I used to get hung up on this question alot…
Specifically – at the end of the day, which online task has the absolute highest ROI?
Is it building links? Advertising? List-building? Testing & optimization?
Getting traffic?
No.
It’s not any of those things.
The most profitable online activity is, without question – selling products & services.
Everything in this business is driven by sales. Affiliate commissions, CPA leads, Adsense clicks, ad revenue – everything, ultimately, is sustained and driven by sales.
This isn’t exactly a revolutionary concept or anything – and hopefully it’s not new to you. The reason why I’m writing about this is because it’s often easy to lose sight of this simple reality.
There’s plenty of ways to generate traffic and structure your business – and basically everyting “works”. But nothing happens unless something gets sold. Plain and simple.
You can write 100′s of articles, build tons of sites and drive thousands upon thousands of visitors – but it’s all for nothing unless you’re matching high-converting offers with responsive visitors.
So we’ve established that selling stuff is – obviously – the source of your revenues in any business, and therefore sales is your most profitable activity. But let’s dig a bit deeper…
Think about the affiliate business model for a second. The whole focus of the industry centers around discovering high-converting offers with effective average visitor values, and then driving as much traffic to them as you possibly can.
PPC, building a network of mini-sites, building massive authority sites, creating viral content, list promotion, content submission, advertising – these are things that any full-time affiliate does on a consistent, daily basis to some degree in order to do what, exactly?
Drive sales.
For the person at the top of the ladder who’s making the offer to begin with.
Take a moment to think about that.
I know for myself, that I’ve often (gladly) spent several weeks of my time, and thousands of dollars, to build and promote authority sites with the sole purpose promoting ONE well-converting offer.
Now – I make some great money by doing so, and the site is an asset.
But who really benefits?
Who sees an incredible gain in results and client acquisition as a result of all my hard work?
The person who’s selling the product I promote. The merchant.
And I’m usually just one of dozens of affiliates who generate similar results – not to mention the hundreds of others who consistently send occasional sales or lower volume. It all adds up to a truly incredible volume of traffic, sales AND client-acquisition for the product seller.
Understand this – the origin of the offer always gets the lion’s share – regardless of the commission payout. As an affiliate, or an adsense publisher, or a CPA lead-generator – or whatever – all you’re essentially doing is getting paid (on performance) to build THEIR business.
I want to show you how incredibly powerful this can be…
Click on the link below, and scroll down the page until you see his affiliate stats screenshot – which showcases a typical 7 day period.
http://www.truthaboutabs.com/Affiliate-Info.html
(I’m neither affiliated with this site, nor do I have any connection or vested interest in linking to it – this is for the sake of example only).
In just an average 7 day period…
* The top affiliate drove over 176,000 visitors, generating 709 sales
* The #2 affiliate drove over 139,000 visitors, generating 385 sales
* Literally dozens of other individual affiliates sent thousands or tens of thousands of visitors, generating anywhere from 12 to 200 sales during the week
* What you’re seeing is just the top of a very long list of affiliates and affiliate actions. You can safely assume that hundreds of affiliates generated at least one sale in the 7 day period.
* A small percentage of all that traffic inevitably joined the merchant’s prospect email list/newsletter, which would realistically have built his prospect base by 10,000 subscribers or more that week (probably way more) – and that’s an asset that can be profited from even if they don’t buy as a result of that affiliate’s promotion. They can be monetized with other promotions and typical “list marketing”, etc.
* This is just the BEGINNING of the product funnel. There’s still continuity programs, upsells, downsells, high-ticket home study courses, coaching, affiliate promotions and viral “talent harnessing” of the list to multiply the overall market reach and thus multiply sales – again.
And so on.
All the merchant does is simply SIT THERE with a high-converting offer (one website, one offer) and a host that can handle some decent traffic - and a highly motivated affiliate force does all the heavy lifting. Writing countless articles, building countless sites, testing countless keyword variations in the PPC’s, adding countless backend autoresponder promos – and so on.
Meanwhile it’s the product seller that is building a huge list of prospects and clients.
It’s the product seller who’s building a million-dollar business just by doing one, simple thing…
Selling a product with virtually NO distribution or overhead limitations in a market that can support massive, massive traffic.
So what’s the most profitable online activity?
Owning the offer that others promote and build traffic FOR. Obviously.
But – let’s rephrase the question a bit…
What’s the most profitable online activity that can be started with the lowest possible amount of effort, time and investment?
If you haven’t guessed it already – it’s creating and selling high-value, high-profit digital products.
* They can be created in as little as a single day. (Less time than it will take most of your affiliates to build their organic properties, sites, etc)
* They cost NOTHING to distribute, and the logistics of product delivery couldn’t be simpler.
* They have a high perceived value and cater to impulse purchases – since they are delivered immediately on purchase.
* Done right, you can deliver massive value with digital products that will impress the hell out of your customers – at no cost to you.
* And – they’re merely the initial gateway to several other offers and profit centers.
The whole point of doing this is to create a structure through which others can build YOUR business. You could never, ever drive the kind of traffic that an army of affiliates can when it comes to promoting your offer. You could also never build a targeted prospect and buyer list as quickly – to in as much magnitude – as you could by leveraging affiliates.
It’s the ultimate list-building strategy.
It’s the ultimate traffic strategy.
It’s the single one activity that can produce such incredible results from such comparitively “small” efforts.
And it’s been a silent “millionaire maker” for an elite few that truly understand the power of the internet – and the power of leverage.
The bottom line is that creating offers (selling something) is the most profitable online activity – without exception. It’s the top-tier of the web-based revenue platform, and it also enables leverage (affiliates).
And the fastest way to create an offer is to produce a digital product.
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog post, where I debunk some common “myths” and challenge many of the perceptions about digital products – and why there’s still a ton of room in all of the big markets for digital publishers.
It’s still the wild wild west, folks.
There is no reason why you should limit yourself to bottom-tier activities.
Especially when you consider that it’s often LESS work to be the “top dog”.
Just something to think about…
-Chris
P.S. Yes, this is a “pre launch” warmup for my upcoming VIP report on product development, where I’ll discuss things like how to determine what actually sells like crazy (so you don’t waste your time), how to build products in a day or less, how to recruit hundreds of affiliates – and more.
I’ll go into more detail in the next blog post…
50 responses so far ↓
1 John // Feb 12, 2009 at 8:44 am
Hi Chris,
This is a very interesting post to read. I had attempted going down the affiliate road but could never really grab hold of it with enough passion to really build up any steam. This was because I just kind of felt that I was just plowing through the same old products that thousands of other affiliates were reviewing and never really felt anything for what I was doing. I then considered other avenues to work in and the thought of creating my own products suddenly hit me and appealed to me hugely. I am looking into this avenue right now and have already realised the profit and freedom of choice that can be achieved with doing it.
Desperate Buyers Only was on my shopping list for today and am gonna add yours to it as well.
Cheers Chris,
John.
2 admin // Feb 12, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Hi John,
Affiliate marketing definitely isn’t something to “abandon” in lieu of product development. It’s still part of the picture, on many levels.
Foremost of those – it’s a great way to test responsiveness in any given market – as well as a good way to generate cash flow in the meantime while you build your own list, your own product, etc.
Most people that go the “product development” route miss some of the key factors that are essential for making a big splash in the market.
Either they narrow the focus too much, or they simply have a bland sales process that doesn’t attract attention.
Pricing also comes into it.
Often, it makes a lot of sense to develop high-ticket products so that the prominent merchants who basically “own” the market on the front-end can promote YOU on the backend.
(If you gain visibility on Clickbank’s marketplace, you’ll be approached by many established marketers with a backend offers of theirs that you can “plug in” to your client communications or your thank you page with high-ticket commissions).
Anyway – I’ll be discussing this and more in the next post…
Cheers
-Chris
3 Internet Marketing Aid // Feb 13, 2009 at 2:19 am
Hi Chris,
Excellent read, also Johns comments strike a chord as far as lack of real enthusiasm for promoting someone else’s ‘business’…
I too am just starting down the road of product development and will be interested to benefit from your next report. Perfect timing really!
I seem stuck in ‘little’ nichey products/guides and find it hard to step up to a broader – bigger product…
Best wishes
Andy
4 Norio // Feb 13, 2009 at 2:23 am
The tricky part to developing your own product is:
- Getting a converting salesletter going
- Getting your initial bit of traffic
- Getting interest out of affiliates to actually promote your product
We started a product a while ago and spent hundreds and, eventually, thousands of dollars trying to get traffic, a good salesletter going, an our affiliates to actually promote us.
The funny thing is, our clients love our product but they just won’t put the effort in to promote it. How do get around that?
5 Chad // Feb 13, 2009 at 2:31 am
Great read.
I would love to get involved in the product development side of things. Similar to the “truth about abs” product, that’s where my knowledge base is.
My questions are more directed towards things like:
- What makes a “good” e-product? How long should it be? What makes it the type of product that gets the least refunds?
- The transacting and processing? Who are the guys to go through for that?
- How do you gain the essential visibility on Clickbank’s marketplace?
- and finally, and this one perplexes me…. what makes a high converting landing page? What makes people pull out their credit cards when they see your sales page, and not have buyers regret?
I’m assuming you will be covering some of these points from what you’ve said Chris, but just thought I’d throw it out for discussion.
Chad
6 Abel // Feb 13, 2009 at 2:31 am
Another no holds barred post, Chris.
Yes I admit it, you sucked me in with the way you wrote it. Interesting. No doubt being a product owner has its advantages. You can do many things affiliate can’t.
I got an idea after reading your report and it’s easy to create. I am in the middle of setting it up. I will write to you as I need your feedback and help too.
Chris is right, John. As John Reese said, you want to be on both sides of the table: the merchant as well as affiliate. Otherwise, you will leave too much money on the table.
7 Max // Feb 13, 2009 at 2:40 am
Fully endorse your argument.
There’s two things I’d like to know that maybe you can enlighten me and your other followers on.
First, where List Building is the primary object of a Prodcut Creation Campaign, is a good ‘free’ viral product better than one that has to be purchased for cash?
Also, given the high quality of your products, is one of the reasons you sell at the low price point you normally charge, because you hope to ‘List Build’ faster, by adopting a price more likley to encourage hesitant or impulse buyers?
Great Post (Thanks)
Max
8 Graeme Eastman // Feb 13, 2009 at 2:43 am
If you have a look at all the top affiliates…and I’ve met many of them all around the world…they have one thing in common…they are all merchants too!
This is a key concept that most affiliates miss out on. The easiest way to earn an affiliate income is to tie it in with your own product sales. All the big affiliates do this.
Cheers,
Graeme Eastman
http://www.AffiliateGuide.com
9 Abel // Feb 13, 2009 at 2:45 am
On another note, I have asked you about this before, Chris.
I have recently developed a product and am doing my initial split test on the sales letter. You advised me to carefully choose keywords and prequalify visitors in my PPC campaign. Which I did and I managed to get my first sale, after like…400 visitors. And until now, it’s still one sale.
What should I do now? Continue with the campaign? Or find other ways to get traffic? Or shall I use affiliate marketing – which I don’t think it’s convincing enough to invite them to promote my product with this kind of conversion.
I am not sure how to get this going…
10 Stephen // Feb 13, 2009 at 2:47 am
“Getting interest out of affiliates to actually promote your product”
That has always been the biggest stumbling block for me too Norio though honestly it’s not the ONLY stumbling block for me for this type of venture.
Glad to see you’ll be selling what i hope is an all encompassing training product with step by step procedures Chris.
This type of business popped back into my head just yesterday when I stumbled upon this site http://rapidactionprofits.com/ that made me think “if only I had my own product and knew how to get affiliates to want to join it this script would be great for that”.
Hope you’ll fill us in on a launch date and if the price point slips out in the translation that would be cool too.
-Stephen
11 Michael // Feb 13, 2009 at 2:51 am
Interesting post Chris,
Yes of course selling the product is the point of the exercise and all the efforts are geared to that end. It is a matter of participation in the effort and raking in a share of the revenue generated in selling that product.
It is important, I feel, that the product be a good and worthy product but moreover it has to be a product that people want and or need otherwise all the affiliates int he world will not contribute to the motion of selling that product and no one makes any money.
So I feel, when it comes to any system or method of generating revenue promoting any product, picking a product that is needed and wanted is an important issue.
Mike
12 admin // Feb 13, 2009 at 2:54 am
@Norio – The absolute biggest factor is WHAT you’re selling.
I also have sold amazing products that my clients LOVE – but making the damn things sell in any respectable volume was impossible.
People simply don’t buy what they don’t want.
To see massive sales volume, you need to understand what *truly* appeals to your market.
Because people will always buy what they really want. We all know of people who continually buy crap they don’t need – and can’t afford.
Whether it’s fancy cars, clothing, jewellery – whatever. Everyone’s got a “buying button”.
And most would-be hot selling merchants simply are not tapping those buttons.
For example, if you’re selling a course that trains a person how to do something, you’ll sell a few copies.
But if you’re selling a SHORTCUT that does it “for them” so they don’t NEED to train – there’s a big difference.
Most of which comes down to framing and wording. Seriously.
For a more detailed explaination of what I’m saying, check out:
http://www.thelazymarketer.com/blog/2008/02/29/the-surprising-truth-about-hot-selling-info-products/
Cheers,
-Chris
13 PLR Dude // Feb 13, 2009 at 3:18 am
I’m actually wrapping up a new product at the moment. It’s not my first but its the first I have geared up to attract affiliate marketers.
Its uncanny timing but I had just OK’d the draft of the site and cover graphics when I got your email about this post.
Having read several of your other reports Chris I’d be keen to read this new one before I launch. What’s the timeline looking like?
14 admin // Feb 13, 2009 at 3:23 am
The timeline should be for around the 16th or 17th.
Sometimes I kinda get excited and add more stuff, though
Anyway, I need to launch this one rather quickly anyway since I’ve got something pretty cool coming up at the end of the month…
The product is basically done, I’m just adding some supportive material.
Cheers
-Chris
15 Day Online Trading // Feb 13, 2009 at 3:37 am
Thanks for an interesting and thought-provoking post. I had always gone the route of trying to promote other people’s products as an affiliate, mostly because of the hassles of creating a product of my own, creating a good salesletter, etc.
I have successfully done this in the past, but it was a lot of hard work. Your words have made me think that perhaps it is worth the extra effort to do this again. I had discounted this, but I am now seriously rethinking.
Thanks for the input and for opening my eyes.
Kind regards,
Barry
16 Craig Paulson // Feb 13, 2009 at 4:13 am
Chris,
Right on the mark as usual. I used to be of the mindset that getting 50%-75% of the selling price, I must be doing better than the product owner. Of course, I was comparing it to the “physical product” world that I came from. 75% is a nice commission, to be sure, but I’ll take 25% of 20,000 units (plus and a list) over 75% of 200 units all day long). Can’t wait for the next report.
Craig Paulson
17 admin // Feb 13, 2009 at 4:31 am
You’re right Paul.
But now here’s another quick thing to consider…
One of my good-selling front end products has, to date, made me a profit of exactly $37, 636.56 since its launch in mid-2007.
(That’s after affiliates got paid, processing fees, etc).
However – on the backend, with my client base that was built up SOLELY as a result of selling that initial product (via affiliates), I’ve generated approximately 7 TIMES that amount.
And I’ve only just begun.
So not only do you get a larger volume of sales (or in the case of my example – at least a steady volume of sales), if you do it right – you’ve got a continual influx of clients that you can offer additional products/services over, over and over again.
Just like how I explain in the “Rapid List Formula” – you can do this without being a cheeseball, too.
So the whole point of setting up a high-converting offer is NOT just for the sales revenue on the front end.
It’s basically a break-even operation (except you actually profit) in order to essentially build a huge business for “free”.
It’s a way to get a massive volume of traffic and fill your “product funnel” with a continual influx of new customers.
If you simply master this ONE thing, you can write your own ticket.
It’s that simple.
-Chris
18 TJ Short // Feb 13, 2009 at 4:31 am
I just grabbed your conduit system and smacked myself in the head. DOH I knew this stuff already just never thought it would really help. Now armed with all the knowledge I have gathered from the various experts over the past 9 years I am ready to bust out on this scene big time.
I am not sure exactly what the story is but every now and then I get a heap of inspiration and make a few new sites. Note to self remember to mention thelazymarketer.com on my next site.
By no means am I a lazy marketer spending 15 hours a day sometimes bashing my head against the wall. BUT it is getting easier with your help.
As I write this comment I am already putting what you said above into action. This is along with the products I have bought from you over the last year AND today.
Thanks again for the extra inspiration Chris talk soon.
TJ Short
When you get a chance check out some of what Chris has helped me make in 2008
Worlds Best Carpet Restorer Envied By Friends For YOUR wise choice
True blue honest help with fat loss from Australia
AND
True life debt reduction hints & tips from Australians
19 John Stanley // Feb 13, 2009 at 4:35 am
Well,
Exactly… Which is better…? Writing those articles, getting 23% ctr to your landing page, from those getting ca 37% ctr to the merchant and from those getting 4% to purchase so you get a 50% cut and something like $27 for a good offer?
What about eliminating those steps, writing the articles bundling them into an ebook (after all you are already writing them anyway) and letting others send you the traffic?
It took me a while to understand the power of this… if it wasn’t for TheLazyMarketer.
Thanks Chris
20 Bob // Feb 13, 2009 at 4:38 am
Hi Chris
Refreshing as usual! With all the fluff around “marketing” it’s nice to see someone getting back to basics. No money is made until someone sells something. If you’re the one doing the selling, you’re the one making the money. Simple really.
Looking forward to your next VIP.
Bob
21 Mike // Feb 13, 2009 at 4:47 am
Hello Chris
Excellent Post.
Can I ask a related question please?
Alongside Product Development, is there still room / mileage in obtaining licences for Resale Rights Products, and promoting the same?
If so, are you able to suggest any sources for quality Resale Rights Products, as 99% of them are dreadful?
Best Wishes
Mike
22 Dave West // Feb 13, 2009 at 5:09 am
Hi Chris,
The website box is blank because I am just putting together a single package site along the lines of what you say in your blog – a package for resellers with an affiliate program for those with large lists to JV promote to and be paid 60% of all $197 sales.
That price may seem expensive but I am putting together a comprehensive start-up business package, so that buyers can start earning from their own efforts from day one.
That’s why I am leaving a comment here. It goes without saying that you have absolutely nailed this. It’s taken me years of floundering around the web, losing money after dollar, trying to make something work.
Then I come across some very clever person like yourself who CAN see the wood from the trees and talks absolute sense.
Thank you for confirming that I am on the right path. I have decided that I no longer want to be an average Joe trying to make a fast buck at the bottom of the heap with all these crazy and useless schemes that are around.
The way to go IS to develope your own product that gives everyone the values they want at a reasonable price and have a team of people help you sell and organise things so that they share in your profits – a win-win situation for everyone.
No one gets cheated and the maximum number of people possible all benefit, either from the product or from the profit-share.
Thanks, Chris, for turning on the light.
Dave West
Linton Press ( publishers)
lintonbiz@fsmail.net
23 John R // Feb 13, 2009 at 5:20 am
Hey Chris,
I like the idea of owning/selling my own products and have some good ideas but what bothers me as that however good my product is – How does *Mr.Unknown* realistically attract attention from the guys that can drive big traffic to it?
24 John Stanley // Feb 13, 2009 at 5:41 am
By the way Chris…
Do you want to scare your own affiliates away with this post…
25 Star "South Florida SEO Expert" Riley // Feb 13, 2009 at 6:22 am
Chris each and every one of your offers are top class I am still working on conduit site and seeing increasingly better and better results.
I should just add your name to my bank account cause whenever you release another extremely helpful product I want in!
I was heeding in this direction but now with insight from your post I am going full force.
Thanks a million:
Your Online Friend – Star Riley
26 Jeremy // Feb 13, 2009 at 6:43 am
Hi Chris,
Great article, you certainly have succeeded in your effort to compel me look out for your next post,
I too am looking at building my own brand, my own patch of the internet so to speak, and that means creating and promoting my own products and services, whilst building a loyal band of affiliates.
After spending many months of agonizing over what my patch of the internet will be, I finally had to admit I had no passion for making the gurus even richer.
It has finally dawned on me that I need to promote something that I can put my face too rather than building anonymous websites with no personality, or building some fake persona, creating a business built on deception.
That whole concept never really sat well with me and as a result it showed in my ROI.
Chris you certainly have intruged me with this post and I certainly wait for your next with anticipation.
Thanks again.
27 Newtown Spinal Decompression // Feb 13, 2009 at 7:46 am
This article is great. I always knew this was the real way to make money but did not know how to set things up. I will be looking forward to your future post.
28 Billy W. // Feb 13, 2009 at 8:20 am
Chris,
All I can say is you rock.
Man, whenever I read your posts its like a refreshing splash of reality in my face.
I print out your stuff and keep it on my desk to read over and over again to keep my focus.
OK, I’m gonna end here so I don’t sound like a infomercial testimonial! LOL!
Keep up the good work.
Best,
BillyW.
29 Nando // Feb 13, 2009 at 8:28 am
Hi Chris,
Excellent post and a great way to set the stage for your report. I’m looking forward to what you have in store.
Great quality content. Thanks for pushing in the most profitable direction.
Cheers,
Nando
30 Cheow // Feb 13, 2009 at 10:19 am
Thanks Chris for this insightful post.
I have been eagerly anticipating your product creation VIP report.
For my 2 years in Internet Marketing, I always focus on affiliate marketing. Will want to become a merchant myself too… as like what you say, the money lies there.
Cheow
31 Melody // Feb 13, 2009 at 11:25 am
Hi Chris,
Thank you for a great post. I’m a copywriter and now seriously considering becoming a merchant. Was going to go the affiliate route for a passive income but something always held me back. After reading this, I finally “get it”.
Melody
32 Work at Home // Feb 13, 2009 at 11:32 am
Nice post Chris! I am a vendor an your right it’s much better being on the selling side than affiliate promotion.
33 Theresa Mayhew // Feb 13, 2009 at 12:03 pm
As always, Chris, when your email arrives I drop everything and run on over to read your post.
Norio brought up some valid points in his comment:
“Getting a converting salesletter going
- Getting your initial bit of traffic
- Getting interest out of affiliates to actually promote your product”
Are these the “and more” in your newest product? They would sure be helpful.
All the best,
Theresa
34 admin // Feb 13, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Hi Theresa,
Yes – those are points I’ll be discussing in detail.
However, what a lot of people don’t realize is that everything hangs on the OFFER itself.
Conversion is part of it – but more important is how much appeal exists for your core offer in your market.
Even the worst salesletter for a “magic pill” is going to outsell a training guide sold as such.
My report will discuss how to ethically sell the “magic pill” of your market, while at the same time giving your customers what they REALLY need.
So stay tuned
-Chris
35 Steven // Feb 13, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Just being an affiliate is probably the riskiest business there is unless you are also capturing peoples emails and building rapport with them on the back end.
I have made it a point that if I am going to promote someones (_____) Product, I need to have my own product in the same niche so that others can also promote me.
That way if affiliate (A) kicks my ass off the serps, I can spot him and other affiliates that have outranked me and try to recruit them to sell my similar product, which works well.
That way I am still making money and not left dead in the water.
36 admin // Feb 13, 2009 at 2:52 pm
That’s true Steven.
Affiliate marketing is, in my mind, really a great way to gage markets with real-world results.
It shows you what sells, so that YOU know what angles to take when selling your stuff and/or building your brand.
Counting on SEO alone to outrank other competing affiliates as a sole means of revenue is, as you said, shaky ground.
(I speak from experience on that one, too).
You don’t HAVE to create your own products to build a valuable business. But you definitely DO need to build some form of leverage.
It just so happens that product creation and affiliate recruitment are about the easiest way to springboard the process.
This isn’t exactly a revolutionary process – every worthwhile marketing educator has been parroting this exact strategy since the beginning of “IM”.
Wonder why…
-Chris
37 admin // Feb 13, 2009 at 3:02 pm
@ Abel (post #9) – There’s a couple of possibilities.
One is your keyword selection (or traffic source in general). Switch it up with a variety of kw’s and ad sources to see if something clicks. Monitor it closely, though, and track each source seperately.
Also – split testing or not, the OFFER itself may simply not be compelling enough or touch the right “buttons”.
Try going to forums in your niche and asking honestly if people would buy it – or more importantly, why – specifically – they wouldn’t.
Offer everyone who gives you advice or commentary a free copy of the product in return.
Very effective strategy.
The other thing is price. It may make sense to start with a very low price point just to establish some kind of consistent results.
Since you’ll be acquiring your data faster, you can then quickly optimize your split-tests and make the most effective sales process possible, all the while gradually increasing price and measuring visitor values.
The end result is that you’ll have a high-converting offer that much faster.
HOWEVER –
Like I’ve said previously, WHAT you’re selling is going to make all the difference.
For your front-end products, you want to be selling the most attention-getting, irresistible mass-appeal products in the niche.
Pull out your biggest guns, make your biggest claim and then use your biggest results as proof (or someone else’s, provided that you get them to contribute their info).
In general, you can do this by simply looking at who’s really KILLING it in your market and ask yourself “why”?
I can guarantee you that it’s their offer – not just their traffic – that contributes to that.
Nobody’s going to send you traffic (affiliates or interested web users alike) unless what you’ve got is genuinely captivating and relevant to the masses.
Save your “niched” products for the backend and charge a premium for them.
-Chris
38 uri // Feb 13, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Here is what I am wondering…
How is the affiliate that is bringing in 176K visitors per month doing that?
Can’t be from PPC, cause if it was he would be losing his shirt..
Imagine getting ONLY $5,610 for that much traffic..
poor converting traffic I tell yah!!
39 Dan // Feb 13, 2009 at 4:35 pm
This is a follow up and along the same lines as Abel’s question #9.
Would another good strategy on “testing” the waters of a market be, create a “similar” freebie product up front?
In other words, create a free product similar to the one you have in mind to sell, then after some time elapses, evaluate the demand based on the opt-ins?
40 Leo S. // Feb 13, 2009 at 4:40 pm
@ TJ short: I’d like to tell you that I tried to visit your websites, but for me, they are a real mess… And like most people, I use Internet Explorer!!
So I think you have to test them once again. I don’t have any problems with other sites, especially not with my own:
http://www.combibiz.com.
Cheers,
Leo S.
41 admin // Feb 13, 2009 at 4:52 pm
@ Uri – that’s 176k visitors a week. Not month. Anyway, I would assume that it’s a media buy. Buying traffic from companies like ValueClick, etc. Or something similar.
@ Dan, yes you can use a freebie, although your results with opt-ins won’t be as definitive. The simple act of spending money to get what you offer (practically any amount) is a different tier of appeal entirely then simply joining a list.
-Chris
42 John // Feb 14, 2009 at 7:48 am
Hi Chris,
If I can just go back to your comments on post 37. You mention starting up products geared towards mass appeal etc. My question relates to the flip side of that. What is your opinion on building up a portfolio of products that target specific needs and wants a la desperate buyers (sort of like sneaking in the back door), and making a sizable income from these. Is there room for both type of approach depending on how you want to play it out.
John.
43 The most profitable activity on Internet - Born in the Internet // Feb 14, 2009 at 1:39 pm
[...] on Internet Feb.14, 2009 in Internet Marketing Today, I read an article about which is the most profitable activity on Internet. Guess what it is? It’s not about making hundreds of sites and try to drive traffic to make a [...]
44 raymond // Feb 15, 2009 at 8:46 am
Chris,
I am marketer, who for about 4 years now been fascinated by your website and your “bottom line” revelations. But by biggest stumbling block is technical. I understand how any high converting website should work. As a marketer you are pretty much a human behavior expert and now which buttons to push to get folks buying your service or product. But I am a dud when it comes to setting up a website. Could you refer me to an individual or team who can be trusted, deliver quality work, reasonably priced and guide me through the setting up my offer/website. I can do my own sales pitches and what not. I just need the designers and programmers to get my offer off the ground. I don’t want to work with amateurs and I would be more at ease working with a person or team who are not only designers and programmers but folks who also have their own products and services on the market. That I believe is the true litmus test in selecting a service provider cause they have been there, done that in launching there own online, product/service business. Please, just point me in the right direction if you can, your real deal answers will be appreciated for this question.
45 Making Money Online - What is the Most Profitable Activity Online That You Should Do Everyday? | Make Money Online With Affiliate Marketing | SingaporeAffiliateMarketing.com // Feb 15, 2009 at 9:45 am
[...] Super affiliate Chris Rempel discusses more about the subject of product creation at his blog. You can read it here. [...]
46 Abel // Feb 15, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Chris, thanks for the reply.
Will you include these topics (steps to test and how to tweak a new non-converting site – based on feedback and tracking stats)? I’d appreciate if you would.
I use Adwords and there are clicks from my ads. The problem is the conversion sucks.
Here are more questions arising from your answer:
1) what if I lower the price and they are still no buyers? What should I do?
2) You mentioned I get feedback from forums (why they buy or why they don’t). Based on the answers, do I to tweak the sales letter to address these based on the feedback I receive?
Thanks and can’t wait for your next report.
47 Champagne // Feb 16, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I look forward to trying it..
48 From The Blogosphere | Netpreneur News // Feb 19, 2009 at 3:52 pm
[...] What’s the most popular online activity? – Interesting read [...]
49 California Commercial Lenders // Jul 15, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I already see the authority loophole falling apart. 1 day after launch high authority blogs have been removing URL links from their top commenters because of the “unusual amount” of spam they have been receiving of people imitating the top commenters that post regularly.
The truth is that there is no easy fix for link building and this is a prime example.
50 datafeedr download // Nov 16, 2009 at 8:04 pm
I agree with that 100%! Action makes things happen. Nobody ever learned to walk without taking the first step.
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