Your own product vs affiliate marketing?

31 replies
I would like to hear your opinion on creating your own product vs affiliate marketing.

Are there many of you out there who first started out with affiliate marketing and switched to create your own product, or vice versa?

I´m doing affiliate marketing now myself, and my profits are increasing, but I´ve heard that so many people are having success with their own product I´m a little curious to try it myself.

I would like to hear your views and experiences?
What do you think the pros of cons are about these two areas of marketing?

Sincerely
Karl
#affiliate #marketing #product
  • Profile picture of the author TimG
    Karl,
    Having done both (affiliate marketing and my own products) I can vouch for the effectiveness for an increased ROI with your own product. Having your own product allows you to recruit other affiliates who then will sell more of your product.

    Its like that popular saying of "I'd rather have 10% of the efforts of 100 affiliates instead of having to rely just on 100% of my own efforts".

    Naturally, there are some initial hurdles to clear when it comes to making your own product instead of stritcly being an affiliate for another product. However, once you get the pump primed you can pull water from it easily and everyday.

    Respectfully,
    Tim
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  • Originally Posted by Challe77 View Post

    I would like to hear your opinion on creating your own product vs affiliate marketing.

    Are there many of you out there who first started out with affiliate marketing and switched to create your own product, or vice versa?

    I´m doing affiliate marketing now myself, and my profits are increasing, but I´ve heard that so many people are having success with their own product I´m a little curious to try it myself.

    I would like to hear your views and experiences?
    What do you think the pros of cons are about these two areas of marketing?

    Sincerely
    Karl
    I am doing both. I've been doing IM for a while now and I've seen some great results, but I am also a developer and I am looking to create some products for wordpress around the IM niche.

    No one knows if a product will be successful or not, but if you have a skill such as development, writing, graphics, etc.. then you should consider those skills in how you would approach the creation of your own product.

    So, here is what you should do:
    1. Create a skills inventory (write it down on paper) of the skills that you think you have
    2. Do product research around those skills. If you have graphic design skills, then you would look at creating products or services around banner design or blog header design, or ezine cover design, etc..
    3. Create a list of possible products based on the skills you have and demand for the products or services you researched.
    4. Take Action. You never know if you will be successful unless you try. If you make mistakes along the way and you learn from them then you will be a better person for it.
    Good luck and I hope you have great success on the path you choose!

    -Brad
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  • Profile picture of the author peter gibson
    I do affiliate marketing to test the market only, and if it converts well enough and the numbers ad up traffic wise I will create something in that niche as I have already tested and know it sells. Affiliate sales pale in comparison to selling your own stuff, unless you're an absolute genius at sales or have crap-loads of traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author mr2020
    Hey mate,

    I have made most of my money online with my own products.

    I am naturally creative, and love to create and develop so that works well for me.

    Part of the question would be, what are you good at? Are you a developer, or more of a promoter?

    Have a great day!

    Twenty Twenty
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  • Profile picture of the author dndoseller
    From experience so far affiliate marketing is for people who:

    1. Don't have anything with a dollar value to teach
    2. Have no money to hire someone with a dollar value to teach
    3. Have no skills to build sites and sales copy
    4. Have no money to hire someone to build sites and sales copy
    5. Have no idea that they are missing the boat on product creation

    Ironically, you are most fortunate if you are #5!
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    • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
      Originally Posted by dndoseller View Post

      From experience so far affiliate marketing is for people who:

      1. Don't have anything with a dollar value to teach
      2. Have no money to hire someone with a dollar value to teach
      3. Have no skills to build sites and sales copy
      4. Have no money to hire someone to build sites and sales copy
      5. Have no idea that they are missing the boat on product creation

      Ironically, you are most fortunate if you are #5!
      To get your list here, I can only draw the conclusion that the "experience" you had to come to this was VERY limited.

      I was a full time affiliate marketer when I was 19 years old, if I could do it full time I guess I kinda had something with a dollar value to teach, right?.

      There's your point number one down, you now have a list of 4.

      I was earning a FULL time income, so I know for sure I had the money to hire someone "with a dollar value to teach" - I chose NOT to because it wasn't a part of my plan.

      There's your point number two down, you now have a list of 3.

      The majority of my income, and still to this date came from fully functioning affiliate review websites and authority blogging.. so this kinda gives the slip to number 3 because I had over 50 sites at the time doing this and most of the manual building I did myself.

      There's your point number three down, you now have a list of 2.

      Again, full time income supporting my family, so if I needed to hire someone to do any of the above, it was easy and something I did on occasion.

      There's your point number 4 down, your list is down to 1.

      Missing the boat?... not likely.. no customer service issues, no time spent on creating the product...

      Drive traffic --> Monetize

      No hassle and BIG checks every 15 days... Your point number one seems a little redundant if I am honest.

      My income is still solely affiliate marketing based, but just recently I have ventured into product creation because I wanted a personal challenge that would lead me to help people with what I can put together...

      Was I missing the boat before?.. I don't think so, just didn't feel the need to go down that route...

      Product creation has got me pumped this year, but there's no way I could EVER turn the switch off on affiliate marketing.. it's so push button it's almost scary at times... don't let your limited view and experience force you to make sweeping generalisations that could influence someone reading this into feeling wrong about a decision they want to make.

      ANYONE that is out there considering affiliate marketing... believe me.. it's powerful x 10 .. get stuck in


      Peace

      Jay
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      • Profile picture of the author sarisri
        Jay,

        That was really helpful. I always personally felt affiliate marketing is the best way to go as U can concentrate on things that U do well. Once U have an idea and the expertise that U gained in affilate marketing and relationships, U can easily build a product.
        My 2 Cents
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        • Profile picture of the author mlevenhagen
          Doesn't matter.. two entirely different business models. Pick one or do both.

          There are product owners that don't make much money..

          There are affiliate marketers that don't make much money..

          There are products owners that make HUGE money..

          There are affiliate marketers that make HUGE money..

          Those that tell you one is better than the other is selling you something; there are to many variables to come to any conclusion worth discussing.
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
    own products, hands down.

    But the advantage with affmarketing is you dont need to do a thing, no support, nothing. affmarketing you can still always do "on the side"...the fact that i have my own products doesnt stop me from selling other people's products ...
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  • Profile picture of the author tremayne
    Hi Karl:

    An interesting question and one I do not yet have an answer for.

    I am about six weeks away from launching my own non-IM multimedia training product that has taken THREE YEARS to develop, 12 or more hours a day, seven days a week. There is no assurance it will be successful or come close to paying for my time and expenses; just hope.

    That seems a bit crazy to me. The product is in the financial sector and that has changed drastically in the past three years - something that is totally out of my control.

    It's much like a lottery. Much of the jackpot is chance.

    Next, I plan to tackle affiliate marketing. There, with the right research, I can know in advance that a product will be successful because it already is for other marketers. I don't have a million-and-one administrative things to organize. I can put up a quick website, advertise it and be making money quickly while I look for the next product to promote.

    Sure, a product owner earns the lion's share once the product is launched but at one product every two weeks I could be marketing 72 affiliate products by now, not had the headaches of producing my own product, and already be enjoying a healthy living with virtually no gamble.

    I think I did things backwards - not unusual for me! I think I should have learned what I could about being a successful affiliate first and will the capital from that I could have hired people to do many of the things I have spent a long time learning to launch my own product.

    One advantage from doing things my way is that I have learned a lot that will be vital to becoming successful with IM, whether as an affiliate or not.

    Knowing what I know now, if I had it to do all over again I would choose the affiliate route first.

    Sydney
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    • Profile picture of the author TimG
      Sydney,
      Your posting does provide some validation that perhaps a marketer should start with affiliate marketing first then graduate to their own product creation.

      Personally I started my IM career on the following cycle:

      First 2 years - adsense sites
      Second 2 years - affiliate marketing and adsense sites
      Currently - my own products, affiliate marketing and adsense sites

      I did want to add that sometimes having your own product doesn't require a labor intensive effort that last for years or even months to produce.

      There are just as many opportunities to make your own product from a high quality PLR product that can be purchased and significantly enhance. This cuts down on the creation time and allows you to bank from your own product assuming you provide quality enhancements to the original PLR product.

      Respectfully,
      Tim




      Originally Posted by tremayne View Post

      Hi Karl:

      An interesting question and one I do not yet have an answer for.

      I am about six weeks away from launching my own non-IM multimedia training product that has taken THREE YEARS to develop, 12 or more hours a day, seven days a week. There is no assurance it will be successful or come close to paying for my time and expenses; just hope.

      That seems a bit crazy to me. The product is in the financial sector and that has changed drastically in the past three years - something that is totally out of my control.

      It's much like a lottery. Much of the jackpot is chance.

      Next, I plan to tackle affiliate marketing. There, with the right research, I can know in advance that a product will be successful because it already is for other marketers. I don't have a million-and-one administrative things to organize. I can put up a quick website, advertise it and be making money quickly while I look for the next product to promote.

      Sure, a product owner earns the lion's share once the product is launched but at one product every two weeks I could be marketing 72 affiliate products by now, not had the headaches of producing my own product, and already be enjoying a healthy living with virtually no gamble.

      I think I did things backwards - not unusual for me! I think I should have learned what I could about being a successful affiliate first and will the capital from that I could have hired people to do many of the things I have spent a long time learning to launch my own product.

      One advantage from doing things my way is that I have learned a lot that will be vital to becoming successful with IM, whether as an affiliate or not.

      Knowing what I know now, if I had it to do all over again I would choose the affiliate route first.

      Sydney
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  • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
    Owning your own product has numerous advantages over affiliate marketing, but there are some downsides you should consider as well. The primary one is that you need to provide Customer Support. This might be simple (if the product is just an eBook) or it may be a full-time job that you'll want to outsource if the product is software.

    Bill
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Hooper
    Hi Karl,

    Both can be very effective, but by having your own product you can recruit your own affiliates to help sell for you for a change. You will get more long term sales from having your own product too, plus it is very good for building your reputaion (as long as create a quality product that is).
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  • Profile picture of the author Yskho
    Owning your own product has numerous advantages over affiliate marketing
    The problem is lots have no resources to develop their own product.

    The other option you can consider is Master Resales Right. With MRR, i can package several MMR products into one package and keep 100% of my profits. The conversions rates will increase if you giveaway the resales right and asking them to download from your download page. This will further increase the traffic to your site. maybe some related products with iresistable price at your download page ? As they are in the buying mood, conversion rate can be as high as 20% with the right product with the right price ...
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  • Profile picture of the author mikemcmillan
    There is also the matter of having hundreds of affiliates out there doing mailings and driving huge traffic to your site during the first few weeks after your launch. You can collect names and increase your opt-in list by tens-of-thousands of name fast. Sure some gurus use PPC to get tons of traffic--but to a large extent huge lists are derived from huge product launches.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
    I've made much more money with my own products than the products of others.
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  • Profile picture of the author WinsonYeung
    Start first with affiliate marketing
    then move on to own product
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve Sanchez
      If you pay your affiliates well enough, they will fall over backwards to sell your product. Most of them have huge lists that they sell to and when you compound that by the number of affiliates promoting your product, the numbers get big. So what if you are only a making a smaller percent, it's all in the volume. Good Luck.
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  • I have launched my own product today..started to getting money..own product is best..

    ww.videoscraperplus.com
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Stirling
    as soon as I created my own product,
    my profits tripled. but you should get
    affiliates to market your product so it
    goes big!

    but to make friends in this biz, some jv
    affiliate promos are a good idea

    Stuart
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    • Profile picture of the author Bryan Zimmerman
      I'd have to say product creation. It just seems making your own product is easier. You can then recruit your own affiliates to market it for you it it's decent.

      I still do a lot of affilate marketing as well and will continue to do so. I def. cannot say anything bad about the money that it brings in either.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ian Middleton
    Here is an idea for you. You say you are already making some money from AM - great. If the product and the niche is a good one, why not continue with AM and get a similar but better product created for you to sell as your own.

    Look at what is good about what you are selling, ask yourself what is missing or what would give more value to your customers and then create it.

    Your own product is always going to be the way to go, but with AM you can at least test the water on any product for next to nothing and if it does not sell well, at least you have not wasted money creating your own in the first place.

    Hope that makes sense? I am making more money with my own product and I am going to create my own version of an affiliate product to promote in parallel to the AM product.

    Go for it
    Ian Middleton
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  • Profile picture of the author Challe77
    Thanks for all the advice and suggestions, Feeling a little bit wiser

    If and when I create my own product I think I will outsource the work, do you have any good places and persons to recommend for this? ( Thinking of taking a peek at the advanced forum )

    Sincerely
    Karl
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  • Profile picture of the author Pat Ordenes
    I wouldn't bother with affiliate marketing...
    Getting your own product isnt that hard, as long as you keep things simple and do your research... after that you can still join the affiliate ranks if you so wish, with a strong list in your chosen niche to boost you from the start...
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  • Profile picture of the author ebookfreezone
    I think and this is my opinion, a person just starting out, should go the affiliate marketing route to start with, because in most cases it's free if you know what your doing. Then eventually when AM profits start increasing your net worth, this will enable you to market your own product, in return, a win win for you.
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    • Profile picture of the author yesacpow
      Start off with affiliate marketing to test the waters. Once you start making consistent sales make a product that is better than your competitors then recruit affiliates to promote it for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Franck Silvestre
    Marketing other people's product can be very lucrative, but creating your own is where you want to go.

    Nothing prevent you to start as an affiliate and still create your product at the same time.

    Plus creating your own (low cost flagship) product is a very good way to make more affiliate commissions.

    I generally start as an affiliate, and when I learned what works in the niche (while I get paid), I create my own product.

    Franck
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  • Profile picture of the author virginia_culp
    In the interest of brevity ... for most people, their own product without a doubt. But there are exceptions to every rule and I can think of a couple of people who are very successful and don't create products very often.

    But remember this - there is MORE money in outsourcing your product creation because you can create more products simultaneously.

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  • Profile picture of the author Alp Bozkurt
    Create your own product and promote other products that goes well with your product.

    Sell your own hamburger and promote cocacola to who are interested in hamburger at the moment. Since they would probably be interested in cocacola as well...

    Sell bodybuilding ebook of your own and promote bodybuilding supplements as an affiliate...
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonl70
    without first getting your feet wet in a niche via aff. marketing, it seems like creating your own product would be leaving too much to chance.

    Can you get traffic? will your traffic spend money? what products are they spending it on?

    As an affiliate, you can learn all that and THEN figure out a product..
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  • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
    Originally Posted by Challe77 View Post

    What do you think the pros of cons are about these two areas of marketing?

    Sincerely
    Karl
    Product Creation

    Pro: Creates Assets. Leverages affiliates' traffic. Control. Flexibility.

    Con: Support. Managing affiliates. Transaction, fulfillment & delivery hassles.

    Affiliate Marketing

    Pro: Drive traffic, get paid. Easy to jump in or out. Scalable. Leverage others' authority.

    Con: Competitive. Reliant on others. Not getting paid (rare). No assets.

    Product Creation AND Affiliate Marketing, not VS.

    It should be noted that there's a pretty good solution to whatever perceived "weakness" may exist in either model you're considering.

    It's easy to augment your product sales with related and complementary affiliate offers.

    It's simple to grab rights to a useful report or course for a big-ticket affiliate offer you promote and squeeze names for it.

    Membership sites often rely on affiliate income. A perfect blend of product creation and affiliate marketing if there ever was one.

    As has been mentioned, it doesn't need to be an "either or" proposition. They can and do dovetail perfectly in a well-leveraged sales cycle regardless of its primary orientation (affiliate or product).

    Best,

    Brian
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