Since my previous post about affiliate marketing as a revenue source for websites, I have received questions from readers about a variety of scenarios. In each case, specific details were asked about the set up for affiliates and the mix of technical and marketing aspects involved. I’d like to share these case studies with you.
Scenario 1:
You have an online information website or business, with no downloadable products for sale. You wish to compliment your site with relevant affiliate eBooks or other downloadable products, so that you can earn affiliate commissions on sales.Suggestion: Investigate a suitable affiliate network such as Clickbank, Linkshare or Amazon. Limit your selection to just one network. Check the affiliate network for quality of downloadable products, commission payments you are entitled to earn, and the experience your website visitors will have when they purchase one of these affiliate products from your website.
Level of interaction required from you for each sale (after set up): nil
Will visitors leave your website when they purchase the downloadable product?: yes
Scenario 2:
You have your own downloadable information product(s) available to sell from your website, and wish to promote the sales to a larger network of affiliate resellers who will display your product for sale on their website or blog. Suggestion: Select an affiliate network that has an appropriate list of resellers who will promote your product online. Some affiliate networks such as Clickbank come complete with payment gateway and console that displays your hits and sales performance.
Level of interaction required from you for each sale (after set up): nil
Will visitors leave your website when they purchase the downloadable product?: yes
Scenario 3:
You have a downloadable eBook or information product and want to attract more visitors and buyers to your website where this product is made available. Suggestion: Set up your own affiliate management area on your website, where potential affiliates can apply to join as a reseller of your product(s). You then have the advantage of managing and motivating your affiliates and sharing resources and tools, to help them sell more of your products.
Setting up an affiliate management centre on your website sounds a lot more complex than it really is and is a worthwhile option when you have more than one product/service for sale on your website. You also have the option of adding drop shipped products to your online store.
Level of interaction required from you for each sale (after set up): nil for downloadable products, dispatch for tangible products and delivery confirmation for drop ship products.
Will visitors leave your website when they purchase the downloadable product?: no
Each of these scenarios have been set up and operated successfully by our clients.
This expands the opportunities available to us, to enter global markets whilst living on the beautiful Sunshine Coast.
You may have the best product or service in the world.
In fact nothing may come close....your product or service is THAT good.
Truth is, even when your product can stop dogs barking between 10pm and 6am, or can make dangerous drivers pull off roads, customers may not want to buy into it unless they are learning about WIIFM.
WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME
I had a visit from a friend tonight. He came within a whisker of paying $11,000 he did not have, for an internet marketing course he could not follow. Are you hearing me? My contact details are available on every page of my website so why, as a friend, was I not contacted for due dilligence? Answer is simple - emotion sells.
We hear this often from the motivated passive earners around us - they went to a seminar, listened to someone who now lives the life style they themselves yearn for, and then, woooshh, they 'buy' into that same lifestyle. In my experience as a marketer, I have watched my clients work their way from 18 hours shifts in the garage to becoming the international sensations that others yearn to emulate. In most cases it has involved around 2 years of calculated risk, determined vision, and clever compromises with family and friend relationships. By this I mean, asking those close to be patient while they work to make their goal a reality.
Success that takes several years, such as above, poses certain risk factors, usually associated with our relationships with our family and friends.
Let me tell you about my observation - the reason that the progression from idea to conception takes up so much time, risk and cost is because we have the perception that we need to do it all ourselves, and if we delegate then our profit margin is cut and we lose out on the cut. NOT SO. Back to my friends. This would not be the first time they have bought into an online business idea. Let's face it, there are 6,767,805,208 people in the world, and only 25% of those use the internet. Most of these people are from Middle East or Latin America. Who are you selling to?
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