Why you should not stuck with just affiliate marketing !
Posted in: Money, affiliate marketing, money making ideas
If I am to give you an example without revealing all my secrets and protecting my current niches, I used to be an affiliate for “go to my pc” in 2004. For those who don’t know, it is a software which gives you the ability to use a remote computer as your own computer.
By using this, a person can work from their home computer as he is working in his office computer. And of course you can use it for different purposes. For example you can use this as a spy tool to gain access and monitor your partner’s online activities.
Just Google “remote pc” if you need more information regarding this. Anyway I started getting amazing conversions after I promoted it at my web site back then, ” software briefcase”.
Although I was getting a good commission , as a experiment I handed over a project to one of the developer’s in India to do a similar product but with less specifications (To reduce my cost.) He developed it for $350 and I started promoting my own product at my already established website. It was getting around 200 unique visitors back then and I ran an Adwords campaign to bring in more traffic. And I set the product price just under $10 to make it more reachable to a wider capacity of users.
Proving that I had done the right thing, I could cover the product cost which was $350 in 8 days. And after that every dollar I made was my profit. With my limited traffic I was able to sell anywhere from 10-25 units a day with a cost of only $20 in adwords. If you do the math you could see I was doing well with the program.I know these numbers may be very insignificant for some people who are making over $1000 each day. But I believe those who visit my blog can take something out of this post. There are lot pf people who will be more than happy if they can make $100 daily.
After the initial success I thought of proceeding to the next level. I am a person who is not 100% depending on online methods to make my next sale. I always believe in the fact that off line marketing can be more profitable than online marketing. May be it is just me. But I am speaking from my own experience.
If you a web host provider may be you are selling plans at $4.99 a month. But if you approach small business owners in your area you can sell the same service for $9.99 a month.
With a help of a friend of mine I was able to put a small advertisement in an Indonesian weekly magazine with a cost of $15 a week. And boy, didn’t it turn out to be amazing. I put a small description about the product, mentioned the price and put the web address in the advertisement. And it started doing wonders from the next day. My sales were increased by at least by 12-15 each day. This means my daily profits were also increase by at least $100. This was a very good thing for me at that time. Just finished schooling and waiting for university entrance, $100- $200 a day meant a lot. Specially with the currency conversion rate of 1 dollar = 100 units of my currency, I did not need to do any thing else.
My run continued for about 6-7 months before a similar product came in to the market for a price I could not beat. Yes, a free product which was only asking your email in exchange for the software.
Even with that I was still selling 3-5 units a day. But later on when it was time for me to start university I thought of giving studies my 100%. (That thought only last about one month.) And I was offered a good price for my “softwarebreifcase” web site at site point which made me get rid of it. But I am more than happy with what I have done without sticking simply to the affiliate program I was promoting.
Even after that I have done more than dozen product developments through elance. And I must tell you, not everything you do will end up successful. Even though my first run was a very profitable one, I have experienced few bad ones on my way. Even one time the developer made an absolute disaster of what I was expecting and I couldn’t even launch the program. But as once great churchill said, success is looking at a failure and going for a brand new idea with the same kind of enthusiasm. The exact words might be different but this is what I remember. And I use this phrase as a motto in my life.
Everything we do will not end up where we plan to. But that’s life. And that’s the beauty of it. If everyone is getting everything they wish for the world would be pretty boring. I like the feeling when I am just about to start something. Not knowing whether it will end up successful or not. But one thing I know is I will give my everything for it.
Turning back after 30 years I do not want to wonder What if I have done this and what if I have done that.
As I once said in a early post also, everyday in life we will be given little windows of opportunities. Our destiny will be written upon how we are making use of these opportunities.
So if you are a person who is reading money making ideas everyday, But choose to do nothing about it, Start something today. And if you a person who has already begun something, May be a blog , hoping to do what is john chow or showmoney doing today, don’t give up. They have started doing these 3 years back and how long have you been blogging. For them it might have take 1000’s of new tweaks and ideas to make them who they are today. How many new things you have tried?
To summarize what I have written so far, once you find a good converting product as an affiliate, If possible try to get a similar product developed under your label. You can sell it under your own terms. May be you were not happy with the original product’s pricing, payment methods, Return policy but once you have your own product you can set all these things as preferred by you. Given that how easy you can get a product developed using freelance programmers, I do not see any reason why you should not try this. And do not under estimate the power of off line marketing.
In some cases it is more profitable to just promote your affiliate products rather than developing your own. As a businessmen this is where your decision making skills comes in to play. If you feel it is better just to promote the affiliate product, no problem, stick to it. But If you come across a product which you think you can make more money by developing a similar product, then go for it. No one can stop you achieving what you want to achieve.
The picture you can see in the middle of the post is my this month’s earnings, Rs 525,220/=. (Not from my blog Income but from product relates sites, forex profits and few off line trades.) If any one needs inspiration, see what a 23 year old is earning by working only 3 days a week. I spend 3 full days in my university and one full day at a hotel having a quality time. Which leaves me 3 days to work. And as you can see I have made the best of limited time I have. Who is saying government is responsible for poverty? It is you who is responsible for what you are and what you will be.
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