It pays to be generous.
March 7, 2007
When you setup an affiliate program to sell your products, it pays to be generous. Affiliates will promote your products more readily, and continue to push them harder when they see they are earning well with them.
Let me tell you why I'm posting this. There are two reasons. The first reason is that not so long ago I did a big promotion for a product from one of the big dogs of internet marketing, only to find that the product had a one-time-offer that I wasn't earning a dime from. That really made me angry, and I wrote to the product owner to let them know what I thought about it. The response was less than thrilling. Basically, "thanks for the feedback, I'll think about it" kind of a thing.
Now, I respect this marketer very much, but I have to admit that was a real blow to me as an affiliate. I haven't promoted his products since then, and I'm not sure I ever will unless he decides to start sharing some of the back-end money with his affiliates.
After all, who sent the traffic? Me. Who made the sale? Me. Who would have zero if it wasn't for me? The vendor.
In my mind, you are disrespecting your affiliates if you're not sharing at least some of the back-end money with them–at least splitting the one-time-offer with them 50/50.
I see a lot of people setting up their affiliate programs to give the affiliate a little bit up front and zero on the back-end. That's a big mistake. Your product will not go super-viral if you're treating your affiliates that way. Chances are they won't make enough money to think it's worth their efforts.
The more you can offer to your affiliates, the more viral your product will become. Your profits from the added traffic will usually far outweigh the extra that you are paying out to your affiliates.
An example is my $7 Secrets report. I offer 50% of the $47 one-time-offer on the back end. Thanks to that, the number of affiliates I have is tremendous, and even though the product launched more than a month ago, I'm still making dozens of sales every single day.
If you're an affiliate, always check up-front with the vendor that you'll get a share in the back-end sales. If they say no (or don't bother to answer), that's not the kind of product you want to promote. Save your precious contact with your email list for products that respect their affiliates.
Yes, be generous. It pays!
Comments
51 Responses to “It pays to be generous.”
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Jonathan Leger has been earning his living online full-time since the fall of 2004. He regularly posts advice about search engine optimization (his current passion), AdSense and Internet Marketing. He is the creator of a suite of popular software tools, including: Jonathan L Leger 
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Hi, Jon~
I read your email and felt I must respond immediately. Indeed, it sucks when a marketer lets others do all the work for him, and doesn't share the wealth. IMHO, the person on this course is bound to fail sooner or later. You are spot on with your thoughts…
Regards,
Alden Smith~
I do not run an affiliate program or participate in any, significantly at least. With that being said, who cares if the affiliate gives you anything on the back end. While you are helping the vendor make the sale the vendor actually closes the sale. On top of that, many affiliate programs payout more than 50% on the initial offer, from what I have seen, which is very generous. Not to mention that vendor will, if they are good partners, market your products as well. I think taking it on the backend or asking is being greedy, IMHO. The payoffs could be much more if you build a cross promotional partnership than asking for more money.
Hi Jon,
I agree with you 100%. The thing with info products is that they cost almost nothing to make and certainly nothing to reproduce. I would promote a product more if I knew I was getting something worthwhile from it.
After all, we are all in this business, or any business, to make money. And I would rather ave a small chunk of regular onging business than a large chunk of a one time hit.
Rezbi
Yes! Yes! Yes!
As I read your post, I felt a certain de ja vu.
I had something similar happen to me.
That's why, with my membership site, I give the affiliate a portion of the membership each and every month the member they referred is a member.
One added point…
Not just who sent the traffic and who made the sale, but who, in the case of a membership site, keeps the member a member? That's right… the affiliate.
As I get into higher priced products, I'm always going to remember what that big time person did to me as an affiliate, and never do that to one of my affiliates. I know to be generous.
Thanks Jonathan.
"It pays to be generous" is nothing more than your unproven theory or opinion. Of course, you're entitled to your opinion but I'd like to see proof that what you say is true. Otherwise, it just sounds like you're being a bit selfish and greedy.
Just because a marketer allows you the front end doesn't mean he'd make more money if you also get a piece of the back end. Without proof, you're just blowing hot air.
You've got a choice, if you don't like the way someone set their affiliate program up, then don't promote it. Simple. Then you won't get ANY money from the deal.
Obviously, there are lots of benefits to being a product creator. One of them is deciding when and if you should have affiliates at all. The other is how much to pay them.
Using your logic, next you'll want him to give you 50% of his list too! The point is, you're making an assumption without any proof - "It pays to be generous". And I say the moon is made of cheese.
Listen, I don't want to sound like I'm bashing you. But making these types of statements without any proof doesn't help - especially newbies.
Of course, I guarantee you'll have people jump on your band wagon right away. They'll take it like it's the "gospel truth" just because you said it.
But just because you offer 50% of a backend $7 product doesn't mean that's the right solution for another product developer whose development costs and overhead may be quite different from yours. This is not a "one-size-fits-all" situation.
Case in point, money back guarantees. How many times have the "gurus" told us basically you're killing your sales if you don't offer a money back gurantee?
However, sometimes tmoney back guaratees are simply inappropriate. That's why many online or offline merchants simply do not offer them.
Try returning software to Circuit City or Best Buy after you've opened it. Or take a look at RSS2Blog.com. They do not offer money back guarantees. I doubt their sales are suffering.
But listen to 99.9% of the "gurus" and they'll tell you that's the BIGGEST mistake you can make… blah, blah, blah.
Simply not true!
So before you rant and rave about not getting even more money from someone else's hard work - "Show us some proof!"
Woohoo! Hot debate — I love it.
First, to answer the people who think it's greedy of me to want 50% of the one-time-offer: I find that silly.
Who spent the money to build the list to send the customer? The affiliate. Who paid the PPC engines to send the customers? The affiliate. Without who would the vendor have nothing to show for all of their hard work? The affiliate.
To echo what was said in one of the comments, when you're dealing with digital products and services which have virtually zero distribution cost, I feel it's greed on the part of the vendor to not give 50% of the OTO.
To answer the comment about "proof"… first, the back-end product of my $7 Secrets is $47, not $7, and I think it's only fair that I give 50% of that $47 to my affiliate since it's a digital product which costs me nothing in distribution costs.
As for proof, I can tell you that my affiliate sales ratio jumped from 18% to 86% after I introduced my 50% OTO. That's a 68% increase, which raised my profit margin 18%. Now that's proof I can live with!
You hit it right on the head Jonathan, any Joint Venture (which is what affiliate marketing is) has to be a win win situation for both of us.
BTW, congratulations to you,. Your $7 ebooks have created a whole new way to market in the very crowded niche of internet marketing. You should be proud.
Jon,
Well, hey asked for proof and I guess it doesn't get anymore "proofier" than that.
The sad part most miss, is that you 'give to get'. Just because some of the ones who teach this don't follow it, it doesn't change that fact that it works. Usually greed is what will do it,
I think that to give generously, especially on something that has almost 'zero' cost is the best way to build loyalty, whether customer or affiliate.
Well done, Jon.
Hi Jonathan,
I not only think your "It pays to be generous" attitude is correct on many levels, but is indicative of the way you do business.
In all your dealings I have seen nothing but a willingness to improve your product, but also develop other products that go hand in hand with what you are offering.
I thank you Jonathan for being generous and your proof is in the customers that will gladly promote your ideas and programs. Not just blow hot air.
Sincerely,
Alan W.
P.S. You are what you think.
Jon,
I just read your email of which this blog topic is addressing. And I felt compelled to reply immediately,
since you asked me to reply at your blog here.
Before actually arriving here, I actually forwarded a
copy of your latest email to my main marketing
mentor, J.F. Straw - a longtime marketing Millionaire.
I asked him why he does not offer his own affiliates lifetime-value back-end commissions,
because I had always felt PRECISELY as you do
concerning this very issue!
I look forward to his reply!
For me,personally, Ken Evoy - Mr. SiteSell himself - is the shining BEACON of how to properly treat
one's affiliates! As far as I am concerned, Ken Evoy
"wrote the book" on how to run affiliate programs.
just my 2 cents…
darryl dean
Austin, Texas
I've always thought it was important to pay my affiliates on any money that they have helped produce. Just the way I choose to do business. Does it necessarly bring me more business? Not really. Only a handful of affiliates will every really do much. But I want the people who are good to stay, so I treat them well. Just the same as I would to keep good employees offline.
It pays in the long run. But not many online like to think long term.
Just my 2 cents
Carole
Jon,
Keep up the great work! I love what you're doing, it's about time someone started offering what people can REALLY work with! Kudos!
Hey Jon,
I agree with totally about the sharing of the backend it's a great way to get into the good books with your affiliates and JV partners.
But and yes there is one I believe there is an exception to that rule lets say you are selling a $7 report and you decide to go for a $9.97 or even a $17 OTO I think affiliates will understand if you don't share the OTO so for me this is ok and a lot will agree on that.
Now if we're talking about selling a $7 front-end and a $27 and up I really think you should give the affiliates half simple as that.
That's my take on this issue but as always everyone has their own opinion on the matter, but I guess that's the nature of the beast…lol
–David
Frankly, if you're genuinely trying to start a "business" online, you don't really have time to fool around with most affiliate programs, unless your business is going to be promoting affiliate products.
You definitely don't need to be promoting products that come with Master Resell Rights or Private Label rights, or for which such rights are or will become available. Usually, in order to make a few bucks promoting those kinds of products, you have to be "quick on the draw," because within hours, the 'net will be flooded with promoters.
While you're head's spinning with promotions, you're not concentrating on building your list, optimizing your pages, A/B testing, running your Adsense or Adwords campaigns, and many of the other things that you really should be doing to ensure long-term income instead of quickie bucks.
Simple fact that it's taken me a long time (too long) to learn is that any product worth its purchase price isn't sold with any rights, and isn't sold through 72-hour deals, firesales, dime sales, or (no offense) for $7.
I often look at some of these "tactics," and ask myself, "I wonder how companies like Adobe EVER became successful?"
Has anyone but me noticed that i-marketers today seem to be pushing their "bonuses" as strongly as they are their products themselve? And has anyone thought about where those "bonuses" originated? If you guessed through MRR and PLR offers, give yourself a gold star!
I've fount just a few too many products I PAID for given away free by the original marketer or some other purchaser just weeks, or even days, after I bought it.
So, when it comes to joining affiliate programs these days, I steer clear of most of those run by i-marketers who use the afformentioned tactics.
As an affiliate, I believe what I promote reflects on me - on my ethics and my judgement, and ultimately my reputation. I don't want to promote junk. It hurts me in the long run.
/rant
Steve
Jon:
I have not done any statistical analysis on this subject, but here's what makes sense to me:
If I have the opportunity to promote someone else's product, the things that are going to be most important to me are reciprocity — will this marketer return the "favor" by promoting for me,
will the offering "protect" the interests of my list — will it be to their benefit to buy/use the product, and will they in turn be able to earn a reasonable income by promoting it,
will any subsequent downline lists have the same benefits,
and lastly, will it be financially worth my time to promote it — particularly if I have multiple choices to promote.
Right now, as I'm sure you and all your readers are, I am bombarded with more possibilities than I could possibly promote. How to choose?
I think the answer is rather obvious.
Keep up the great work!
As an online copywriter I get to see who's getting the most traffic.
I can tell you now that the marketers getting HUGE affiliate traffic are those who offer a whopping percentage of the front end sale (70% or more) then a big percentage of a series of one-time-offers and back end sales (50% or more).
The marketers who try to be cheap and offer low commissions KILL their affiliate traffic stone dead.
If you're an affiliate you're going to choose the affilate programs that offer the best products and give you the best returns.
You've worked hard to build a list and you're not going to just give the best part of that list (the people who buy) away for peanuts.
If you're running an affiliate program you might want to keep in mind how expensive it is to generate a new client through pay-per-click SEO etc and be generous to your affiliates who give you FREE paying clients.
Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh
Hi Jonathan,
I agree the promoter using affiliate programs should be giving the affiliate a portion of the OTO.
I also agree with darryl dean of Austin, Texas Ken Evoy operates the best Affiliate Program
Some marketers seem to be pathologically incapable of sharing reveues.
I know this because I often get to see the REAL figures of who earns what … and from what
Their sociopathic condition bars them from making really huge money. There is no long term back end for them because affiliates don't make enough, so the sales traction slips backwards and falls away no matter how hysterical and loud their promotions are.
They have to keep hustling, hustling, hustling. Can you think of a marketer like this? I can.
What a hell of a way to live.
Give me a product creator who gives a big % cut for the affiliate up front plus a big chunk down the back. For him I will sell, sell, sell … forever
There are several high profile marketers for whom I will never sell, because they suffer from this incurably pathological inclination to avoid sharing revenues - to their cost. Maybe they were deprived as children…
By contrast the product originators who share the rewards are hard-wired with the fundametal rule of Internet Marketing: 'Build a business, not a cashcow.'
So here it is then: The real secret to building massive revenues and capital value is achieved by building a back end, by growing a committed, cost-free sales force - and that is done by sharing revenue at all levels, the foundation of an IM business.
Keep in touch
Jonathan
Johathan,
You cheated me. You charged me $15.oo shipping on the $7 Secrets and you thought that was ok.
Chris
Hey Chris:
Sorry for your trouble, but that wasn't me. The affiliate who received the payment must have had a default shipping and handling charge set on their PayPal account, which is why you got over-charged.
Remember, the $7 Secrets method sends the payment directly to the affiliate through their PayPal account–not to me.
Put a ticket in at AskJonLeger.com and I'll refund your $15 S&H.
If you're selling a digital product that doesn't cost anything to distribute then it makes sense to give away a large chunk of your upfront profits to obtain a customer.
Only those who truly understand the lifetime value of a customer in their marketing funnel will give away a large commission.
Look at some of the late night infomercials for instance. They give so much value up front that sometimes they lose money on the frontend. When you get on the phone to make a purchase they'll pile on the upsells and membership sites to milk the value out of that customer.
Those infopublishers who aren't as generous usually do not have any backend to sell. They just create one frontend product after another.
- Gary
Jon,
If you are telling the truth about this marketer, then why are you hedging your bet by withholding his name?
We all want to call on the carpet chintzy affiliate webmasters and half-truthful marketing campaigns.
If you have documentation, then he can't accuse you of slander.
Regards,
Richard Posner
PS: I find Mike Filsaimme's recent promotion with the Butterfly Manuscript added as bait to be misleading. He should be called to the carpet. The Butterfly Manuscript is not worth a tinker's damn without the software to make it go. And that software costs a small fortune!
How did you set up the 50/50 split on the one time offer on the $7 eBook offer? Was there a way of doing that through Paypal or did this require separate affiliate software?
Hello Again readers n posters.
The marketplace only pays for the "VALUE" which you bring to it. Most people think of value as money. Not true! From the customer's point of
view, your company exists only to provide them with quality results. This is what value is.
Adding value is all about making your product or service more attractive to the consumer. It is about making sure your product or service is produced based on the needs and wants of the customer.
"Price is what you pay. Value is what you get." – Warren Buffet
All my best "Value to you and Yours … lol
Phillip Skinner
I do not know enough about affiliate marketing yet but in my bricks and morter business if i get a lead from somebody and service my customer well I am not going to pay another commission if they come back to me again but yes would expect to pay a commision on the total amount of the first sale,
I think if you offer a good affiliate commission on both the intial offer and the one time offer you will generally get more affiliates willing to promote your offer to their list.
When it comes down to it, I don't want to make a minimal commission whilst the product owner makes a massive sale on a oto and they also get a subscriber who will then subsequently buy many more offers from them in the future.
The product owner is already getting a sign up, who will receive their emails and future offers, so surely they can push the boat out and share the oto.
I have promoted many affiliate links to my list and I agree with with Jonathan, if I don't get a slice of the oto then I tend not to promote it.
It's entirely each person's preference as to what links they promote and what commissions they receive, we all have our own way of working. And with so many affiliate programs to promote I'm sure we can all find one to suit our needs.
Like Jonathan said "save your precious contact with your email list for products that respect their affiliates".
Sally
I was really disturbed when I read your article.. What happened to just spreading a good idea because it was just that, a good idea. Good for the environment & good for peoples soul. There is too much of this "what's in it for me", generation. That's what's killing the world. Teenagers won't even get out of bed in the morning unless there’s something in it for them…. what happened to 'un-stacking the dishwasher or putting the clothes on the line' just to help. No there has to be a buck in it! I would go so far as to say ….. “You selfish bastard…… if all you can do is flog someone else’s idea for $3.50 you might as well sell cars ……
My company doesn't allow us to advertise. So what do you do? You advertise a solution to your prospect's problem. I promote solutions to problems. Not a company.If you look for them to help you and do ))% you will never make it.Be an expert!
I'm with you 100%. Treat your affiliates well and treat your customers well. . . this is foundation of online business. I stopped promoting a Clickbank publisher recently because they dropped my commission from $17 to $4.
Jon,
Your post has highlighted the 2 types of vendors - the hit-and-run hustler, and the visionary business builder.
It's perfectly understandable why you were angry with that big dog marketer. I would be too, if I knew that I'd handed him my definitely precious mailing list in return for almost nothing, knowing that he'll be selling lots more of his stuff to them and keeping all the profits.
That's a rip-off of sorts that would only happen once for me. Any other vendor that has the same strategy is going to be ignored by me. And that's their loss, not mine. I'll just merrily continue selling for vendors who make it worth my time and effort and assets (my list).
I think the important word here is 'viral'. We all want to have our products go viral, don't we?
The business builder's tactic you mention here can ensure that each and every product will indeed go viral very fast. You proved that with your $7 Secrets, twice over.
Thanks to you, I, as your affiliate, gained from your viral success! And I am more than happy to continue promoting your product. Secrets forever!
Hustlers' tactics just kill the viral process before it can even start. And not only do I have to give away my list, but I HAVE to get into the hype game big-time to make those so-so one-time commissions!
With that kind of prospect, why should I even bother? As Jonathan Gunson says, "What a hell of a way to live."
Carry on succeeding!
Richard:
I didn't write this article to bash anybody, but to make a point about why you should be generous. Despite this marketer's being less than generous, I still respect him and what he's accomplished. I have no intention of smearing his name.
Russell:
With brick-and-mortar businesses it's different, since those are physical products and your profit margin is generally much lower (not to mention it's more difficult to keep track of who generated the lead, etc). I'm talking about vendors of digital products online, where there is virtually zero distribution cost, so profit margins are very high, and it's incredibly easy to keep track of who generated the lead.
Suzanne:
I completely agree that people should not only be motivated by "what's in it for me" with almost everything in life. I take part in a public ministry work free of charge because I want to help people — there's nothing "in it for me".
But I'm talking about business here, and about a business being fair to those who are making them a lot of money. In that case, I think it's appropriate to ask "what's in it for me", since the vendor is selling the product to earn money for himself as well.
Jonathon — I have to agree that when it comes to Internet based business, Affiliate marketers and list owners work real hard to promote products and should be rewarded because in the end, they are the ones who are actually bringing in the customers and traffic.
I have realized that by giving affiliates more than what they expect, they will remember that and will promote your future products. Yes, as a seller myself, giving 100% commission upfront and if 50% on oto, the focus for me would not be the money; it's getting a customer on my list that I can help grow their business and see results and to sell to again. If more people would see that they are getting a real customer on their list who is serious and they can help grow their business, then they will understand this concept.
Anyways, thanks for the great post.
Jonathan,
What do you mean by "back-end sales"?
Thanks.
Hi Jon,
Wonderful post! It's a pleasure to deal with responsive and generous vendors that pay not only up-front but on all of his back end offers as well.
I can only agree with you
Alan:
Mostly I just mean the one-time-offer, the product offer that usually gets shown to a customer before they download what they just purchased.
Jon
Hi
It comes down to who is treating this as a long-term business vs short-term cashflow.
The offline marketers will tell you that their best customers have spent tens of thousands with them, and I know that Dan Kennedy has said that his biggest regret is not paying to get more people onto his monthly newsletter at the start.
Guess why I pay 75% on my ebooks (wish I could pay more but that's ClickBank's limit), and, when I get the affiliate program sorted for my print offline newsletter "Our Wealth Partnership" - I will be paying around the 70% mark.
Of course, I would rather have more money coming in, but not at the expense of getting more raving fans consuming my stuff at zero marketing cost to me because of affiliates!
That's why I can't understand those people who pay 10% of monthly subscription sites when their only cost is hosting. Perhaps it's because they don't think of a bigger long-term picture.
To Our Success!
Gary
To those who feel that 50% or more is too much to pay the affiliate (greedy buggers!), let me list here the earnings that the various parties get in the sale of books - your old-fashioned, hard-copy books.
Author (researching, writing, etc): 10%
Publishing co. (editing, etc: 15%
Production co. (printing, etc): 10%
Distribution co. (transportation, etc): 15%
Bookstore (marketing, rental, etc): 50%
Yes, the bookstore gets a huge chunk! But without them, you might not sell even a single book.
And yes, the poor author, the creator of this stream of income for all the other parties, gets only 10%!
There are slight variations in the percentages, depending on which companies and which authors are in the deal, but by and large, this is the pattern.
First-print runs are typically from 3000 to 10,000 copies, and it takes years to sell off all of that. Moreover, the author gets his dues way long after each book is sold.
For digital products, you cut out a large portion of the costs, all of which transforms into the creator's earnings. Production costs are almost zero.
Even if the creator or vendor of a digital product were to pay out the same bookstore commission of 50% to his affiliates, he will actually be earning 5 times more. If he pays out more than that, he still earns more than our hapless hard-copy author.
With the viral effect that generous affiliate commissions bring, the vendor can sell the same number of copies as a first-print run in a very much shorter period of time - literally in weeks or months. And he gets his money instantly.
Who's really the greedy one - vendor or affiliate?
So are you still going to stinge on those afffiliate commissions?
Wow some big names on this thread. Looks like you hit a homerun with the topic JL.
A tip for affiliates out there: sign up to the promotion to see what is offered to the prospect. Then sit back and wait a couple of days to see how they promote to the list, if they had a squeeze page/opt-in. Use a code name e.g. "Prospect Joe" so you know right away when you get an email from the promoter.
I've seen some promoters pay on the front end product AND the back end… but then they end up spamming the heck out of the list with other unrelated promotions weeks, months, and years after you send them traffic for that one promotion.
It's their right to do whatever they want with their list, but you should ask them beforehand what they're going to do with the people you send them. Then if they do otherwise, add them to your blacklist.
I think many of us would like to know who you had this encounter with, so we don't waste our time with them. How about some initials?
Cheers,
Peter
Jonathan,
Looks like you started something that's going to snowball.
Most affiliates, me included, are happy to earn on the initial offer, but…from an affiliates point of view, if the vendors offered more via back end sales commissions, the benefits to affiliates would be huge…as they would start to really search out the vendors who are giving their affiliates the larger slice of the whole cake, and leave the skinflints to look at the tumbleweed.
I think Stephen Pierce is starting to go down this road along with you, in offering more to affiliates too.
Your $7Secrets as I see it is the beginning of a whole wave of new affiliate thought for the online community, which would raise affiliate commissions drastically, gain more free web coverage for the generous vendors, and also at the same time, push out the greedy Marketers uncovering them and showing the whole web world who…is…who, whos naughty and whos nice
Steve
P.S. Are you going to challenge Clickbank's Foothold?
Steve:
My goal is to create a system as popular as ClickBank, yes. I know that's a lofty goal, but so far, so good!
Hey Jonathan
Fantastic article. Keeping your affiliates happy is vital for long-term success.
Such a shame other internet marketing professional are stupid enough to ignore the basics of business success.
Thank you once again for an honest professional article. Keep them coming.
Sincerely
John Adams
Jon, good for you in your March 9 posting about a clickbank alternative. I will be your customer since to an overseas(Australian )affiliate ,clickbank is ponderous in its payment system.
I will only use an affiliate program that pays either by paypal or some other instant electronic means and that is exactly how your system currently operates. Please don't be tempted to change it.
Checks are fine as a choice so long as they aren't the only method.
Now regarding Generosity, those who viewed The Secret will understand that is a core principle and practice and I can't fathom some of the angry and poorly thought out posts who have a problem with your ideas. Keep up the great work.
Jon,
I see two issues here. One is disclosure and the other is business model.
As long as you know going into a relationship what the other partner's business model, then you are good to go. For example, if you look at hosting providers, they pay a nice chunk of change up front, but they get the monthly revenue forever after that. They may upgrade the referral to a private server down the road and I won't see a dime of that. I'm okay with that, because I knew that I had made all I was going to make from the initial referral.
In the case that you mentioned, you were unaware that there was a big backend that you would not participate in. That would be something less than full disclosure. Had you known the big dog's business model, you could have made an informed choice as whether or not to participate. Now, you have chosen not to participate in the future which is a loss for the big dog.
It amazes me how often people miss the big picture. What if the big dog, had written you an email and said, "You know I know we didn't have an agreement on the backend, but I feel like I owe you $100 for every one of your referrals. I just deposited $xxxx in your Paypal. Thanks for all your efforts." Perhaps this post might never have been written.
While your experience is unfortunate, there are plenty of fish in the sea and many of them treat their affiliates like the gold that they are. The ones that do not will find that it gets harder and harder to earn revenue.
As you sow, so shall you reap.
Love your work and you site!
Tom
Jon,
I don't think this is a cut and dried issue like you make it sound. If someone is letting me keep all the money from the initial sale, do I really deserve a cut of the back end? Should the affiliate make more than the product creator?
Yes, you can argue that without the affiliate, the sale would not have been made, but without the other guy creating the product, there would be no product to sell.
I think it's unfair to apply labels like "greedy" in cases like this- I think an affiliate expecting to make more than the person who created the product and does all the support is rather greedy, unless he is some superstar who the product creator begged to promote the offer.
There's nothing wrong with paying a commission on the backend, but I have a problem with people acting like not doing so is a crime, especially when everything is in the open.
I could point out numerous cases where I'd get nothing on the backend, like if I promote a Clickbank product, then the merchant has a backend that doesn't involve that Clickbank account. I'd get nothing from that backend, but I don't see people complaining about that.
I'm confused by this article: In your book you say don't make people sign up for an affiliate program. So how would I use your script and still pay them a cut of the backend? Wouldn't I need other affiliate tracking software to do that? It seems like this article contradicts your book.
Chris:
First, you can of course choose to do whatever you want with your own products in terms of what you give–as long as it's fully disclosed. But keep in mind that there are plenty of vendors who are being generous with their affiliates because they know that without them, they have nothing. So you'll lose a lot of affiliates (me being one of them) by not being generous on the back end.
You don't have to sign up for an affiliate program for $7 Secrets-based products. A standardized affiliate link is used for all products using those scripts. No contradiction at all.
So if there was no backend at all, you might promote an offer… but if there was a backend that you didn't get a cut of, you would not promote it?
Or am I not understanding you?
I've bought products sold with the $7 script that had no OTO. I've also bought some (even some listed in your directory) that didn't tell me anything about being an affiliate for the $7 product itself after I purchased, which I thought was the whole point of it. I didn't buy just to be able to promote, but found it odd they were using your script but not mentioning the affiliate part of it. Might as well just use a regular Paypal button, it seems.
I'm also not clear how I'd pay someone a standard affiliate commission (more than 0 but less than 100%) with no signup involved- how would I know where to send the money, for one thing? Paypal doesn't allow split payments any more.
Chris,
If you put in a ticket at AskJonLeger.com I'll explain how it works to you.
good article, I often tith to my church or charity when possible
Just curious — Are you paying affiliate commisions (50% or so) on the sales that come from the links inside of your 7 dollar report?
j/k (kinda) — I do agree with you largely but felt obligated to put this on the table. Sometimes it's a lazy issue, sometimes it's a greed issue, sometimes it's a 'woops maybe next time I'll get my developer to code/track this', etc etc etc.
However, from the sound of it this 'big guru' just didn't really give a h00t. Too bad for them, I'd move onto more generous affiliates too. Affiliates should be treated like gold — you never know when a little fish will grow up — and most of them have memories.
Curious:
I absolutely am paying 50% on the OTO.
Jon
Hi Jonathan,
RIGHT ON! Truly on the mark.
I'll not even bother corrupting the wisdom of your observations with any other comment.
Keep up the good work!
Regards,
Carol