Hey, Justin Goff here…
I’ve made a living as a product owner and an affiliate for the past 5 years. Â Now, one of the easiest ways to make money online is to be an affiliate for another product.
And while I recommend being an affiliate marketer to a lot of new people, once you know what you are doing you should really be making your own products.
Whether your product is something like a DVD, a vitamin supplement or even something common like phone chargers – having your own product gives you SO much more control over what you are doing. Â Along with that, there’s a few BIG reasons to have your own product.
1. Â Your affiliates build your email list
When you have affiliates that make sales for you, you’re collecting a buyer’s email address everytime they make a sale. Â This is the KEY to having a long term business online. Â Once you have a customer, you can make new products to sell to them, and continually market new stuff to your list.
2. Â You have a “backend” for every sale you make
Every sale you make as an affiliate is usually a 1 time payment for you if you’re an affiliate. Â But when you actually own the product, you can make the same sale and then you can also make more money on the backend since you have a new customer. Â This allows you to spend more money on advertising, which can get you even more customers.
3. Â Affiliate marketing without a list is NOT a business
If you have NO email list or no way to contact people who have bought products through your affiliate links, then you really don’t have any REAL assets in your business.
People who have emails, physical addresses, Facebook fan pages etc… all have real assets that allow them to continually market to the people who buy their products.
If you’re just starting out, affiliate marketing is a great way to get started. Â But once you understand what you’re doing, I would definitely look into making your own product.
This is the best way to build yourself a real business that will last.
– Justin
Justin this is a good post on why you should be an owner and not just a seller. I really gravitated to point number 1 .Because when you have other people selling for you it frees up some of your time to be creative.
Also,Jay Abraham has a saying the says, ” Stop working harder for your business. Figure out how to get your business to work harder for you”. Setting up an affiliate program for your product is the start of one doing just that.
Hello Ray, I have to agree with Justin. I’m about to launch my first product and it’s pretty exciting. One sale truly IS a subscribing customer and if you’re product is good, he is definitely going to listen to what else you have on offer.
the trick here is to have a large enough network of ‘friends’ that will sell your stuff for you.
I agree Justin,
I just build my ebook to sell and to make it more valuable I just added a audio version of my ebook. Hoping that will be the selling point.
and your right the key is to save there emails on every sale you make.
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I agree, while I am an affiliate for others I love being able to have control over and sell my own products as well as building my list when I do so.
Great advice Justin. I wonder about those ppc marketers who drive a ton traffic to affiliate offers but don’t build lists in the process. They could be making a lot more.
Those are the basics, wow, you can get a good list by selling product and get opt ins.
Having affiliates is far better and more profitable than being an affilate it is like having your own army of sales people. Very good post short but sweet. For more on affiliate marketing and ideas on your own product check out not only this site but the articles directories such as my site!
I very much agree with Justin, building one’s own product is very much appreciatable mostly because you have the full control over it as opposed to being an affiliate. I am getting started with selling website templates and its really paying off.
Nice Article.
I agree. I recently created my own product and am making way more money with affiliates driving traffic as well as myself. Great post. Keep up the good work. Go here to Make Money Online
Great post – basically telling everyone who sells your weightloss program that they are mugs.
If they all took your advice – you’d have no income – as isn’t your product basically sold by affiliates?
This reminds me of Gerald Ratner who said all his product was crap.
It would be cool to have your own product but sometimes it is impossible to get your own product so it is better to sell another product that has a great program and allows you to earn high commissions.. in a perfect world I would create my own product.
I guess the major thing that stop affiliates from developing their own product is risk.
Who want’s to work for something and then find out it doesn’t sell ?
If you create a product, create a good one and make sure you research the market BEFORE the creation process.
great post mate !
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Interesting post, however creating/sourcing a product is not for everyone. Sometimes selling is just easier based on your personality.
I’m personally struggling with this issue right now. Although I like the economics associated with producing and then having others sell on my behalf, my natural strengths are more geared towards selling.
People need to understand their individual strengths first; that will then lead the person to the right answer.
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Yeah, when first starting out being an affiliate is a lot easier.
Then when you have more knowledge and bigger list, creating your own products can be really valuable.
And of course having other people selling your products for you is the end goal.
Justin,
Great article I completely can relate when first starting out in 2006 is was easier to promote ads but having a product is key of some residual income.
Makes good sense. But not everyone runs their website full time (like me). So affiliate marketing is necessary for me just to have an online business. Hopefully someday my business will grown big enough so that I can outsource a lot of the startup costs for my own product (like writing & marketing)!