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Do I have to much of conscience for this?

by IMMer1975
16 replies
I have a pretty successful forum site (high traffic, good demographics) and I put some clickbank affiliate links on my site. I made $136 in sales in 4 days, which is great. However, I haven't yet met the minimum CDR requirements as I need 5 sales. So I went back to the CB market place to look for another product to promote.

As I sat going through them, I couldn't help but feel that its really garbage. Thinly veiled content masked with good graphics, sneaky re-bills. In short, I actually felt "I don't want to sucker my forum members into buying this stuff" and took off the affiliate products I did have.

And the point of this post is not my opinion about the products on CB. But more opening the question: Do you really believe what you're selling is "worthwhile" to your customers, or are you just happy that someone's buying it?

I realize this is probably different if you just have organic site traffic, but when it's "your" members in your community, I just don't feel comfortable peddling this stuff off on them - they're like friends and family.

I guess there are a few genuinely good products in there, I just have to find them. In the offline world, I learned to be successful by always offering value to my customers. I want to do the same in the online world, and so few affiliate products seem to do that.
#conscience
  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Originally Posted by cdutoit View Post

    Do you really believe what you're selling is "worthwhile" to your customers, or are you just happy that someone's buying it?
    The worst thing you can do for your business is promote and sell garbage to your trusted customers. Not only will it alienate them, but the word will spread and your reputation will suffer.

    Remember the Golden Rule.

    Don't sell anything that you wouldn't feel was of great value if you purchased it yourself.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author hotconcepts
      Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

      The worst thing you can do for your business is promote and sell garbage to your trusted customers. Not only will it alienate them, but the word will spread and your reputation will suffer.

      Remember the Golden Rule.

      Don't sell anything that you wouldn't feel was of great value if you purchased it yourself.

      Steve
      Very true. Don't promote and sell garbage instead try to build your brand over the period of time and the brand will sell itself.
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  • Profile picture of the author briny
    I admire your principals and agree with them completely I had an offline business for 24 years and had the word "service" included in the name of the business. It served me well for all those years and I'm sure if you stick to your principals of offering a quality service to your list you will do well also.
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    • Profile picture of the author ksmusselman
      Agree 100%. If you don't believe in what you're promoting, it's going to show through to some people. Sure, you might make some sales, but your credibility may suffer as a result.

      I've dropped out of a few programs after I realized, wow, I wouldn't even want to GIVE this stuff away!

      Go with your gut instinct, not the money.
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  • Profile picture of the author efil4renots
    I was starting to think I was the only one who thought this!
    (this thread inspired my 1st post btw! haha)
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
      There's no excuse for selling things that you think are bad for others.

      It isn't different: organic traffic vs forum members. Every one of them is a person. If you think about each of them more like a loved one in your life, your Mum, or your son, or your brother or sister, and would you be OK with some selling that special someone a product that cheated them, you probably already know your answer.

      That's my viewpoint, anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author Midas3 Consulting
    I don't know what niche you're in, but this assumption that everything on CB is junk is just that, an assumption.

    There's a great number of extremely decent products on CB, many of them, frankly with hundreds of hours of work involved and thousands of dollars invested to create them.

    For the average price of $50 or so, if you choose wisely your audience should be getting decent products for a very fair price.

    NOTE: I'm not saying CB doesn't have it share of crap, it absolutely does, I'm just saying it's not the total story.

    Lastly, afterthought... create your own products and sell them to your captive targeted audience.....
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  • Profile picture of the author DylanC
    You should create your own products so that you can control the quality.
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    • Profile picture of the author WriterWahm
      Originally Posted by DylanC View Post

      You should create your own products so that you can control the quality.
      ^^^ This...

      I agree with you completely in not exposing your people to poor quality stuff. You need to be ferocious in protecting them and one way to do that is to create products yourself. Of course since you can't create everything, vet products before you offer them to your people. I insist on PAYING for a product first if I intend to promote it as an affiliate.
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  • Profile picture of the author WD Mino
    Create your own products. If you run a high traffic forum you have instant authority as the owner. Why put cash in other's pockets and take the chance of your authority being compromised? Write an info product "How I took a brand new forum and turned it into...."
    Better yet, set up if you haven't already a VIP section. I don't know what niche you are in but that can instantly add to your bottom line.

    All success with it!
    -WD
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter Lessard
    I started in this business 15 years ago, before Google even had pay per click. Over the years I have seen every type of service being sold to help businesses with their marketing.

    I had the opportunity to sell many shiny objects to my client base. They would call me and ask can you do service x for me? If it would not help them profit I said no and explained why it was a bad idea.

    I have stuck to one simple rule over the years. No matter what I sell a client I will NEVER sell it unless I believe I can make them more money that I cost them.

    If you think its crap do NOT sell it.
    Instead if there is something specific your niche is hungry for find them something worth consuming and if you cannot then create it yourself!
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Franklin
    It is a very refreshing post to read. We don't give our internal compass enough credit in terms of helping us in determining what feels right for us and our customers. Adding value to your customers' experience is definitely the bottom line.

    There are products out there that violate this credo for the sake of quick short term monetary benefits. Still many of the products that have held up well in ClickBank or other marketplaces are ones where the quality really shines through and the product creator goes out of his way to make his customers raving fans.
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  • Profile picture of the author RogueOne
    I promote some products that have few if any refunds. In the particular niche, (gaming) people are not shy about asking for their money back. The fact that they don't, says the product is a good value, in their eyes. There are junk products for the niche in the marketplace.

    You have to research and test.

    I recently went through some of the most popular IM/MMO products and couldn't find but one product on the first three pages that I would feel comfortable promoting.
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  • Profile picture of the author Miguelito203
    Originally Posted by cdutoit View Post

    I have a pretty successful forum site (high traffic, good demographics) and I put some clickbank affiliate links on my site. I made $136 in sales in 4 days, which is great. However, I haven't yet met the minimum CDR requirements as I need 5 sales. So I went back to the CB market place to look for another product to promote.

    As I sat going through them, I couldn't help but feel that its really garbage. Thinly veiled content masked with good graphics, sneaky re-bills. In short, I actually felt "I don't want to sucker my forum members into buying this stuff" and took off the affiliate products I did have.

    And the point of this post is not my opinion about the products on CB. But more opening the question: Do you really believe what you're selling is "worthwhile" to your customers, or are you just happy that someone's buying it?

    I realize this is probably different if you just have organic site traffic, but when it's "your" members in your community, I just don't feel comfortable peddling this stuff off on them - they're like friends and family.

    I guess there are a few genuinely good products in there, I just have to find them. In the offline world, I learned to be successful by always offering value to my customers. I want to do the same in the online world, and so few affiliate products seem to do that.
    Find a relevant product worth promoting to your members and promote it. Not only is promoting sub-standard products unethical, but it doesn't help you from a business standpoint, either. All people are going to do is refund, and you will lose your credibility. Don't worry. The sale you need will come. Just keep pushing.

    Joey
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  • Profile picture of the author ElijahM
    There are some good products on CB (there is plenty of crap also but not all of it is junk). You can always go it on your own and create your own product.
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  • Profile picture of the author wholesale blogger
    I posted a question here on this subject just yesterday and asked how people get review copies (or even if they bothered) before promoting them. I want to provide quality, if I couldn't I would move on.

    To my mind it seems there is little difference in providing a product here or in the real world. You will get good and bad products as well as suppliers who rip off customers and those that strive to be a great and offer real value.

    There are good products on CB. How do I know? Well, here I am guided a little by the likes of Alexa and others who are making a living from them. Of course, when you look at some of the products in CB, some do look a little 'flakey' so, review them first yourself.

    Creating your own products seems a great way to go and one in which I am aiming, but by promoting CB products, you can start up faster and get an idea for creating you own.
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