"Affiliate Programs," as they've been dubbed on the Internet, have actually been around for quite some time. In mailorder publishing we just called them dealerships, but they worked the same way. Someone would self publish a book or report, sell it through ads or by direct mail, and often allow others to sell it, for a commission, too. Becoming a dealer for a product sometimes required its purchase at full price, sometimes a fee, or sometimes it was just given away free. All three methods are used online, as well.
Today, those books and reports of by-mail selling have become eBooks and websites, the camera-ready flyers the dealers had printed to promote them have became computer generated affiliate sites, and automatic tracking of credit card payments has replaced the cash, checks, and money orders that were sent through the mail. But the story remains the same...
By having many dealers selling his product, a successful mailorder publisher was able to make a lot of money. As for the dealers, they were lucky if they could make enough selling it to cover the costs of their mailings!
What mailorder dealers needed were products they could sell for the small cost of having them printed, because 50% just wasn't enough. But unless a dealer could produce a product of his own, what he had available to him were the same schlock reports to which anyone could have reproduction rights by simply purchasing the report. Much of this marginally useful material has found its way onto the internet where it is given away by the diskful, often through affiliate programs!
In the make-money-by-mail circle, most of which is now in the past, it was the "prime source" or publisher who won. In the make money-money-online circle, it's still the prime source who wins, though he isn't called that, anymore. The more things change, the more they stay the same!
One thing electronic publishing has made possible is the ease with which it can be done -- for practically nothing.
A mailorder publisher had to be willing to take a sizeable risk to get his work into the market. Typesetting, printing, and binding cost money. So did print advertising, direct mail, and shipping. But electronically, most anyone can now put together and promote a publication for little or nothing and deliver it free. And most everyone is!
Who fared best as a dealer, offline?
It was the dealer with his own products who could offer someone else's products to his customers in what was called a "bounceback" or "back-end" offer. Any sales made this way didn't cost much because the sales materials for the offer "rode along" in the fulfillment package to a highly qualified lead. Bounceback orders were almost entirely profit, since the dealer simply forwarded the order to the "prime source" of the product along with his distributor cost, generally 50%, and a shipping label. The prime source, "drop-shipped" his product to the customer, and everyone was happy.
Today, if you're dealing in online affiliate programs, you probably know they're tough to sell as stand-alones. Why? Because there are many such "opportunities" from which anyone can choose and because there are a lot of people trying to sell the very same things to the same market. In plain English, the competition is fierce!
But that doesn't mean that quality affiliate programs can't make money for you. They can, if they are used properly.
As in mailorder, the best possible use you can make of online affiliate programs, not your own, is to tie them into whatever it is that you're doing, as ride-alongs, whether on your web site, in your eZine, or through an eBook you publish. By finding the programs that mesh with your own business, you set them up to generate added revenue for you, much like a bounceback in mailorder. These select programs can be things that tie into your product or service directly or indirectly.
What's the difference?
Let me give you an example.
I've recently completed an eBook called "Build It Online! - How to Find, Sponsor & Duplicate MLM Success Over the Internet." The book is a product, my product. But I've been able to use it to introduce some things that I can recommend to readers who may need them. These include a lead program that's directly tied to Multi-Level Marketing, and a very helpful piece of software that is indirectly related, since it can benefit anyone doing business online including those who are involved in MLM or Network Marketing. What's important is that both are products I can feel good about showing my readers. Take the lead program. When searching these out, I came across one that I wouldn't use myself. So why offer it to others? I believe in being able to stand behind my recommendations, so should you.
It's easy to find products that you can tie into your own online business. But take care that you only "affiliate" yourself with things of value. Just because you joined a program is no reason to promote it, especially if you're linking it to your products and your reputation.
In my "studies" in online marketing -- why not call them that! -- I've bought into far more things than I've ever promoted, but there are only two business angles I want to work online, anymore.
The first is to continue to develop and sell my own products. I'm working a couple of niche markets now, and know it's easier to sell what I produce than it is to market someone else's product.
The second is to continue to promote the select MLM companies I can believe in.
In fact, if you don't have the interest in creating your own products, to which affiliate programs can be tied, I'd urge you to get yourself into a good MLM company and work that instead of an affiliate program.
Why?
Because working an affiliate program is self-limiting. You make a sale, you get a cut. But the program owner gets the customer!
With MLM it's a little different. When you make a sale, your customer, in a sense, becomes an affiliate or associate of yours! And you earn on his sales and on the sales of those to whom he sells. This can go "multi-levels" deep, so that eventually, you can be earning bonuses and commissions on the sales of 100's or 1000's of people, not just your own. It's called leveraging, and it's something else being an affiliate dealer won't give you. Why not check it out?
Much success!
Larry Stepanowicz is the originator of the Grand-Slam Gold(tm) MLM sponsoring system. http://panographics.com/grandslam/?01 His new book, "Build It Online!" can be found at: http://panographics.com/grandslam/builditpal.htm?01
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