ClickBank: Is it "cheating" to buy your own product?

[in2it]

If this is wrong, please don't tell anybody -- If you are also doing this, I will not rat on you either...

I have two ClickBank Accounts and I publish products on both of them. I will sometimes use one account to buy my product in the other account.

I also sometimes will do a Google Search for my product title and find Affiliates' postings, then I will buy my product thru their hoplink (spread the wealth). This is all intended to increase the popularity of my products, and also to keep them in the Marketplace if there have been no recent sales (ClickBank drops you off their list if you haven't had a sale in a month).

Not only that, but when I find a ClickBank product I'd like to buy, I will do it thru my hoplink so I can get it at a discount. Note that this delays your affiliate payment per ClickBank Rules Under "CDR", but eventually this money will come back to you:
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________
Customer Distribution Requirement

ClickBank accounts cannot be used for the sole purpose of collecting rebates or otherwise extending credit to yourself or others. In compliance with US law, ClickBank will withhold payment of any account balance until the following criteria is met:

* Sales made with 5 or more different credit card numbers and
* Sales made with two different payment methods (either Visa, MasterCard, or PayPal). Note: PayPal purchases do not count toward the minimum 5 different credit card numbers.
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________

If these are good ideas, let me know if you also use these techniques. If they are considered sleazy unethical practices -- well then, I'm just kidding about it. I never do these things, it's just a hypothetical inquiry...

I'm interested in Warriors' ideas about this,
Grady

[garyv]

I wouldn't consider it unethical - but if you can't get someone else to buy your product, then you need to concentrate your efforts on tweaking your product, or switching products all together.

[in2it]

Hi Garyv!

Yeah, I'm working on that, but I'm wondering if this is a common "beginner's" strategy before you really get the ball rolling... it takes some time to get all your ducks in a row.

[in2it]

Hey Again Gary,

BTW I just got your CBCentrifuge and it seems you are quite an expert on this subject. Thank you for offering this product for free - I'd recommend it to anyone else who's interested in ClickBank Gravity.

[garyv]

I think the best way to get the ball rolling - and to see if your item is affiliate worthy, is to promote it to a clickbank forum. There are several out there that allow you to post a promotion of your product. Affiliates in the forums can also give you immediate tips to help your product convert better.

You'll get more exposure in the beginning by promoting your item to a CB forum, than you will by adding a few gravity points by buying your own product. If your product starts to sell, then you can greatly increase your gravity with scripts - like the one in my signature.

edit - I see you've already found it. Good Luck.

[in2it]

Great tips, Gary. I will check into that.

Since I have the master's attention... what do you think of cb-analytics.com? Is this a resource you use often? Are there other similar sites I should know about?

[GeorgR.]

cbengine.com
cbtrends.com

yes there are quite a bunch of such sites, i am sure others know more!

I am still a little mad that "clickbank elite" doesnt work under vista anymore, this was really my fav. tool to scout and check products from the desktop.

[in2it]

Boooo Vista -- May XP never die.

[garyv]

Originally Posted by in2it

Great tips, Gary. I will check into that.

Since I have the master's attention... what do you think of cb-analytics.com? Is this a resource you use often? Are there other similar sites I should know about?

Yes - I do like to use those type of sites to find hot products to promote. You can also use a site like this to better categorize your products in the marketplace. For example, you'll notice that CB-Analytics has a category tab at the top. If you click on that tab, the very first category is "Business to Business", and the very first sub category is "education". If people are browsing for items to promote, this is where they'll start. So if you want to get your item noticed quicker, it would be smart to put your item in this category. You'll see that mine is #5 in that sub-category right now.

[rosehill]

I know some people that would say this is totally unethical. But i know a bunch more people who would say different. i guess your call buddy.

best

rosehill

[in2it]

You are full of brilliant ideas, Gary. I'm eternally grateful for your sage advice.

What about the ClickBank Ads? clickbank.com/advertise.html

Have you used them? Are they worth the $10/day fee?

[in2it]

Thanks, Rosehill. So now I know I'm not the only one... I consider myself to be an ethical straightshooter, but if there are procedural loopholes available, I cannot ignore them.

[Myles MacGregor]

I feel like because there is no major gain for buying your own product on Clickbank, if you want to go through all the trouble, then go for it.

-You end up losing a little bit of money
-Your rankings don't rise significantly per each sale
-It takes a lot of time
-You have to have a lot of different credit cards if you want to do it a lot without Clickbank finding you suspicious

However, regardless of all of these negative points, if you still feel like this is the most constructive way to boost your product, try it. There are other ways to do it which will most surely make you much more successful.

[in2it]

Myles, I agree with everything you say.

I am learning plenty more than I knew before, and naturally I won't be pulling these shenanigans when my conversions are healthy.

In the meantime, it's annoying to see a flatline in your cb-analytics graph.

[garyv]

Originally Posted by in2it

You are full of brilliant ideas, Gary. I'm eternally grateful for your sage advice.

What about the ClickBank Ads? clickbank.com/advertise.html

Have you used them? Are they worth the $10/day fee?

I have used clickbank's own advertising before, but I stopped using it, because I had no way of tracking whether it was working or not. It would be nice if they built in some tracking for those ad slots, to see if any of your sales or affiliates come from those ads. It may have been working for me, but I did not notice a significant increase during the time I was using it, and I had no way of tracking it.