| I strongly suspect you are. In fact, I will | | | | kind of prospective customer they were hoping |
| bet that you are much better at reviewing | | | | would click on their paid advert! |
| products than the thousands of professional | | | | |
| reviewers that litter the web. First, I am | | | | No wonder the rate of refund requests on |
| going to tell you why I think this is the | | | | digital products is high. The barrage of |
| case. Then I am going to convince you to | | | | affiliate sales copy you find perfectly |
| prove that I am right. | | | | whitewashes the true nature of the product. |
| | | | It might be good. But it also might be a |
| == The Problem With Digital Goods == | | | | clunker that converts well with a high |
| | | | affiliate payout. So how do you get to the |
| I am sure you are familiar with the problem. | | | | truth, and save yourself both time and money |
| If you have purchased an online ebook, or | | | | in the process? |
| some other form of digital goods, only to | | | | |
| soon be disappointed by the quality of the | | | | == How You Can Solve The Problem == |
| downloaded product, then you have contributed | | | | |
| to that communal sigh of despair that issues | | | | Well, that is where you, the perfect |
| forth daily from thousands of people just | | | | reviewer comes in. Because unlike those |
| like yourself. When it happens there is not a | | | | thousands of affiliates who make a living |
| lot you can do about it, other than request a | | | | using interchangeable product names on the |
| refund. But even if you get your money back, | | | | same high-converting sales copy, you are a |
| you have just wasted several hours of your | | | | real product user. You know the truth, and |
| time, the process has caused you unneeded | | | | most importantly, you have nothing to lose by |
| frustration, and you are back to square one, | | | | telling it to the next person who might be |
| still hungry for a product to plug the need | | | | thinking of buying that product. Sure, it |
| that sent you shopping in the first place. | | | | takes a bit of time for you to write a |
| Surely there has to be a better way. After | | | | review. But if everyone follows your lead, |
| all, shopping for a quality refrigerator is | | | | and does it the right way, then--as I am |
| not hard. Why are digital goods such a | | | | about to show you--the outcome can be pretty |
| problem? And is there a solution to this? | | | | amazing! |
| | | | |
| As it turns out, there is a simple solution | | | | Here is why. If you were to write one |
| to this problem. You *can* have your digital | | | | accurate review for every ten digital |
| cake and eat it too. But before I tell you | | | | products you purchased, and others did the |
| what the solution is, I want to briefly take | | | | same thing, in short order these aggregated |
| a look at that refrigerator purchase again, | | | | reviews would provide an extremely accurate |
| because it will highlight what is missing in | | | | barometer on the quality of digital goods on |
| your search for that elusive "just so" | | | | the web. These aggregated reviews would |
| digital product. | | | | characterize the benefits of digital products |
| | | | with relentless precision. No longer would |
| == Quality Comparisons Between Digital Goods | | | | taking the sales copy of affiliates and |
| And Store Goods == | | | | merchants at face value be the crap shoot it |
| | | | is now. Of course, these reviews need to be |
| When you go out to buy a refrigerator you | | | | collected in one place, the user ratings for |
| benefit from the fact that the companies | | | | products averaged and then presented for |
| which build them have been doing so in most | | | | product-wise comparison, but the model is |
| cases for a very long time. They have hashed | | | | known to work. We see it used with |
| out the technical problems decades ago, and | | | | extraordinary success in places like the |
| then duked it out with their competitors for | | | | Amazon marketplace and the endless pages of |
| marketplace dominance using all sorts of | | | | Epinions reviewers. |
| business tricks you do not care about. All | | | | |
| you care about is that only the best of those | | | | == Awarding Quality Seals To Digital |
| companies were left standing. The result is | | | | Products == |
| that you, the consumer, are more than happy | | | | |
| to hand over your money, because these "brand | | | | One of the benefits of using a reliable |
| name" companies have finally earned your | | | | statistical model to characterize product |
| trust by coming up with robust and dependable | | | | quality is that we can use the results to |
| products. | | | | award "quality seals" to the best performing |
| | | | products, where performance is a direct |
| Not so with purchases of online digital | | | | measure of consumer satisfaction. When this |
| products. Most online companies have not been | | | | is done, and accurate quality seals become |
| around long enough to establish recognizable | | | | commonplace, they provide affiliates with an |
| brand names. Almost all of the digital | | | | incentive to consider them when selecting |
| products you find on the web will be less | | | | products for promotion. Why? Because a |
| than a year old, in which case, just how good | | | | product that bears a quality seal on the |
| can they be? Instead of being able to select | | | | official sales page of a merchant is going to |
| from an array of trusted digital solutions, | | | | convert better than a product that does not |
| the way a typical consumer finds a | | | | display a seal. In this way, quality products |
| prospective "solution" to their immediate | | | | get the recognition they deserve, they make |
| problem is to type some keywords into a | | | | the merchant a better profit on their |
| search engine and then see what comes up in | | | | investment, and this in turn allows the |
| the way of recommendations. | | | | merchant to offer affiliates higher |
| | | | commissions. After a while the high |
| == Choosing From The Chorus Of | | | | commission products actually reflect the |
| Recommendations... == | | | | quality products and consumers end up with |
| | | | the right product no matter which route they |
| What are they going to find when they do | | | | take to get there. |
| this? More often than not they will see a | | | | |
| slew of sponsored advertisements for a | | | | So. If you would like to help sort the wheat |
| handful of products. But of course the ads | | | | from the chaff in the digital goods |
| seen are just those that belong to the | | | | marketplace, a large portion of which is |
| highest bidding advertisers, and very often | | | | mediated by the ClickBank merchant/affiliate |
| these ads are placed by affiliates of | | | | network, get yourself to an online voting |
| products with very high sales commissions. | | | | booth now and have your say. Time magazine |
| You may be looking for recommendations for a | | | | voted You the person of the year recently, |
| quality product, but what you will find is | | | | and one of the reasons for doing so is that |
| recommendations for the product that pays the | | | | you wield more power on the web than you may |
| highest sales commission. And if you were | | | | have realized to date. So why not put it to |
| expecting unbiased reviews from these | | | | use in a place where your opinion really |
| affiliates, well then, you are exactly the | | | | matters? |