean getting something valuable at whatever its price point) is the thing that will make something last; but marketing is the thing that will get it off the ground. This is why I'm so pleased with the presentation on the Vital credit card opportunity website. (Click the link and you can see it.) It is clean, professional, and tells its story plainly. (I also summarize what I like best about the program here.) This kind of professionalism also builds trust, which is critical when you're asking someone to do something. At the time of this writing, while the program is in pre-launch, the only thing people need to do to be involved is enter their email address. (It then asks you to confirm by tweeting or Facebook posting, but after you click on either social button, you are confirmed whether you finish the posting or not.) And even later, there is no cost to be involved. An email is a pretty easy thing to give for an opportunity this well presented. Of course as a marketer myself, I do hope they expand the tool set. One key that very few programs offer is a way to connect to Analytics and track one's marketing efforts. This means it's hard to focus on efforts that are actually bringing you results. But for now, long before they launch, I'll happily drive traffic to a great looking website that offers a simple way for people to make some extra cash ... and all they need to provide for now is an email address. As I've explained before, PennyPays is a program that lets you get paid for sharing posts on Facebook (and it's free to join). On the flip side of that (and what makes it a real program), it lets businesses pay people to share their posts on Facebook. Getting shared onto people's news streams in Facebook (rather than paying to advertise into those spaces) is valuable to businesses, giving PennyPays a ton of potential if it's done right. One of the early challenges with the software was that advertisers had to go city by city to advertise -- inconvenient if you simply want to advertise in the USA. But PennyPays finally upgraded its software this past weekend, allowing advertisers to target by country as well as by city if they're local. As you can see from the images below, PennyPays verifies the friend count of someone's Facebook page every month; they also gather someone's interests (up to 10, to ensure their highest interest levels -- I've blurred mine below); they also gather someone's location, which can only be changed at the time of the monthly verification. This (and more) are all done so that people can't cheat the system ... or the advertisers. In the second image, you can see what an advertiser sees when they choose prospects for sharing their messages. Not only can they see someone's name, location, and cost based on friend count, but you can also go straight to their Facebook page if you want to see whether they're a good fit for your message. There is still much for PennyPays to improve on. For instance, I believe they need a better list of interests for people to choose from. (Their list is extensive, but not well organized and doesn't include some important topics.) More important, they don't yet let advertisers choose people by their interests. It seems like that must be coming since they're asking people for their interests. One other thing that might benefit PennyPays is if they teach their community more about the types of posts that businesses might use. Businesses naturally get "shares" for quality content posts, not for advertisements; yet the early members are trying to push "ads" as something that others will post on their Facebook pages. No one wants their Facebook stream to become ads, because then others will start ignoring them on Facebook. But bottom line for now is that a business can come and advertise across the US, getting shared on people's Facebook pages, through PennyPays. And anyone can join for free and start getting paid to share posts.
Elsewhere I focus on what PennyPays offers as a service (which is FREE to join), since I only believe in programs with a strong product or service and NOT in programs whose sole focus is how you make money. If you have a serious product or service, then it's something you can sell and the revenue is legitimate.
But today I wanted to focus on how you can make money with PennyPays, because it's so affordable to take part and the revenue potential is so impressive. I'll start with the smaller, simpler ways to earn, and then explain the huge opportunity. As always, remember that these are examples only, and that your earnings strictly depend on how well you share the program and what your referrals do with it. Get Paid to Share Posts on Facebook
Get Paid when Others Share Posts on Facebook
As an upgraded member ($9.95/month), you can refer other people to the program. Whether they are upgraded or free members, they earn when they share posts, and you earn 10% of whatever they earn.
If your referrals upgrade and refer other people, you also get 5% of what those people earn for sharing posts. So if you referred 10 people who each made $30/month from sharing posts ($300 total for all 10), you would earn $30/month from them. If they all referred 5 more people who each made $30/month from sharing posts ($1500 for all 50), you would earn $75 from them. All together, that's more than $100/month in addition to your other earnings. Get Paid when Others Advertise
PennyPays is a powerful advertising opportunity for businesses, so you can basically sell advertising. You'll earn 10% of whatever someone spends on PennyPays advertising if you refer them. Even a local business can easily spend $100 or more every month on Facebook ads. Help them start spreading their message through post shares and start taking home 10% of that ad spend.
If some of those people / businesses refer others who also advertise, you'll earn 5% of those ad spends as well. Get Paid from the PennyPays Matrix
Of course usually speaking a matrix won't ever come close to filling up. Although in this case, given how many people may want to share posts (and get more money from each post), it's possible that thousands will join in your matrix. And while businesses don't have to upgrade to buy post shares (i.e., to buy advertising), they get discounted prices by upgrading, which puts them into the matrix as well.
Here's where it gets exciting: even though you don't have to refer anyone to earn money from this matrix (since people can be placed below you by others), if you DO refer people, you will match 100% of their matrix earnings. So if you earned $500 from the matrix and referred 3 people who each earned $250 from the matrix, you would earn $500 + $250 + $250 +$250 for a total of $1250/month. On that note, I'll leave you with their video which spells all this out more visually. And when you're ready to join as a free or upgraded member, join me here and I'll share with you any tips and tools I develop to grow this business. Do you have a website you use to promote products or services? Do you promote other people's websites? If so, how would you like to put a spokesperson on your website OR someone else's website in just 2 minutes? Read on for details, but the critical point is that this software, called VideoPal, is just $37 or less ONE TIME through February 24. After that it becomes a monthly fee, so NOW is the time to know about it. And when you purchase through me, I'll write your first script for your spokesperson! In just seconds, you can produce an animated spokesperson (a "VideoPal") like the one shown in the image here, giving it a voice with "text to speech" (just type and it talks) or upload your own recorded voice. Or you can record yourself with a green screen background and the software will remove that background and put you up as the spokesperson complete with transparent background. Either way you can greet people in a way that captures attention, sharing the most important features or benefits quickly. And you can do it on your own website or others, which is a great way to talk about affiliate products you're representing. If you like, you can even add an email capture form to build your mailing list with VideoPal. Click here to get my full review and the details of my exclusive offer of writing your first spokesperson script. The review will also let you see the spokesperson in action.  I remember feeling lucky to have a job in college that I could walk to (and enjoyed) that paid around $8/hour. (According to the government's inflation calculator, that would be around $13/hour today.) But since the rise of the internet, I've often thought about how easily I could have made the same amount of extra cash for far less effort from the comfort of my own dorm room. I was putting in about 6 hours a week, earning close to $50 before taxes -- or $80 in today's dollars. It wouldn't take much to duplicate that online. In fact, just a few years out of college, I began writing online through my own website. A 2-3 hour job from my site could have equaled 10 hours I put in as an employee, and would have eliminated walking to and from work. This could have given me a lot more free time, or a lot more cash. Of course there are plenty of ways to earn online, from offering your own products and services online to being an affiliate for other people's products and services. But there is a new way you can make money online without your own website and without the need for products and services. And it involves something you're probably already doing on Facebook. Sharing posts. I know, this sounds like one of those spam emails about Bill Gates paying you $1 for every person you forward the email to. It sounds too easy or too good to be true. But here's the thing: millions of businesses advertise on Facebook (how do you think Facebook is worth so much?), and one of the holy grails for those businesses is to have people share their posts. Why is this so valuable? Because normally a business has to pay for each individual view or click of their posts. When people share their posts, however, not only does the business get a kind of endorsement from that person to all their Facebook friends, but the business post can spread without them paying anything. Every share and all the views from those shares are free to the business. But those shares aren't always easy to get. Yet now a new platform lets businesses pay to have their posts shared through people with the right demographics and friend counts for their needs. That means YOU can get paid for sharing posts through a company called PennyPays. You still stay in FULL control of the posts you choose to share, so this isn't something that takes over your Facebook account. But you probably already share messages from businesses when you like what they have to say. What if they were willing to pay you, through this platform, to do that? This isn't a get rich scheme, because you won't get rich from sharing posts. You only make 5 to 90 cents per share, depending on your Friend count on Facebook. And how many shares you receive each month depends on whether your demographics fit the needs of businesses. (But do you think college students might appeal to a few businesses for sharing their messages?) Still, let's say you have 1000 Friends on Facebook. You'd make 50 cents per post shared, and if you only shared one per day, you'd make an extra $15/month doing this.* Now, there IS a way to make much more money with this. If I wanted to make $80 per week online while in college today, sharing a few posts and making $15/month wouldn't really cut it. I wouldn't mind the extra cash, but it wouldn't replace a job. Here's how you could turn it into a business though. There is an optional upgraded membership ($9.95/month) that does several things:
There are other potential elements of earning, and these can get enormous. But I'd rather be down to earth with you about earning potentials. If you focused on sharing an ad platform with local businesses and getting your friends to join for free -- because lots of LOCAL members is what makes this appealing to LOCAL businesses -- I believe you could eventually replace a part-time college income. You can, of course, aim bigger. And since I do marketing for a living, I'll be glad to answer your questions and help you along if you choose to join this program and want to market it to businesses. (I'll even jump on the phone with them if they want to learn about it -- they will still join under YOU and you will earn your 10% of their ad spend.) Only YOU know what you'll put into something like this. But I can tell you that if I were in college today, knowing what I know today, I would want to begin on the road to passive income like this. There's nothing wrong with a job that pays you for your hours, but that's not the way you'll ever get wealthy without becoming a corporate executive. A traditional job is good to have and to keep while you build something like this; but this extra work now can pay off for the long-term. * PennyPays launched in early 2017, so at the time of writing this, members aren't getting many posts to share. But these should ramp up as businesses discover this advertising opportunity and as new members join, helping businesses get more reach from the platform. Join for free and there's no risk to seeing what's sent your way! You can always upgrade later if you want to experience it first.
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AuthorI'm an author and professional writer / marketer with an interest in gathering teams of those who want to learn, grow progressive businesses, have fun, and make a difference. Archives
January 2019
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