You own 3 concepts on the make money online / trading / online success niches (catchy domain names + ebooks) with various languages (not just English) So you can make money on your own + develop some kind of affiliate network According to you, what is the best solution? Go with clickbank or go on your own with an affiliate program software like Post Affiliate Pro (or another one)? Can you give an advice or better, share your experience? Thank you
I've worked with a few networks, have my own products, and have had in-house aff systems in place, here is my input: In-house: * LOT'S of manual maintenance (good problem to have but more time is spent with administrative tasks). * Fraud is higher - you get targeted as a newbie/new system. * Trust issues with recruiting affiliates, most won't sign up to in-house systems. * TONS of customer and aff support is needed (again good problem to have), refunds, allowance, tech issues, mass fraud... * 2 tiers might prove successful however most real aff's won't recruit competition for themselves, nor will they like that you offer a second tier (a little off topic but worth noting). * If you're doing tangible goods you better have a team ready, if you're all digital it's less headache but still a headache. Established Networks: * To take care of all the above for me for as little as 7.5% + $1 with CB - or as much as 30% in CJ/others, it's WELL WORTH it to take advantage of a commission based resource instead of trying to do it all yourself. * Utilizing more than one network opens up more doors to strong affiliates, mixing in-house with outsourced is dangerous re fraud and aff battles. Conclusion: Unless you have a lot of capital, are ready for a huge awareness campaign to prove credibility in this sector, I would take advantage of utilizing 1-3 established networks first. If you see that you are successful and can justify taking on much more responsiblity than the networks fee, slowly transition to in-house then. There are obviously great perks to running your own program, however unless you've done a few or can quantify a few good and bad campaigns through experience, I feel one should not start their own aff network out of the blue... Not to down your efforts, if you decide to go in-house feel free to share your progress All the best, NC.
Thank you for your answer NCMedia In-house solution * I thought it would look like more serious (if well done on a professional looking site) than be lost among some good and many crappy products * I thought the offer would look like fresh and new * I thought it would help me capitalize on branding Established Networks * I thought that affiliates would do less efforts in promoting your products - lost among other ones in the networks - even if good Anyway I would like to avoid all the headaches of the in-house solution that you described So after having checked the pros and cons of some affiliate program softwares, I will check the networks I guess I will maybe go that way Which network do you suggest? Which network is the best? Why?
All of your points are true and in a perfect world you'd be the first to think of this and take advantage of it While a bit pre-mature, we recently launched http://www.merchantallies.com which basically walks merchants like yourself through all this affiliate stuff from the ground up to maximize return from all angles... The site is geared to officially launch in the new year however some info is already up. Each product/service entering this game has different needs, each network has its own pros and cons. I guess I would need a full brief of your intentions/ideas etc. Quite a few variables get taken into account re your wish list, pricing, positioning, packaging, aff resource materials, monthly analysis, your budget... PM me if you'd like to explore a merchant management solution. Most of the time the ladder will go: "I've discovered the internet, and how ads work" "I've discovered how to sell other peoples stuff for next to no investment" "I've discovered the power of leverage and want my own product(s)" "I'm having a damn hard time recruiting affiliates, providing updated marketing materials for them, converting my product/service on my own, justifying my price to my deliverables, getting negative comments on the design/site..." and the thousand other reasons merchants fail... Some networks will take more than others, some will have MUCH better affiliate pool but higher upkeep/commission, and some require you to make a new version of your site/product just for their gateway (i.e. CB) limiting your functionality of one domain/site... I could ramble for a while here, if you'd like to discuss further please PM/reach out Norb. All my best, NC
Thanks for the answer. I will go through http://www.merchantallies.com Of course after years of internet marketing and making a living with affiliate marketing I am in that case "I've discovered the power of leverage and want my own product(s)" Just 3 basic concepts on making money (online + trading) with catchy domain names and good design One of the key issue is that the market is quite crowded especially in the online money making niche Another thing, I'm already marketing my own products (other concepts) for some years but not in English and through micro payment