I remember bringing up this topic recently while having a drink with some Internet marketing friends here in KL. If you feel strongly about this topic, do leave a comment.
Our conversation centered around buying software. We noticed a BIG difference between buying software from Internet marketing gurus, and buying software from developers.
Let’s take membership site software as an example. Depending on what it’s supposed to do, membership site software can be quite complex and intimidating to the non-tech user, especially newbies. So you can either buy the membership site software from an established developer like Amember or you can get a membership site from an Internet marketer, for example the Butterfly Marketing script.
Buying Software from Developers
By “developer” I mean a person or company (usually made of programmers) who develop a particular piece of software and sell it online. One thing I noticed is that their software tends to be very well coded, does what it’s supposed to do perfectly, and seldom crashes. Even if it does crash, there is usually a good deal of online support available.
However, the downside is that these developers seldom understand the complexities of online marketing and therefore do no develop the applications that users want. Amember for example, still does not have a OTO or One-Time-Offer plugin, and their affiliate program interface is pretty sad. Reporting functions are lame too.
But Amember does what it’s supposed to do – which is protect folders and files while accepting membership payments – extremely well. It’s also, in my opinion, pretty easy to use.
Buying Software from Internet Marketers
The Internet marketing group seems to understand online marketing much better, and develop their software with the purpose of making it easier for users to sell more products, get more members, train more affiliates and get more viral traffic.
However, most Internet marketers seem to operate from the hit-and-run business model – let me explain. When Mike Filsaime launched Butterfly Marketing, a vital part of his system was the membership site script. It was not the first to have features such as OTO, but it certainly did OTOs and upsells / downsells better than any other script.
After the initial launch and hype died down, it seems that Mike Filsaime had already moved on to other projects and any new development to the BFM script was abandoned. A great product no doubt, but the fact that it’s no longer being developed would mean that support becomes limited, and as a result it would not make sense trying to use the script in the long term unless you’re a programmer.
Anyone who’s tried to use the Butterfly Marketing script however would notice how disorganized the system is, and the lack or documentation and support. Also, a lack of a parallel community that supports to develop related applications and guides for the software.
The Verdict
Unfortunately as far as buying marketing software is concerned, it seems that you cannot have your cake and eat it too. If a developer makes a really good piece of software that has all the features I want plus more in the pipeline, I would prefer to be his customer.
I’ve been using Amember for over a year now and their support is always great. The only reason I may want to move away from them is if they do not have features that I really need.
Internet marketers who develop software do a good job as well, but it seems that their dedication and attention to keep on supporting their creation is simply not there. Although a few exceptions like John Delavera (Fantasos), Jonathan Leger (3 Way Links and Instant Article Wizard) and Brad Calen (Keyword Elite and SEO Elite) have the best of both worlds, in reality most Internet marketers would eventually abandon their software in search of easier, faster money.
Your opinion?
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Hey Gobala,
Totally agreed.
I come from a computing background and looking from an “IT student’s” standpoint, it is quite disgusting to see how some very ugly coded products get sold for hundreds of times it cost to develop it.
Internet Marketers are marketers, their primary interest is profits – and they do this job very well, but I think marketers should also watch who they outsource their software development to. There is so much more to software development than writing a software project proposal on Elance.
The BFM script vs Amember you brought up is a good example, and another case is this one on Joel Comm’s contact station. Even though Joel has taken steps to mend the bugs, I think it does serve as a reminder for users who they buy software from.
Apart from the few you brought up, I have found Derek Ghel’s team at the Internet Marketing Center does their software very well too.
I don’t think it’s necessarily a developer vs. internet marketer issue so much as a developer vs. outsourced coding issue.
I would venture a guess that Butterfly Marketing wasn’t coded by Mike Filsaime himself. He more than likely outsourced the coding, either to a third party entirely or through his own in-house development team. Once the product is done, or at least “good enough”, those coders were either finished the project and moved on, or were reassigned to new tasks.
Amember, on the other hand, is sold by the actual developers. So they have more of an interest in continuing its development, support, etc.
There are exceptions like you pointed out with Brad Callen, Jon Leger and a few others, but for the most part software sold by internet marketers tends to be made to be “good enough” instead of being more polished.
Hey Gobala,
Good stuff to know about Amember and Mike Filsaime’s Butterfly marketing product. There seems to be a gap in this field.
It sounds like software developers and Internet Marketers need to mastermind and create some really good stuff.
I am looking at Amember to get my membership site up and running, and I’ve found this blog post to be very helpful!
I appreciate you.
Dali Burgado
All I can say is Internet Marketers code really bad software that is very unstable. FACT!
The problem don’t just lies with the software. I have been trying tons of affiliate software this year and 1 thing I found out is that your payment processor also play a part.
If can non-US citizen can open a US merchant account. Then everything will be much easier to solve.
Now majority of us are tack to 2CO, clickbank or the risky Paypal
I love Jason Potash product – Content Composer, traffic kahuna, comment kahuna.
Jason Postash is more Internet Marketer oriented software vendor, he and his team of developers create SEO related product and services, just like Brad Calen…
Recently, another great product – SENuke are created by Internet Marketer + Software Developer team up! Just perfect!
Interesting stuff here.
What I found was, when software developers turned themselves into internet marketers, they tend to carry that “perfection” from their day as software developers into their new world.
So, they give the best stuff (with all those whiz bang stuff included) as well as ease of use (think of Jason Potash software, though I don’t think he’s a software developer before).
Kahuna what? Haven’t heard of it before. Will take a look at it, and thanks for mentioning those softwares.
Cheers.
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