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Are affiliate review sites as big of an obstacle for me as I think they are?

by tawamudu
19 replies
OK, so here's the story. I'd really like to jump in and try my hand at affiliate marketing. I've tried a few campaigns targeting CPS items from clickbank, just to test the waters. In my initial efforts and subsequent research I have come across what appears to be a pretty big obstacle. I'm not sure if this is a real big problem or if it's just something that seems that way to me. Anyway, I'm hoping someone with experience in marketing clickbank or other CPS products could help me out by answering a question for me:

Do the product review sites that are actually other affiliates of the product they are reviewing end up taking most of the commissions and make it hard for other affiliates to do well? I'm in the process of trying to get my first sale, and while looking deeper into the process a potential buyer would go thru, It seems like that it would be like this:

1. buyer clicks on my ad
2. buyer eventually gets directed over to the product sales page by way of my affiliate link
3. after reading over the sales copy and becoming more interested in the product, the buyer decides to do some more research on it.
4. buyer types in product name into google or another search engine and up pops all these review sites that are other affiliates
5. after reading a few of them the buyer clicks thru to the sales page but this time by way of the product review site's affiliate link.

This seems like a huge problem for me. It seems like no matter how I get the buyer to the product sales page where I could get commission for the sale, I stand a great chance to lose the commission to another affiliate.

What do you think...is this as big of a problem as I think it is or is it all in my head!?
#affiliate #big #obstacle #review #sites
  • Profile picture of the author ProfitFromMyDomain
    Originally Posted by tawamudu View Post

    OK, so here's the story. I'd really like to jump in and try my hand at affiliate marketing. I've tried a few campaigns targeting CPS items from clickbank, just to test the waters. In my initial efforts and subsequent research I have come across what appears to be a pretty big obstacle. I'm not sure if this is a real big problem or if it's just something that seems that way to me. Anyway, I'm hoping someone with experience in marketing clickbank or other CPS products could help me out by answering a question for me:

    Do the product review sites that are actually other affiliates of the product they are reviewing end up taking most of the commissions and make it hard for other affiliates to do well? I'm in the process of trying to get my first sale, and while looking deeper into the process a potential buyer would go thru, It seems like that it would be like this:

    1. buyer clicks on my ad
    2. buyer eventually gets directed over to the product sales page by way of my affiliate link
    3. after reading over the sales copy and becoming more interested in the product, the buyer decides to do some more research on it.
    4. buyer types in product name into google or another search engine and up pops all these review sites that are other affiliates
    5. after reading a few of them the buyer clicks thru to the sales page but this time by way of the product review site's affiliate link.

    This seems like a huge problem for me. It seems like no matter how I get the buyer to the product sales page where I could get commission for the sale, I stand a great chance to lose the commission to another affiliate.

    What do you think...is this as big of a problem as I think it is or is it all in my head!?
    Why don't you just market the product via a review site?
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    • Profile picture of the author tawamudu
      My thinking there is that the product review sites have earned themselves a top spot in the search results using SEO. I would prefer not to get into SEO myself.
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      • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
        I agree...

        Originally Posted by tawamudu View Post

        My thinking there is that the product review sites have earned themselves a top spot in the search results using SEO. I would prefer not to get into SEO myself.
        1. Everything should be easy
        2. Other affiliates should think it is hard

        3. I get all the sales



        Note to the OP - If there was no work involved, product creators wouldn't need affiliates. Think about it.
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        • Profile picture of the author tawamudu
          Originally Posted by Sid Hale View Post

          I agree...



          1. Everything should be easy
          2. Other affiliates should think it is hard

          3. I get all the sales



          Note to the OP - If there was no work involved, product creators wouldn't need affiliates. Think about it.
          I really have no idea what you are trying to say here It does sound very unhelpful though. Are you suggesting that because I don't want to get into SEO that I think the rest should be easy and require no work? Where did I say or imply that? You seem to have made that false assumption based on your "Note to the OP..." comment.

          Seriously, if you aren't going to make an attempt at answering my (perfectly reasonable) question why respond at all?
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      • Profile picture of the author ProfitFromMyDomain
        Originally Posted by tawamudu View Post

        My thinking there is that the product review sites have earned themselves a top spot in the search results using SEO. I would prefer not to get into SEO myself.
        Just build your audience.
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  • Profile picture of the author JensSteyaert
    The way you do that is to build trust first and don't worry about the sales. Build up an audience that likes your content and listens to what you have to say. Steadily build up an email list so you can notify your audience about new blog posts and this way you'll grow.

    It seems like you're focusing on making sales first, this isn't the correct approach to succeed. Put your readers first instead and the rest will work itself out and the worries you have now will disappear
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    • Profile picture of the author tawamudu
      Originally Posted by JensSteyaert View Post

      The way you do that is to build trust first and don't worry about the sales. Build up an audience that likes your content and listens to what you have to say. Steadily build up an email list so you can notify your audience about new blog posts and this way you'll grow.

      It seems like you're focusing on making sales first, this isn't the correct approach to succeed. Put your readers first instead and the rest will work itself out and the worries you have now will disappear
      Thank you, that is helpful and I appreciate the advice!

      Let me try this another way though:

      1. I'm not looking for an education in marketing strategies or ideas on how to get around the problem (if it is as big as I think). I'm not new to the web or to IM. I am new to affiliate marketing, though I have studied it extensively.

      2. I really just want to know if anyone with experience in this area agrees that this is a problem that needs to be worked around. The answer could be as simple as "yep, it's a problem and you'll need to figure out how to deal with it". Or "no from my experience that's not really an issue. with the right offer and pre-sales you don't have to worry about losing commissions that way".

      3. I fully understand that there are lots of variables and I don't think we have to address all of them in order to answer this question. Maybe I'm mistaken of course but I sure hope not
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      • Profile picture of the author Miguelito203
        Originally Posted by tawamudu View Post

        Thank you, that is helpful and I appreciate the advice!

        Let me try this another way though:

        1. I'm not looking for an education in marketing strategies or ideas on how to get around the problem (if it is as big as I think). I'm not new to the web or to IM. I am new to affiliate marketing, though I have studied it extensively.

        2. I really just want to know if anyone with experience in this area agrees that this is a problem that needs to be worked around. The answer could be as simple as "yep, it's a problem and you'll need to figure out how to deal with it". Or "no from my experience that's not really an issue. with the right offer and pre-sales you don't have to worry about losing commissions that way".

        3. I fully understand that there are lots of variables and I don't think we have to address all of them in order to answer this question. Maybe I'm mistaken of course but I sure hope not
        There's a reason we create review sites with opt-in lists. It's because they work. There have been studies conducted that have proven that landing pages greatly increase conversion rates. Outside of that, you can read countless horror stories on here about how newbies are trying to make their first money online via direct linking and what not. While starting a blog and building a list might seem like something you're not a fan of (personally don't like to write), you just kind of have to bite the bullet and do what's been proven to work or get into another model entirely.

        Joey
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  • Profile picture of the author Sid Hale
    OK... I'll try to put this so you'll understand it.

    Originally Posted by tawamudu View Post

    Do the product review sites that are actually other affiliates of the product they are reviewing end up taking most of the commissions and make it hard for other affiliates to do well?
    Yes. Since they are taking the time and effort to create something of more value (to the potential buyer) than a simple 3 line CPA ad.

    1. buyer clicks on my ad
    2. buyer eventually gets directed over to the product sales page by way of my affiliate link
    3. after reading over the sales copy and becoming more interested in the product, the buyer decides to do some more research on it.
    4. buyer types in product name into google or another search engine and up pops all these review sites that are other affiliates
    5. after reading a few of them the buyer clicks thru to the sales page but this time by way of the product review site's affiliate link.

    This seems like a huge problem for me. It seems like no matter how I get the buyer to the product sales page where I could get commission for the sale, I stand a great chance to lose the commission to another affiliate.
    You seem to feel that your only job was to get the visitor to the sales page. Good luck with that.
    The affiliate (to be successful) should be delivering more than a casual visitor to the sales page. His/her job is not just to deliver traffic, but "warm" traffic... buying traffic.

    What do you think...is this as big of a problem as I think it is or is it all in my head!?
    With your head where is at... I'd say," Yes. This is definitely as big a problem as you think it is."

    Hope that cleared up my initial reaction to your question.
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    • Profile picture of the author tawamudu
      Originally Posted by Sid Hale View Post

      OK... I'll try to put this so you'll understand it.



      Yes. Since they are taking the time and effort to create something of more value (to the potential buyer) than a simple 3 line CPA ad.



      You seem to feel that your only job was to get the visitor to the sales page. Good luck with that.
      The affiliate (to be successful) should be delivering more than a casual visitor to the sales page. His/her job is not just to deliver traffic, but "warm" traffic... buying traffic.



      With your head where is at... I'd say," Yes. This is definitely as big a problem as you think it is."

      Hope that cleared up my initial reaction to your question.
      Hahahaha...I can't tell whether you're really trying to be helpful or just attempting to troll me! For those who don't know...that's a marketing strategy for some people:

      Internet troll - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      Either way, let's just end it here with me saying thank you for being helpful...in your own way
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  • Profile picture of the author JensSteyaert
    Oh ok i understand now, you just promote an offer with advertising on other sites right, and then you worry that people will first check for reviews on blogs and click their link?

    In that case, then yeah it's a problem and you can (make that will) lose commissions if people land on a blog post that explains everything they need to know about the products and there are tons of comments thanking the blogger and stuff like that.

    I don't see a way around it to be honest initially, you'll need to build a list and build up a relationship with your list, which isn't easy if you're just starting out. You'll need to be patient and build it up, it's not because it isn't easy that you can't succeed though.
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    • Profile picture of the author tawamudu
      Originally Posted by JensSteyaert View Post

      Oh ok i understand now, you just promote an offer with advertising on other sites right, and then you worry that people will first check for reviews on blogs and click their link?

      In that case, then yeah it's a problem and you can (make that will) lose commissions if people land on a blog post that explains everything they need to know about the products and there are tons of comments thanking the blogger and stuff like that.

      I don't see a way around it to be honest initially, you'll need to build a list and build up a relationship with your list, which isn't easy if you're just starting out. You'll need to be patient and build it up, it's not because it isn't easy that you can't succeed though.
      Yes, that's it. I worry that I'm getting them to the sales page and then they are taking the time to research the product (a perfectly reasonable thing to do) by searching for it on google, for example. When they do that there are usually lots of sites that come up in the top search results for the search term. "<product name> review" is an example. These are mostly not just review sites...they are just other affiliates marketing the product. I have nothing against them -- good for them for getting a top spot in google! I just was wondering if it's as big of a problem as I thought it was based on your own experience.

      I mean I can think of lots of good ways to promote a product without using a review site...I can do the good job of warming up a buyer, i.e., pre-selling. I can drive quality traffic and all that to the sales page for the product. I just worry that no matter what I do the review sites are going to take most of the commission. Again, I have nothing bad to say about that...just wanted to know if it's a big problem...it sounds like it is!

      Once again, thanks for the help! I can see clearly that having a list of people who trust my judgment and have built up trust with me would not necessarily fall into that hole.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joan Altz
    Direct linking to a sales page from an ad with your affiliate link will work with people who are impulse buyers. Non-impulse buyers you'll lose to other affiliates with review sites - the exception being those buyers who like keeping the sales page open in a tab while they are reviewing, which is quite a large number. You'll get those too.

    I do a lot of direct linking and make plenty of money with my ads. Personally, I don't think it's a big deal and I've tested "optin first, then sales page" and "review first, then sales page". It depends on just how convincing the sales page is your sending them to, and the type of buyers they are. Right now I do both direct linking and optin first, depending on my research.

    Bottom line: No matter what scheme you use, you'll win some and lose some, and you need to test it out for yourself.
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    • Profile picture of the author tawamudu
      Originally Posted by Joan Altz View Post

      Direct linking to a sales page from an ad with your affiliate link will work with people who are impulse buyers. Non-impulse buyers you'll lose to other affiliates with review sites - the exception being those buyers who like keeping the sales page open in a tab while they are reviewing, which is quite a large number. You'll get those too.

      I do a lot of direct linking and make plenty of money with my ads. Personally, I don't think it's a big deal and I've tested "optin first, then sales page" and "review first, then sales page". It depends on just how convincing the sales page is your sending them to, and the type of buyers they are. Right now I do both direct linking and optin first, depending on my research.

      Bottom line: No matter what scheme you use, you'll win some and lose some, and you need to test it out for yourself.
      That's very good insight...much appreciated! That separate tab or window while they research I never considered but makes good sense. Thanks again!
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      • Profile picture of the author Joan Altz
        Originally Posted by tawamudu View Post

        That's very good insight...much appreciated! That separate tab or window while they research I never considered but makes good sense. Thanks again!
        Yes, and that especially applies to people with slower Internet connections for long and/or graphics-heavy sales pages that you direct link to. Those people don't want to close out and have to reload the page again, cache or no cache (and if there is an auto-play video on top of that, it's pretty much assured they'll let it play through and keep the page saved if they are interested).
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        • Profile picture of the author tawamudu
          Originally Posted by Joan Altz View Post

          Yes, and that especially applies to people with slower Internet connections for long and/or graphics-heavy sales pages that you direct link to. Those people don't want to close out and have to reload the page again, cache or no cache (and if there is an auto-play video on top of that, it's pretty much assured they'll let it play through and keep the page saved if they are interested).
          Yes, very true...again great insight! I suppose that would apply to mobile as well huh?
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  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    .I can't tell whether you're really trying to be helpful or just attempting to troll me!
    Welcome to Warrior forum!

    Direct linking has it's problems.

    I never direct link from paid ads to anything but a squeeze page.

    Get people on your list and offer them a bonus for buying from you. So after they do their research they come back to you so they can get your KILLER bonus.
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  • Profile picture of the author selfdisciplineacademy
    The best solution is to capture there email first

    Ad Click > Your optin page > Affiliate Offer
    ^
    Autoresponder Followup > Affiliate Offer

    This way you have a better chance of being the last click. Plus, you could be the owner of reviews and get the clicks
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