Studio or Personal Website? (Meta/Facebook Conversion API, Affiliate Marketing Integration, Google Ads, Checkout On Site)

General
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Hey guys I’m running into a problem deciding which route to take for the overall structure of my project. If you could take the time to help me, I would really appreciate it (there will be many others faced with the same problem and someone probably already figured this out).

Scenarios:
A) Build a Studio (pickaxe handles payments, lose 8% of revenue)
B) Host the Chatbot on my Wix website

Non negotiable must haves:

  1. Set up Meta/Facebook conversion API
  2. Affiliate marketing integration

Conversion API:
In order to scale an ad campaign using Facebook ads you need to have the conversion API setup properly so the “sale” is recorded and passed back to FB. This is vital to training the platform to learn the correct customer so it can keep finding new ones (it also ranks the ad higher because it’s converting).

It looks like you could probably paste the Facebook Pixel and a Google Ads tag into the Header on a Studio. It doesn’t look like the Conversion API can be implemented on a studio (I emailed Pickaxe and they said it cannot be done).

In a Wix website it takes a couple clicks and the Conversion API is automatically set up (also the WIX SEO tools for Google are powerful and the domain purchase is streamlined).

Affiliate Marketing Integration:
Again this would be super easy on a Wix website. They have an app built in that would make this simple if the checkout was initiated on my site.

It looks like there’s an affiliate integration for pickaxes on PushLap Growth. This could be used on a Studio but it adds complexity and another monthly bill. Wix would be preferred but has anyone else used this service?

The biggest problem with choosing the Studio option is that they take 8% of the revenue. By handling checkouts on your own site you would retain more earnings.

I’m unsure how one would handle the checkout process on a site. You could host the pickaxe on a members page but then they would have to sign in again on the pickaxe. Too many steps and added complexity. Has anyone found out a relatively easy way to handle checkouts on your own site? I’m somewhat tech savvy but not super advanced.

It seems like the best option is to host this on my own site as long as I can find out a way to handle the checkout/login dilemma. Any thoughts?

So these are my main questions:
Has anyone found a way to implement the Facebook Conversion API in a Studio?

Has anyone used PushLap Growth (or any other services) for an affiliate campaign on a Studio?

Has anyone figured out an easy way to host and handle a Pickaxe on a personal site while receiving payments through the personal site’s Checkout?

I really love what the Pickaxe team built. I think this platform is going to be huge. This community section has been super helpful already. I would love to see any Studios or sites you guys have made for inspiration (please link them below).

Thanks for the help everyone :folded_hands: !

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Hey @motheraigaia

To make sure I’m tracking your dilemma:
You want to launch a Studio. Route A = let Pickaxe handle payments. Route B = host/checkout on your own site and still deliver Pickaxe access. You’re worried about “losing” 8% on Pro.

The short answer

For a non-technical, fast launch: Route A (Pickaxe payments) is the better business decision. The 8% is not a loss; it’s a service fee that buys you payment rails, auth, member management, entitlements, webhooks, stability, and fewer moving parts to maintain. Stripe’s processing fee still applies either way (commonly 2.9% + $0.30 per successful card charge in the US; varies by country). Stripe

Pricing tip: If you want to “net” a target amount, just price to include fees. Example: to net $100 before fees, set price ≈ $112.57 (because (100+0.30)÷(1−0.08−0.029)(100+0.30) ÷ (1 − 0.08 − 0.029)(100+0.30)÷(1−0.08−0.029)).

Why Route A wins for most creators

  • Speed & reliability: Payments, sign-in, and access stay inside one system, fewer brittle links and less ops overhead.
  • Lower hidden costs: Building your own checkout >> user creation >> tier mapping >> access changes >> refunds/cancellations >> analytics >> support is real work (or consultant dollars). The 8% often costs less than DIY after time + tools are factored in.
  • Growth hooks you need:
    • Webhooks (beta): Studio can POST Signup / Payment / Membership events to your automation tool. Use those events for trials, upgrades/downsells, and lifecycle emails.
      [Insert screenshot of Studio >> Settings >> API documentation >> Webhooks here]
    • Marketing pixels & affiliates: If your Studio offers Code injection, drop your Meta Pixel / affiliate script there. For server-side tracking (Meta CAPI, etc.), send the event payload from a webhook to your preferred tool (Zapier, Make, n8n) or your API,no need to re-platform the checkout.
    • Affiliate programs: Tools like LeadDyno/others can work alongside Studio;
    • I believe the key is firing purchase/membership events from webhooks so your affiliate app can credit the sale.

When Route B might make sense

If you have strong in-house dev/ops, want one consolidated checkout for many non-Pickaxe products, and are ready to own SSO, user creation, tier/entitlement sync, refunds, taxes, analytics, and server-side conversion tracking end-to-end, then Route B can work. Just know it’s a project, not a setting.

Practical recommendation

  • Go Route A (Pickaxe payments) now, ship the offer, and price in the fees.
  • Use Studio Webhooks for trials, upgrades, and “add-on” offers (workshops, brand-voice kit, etc.).
  • Use Code injection for client-side pixels; add server-side events via webhook >> your automation tool.
  • If later you outgrow this and need a custom commerce stack, you can migrate deliberately.

If you want, tell me which tool you prefer for automations (Zapier, Make, n8n) and I’ll outline a lightweight flow that mirrors your must-haves, no heavy tech, just the essentials.

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Thank you for your answer and thoughts on the subject. Can anyone else chime in on this?

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Here’s what we’re doing, hope this helps!

Ads > Funnel (Built on GHL, but WIX will work too) > Sale > Upsell > Downsell if they say no > thank you page (where we have them book a call with our team)

For conversions we do server side (CAPI) and browser side then use Stape as well to help with deduplication and sending events back to meta for tracking.

On the fulfillment side we have Zapier set up (I would do Make if starting over) to trigger off the pipeline change in GHL (you could also trigger off of a stripe sale) and then I use the Create User API (Pickaxe | Build & Manage AI Agents) to send the USER data to Pickaxe.

Because we don’t collect much info from them pre-sale, we just use their phone number as their password (I have found the magic link and not setting a password for them tends to be a bit buggy).

We then have an automated “thank you” email go out with a link to the Pickaxe studio where our product is hosted, with their log in details (email and password).

You can’t turn off the ability to purchase the product within Pickaxe but you could essentially have “price anchor” prices on Pickaxe that are higher and then on your site where you run ads to that’s where people can get a special deal. If they were to just go straight to your studio they’d see the pricing be much higher. That’ll also cover the 8% if a sale does happen to go through the studio.

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