@Tony ... I agree. I'm getting more and more into the habit of watching all sorts of numbers. I can't really preach this topic as I'd be a hypocrite seeing as for the first few years, I KNEW this would be a smart idea (watching numbers closely) but I always put it off or ignored it.

@Gavin... well yes and no. There's no shortage of affiliate marketers who make 6-figure NET monthly incomes through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing does give you that simplicity. As long as you can find cheap traffic and you can convert for an offer, you get paid and you're done. That's it. No other responsibilities.

With a product, it's a whole different ball game. There are a LOT more variables and some get caught up in the details and never properly launch a product or they get into perfectionism mode and again, never launch it ... or they get married to a product idea that is entirely flawed. I'd rather say there are pros and cons to each.

For me, I get an ego stroke everytime someone writes to me and says how great something I created is. I get a serious satisfaction out of that. So just getting affiliate commission checks isn't enough. I need the recognition and praise (as long as it's well EARNED!). And I also need the creative release of knowing I created my own items. Plus, since I enjoy networking... it's easy enough for me to pull in affiliate partners. Which would be useless if I myself was just an affiliate.

But, again, pros and cons. I rarely do affiliate promotions even to my own list. Hence the low 17%. Don't let it fool you though, I'm sure some even in this forum see 50%+ of their income from aff offers.

@Ashley ...
The physical products weren't mine. They were a license deal. I had to pay a license fee. But yes, the conversion with physical products was certainly higher. And understandably so. To me, an ideal purchase is getting the physical copy shipped to me, while I get the digital version immediately to review. But I too want a physical copy if it's a quality course that I really want to review.