If you are starting right now in network marketing and you are planing to use the Internet for lead generation, trying to build your downline, there are some tools that are essential for doing so. Whether you like it or not when it comes to an online MLM business there are some expenses that are necessary if you really want to succeed. It's not like marketing to your warm market that requires no money, but on the other hand who can succeed today in multilevel marketing by relying only to friends and relatives?



Of course, some might argue that there are many free solutions out there that someone can utilize for his online MLM marketing needs, but I have to disagree with this. Such free tools are of bad quality and many times they carry third party advertising that compete with your own business. Relying to them only to save a few dollars is a tactic that can harm your chances to succeed and drive away your prospects as you would seem unprofessional and rather an opportunist to them. Especially for the two most important tools choosing the free road is out of the question and we would see why.

But which are those 2 tools that a network marketer can't do without?

They are Hosting and an Autoresponder

Hosting is necessary for having your own website on the Internet. You can't be an online MLM marketer unless you have a site of your own so potential prospects can find about you and your business and learn some more things about you. It is also an irreplaceable tool for your lead generation needs as prospects have to come through your website first.

There are many companies that are offering website hosting at various prices covering all kind of needs, but what you should avoid is hosting your site at free platform. In a free platform you won't be able to use your own domain name which is a great drawback. Having your own domain name, preferably a dot com, gives you more credibility in the eyes of your prospects. What are they going to think about you if you they see you in a free platform with a long and easy to forget url that they would provide you? Chances are they won't get you very seriously, not you nor your online MLM home business. Such free solutions are only useful for building back links to your main site to help it in the search engine rankings but not for your main presence on the Internet.

Another drawback if you go the free road is that they have total control on your website and they can delete it from their servers at any time for whatever reason they want. It's counter intuitive to start building something and put your time and effort into it only to see it vanishing one day for reasons beyond your control.

The second important tool that you can't do without in online MLM marketing is the Autoresponder. It allows you to create and maintain e-mailing lists in order to keep in contact with your subscribers with the purpose to convert them eventually to customers or distributors to your online MLM business opportunity. They say someone needs to see your offer 7 to 12 times before he decides to join your multilevel marketing company or buy something from you. The autoresponder can help you to this by emailing your prospects with prewritten emails at intervals that you specify so they don't forget about you.

In order to fill your autoresponder with prospects you need to put a capture form at your website so people can put their name and email to get further information from you. Sometimes you may need to give something in exchange such as a small report or an ebook on online MLM training that your prospects would see of value in order to increase the percentage of the visitors to your website that sign up.

Here there are also free solutions that you can use, but most of them use third party advertising at the top of the emails you send and the delivery rate is very low. So if you don't want your subscribers in the seldom cases that your email would reach them to see a competitors ad and lose them forever, you have to pay for one.

As you can see you cannot enter the online MLM world without those tools as without them you simply don't have any Internet business. Although they can put some burden to your budget, those expenses are necessary and they won't cost you more than $30 to $50 per month depending on the plans you choose. Most autoships in many network marketing companies cost more than this so there is no excuse for you for not using them to build your business.