Before I dig into my comparison of MLM Blog Theme vs. Empower Network, I want to make sure something is very clear:

I love David Wood and I love the concept behind Empower Network.  In fact, I am a big fan of just about everything "David Wood", including his hippie hair. = )

For those if you who are wondering, Empower Network offers a blogging platform built on WordPress Multi-User (MU).  With Empower Network, you get your own blog address on the Empower Network.  This blog is branded to David Wood and Empower Network and for many people this is a great way to get started blogging!

The idea of using Dave's brand as a way to reach out to people and create leads is a good one.  I used this very same strategy with Ann Sieg and Mike Dillard when they launched their attraction marketing systems a few years ago.

The Empower Network system runs $25 per month, a fair price for the attraction marketing system and blogging platform.

How is Empower Network's blogging platform different than MLM Blog Theme?

MLM Blog Theme is not a platform, it is a theme or "design" that is built for the WordPress platform.  

Let me explain...think about WordPress as if it was a house.  So WordPress MU (the platform for Empower Network) would be like a community of houses all with the same design.

A WordPress Theme could be described as your home decor.  The colors, design and decorations that you put up in your house to make to your own.

MLM Blog Theme is a design that is meant for you to customize (in a very simple, fill in the blank for dummies sort of way) so that the blog is your own "online home", your own piece of real estate online that you actually own.

Pricing:

Empower Network Blog Platform - $25 per month

MLM Blog Theme - One time $97 for unlimited personal blogs and you will need to get your own hosting for about $5 per month. MLM Blog Theme's one time license fee comes with all future updates included in the price.

Here is a video that will give you a tour inside of MLM Blog Theme:
http://www.MLMBlogTheme.com

If the purpose of your blog is to "brand you" and carve out your own piece of real estate on the Internet, then MLM Blog Theme is probably the best option for you.

If you already have a good following and you don't mind branding Empower Network and David in order to create leads, then Empower Network is probably a good option for you.

Option 3 which is the one I would suggest is to build out your own blog with MLM Blog Theme and then offer the Empower Network as a promo through your site.  The great thing about having your own blog is that you can promote whatever you like and you are not tied in to any one system.

Empower Network is certainly hot right now, but these systems tend to have a lifespan.  Promoting yourself will last a lifetime.  Although I believe that David Wood is smart enough to keep things fresh and change when needed.

I launched this site in October of 2003, before most people knew what a blog was and today if you do a search for "MLM Blog" or "Network Marketing Blog", chances are, you'll find MLMBlog.net, number one.

But truth be told, I didn't do all that much with this site in 2011.  Writing a book, traveling and building my Social Marketing™ business took center stage.

So, I am going to ask my readers to support Ray Higdon as the top MLM Blogger for 2011.

If you want to be successful at MLM Blogging, the one thing that you could learn about MLM Blogging from Ray and something that I did for many years is learn to be consistant with your writing.

So, Ray is getting my vote this year and I hope that he will get yours as well.

If you want to learn my secrets about blogging, here is nearly 3 hours of training that I did on the subject of Blogging For Prospects (free for taking the time to vote for Ray).

I was scanning my Google Alerts this morning and this headline caught my eye: Evolv Drink- To Drink Or Not To Drink. I clicked and was redirected to a website that seems to be about MLM Leads. Here's the first few paragraphs:

Evolv is a bottled water manufacturing company that has gone over the multi-billion dollar mark. It’s a network marketing company that has done well in the stock market at the moment.

The Evolv Beverage is clean and natural water that is high quality and claims to yield good quality nutrition and dietary supplements to your body. It also has been declared to generate a healthy immune system, helping in recovering from fatigue, maintaining a good flow and circulation of blood and additionally improving the inclusion of vital nutrients like proteins, minerals, vitamins etc.

Spree drinking has been happening amid the general community for quite a while and even nowadays. It’s been years since energy beverages became acknowledged to be nothing more than a soft drink. It is typically used for leisure purposes. Manufacturers of these beverages have recognized after years of experience that this description was not selling adequately.

They became aware that folks were generally interested in a simple drink that would purely raise their energy levels and be a healthier substance. Everyone wishes to accomplish a good shape and at times exercise is not enough. Certain drinks come with the essential guarantee of escalating the energy level plus helping to lose weight.

When I took a closer look I found that this site was also marketing a tool called Unique Article Wizard. Apparently the Evolv article above is the kind of articles this wizard spins for you. Unique? Maybe.

Moral of the story - if you're going to use Article Marketing make sure the facts in your article are true and write the articles yourself or at least have another human write them for you. Don't rely on a piece of software.

Don't forget to check out the new MLM Blog Page on Facebook. And  click "Like" when you get there...first 1000 fans have a chance to win free advertising on the MLM Blog!

Daily MLM Book Recommendation: The Zen of MLM

- Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent -

George Fourie at That MLM Beat has released the stats for the Top 10 MLM Blogs for the week. And guess what? We're #1!!! Check it out!

Here are this weeks Top 10 MLM Blogs for the Week:

1. Ty Tribble – Blogger and Social Media Entrepreneur

2. Gavin Mountford’s Networking Superstar Blog

3. Melodie Kantner – Network Marketing Success For Ordinary People

4. Kary Rogney – Empowering You To Live, Learn, And Grow!

5. Kimberly Castleberry – Just Ask Kim [Vote: Top 50 MLM Blogs]

6. Amanda Marie – Inspired Leadership In Social Media Marketing

7. Tommy DiPietro’s MLM Sales Strategies for the Home Business Owner [Vote: Top 50 MLM Blogs]

8. Susanna Hess – Online Video Marketing & Branding = Your Winning Edge

9. Jerry Chen’s Build A Magnetic Network

10. Faith Barnard The New Future of Network Marketing

Thanks George!

Check out the new MLM Blog Page on Facebook. And don't forget to click "Like" when you get there...first 1000 fans have a chance to win free advertising on the MLM Blog!

Daily MLM Book Recommendation: The Zen of MLM

- Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent -

Blog Engage is a new blogging tool that syndicates your blog content. Here's a detailed explanation...

We all want to market and promote our blogs but truth be told it's too time consuming. The Blog Engage RSS Syndication Subscription Service allows you to take advantage of their amazing blogging community by submitting your blogs content on a daily basis. Blog Engage has a total of four different memberships to join that will meet the needs of almost all of their members.

What's Included with the service?

1. Automatic syndication of your blogs content. 2. Automatic submission of all future blog articles. 3. Automatically fills in the title, description and tags. 4. Automatic hourly or daily updates searching for your blogs new content. 5. Automatically submit one or multiple articles per RSS Feed Update. 6. One free vote with all RSS Feed article submissions.

SEO Benefits:

1. Automatically create do follow backlinks for every article you write. 2. Increase your SERP on all Search Engines. 3. Grow your reader base with our real community members. I think one of the coolest features is you cannot tell the difference between a member that is part of the service or a member that manually submitting their content to the community.

Platinum Membership

Platinum Membership will allow you to have up tp three blogs and select up to five categories from each blog in which articles will be submitted to on blog engage. These are actual categories you have on your blog. We will also allow an unlimited amount of new articles to be submitted every hour your RSS feed is checked. 1. Add up to Three Seperate Blog url's 2. RSS Feeds Checked Hourly 3. Unlimited New Articles Per Check 4. Five Categories to Update

Gold Membership

Gold Membership will allow you to select up to five categories from your blog in which articles will be submitted to on blog engage. These are actual categories you have on your blog. We will also allow an unlimited amount of new articles to be submitted every hour your RSS feed is checked. 1. RSS Feeds Checked Hourly 2. Unlimited New Articles Per Check 3. Five Categories to Update

Silver Membership

Silver Membership will allow you to select up to three categories from your blog in which articles will be submitted to on blog engage. These are actual categories you have on your blog. Three new articles are allowed every 3 hours the RSS feed is checked. 1. RSS Feeds Checked Every Three Hours 2. Three New Articles Accepted Per Check 3. Three Categories to Update

Bronze Membership

Bronze Membership will allow you to select one category from your blog in which articles will be submitted to on blog engage. With Bronze membership please make sure to select the most popular category on your blog for your one category choice. We will submit all your other blog content to our General Blogging Category. One new article is accepted every 8 hours when the RSS feed is checked 1. RSS Feeds Checked Every Eight Hours 2. Three New Articles Accepted Per Check 3. One Category to Update <a href="http://www.blogengage.com" _fcksavedurl="http://www.blogengage.com"><img src="http://www.blogengage.com/images/blog_engage_promo_1.jpg" _fcksavedurl="http://www.blogengage.com/images/blog_engage_promo_1.jpg" alt="Blog Engage Blog Forum and Blogging Community, Free Blog Submissions and Blog Traffic, Blog Directory, Article Submissions, Blog Traffic"></a>

Check out the new MLM Blog Page on Facebook. And don't forget to click "Like" when you get there...first 1000 fans have a chance to win free advertising on the MLM Blog!

Daily MLM Book Recommendation: The Zen of MLM

- Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent -

Okay...honestly, there’s more than 7 resources I use on a daily basis here at the MLM Blog. I used the 7 in the title because I was reading about the power of 7 in list posts over at Copyblogger this morning. Copyblogger is a great resource!

Here’s 7 resources for highly effective MLM bloggers I use on a daily basis here at MLM Blog -  for inspiration, research and promotion.

#1 Google

Sure, Google is great for search and allows you to find anything you want in an instant. This morning I was looking for a laugh and found this: We Dare You Not to Laugh at 31 Foods With Misspelled Names. I laughed. LMAO. But Google's not just a search engine.

Google and the various tools they provide are invaluable for bloggers. Google Alerts is one tool I use everday. Google Alerts allows you to monitor the Web for content based on keywords and emails you the results. I have Google Alerts set up to notify me when 100s of different MLM companies are mentioned. But be careful - Google alerts can fill up an inbox pretty quick. I use a separate email account like googlealerts@xxx.com and go through them once every day or two.

Another great Google tool is Google Reader. Google Reader allows you an aggregated view of all the RSS feeds you subscribe to in one location. Great time saver.

Still another great Google tool is Google Insights. With Google Insights you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties. Great for research!

2. Compete & Quantcast

Another great tool for research is Quantcast. Also an essential tool if you are doing any paid advertising to promote your blog. Another great research tool along the same lines is Compete.

3. TweetDeck (or HootSuite)

You definitely need a tool like TweetDeck or HootSuite if you're going to leverage Twitter to promote your blog. We use Twitter to promote the MLM Blog everyday. You can also use a service like TwitterFeed to set up automatic tweets when you update your blog. TwitterFeed will even update your Facebook page as well.

4. Coffee (or Tea)

I just find blogging is more fun with a nice warm beverage.

5. Facebook

Get a Facebook Fan Page set up to promote your blog. Do it now. Let us know if you need some help.

6. Books

Books are a great inspiration for posts and especially Blog post Titles. I’m a book lover - over 10,000 books in and around my home office - and just gazing around now I can see multiple book titles that I could spin into colorful blog posts: The Way Things Work, Let Sleeping Vets Lie, Misadventures of a Fly Fisherman, The Human Factor. Reading anything and everything I can get my hands on is a constant inspiration for blog posts.

7. OPB

OPB stands for Other People’s Blogs. The best way to improve as a blogger is read other people's blogs. For example, this post was inspired by John Paul Aguiar’s Money Dummy blog and his post entitled Blogging Tools That Successful Bloggers Use Daily.

Don't forget to check out the new MLM Blog Page on Facebook and "Like" us to win $500 advertising dollars here on the MLM Blog.

- Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent -

Just a quick post to ask What is the Best Traffic Source for Generating MLM Leads? Is it Google? Facebook? Twitter? Your Blog? Bing?

Head over to this link and answer the MLM Blog poll and let us know.

- Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent -
 

I just put up a blog post about Facebook advertising over on my blog. Here's an excerpt:

If you’re interested in jumping on the Facebook Advertising bandwagon and need good advice on how to leverage the best advertising platform since Google then I highly recommend getting your hands on anything from the two Jonathans. Jonathan Budd and Jonathan Volk that is. Budd is a Network Marketer. Volk is an Affiliate Marketer. They both know what they’re talking about when it comes to Facebook. Check them out!

Check out the whole post and more Facebook advertising resources at Dan-Mitchell.net.

And check out the new MLM Blog Page on Facebook. Just click the banner below...you know, the one that says Facebook. And don't forget to click "Like" when you get there...first 1000 fans have a chance to win free advertising on the MLM Blog!

- Dan Mitchell, MLM Blog Correspondent -

By now you've probably learned that Blogging is the VERY best way to generate free leads for your MLM Business. You've probably gained valuable advice from Ty Tribble and his Blogging For Prospects and MLMWebSecrets courses - if not I urge you to head over and get signed up pronto. Or maybe you've checked out Blog Success (highly recommended).

Now after weeks or months of blogging you're still not generating the number of leads that you need and desire to grow your business.

Here's a Friday morning tip - start dominating with simple popups! Back in the day popups were annoying, ugly and drove people away. But now they are cool and elegant if you use PopupDomination.

PopUpDomination allows you to easily create popups for your blog.It's simple and and easy to set up. PopUpDomination has helped us here at MLM Blog to double and even triple our opt ins and it can help you too.

Got to run...it's time for me to dominate some popups...Poptarts that is!

I am testing a new WordPress Plugin that allows MLM Blog readers to submit articles and news in a simple way.  All of the articles and news posts will be moderated, so don't try to sneak in spam or blatant advertising.

If you want to advertise at MLM Blog, go here.

If you want to submit articles, news and MLM rumors, go here (it's free).

This is very "beta" and I am hoping that we get some quality stuff.  If it turns out to be a bunch of spam, we will shut it down.

If this works, my goal is to turn this blog into a more user generated news and article site.  Fingers are crossed and all that...

- Ty Tribble
Founder - MLMBlog.net