I wrote my 5 compelling reasons for wanting to have a network marketing business (my WHY). I made my top 10 prospect list and reviewed it with my sponsor. I went after my friends, family, and everyone else on my warm market list. Some of them joined my opportunity, but not enough to create the residual income I dream of. So I bought leads and cold called hundreds of people. That got him a record and he quit after a few months.

Now what? How do I continue to grow my MLM business without going bankrupt? The solution is to engage in attraction marketing on the Internet. What is attraction marketing? It is making yourself “attractive” to prospects by offering them something of value, such as information. This allows the prospect to learn more about you, to get to know you before facing any buying decision. This begins to develop a trusting relationship, so the prospect could eventually become a customer. In the ideal scenario, the customer should feel that the value of everything you provided exceeds the price he paid.

So how do you go about providing information to potential customers? First, develop an experience or at least a passion for something related to your business. Then make sure your information is accessible when potential customers search for it. In other words, make it easy for search engines like Google and Yahoo to display your information when a prospect is searching. This means that prospects are now coming to you, instead of you chasing them. This is much more effective in the long run.

Some of my favorite tools are writing articles like this and submitting them to Ezines. Search engines will find this type of content and display it in search results. Another easy way is to develop Squidoo Lenses, which are similar to EzineArticles but with fewer editorial guidelines. Developing a blog and linking to your Squidoo Lenses is also effective. Don’t bypass social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to expose yourself to additional prospects. Finally, there is my son’s favorite: YouTube. This requires some equipment and maybe some talent, but most people can create a passable video with a little training and practice. It’s more effective in building that trust because the prospect can see what you look like and hear your voice. Sincerity is vital. No pushy sales hype!

You may be wondering why I haven’t mentioned pay-per-click ads on Google or Yahoo. Because PPC advertising costs money, potentially a lot of money if you don’t have experience. All the tools I have suggested are free. I like the free lead generation.

I have shared my favorite tools for free online marketing. Now get out there and offer valuable information to potential leads and see how many leads you generate.