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Thinking of moving into promoting clickbanks products

by diizzle
20 replies
Would like to ask warriors who have experience with clickbank, is this something worth getting in to at this current time? Is the market saturated there? Is there still alot of money to be made with promoting clickbank products?

Thank you
#clickbanks #moving #products #promoting #thinking
  • Profile picture of the author Khemba
    Clickbank is still very lucrative for product owners and affiliates - just be sure to add value, don't just keep pushing your offers on them.

    The market place has far too many niches to be saturated any time soon - get involved :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by diizzle View Post

    Would like to ask warriors who have experience with clickbank, is this something worth getting in to at this current time?
    Yes.

    Originally Posted by diizzle View Post

    Is the market saturated there?
    The market isn't "there" at all.

    The sales pages of "ClickBank products" are (almost all) on their vendors' own websites, and the market is wherever you attract your traffic/subscribers from. The fact that ClickBank is being used as the processor/retailer isn't really relevant to the customers, apart perhaps from the 60-day refund guarantee which can be used as an advantage by affiliates.

    Marketers and customers have totally different senses/impression of whatever a "ClickBank product" is. Most customers aren't really even aware that there is such a thing (outside the IM/MMO niches, anyway). So it's really a bit of an artificial construct anyway.

    What matters is to promote high quality products with good sales pages (wherever the sales are processed) which will convert your traffic. But, that said, ClickBank has many advantages to the affiliate, and there are over 15,000 products there from which to choose, so that ought to be possible.

    This may help: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post7110523

    Originally Posted by diizzle View Post

    Is there still alot of money to be made with promoting clickbank products?
    There is, but the fact that they're "ClickBank products" (whatever that signifies) has little to do with it, really.

    (I've never believed in "saturation", really. It may perhaps be true that there's some "saturation" of IM/MMO products sold via ClickBank, but since there's very little point in affiliates promoting those niches anyway, for the most part, it's not too relevant: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post2161932 ).
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  • Profile picture of the author morrispark
    I tried click bank affiliates when I first started and never really got any sales. I believe that click bank is a good source to start making money, I just kinda sucked at it not knowing what I was doing. I haven't been to click bank for a while but plan on heading back over to see what's new in the marketplace and give them a try again. I should be fine, I'm more knowledgeable than I was when I first started. Good Luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author Devin X
    Banned
    Originally Posted by diizzle View Post

    Would like to ask warriors who have experience with clickbank, is this something worth getting in to at this current time? Is the market saturated there? Is there still alot of money to be made with promoting clickbank products?
    LOL everything is saturated, dude. It's all a matter of degrees. You're also not asking the right question...it's not about what payment processor/marketplace you use, it's about what markets you want to enter.

    Don't bother with the biz opp and IM markets. You gotta zag while everyone else is zigging. Know what I'm saying?
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  • Profile picture of the author JasonBennet
    If the market is profitable, it will be competitive. If the market is ever saturated, then there will not be so many internet marketers around already. Clickbank is simply just an affiliate network and I think it is more important to choose relevant product that will help to solve the market's problem.
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    • Profile picture of the author 01123581321345589144
      I would listen to Alexa on this topic. She's really sharp in the area. Anyways, I've also been considering trying some promoting ClickBank topics too. We'll see how that pans out, I've also considered trying to do some Kindle ebooks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Blades
    In my experience, there is money in promoting Clickbank products, as long as you stay away from the IM niche. The IM niche on Clickbank tends to have a bunch of over hyped, rehashed products, with astronomical refund rates. Also the competition in the IM niche is insane.

    You could find yourself using PPC to promote IM products from there, and find out later that you're in the red because of refunds later on. Explore the other niches, and you will find alot of good stuff to promote there.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by diizzle View Post

    Would like to ask warriors who have experience with clickbank, is this something worth getting in to at this current time? Is the market saturated there? Is there still alot of money to be made with promoting clickbank products?

    Thank you
    It's literally impossible to saturate any niche, including CB products.

    I did CB for a while, did pretty decent earnings with a single product that can be bought in offline retail stores. You wouldn't believe what people will buy, I was literally selling a product that is public domain.

    My advice is always build your own sales pages, then send your traffic directly to the CB checkout (not the vendor squeeze page). A lot of CB vendors like to use the CB squeeze pages as lead captures from affiliate traffic, don't play the games, keep it simple (Your sales page > CB Checkout).
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    • Profile picture of the author 01123581321345589144
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      It's literally impossible to saturate any niche, including CB products.

      I did CB for a while, did pretty decent earnings with a single product that can be bought in offline retail stores. You wouldn't believe what people will buy, I was literally selling a product that is public domain.

      My advice is always build your own sales pages, then send your traffic directly to the CB checkout (not the vendor squeeze page). A lot of CB vendors like to use the CB squeeze pages as lead captures from affiliate traffic, don't play the games, keep it simple (Your sales page > CB Checkout).
      I think that legit advice man Thanks
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        My advice is always build your own sales pages, then send your traffic directly to the CB checkout (not the vendor squeeze page).
        And how do you set your ClickBank affiliate cookie on your prospective customers' computers, if you do that?!

        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        A lot of CB vendors like to use the CB squeeze pages as lead captures from affiliate traffic
        So don't promote sales pages with an opt-in or other leaks, then. Almost no serious, professional affiliates do that. http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...oduct-opt.html

        Originally Posted by 01123581321345589144 View Post

        I think that legit advice
        I don't doubt that it's "legit", but it also entails using ClickBank without using their affiliate cookies. Try it, if you want to. (There are one or two people who do it, I know).

        But be aware that you won't be using affiliate cookies and that ClickBank doesn't even allow affiliates to do that without the vendor's express permission in every case (for understandable reasons!).
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        • Profile picture of the author yukon
          Banned
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          And how do you set your ClickBank affiliate cookie on your prospective customers' computers, if you do that?!
          Easy, 1x1 pixel iframe of the original squeeze page, on your own sales page.




          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          I don't doubt that it's "legit", but it also entails using ClickBank without using their affiliate cookies. Try it, if you want to. (There are one or two people who do it, I know).

          But be aware that you won't be using affiliate cookies and that ClickBank doesn't even allow affiliates to do that without the vendor's express permission in every case (for understandable reasons!).
          Not true as explained above with the 1x1 iframe, cookie is set on the affiliate traffic.

          I don't know what CBs opinion is on iframes but I don't give my traffic away for free to anyone (vendor squeeze page lead capture). I made money with CB doing this, never had a problem getting payed. I stopped running CB at the first of the year when they started the silly quality score/code that listed me as a risk, when I've never once had a refund or anything like that from the traffic I sent to CB.
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          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            Originally Posted by yukon View Post

            Not true as explained above
            Thanks for your reply. I've no intention of starting an argument with you about it, but I'm relieved to see that you're no longer using ClickBank now. What you were doing was not compliant with their terms of service, and your "not true as explained above" comment is mistaken. I mention this not to try to argue with you but simply in the hope that nobody reading the thread will try the same thing. Or at least not without discussing it with ClickBank first. (I acknowledge that that may have worked for you, while you were doing it, of course).

            Originally Posted by yukon View Post

            I made money with CB doing this, never had a problem getting payed.
            If you say so. If I'd done what you did, I wouldn't have a way of knowing that, myself.
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            • Profile picture of the author yukon
              Banned
              Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

              Thanks for your reply. I've no intention of starting an argument with you about it, but I'm relieved to see that you're no longer using ClickBank now. What you were doing was not compliant with their terms of service, and your "not true as explained above" comment is mistaken. I mention this not to try to argue with you but simply in the hope that nobody reading the thread will try the same thing. Or at least not without discussing it with ClickBank first. (I acknowledge that that may have worked for you, while you were doing it, of course).
              No arguements, I'm simply telling you what I did & how I did it, while earning money on CB.

              I'm not saying your wrong, but I did not see any TOS problem with an iframe while I was promoting CB. CB has changed a lot of things (site, quality score (fake), etc...) since the first of 2013.

              I searched this list of pages here for the word iframe (nothing):
              hxxps://accounts.clickbank.com/legal.html

              ...and even did a Google search of the entire site, still don't see any mention of the keyword iframe on CB. I suppose it's possible they've mentioned iframe on a no-indexed page (anythings possible). Looks to me If it was a problem, they would make it easily known from at least searching the entire site via Google.

              "iframe" site:www.clickbank.com
              I've also never once had a vendor complaint or even question me using an iframe. IMO, it's not even an issue (still today), unless someone can show proof it's a problem with CB TOS.






              Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

              If you say so. If I'd done what you did, I wouldn't have a way of knowing that, myself.
              Sure you would know. The CB statistics page will show all your sales/hops, there's nothing mysterious about it. An iframe is the same as If the affiliate traffic went directly to the vendor page via your affiliate link, matter of fact the iframe has to be the affiliate link to get the affiliate name to show up at the bottom of the CB checkout page.


              *********************************************

              Here's why I would never deal with CB again.

              I've never had a refund or chargeback & this is in my CB account:
              • Account Refund Rate (Predicted) 13.16%
              • Account Chargeback Rate (Predicted) 3.27%

              Those predictions class me as Good, that doesn't set well considering I've never had a single problem. I would hate to see If I ever had a single chargeback/refund. Their numbers are obviously fake & can easily be boosted by CB to create more earnings for CB (fake quality scores on chargebacks/refunds that the affiliate has to help cover).

              IMO, CB is poorly managed, not just the fake classifications, the entire setup is low quality including vendor squeeze pages allowed to harvest affiliate traffic without a sale (optin on vendor pages). By CB letting vendors harvest affiliate traffic, they're indeed promoting the scam. I've even seen Adsense on vendor squeeze pages (what a joke).

              Don't anyone bother saying anything about the cookie still being set, my point is vendors can collect affiliate emails on the vendor pages, then sell anything they want for free on the back end, without doing any work to get the traffic.

              Anyways, that last part is a bit of a rant for CB. I've cleaned out my CB earnings a few months back, so really all I can say is best of luck to anyone that's still running as a CB affiliate & defiantly skip the vendor page, otherwise find another affiliate network because that's your only way of not giving traffic away for free.
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              • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
                Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                I'm not saying your wrong, but I did not see any TOS problem with an iframe while I was promoting CB. CB has changed a lot of things (site, quality score (fake), etc...) since the first of 2013.

                I searched this list of pages here for the word iframe (nothing):

                ...and even did a Google search of the entire site, still don't see any mention of the keyword iframe on CB. I suppose it's possible they've mentioned iframe on a no-indexed page (anythings possible). Looks to me If it was a problem, they would make it easily known from at least searching the entire site via Google.

                Invalid HopLinks

                To ensure proper tracking of your HopLink referrals, your HopLink needs to open into the top level of a new or existing window. For most affiliates, this is not a problem. However, some affiliates attempt to hide their HopLinks by having them open into other types of sub-window objects, such as frames, iframes, layers, applets, or images. These types of HopLinks are considered invalid, and can result in lost affiliate referral credit, incorrect display of your website, or, in the case of abuse of the HopLink system, could result in account termination without notice.

                Source: https://support.clickbank.com/entrie...About-HopLinks

                P. S. I've found the page via Google, by using the keyword "clickbank iframe", and it showed up at the middle of the first page, after a few forums discussing it.


                Not trying to twist the knife at all, but I know for sure that I've seen this around September-October 2011 when I first looked at ClickBank's TOS, and was very surprised you didn't find it.


                Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                I've also never once had a vendor complaint or even question me using an iframe. IMO, it's not even an issue (still today), unless someone can show proof it's a problem with CB TOS.
                Well, I don't know if they can find out or not, since affiliates are provided with anonymity. Also, why would a vendor report you since you're making him money? He can either report you and risk losing you as an affiliate, or wait for ClickBank to do it, and earn some money in the mean time. (Of course, he could just provide you with a opt-in-free sale page and put an end to the problem, but again, I don't know if they can trace you down.)


                Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                IMO, CB is poorly managed, not just the fake classifications, the entire setup is low quality including vendor squeeze pages allowed to harvest affiliate traffic without a sale (optin on vendor pages). By CB letting vendors harvest affiliate traffic, they're indeed promoting the scam.
                I do agree that there's an opt-in orgy going on at ClickBank right now, and they seem to enjoy it, or at least not be bothered by it. It's the first thing that I look for when analyzing a sales page. I usually scroll down fast to the bottom and I'm also usually forced to leave the page because of their presence. I've heard you can convince vendors to set-up an identical sales page sans the opt-in. Some have them, but they are somehow hidden, or at least not in plain sight, and you can find them on their Affiliate pages or by searching them in Google.

                I think I'd like to see ClickBank requesting vendors to have a version without an opt-in on the sales page, but I'd also like to see Michael Jackson again, and I'm not holding my breath.
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                • Profile picture of the author yukon
                  Banned
                  Originally Posted by Lucian Lada View Post


                  Invalid HopLinks

                  To ensure proper tracking of your HopLink referrals, your HopLink needs to open into the top level of a new or existing window. For most affiliates, this is not a problem. However, some affiliates attempt to hide their HopLinks by having them open into other types of sub-window objects, such as frames, iframes, layers, applets, or images. These types of HopLinks are considered invalid, and can result in lost affiliate referral credit, incorrect display of your website, or, in the case of abuse of the HopLink system, could result in account termination without notice.

                  Source: https://support.clickbank.com/entrie...About-HopLinks

                  P. S. I've found the page via Google, by using the keyword "clickbank iframe", and it showed up at the middle of the first page, after a few forums discussing it.

                  Not trying to twist the knife at all, but I know for sure that I've seen this around September-October 2011 when I first looked at ClickBank's TOS, and was very surprised you didn't find it.




                  Well, I don't know if they can find out or not, since affiliates are provided with anonymity. Also, why would a vendor report you since you're making him money? He can either report you and risk losing you as an affiliate, or wait for ClickBank to do it, and earn some money in the mean time. (Of course, he could just provide you with a opt-in-free sale page and put an end to the problem, but again, I don't know if they can trace you down.)

                  The hoplink was never hidden from CB, the link on my page went directly to the checkout page & clearly showed my affiliate URL to both CB & the traffic I sent to CB, including the affiliate ID in the CB checkout footer. I only used the iframe to set the cookie, my traffic knew exactly what they were buying by clicking the links I built on my own sales page & sending them to the checkout page. For CB to say a hoplink/URL can't be used as a clickable image is just insane If that's what their suggesting from the image comment in your quote from the CB support page.

                  BTW, I didn't find that support page because I searched the CB main domain (site:domain.com), I didn't realize they had a sub-domain for only support info. I guess I should have did a regular Google search. I still don't see that what I used the iframe for was against the CB TOS, I didn't hide the affiliate name/link from traffic, I simply bypassed the vendor sales page. In the end my traffic still new exactly what my affiliate ID was.

                  Obviously CB can't figure out that I was bypassing the vendor sales page or they just didn't care. It's not like I was some bl@ck hat guy trying to pull one over on them. My sites are 100% family friendly type sites all in the same niche.

                  Also all my data was defiantly being shown in my CB earnings page, never had a problem with that, I thoroughly tested my links when I first built my own sales pages.

                  Either way it's not much use to me considering I cleaned out my CB earnings a while back & removed all my affiliate links after the great fiasco of 2013 when they revealed their true colors of trying to squeeze money out of affiliates on the chargebacks/refunds (that just screamed scam to me). Maybe they'll sell out one day & I'll return, but seriously doubtful with the way they currently allow the vendors to harvest emails from affiliate traffic regardless If traffic ever buys, that's also a scam, plain & simple. I don't know about anyone else around here but I don't build email list for other people unless I get a return on my investment. After the sale is made, they can build all the list they want.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
                    Banned
                    Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                    Obviously CB can't figure out that I was bypassing the vendor sales page or they just didn't care.
                    Yes, obviously.

                    Had they known what you were doing, they would have closed your account, exactly as has happened to others who did the same as you.

                    Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                    It's not like I was some bl@ck hat guy trying to pull one over on them.
                    I appreciate that, but that doesn't make it a relevant factor to ClickBank when they decide to ban someone.

                    Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                    Maybe they'll sell out one day & I'll return, but seriously doubtful with the way they currently allow the vendors to harvest emails from affiliate traffic regardless If traffic ever buys, that's also a scam, plain & simple.
                    I don't really disagree with you about that. I'd never promote any product with a vendor's opt-in on its sales page, but neither would anyone else who makes their living as a ClickBank affiliate. You don't need to substitute a page of your own for their sales page, to achieve that. Vendors (who don't already do so) will normally supply a copy of the sales page without their opt-in, if you ask them nicely (and if they won't, well - there are 15,000 other products to promote there, aren't there?).

                    Originally Posted by yukon View Post

                    I don't know about anyone else around here but I don't build email list for other people unless I get a return on my investment. After the sale is made, they can build all the list they want.
                    I completely agree with this.
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  • Profile picture of the author opalfx
    clickbank will always be lucrative because they add like 40-50 products a day based on what cbtrends.com shows.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stuart Walker
    OP, you're going about this ALL wrong. You don't start by saying "I'm going to sell Clickbank products" you start by discovering a niche, work out what their problems are and how to solve them and if their problems can be solved by CB products then you promote to them. You've got it back to front.
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  • Profile picture of the author trafficmasters
    A good method is to find upcoming Clickbank products, create a website and get it ranked before it is released

    You need a solid approach to SEO but with some luck you should be able to have your site ranking near #1 once the product launches.

    The good thing about this method is there is low competition before its out SEO wise so its not too difficult to rank well (depending on the niche of course)
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  • Profile picture of the author Lucian Lada
    Yukon,

    About iframes being forbidden on ClickBank: I think it's because they try to protect themselves from the black hat dudes you're talking about, and you've been caught in the middle. (Well, you weren't because they never found out, but you could have been.)

    About predicted refund rates and chargebacks: I sold just one ClickBank product (except the few I bought through my own hoplinks), and they show me:

    Account Refund Rate (Predicted) 11.28%
    Account Chargeback Rate (Predicted) 0.67%

    I really don't know where they've pulled these numbers from, as I had no refunds (out of the whopping total of 1 sale). But I don't think they're trying to screw affiliates over. After all, the main reason ClickBank exists is to provide a platform for affiliates. If tomorrow most affiliates were gone, ClickBank would probably take a big hit.

    They are not like Amazon, even though they are both retailers. Amazon can survive without affiliates because they still have their online store open for the general public. All they lose is some traffic, whereas nobody goes online and says "hmm, I wonder what new products ClickBank has, let me check them out". Moreover, in order to access the marketplace, one has to be registered, so it's clearly not for the general public.
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