To generate leads and new recruits, the majority of network marketing reps will always talk about the compensation plan and the money you can earn or how great the products and the personal results you need to promote them well.

However, being successful in a home business is not all about the money and the products and actually a lot comes down to your education.

If you are looking for long-term wealth for your future lifestyle, the marketing education system is an absolutely critical component to achieving a profitable business.

You really have to explore this side of things very carefully in choosing from amongst the huge array of network marketing opportunities.

Many top network marketing companies use out-dated, traditional modes of advertising, including knocking on doors, handing out flyers or working your friends and family contacts or cold calling bought leads. That's recipe for failure or at best burnout.

To spot the real gem of an opportunity, make sure they are capable of educating you in the latest online marketing methods, and preferably those that are working right now, not yesterday's trend or gadget.

Nearly all top network marketing companies will train you to 'sell': at best to find people who are predisposed; at worst, to buy leads or cold call, and even worse than that to hassle your friends and family and anyone that breathes, basically. This is old school and totally inappropriate for today's social networking culture.

In today's information age, the internet if used properly can provide a ready source of highly targeted leads for your business.

Why would you throw your net wide and hope for the best?

With the right system, you can drive the herd and attract the most interested 'hyper-responsive' prospects into a sales funnel that does most of the sifting and sorting for you, on autopilot while you sleep.

In researching top network marketing companies, therefore, make sure you hunt down what I'd call " transformational education" programme. It's only when you develop the mindset of success and the discipline of being a leader that the true life-changing experience happens. Then the money comes and the dream lifestyle becomes a reality.

Bring together marketing education, an automated system and transformational personal development and you have hunted down a clear winner.

Here are my top 7 Strategies for Targeted Lead Generation

Learning how to get free traffic to your online business website or blog is the only way to get a fast start to making money on the internet.

Converting your traffic to sales or new members is where you earn your money. But traffic is the lifeblood of your business and without it you have no business.

So many new internet marketers never make a profit because they use paid advertising to drive traffic and make either tiny or no profits.

Using free methods to generate traffic to your website serves two very important purposes.

One, it is a savvy means for anyone without the marketing budget for paid advertising like pay-per-click, to generate leads for your new online business

And second, at the same time, using these methods you are building up your online presence.

Here's how to do it ...

The seven marketing methods below are generally what the top producers in this industry are doing on a daily basis to personally brand themselves and to build up credibility through sharing knowledge and giving value to others. These other aspects are covered in my full success blueprint course, make sure you check out the resource box below on how to get free access and follow the link in there.

When I'm teaching these methods to new online business owners, one of the most common problems they have is knowing how many of these to do and how much time they should be spending. So alongside each is a rough breakdown of how much content you need to be getting out there to get free traffic to your website in significant volume.

Build this up as you gain skills and experience in writing or creating videos.

1. Articles = 5-10 per week

2. Press releases = 2-5 per week

3. Videos = 5-10 per week

4. Squidoo lens or hub pages = 4-5 per week

5. Blog posts = 2-3 per week

6. Email broadcasts = 5-7 per week

7. Social media = 15-30 minutes per day for each of your social sites (e.g. facebook, twitter, betternetworker.com)

This really is the kind of volume you need to be achieving to get momentum in your first 90 days - it's guerrilla marketing on a budget!

This is from part 5 of a free 32 page ebook How to Build a Profitable Online Home Business: A Success Blueprint for Internet Marketing by Jay Allyson, covers personal development, profitable business models, marketing education, marketing systems, top tier products, productivitiy and coaching. Free access at http://jayallyson.info