I recently read that about 95% of online and network marketers fail and really wondered why that was. Then I looked at my own experiences when I first started marketing online and noticed that a few common dominators existed. First there was a lack of money and then not knowing how to market my business effectively is it any wonder after all most people that start marketing their MLM online have never taken a marketing course in their life. So when you couple these two problems is it any wonder most aspiring online marketers fail?

You will need a way of raising some cash while you build your list. The logical question should be "How do I go about doing this?" This is where a funded proposal makes it's center stage appearance.

Funded proposal marketing is a simple concept of generating leads while getting paid to do so. Offer a low cost product or service on the front of the offer. Then you build some trust and rapport with the visitor/client. Finally, you offer your "main" product or service on the back end. Many MLMers do this with great success and you can, too.

The funded proposal helps in two areas. First, it acts as a list builder. As people take advantage of the initial offer you make, they are added to your mailing list. This is what is known as lead generation. Second, they put a little cash in your pocket to offset advertising costs. This is what makes it a "funded" proposal.

Now we need to go over how you can get people to see your offer. There are several free ways to do this.

Safe lists. This is probably the lowest cost option you will have. A great portion of them are free to join but there are paid ones as well. The members of a safe list agree to receive ads from other people on the list. In exchange, they get to send their own ads. Non-paying members usually are only allowed to send to the other non-paying members while paying members can send their ads to all the members that are at their membership level and below. It should be easy to see why a paid safe list would be more responsive. The paying members are serious about their business and they are more likely to actually read your ad.

So how can you use this method? Send your ad as often as the list allows. Create several different versions of the ad and keep track of what works and what doesn't. In this way, you will have a good feel for which campaigns to use in other advertising mediums. Along the way, you pick up some great leads and possibly some cash to boot.

Traffic exchanges These are another low cost option. Basically, you post your splash or landing page in a rotating system. You agree to view other people's ads and you are given credits. The credits are used to display your page to the membership. Usually, for every two or three ads that you view, your ad is shown once. The good thing about this is that actual peoples see the ad, thus you have more chance of a conversion.

This should be used for your funded proposal. Like above, create several different ads and watch what works. Since you have real people seeing the ad in real time, you can get a good idea what prompts a visitor to click your offer. Thus you have a gauge to use when you take your campaign to the next level. Once more, you generate some leads and make some money along the way.