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Clickbank Vendors - I have some Q's!

by lukedidit
9 replies
Hi *,

I am currently scoping out the grounds for penning my own product (specifically an eBook with some video guides to complement). I have some questions, if you may be kind enough to entertain them.

The niche will not involve anything to do with money / IM. It will be a self help book, and I intend to write it as a valuable resource. Revenue generation will be considered of course, but it won't be the dominant focus while in the creative stage.

I already have mapped out most aspects, but I need a little help on some of the following points:

1. Can I use adwords?

From my experience using adwords as an affiliate, I have found Google to be quite unforgiving around clickbank products (some have said they don’t like clickbank). Do I need to consider this?

Being able to use search PPC is important as it will need highly targetted traffic.

Perhaps if I use a 'shopping cart' for my adwords LP’s and then use clickbank for managing affiliates? What say you?

2. Can I write under a pseudonym?

I ask this not as the project will be in anyway scammy. I just don't want my real name and the niche being connected as it is not currently my main career. Perhaps overtime, but not yet. However for individual receipts, tax purposes and all legalities I am happy to use my real name.

3. Research.

Does anyone know of good test procedures / methods for trying to establish if there is an actual market need for a potential project?

Thanks in advance WF'ers.

Luke
#clickbank #vendors
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by lukedidit View Post

    1. Can I use adwords?
    That depends on what sort of site you link to. You can't link to a sales page.

    Originally Posted by lukedidit View Post

    2. Can I write under a pseudonym?
    Yes, but these days ClickBank will require you to state openly on the sales page that you've done so.

    Originally Posted by lukedidit View Post

    Does anyone know of good test procedures / methods for trying to establish if there is an actual market need for a potential project?

    AdWords themselves can be quite a reliable indicator. Try out the main, obvious keywords and see how many ads there are, how long they stay for, how often they rotate, and so on. If people are continuing to spend money on advertising, then there's money in the niche.
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    • Profile picture of the author lukedidit
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      That depends on what sort of site you link to. You can't link to a sales page.
      I don't quite understand? So the sales page needs to be at least one navigational click away, but not the LP? (A sort of add to basket type affair?).

      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      Yes, but these days ClickBank will require you to state openly on the sales page that you've done so.
      Understand, I can't see that helping user confidence, but I can see why they would want to do that.

      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      ]AdWords themselves can be quite a reliable indicator. Try out the main, obvious keywords and see how many ads there are, how long they stay for, how often they rotate, and so on. If people are continuing to spend money on advertising, then there's money in the niche.


      So what would I link the adverts to? (considering Googles militant approval process). Would this just be a site speaking about the niche?

      Thanks Alexa, very much appreciated.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Thompson
    I have no issue sending my Adwords traffic to a sales page. Just make sure there are links on your page to informative articles, etc.

    Same with squeeze pages as the landing Page. Works fine for me.

    Make sure your SITE is content rich before using Adwords. Landing Page should at least offer links to the content, if not provide some value on its own.

    Outside of the whole "make money" market, Google is quite OK with sales. They expect you to be selling!
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    • Profile picture of the author lukedidit
      Originally Posted by Chris Thompson View Post

      I have no issue sending my Adwords traffic to a sales page. Just make sure there are links on your page to informative articles, etc.

      Same with squeeze pages as the landing Page. Works fine for me.

      Make sure your SITE is content rich before using Adwords. Landing Page should at least offer links to the content, if not provide some value on its own.

      Outside of the whole "make money" market, Google is quite OK with sales. They expect you to be selling!
      Thanks - I intend to make it a content portal and also somewhere for supporting customers. Anyone who purchases would then get access to a private forum perhaps.

      There will be articles sitemapped, a privacy policy, contact page, t&c's & disclaimers etc.

      I would just like to have a squeeze page for landing as they convert so well.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Chris Thompson View Post

        They expect you to be selling!
        They're inconsistent.

        They expect/demand "informative content", too.

        People's experiences vary widely. There are certainly plenty of Warriors who've had problems linking to a traditional "sales page".

        Originally Posted by Chris Thompson View Post

        Make sure your SITE is content rich before using Adwords. Landing Page should at least offer links to the content, if not provide some value on its own.
        Agreed.

        Originally Posted by lukedidit View Post

        I would just like to have a squeeze page for landing as they convert so well.
        If you're measuring the numbers of people who opt in to them, yes: they tend to convert well. When you measure the amount of longer-term income you make from a list built from a squeeze-page and compare it with the amount of income you make over the same period from the smaller list built with an opt-in on a content-rich landing page, the story may be exactly the opposite. http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post5972495 . But that's digressing ...
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  • Profile picture of the author lukedidit
    Hi Alexa - I have been reading through the Clickbank Client Contract Agreement, but I can't find anything on ClickBank requiring that you state on the sales page you are using a pen name.

    A google search for 'pseudonym clickbank' brings up lots of articles where people recommend it better to use a 'pseudonym'?

    Do you have something official you could source me?

    Thanks in advance.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by lukedidit View Post

      Hi Alexa - I have been reading through the Clickbank Client Contract Agreement, but I can't find anything on ClickBank requiring that you state on the sales page you are using a pen name.
      On the other hand, there've been several threads/posts here recently from people who've been surprised, over the last few weeks, to discover that when they've submitted their product/sales page to ClickBank for approval, they've been asked questions about pen-names, and then been told that if they're using one, they need to declare that openly.

      Originally Posted by lukedidit View Post

      Do you have something official you could source me?
      Sorry, I don't. Only the belief (and I admit this is based only on second-hand information gathered here, from the threads I mentioned - of which there are undeniably a few recent examples) that this is ClickBank's new policy.
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      • Profile picture of the author lukedidit
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        On the other hand, there've been several threads/posts here recently from people who've been surprised, over the last few weeks, to discover that when they've submitted their product/sales page to ClickBank for approval, they've been asked questions about pen-names, and then been told that if they're using one, they need to declare that openly on the sales page.

        Sorry, I don't. Only the belief (and I admit this is based only on second-hand information gathered here, from the threads I mentioned - of which there are undeniably a few recent examples) that this is ClickBank's new policy.

        Found it:

        http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-pen-name.html

        Update: It ended up being resolved in a way that works fine for me. She wrote back, "We are requesting that all vendors disclose this information. You are welcome to add this information to your Privacy Policy and/or your Terms of Use & Service if you prefer." So I ended up including the following sentence, "The name xxxxxx xxxxxxxx is a pseudonym used by the author", to the end of the Disclaimer section in the Terms, and it was quickly approved. The reality is that you can pretty much hide that one very small sentence in the mass of legal jargon on one of those other pages...which hardly anyone ever reads.
        Phew! Game on again.
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      • Profile picture of the author LuvAbundance
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        On the other hand, there've been several threads/posts here recently from people who've been surprised, over the last few weeks, to discover that when they've submitted their product/sales page to ClickBank for approval, they've been asked questions about pen-names, and then been told that if they're using one, they need to declare that openly.



        Sorry, I don't. Only the belief (and I admit this is based only on second-hand information gathered here, from the threads I mentioned - of which there are undeniably a few recent examples) that this is ClickBank's new policy.
        It most definitely is a new policy and one they are still enforcing today. This is an old thread, but I will put my updates here for the electronic paper trail for others wanting info on it.

        Here are the tips / takeaways:
        1 - Put it in the privacy policy
        2 - (this I came up with). In dictionary.com, a synonym for "pen name" is "professional name", which sounds better, doesn't it?

        So this is how i worded it (and it was accepted by Clickbank):

        It can also be noted that for personal and professional reasons, "Professional Name Susie" is a professional name used by Susie.S, as a professional coach and businesswoman.

        Right there in the middle of the other boring text. I think it does sound better than "pen name", personally.

        HTH whoever reads this!

        Luvabundance
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