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Add me on SphinnThis isn’t meant to be a long and planned out post with my 2010 predictions, just getting some thoughts out.
Here’s what’s been happening with me and my product launch. My plan has been to set up a continuity offer with a product but have it be legitimate at the same time. Believe it or not I think there are ways to attract customers without offering them a Free* Trial. I’ve now been rejected by 2 or 3 merchants and am awaiting the reply on another. Because of all the scamming that went down in 2009, Visa/Mastercard are tightening their grip on things…especially domestically. And since I don’t have any real processing history, domestic is the route I have to go. So even though my offer is completely legitimate and actually charges them up-front for a sale, the banks are saying no just because there is continuity involved (I don’t want to get into the specifics, but my charges monthly would be under $20, not $110.33). This sucks pretty bad because now I may be forced to abandon that business model and try and make this work by just straight selling it. I’ve put too much time into it to scrap, but now I have to make huge changes. I have to now build a full website and come out with a mini product line so I can offer combo packages and things like that to incent customers.
That’s how 2009 impacted me, where will the affiliate industry be in 2010? While working on all of this product mumbo jumbo, I kind of “left” the affiliate industry for a while. Didn’t talk to my AMs much, didn’t browse offers, didn’t keep up too much on the news. Now that I’ve been looking to get some campaigns and other projects running again (with the product delay I have to make money somehow), things seem to be changing. Rebill offers that made up a lot of business for affiliate networks are dropping. There are still ones that exist and offers running well so it’s not like they’re completely dying, but things will change.
I think many affiliates will realize that before rebills came along everybody was still making money. Not millions every month, but there was plenty of money to be made and there still is.
I’ll keep you guys posted on what happens with my projects and how everything is influencing them.
January 19th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
I hear ya, I am in product creation myself and it is hard anymore to get vendors to back up your product because of all the scamming that has been going on. It almost seems as if you need to give out a trail and then have them order it for a one set full price.
Hope to see your product out soon I know its going to be awesome.
February 1st, 2010 at 2:37 pm
It’s shady scammers that has made my own niche, finance, just as horrid in trying to get new leads even though my associated business is one of the good guys.
Oh well, eventually Google will weed them out of PPC and SEO.
January 19th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
I just got into AM and haven’t run any rebills, but I still somehow feel affected by them. Its really strange. I hope your product works out.
January 19th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Sunk cost dude. if its sunk, drop it.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
You can always use clickbank…
January 20th, 2010 at 12:27 pm
Hi Paul, I know you since those days when you got into Affiliate marketing.. Now from last few months or i must say a year, i really feel that you are left behind. You should get back into the game. Launching a product is a shitty biz. You just moved into a wrong direction altogether. Successfull affiliates start affiliate networks not products. You got your basics wrong man. Get your act together and start pushing some offers.
January 20th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Hope your product recovers and things work out great for ya. If you are going to invest more resources in the product, you may want to rethink whether your investment is worthy.
I know man, online scammers don’t make online good business easier. good luck!
January 20th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Dude, you have been dragging on this “product”. You’ve been talking about it for almost a year. You have to move like a Cheetah in this industry. You of all people, should know that.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:17 am
Rebills have made a large number of folks very wary to part with their credit card details. Getting rid of them is a right royal pain in the ass, and unfortunately it has poisoned the well for other people who have genuine value to offer, and are not trying to screw you.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Just making it work is all that matters. Abandoning a project half way through will be a complete waste of your time. Find a way to make it work and just do it!
January 21st, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Well best of luck, hopefully what ever deal you do get into works out, looking forward to reading future updates.
Till then,
Jean
January 23rd, 2010 at 9:34 am
Why create a line of products if you have not even tried selling one product yet? If you are forced to sell it straight up instead of using continuity, you should probably throw up some sort of 1 product site and see if it converts alone before adding upsells and other packages with a product line don’t you think?
January 23rd, 2010 at 10:27 am
I hope your membership sites lifts off the ground.
You could always try running it through clickbank or paydotcom. They have continuity options for payment. Getting approved isn’t that hard and it would make the payment processing very simple and easy.
just my thoughts -Matt
January 27th, 2010 at 3:51 am
I’ve been rejected by more than 3 merchants too, but now I’ve finally got my merchant account setup.
Feel free to contact me if you would like me to introduce you to my merchant processor.
All the best!
January 30th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Getting rid of rebills is a right pain in the arse, and unfortunately it has poisoned the well for other people who have genuine value to offer, and are not trying to againts you
February 1st, 2010 at 8:04 am
Any further news on your merchant woes? It really sucks that your plans have to get screwed up because of the financial institutions being full of it. Please keep us posted with progress on this issue!
February 1st, 2010 at 1:11 pm
It is not easy to make money online just because it is unpredictable.
February 1st, 2010 at 2:53 pm
The increased number of Internet businesses and the increased number of people that trust the current technology enough to shop and do business online allows further maturation of affiliate marketing. The opportunity to generate a considerable amount of profit combined with a crowded marketplace filled with competitors of equal quality and size makes it more difficult for merchants to be noticed. In this environment, however, being noticed can yield greater rewards. Good luck.
Till then,
Jean
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:27 pm
I keep seeing so many affiliate marketers talking about rebill offers, but I have never personally got into marketing them. I guess it does make a lot of sense to go after consistent monthly payments instead of a one time sale. By the sounds of it, rebill offers might be on the decline now. Anyways, best of luck getting your product launched. If it is taking up a huge amount of time, it probably is best to get something launched and moved on. You don’t want to spend too much time on something that is running into complications.
February 4th, 2010 at 3:03 am
I think we all have many thoughts and expectations. New year is always full of opportunities ahd it is only us who can improve the quality of our life or we could do something opposite.
February 8th, 2010 at 5:34 am
having a product really make the difference in terms of status and revenues, so good luck with the creation of your own product in 2010!