by Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.




If you’re considering a multilevel marketing (MLM) opportunity, be very cautious. MLM and pyramid schemes can be very similar.

How does MLM compare to pyramid schemes?


What is MLM?

Some people like the MLM business model. You have the opportunity to become involved in a system for supplying products to consumers. MLM associates have the support of a direct sales company so they don’t have to start a business from scratch. Some of the companies train you.

When you become a MLM distributor, associate, consultant, or whatever term the company uses, you make money, by selling products to other MLM participants who are not already a member, when you sign them up.

You earn money on your sales as well as a percentage of the sales of the new distributors you bring in. The people you bring in are your downline. Sometimes you get bonuses after reaching certain milestones like bringing in a certain number of new people or selling a certain amount of product. You can also win cash, trips, and automobiles.

MLM can be a legitimate business opportunity, but not always. MLM is legal in Canada and most of the United States, whereas pyramid schemes are not.


What is a pyramid scheme?

If you’re looking for a legitimate business opportunity, it can be very difficult to tell the difference between an MLM opportunity and a pyramid scheme.

A pyramid scheme also offers the opportunity to make money by signing up others and achieving certain levels.

Unlike MLM, a pyramid scheme exists solely to get your money and then use you to recruit other distributors.


Ask yourself the following questions before signing on:

Do you have to invest a large amount of money upfront to become a distributor? MLMs do not require large startup costs.

If you have to pay for inventory will the company buy back unsold product? Legitimate MLM companies offer 80% buyback.

Does the company offer actual products or services? MLM companies depend on an actual market for products and services. Don’t sign up if the company doesn’t seem to have any interest in consumer demand for its products.

Is the focus more on recruitment or products and services? Pyramid schemes focus on fast profits from signing up people and getting their money. If this seems to be the case, run.

How to Determine the Focus.

The pyramid scheme focuses on fast profits from signing people up and getting their money.
If the emphasis is on recruitment rather than on selling the product or service do not sign up.

Another trademark of the pyramid scheme is the offer of commissions for recruiting new members. This is what matters in a pyramid scheme, not the products or services being offered.


When you’re deciding on a business opportunity thoroughly check out the company. Get all the information you can on its products and operations.

Check out the business or marketing plan. Talk to others who have experience with the MLM company and its products. Determine if there are real products being sold and the quality of these products or services.

Check with the Better Business Bureau to see if there are any complaints against the company.

When attending recruitment meetings, listen very carefully for claims of you being able to make amazing amounts of money. That should set off the alarm bells for you.

Although being part of a successful multilevel marketing company can be both profitable and fun, unfortunately, some supposed MLM opportunities are just cons designed to flatten your wallet and trash your dream of running a business.

So, How Does MLM Compare to Pyramid Schemes? MLM is a legitimate business opportunity, whereas pyramid schemes are scams to take your money.


Your Web Hosting Essentials

By Rahimah Sultan

Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.

How Do You Create a Responsive Email List?

Although creating and growing your subscriber list is not easy it’s not rocket science, and it’s absolutely necessary if you want to run successful email marketing campaigns that reach people who are truly interested in your business.


What Are Email Lists Used For?

Email marketing is still an extremely useful way of reaching customers, despite the popularity of social media channels.

Email marketing offers many ways for a business to generate leads in the sales process. You can use email to generate brand awareness and fans through regularly emailed newsletters announcing sales, recommending products and services, or sending cart abandonment reminders.


Where do Businesses Get Email Lists?

There are two main ways to get email lists:

1. Buy from a third-party source
2. Build your own from scratch


Buying an Email List

We’ve all received unsolicited emails promising $1 million to our bank account if we give them our account number. We should all know by now they’re not to be trusted.

Well, the same goes for people trying to sell you ready-made email lists. So, now you think you can get started immediately without spending time building your own lists. Sometimes you’re offered free lists.

Remember, “If something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.”

You could be breaking the law, but most likely violating the CAN-SPAM act in the U.S. and GDPR in the EU for not getting expressed consent from the recipient before sending them email. And, you probably won’t get the results you’re looking for.

Put yourself in the other person’s place. What would you do if you receive an email from a company you’ve never heard of? You would probably delete it or mark it as spam. Either way, it’s a bad idea to send emails to someone who hasn’t requested to receive them from you.



Building Your Own List

To generate better leads and increase your conversion rate, you need to build and grow a list of people who have opted in to receive emails because they want to hear from you and have a genuine interest in your brand or offers.

You can also get more relevant information such as the products they like, their communication preferences, and demographic information other than name and location.


Now, how to create a responsive email list.


How do You Grow an Organic List?

To successfully grow an organic email list you need to:

1. Take Advantage of Your Own Network

You can take advantage of your own network by thinking of at least 10 people who would be interested in receiving your newsletters. Send an email to these contacts asking permission to add them to your list. For compliance, you need to retain records of securing their permission.

You can optimize the homepage of your website, to make it easier for people to join, by adding an opt-in form. Be sure the form is simple and quick to fill out.

2. Optimize Subscription Forms

Create subscription forms to capture your signups’ details. This could be a popup, a static web form, or a landing page. If you want a good signup rate the design, copywriting, and position of these forms are crucial.

Initially, only ask for what you need. You can get information for segmentation later based on the user’s action and what they read or view on your website.

3. Incentivize Signup

People don’t give up their contact details for free. So, you need to offer them an incentive and provide value. For example, this could be an e-book, a webinar or a competition.

4. Add Share Buttons

Recommendation by others is a great way to grow your list. By putting share buttons at the bottom of your emails, people can easily send them to anyone they think would be interested, or share them on social media.

5. Use Paid Ads and Social Media

Your newsletters should only be one part of your marketing strategy. Use paid ads as well as social media channels to tie your business together to drive people to a signup form or landing page where you can get more customer details.

These people are highly valuable leads and subscribers, as they have already shown an interest in your company or offer.


How do You Manage and Use Your New Email List?

The point of building a list is not to collect as many email addresses as you can. You need to keep a clean list by deleting subscribers who are not opening your emails or clicking any links.

Do this about every six months or so. Doing so will decrease your email marketing service bill, and you’ll get better click-through and open rates.

Most email marketing software provides the necessary reporting and analytics functionality, so you don’t have to manually prune your list. The software helps you understand who is opening emails and engaging and who is inactive.

Once you have that information, you can try to re-engage these recipients by setting up a win-back campaign. If that doesn’t work, remove them from your list.

As you grow your list, you can start to create segments based on past interactions and demographic information. This allows you to send more relevant, personalized emails to help boost click and conversion rates.

Building an email list from scratch takes time and patience. There are no shortcuts. It’s all about quality over quantity. Having an email list of a few people who are interested in what you have to offer is better than a list of 1,000 who don’t care.

The hard work begins when someone subscribes to your list. This is why you need to send relevant content, personalize your emails, spend time perfecting the copywriting and design, and be useful and helpful.

You can use these tips on How to Create a Responsive Email List and get started now.


Advertising Disclosure: Marketing Success Review may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website. There is no expense to you.


Your Autoresponder and More