Joint ventures. So much to be said about them. Lucrative for those with product to sell. Lucrative for those with massive email lists.
JV collaborations. You know the deal. Guru calls up guru buddy (otherwise known as guruddy) with 100,000 sheeple list and says “dude, sending over my new wonderware. This baby will slice and dice through the SE like crazy. You get first dibs. Let me know what you think and let’s get this pimped to your master list. I’ll give you 50% a pop.” Guruddy doesn’t have time to evaluate it but he calls back anyway and says. “Awesome. Price it at $199 and we’ll roll with it.”
So he creates his email hype and blasts it to the sheeple saying how great it is. We get this email and read how dope the product is. The email gibberish link sends us over to the slick sales page and we get wedged into buying another piece of software promise. I mean look at the testimonials. So many people can’t be this wrong can they?
You got list of 100,000 names, you either rent it, sale it or pimp the crap out of it. I’m sorry but so many of these gurus are sell outs. I get pimped so much product, by the same guru, that there is no way this dude can give an honest positive opinion. And yet they still try to sell it to me. I would have much more faith if they said that they were simply bringing this product to my attention, they have no idea if it actually worked as avertised, but the guy selling it is top drawer and that you as my favorite sheeple should at least have a look and be aware of the potential. Credible? Yes. 6 figure opportunist? Not anymore.
But oh no. You’ll have to slip your boots on because you know the email is going to be full of how great the product is. And how you better get it while it is still at today’s only price of $67. Or that there is only 200 left. Or that the seller can only sell it for 3.5 days.
And yet, as I stand here stomping all over these internet marketer’s sensibilities and livelihood I have to wonder if I am simply twisting in the winds of hypocrisy. I affiliate market products on some of my sites. I use Commission Junction to market a product I know nothing about. I have blogs that I post datafeeds on. Thousands of items are in these feeds. I can honestly tell you without any hesitation that I do not own, nor plan on owning, ever single item in that store. So how can I say I am any different from the JV guru games?
Because I am. When you go to my website on golf and see an ad for a set of golf clubs, I am simply placing an ad on my site without giving any commentary. The day I write that I think these clubs are great without actually owning them or using them, then I become a fraud.
So as I write this gribble I hope that I am able to take my own advice as it seems that I am just as likely to buy something from these collaborations as not. Do you realize that I started this year off with the resolution that I would not buy anything that got pitched to me? That resolution got trashed quick. I can honestly say that there are only a couple of things that I am glad to have purchased. Each are memberships that will provide me with content and business guidance that will hopefully lead me to the 5 figure holy grail of monthly goodness.
I’m still hopeful. But the light doth fade.
2 responses so far ↓
MarkLing // Jun 21, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Hey Splork,
I hear your frustration.
You are not entirely correct about what you are saying though.
I believe that MOST good affiliate marketers with large lists demand to be able to test drive the product they are promoting before they recommend it to their list, at least virtually all of the people I have ever JV’d with have been this way.
Which means that even though they promote lots of products, most of the products are great.
No you don’t need all of them, but the right combination is invaluable. Just like books on dog training. I could recommend you 30 books, they will all be fantastic,.. I’m not lying. But no, you don’t have to buy all of them to get all the knowledge you need to train your dog.
Secondly, not everyone produces low quality products. There are a number of high quality products and a good way to tell the difference is by signing up to the newsletter of the product you are interested in buying.
If the free stuff isn’t helping,.. then the paid stuff probably won’t either.
The other thing is that most internet marketers offer strong refund policies and if they don’t refund you, your credit card company will. So there’s that protection also.
I agree with you that internet marketers shouldn’t be so hard sell about products they are promoting, unless it really really is the bomb. They should give more probing analysis of the product and who specifically it is likely to benefit, as not everyone is at the same level or wants the same thing.
One thing about internet marketing though, is that there is a lot to learn and it can be costly buying and absorbing the information. But it is worth it.. if you are truly committed to succeeding in this business.
I have spent over $50,000 on different gurus products (John Reese, Corey Rudl/Derek Gehl, Tom Hua, Brett McFall, Mike Filsaime and many many more). Add to that the knowledge that I have gained on my own, and I am now very knowledgeable and am doing very very well.
Just to let you know a little about me…
I finished university only 1 paper short of 2 degrees, but I feel like I have PHD in internet marketing, yet I’ve never done a university paper in it. I learnt by brutal trial, error, testing and investing in ‘gurus’ products.
I always feel that if the product I purchase can help me increase my sales by 2%, then it was worth it. If it’s an expensive $1000 product, I expect more, but you get what I mean. It all adds up.
You are on to a good thing with affilorama, you have people there who care about your success and are there to help you succeed.
You are locked in with a lifetime membership, even when it becomes a monthly membership, which will be in about 5-6 months time. You just can’t tell how valuable that will be in the future.
You just need to stay committed to your goal, learn lots and do your marketing the right way - that may mean getting me and others to check over your work in the beginning till you develop your own “master” plan that you can duplicate out.
I like the way you write, I strongly believe you have the potential to be a star.
Keep working hard at this - and writing your blog, when you are making your riches your story from start to finish will be an inspiration to others.
All the best and I look forward to your success, keep private messaging me, I’m here to help.
Mark
Splork // Jun 22, 2006 at 1:27 pm
Hi Mark. I started out to respond to your comment above but realized I had the makings of another post. Figured I’d better use it while I had it since I always figure my last post may be the finale.
I’m glad that someone with your experience is able to give some perspective on how an average bloke like myself thinks about all the product that gets pitched our way. I still think that some JV’s have too much stuff to pitch to actually review it to see if it can make money. Maybe a cursory glance. But hopefully that is the minority.
Thanks for taking the time out to respond. The careful reader will take away some valuable insights for purchasing information to help their business.
Thanks for helping me with the review of my site. Hard work I’m not afraid to do. Staying focused is the bane of my IM existence.
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