When it comes to blogging I already have a wealth of articles written so that any time I do not feel like writing one day I can post one of those articles. While this article was already written for one of those days, I decided to add a little bit to it because I saw an article by Caroline Middlebrook just yesterday. This is what caught my eye on her 30 Day Challenge Update article:
“I crunched some numbers about AdSense recently and I was quite excited but here’s the thing… I did a calculation that assumed 100 visitors a day, a 5% clickthrough and an AdSense payout of $1.50 per click. That worked out at a monthly income for one site of $225. If instead, those 100 visitors a day were being sold my own product that was priced quite high at say $97, then with one sale in 200 visitors that site would generate a monthly income of $1,455 – quite a difference!”
I have talked about how much adsense sucks and her showing you the difference of money you can make by creating your own product just proves that. Adsense is crap and it will always be crap. Over and over I continue to say that you are just holding yourself back if you are using it. You have a better chance to make more money having affiliate advertisements on your blog. However, if you want to reach yourr full potential then you should definitely create your own product to sell on your web site.
Here’s 4 Reasons Why You Should Create Your Own Product:
1. You can easily advertise on your blog so that your readers can buy it and might tell another person about it. This will be the easiest way to start bringing in cash for your product.
2. You are able to set your own price for your product. This allows you to decide what the best price would be so that the most people will buy your product. However, always remember the simple things like you’d rather sell your product once a month for $97 then twice a month for $40.
3. Every click you get on your products landing page will give you more than some $.40 like adsense. It will give you full word of mouth advertising for your blog and your product. Even if they do not buy it, they could still talk about it to other people. And that my friend is completely worth it. You want people talking about your product and your blog because you will for sure get more traffic that way.
4. You will be able to create your own affiliate program so that others will get a percentage of the product’s price if they sell it for you. I would always recommend an affiliate program because then other people are always more likely to buy your product first and review it. Then in there review they will likely include their affiliate link to your product so they can make money. This will give you advertising and you will pay for it through the selling of the product. If they do not sell your product at least their readers will know about it and your blog. You will not have to worry about paying the cash to get your product’s name out before you even make money.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Franklin, thanks for the little plug there
Gotta to disagree on one point though – whilst creating your own product can obviously be very lucrative if you do it right, that doesn’t mean AdSense is crap. There are people who earn thousands of dollars per month with AdSense and many of the websites built to generate AdSense income need very little maintenance meaning that over the long term you can create a residual income. Well that’s my hope anyway 
I agree to disagree. If there is very little maintenance on a web site then it probably won’t be updated that much. And I know people on the Internet can’t stand web sites that are not updated. Differences in opinions I guess.
Totally agree with what you are saying. It’s always better to have your own product whether online or wherever.
Excellent post. When I switched from purely Adsense profits, to developing an online store for one of my blogs/communities – revenues grew through the roof; and my time instantly become much more valuable and better spent working on the sales of my products.
Sounds like a great idea. I could easily make an ebook with all of the job search information i have come up with. I have a little system created I hope to be able to share with others.
There you go. I think that would work well.
Hey Franklin,
This is one that I have a lot of trouble with. I know I know I know….that I should get my own product out there, but for the life of me I have thought and thought and can not come up with something. I don’t know if I am just trying to hit it out of the ball park with just one killer idea or product. But I have started to make a few baby steps, but than I either just drop the ball or figure that someone has already made this.
Also, I have always talked myself out of it because of the cost involved in getting or making a product.
Do you have any suggestions for me personally! I would love to be the next blogging millionaire, and I hope I can learn from a guru like you!
Thanks so much,
Eric
Erics last blog post..$200 For Being a Commentator It’s Just That Simple – Keep it SEO Simple
It is hard to really recommend any one thing to create and sell. I think one of the easiest things is creating an ebook that tells a person how to do something. I think the best part is that it doesn’t cost you anything to do so. And I noticed that you mention the cost involved is one reason you talk yourself out of creating your own product.
Hey Franklin,
As I have thought of doing an ebook as well. Would you suggest to actually create an ebook to sell or just to give away. I continue to hear that ebooks do not sell and it’s best to give them away to create more traffic and/throw in some affiliate links.
Also, I am not that good of a writer so it would probably cost me, and I would like to add some graphics to the ebook. So while that’s limit cost, it’s still seems to be a pretty penny for me.
Interesting In Your Opinion!
Eric
Erics last blog post..$200 For Being a Commentator It’s Just That Simple – Keep it SEO Simple
I also am not creative and have a really hard time trying to figure out how to develop a product. I personally think that Adsense is easy and is a good tool for overall development of cashflow. I’d love to hire you for a product development gig! Let me know.
The Almost Millionaires last blog post..Where Is Your Cash In An Emergency?
Sometimes I wonder if people are trying too hard to sell something. If you are just trying to sell something for the sake of selling it, chances are the quality is going to suffer. I especially wonder, with the sheer quantity of ‘e-books’ popping up all over the place, how many of these authors really something unique and valuable to say.
So, you know, I think that the “I need to develop a product – what should it be?” approach is totally wrong. It really should happen that you hit on a great idea first, try it out, and then make it int a product if you think you have something worthwhile.
Now that’s some very good advice! I would agree that there are to many products out there that are just “products” because blogs or people needs a product. But, I believe you have the correct mindset to go into creating something that will help others, teach others, or improve others! Than your going into the right direction!
Thanks for the great advice James!
Eric
Erics last blog post..$200 For Being a Commentator It’s Just That Simple – Keep it SEO Simple
You’re welcome! The other side of the equation to selling an e-book is marketing it. I have seen many websites created for the sole purpose of selling an e-book. This gives me very little reason to want it. Selling an e-book in conjunction with a blog, however, is different. Assuming that you have already posted a lot of quality blog posts, that means that your readers already know that you are a worthwhile read. It would seem to me that establishing a solid reader base with a quality blog would make it far easier to then turn around and sell an e-book related to your blog niche to these same avid readers. Some more of my 2 cents
Jamess last blog post..Was there a Big Bang or a Big Bounce?
Adsense isn’t amazing. But I am currently building up my first product which I am going to sell and therefore I cannot advertise it yet. Therefore adsense is just a good way to fill in the space and still make an extra couple of bucks here and there. So yes it is not the best in the world, but you can’t bag it out too much. Adsense is great for beginners
Ryan McLeans last blog post..Win a $500 Site Review From John Chow Dot Com
I think creating your own product is a great idea. It is the easy thing to do and you get all the money for yourself. I think we all love being our own boss. If you don’t then I know you’re just lying to yourself.
I have been reading up on turning your ebooks into an actual published book. Does anyone know or have any information on about this? Also, a product could actually be just selling your services correct?
Keep It SEO Simples last blog post..Wikiweblog Covers The World