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Patrick, Have you thought of launching an affiliate program for the BCC ? You can connect on forums like WarriorForum and find good affiliates. They will love

Patrick, Have you thought of launching an affiliate program for the BCC ? You can connect on forums like WarriorForum and find good affiliates. They will love that you have a proven product. Then give them 50-75%. Some will advertise on their existing sites, to their lists and may even pay for advertising. You take no risk and may get a lot for sales. Another option is Clickbank where affiliates may find you. There are alternatives like JVZoo, DigiResults etc. You could hire someone part time to do the customer support and bugfixes. In short you could keep BCC going nicely with very little effort on your part. And then after a few months, you have a low maintenance business that you can sell, rather than something that will slowly die. I know it may not seem worth your time, as you have bigger fish to fry. However all of this could be done in a couple of days, and maybe an hour a month to maintain. You may be able to sell it for $100k or more once it is in good shape again.

shostack 12y ago
I think one of the considerations here is what degree of professionalism he wishes to portray with this. The info products sold on sites like WF and such are what I'd lump into the "guru" category, and are oftentimes just lots of fluff or something the writer paid someone off Odesk to write for them. Overall, they don't come off as terribly professional and can quite readily be identified as living within the "Get rich quick" bucket. Affiliates can be helpful, but I'd be really careful about picking ones that won't damage the brand image and credibility he's built for himself.
- curiously 12y ago
  I agree with this. Those type of folks may not be the best representation nor the most successful. If you browse WF you will get a sense of the demographic.
- bbcbasic 12y ago
  Of course, you shouldn't let anyone be an affiliate. I think with JVZoo and Digiresults you get to approve or disapprove affiliates. You could ask the potential affiliate to fill in a form with some information about their site, how they will promote before you accept them in. You can also build relationships on the forum, so you know who can be trusted with your brand. There are plenty of OK marketers, who may have a popular website on there. But you are right there are plenty of get-rich-quick types you have to filter through. I think the affiliate idea has merit even if you don't use the Warriorforum. You could for example run your own affiliate program using a script, and then contact sites you like directly.
- icelancer 12y ago
  Definitely agree. We use affiliates in our business but they are all PREVIOUS CUSTOMERS who are very happy with the product. Incentivizing evangelism from people who are already pleased with your content/product is an incredibly valuable proposition for your business.
  - shostack 12y ago
    If you do it with your current customers, you can also often exchange account credit for referrals. If you toss on a discount for the person they refer, customers love it as it lets them hook their friends and family up with a discount on a service they love. These internal referral programs are how Dropbox and many other companies have kicked off great acquisition campaigns.
- chatmasta 12y ago
  I made my first money online in the SEO/IM scene at Wickedfire/Digitalpoint/Sitepoint/etc. Those guys are really good at what they do. It's funny to hear you call the WaFo products "guru" here on HN (I would agree they are), because HN itself is subject to the same kind of guru-bullshit. There are multiple people on HN who make money selling info products purely to the HN crowd. I would classify them as "guru" as well. I enjoy watching it play out, because as HN builds as a community, it seems a lot of trends are evolving in the same way the IM community did. Someone makes money, makes a blogpost, gains a following, writes an ebook, makes more money. I would call that "guru", but people on HN pay for it. I will say, however, that the content the "gurus" on HN produce is far better than 99% of the shit coming out of WaFo. Relatedly, it's amazing how quickly people on HN will dismiss the SEO and affiliate marketing industry. It's a massive market. The "marketplace" forums on WF, WaFo, and BHW process five figures of transactions per day. That's mostly SEO services, some spammy, some not. Outside of that, there are multiple affiliates on those forums doing six figure daily revenues. The AM industry as a whole is ~6billion annually. Despite all the money in SEO/AM, commenters on HN are quick to degrade the industry as spammy/blackhat/assholes/whatever, and yet most of those people are making more on their own than anyone here. It's quite funny, honestly.
  - blumkvist 12y ago
    >, that the content the "gurus" on HN produce is far better than 99% of the shit coming out of WaFo. That makes quite the difference though. It's like comparing Jon's consulting thread to McKinsey or Boston Consulting. >Relatedly, it's amazing how quickly people on HN will dismiss the SEO and affiliate marketing industry. The opposite is also quite amazing too. WF is full of people who think they are running "real business", while making the most childish (and arrogant) statements and opinions. Also, out of those $6bn, majority is incremental sales for legit operations (mostly ecommerce, some financial services) through CJ, SaS, Zanox. Pills and bizops through Maxbounty/Neverblue are quite small in total numbers, not to mention pretty dissatisfying to run. My point is, it's not that much money. The holy grail "10k/day CEO" is just 3.6M/year. I'm sorry but this looks more like event budget than total revenue. What makes it particularly unappealing is the complete lack of predictability. I recognize your username from WF, so I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

shostack 12y ago

I think one of the considerations here is what degree of professionalism he wishes to portray with this. The info products sold on sites like WF and such are what I'd lump into the "guru" category, and are oftentimes just lots of fluff or something the writer paid someone off Odesk to write for them. Overall, they don't come off as terribly professional and can quite readily be identified as living within the "Get rich quick" bucket. Affiliates can be helpful, but I'd be really careful about picking ones that won't damage the brand image and credibility he's built for himself.

curiously 12y ago
I agree with this. Those type of folks may not be the best representation nor the most successful. If you browse WF you will get a sense of the demographic.
bbcbasic 12y ago
Of course, you shouldn't let anyone be an affiliate. I think with JVZoo and Digiresults you get to approve or disapprove affiliates. You could ask the potential affiliate to fill in a form with some information about their site, how they will promote before you accept them in. You can also build relationships on the forum, so you know who can be trusted with your brand. There are plenty of OK marketers, who may have a popular website on there. But you are right there are plenty of get-rich-quick types you have to filter through. I think the affiliate idea has merit even if you don't use the Warriorforum. You could for example run your own affiliate program using a script, and then contact sites you like directly.
icelancer 12y ago
Definitely agree. We use affiliates in our business but they are all PREVIOUS CUSTOMERS who are very happy with the product. Incentivizing evangelism from people who are already pleased with your content/product is an incredibly valuable proposition for your business.
- shostack 12y ago
  If you do it with your current customers, you can also often exchange account credit for referrals. If you toss on a discount for the person they refer, customers love it as it lets them hook their friends and family up with a discount on a service they love. These internal referral programs are how Dropbox and many other companies have kicked off great acquisition campaigns.
chatmasta 12y ago
I made my first money online in the SEO/IM scene at Wickedfire/Digitalpoint/Sitepoint/etc. Those guys are really good at what they do. It's funny to hear you call the WaFo products "guru" here on HN (I would agree they are), because HN itself is subject to the same kind of guru-bullshit. There are multiple people on HN who make money selling info products purely to the HN crowd. I would classify them as "guru" as well. I enjoy watching it play out, because as HN builds as a community, it seems a lot of trends are evolving in the same way the IM community did. Someone makes money, makes a blogpost, gains a following, writes an ebook, makes more money. I would call that "guru", but people on HN pay for it. I will say, however, that the content the "gurus" on HN produce is far better than 99% of the shit coming out of WaFo. Relatedly, it's amazing how quickly people on HN will dismiss the SEO and affiliate marketing industry. It's a massive market. The "marketplace" forums on WF, WaFo, and BHW process five figures of transactions per day. That's mostly SEO services, some spammy, some not. Outside of that, there are multiple affiliates on those forums doing six figure daily revenues. The AM industry as a whole is ~6billion annually. Despite all the money in SEO/AM, commenters on HN are quick to degrade the industry as spammy/blackhat/assholes/whatever, and yet most of those people are making more on their own than anyone here. It's quite funny, honestly.
- blumkvist 12y ago
  >, that the content the "gurus" on HN produce is far better than 99% of the shit coming out of WaFo. That makes quite the difference though. It's like comparing Jon's consulting thread to McKinsey or Boston Consulting. >Relatedly, it's amazing how quickly people on HN will dismiss the SEO and affiliate marketing industry. The opposite is also quite amazing too. WF is full of people who think they are running "real business", while making the most childish (and arrogant) statements and opinions. Also, out of those $6bn, majority is incremental sales for legit operations (mostly ecommerce, some financial services) through CJ, SaS, Zanox. Pills and bizops through Maxbounty/Neverblue are quite small in total numbers, not to mention pretty dissatisfying to run. My point is, it's not that much money. The holy grail "10k/day CEO" is just 3.6M/year. I'm sorry but this looks more like event budget than total revenue. What makes it particularly unappealing is the complete lack of predictability. I recognize your username from WF, so I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.