Much is written about how to run a business based on the selling of affiliate products. The advantages of running such a business are well documented:
- Quality products are there ready made for an affiliate to promote
- These products will often come with marketing materials to help with the promotion
- The percentage available to the affiliate will usually be very, very generous
- There is no need to set up your own banking as the vendor will usually deal with all that and pay out what you have earned on a pre-arranged basis
There is no doubt that there are few better ways to start up an online business than via affiliate marketing.
In this article I want to look at the other side of the business and explore how to sell one of your own products as a vendor rather than as an affiliate. In my experience Clickbank offers the best opportunity for potential vendors. The very fact that the company are a bank themselves means that the banking aspect is built into the marketing in exactly the same way whether you are a vendor or an affiliate. They will simply send out your profits at a pre-arranged interval.
If you have a new digital product which you have created or had created, it makes sense to, not only promote it yourself, but have others promote it for you too. This can be easily achieved through the Clickbank system. If you do not have a Clickbank account the sign up is very simple. Their system will guide you step by step through a very straight-forward and not-at-all lengthy process. In minutes you will be all set to go. You will need to decide on the commission you will pay to affiliates. Rather obviously, the better the commission you offer the more affiliates are likely to be attracted to your product. The top percentage is 75%. It depends a bit on the cost of your item, but most vendors will offer at least 50%. Do remember, the earnings from affiliates don’t cost you a penny to generate once you have the system set up, so what you receive is all clear profit. Which is better 2 sales on which you pay just a 25% commission or 20 sales on which you pay a 75% commission? Do the maths!
As with any marketing process (whether you are a vendor or an affiliate) you will need an online presence. On your vendor’s website you will need a sales letter, a thank you/download page and, ideally, a page of affiliate tools. This last page will hold useful information and marketing items to assist your affiliates. This would include such things as banners, other images (e.g. – eBook covers), follow-up email templates, researched keywords, etc. plus a ReadMe file with further details and explanations regarding the product and the affiliate tools. All of this can be easily generated yourself or you can outsource it to a professional who will do the work for a very small fee.
Once set up and running, a system like this will go on gathering affiliates and making sales for years to come if you want it to. I know from personal experience as I have an eBook I set up as a Clickbank vendor back in 2008 which is still bringing in sales today. This is, of course, one of the ways that internet marketers generate passive income. If you want to know more about running an online business or discover further information on passive income here are a couple of useful links: – www.internetmarketingmanual.com & www.passiveincomestrategy.co.uk.