Is Creating My Own Product The Only Way To Be Successful Online ?

Sorry to hear about your experience with losing it all

Good for you that you're looking to pick up and start all over again.

And you're absolutely right that having your own product and/or list is the way to stay in control and not at the mercy of Google or anyone else.

That said, you can teach anything that provides value - as long as it really does. In other words, if the methods are up-to-date, people will want to learn it.

There certainly is a market for people who want to learn how to get free traffic.

With regards to promoting other people's products: you don't have to claim that what you're promoting is the ultimate stop for learning everything there is to know. (Even the product creator doesn't claim that.) You focus on what it does, what benefit it will have for your subscribers, and those who are looking for that specific info/method will be happy for the recommendation.

Two SEO guys walk in a bar... no but really... One SEO guy to another... Lets start with this... what does SEO stand for? ( its not a trick question ) Search Engine Optimization right? Then why where you only focusing on Google? It isnt GEO ( Google Engine Optimization ) Bing has a tool very similar to GA.. I will bet you were not tracking what was going on over at Bing were you?

There are others to watch and track as well AOL serves up separate twisted listings. Yahoo even in todays world is powered by Bing, but the listings are different. Yandex is a search engine. There are many many out there, and you chose to focus on one. That in un itself is a SEO no no in my book.

So now let me ask you this... why does SEO take so long? ( Not a rhetorical question ) I can get pages ranked in days. ( depending on the keyword set ) I am not talking terms like "XBOX" or "weight loss" but you know where I am coming from.

what exactly did you get hit with Panda? ( weak content ) Penguin? ( bad back links ) Honestly if you are "Good" at SEO you simply do not get hit with these... I am sorry but that's a bit silly. SEO is indeed a long term play, and to take short term gains at the expense of getting caught... I personally would not touch your "product" you have nothing of value to teach.

I am sure you know more than enough to go light. Im not talking white here.. there is no such thing - well there is and they are listed on page 4 and later. there is light grey and shades darker.. its cool I get it. but to get hit with poor content or bad back links you can disavow? is there an excuse for that? Is there an excuse for not correcting the issues and patiently waiting for the next algo shift that may bring you back into good favor?

Why not use the time to develop an understanding and traffic flow from other sources. Why not incorporate all those things you are saying.. capture e-mail etc. Get back in the game basically.

think about what you are saying... you want to share your SEO knowledge that got you in the sandbox and you want to get paid for it... is that a business or fraud? Make things right... take SEO literally.. ( SEARCH engine optimization ) get back on top and THEN sell your knowledge.

Its easier to sell stuff when you have traffic by the way, and right now you have none.

First of all, SEO is a big niche, so it may really pay to create at least a free course to build a list here (Building a list is a must in my eyes).

On the other hand, you do not need to sell anything to be successful online, but i you can it really pays!

When it comes to provide value to your list, you do not need to write a 60 page ebook, just ensure to be really helpful and solve a main problem your visitor faces! Research is the key here, knwo what your audience needs and is looking for and provide it in a simple way, it doesn´t solve the entire problem, it needs to be helpful for them! As example to your seo knowlege, just provide the big picture, not everything step by step! This can even be done in a mindmap for example! Ok, in this niche there are lots of stuff like this, but a checklist to avoid or fix Google problems would be a good fit these days I think!

So if you want to work in another niche, its fine too, just invest the time to proper resaearch the market and your potential customers! It may also be helpful to work backwards, don´t start with the product, start with the Landing page/ sales page and deliver the promises you made there!

I think you have chosen good path. List building. Here are my suggestions:

1) Create your own blog where you can teach people about SEO. Publish all articles for free for everyone.

2) Focus on list building from very first day using Getrepsonse or Awber. Offer a free book about SEO to get more subscribers.

3) You can find lots of high quality SEO related products that you can easily promote within your content and using your email list. For example keywords research tool like semrush, longtail pro etc.

4) You can offer free tutorials about website building and doing proper SEO. Here you can promote good hosting services like hosgator. They pay $100 for each customer you refer to them.

5) Create a facebook fan page from day-1. Buy likes to your page by promoting your page on facebook. Add links of your posts on facebook page regularly.

6) Create twitter account. Follow others in your industry and get good number of followers. Post on twitter regularly.

7) Create youtube channel and make short videos about SEO. This will bring lots of traffic and customers to your website.

8) Keep on adding fresh and quality content about SEO regularly and you will start getting good amount of traffic, subscribers and sales from search engines and other sources. This is how you can earn by promoting affiliate products.

Making your own Product?

You can create a detailed video course or text based course about advanced SEO methods. You can sell it on Udemy. Promote your product on your website, social media and using your list. There are many people who are looking for this type of information. When you will offer your course to the people who already trust you (subscribers, website visitors, facebook, twitter youtube followers), they will buy it from you.

Good Luck!

Hi wajdi,

It's great that others want to encourage you, because it helps to be reassured when things aren't necessarily going your way - but...

^^^ this ^^^

and this...

Creating your own product can be much more profitable, over time - but to create a really good product (that will sell for longer than just the first couple of weeks after your launch) takes a lot of front end time and effort.

I don't want to discourage you, and if you re-read and think about savidge's entire post there's a good product idea in there just waiting for you to put in the time/effort required to put out something that would have great value.

But... you've already exhibited your ability to earn as an affiliate using free search engine traffic. Wouldn't it be quicker to just adapt your previous sales techniques to ramp those earnings back up quickly (PPC ads, solo ads, social marketing, etc.).

Set things up so that this time around you also build a list so that you can market to them directly.

Then you've got some "breathing room" and will be in a much better frame of mind to study current SEO tactics, for not one, but 3 (at least) search engines as well as search for mobile - so you can create a really bang-up SEO product.

Rarely do I see anyone talk about starting a "real" business. IM has seemed to turn into simply selling so-so products (I'm being nice) to people who are desparate to make money online. It's become the "semi-blind", leading the truly blind.

Too many people are looking to "teach", who have actually never been successful "DOING", in their own right.

What I mean by "real" business, is having traditional customers who you provide a product (like a mobile app, website, etc) or a service (like SEO, sms marketing, etc) to and through good customer service and having a valuable product you keep a long-term customer as you build a larger and larger customer base and make more and more money.

This is completely independent of rankings that come and go, algorithm changes, CPA company changes, TOS changes in the "method" that you are using, etc. You have now built a "real" business that you can depend on and create a long-term, reliable business.

I'm certainly not saying great fortunes have not been built through affiliate marketing, CPA, product sales, etc., but what I am saying is that if you don't truly have something valuable to teach, then you might want to look in another direction.

Lets be honest, most "WSO" products are simply made by people who can't earn any money in the actualy marketplace.

Creating your own product is one way. There are dozens of ways though. Experiment and find YOUR way.


I understand what you mean. There are a lot of crappy products on the market today. But there are some quality ones too. You just have to look for them.


Just my opinion, but here are a few products that I find to be really helpful (from coaches who actually care):


- Inbox Blueprint
- Forever Profit System
- Anything related to Copyblogger or ProBlogger
- Anything from Corbett Bar
- Timothy Ferris products (more of a lifestyle design person but he also teaches online business related stuff as well)


See if there are affiliate programs for any of the above offers (I know there's one for Inbox Blueprint since I'm currently signed up for that one).

Many people have have built huge lists by giving away informative products about SEO even though it takes time and there is no guarantee as you mentioned but still many people want to have traffic without spending any money especially the newbies. Start building your list now. Good luck.

Creating your own product isn't the only way to be successful online. Super affiliates have demonstrated this, people who sell on Ebay and Amazon have demonstrated this, and people who do freelance work have demonstrated this.

If you want to create your own product, great! Just make sure you have a plan for backend marketing.

Since you already know SEO, focus on a niche that is non-IM or non-marketing related.

You know how to drive traffic, right?

Pick a lucrative subniche and build a list off that.

To answer your thread's question, NO: you can make money as an affiliate too.

To replace your traffic use facebook ads
Youtube including ads
Use twitter ads
use solo ads
Creating your own product is time consuming and a big gamble affiliate marketing ie selling other peoples products is easier.

I'd say start with affiliate marketing while simultaneously building a list. Then once you've built trust with your audience, ask them the kind of information they want to learn. Then create that product and pitch it to them.

Every business model has its particular weakness, but owning a product
gives you flexibility and credibility. It's not an automatic road to success
because you still have to promote your stuff. You have already seen some
success, so that's a good sign that you will 'recover'.

-Ray Edwards