I recently saw a question asked on an email list. I'm paraphrasing here ...

Isn't a Multi-Tier Affiliate Program the same as Multi-Level Marketing? So why don't the MTAP programs get all the same criticisms of MLM?

Now before I even start to answer this question, let me assure you that I KNOW there are good legitimate MLM companies. So don't bother to send me flaming emails about it.

There's a REASON why people go ballistic at the mere mention of MLM. A lot of people have a LOT of experience with it - and it goes back years!

Okay - here we go ...

Yes, a multi-tier affiliate program (MTAP) has the same payment structure as an a multi-level marketing program (MLM). You have downlines - you earn commissions on what is sold in your downline. But that's about where the similarity ends.

The difference lies in the presentation and what you believe you are doing!

With a MTAP, you'll earn a few bucks here - a few bucks there. This is not a career - nor, is it presented to make you rich. Okay - well, a few online scamsters may tell you that. But who believes them? Not many!

The problem is - MLM has earned (note, I said EARNED) itself a bad reputation. And it happened before the Internet ever came into existence. Some of the things that caused this can't even be done on the Internet. For instance ...

Years ago, my then-spouse and I were invited to a dinner party by a work associate. It was a bring-a-dish get together of those working in the same office. That's ALL we were told!

Well, after dinner we all got to sit in a circle and listen to the "FABULOUS MLM Opportunity" this host couple had found. The GUESTS paid for the dinner and were rewarded with being trapped to listen to three hours of the damnedest hype I ever heard! Was that slick, or what?

Have you ever seen the contract of an MLM program? It looks like you're doing a multi-billion dollar corporate merger! And it STILL won't give you all the details. At least not all the details that affect your pocketbook.

You can bet there will be hidden costs. For instance, you may have to pay for telephone updates weekly. And you will be required to use a telephone card you buy (from them) to do it. Even if the call is only across town!

Well no, you don't HAVE to do this but - if you want to make the BIG money ... yada, yada, yada.

That's just one little scam. Not all companies use the same ones.

And no - they are NOT going to GIVE you anything! Even the pink Cadillac that one company gives away is just an advertisement for the company. You have the earned the right to drive around in THEIR AD. Did you ever SEE one of those things?

If you were looking for a career in sales, you would need to have certain qualifications. You might even be tested to be sure you have them. The only qualification you need to sell an MLM product is ... do you have the money to buy in?

Okay - the law has now made that illegal in the USA. No problem - you can join the program for free - BUT you'll get a different compensation plan. And they'll tell you right up front that you can pretty much forget about making any real money. Why do they admit this to you? Because they want you to BUY IN! That's where they make their MONEY!

Then, you have those MEETINGS! You know, the ones where you have to drag in all your friends and family, kicking and screaming, to hear the hype. To be SOLD! Usually down the river.

You'll only hear the good stuff at the meetings - either from those people who originated the program, or who got in at the top. The ones who ARE making all the money!

You won't hear from the the ones who lost their shirts. THEY can't get out the front door to come to a meeting for all the product they bought that's now flowing over from the garage to fill the living room.

How many people do you know who have a garage filled to the rafters with enough soap to do the laundry of the entire world? Or, enough nutritional supplements that they shouldn't have to eat a meal in nine lifetimes?

With an online multi-tier affiliate program, a $27 eBook isn't going to break you. And gee - you only have to buy ONE!

AND, you don't have to call Grandma again.

Here's Granny trying to live on Social Security and she has to buy a pit bull to fend off all the grandkids waving around their newest MLM product. After all, Granny is a perfect candidate for needing to make extra money. Right? Let's recruit Granny! Never mind that she can't get to the meetings in her walker and all her friends are either in nursing homes or the next life.

And please be advised that the MLM company does not CARE if your friends stop taking your phone calls. They do not CARE if your family moves away while you're sleeping. They do not CARE if you end up a lonely old person because everyone is afraid you'll shove a satellite dish up their nose if they meet you on the street.

In fact, they'll even tell you straight out that you don't NEED these people! You'll be rich enough to make NEW friends. What are you going to do - BUY them? What is wrong with THIS picture?

Now, online MLMs have to find different ways to pull all this off. Some of it can't be done online. That helps a little. But, watch that contract!

I can read and understand legal documents like a champ but it doesn't help with online MLM programs. Many seem to do as they please - interpret what they say any way they please - change anything they please - at any time they please - and they just give me a headache. I don't know HOW they get away with it!

Any reputable MLM company would be well-advised to stop referring to themselves as "MLM." They are going to have to find a new way to take the smell out of MLM from the incredible bad reputations they have earned off-line!

Of course, some of them have. They call themselves "Network Marketing" programs. That's good IF they are also changing their approach, since most people are already on to this name change thing.

Unfortunately, although most of the stigma on MLM comes from old off-line reputations, too many of them are simply finding other ways to pull the same hype online. And many of them still require off-line efforts in the same old vein.

This is not to say that some multi-tier affiliate programs aren't also full of sickening hype. However in my experience, with few exceptions, they don't last long.

If you're involved with a truly ETHICAL online MLM company - that's terrific. Handled correctly, you DO have the opportunity to make some money from it. In this case, your only option is to do your work diligently and try to ignore the opinions of people like me who are still caught up in the residue from the old models.

The difference in an online MTAP and an MLM should be clear by now. For future reference, an online Multi-Tier Affiliate Program will NOT:

1. Promise to make you rich
2. Tell you it's a new career
3. Give you a contract so complicated you could set up a new country with it
4. Keep hidden costs from you until after you sign up
5. Ask you to buy enough product to fill three warehouses
6. Teach you to be "less than honest" with potential downline members
7. Put Granny on your list of people to call because SHE needs the money
8. Grab people by the nape of the neck in a coffee shop and drag them to a meeting
9. Reward you by asking you to (IMHO) embarrass yourself by driving their signature pink Cadillac




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* dr. jl scott is the Founder of the International Council of Online Professionals (iCop™) - and also the publisher of the Internet Marketing Trade Journal™ - the ezine that keeps you up to date on Internet marketing coming of age. For your FREE subscription: http://www.i-cop.org/trade-journal.htm


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