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Looking for my first product to promote and..

by moonzombie
10 replies
I've been using CB, I haven't chosen a niche yet, I'm looking for a product that interests me to promote first, and then I plan to build the niche around that. I want to build website, write a ton of articles for it, run an Adwords campaign, just really go for it the best I know how. So, I've sent a handful of emails to vendors of the products to see what kind of support they offer for affiliates and general questions about the products in some cases - Not a single response.

Is it normal to not hear anything back? Is there a different approach I should be using? Is it a mistake to tell them that I haven't done this before, could that be causing the vendors to just write me off as a newbie not worth responding to? I'm ready to work my butt off getting a site together once I find a product and a niche to build the site around, do affiliates not want to bother with someone just starting out? Or possibly I've just had a bit of bad luck with the ones I have selected thus far..

Edit: I realize I don't NEED to get in touch with someone first to promote their product, but I want to actually have a relationship with the person who's product I'm promoting. Maybe this is what's unusual? I have a hard time just taking a hop link and making a site around promoting it, without even speaking to the vendor..
#product #promote
  • Profile picture of the author PhiladelphiaSeo
    some of the bigger companies have affiliate managers that are more than happy to help you out. I contact them all the time and they create custom banner ads for me and give me extra content to promote their products. If they are smart, they would contact you and do whatever they can to help you promote their products.
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  • Profile picture of the author webapex
    Don't expect much response from merchants until you are a "somebody", when they see your hoplink has made 10 sales for them they will be much more friendly.

    You generally just have to look for their affiliate support page, where occasionally you might find conversion rate states in addition to the banners and email copy.

    I would not tailor a site for one particular product, rather you should identify a niche with more than one affiliate option, it's a pretty common practice to switch over to a different product if conversion rates are not there, or they go away and leave you stranded.

    Granted ther are affiliate sites setup specifically for one high end product, often with the name in the URL, these sites are often create before the release of the product, based on advance JV announcements.
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  • Profile picture of the author kursat
    Sometimes it takes a few weeks for them to contact you, but don't worry some will contact at the end.

    I would also ask them for a review copy of the product. So you can see what your customers will receive.

    Tell them that you are planning to promote their product exclusively and you will be using Adwords,PPC for traffic.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by moonzombie View Post

      I realize I don't NEED to get in touch with someone first to promote their product, but I want to actually have a relationship with the person who's product I'm promoting. Maybe this is what's unusual?
      I don't know whether it's unusual, and it doesn't matter if it is.

      I'd never promote a product without contacting the vendor first. ("Vendor attitude and behavior" is one of my ten essential criteria for promoting a product.) If they won't reply to a serious inquiry from a potential business associate, I'm certainly not taking on a chance on attaching my reputation as a marketer to what their after-sales attitude and behavior will be like with my customers, to whom I promote their product. In this business, your reputation among customers is one of your most valuable assets.

      If they're of interest, my other nine criteria are explained, too, in this post.

      Originally Posted by kursat View Post

      Sometimes it takes a few weeks for them to contact you
      And how about my customers, who buy their product on my recommendation? Does it take them a few weeks to contact them, too, to reply to an after-sales inquiry?! Thanks, but no thanks. Vendors who take "a few weeks" to reply to an email need to realise that I have 14,000 other products from which to choose (and that's on ClickBank alone). Either they're running a business or they're not. They had their chance and they blew it.
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      • Profile picture of the author christopher s
        The best thing to do is to actually buy the product. Although it costs a little money up front(use your affiliate link to buy it), you will have a much better site. If the product is good, you'll be able to passionately sell it and if the product is bad, you'll know not to sell it. Clickbank also offers a long refund period, so you can get a refund for crappy products.

        HTH,

        -Chris
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by christopher s View Post

          (use your affiliate link to buy it), you will have a much better site. If the product is good, you'll be able to passionately sell it and if the product is bad, you'll know not to sell it. Clickbank also offers a long refund period, so you can get a refund for crappy products.
          Chris, with apologies for any confrontational tone, this is shockingly bad advice that can understandably and rightly get you into big trouble.

          Retail customers can get a refund for crappy products. Affiliates buying through their own links shouldn't.

          If you're buying a product through your own affiliate link, to assess as an affiliate whether or not you want to promote it (nothing wrong with that, so far), that's one time you can't ask for a refund.

          If you make a habit of that, you won't be an affiliate for long.

          Your purpose in buying it is "to assess it". If you assessed it and decided it's crap, you still assessed it. From your perspective, it fulfilled the purpose for which you bought it.

          There's nothing wrong with asking the vendor for a "review copy" and there's plenty of advice here on how to do that.

          But don't buy products through your own affiliate link and refund them. There's a limit to ClickBank's tolerance for that! If you're an affiliate, the last thing you want is to be banned for serial refunding. :p

          I can hardly believe some of what I'm reading, in this thread ...
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  • Profile picture of the author Osava
    Remember that you have more you earn to promote a product you should always doa market study, depending on the results will look whether it is feasible to promote a product, but always tries to do a market study.
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    • Profile picture of the author ppetri
      Don't purchase a product that is on Clickbank to see if the product is worthy. If you did that you would spend thousands. The majority of those products are designed for quantity not quality. If the merchants are not replying back to you then that tells me they do not deserve your hard work and dedication. From the sound of your post you sound like you really want to succeed. If you go that route you will be broke, upset, and ready to quit in 30 days!

      If you are interested in an affiliate program on Clickbank then go to the affiliate page from the product offer and see what they are willing to give you. A good merchant will provide you conversion data, banner ads, text links, just about anything including ppc keywords, contact info, and 75%!

      But take this in to consideration, take a look at the product stats on Clickbank, you will see zeros on most of the stats. The reason is many merchants are new or solely use the site for credit card processing and really have no care to deal with the affiliate. Just because they throw up an affiliate.html page doesn't mean they actively participate in taking care of you. Clickbank does all the paying and refunds so it make these merchants lazy! If I were you, go to paydotcom and check out some of those products. These merchants are required to do the paying so they are actively on the site at least monthly to answer any questions.

      But again, if they don't reply in 48 hours they don't deserve you. If you have no luck pm me and i can direct you further. Hope this helps - Pete
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  • Profile picture of the author jaquille
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author dmitch31
      I think it's a good idea to buy a product before you decide to sell it. You don't HAVE to, but at least then you can do a REAL review. And, if you do a REAL review, it will set you apart from most of the other sellers of that product.

      In order to buy a product and not get burned on buying a bad product from ClickBank, just do a little simple research first. Look at ClickBank's own stats on refunds for the product. That will give you a big clue right there. I'd be looking for a negligible rate of refunds (ideally less than 5%). If there's a high rate of refunds, then move on.

      There are some truly horrible products on ClickBank, but there are some excellent ones as well. One product I purchased from ClickBank it turns out that the sales information of the product was basically a bunch of complete lies. Unbelievable...

      Basically, my philosophy about picking products is that you have to look for the cream of the crop. Expect 90% of the stuff you look at to be crap. Find that upper 10% to pick from and then you can at least feel good about your business.
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