What If You Could Be Your Own Affiliate?

13 years ago

If you are not doing it, you should be. You should have a page dedicated to helping your affiliates sell your product for you. Give them a way to sign up as an affiliate, then give them:
1. Graphics to use
2. Emails they can copy and paste
3. Classified Ads
4. PPC Ads
5. Articles they can use to promote

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James Foster

13 years ago

YouTube - James Foster - Affiliate marketing tips...

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JohnMcCabe

13 years ago

Interesting thought, but one thing to keep in mind is that if you have your own physical product, you also have cost of goods sold, fulfillment and shipping costs, and so on. By the time you get done, you may be back to that 10% range, although 20-30% is more likely.

With that said, whether you have a physical product or a digital product, acting as your own affiliate could be a good move. For one thing, you could compete against yourself so that whichever 'you' a buyer chooses, you win.

Think "tastes great vs. less filling" - whichever side you come down on, Miller wins.

Or look at the laundry soap aisle at the supermarket. Dozens of options, many of them made by P&G. They could even use the same assembly line - switch boxes, swap out the sparkle color and maybe the scent, and bingo, you have a new brand...

Creating multiple affiliate personae would also give you the ability to present your product a number of different ways, each chosen to suit the particular niche market.

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Alexa Smith Banned 13 years ago

Many vendors do this.

It's part of "the gravity fiddle" and (when Clickbank displayed the "%rfd", i.e. until a few days ago) it was part of the "%rfd fiddle" as well. I'm not suggesting that vendors shouldn't do this - just mentioning, as far as Clickbank's concerned, that the fact that so many of them do is among the many things that make "gravity" and "%rfd" figures nonsense. (Which they were always were anyway, of course).
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sylviad

13 years ago

Maybe I'm thick but I don't get it. What's the point? If you sell yourself, you make 100% (no, no. you don't sell your self

). If you sell as an affiliate, you still make 100%.

So... the point is that you can present yourself in different ways on many mini-sites? But why can't you do that anyway as yourself rather than as an affiliate? It's your own product, right?

I don't see how this is any more beneficial than outright selling it on different sites. I sell my own products on more than one of my sites.

Sylvia

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Alexa Smith Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by sylviad

What's the point?

1. You can inflate your product's gravity figure after you launch it (I'm not going into details of how you can do it, in public). Many CB affiliates are naive and gullbile enough to imagine that a high gravity figure indicates that a product's selling well, and high gravity figures therefore attract affiliates (albeit often not very good ones), which is what vendors want to do.

2. You can conceal the fact that the vendor is selling the product himself (i.e. "competing for PPC keywords with his own affiliates" and so on) by maintaining your "%rfd" figure close to 100% (ok, they don't show them any more: they stopped a few days ago, but you get the idea).

Originally Posted by sylviad

I sell my own products on more than one of my sites.

That's fine as long as you don't want professional affiliates. For affiliates, it's obviously a huge problem ...
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- sylviad 13 years ago
  
  Thanks, Alexa, that makes sense.
  
  I don't have affiliates and haven't been trying to recruit any for these products so obviously it's not an issue. However, I did get an affiliate query re one of my products that is looking for affiliates - wanting to know why the numbers were so low. Well, it was a new product at that point and had low gravity. They didn't sign up, probably for that very reason. It's been tough getting them.
  
  Using this technique would help to improve it so more affiliates would be interested.
  
  So, it's a good strategy. Thanks again.
  
  Sylvia
  
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JohnMcCabe

13 years ago

Originally Posted by sylviad

Maybe I'm thick but I don't get it. What's the point? If you sell yourself, you make 100% (no, no. you don't sell your self

). If you sell as an affiliate, you still make 100%.

So... the point is that you can present yourself in different ways on many mini-sites? But why can't you do that anyway as yourself rather than as an affiliate? It's your own product, right?

I don't see how this is any more beneficial than outright selling it on different sites. I sell my own products on more than one of my sites.

Sylvia

Sylvia, look at it this way...

You are looking for a place to have some kind of celebration - birthday, anniversary, whatever.

The owner of restaurant A tells you, "Come to my place, it's the best in town."

A trusted friend tells you, "Go to restaurant B, it's the best in town."

Which would have more weight with you? The owner tooting his own horn, with something at stake in your decision? Or someone you trust, with nothing to gain?

[I know the affiliate has a commission to gain, but outside of IM/MMO and some of the hammered niches, it's very possible to assume that 'trusted friend' role.]

Another way to look at things...

If I'm looking for a new lure to catch snook, I'm much more likely to take the advice of someone with a site dedicated to snook fishing than I am an article on a directory like EZA.

I haven't sold anything through Clickbank in years, so manipulating the gravity or %ref never entered my head.

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sylviad

13 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

Sylvia, look at it this way...

You are looking for a place to have some kind of celebration - birthday, anniversary, whatever.

The owner of restaurant A tells you, "Come to my place, it's the best in town."

A trusted friend tells you, "Go to restaurant B, it's the best in town."

Which would have more weight with you? The owner tooting his own horn, with something at stake in your decision? Or someone you trust, with nothing to gain?

[I know the affiliate has a commission to gain, but outside of IM/MMO and some of the hammered niches, it's very possible to assume that 'trusted friend' role.]

Another way to look at things...

If I'm looking for a new lure to catch snook, I'm much more likely to take the advice of someone with a site dedicated to snook fishing than I am an article on a directory like EZA.

I haven't sold anything on Clickbank in years, so manipulating the gravity or %ref never entered my head.

Thanks, John.
It comes down to word of mouth, then, only you are the big mouth (no, no - not YOU.

Myself :confused

You spread your own popularity rumors, in a sense.

You are right. While I do like to hear what the product owner has to say, there's always the prejudiced angle that leaves you wondering. That's where reading what others have to say is somewhat more believable.

Sylvia

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Michael Mayo

13 years ago

Let your affiliates find out that you are doing this and you will loose them as affiliates and customers. You're already competing with them by selling the product yourself.

Don't get me wrong I understand what you're saying although in fairness/respect to
your affiliates I think it would serve you better to give them what they need to make
the pre-sale.

This sounds kind of Grey Hat to me.

Have a Great Day!
Michael

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1 reply

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sylviad

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Michael Mayo

Let your affiliates find out that you are doing this and you will loose them as affiliates and customers. You're already competing with them by selling the product yourself.

Don't get me wrong I understand what you're saying although in fairness/respect to
your affiliates I think it would serve you better to give them what they need to make
the pre-sale.

This sounds kind of Grey Hat to me.

Have a Great Day!
Michael

I have to agree, Michael. It is a tad dishonest. But if you are selling your own product on several sites, but NOT as an affiliate, you're still competing with your own affiliates. Right?

In the end, it's about how effective the affiliates are at selling your product.

Sylvia

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NerdGary

13 years ago

People do this already...

They do it to inflate their Gravity on CB.
There are some scripts out there that change the hop link on each new ip (visitor)...

So the person creates hundreds of CB accounts, and blasts his email list ... each sale counts as +1 gravity..

Yeah i know.. its real blackhat.. i've never done it... but from my research i've found how they do it.

Not worth getting blacklisted from CB (probably the worst thing that could happen to anyone in the IM world)

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Alexa Smith

Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by NerdGary

People do this already...

They do it to inflate their Gravity on CB.
There are some scripts out there that change the hop link on each new ip (visitor)...

So the person creates hundreds of CB accounts, and blasts his email list ... each sale counts as +1 gravity..

Yeah i know.. its real BlueFart.. i've never done it... but from my research i've found how they do it.

Not worth getting blacklisted from CB

They don't get blacklisted from CB. CB doesn't care. They're not even breaking any CB rules, anyway.

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NerdGary

13 years ago

Bluefart lolol I didnt type that.. its a filter on Warrior Forum... (didnt know they dont like that word)

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JohnMcCabe

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Michael Mayo

Let your affiliates find out that you are doing this and you will loose them as affiliates and customers. You're already competing with them by selling the product yourself.

Don't get me wrong I understand what you're saying although in fairness/respect to
your affiliates I think it would serve you better to give them what they need to make
the pre-sale.

This sounds kind of Grey Hat to me.

Have a Great Day!
Michael

Michael, can you think of a better way to test whether the tools you offer are effective for affiliates than by acting as one?

I'm all for treating affiliates right - in many cases, I am one. The better my affiliates do, the better I do. So if I can do something that makes their job easier or more productive, I'd be cheating them by not doing it.

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Michael Mayo

13 years ago

Originally Posted by leclaims

Instead of making 4%, 6%, 10% for sales that you refer to other sites like Amazon, how about making 100% because you keep all of the profit??!!

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

Michael, can you think of a better way to test whether the tools you offer are effective for affiliates than by acting as one?

John, I agree that you should test your affiliate program and tweak it as needed although, leclaims statement above stuck in my head.

If someone has to resort in cheating affiliates out of the money then I suggest they don't start an affiliate program.

Just my .02
Hell, It's my Birthday so I'm sticking to that answer...lol

Have a Great Day!
Michael

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JohnMcCabe

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Michael Mayo

John, I agree that you should test your affiliate program and tweak it as needed although, leclaims statement above stuck in my head.

If someone has to resort in cheating affiliates out of the money then I suggest they don't start an affiliate program.

Just my .02
Hell, It's my Birthday so I'm sticking to that answer...lol

Have a Great Day!
Michael

Happy Birthday to You...
Happy Birth...

(had to quit before i owed a royalty

)

I do agree with this sentiment, though. If you're going to cheat affiliates, don't start the program.

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leclaims

13 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

I do agree with this sentiment, though. If you're going to cheat affiliates, don't start the program.

Sorry, perhaps I was misunderstood.

I was simply suggesting that instead of creating mini sites that have affiliate links for amazon, CJ type programs where you earn a percentage of the sale that you refer, why not create mini sites that advertise products that you sell on your own authority site?

Your own network of affiliate sites so to speak. No affiliate program, so no affiliates to cheat.

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2 replies

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JohnMcCabe

13 years ago

Originally Posted by leclaims

Sorry, perhaps I was misunderstood.

I was simply suggesting that instead of creating mini sites that have affiliate links for amazon, CJ type programs where you earn a percentage of the sale that you refer, why not create mini sites that advertise products that you sell on your own authority site?

Your own network of affiliate sites so to speak. No affiliate program, so no affiliates to cheat.

Your thread just took off in a different direction than the one you started in. Sometimes it happens.

For the record, I understood what you were going for in the beginning, and replied to the tangent. I certainly wasn't accusing you of cheating affiliates, or even implying that. If it came across that way, I'm sorry...

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Michael Mayo

13 years ago

Originally Posted by leclaims

Sorry, perhaps I was misunderstood.

I was simply suggesting that instead of creating mini sites that have affiliate links for amazon, CJ type programs where you earn a percentage of the sale that you refer, why not create mini sites that advertise products that you sell on your own authority site?

Your own network of affiliate sites so to speak. No affiliate program, so no affiliates to cheat.

I wasn't accusing you either. Just wasn't sure from your post where exactly
you were going with the affiliate thing.

I understand now after your last post and re-reading the OP.

Have a Great Day!
Michael
[/tangent]

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leclaims 13 years ago

No worries! Whether the original post remains the focus of discussion, or if new ideas are spawned, it's all good information for those who may be looking for new ideas, strategies, etc. Often times the best information comes from threads that went an entirely different direction.

Any information that can be learned to help hit those daily income numbers that so many others are enjoying is perfectly fine with me!
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sylviad

13 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

Happy Birthday to You...
Happy Birth...

(had to quit before i owed a royalty

)

I do agree with this sentiment, though. If you're going to cheat affiliates, don't start the program.

Ok. I'm a tad behind with my reading... Can someone maybe explain why so many sales pages have a link to become an affiliate? In many cases, it's the product owner who is running that page. If it's on an affiliate sales page, then that is bad. Do I want to send someone to my affiliate landing page where they can sign up and buy under their own affiliate ID? Just a thought. Sylvia PS: I sure wish I could stop the posting screen from going right to HTML. It makes all my paragraph breaks run together and the smilies don't work. Any ideas? I just started using Firefox instead of IE.

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Alexa Smith Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by sylviad

Do I want to send someone to my affiliate landing page where they can sign up and buy under their own affiliate ID?

It doesn't really bother me that much. I do prefer it if they don't have a link from the sales page to the affiliate page, but at Clickbank:-

(i) The Customer Distribution Requirement serves its purpose well, for the most part: it protects affiliates from the risk that their customers can become affiliates themselves to try to "save the commission" by buying through their own link;

(ii) Most customers wouldn't know how to do that anyway;

(iii) If your potential customer is already an active affiliate (i.e. the CDR doesn't stop him from grabbing your commission), there isn't a way to earn a commission on a sale to him anyway, because even if the sales page doesn't mention the word "Clickbank" (which some do), the order page obviously does;

(iv) You're not really allowed to conceal, in your pre-sales materials, that you're an affiliate earning a commission anyway, so it's not exactly news to anyone interested in the subject that there are "affiliates".

I certainly wouldn't let a link to an affiliate page put me off promoting a product which otherwise fitted my ten basic requirements of product selection.
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bonn

13 years ago

Originally Posted by leclaims

Here's some food for thought, and maybe many of you are already doing this....

If you had the opportunity to create affiliate sites for your own physical product authority site, would you do it? Are you doing it?

Instead of making 4%, 6%, 10% for sales that you refer to other sites like Amazon, how about making 100% because you keep all of the profit??!!

I realize that you could probably just focus on your authority site, but perhaps it would be easier to rank for specific keywords by creating mini sites that send traffic to your authority site.

Just a thought anyway.

You're right on the money! Were doing a very similar system. And its working well with our placement on search engines and diversifying our brand.

Good thinking --- keep going with that idea!

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