Friday, October 28, 2005

Why PayDotCom?

PayDotCom is the new paypal-based alternative to ClickBank. As an affiliate you can promote the products listed at PayDotCom just like you can at ClickBank - it's simply a new affiliate network that you can join for free and earn money through product sales. The only major difference is that you dont have to wait for a check to arrive in the mail... they payout via PayPal.

As a merchant, PayDotCom has a lot of features that make it a more appealing option than ClickBank. For starters, your merchant account is free (unlike ClickBank which charges a $49.95 activation fee).

And again, you dont have to wait for a check - in fact, when one of your products sells (either directly, or through one of your affiliates) the money goes directly into your PayPal or Stormpay account. There's no waiting period at all.

Another perk is that you can sell an unlimited number of products through your PayDotCom account. With ClickBank you can only sell one product per account (unless you purchase EasyClickMate software to get around this) - which means you pay $49.95 to set up each product on ClickBank. PayDotCom does have a one time $29 activation fee for multiple products, but that one fee will allow you to set up an unlimited number of products.

You can also sell both physical and digital products through PayDotCom. You can even set up subscription based items, such as a membership-based site or ongoing service. ClickBank only allows you to list digital goods, such as info products.

It just makes sense to choose PayDotCom over ClickBank. There are tons of reasons why... but another one of the big differences is that PayDotCom allows you to email all of your affiliates - ClickBank does not. That has been one of the major problems with ClickBank - that you had no idea who your affiliates were, and no way to contact them. Add in the fact that you had no control over refunds, were forced to offer a specific guarantee and had no real stats to work with... and ClickBank was extremely restrictive. However, it was the best option for a long time because it was one of the only options (outside of setting up the software to manage your own affiliate program in-house).

I signed up for a free acount myself, so I've had an opportunity to check things out behind the scenes. It's very easy to use, and they offer a lot of features to both the affiliate and the merchant. I was impressed with it, myself - and am surprised I havent heard more talk about it than I have.

Check it out for yourself: http://paydotcom.net/?affiliate=8361 Click the Vendors button there on the main page, and then click the "check it out to compare..." link.

I'm not sure why anyone would even choose ClickBank anymore, now that PayDotCom is available. For years now there has been talk about inaccurate reporting at ClickBank, "dry spells" where no sales were reported at all in accounts that get consistent sales otherwise, etc. With all of that in question, and all of the features lacking that any good affiliate program manager should offer... I see ClickBank needing to make major changes, or phasing out altogether.

And I'll give you one more reason to sign up for a free account, if you havent already: You can refer other people to PayDotCom and earn $5 for every new free account that results from your recommendation. I remember when PayPal first appeared on the scene... and offered a $10 referral commission. Since the accounts were free, a lot of people signed up when they were introduced to PayPal by someone else... and many people made hundreds - even thousands - of dollars on those referrals! This is another such opportunity ;)

The link I gave above (http://paydotcom.net/?affiliate=8361) is my own referral link. It will cost you absolutely nothing to set up a free account - through which you can promote other people's products, or set up your own to sell - and I will earn $5 when you do that. From there you can share your own link with others, and earn $5 for every referral (in addition to selling products for commission, or kick-starting your own affiliate program).

PayDotCom stands to benefit YOU in several ways... and by signing up (again, at no cost to you) you can also support all of my work here online at the same time. A win/win for us both ;)