Is this really the biggest decision of my life?

Hello,

I'm getting down to the point where I need to make a final decision on something that I keep going back and forth with.

Putting my product on clickbank vs having my own affiliate program.

This drives me nuts, I have no idea why, but I keep flipping back and forth between the two. Probably not the biggest decision of my life ... but I'm stuck and am just looking for feedback on the two sides.

I actually have a merchant account and affiliate software so the technicalities of it aren't the problem. Really, the only reason I keep thinking about clickbank is the built in affiliates and the hands-free payouts. I'm an unknown so being able to get that 'trust-factor' with affiliates to sign up to my program is something I'm unsure of.

Thank-you so much for any feedback ...

Lisa

Biggest decision, hardly. Just testing.

considering the cost of entry to clickbank is only $50, why not do both. Test which one yields higher returns.

Over the next few weeks you might get less return from clickbank with the most recent Google slap on clickbank advertisers. The affiliates will probably take a little time to get back on their feet again and get off of Google Adwords. Just a glitch.

That's sound advice from Jeffrey Dean. Do both and test which one works best for you. At least, having your own system means that you get to know who your affiliates may be.

I'm a relatively new product owner, myself, and Clickbank's army of affiliates is the biggest attraction for me. But apart from that, affiliates know that they'll get paid by CB whereas an affiliate program by a marketer who is as yet unknown to them may be a drawback. There are a number of unscrupulous vendors who have behaved badly and so the rest of us tend to get tarred with the same brush.

You could also try PayDotCom.com which has an affiliatiate program like Clickbank's although the payment to affiliates is the responsibility of the vendor. The attraction here is that you may sell physical goods, also, whereas, as you know, CB only deals with digital delivery goods.

Jamie

I think you should also consider your list.

Do you have a big list? Do you have a lot of connections in the IM world? If you do then maybe running your own affiliate program would be good...but on the other side of things if you don't yet have a big list and you dont have any big jv connections yet then running via clickbank may be a good idea..

I've made a decision to use my own affiliate program run through infusionsoft since I plan to have many products and not just one. This way the affiliate program can tie in through all of them.

Hopefully this will be the best decision for my business. I know it will be harder initially because I'll have to attract all the affiliates on my own, but I'm hoping it will pay off at some point.

I've not seen (or at least not ever noticed) anyone offering their product through clickbank and then also through their own affiliate program. Seems like that would make affiliates upset. Thanks for the replies though.

All the best...

Lisa

I think Jamie has pretty much hit it on the head but I feel that the not so reputable sorts that have made it difficult to run your own affiliate program seem to get known and their product tends to drop off the market anyway. You just don't want to waist your time promoting a product and then not get paid. At least with CB or Commission Junction and a few others you know the check will be in the mail. That brings up another point that it doesn't hurt to get your product on more than one Affiliate service. Again it is a numbers game after all.

Just a comment from a new member but an old marketer

Bob Kimsey
The Vhiper Network

Hello Bob,

I think that's a very valid point and one I struggled back and forth with. Are affiliates going to want to get involved when the program isn't run through clickbank (because they'll be afriad they won't get paid)?

I've been doing my best to ask around and get some feedback on this and heard mixed reviews.

I've found that some people in the IM crowd (the market I'm in) don't like to promote clickbank products due to affiliate commission theft, it's so easy to replace the affiliate ID with your own. So even though the check's going to come, they know it will be a smaller check just because it's run through clickbank and the buyers will put in their own ID to get a discount.

So it's really a problem either way. My title was a little dramatic, because I wanted to get the post read, but really, it is a big decision. Because like you said, I don't want to be one of the one's who drop out of the marketplace.

For me, I'm willing to put in the work to promote my own product, it's in SEO. Obviously, if I feel good putting out a course on SEO, I'm good enough at it that I can get my own traffic to generate a fair number of sales a month and make it worth my time, but of course affiliates will make a big difference in what I end up earning and how far my product reaches in the marketplace.

Hopefully I'll learn some things through all this and be able to come back here and share.

Thanks,

Lisa

Sorry in advance as I just skimmed a few of the replies on here.

I'm sure other members already gave you great answers, but this one is "dear to my heart" so I had to chime in.

I did see that your market is IM and I'm so GLAD you're aware of the CB theft.

If you were in a non-money niche (especially non-IM) then really the only other question would be whether you want to have a product line or just a solo product (though I read that you do want a product line).

So if that's the case, then this isn't even a decision. Not a shred of brain power or hesitation should be spent on this...

If you have the opp (or want to) build a product line, then you should NOT have each of your new releases compete with your affiliates. But if you stay on CB, that's exactly what happens. Each new CB product competes for the attention and dollars of the lead your affs have sent you.

Not to mention CB theft in IM is massive. Any intermediate/experienced marketer is well aware that they lose at least 25% or maybe even 1/3 of their commissions when promoting CB... well if that's the difference between a $9000 check vs a $6000 check, I'll take my $9k in deserved-commissions.

In addition, with your in-house system, my promotion of ONE of your products could actually land me more than $9k commissions (in my example), because you likely give me a split on back-end and upcoming promos since I handed you a couple of thousand leads. So my promotion of your one product could actually be worth $12k vs. $6k for the exact same effort.

So... in the IM marketplace... when someone says "will you promote" (or however they present it), my VERY FIRST question is: is it on Clickbank or in-house. If Clickbank, I don't even look further. The product could be digital-Viagra for all I care... if it's CB, then I'll suggest that they move in-house and clarify the reasons.

What you SHOULD do (as often as possible), is syphon affiliates from CB. Post your product to CB, really highlight the "affiliates" link at the bottom (or whereever) and when they click through, direct them to the pitch for your in-house aff program.

CB is indeed a goldmine of affiliates. But there's no reason you can't just use it as an advertising opp and still pull the affs into your main in-house program.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rob Toth

So... in the IM marketplace... when someone says "will you promote" (or however they present it), my VERY FIRST question is: is it on Clickbank or in-house. If Clickbank, I don't even look further. The product could be digital-Viagra for all I care... if it's CB, then I'll suggest that they move in-house and clarify the reasons.

What you SHOULD do (as often as possible), is syphon affiliates from CB. Post your product to CB, really highlight the "affiliates" link at the bottom (or whereever) and when they click through, direct them to the pitch for your in-house aff program.

CB is indeed a goldmine of affiliates. But there's no reason you can't just use it as an advertising opp and still pull the affs into your main in-house program.

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Awesome advice Rob!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by James Sarian

How big is your list?

If you have a list it might be worth doing a launch first.

Their are 5 main types of launches. If you have a list and have questions about what type of launch to do let me know.

Good luck

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Hi James .. Im interested in your comment on 5 main types of launch .. could you elaborate please

kind regards Paul