There seems to be an ever ... number of ... popping up on the ... Likewise there hasbeen also a steady rise in the number of online ... ... And why There seems to be an ever increasing number of "DownlineBuilders" popping up on the Internet. Likewise there hasbeen also a steady rise in the number of online "Multi-level"marketing programs. And why not! The Internet is an idealmarketing medium. It is cheaper than the way we used tomarket five or six years ago when I was involved in themby mailing to prospects through regular postal mail.Plus back then you also had printing and envelope coststoo!In the last couple of years the downline builders havebecome popular as a way to recruit people for one ormore programs. What is a downline builder program?I want to say right up front that I am not againstdownline builders or MLM programs, they are great waysto build income. But you have to go into them with acertain amount of knowledge of how they work.Basically the downline builder is a marketing plan inwhich prospects are placed after signing up. Theorganizational structure of the plan varies from programto program. It can be a straight line organization i.e.,one person right under each other or it can be two on thefirst level, four on the second, eight on the third, etc.There are so many different ways to set it up it would bedifficult to describe them all here. Many of them willbe set up in the structure that the primary program is,the one you will end up going into at some point.The primary concept of the downline builder is to builda downline before going into a primary income producingprogram, thus minimizing your initial marketing costs.It is also hoped that this downline, as it is built, willat some point follow you into the income producing program.No matter the structure, the downline builders arenormally FREE. That is what draws so many people intothem initially. The promotional material for most ofthem indicates that you can make X income a month oryear by joining up. What many people fail to realizeis that they are not going to make any money by justbeing a member of the downline builder itself.The downline builder is free so there is no incomegenerated with it. The promoters aren't going to pay youout of the goodness of their heart, especially when thereare thousands of people involved. At some point in thedownline builder process you are going to be asked to joinsome income producing program. This is where you aregoing to have to make a commitment in most cases to amonthly payment for some type of product. This is acritical point in the process and is where "the rubbermeets the road" as they say.It is at this point where there can be a very largedropout rate of people in your downline who are notgoing to pay $25 or $50 a month to join the main program.Up to this point the program was free. You could have300 members under you and less than two or three percentmight stay in with you. When these people drop out, inmost cases the holes will be filled by those furtherdown but the process will keep repeating itself. Again,I am not against the process, I just want to point outthat it can be frustrating to you if you don't have arealization that it could occur and if you went into itthinking you would make a quick buck you may be twiceas frustrated. It will take patience!Here are some tips that you should consider... -- Before you join a free downline builder, check it out.Identify the primary program or programs that you willhave to join down the line in order to start building anincome. -- What is the product or products? Are they the typeproducts you want to be involved with, want to use or sell? -- How much is it going to cost you per month before youget into profit? I saw one popular online program the otherday and the ultimate income program was a nutritionalprogram in which you had to purchase over $75 in producteach month. Find that out up front so there are nosurprises later on.And whatever you do don't join a downline building programwhere you don't know what the final primary program will be.You don't want to spend a lot of resources building yourdownline over several months only to find out that youcan't afford the product or don't like the product!Remember, the downline builder is just a stepping stone,normally into a network marketing or multi-level marketingprogram (both the same). You are not going to make yourincome in the free downline builder, that comes with theincome producing program later on which you will have topay for. Look them over carefully and make an informeddecision when you do join one. Article Tags: Downline Builders, Downline Builder, Primary Program Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com