With Dec 1st coming soon, are you changing/removing any of your Web 2.0 sites?

[yourreviewer]

Hello,
With Dec 1st not far away, I was wondering if you are doing anything with any of your Web 2.0 properties like Squidoo, Hubpages, bloggers etc.

[Ashley Gable]

The main change with the FTC guidelines is the testimonials right? So unless you have an 'extraordinary' testimonial on there, or an outlandish claim that you cannot back up, I dont see the need.

Do people put testimonials on web 2.0 sites? lol I never have, maybe i should

[Zach Booker]

The over reaction for this is crazy.

...They'll warn you before fining you - and unless you are making bank you won't even appear on their radar.

They are under staffed and under funded. They'll go after a few advertisers and affiliates using flogs/fnews via media buys.

Zach

[WarriorMaster]

I don't think there is anything to worry about really. As Ashley said who put testimonials on web 2.0 sites.

yourreviewer will you be changing anything?

[Alexa Smith]

I'm doing nothing.

I don't deceive or mislead anyone with any of my marketing anyway, so I have nothing to worry about at all. And neither does anyone else in the same position, I'm sure.

I am not changing one thing ... Business as always ....

James

[Intrepreneur]

the FTC can suck eggs! Although I will put a disclosure in my footer of all my niche sites that have the word "review" or "recommended" in them and that's it.

[Jeremy Kelsall]

I wonder....

How many people that think they are on the "up and up" already clearly say on their site somewhere:

"If you purchase anything reviewed or recommended on this page, I earn a commission"

Because I might just be blind, but I've not seem many of these disclaimers - From what our attorney has told us, such a disclaimer is required...

[Bev Clement]

We've have on our affiliate site about prices and being paid a commission for 2 years now, so no changes to that

[yourreviewer]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall

I wonder....

How many people that think they are on the "up and up" already clearly say on their site somewhere:

"If you purchase anything reviewed or recommended on this page, I earn a commission"

Because I might just be blind, but I've not seem many of these disclaimers - From what our attorney has told us, such a disclaimer is required...

I haven't seen such disclaimers as well, but in a recent webinar by Joel Comm, the attorney pointed out it is necessary to have such disclaimers and even went to the extent of stating that they may be necessary next to Google Adsense ads. And I am not talking about testimonials as such but the disclaimers about reviews and that you are an affiliate in Web 2.0 properties.

[wordwizard]

I guess this could be one reason to start creating more of ones own products -- at least it'll be clear who gets the money there... (just careful with any testimonials)

About the other stuff... what about writing information articles and then adding banner ads or simply forwarding the visitors to the sales page "for more information"?

Is that too sneaky or too ineffective? Or will it need a note re "and if you should decide to purchase that product, please know that I will get a commission..."

Actually, Steve Wagenheim had a pretty cool product where he gave us some of the kind of wording that would work.

Originally Posted by wordwizard

I guess this could be one reason to start creating more of ones own products

Exactly, I do nothing but my own products... No clickbank, No AdSense, No CPA.. I make myself the money and not someone else.

I used to do affiliate marketing training and I actually ran a few large affiliate programs for large companies as the affiliate manager. I have built entire sites based upon CPA and have developed and coded CPA Networks.

I got out of all of it and decided to focus on my own products a while ago. Now I make all the money and not make someone else rich.

This is just one more benefit to creating and selling your own products / services... Ahhhh ... Ain't Internet Life Grand!

James

[halfpoint]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall

I wonder....

How many people that think they are on the "up and up" already clearly say on their site somewhere:

"If you purchase anything reviewed or recommended on this page, I earn a commission"

Because I might just be blind, but I've not seem many of these disclaimers - From what our attorney has told us, such a disclaimer is required...

The owner of AutoWebLaw told me that an "affiliate disclosure" link in the footer of your site that links to a page that had the actual details of the disclaimer would be okay.

It was just his opinion, though, not legal advice!

That's all I will be doing on my sites. If the FTC aren't happy with that then they'll let me know.

[bgmacaw]

Just by running a business in the US you're already guilty of at least three felonies a day. Federal persecutors can decide who they want to persecute for these crimes as they wish. If you're a big name like Joel Comm or Frank Kern, yes, you're a target of the persecutors. If you're small fry, then it's unlikely that they'll bother you unless you do something very stupid and publicly obvious, like advertising acai products or teeth whitening on MSNBC.

[Zach Booker]

Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet

Exactly, I do nothing but my own products... No clickbank, No AdSense, No CPA.. I make myself the money and not someone else.

IMO this is a losing attitude and an attitude that seems to be given off of this forum more and more.

...I'm sure doing everything yourself is great. And for you it might be a great plan - i'm sure it is.

But a winning attitude, imo, is getting the most profit, with the least effort, and while giving the most value.

If someone hired a $5,000 copywriter for a niche product, got amazing graphics done, and a killer product I don't mind taking a 75% cut because the thing will simply convert. Where as maybe I don't have the money, time, or resources to do such a product and have it convert at even a quarter of what the before mentioned product does.

Maybe I don't want to set up billing, fulfillment, etc while setting up my own CPA offer. (You know as well as I do how costly that is.)

...

If I like a market sure i'll do things my way. I'll take the full profits, get the affiliates, and make the cash. But if I can get 75% of the money, by spending 5% of the time and effort, then who wouldn't do that?

More and more posts are coming up here basically saying, "I set up the product page and it's converting at around .5% and, even though i'm working my ass off, i'm getting no where."

Everyone decides to tell the person to keep on trucking - who ever said IM was easy? But in reality what the person really needs to realize is that joining their competition could be the best thing ever to happen to them.

You get 75% of the money, assuming we're dealing with Clickbank, while not dealing with any support, hosting, etc. (And chances are the product actually will convert.)

Things here are being made out to be so much more complicated and hard than they really are.

...Maybe it's because i'm more into CPA but when I see guys spending low to mid six figures just to get an offer running and accepted on a major network - with no guarantee it'll convert or get affiliates - I thank God I'm on the affiliate end of things. (Getting $7 EPC's.)

Zach

Hi Zach,
LOL .. Well for me it is the best route because I have already done the affiliate stuff and everything. Been there done that, now I focus on my own sites and my own products and I am very happy with the results.

Less stress, less worries, and actually a lot less work. Yep I work 16 - 18 hours a day but that is by choice and not because it is something I must do to survive. I love what I do and since I stopped taking on clients for website development, I have a much happier life.

Sure I made from $500 - $30,000 for website development and sure I made $10,000's in the affiliate and cpa area. To me though it is not all about the money, it is about building a business that I am happy with and a business that can help others.

Besides that I came online many years ago and left a management position so I can work my own hours, do what I want, not have to answer to anybody else, and etc ... While I was in the affiliate / cpa area I had rules that I had to follow, things I could not do, things that had to be done a certain way, and etc... I came online to get away from all that crap.

Now I do what I want and when I want... I run my business the way I see fit and I do not have no rules stopping me from doing something.

To each his own but for me, this works great!

James

Originally Posted by Zach Booker

IMO this is a losing attitude and an attitude that seems to be given off of this forum more and more.

...I'm sure doing everything yourself is great. And for you it might be a great plan - i'm sure it is.

But a winning attitude, imo, is getting the most profit, with the least effort, and while giving the most value.

If someone hired a $5,000 copywriter for a niche product, got amazing graphics done, and a killer product I don't mind taking a 75% cut because the thing will simply convert. Where as maybe I don't have the money, time, or resources to do such a product and have it convert at even a quarter of what the before mentioned product does.

Maybe I don't want to set up billing, fulfillment, etc while setting up my own CPA offer. (You know as well as I do how costly that is.)

...

If I like a market sure i'll do things my way. I'll take the full profits, get the affiliates, and make the cash. But if I can get 75% of the money, by spending 5% of the time and effort, then who wouldn't do that?

More and more posts are coming up here basically saying, "I set up the product page and it's converting at around .5% and, even though i'm working my ass off, i'm getting no where."

Everyone decides to tell the person to keep on trucking - who ever said IM was easy? But in reality what the person really needs to realize is that joining their competition could be the best thing ever to happen to them.

You get 75% of the money, assuming we're dealing with Clickbank, while not dealing with any support, hosting, etc. (And chances are the product actually will convert.)

Things here are being made out to be so much more complicated and hard than they really are.

...Maybe it's because i'm more into CPA but when I see guys spending low to mid six figures just to get an offer running and accepted on a major network - with no guarantee it'll convert or get affiliates - I thank God I'm on the affiliate end of things. (Getting $7 EPC's.)

Zach

[JMPruitt]

I agree James, once you get to the point of being able to create your own products, go for it. Affiliate marketing is great for starting out, but it is just like using free hosting sites, if they change the rules you are out of business. If you own the products, you are free to do as you wish.

[Zach Booker]

@JMPruitt

My point is, assuming your in more than a handful of niches, making products that truly convert and deliver is something that will take awhile.

Sure making your own product could be wonderful - but if it converts at 2% where as a product you could get 75% of converts at 4% it only makes sense to go with it. (Yeah, yeah, there's backends and everything but there's also the time it takes to create a product that converts and delivers.)

Chances are your in a niche with multiple offers - I know of four acai offers off the top of my head that have over $8 EPC's. This is something that would take a few hundred grand to make happen from scratch. When I can get $40 payouts is it really cost effective to do it myself?

...I guess we're talking more the e-book thing though. But I still believe very strongly that the principle still applies.

Zach

Originally Posted by Zach Booker

@JMPruitt

My point is, assuming your in more than a handful of niches, making products that truly convert and deliver is something that will take awhile.

Sure making your own product could be wonderful - but if it converts at 2% where as a product you could get 75% of converts at 4% it only makes sense to go with it. (Yeah, yeah, there's backends and everything but there's also the time it takes to create a product that converts and delivers.)

Chances are your in a niche with multiple offers - I know of four acai offers off the top of my head that have over $8 EPC's. This is something that would take a few hundred grand to make happen from scratch. When I can get $40 payouts is it really cost effective to do it myself?

...I guess we're talking more the e-book thing though. But I still believe very strongly that the principle still applies.

Zach

Zach,
You are leaving out many aspects though and for one a membership site. I do not have to create no products for one of my membership sites. I keep it updated and add cool new tools and etc, but I can do this as I am a website developer.

Has nothing to do with creating a product for this niche or that niche. I take care of my members, I update my site, I market my sites... All the fun stuff and best of all I can do it how I want it...

James

[Zach Booker]

You also have to look at how much your time is really worth to you.

...In the time it'd take me to make an alright product I could have 20 campaigns up and testing, assuming we're talking PPC, and making much more per day even though it's not my own products being promoted.

If we're talking SEO than I could have researched and built 20 new sites etc,. Whatever you do to drive traffic is it really worth your time, in the end when you realize that 99% of products that go on ClickBank fail, to make your own product?

...What else could you have done to diversify and add zeros to your bank account?

Zach

[Zach Booker]

Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet

Zach,
You are leaving out many aspects though and for one a membership site. I do not have to create no products for one of my membership sites. I keep it updated and add cool new tools and etc, but I can do this as I am a website developer.

Has nothing to do with creating a product for this niche or that niche. I take care of my members, I update my site, I market my sites... All the fun stuff and best of all I can do it how I want it...

James

I suppose we're talking about different things in the end. Membership sites are, to a certain degree, different because of the time involved.

Although the same thing still, imo, applies.

Anyway back to work,

Zach

[Matt Maiden]

I have several sites that I will have to take down.

Lied about being a doctor and have fake photos of people using my "miracle" drug.

Speaking of photos, I have a Photoshop touch up of me making out with a couple of well know celebs for an "enlargement" product.

No. I didn't touch up that. Get your mind out of the gutter.

Matt

p.s. to the nasty emails...this is just a joke. I might be dumb but I'm not an idiot. No wait, that's I might be a moron but I'm not stupid...hang on...I'm getting close...

[JMPruitt]

Originally Posted by Zach Booker

@JMPruitt

My point is, assuming your in more than a handful of niches, making products that truly convert and deliver is something that will take awhile.

Sure making your own product could be wonderful - but if it converts at 2% where as a product you could get 75% of converts at 4% it only makes sense to go with it. (Yeah, yeah, there's backends and everything but there's also the time it takes to create a product that converts and delivers.)

Chances are your in a niche with multiple offers - I know of four acai offers off the top of my head that have over $8 EPC's. This is something that would take a few hundred grand to make happen from scratch. When I can get $40 payouts is it really cost effective to do it myself?

...I guess we're talking more the e-book thing though. But I still believe very strongly that the principle still applies.

Zach

I get what you are saying, and I don't disagree with promoting Aff products. That is how I make my money. At the same time I am already working on developing my own products. I am still making money on the affiliate promotions while I do all the other work.

True if you put an ebook on Clickbank, you will spend more than you make, but following it up with a membership site, and continuity, that takes good care of its members, you can run a successful business with your own products much easier. Of course I am not as hard core as James is either.

I take a more balanced approach, build up relationships with my own products, get them on my list, treat them really well, then promote other affiliate promotions that would interest them. But then i have my own products that I can rely on if the other affiliate promotions fall away. over time, I may get to be like others here, and have enough of my own products to not need the affiliate promotions anymore. It is a long term goal to work towards, I will be relying on affiiliate commissions for several years probably while I continue to learn and produce my own products.


Also I take a more focused approach. I am only in 5 niches, and not planning to go into any more for a while. I am focusing on ramping up those and building the relationships within those markets. I strongly feel it is all about the relationship, and you can't do that if you have hundreds of sites in lots of niche markets. With a few niche markets, though, you can spend more time on individual projects, and meeting people within your niche. Then you have relationships you can build upon in the future.

[loenex]

No change is needed. Just continue on what I have been doing.