Does ClickBank actually work?

[obenix]

I was just browsing through www.clickbank.com and was wondering if any webmasters here promote their stuff and get paid?
Sorry to say (no offense intended) but their site does not seem "professional" enough to render me signing up as their affliate...:(

[subseo]

It is highly popular mainly with all kind of marketers and ebook writers. But rather expensive as well. It depends for what kind of audience are you looking for, for some stuff there might be better alternatives.

They limit the countries they accept the people from, so I didn't have a chance to try them out.

[Juls]

hmmm clickbank is on my things to try list.... any other comments? do they convert well?

thanks

[disgust]

some people have success with clickbank, but unless you already have an existing site that leans in a direction you could only find affiliates for at clickbank, I'd try another network or means of advertising.

[Ron R]

I briefly looked through the products available to promote, but decided that there wasn’t anything worth my ad space.

A few of the webmaster scripts and e-books looked interesting, but the overzealous sales pitch on the websites are the equivalent of a bitch slap. I would be embarrassed to send my audience there.

Maybe I overlooked something. If you use them I would be interested in what your promoting and how it’s doing.

[Ron R]

Also disgust I am interested in becoming a guest blog poster on the seo blog. I’ve contact your company through the onsite contact form to this effect. Thanks

[viralmagnet]

Clickbank (in my opinion) offers better value to the merchant (ie the seller)
than to the affiliate. Every since they started disallowing framed links
I stopped using them.

Yes they do pay on time but since you can only link directly to
product links now, it is much harder to cloak affiliate links
and anyone can insert their own username into them effectively
bypassing you out of the loop.

Ad to this the fact that there is no opportunity for second tier
sales, you may want to sell some products through them but for those
of us that build our own affiliate networks, subscribers lists,etc..
there is no incentive to tell anyone about the affiliate program.

In others words it is great if you have a content site and just
want to market directly to customers but if you want own a brandable
site (ie: your users can pass through their affiliate links) then
you will not get the sale, and not get rewarded for your referral's sales.

[mudnik]

I guess it depends on what you sell. The changing of affiliate links is a problem. I would go for the niche markets where the shoppers might not even know of things like affiliate links. Avoid products on internet marketing, etc. It will also be good if there is no affiliate link on the main product page. I know of a friend who has no problems getting 300+/month commission from clickbank just from 1 product that he promotes on his main website. Personally, I have only sold 2 products so far....not enough enough to cash out.

[Vrindavan]

>> if any webmasters here promote their stuff and get paid?

Yes, me.

there are good and bad things for clickbank program

[clickbanker]

RON_R,

msg me and i'll show you something that is worth promoting.. maybe not on your site, but definately on yahoo overture.

[101homebiz]

I have promoted Clickbank for years and they pay 2 times a month without any problem. In the last months I got the information that several products have "parasites", i.e people stealing your comissions. So you should be careful (;-)

[Enlighten]

Yes, I promote click bank products and have been paid as an affiliate for promoting the items. The ease of promoting the items depend on the products you choose to promote and HOW you promote them. ;)

[cashadv]

Is it good to promote them via ppc ?
I know some guy from my country which promotes them and makes from 300 - 500$ daily am sure he done lot of hard work befor he started earning such big amount of money but still must be something good in it.

[Terrence Carter]

Clickbank can work, but the customer has to be focused on the product...not on the fact that you are getting a cut

[cashadv]

Thanks for your kind reply.

Please tell me what u mean be focused on the product ?

Regards.

[widewebtalk]

I use clickbank and one of the best ways i use it is purching items through my own affiliate link so i effectivley get them half price i also promote the links through a directory type site i would show you but i am unsure of the rules here on posting links.

[fryman]

Well... since this old thread has already been bumped I will ask some questions...

I agree with obenix, I visited several product sites and all of them just look like crap. Do people really buy that stuff??
And how do you pick something to promote? There are like a gazillion products and I don't see any way of sorting it out by "what's hot" or something like that. I sure don't want to promote something that no one on earth will be interested in... how do you pick a good program there?

[cashadv]

good question how to promote product that people all like it.

99% of products are real crap :(

[homeloans1]

Clickbank products convert really well. Simplicity can pay!

[marcel]

Clickbank has been around for a long time.

[relysites]

Clickbank is well known, seems to work well for some, many claim they are making big $$ both as an affiliate (selling other people's profits) as well as their own.

[mmariusel]

Hi.

I posted on my buisness blog (http://www.fastlink2.com/blog/people-are-still-making-money-with-clickbank-18) an response to your question, in my opinion there is a lot of available market for this.

In plus now the ClickBank is offering the products database as XML feed so will be now easier to create a search engine to search in database and return the reults in your website.

[kearnsey11]

Indeed it has, althought they could do with sprucing it up a bit!!

[johnnyappleseed]

Clickbank is great for one simple reason; they offer a HUGE number of products that you can promote.

On the other hand, Clickbank Sucks for one simple reason; they offer a HUGE number of products that you can promote.

You have to sift through it and find a product that you like, understand, and would be willing to buy yourself. Then promote the heck out of it.

[stephensmith]

I just recently started to promote some Clickbank products. I've earned maybe $250 from them over the past couple of months.

My Clickbank promotions have been rather slapdash so far and buried deep within my sites. I'm going to try going about it more systematically and visibly and see if I can turn Clickbank commissions into a real income.

As for choosing products to promote: They should fit with the theme of your site, of course. Aside from that, Clickbank offers several statistics to judge the money-making potential of each product.

Apparently, "gravity" is considered an important measure, but I haven't taken the time yet to understand what that means or how to interpret it.

One statistic that matters to me is the "% referred" figure. This means the percent of sales attributable to affiliates. One rule of thumb that I got from someone else, and that I follow, is to ignore products with less than 60% referred sales. Anything above that percentage (65% - 75% - 90% etc.) is good because it means that my fellow affiliates are earning money promoting that product.

The "earned per sale" and "% earned per sale" matter, too.

The former tells you how much you will get per each sale that you make, obviously. All else being equal, why spend your time and sweat promoting a product that will fetch you $10 per sale when another one will make you $50 (or more)?

The latter ("% earned per sale") tells you how much of the pie the seller of the product is willing to give you as a reward for making a sale. I look for this figure to be 50% or higher. After all, these are digital products whose per-unit cost to the seller (after whatever he spent to develop it) is virtually nil. If the seller feels he must take, say, 75% of each sale--leaving you as the affiliate with only 25% (and some are even worse)--then it makes me question whether very many units of the product are actually being sold.

Within each category, Clickbank by default lists the products in descending order of "Popularity," which I take to be a measure of sales. So the way I choose a product to promote as an affiliate is to 1) Look in a category that fits my site's theme, 2) Look at the top 5 or 10 products in that category, 3) From those 5 or 10 choose one(s) that has >60% referred sales, >50% earned per sale (the percent "paid out"), and >$30 actual money earned per sale (my arbitrary figure).

Again, I've only been doing Clickbank for a couple of months--and not very persistently at that. So I am no Clickbank expert. But in my limited experience, the above "product picking" guidlines seem to work.

- Steve

[101homebiz]

Clickbank works. There are also a lot of malls that offers Malls for clickbank products, i.e. cbmall

[popnyc]

What is a good product or niche if I'm posting online classified ads?

[bl4ckmaN^]

popnyc

Try something with low competition

[oblivion19]

yeah. the products on clickbank r really difficult to sell..
i have so many clicks but no conversions!

[bl4ckmaN^]

oblivion19

Don't think that product is your problem. First think about, how you promote it, how you present it to customers.

Do you do everything to make the product sell?

[Swerd]

What is a good product or niche if I'm posting online classified ads?

way to bring up history
this thread is 3 years old lol

[jwgrafflin]

Let's make it four years. Still some good information here.

One thing to be aware of when using CB (or any other affiliate program or network), and that's sellers who use squeeze pages or free reports to get your referrals name and email address.

You usually get only one shot at those referrals. If they don't buy the first time they visit your affiliate link, chances are you've lost them. They may eventually buy the product, but it will be directly from the seller, since he, in essence, has stolen your lead.

Now, that's not to say all sellers do this. Just be aware that it does frequently happen. Always sign up for the free reports yourself so you can see what type promotions your referrals will receive. If you don't see your affiliate ID in those promotions, ditch that product and look for another.

It's real easy to check for your referral ID with CB. Just click on the buy link, then when the CB form comes up, right click and select view source. Then search for the word "affiliate" and you'll find this: [affiliate = xxxxx]. If you don't see your affiliate ID there in place of xxxxx, then you won't get credit for the sale.

Also be aware, if sales are slow and you don't meet the minimum threshold for payout, after a certain time period, you lose it because CB starts charging you a monthly fee until your balance reaches zero.

[TheVccMatey]

Clickbank really works well if you are willing to work hard. I know someone who makes $20 -30K/month with clickbank and most of it is profit. You need to be aware of the latest products coming up so that you can plan accordingly.

EDIT - not again. another bumped thread. :D