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How to choose the best ClickBank products to promote in our niche?

by bardmoor
12 replies
hi everyone,

my partner and i have been running a free community site in the fishing niche.

our online community gets about 250,000 UVs per month, has a database of about 60,000 registered members as well as a facebook page with 100,000 fans and a decent amount of activity.

to date, we've been earning only by selling advertising on the site and in our email blasts.

we would like to supplement this income by selling fishing-related affiliate products. this means promoting these products via banners and reviews on our site, emails to our members and messages/ads to our facebook fans.

we are both affiliate marketing newbies so i have this question:

once we join an affiliate network like clickbank, we will identify a list of candidate products that we think our fishing site members will like. in addition to our emotional gut feel, what are the specific product metrics that we should be looking at on clickbank to help us short-list the best products to sell?

sure, we will consider the affiliate commission amount and whether commission is paid one time or through a recurring payment if the product includes a subscription.

in addition to this, what other metrics should we be looking at?

for example, is there a metric shown by clickbank that indicates a high conversion rate on the product's sales page?

or another metric that shows "this is a hot product RIGHT NOW"?

any other clickbank metrics we should be considering?

i'd really appreciate whatever advice or guidance any experienced affiliate marketing warriors can provide!

thanks,
B
#affiliate marketing #clickbank #niche #niche affiliate marketing #products
  • Profile picture of the author Gh0zt
    Honestly - as you have knowledge of your niche - the most important things when choosing a clickbank product are: 1) it's a good product [you being in the know, in the niche yourselves, should know what people in your market want/need] - and 2) it needs to have a GOOD sales copy.

    You can take into consideration how much you get per sale - but ultimately your looking for two things: value/quality for your customer - give 'em what they want - and secondly you need to be sure that the products copy will convert.

    If you look at a product and find yourself needing to buy it - that is a good indication

    I hope I answered your question,
    Peace,
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    • Profile picture of the author bardmoor
      hi ghost, thanks for the reply and yes, we will surely consider if we like the product and its sales copy.

      however, we also like to be as scientific as possible in how we run and market our business.

      if there are specific metrics that CB provides that indicate to us that the product is selling well and/or is popular, this makes us even more comfortable in promoting it. in theory, this should save us testing time. this is because we are relying not only on our emotional gut feel, but also on proven stats from CB. so this is why i asked about specific metrics that we can combine with our gut feel :-)

      B
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  • Profile picture of the author Gh0zt
    Yes I understand you, and my answer remains the same. You should believe in the product and it's sales copy yourself - there are metrics like "this is popular", if you trust heresay enough to act on that, or you trust clickbanks system enough to rely on that - then by all means go ahead, it's your business.

    But THE most important things are: 1) It gives your customers what they want/need and 2) Your customers buy the product.

    I just don't want you to act on somebody elses stats and end up promoting a junk product and damaging your reputation.

    If you focus on the points I've given you then you'll avoid this.

    I get your point about being scientific and helping with testing - but testing shouldn't be too hard for you to do - split testing a few different products over some periods of time isn't a difficult task - but ensuring your customers get what they want/need from you is what is important.

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  • Profile picture of the author marax
    One thing you must do is to go through the CB vendors' order process.
    Many vendors are collecting emails before visitors get to the order form.
    Some vendors even serve popups on their landing pages within 3 seconds to collect visitor emails.
    They then promote other products in their emails and completely leave you out of it.
    So effectively, you are sending traffic to their pages for free while building their list for them.

    The buy button delay is also a tactic to watch out for.
    When visitors get tired of a long video and leaves before the buy button even appears,
    they usually get an exit popup to enter their emails.
    So they don't even get a chance to order while only being presented with an optin form.

    I stay away from any vendor that makes an attempt to collect emails before getting to the order form. Even when their gravity is through the roof.
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    • Profile picture of the author bardmoor
      Originally Posted by marax View Post

      One thing you must do is to go through the CB vendors' order process.
      Many vendors are collecting emails before visitors get to the order form.
      Some vendors even serve popups on their landing pages within 3 seconds to collect visitor emails.
      They then promote other products in their emails and completely leave you out of it.
      So effectively, you are sending traffic to their pages for free while building their list for them.

      The buy button delay is also a tactic to watch out for.
      When visitors get tired of a long video and leaves before the buy button even appears,
      they usually get an exit popup to enter their emails.
      So they don't even get a chance to order while only being presented with an optin form.

      I stay away from any vendor that makes an attempt to collect emails before getting to the order form. Even when their gravity is through the roof.
      ooh marax, very helpful points!

      what is gravity on CB? what does it mean, what's considered a good gravity rating and how is it calculated?

      thanks,
      B
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  • Profile picture of the author smjconet
    Those are excellent points marax. It's all just a form of sales leakage and something to be avoided. Also look out for sales pages that blatantly push for affiliates on the sales page. I consider this another form of sales leakage.

    Take a look at their affiliate page and see how much support are they're going to give you. Are there banners and email swipes and articles to help you sell? Is there a video you can use? these are all signs of a serious and motivated vendor.
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  • Profile picture of the author smjconet
    Another thing you can do is look at CBEngine.com and search there for Clickbank products.

    They give you far more data about the vendor and the products than Clickbank does.

    If you want you can join them for I think it's $20 for life and you'll get access to much more data including refund rates. That's another important factor as to quality.

    I joined them a few years back and I think it was $20 and has not gone up.
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    • Profile picture of the author bardmoor
      Originally Posted by smjconet View Post

      Another thing you can do is look at CBEngine.com and search there for Clickbank products.

      They give you far more data about the vendor and the products than Clickbank does.

      If you want you can join them for I think it's $20 for life and you'll get access to much more data including refund rates. That's another important factor as to quality.

      I joined them a few years back and I think it was $20 and has not gone up.
      great suggestion to join CBEngine.com, smjconet. i just signed up for $27 (price went up a bit).

      B
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by bardmoor View Post

    is there a metric shown by clickbank that indicates a high conversion rate on the product's sales page?
    No, there isn't. This information isn't available, and for good reasons. There are other sites which pretend to be able to estimate it. They're full of fictional nonsense. Ignore them completely.

    Originally Posted by bardmoor View Post

    or another metric that shows "this is a hot product RIGHT NOW"?
    Yes, there is. ClickBank's "popularity" figure does that. You might well be very well advised to avoid the most popular products. Naturally enough, and for all the obvious reasons, they'll probably be the hardest to promote and sell successfully.

    Originally Posted by bardmoor View Post

    any other clickbank metrics we should be considering?
    Not so much, really. Matching the product(s) you select to your traffic demographics is far more important.

    Specifically, don't let "gravity" fool you, though (as for "popularity") high gravity figures could legitimately discourage you from selecting a product.

    This post gives general advice about choosing products to promote, as an affiliate: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post2161932

    And this post explains how "gravity" works (if you decide you want to know): http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post2495251

    This post might also help: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post7110523

    Be careful what/whom you listen to. There's more misinformation around on this subject that information. And some of it's already in this very thread.

    Good luck!


    .
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    • Profile picture of the author bardmoor
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      No, there isn't. This information isn't available, and for good reasons. There are other sites which pretend to be able to estimate it. They're full of fictional nonsense. Ignore them completely.



      Yes, there is. ClickBank's "popularity" figure does that. You might well be very well advised to avoid the most popular products. Naturally enough, and for all the obvious reasons, they'll probably be the hardest to promote and sell successfully.



      Not so much, really. Matching the product(s) you select to your traffic demographics is far more important.

      Specifically, don't let "gravity" fool you, though (as for "popularity") high gravity figures could legitimately discourage you from selecting a product.

      This post gives general advice about choosing products to promote, as an affiliate: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post2161932

      And this post explains how "gravity" works (if you decide you want to know): http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post2495251

      This post might also help: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post7110523

      Be careful what/whom you listen to. There's more misinformation around on this subject that information. And some of it's already in this very thread.

      Good luck!


      .
      many thanks alexa for your detailed but concise answers! i'm going to review each of the links you proposed in detail.

      B
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by bardmoor View Post

        many thanks alexa for your detailed but concise answers! i'm going to review each of the links you proposed in detail.
        You're welcome. I think you'll find that the content of those posts corrects the bits of misinformation above, anyway. And Gh0zt gave you very helpful and important advice, too.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rashed0176
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Jon Patrick
      Originally Posted by Rashed0176 View Post

      its a helpful post
      I'm not sure why you bumped this year-old thread. I'm assuming since you have three posts and your comment is spammy, it's for spammy reasons.

      That being said, anyone who is thinking about promoting ClickBank products should read the following thread. ClickBank is making major changes, and I would not advise you to promote their products at this point.

      http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ed-header.html
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