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The Merchant Dilemma
September 24, 2004
I've been running into a problem finding merchants. It's not that there's not much choice out there - in fact, there's an overwhelming number of online merchants who've joined the affiliate program bandwagon.
The thing is, despite finding bushels of merchants in promising-looking niches, I've been taking a look at the numbers, and many of them just don't offer very high commissions. Some of them make the Amazon program look highly rewarding in comparison.
So now I have to change my strategy - the search is on for high-quality, high-paying merchants. I've found a handful, but they're all in different niches. I'd like to find at least five or six in each potential niche.
And now I know why there are so many people out there selling Internet marketing products. The commissions on infoproducts is very high compared to regular merchandise.
To be honest, until I stumbled onto the Internet marketing world, I'd never actually purchased an ebook. I always thought of them as rather poor cousins to a real book.
So here's another dilemma - I know Clickbank offers infoproducts for markets that are not Internet marketing-related. But do people outside of this market really buy ebooks? Yes, I've heard about Frank Kern's parrot book (listened to the interview - it was very good and extremely inspiring) but still, I have to wonder.
I guess the key to selling infoproducts, is to find a market that's used to paying for downloadable information.
- BJ
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Posted by BJ at 02:29 PM in Affiliate Marketing | Permalink
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Comments
Hey BJ, great blog you have here ;) I found you lurking on my friend, Lynn Terry's forum...
"guess the key to selling infoproducts, is to find a market that's used to paying for downloadable information."
The KEY is "information"... not necessarily "downloadable" information. Everyone, for the most part, is willing to pay for information if it *solves* a problem or makes their life *easier* ;)
I've sold ClickBank products to strange little niches. If the prospect is "online", searching for a certain "solution", and clicks through to your product (or affiliate product) - you can be pretty sure that *if* they are a qualified lead, they WILL purchase the product whether digital or not...
Just my 2 cents ;)
Andre
Posted by: Andre | Sep 26, 2004 7:24:30 PM
Thanks for coming by, Andre. I just checked out your site and signed up for your newsletter.
I never really thought of it that way, you know - and it fits. Everyone is always saying, look for a problem and provide the solution. So it makes perfect sense that if you're providing a solution, and your prospect is looking specifically for a solution to that particular problem, you'll make the sale, whether digital or not.
Thanks for giving me this perspective - it puts a whole different spin on things. I've got to start looking at an info product not in terms of, "gee, this is electronic - will they buy" but rather, "who needs this information? What problem does it solve? And how to I reach the people who need it?"
Thanks!
- BJ
Posted by: bj | Sep 26, 2004 8:54:47 PM
