137 hops in 3 hours - not a single sale

[dexthor]

This is insane! I've been implementing Steven Wagenheim's mehod (monetizing on Google trends) and it turned out to work perfectly. But... that ClickBank!!!
A few days ago I tried to buy a product via CB myself, but I got that infamous error message: "Unable to process your order at this time". Alright, I thought, I can't buy through CB and that's that.
But the question is: is there a way that all of those who are trying to buy something using my link are having the same problem?
The problem could of course be that the landing page is so disastrously conceived that it just don't convert, but... 137 hops so fast - I can't believe it.

Any suggestions, warriors?

[Max Ramocsai]

ClickBank is making me very mad right now. Believe me, I know what you are going through. My sales have been abnormally poor for some time now.

[dexthor]

What network do you use as an alternative? The only one I found that hasn't some complicating system of affiliation is PayDotCom. Got any other to recommend me? I mean, this is awful! Now it's 174 clicks. No sale whatsoever!!!

[GingerColeen]

I'm just starting out but I've been sending about 250 a month for about 4 months now and haven't made any sales. I made one sale when I first began so I was encouraged to continue. I just thought my click totals were too low. They are going to various sites but two of them are the top Clickbank weight loss products.

After hearing your experience now I'm beginning to get discouraged. Is there anyone out there that is sending people to Clickbank and making sales? If so, what's your "secret"?

Ginger Coleen

[Andrew Maule]

Yeah I've had tons of hops and 0 sales before it's annoying.

[cloudchaser22]

I've gotten many CTR's but also same thing...has anyone tried emailing CB?

[precious007]

174 hops and no sales? That is insane, there should have been at least 4 sales at least that`s what I get. Are you using PPC?

[Platinum Matt]

There are way too many factors involved to just say "174 hops and no sales is insane"...

It depends on the source of the traffic.

How qualified the traffic is.

Have they been pre-sold.

The target pages conversion potential.

Etc etc...

Send 5,000,000 chinese school boys to a "how to grow cheese in your attic" site and you ain't gonna make ANY sales.

X amount of hop DOES NOT = Y amount of sales

[ahuddy]

Originally Posted by Platinum Matt

There are way too many factors involved to just say "174 hops and no sales is insane"...

It depends on the source of the traffic.

How qualified the traffic is.

Have they been pre-sold.

The target pages conversion potential.

Etc etc...

Send 5,000,000 chinese school boys to a "how to grow cheese in your attic" site and you ain't gonna make ANY sales.

X amount of hop DOES NOT = Y amount of sales

This is very true. But if there is a common error or failure in CB system that the OP is seeing then something else may be the culprit besides traffic quality. It can be very discouraging when the payment gateway is killing sales because that is one thing that should be a non factor.

[Andrew Maule]

Originally Posted by precious007

174 hops and no sales? That is insane, there should have been at least 4 sales at least that`s what I get. Are you using PPC?

Are YOU using PPC?

[dexthor]

No, I am not using ppc. As I said, I am using a blog and an article (literally - one blog, and one goarticle). I wanted to test Steven Wagenheim's Google trends method. So, I've found a trend, made a blog about it (just one post), booklinked it, pinged it... you know the drill, and then the same with the article. I searched for an affiliate and found the guy that had a similar product. Never mind that how low targeted his product may be in relation to my blog niche, 174 hops in such a short period should've produced at least one sale, don't you think?
So, I do think something's wrong with CB. I did write to them (the first time when couldn't check out buying a product) and I got the answer - something about my CC might have been declined for no particular reason and that there was nothing they could do about it. I wrote them again half an hour ago about how many hops I have and no sales, but it's too early to expect an answer.

edit: I've just checked my stats - 198 hops!!!! I'm going insane!

[Kelly Verge]

Originally Posted by dexthor

174 hops in such a short period should've produced at least one sale, don't you think?

It doesn't really matter what we or you think - it's about your customers. And yes, the offer must match the traffic to convert.

I have a skateboarding site that gets pretty good traffic. I haven't been able to find anything that converts with consistency. It's likely because I'm trying to sell them what I think they'd want instead of just putting something that they want in front of them.

[Clark]

Originally Posted by dexthor

The problem could of course be that the landing page is so disastrously conceived that it just don't convert, but... 137 hops so fast - I can't believe it.

See above.

The sample size is too small to make any final judgement about the conversion rate just yet and if the sales copy is atrocious then that could very well be the major stumbling block to conversion.

Also, the traffic you're going after is not in the buying mood, rather they are in the immediate gratification of free information about that hot topic at that moment.

If you captured some or all of those 137 happy clickers into an autoresponder then your conversion rates may be a little sweeter via repeated pre-selling in time.

[AndrewStark]

Is all this traffic unique?

It could be the same buyer trying to get the order form to work!

The advice to send your traffic to a squeeze page is good, can you create a complimentary free report to use as a bribe?

[dexthor]

@Kelly & @Clark:
If this is so (product mismatch, info searching audience) then it is actually good news, because I wasn't going for the big sales, I was testing a method to see the potential it has. What would really worry me would be the fact that people couldn't buy through my CB links.

[dexthor]

I'm not sure I follow you, Andrew. The only stats I've got is CB analytics, and the only pages with my links there are on my blog and on one article on GoArticles. I hadn't planned a campaign. I did all my writings and linking in 15 minutes and waited to see if there was something about that Google trend thingy.
Can you get back to me on that complimentary free report to use as a bribe, please?

[Clark]

Originally Posted by dexthor

@Kelly & @Clark:
If this is so (product mismatch, info searching audience) then it is actually good news, because I wasn't going for the big sales, I was testing a method to see the potential it has. What would really worry me would be the fact that people couldn't buy through my CB links.

Make a purchase through your hoplink to test it.

If it works then you have all the content you'll need to pre-sell the product; tell how you use the product to it's fullest potential with clandestine tricks included then roll that up into a special report via PDF download as a lead capture enticement.

If there are affiliate links within the product, sign up to those yourself then pre-sell your entire list on that while making mention of the product you're promoting.

Capitalizing on today's buzz isn't an new concept and it is effective with driving immediate traffic for that moment. Willie Crawford does this very well.

It's what system you put in place in which you have full control over which will make all the difference in your conversions... leave it up to a crappy product owner's sales page (by your own admission) and you have no control especially if you're not pre-selling but direct aff linking to the product sales page.

There is a way to bypass the sales page altogether to get to the order confirmation page but that'll cost you

Better yet, write your own product once you've aquired enough affiliate sales to show the niche topic is "money" then sell to your list for a discount and have it listed on Clickbank so I can respond to another person trying to be an aff for your product after 137 hops and no conversions.

Build the list dude... it's Money.

[clint48]

I did make one small sell from Click Bank yesterday, so the Click bank site must be working ok.

Clint

[dexthor]

Yeah, Clark, but this is only a fad! When I started with all this, it was 10 hours old and already had a decline curve. After I'm finished with all the things you mentioned, this would be long gone and forgotten.
The only way to test if my cb works properly is to do what you suggested - buy the product. But there's a catch - I can't buy it because my cc (as the cb people told me) keeps to be declined! I can buy it via PayPal, but that's not the same, right?

I never thought so many hops would make me nervous: 243 hops, 0 sales.

[Clark]

Originally Posted by dexthor

Yeah, Clark, but this is only a fad! When I started with all this, it was 10 hours old and already had a decline curve. After I'm finished with all the things you mentioned, this would be long gone and forgotten.
The only way to test if my cb works properly is to do what you suggested - buy the product. But there's a catch - I can't buy it because my cc (as the cb people told me) keeps to be declined! I can buy it via PayPal, but that's not the same, right?

I never thought so many hops would make me nervous: 243 hops, 0 sales.

Cool.

Quick cash is cool and I see the frequency you're on and that's ok.

Try optimizing your site for Adsense or CPA offers ensuring that your ad placements are in the hot zones if you're not monetizing the traffic the way you'd like with Clickbank products.

Fads are cyclical and you can also keep the flame burning by targetting the "Related searches" and long tail keywords like the example below I just grabbed which would bring in some serious cash for anyone with 15 minutes to burn.

Also, when the fad does resurface and you already have a monetized page in the SERP's then that's a nice surprise for ya.

The samsung epix is in the top 20 right now.

Google Trends: samsung epix, Oct 21, 2008

samsung epix
Hotness: Spicy

Related searches:
samsung epix review, samsung i907, samsung propel, epix, samsung i600

Peak:
4 hours ago

There is always a way to keep this method rolling with related on topic Google Trend searches... just keep an eye out for them.

Cheers!

[sannyman]

I just bought Secret Affiliate Code 2 and the main sale went OK. I wanted to get the upsell, but guess what? "Unable to process your order at this time (0)". Because it was presented as an OTO, I tried my SECOND CC, but I got THE SAME result.
So I had to contact Craig Bechta, in order to explain the issue with the OTO... I managed to "froze" the offer until tomorrow, when I will try again, but I do not know how many customers are so persistent, especially if they have multiple choices (not my case)...!

[dexthor]

Believe it or not, I don't have an account with Google Adsense. I had already apply for one but it takes them 2 days to process it. As for the CPA, that's what I am going to do - thanx for remembering me. Look, I am still a newbie, I am learning so don't laugh.
Thanx for all the replies. I gotta turn in now, it's a bit late here in Europe.

ps
Just realized I missed the whole Champ.League evening. I am getting hooked on this.

[Dixiebelle]

[QUOTE=dexthor;
So, I do think something's wrong with CB. I did write to them (the first time when couldn't check out buying a product) and I got the answer - something about my CC might have been declined for no particular reason and that there was nothing they could do about it. I wrote them again half an hour ago about how many hops I have and no sales, but it's too early to expect an answer.
[/QUOTE]

What would your credit card being declined have to do with them collecting payments for you, unless a declined credit card would completely shut down your account. Maybe you should ask them.

Dixie

[SeanIM]

You have to explain to the potential visitor that unless they purchase
this product their head will explode.

[sheryll]

clickbank seems to be working ok for me...I just made a purchase and went through ok

[dexthor]

My stats this morning: 675 hops, no sale!

[ragnartm]

Originally Posted by dexthor

My stats this morning: 675 hops, no sale!

seems to me like the traffic isn't that related to the product, either that or they already have it, the sales letter is bad, the design is bad or it's too expensive.

[spearce000]

I've been having a similar problem with my site learndtpfast.com. This site doesn't get a lot of traffic, but converts what it gets quite well (or it used to).

I decided to track how many click throughs I was getting from the "add to cart" button by having a redirect page with a tracking link. On Saturday, I had five people attempt to buy my product, but none went through. I figured that one or two might abandon the cart at the last moment, or get their cards declined, but ALL OF THEM seemed a bit unrealistic.

I wrote to ClickBank, and they said:

...Thank you for your inquiry! I have checked your account and confirmed that it is active and working properly. Please rest assured that ClickBank is not currently experiencing any issues in tracking your referrals. Our technical team is constantly checking our system to ensure that every aspect of ClickBank is functioning correctly.

It is normal to experience fluctuations in sales. Even our most successful publishers and affiliates go through periods of seemingly unusual activity. In order to understand the inconsistency of sales it is important to recognize your success as a ClickBank client is dependent upon your consumers. Several factors, such as market demand, customer interest, holidays and seasons all affect the volume of sales that your account receives. Sometimes these factors combine favorably with your marketing campaign, but sometimes they do not.

Also, please keep in mind that the current distress of the American economy is having large impact on not only Internet sales, but all sales in general.

Which doesn't exactly answer my question.

If there's nothing wrong, why do so many people bail out? Glad to see I'm not the only person experiencing this problem.

[dexthor]

Which doesn't exactly answer my question.

This is the question I asked them:
I am not able to purchase goods via CB because I keep getting error
message "unable to process your order at this time
". Could it be that all those who try to buy through my affiliate
link are experiencing the same problem? I'm asking this because I'm
getting a lot of hops but not a single sale.

This is the answer they gave me:
Hello,
On rare occasions the bank network may decline perfectly good cards.
We are not told the reason why a particular card is declined, and we
cannot take orders by phone or fax. The best advice would be to try
your purchase again with a different card. If this doesn't work for
you then please contact the publisher directly for alternative
payment options, such as money orders, checks, etc.
We apologize for the inconvenience.

[spearce000]

They seem to have a stock of answers, and just select the one they think is most appropriate regardless of whether it answers the question or not.

[Jay Deiboldt]

675 hops, no sale!

Um...ditch it! The sales page isn't doing it's job. Just move on. on your original query though about having 137 hops and no sales -

You have to remember that 1% is pretty good. So you have to wait more than just 100 clicks to gauge.

[Stallion]

My sales have gone in the hole. When 90% of my sales just disappear, I get pissed. They will never tell you a thing when you email them. They'll tell you it is something on your side. Every single time I emailed them, they tell me it's something on my side, and within a few minutes I start getting sales (And yes, this has happened with a drought of week and get a bunch of sales a few minutes after they reply to my email).

I have no trust in them as a business anymore. Now they don't receive any traffic from me. Yah me! Boo clickbank.

[Martin.Avis]

Am I correct in understanding what it is you've done?

From what I cna work out from your posts, it sounds as if you've set up a new WordPress blog and added one article (from a directory) on a hot topic.

As a result, 675 people have gone to a ClickBank product's sales page.

That sounds like an awful lot of traffic being generated off the back of one directory article. Even if it is a very good article making a reader-to-affiliate link-click of 5%, that means your page is getting traffic in the region of 13,500.

I know you are working in a hot niche, but that level of traffic from free search engine sources seems a heck of a lot!

Are you by any chance confusing page views with CB hops?

Martin

[Darken]

Originally Posted by Stallion

My sales have gone in the hole. When 90% of my sales just disappear, I get pissed. They will never tell you a thing when you email them. They'll tell you it is something on your side. Every single time I emailed them, they tell me it's something on my side, and within a few minutes I start getting sales (And yes, this has happened with a drought of week and get a bunch of sales a few minutes after they reply to my email).

I have no trust in them as a business anymore. Now they don't receive any traffic from me. Yah me! Boo clickbank.

haha that is true, that is true. that happened to me also!

[dexthor]

Originally Posted by Martin.Avis

Am I correct in understanding what it is you've done?

From what I cna work out from your posts, it sounds as if you've set up a new WordPress blog and added one article (from a directory) on a hot topic.

As a result, 675 people have gone to a ClickBank product's sales page.

That sounds like an awful lot of traffic being generated off the back of one directory article. Even if it is a very good article making a reader-to-affiliate link-click of 5%, that means your page is getting traffic in the region of 13,500.

I know you are working in a hot niche, but that level of traffic from free search engine sources seems a heck of a lot!

Are you by any chance confusing page views with CB hops?

Martin

Well Martin, I'm not an idiot. I don't confuse hops with page views. I didn't set up a WordPress blog, I did it on Blogger. To make long story short, after I opened a new CB account my stats today are as follows:
old account: 976 hops, 0 sales (spicy Gtrend, plenty of bookmarking)
new account: 606 hops, 2 sales (mild Gtrend, a lot less of bookmarking)

(same blog, same product)

[MuayThaiGuy]

I've had a terrible month with clickbank as well. I just assumed it was due to the stock market crashing as that's when things started to go downhill for me. Now I don't even bother checking my stats because I'm tired of seeing $0's ..

It's a shame too because last month I was averaging at least 1 $40 sale every second day ..

I'm living in Thailand right now so all I need is $40 a day to live. I was sooo close to retirement .. lol

Now, this is just depressing ..
Over 1500 highly targeted hops and 0 sales??
Something is seriously wrong..

[greenovni]

They are showing the wrong dates for weeks now like so


Week Ending Gross Sales
2008-11-12 (current week) $0.00
2008-11-05 $0.00
2008-10-29 $0.00
2008-10-22 $0.00
2008-10-15 $0.00

[Dana_W]

Originally Posted by clint48

I did make one small sell from Click Bank yesterday, so the Click bank site must be working ok.

Clint

I'm hearing complaints all over that Clickbank is having problems tracking - so it's possible you should have gotten more sales. I hope they get it resolved, because I have done well with them in the past.

As for the OP - it may just be your bad luck, unfortunately, to start promoting a CB product at at a time when they appear to be having problems. You might want to try another affiliate network and see if that works better for you. But you are making a great start and the fact that you got that many hops is wonderful!

[dexthor]

As for the OP - it may just be your bad luck, unfortunately, to start promoting a CB product at at a time when they appear to be having problems. You might want to try another affiliate network and see if that works better for you. But you are making a great start and the fact that you got that many hops is wonderful!

Any recommendations regarding affiliate networks? The only one I found that is remotely similar to CB is PayDotCom, but comparing to CB it is very small.

[garyv]

As a merchant that watches traffic coming in to my site, let me say that the type of traffic is VERY important. My highest selling affiliates average around 30 - 40 hops per order. And yet I have some affiliates that have sent me close to 1,000 hops without 1 order.

Let me also say that getting traffic from google trends works a lot better with CPA ads, unless the trend is very closely related to wanting the product you're selling. If you're making that many hops without a sale, you should replace that Clickbank ad with an ad from azoogle or copeac with an email or zip submit. I've made plenty of money using your same method, but with CPA ads.

[dexthor]

Hey Garyv, that's an excellent advise. I'm new to CPA all together, so I'd appreciate if you could tell me some more.

you should replace that Clickbank ad with an ad from azoogle or copeac with an email or zip submit

This I didn't understand at all, could you get into some more details?

[Chri5123]

Originally Posted by Platinum Matt

There are way too many factors involved to just say "174 hops and no sales is insane"...

It depends on the source of the traffic.

How qualified the traffic is.

Have they been pre-sold.

The target pages conversion potential.

Etc etc...

Send 5,000,000 chinese school boys to a "how to grow cheese in your attic" site and you ain't gonna make ANY sales.

X amount of hop DOES NOT = Y amount of sales

Exactly what I was thinking as I read your post!

Spot On Matt.

How are you driving traffic and are they VERY targeted?

Chris

[nazrida74@yahoo.com]

that' really cool

[Fox30]

I'd like to share my story with ClickBank. I'm a NOOb to affiliate marketing. I purchased an eBook from a well known member on this forum. After reading it I decided to try the strategy.

Just in the last 24hrs, I received 935 "hops" and ZERO sales! Mind you, this is a product that supposedly has a 7% conversion ratio.

I even went as far as emailing Customer Care at CB to ask and make sure that my links were working properly. Needless to say, i'm a little frustrated with this business.

Any advice and/or help, would be much appreciated.

PS: I already canceled the campaign.

[GeorgR.]

i made some PUBLISHER sales the last few days, but NO single affiliate sale.

And this despite the fact that i advertise massively (banners etc.) and made new squidoo lenses for my affiliate sales.

[GeorgR.]

Originally Posted by MuayThaiGuy

..
Over 1500 highly targeted hops and 0 sales??
Something is seriously wrong..

ok...1500:0 IS bad.... (shakes fist at clickbank...) its actually almost impossible to have such a bad CR.

[moodyresources]

I started another thread about this topic that has not shown up yet because I posted it was just a few minutes ago before I saw this.

For me, it is definately NOT a targeted traffic problem. I have three products I am marketing in one CB account that have produced a sale on average every 20 hops. And that is over a four month period. Now, all of a sudden I have gone 159 hops with no sales.

I emailed them and got the exact same message the other poster above got about this being normal for digital product marketing. Well if its normal how come it never happened to me before?

I am using the same organic traffic for the same keywords that I have been the last four months. The other side note is this came right on the heels of some of my best sales days.

[rodtyler]

This is just a shot in the dark, but I've known it to happen.

Occasionally, the CB hoplink does funny things, especially on blogs. It seems that every time the blog gets a hit, the hoplink also registers a hit (or hop). I have no idea why this happens, but all of these hops you are seeing may not be clickthroughs at all.

Have you checked your site stats to see how many hits your blog is actually getting? You may find that you're getting as many hops as hits, which isn't normal.

Like I said, it's just a shot in the dark, but even if this is the case, you aren't doing too hot. I'd try a different product or different blog.

[Fox30]

So I'd like to share with you all...I emailed CB and this is the reply I received...

On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 4:58 AM, aja <aja@clickbank.com> wrote:

Hello,

Thank you for your inquiry! It appears as if your hoplink was accessed by a spider bot. A spider or bot is a customizable computer program that crawls around the Internet indexing web pages and or links in those pages. The spider indexes specific information from each web page that it visits. These bots will repeatedly click through links over and over again. Many web sites get listed in the search engines when spiders visit their sites and index them to their web catalog.

You can verify that your links are functioning correctly by following the steps outlined below:

1. Enter your hoplink into your Internet address bar.

2. Click through the publisher's ordering process until you reach the ClickBank order form.

3. Scroll to the bottom of the ClickBank order form. You should see your account nickname listed as the affiliate.

This proves that your link is set up correctly and ensures your account will be credited with any commissions earned by referring paying customers to this publisher.

For further information on how hoplinks work, please see the following: FAQ Hoplink - ClickBank

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance!

Thank You,

Ashley
ClickBank Client Support
aja@clickbank.com
www.ClickBank.com




From:
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 6:47 PM
To: aja
Subject: Re: Other


Hi Ashley,
I must share with you that I am a little frustrated with ClickBank. In the last 24Hours I have received 935 "hops" for ONE particular campaign and ZERO sales. This is almost statistically impossible. How can we verify that my hoplinks are working correctly??? Does ClickBank have a customer service phone number?

Thank you.





On Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 5:46 AM, aja <aja@clickbank.com> wrote:
Hello,

Thank you for your inquiry! Unfortunately, we are unable to validate conversion tracking statistics provided by another company. In short, when a customer makes a purchase through your properly formatted hoplink, we track the sale and award the commission to the referring affiliate.

You can verify that your links are functioning correctly by following the steps outlined below:

1. Enter your hoplink into your Internet address bar.

2. Click through the publisher's ordering process until you reach the ClickBank order form.

3. Scroll to the bottom of the ClickBank order form. You should see your account nickname listed as the affiliate.

This proves that your link is set up correctly and ensures your account will be credited with any commissions earned by referring paying customers to this publisher.

For further information on how hoplinks work, please see the following: FAQ Hoplink - ClickBank

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance!

Thank You,

Ashley
ClickBank Client Support
aja@clickbank.com
www.ClickBank.com




-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 4:03 PM
To: CB_Accounts
Subject: Other

Publisher and Affiliate Question


Name:
Email:

Nickname:

Subject: Other

Questions:
Hello,
I am wondering if you could answer this question. I am new to clickbank but not to affiliate sales. Why would the affiliate analytics show that I only received 35 "hops" and yet my ppc campaign show that I have over 150 clicks for that particular campaign? Is there a way to confirm that my affiliate links through click bank are working correctly? Could it be possible that my sales are not registering?

Thank you


PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
This transmission may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are instructed not to review this transmission. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender that you received this message and delete this transmission from your system.

[Miguelito203]

Originally Posted by dexthor

This is insane! I've been implementing Steven Wagenheim's mehod (monetizing on Google trends) and it turned out to work perfectly. But... that ClickBank!!!
A few days ago I tried to buy a product via CB myself, but I got that infamous error message: "Unable to process your order at this time". Alright, I thought, I can't buy through CB and that's that.
But the question is: is there a way that all of those who are trying to buy something using my link are having the same problem?
The problem could of course be that the landing page is so disastrously conceived that it just don't convert, but... 137 hops so fast - I can't believe it.

Any suggestions, warriors?

First, it could depend on whether or not you are using article marketing or PPC. With article marketing, it can take as many as 200 visits before you make a sale. Then again, there have been times where it has only taken me 50 visits. Also, it could be the keyword you chose. It is important to choose keywords that are at the end of the buying cycle and not too general. You could have ineffective adcopy. How relevant your landing page is to what the people are looking for. The product may not fit their needs or be too costly. It could be a lot of things. I hope this provides you with some insight.

Joey