Affiliate Bloggers Releasing Their Own Products
It’s been a very busy past several weeks for affiliate bloggers and the releasing of their own products. The affiliate world is changing and so are the affiliate marketers who live in it. With search engines, ad platforms and social networks cracking down on what they are allowing with affiliate related offers, we are seeing more affiliates come up with their own products instead of relying solely on arbitrage with the networks.
Heck, I even came out with my own product last month too! While many are focusing on the sale or membership concept, I went with a different approach and focused on building a free product I can continually update in coming months (new update coming next week), while building a larger readership. With so much focus on affiliate marketing, I tried something different and combined the power of affiliate marketing and blogging, and created “Six Figure Affiliate Blogging”.
Let’s take a look the a few other well known affiliate bloggers and their program launches over the past few weeks.
– Jonathan Volk’s Facebook Ads Guide
Volk has been on a rampage lately. First with his free 101 Affiliate Guide, then building his blog readership to over 30,000… which rightfully led to the release of his Facebook Ads Guide and Forum. One of my favorite features of Jon’s guide and forum area, is the focus on real case studies and whats working. (Price: $99.95)
– Ian Fernando’s InfiniteFB
Ian also released his own Facebook marketing guide and learning program, which promises to teach you the ins and outs of Facebook advertising within 30 days. Once again, it’s all about case studies and sharing the knowledge these top affiliates have already learned while making their money through Facebook advertising. (Price: $37)
– John Chow’s Blog Profit Camp
As one of the fastest and more profitable make money bloggers out there, it was only a matter of time before John Chow came out with his own product. Right now John is in the beginning launch phases of his Blog Profit Camp by giving away a free guide on how to make money through blogging. In a few days this program will launch into a full training program with limited seats, and it’s goal is to help you become a full time blogger. (Price: Free Guide, TBD)
– Carl Ocab’s Ultimate Blog Theme
Well over a year ago Carl created the Ultimate Blog Theme and since writing my first review on it, I’ve had several people order the theme through the blog. I even use the theme on several of my blogs. Load up the latest UBT 3.0 and you will have a fully customizable site in minutes. The most improved features are the ability to change around the site design so you don’t look anything like other UBT users, and never having to touch any code, all customization and options are now in the WordPress admin area. (Price: $97)
– Super Affiliate Twin’s Internet University
There is a whole world out there that has no idea how to make money online, or even what affiliate marketing is. The Super Affiliate Twins created Internet University to be a knowledge base for everything internet marketing. Really, they do cover everything, just look over their first few sales pages for the program! For beginners or anyone looking to improve their money making game, the Super Affiliate Twins have put together a membership site offering everything you need including videos, coaching, hosting packages, software and more. (Price: $99.95)
What do all of these affiliate / internet marketers have in common? Not only are they successful at what they do, and launched their own learning programs based off what they are good at, but they also have created their own branding and following through their blogs. If you haven’t started your own blog and may want to launch your own product in the future, you should start working on your trust, following and branding now.
Every day we are sent a ton of emails on the latest ways to get around Google, or make millions of dollars on local search marketing. What do you make of the increase in affiliates creating their own products? It’s nice to see some of the lesser known marketers coming out with their own products.
When’s the last time you shelled out a few bucks for a program, membership or guide? Have you tried any of these?
This is interesting. So, affiliate marketers are having problems with promoting others' products and they decided to promote their own products that tell you how to promote others' products. I am confused.
<a class="replyTo" href="#comment-118390" rel="nofollow">@jtGraphic: James Thompson:
Cool site. It's funny whenever a big name has a product launch. Your inbox instantly fills with a ton of mailings from everyone trying to get the first referrals and sales.
<a class="replyTo" href="#comment-118393" rel="nofollow">@DotcomNote:
Many are finding it more effective to create your own product and earn full commissions and actually own the product, then to promote affiliate offers with high competition and just receive a one time commission, while growing another company instead of yours.
Hi Zac, what's interesting is I was just part of a webinar with Adam Short who talked about converting someone else's affiliate product into your own. Thus, in time what you do promote really becomes a product.
I like the way you've set up your blog and the mentioned of Carl's theme, is that what you have here as well?
@jtGraphic: James Thompson:
Hi James,
Carl Ocab is the kid-blogger in the philippines. Try to search "make money online" in google, and you will see his blog on first page, ranked 1-3 consistently for quite some time now. What amazes me is, he's only 15 or 16 years old, and he was able to rank high in google in a very competitive keywords.
@DotcomNote:
Zac is correct. Even super affiliates create and sell their own products. Having your own products is still the best way to earn money online, and if you have a big subscribers list, you can leverage your efforts to thousands of your affiliates and earn more compare to you promoting as an affiliate.
Thanks for sharing this Zac. Super affiliates and great bloggers even create and sell their own products. It's good to see that they are still taking some time to create their own products rather than just focusing on promoting someone else's products. That way, they are really showing that they can provide valuable info and product that can benefit a lot of people.
Regards,
Gary
<a class="replyTo" href="#comment-118401" rel="nofollow">@Thu Nguyen:
I use a custom theme on this blog, but have used Carl's Ultimate Blog Theme on several smaller niche sites.
Thanks for the mention!
<a class="replyTo" href="#comment-118406" rel="nofollow">@Gary David | Build Your List Fast:
With all of the time spent on building a blog/brand, and showing expertise, it's only expected that more products and affiliate bloggers will do the same in the coming months.
Hello Zac,
indeed many less known bloggers are creating a product, i will try to create one has soon i finish my last project.
Best regards
Interesting trend happening in the affiliate marketing world. I suppose the next trend is collaboration between affiliate marketers to create a hybrid product? Now that's something to see…
Hey Zac – if you had to choose just one book to read, which of the ones above would you choose?
Creating a product… this is the latest trend and the one step to take if we want to go from simple blogger to business owner…
Releasing products are a great way to get your brand and name out there. Its the next step every blogger should take.
<a class="replyTo" href="#comment-118444" rel="nofollow">@Email Marketing City:
I think the Facebook Ads guides would be most productive for building a business and income fast. Blogging is a long path to wealth, but still works very well.
The Facebook ads guides are looking more interesting at this point.. we are using Facebook the last couple of months extensively and the results are very promising. So, more fine tuning of our campaigns would be the next step to do and those guides could come very handy.
I have definitely noticed the trend of top affiliates releasing their own products. It does make complete sense for theme to diversify their income sources and develop a product that does not get hindered as being an affiliate link.
The Ultimate Blog Theme link doesn't work . It's a 404.
cool list, and interesting that you recc the facebook adds program the most
I saw a few of these advertised, but didn't see the Facebook one out at all. Might have to check that one out.
In your opinion… are all these bloggers coming out with products because they are changing their business models? Or because the FTC came out with more guidelines at the end of last year?
@aggelies:
I agree… I think Facebook has a lot of potential, but its definitely not one of those "set and forget" type of adnetworks. Lots and lots of testing and lots and lots of separate ads seemed to be required in order to target certain demographics.
Awesome, I believe using a blog is one of the best routes one can take when marketing their own product or affiliate service. Bringing traffic through sheer quality content. Better the blog usually equals more free targeted traffic.
Thanks for all the info and I appreciate the quality content
I am now very leery of just buying a product as soon as it is released. I've been disappointed too many times and I have only ever requested 2 refunds in my life ~ that is in 5 years of working on the internet.
I have found too many of these products are just regurgitated from other 'best selling' and successful programmes. To be honest, I've found that by subscribing to some very good blogs (this one included :-)) I pick up a lot of useful tips and tricks. Mind you, I can always use more ~ any offers? LOL
I'm really liking the concept of the Super Affiliate Twin's Internet University. It seems like it's for the less knowledgeable. It seems a lot of the products out there are for people that already have the experience. This one seems like it's more my style since I am still in the learning process. @Jan: I agree, just by subscribing to different blogs like this one, I am able to learn A TON without buying a product.