The simple change that turned my business around

21 replies
Just a short post to highlight the small change that I made to my business that made a huge difference to my income.

I am assuming that you are building a list (if not, why not? - if in doubt read the 1001 threads that go into the benefits of doing this).

That said, the main difference was that I created my own product to sell.

Yep, simple as that.

The moment you stop relying on just affiliate products for your income (don't get me wrong I still promote affiliate products, but now alongside my own products).

With your own product you have the opportunity of utilising the super targeted traffic of WF with a WSO, you can build your own list of affiliates to leverage your time and effort and you can decide how much you put it on sale for, how long it will be available etc etc. In other words it puts you in charge...

...and more importantly it tends to bring in the income at a much accelerated rate.

I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences when they started to offer their own products and to see if they had a similar experience with regards to the success of their business.

Wishing you all the best with your online adventure.

Andy
#business #change #simple #turned
  • Profile picture of the author maxweb
    Hello Andy,

    I work for the moment only with affiliations in the future I want to create my products.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert999
    Originally Posted by The Beginner's Friend View Post

    Just a short post to highlight the small change that I made to my business that made a huge difference to my income.

    I am assuming that you are building a list (if not, why not? - if in doubt read the 1001 threads that go into the benefits of doing this).

    That said, the main difference was that I created my own product to sell.

    Yep, simple as that.

    The moment you stop relying on just affiliate products for your income (don't get me wrong I still promote affiliate products, but now alongside my own products).

    With your own product you have the opportunity of utilising the super targeted traffic of WF with a WSO, you can build your own list of affiliates to leverage your time and effort and you can decide how much you put it on sale for, how long it will be available etc etc. In other words it puts you in charge...

    ...and more importantly it tends to bring in the income at a much accelerated rate.

    I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences when they started to offer their own products and to see if they had a similar experience with regards to the success of their business.

    Wishing you all the best with your online adventure.

    Andy
    Agreed. You can earn more and do any changes to your program/product whenever you want. But you also need to do extra work that you don't need doing affiliate marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author HowardLynch
    Creating your own product is definitely a blast. I've been doing so for a little over 6 months now, and here is what I noticed:

    1) With your own product, you can answer a specific need. When Google made their update recntly about mobile websites, I created a Udemy course on the matter and it sold SO well. I couldn't find a single affiliate product on that subject to promote.
    2) You learn a lot about copywriting and many other valuable skills like following your customers and networking.

    Definitely something to do at least once
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  • Profile picture of the author EPoltrack77
    for me when I started working harder on myself than I do on my job I started to think differently which caused me to take a different action which in the end gave me different results.

    Your thoughts lead to feeling and those feelings lead to actions and those actions lead to the results we get in life.

    success is 80% in the mind and only 20% mechanics. Its not what you have that counts,its what you with what you have that matters the most.

    90% of the people who read this unfortunately will never take any action on it. Those are the same people who put blame on everything and come up with excuses..
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  • Profile picture of the author gjabiz
    I've created around 22 products, but I've also ACQUIRED several via PLR and re-branded them.

    But, also, some AFFILIATE products (high ticket of at least 500 bux) have brought in larger amounts a lot faster.

    I do agree, that if you can, then DO create some of your own stuff.

    gjabiz



    Originally Posted by The Beginner's Friend View Post

    Just a short post to highlight the small change that I made to my business that made a huge difference to my income.

    I am assuming that you are building a list (if not, why not? - if in doubt read the 1001 threads that go into the benefits of doing this).

    That said, the main difference was that I created my own product to sell.

    Yep, simple as that.

    The moment you stop relying on just affiliate products for your income (don't get me wrong I still promote affiliate products, but now alongside my own products).

    With your own product you have the opportunity of utilising the super targeted traffic of WF with a WSO, you can build your own list of affiliates to leverage your time and effort and you can decide how much you put it on sale for, how long it will be available etc etc. In other words it puts you in charge...

    ...and more importantly it tends to bring in the income at a much accelerated rate.

    I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences when they started to offer their own products and to see if they had a similar experience with regards to the success of their business.

    Wishing you all the best with your online adventure.

    Andy
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  • Profile picture of the author HDRider
    Congratulations on creating your own product and realizing how much more beneficial it is over affiliate marketing.

    I've been preaching about it for years. You have so much more control with your own products, many more opportunities available to you.

    Once you start creating similar products that complement your original product you can do up sells, down sells, sales funnels etc. Not to mention you can sell a new product to your list, that they have never seen on the market before, created by you, who they now trust.

    I made the switch many years ago after realizing the benefits and never looked back.

    Affiliate marketing is great for making some money, learning the ropes and building your list but creating your own products is where it's at.
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  • Profile picture of the author kursat
    Affiliate income is great, but can not be trusted in the long run. At least I had my bad taste of it when products I promoted suddenly changed or moved on and end up with lots of landing pages out in the open.

    So having my own products and services is much better and reliable income for me too. Is it more hard work - definitely, but worth it...
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  • Profile picture of the author Marked09
    100% Agree with the @ts, affiliate marketing is just part of doing online business and should not be your primary income. Having control of your product and sales funnel gives you far more leverage.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nabaleka
      That is definitely a step in the right direction, how about getting there and start to recruit affiliate marketers to promote your products. Turn the tables around and feast.
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      • Profile picture of the author discrat
        Hey Andy,
        great ! I think a combo is optimal. Keep up the good work



        - Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Originally Posted by The Beginner's Friend View Post

    . . . the main difference was that I created my own product to sell.

    Andy,

    I couldn't agree more. To me, having your own product does so many good things for you as a business owner.
    1. It establishes you as being a serious player in the niche;
    2. It gives you credibility as an authority or expert in the subject;
    3. It tells your audience that you are for real and that you are not just echoing what others are saying in the subject;
    4. It gives you a basis for your business, especially when you come out with related product #2, and #3, and #4 etc. You become known as the "go to" guy in your field;
    5. It gives you the trust of your audience - when they are familiar with your quality products they are willing to buy from you again and again because they see less risk in the purchases (they know you will deliver based on their past purchases).
    6. It gives you control over what you're selling. Unlike affiliate products which you don't control, you make all the decisions about what you are selling.
    7. It gives you the full commission for your product. You can even pay others to sell your product for you - you are on the other side of the affiliate selling model.
    8. It gives you the ability to upgrade, edit, add to, or whatever you want to do with the product.
    You are right . . . having your own products makes the most sense!


    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author FriendlyRob
    Just playing devils advocate here: but I once read, from a very successful dude, that we shouldn't consider selling our own products until we are full time marketers. His reasoning is that we would have the time to deal with customer service issues that would be involved. Anyone care to weigh in?
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    • Hi FriendlyRob

      An interesting thought. As much as I agree that customer service is vital, I would suggest it depends on the size/complexity of the product on offer. I think a PDF guide/video training product, which I would imagine most people would create, is not going to require that much after sale support.

      This in combination with a delivery system that is automated should mean that part time marketers can their own products out there.

      Of course this is only my opinion and I respect others that may not feel the same.

      regards
      Andy

      Originally Posted by FriendlyRob View Post

      Just playing devils advocate here: but I once read, from a very successful dude, that we shouldn't consider selling our own products until we are full time marketers. His reasoning is that we would have the time to deal with customer service issues that would be involved. Anyone care to weigh in?
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    • Profile picture of the author Joan Altz
      Originally Posted by FriendlyRob View Post

      Just playing devils advocate here: but I once read, from a very successful dude, that we shouldn't consider selling our own products until we are full time marketers. His reasoning is that we would have the time to deal with customer service issues that would be involved. Anyone care to weigh in?
      For a software or plugin type product, it takes up more time with customer support, but other products (ebooks, video courses), no. An email now and then from someone who has trouble unzipping a file - something like that - but that's about it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ayawa
    Yes, I also do think that creating and selling own products is the way to go.As I've realized, the best thing behind creating own product is,

    It allows you to create the fortune instead to test the fortune.
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  • Profile picture of the author nicheblogger75
    I've had incredible success creating my own products, but not really with my own products. I know that sounds like it doesn't make any sense, but once I explain you'll understand.

    I take niche specific MRR/PLR and create product "packages" of 10 products or more. I design my own sales pages, and use products created by others to make one "super product."

    This works great, especially when you price it right. Usually I start the pricing for these around $5, and it only serves as a point to break the ice, so to speak. Once people make a purchase, they are now on my buyers list. Once on my buyers list, I promote affiliate products and slowly raise the price point, until I'm promoting products that pay commissions of $100 or more per sale.

    All you really need to do this is a membership to a good MRR/PLR site, some simple graphic design, copywriting, and HTML knowledge, and you're off to the races.

    Also, and this is very important, you have to make sure you check the reseller licenses on the products and make sure that they are allowed to be "bundled" with other products.

    I recently created a package of 20 list building kits (report & squeeze page), and put it up as an OTO on one of my squeeze pages and the conversion rate has been fantastic.

    Another thing that will make your buyers list grow even faster is to list your product on several networks, especially the ones that offer AR integration. Another benefit of doing this is that you also have access to more affiliates. I recently discovered that lots of affiliates actually love to promote these low priced packages to their list because it's an easy sell and it provides a lot of value.

    It's even better if the reseller license allows you to transfer MRR to the products to the buyer, because now they have 10 or more products they can set up and start selling right away. I always offer 100% commissions on these products in order to attract affiliates, and that's fine because when it comes to affiliates promoting the packages, I don't care about making any money from the sale. What I am after is getting the buyer added to my list. If you get enough affiliates promoting these products and making sales, in effect what you have is others helping to build your buyers list for you.

    Some of the packages take time and effort to put together, but the main product creation is already done, and that makes it so much easier and faster to put the package together. I don't think this is anything new. I see lots of marketers doing it.
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  • Profile picture of the author alamest
    I also believe making own product and start business with it.

    What does top marketers do, they promote there face and make it a brand.. that means they make there own product whether it is courses or software or other things.. they are making more money from their own product then affiliate marketing.

    But for new comers I believe affiliate marketing is the only way to learn how to make money online and then slow they will learn how to make their own product and make more money too.
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  • I agree that creating your own product(s) is the way to go, however,
    it would not be my first suggestion to anyone wanting to get their feet wet
    in learning how to sell products online.

    There's just too much to learn all at once, and I've seen way too many of this:

    "I spent x amount of time and money creating my product....
    now what???

    The "now what" questions are usually related to finding customers and converting them into sales.

    "how and where do I promote my product?" "where do I find traffic?"
    ("cheap traffic, free traffic, targeted traffic...")

    "How and where do I find affiliates?"

    I think it's better to start by practicing how to market online with other vendors products, preferably quality products from experienced vendors that convert well, and in the niche that you plan to serve later on.

    You then (as an affiliate) get a chance to observe how successful vendors launch their product, attract and convince super affiliates to sign up, follow up and encourage affiliates by giving away sports cars, and all the other essential things that make the difference.

    Once you master the "now what" first,
    then you don't have to sit there with tons of your own products collecting dust.
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    • Originally Posted by stoltingmediagroup View Post

      I agree that creating your own product(s) is the way to go, however,
      it would not be my first suggestion to anyone wanting to get their feet wet
      in learning how to sell products online.

      There's just too much to learn all at once, and I've seen way too many of this:

      "I spent x amount of time and money creating my product....
      now what???

      The "now what" questions are usually related to finding customers and converting them into sales.

      "how and where do I promote my product?" "where do I find traffic?"
      ("cheap traffic, free traffic, targeted traffic...")

      "How and where do I find affiliates?"

      I think it's better to start by practicing how to market online with other vendors products, preferably quality products from experienced vendors that convert well, and in the niche that you plan to serve later on.

      You then (as an affiliate) get a chance to observe how successful vendors launch their product, attract and convince super affiliates to sign up, follow up and encourage affiliates by giving away sports cars, and all the other essential things that make the difference.

      Once you master the "now what" first,
      then you don't have to sit there with tons of your own products collecting dust.
      I couldn't agree more with what you have said. As much as I stand by creating your own product to move your business on, I do think it is vitally important to understand the fundamentals of what you are trying to do Affiliate marketing with it's low initial investment of time and money is a great way to master these fundamentals.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by stoltingmediagroup View Post

      I agree that creating your own product(s) is the way to go, however,
      it would not be my first suggestion to anyone wanting to get their feet wet
      in learning how to sell products online.

      There's just too much to learn all at once, and I've seen way too many of this:

      "I spent x amount of time and money creating my product....
      now what???

      The "now what" questions are usually related to finding customers and converting them into sales.

      "how and where do I promote my product?" "where do I find traffic?"
      ("cheap traffic, free traffic, targeted traffic...")

      "How and where do I find affiliates?"

      I think it's better to start by practicing how to market online with other vendors products, preferably quality products from experienced vendors that convert well, and in the niche that you plan to serve later on.

      You then (as an affiliate) get a chance to observe how successful vendors launch their product, attract and convince super affiliates to sign up, follow up and encourage affiliates by giving away sports cars, and all the other essential things that make the difference.

      Once you master the "now what" first,
      then you don't have to sit there with tons of your own products collecting dust.
      I think you hit it on the bullseye with this !

      I would NEVER under any circumstance recommend anyone start out creating their own product without any experience in this Industry.

      Take baby steps , build up some credibility. And then delve into this


      - Robert Andrew
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