Ethical verticals?

[DuckOrdo]

Hello guys!

I'm totally new to this industry and I'm checking things out before putting all my effort
into this journey.

The only thing that is preventing me from starting out is this:

Can you make decent money promoting ethical products?

One of my core values is to get into any business to create value in an ethical way
but I saw a lot of CPA/CPL offers out there like these:

- Mobile scams
- Adult Dating
- Fake surveys
- Sex related products


I'm not against people who do this for a living, I'm just not that kind of person.

I'm wondering if there's someone out there who's prospering promoting
Verticals that add value to people's lives without the need to scam or deceive them in some way.


Thanks for the support! Really!
And sorry for my bad English

Ciao!

 

[pyes]

Nice to see someone who think likes me...way to go. There are few (or many?) verticals we can promote in CPA which ads value to both affiliate and end user:
- Anti virus (McAfee, Norton - My AM at Maxbounty said they are doing well now, going to try that very soon)
- Install mobile games/app - PPD model - a lot of apps and games are out there to promote
- Credit report - free trail + premium (not scam one, look for good ones)
- Credit monitoring
- Job site registrations (look for good ones which add value)
- Paid surveys (famous ones, you can google to get reviews of the site before promoting, some of them even accredited by BBB I think)
- Payday loans (again famous ones)
- Hotel bookings
- Travel booking/ Flight booking (all very good renowned companies)
- and on and on...

yes, I am ashamed of promoting "you won 1000 gift card" or "enter your email address to claim your iPhone 6s" and will stay away from these. As you also mentioned, no offense to others who does these, it just me and my ethics!

All the very best
(may be my first post in the forum, after seeing this thought of writing this. However I have been fllowing affiliatefix quite sometime now and like it very much for follow along journey etc. Hope to write myself one soon.)

thank you

 

[Marc]

One of my core values is to get into any business to create value in an ethical way but I saw a lot of CPA/CPL offers out there like these:
- Mobile scams
- Adult Dating
- Fake surveys
- Sex related products

Heya @DuckOrdo ,

great you ask about the ethical topic and to be honest, I've this problem sometimes still
I'd advise you to avoid any kind of fraud on the Internet strictly.

On the other hand, even the pharmacy at the corner sells some rubbish, and everyone knows that, but everyone buys the stuff. That's our reality

Here is my personal opinion: Look at the commercials on the tv. Nobody needs that stuff, but for the tv stations, it's a billion dollar business. That was my example at the beginning, until one has enough experience with it.

Hope, this may help you a bit at the beginning.

And sorry for my bad English

Better than mine But don't let discourage you because of the language.

 

[DuckOrdo]

Thanks guys for your feedback, I do appreciate it!

@pyes I'm happy to find someone who shares my approach to the topic.
Thanks for your advice, I'll definitely check out those niches and start launcing some campaigns asap!

@Marc I understand your point of view. I'm just at the beginning and I'll have to understand how this
whole industry works so I can make my decision! Thanks for taking the time to answer

 

[Marc]

↑↑ a short addition, @DuckOrdo : Online games are a good shot for a beginner, and @pyes mentioned them in his long list. Although I sometimes have bigger ethical concerns with games, I simply think, they will be played either way, whether I promote them or not Best of luck!

 

[Traste]

Hey @DuckOrdo! Nice finding this post here. I was about to open one asking the same stuff. I appreciate all opinions on the matter, but I'd like to know how are you doing now.

It's been some time and I wanted to know whether you found way to make it Thanks!

 

[Delyte]

It really depends on your values. Considering payday loans good and adult dating bad is kind of backwards in my value system. Payday lenders are extremely predatory, and anyone who wants to get involved with adult dating can make their own decisions.

Unfortunately though, a lot of unsavory offers are the best converting. I know based on my reading that adult / porn traffic converts really well compared to other fields. However that doesn't mean that there aren't other fields available. There are so many offers that you can find any that suit you, that's what I've taken from what I've learned so far. It's good to have a niche, so find one that you like, and you may even be able to make a difference in some way that is positive in your own eyes, which might make for a more enjoyable life than someone making slightly more money peddling porn and adult dating sites. So I don't think you're limited at all, but I at the same time think it's important to keep an open mind.

The way I think of these 'free stuff for surveys' type of offers are yeah, they aren't likely to win, but they aren't totally a scam either. Someone will win. Ultimately someone will sell that information to make a profit after subtracting the cost of the prize and the people who submitted their information for a chance to win might have to deal with a little bit of spam. At the end of the day, if you are able to support your family by getting people to sign up for a survey to possibly win something and they ultimately end up being spammed for a short time, is that really that bad? Sure, it's a little misleading, but the consequences are very minimal. If you don't like that, that's your prerogative but there are certainly worse offers out there, and there are also plenty of offers that you would consider beneficial.

You could also think of it like this: The way you present your offers is what makes you successful. If you sincerely find something that someone NEEDS, there's quite a good chance that your offer will convert, possibly even better than those unsavory options such as porn. You could become the best at your niche, which you consider a service to both yourself and end users, and ultimately make even more money than the average adult affiliate marketer.

So your options are definitely not limited, there's plenty out there, but I think it's worth keeping an open mind at the same time.

 

[Traste]

@Delyte, Thanks for such a great post. I think I really have plenty of info to help me make up my mind ;-)

 

[schleprock]

I approve of ethical verticals too. I avoid any offers that I would be ashamed to tell my mom about or that violate my value system. So things like "Naughty housewives who want to F***" is out for me but I think we need to think about the value an offer ads. Some offers are corrupt/bad because the offer is no good while other offers only seem corrupt/bad because people are too lazy to follow through on them.

For instance, most people would say that Amway is "crap" but it isn't for those who have a million friends to sell to. Nor is it crap to the people who produce the products that are consumed. It is only "crap" for the person who does not have the temperament and skills to be a pushy salesman. I don't have the temperament or skills for that sort of selling (I also don't have a million friends) but what if I owned a string of motels and sold Amway products to all of them. I take my profit personally, I write off the cost of the product as a business expense at each of the motels, the people who produce the product and the packaging the product goes into have a job, the trucking/transportation company that brought it there gets work. It is only "crap" for the guy who cannot leverage the MLM technique. Again, I am one of those guys who would fail miserably at MLM.

 

[datingoffers]

What about casual dating? It's definitely cleaner than adult
Consider it and good luck

 

[schleprock]

What about casual dating? It's definitely cleaner than adult
Consider it and good luck

Yeah things like that are fine with me.

 

[badboy_nick]

The only thing that is preventing me from starting out is this:

Can you make decent money promoting ethical products?

I feel ya! Believe me when I tell you this, but the ethical way ALWAYS beats all these shady methods of making a quick buck.

You can't build a long term business and sustain your buyer relations on hit and run tactics, it's just not commercially feasible. The ONLY way I know that works is - as you correctly pointed out - to build value and keep your merchants happy. Otherwise you don't have a business and won't succeed long term.

Stick to Adwords PPC and maybe a bit of Facebook but don't cut corners. A happy merchant will keep on buying more from you, will offer you better payouts, refer you to his business friends and you build a reputation for delivering a high quality service.

If you are planning on staying in this business, the only way is the ethical way. It's a lot more lucrative anyway

Nick

 

[karim_b]

Thanks for this great post.
It's very hard to find people who are thinking about ethic.
It's sad to see that a big part of the money who is generated in affiliate industry it's with offers like you told us.

But you can find some offers who are working very well, like travel offers (registration), email submit, health offers ...

We think like you, and on our network we try to avoid all offer like astrology, loan, adult ...
However, i prefer to be honest with you and you can earn money with all offers verticals but it will take more time than other verticals

 

[schleprock]

Thanks for this great post.
It's very hard to find people who are thinking about ethic.
It's sad to see that a big part of the money who is generated in affiliate industry it's with offers like you told us.

But you can find some offers who are working very well, like travel offers (registration), email submit, health offers ...

We think like you, and on our network we try to avoid all offer like astrology, loan, adult ...
However, i prefer to be honest with you and you can earn money with all offers verticals but it will take more time than other verticals

Unfortunately, your competitors don't think like this. And if you cannot compete with them then your ship sinks. Business and ethics are very challenging to balance. I applaud you for pursuing what is right and I understand if you cannot be squeaky clean.