What Mailorder Publishing Can Teach You About Selling Online!
"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!