ClickBank for Newbies
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. ClickBank basics
Chapter 3. How to succeed with ClickBank
Chapter 4. The problem - why most ClickBank affiliates fail
Chapter 5. The solution
Chapter 6. An irresistible offer
FAQ
Author: Harvey Segal
Release 2.3
January 2011
Book created with The Ultimate Rebrander: http://www.ultimaterebrander.com/
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Chapter 1. Introduction
Hi,
It's Harvey Segal of SuperTips.com here. http://www.supertips.com/
If you are new to affiliate marketing or to ClickBank I've covered the basics in Chapter 2.
In Chapter 3 I've highlighted the key steps for becoming a successful ClickBank affiliate but
. . . it's Chapter 4 that is the focus of this guide as we reveal the key obstacle
. . . (hidden away in ClickBank's terms and conditions)
. . . which causes
most newbies to quit.
You'll see how to surmount this problem in Chapter 5
and there's a unique opportunity based on this solution for ALL marketers, new or experienced, in Chapter 6.
That's where you'll discover an irresistible product
. . . which you can offer to a limitless audience
. . . which means plenty of affiliate commissions in your ClickBank account.
Chapter 2. ClickBank basics
Before talking about ClickBank a brief explanation for anyone who is completely new to the world of Internet
marketing.
The most common - and simplest - way to make money on the Net is to become an 'affiliate' which means
you get paid commission for making sales of other people's products. You leave the whole task of product
creation, web sales copy, order processing and customer support, to the vendor: your job is simply to get the
word out about the product.
You are given an affiliate link which leads the customer to the sales site and identifies you as the person who
gets credit if a sale is made.
One of the most popular affiliate programs is ClickBank.
They are in fact the world's largest provider of digital products - essentially ebooks and software. You can
choose from over 35,000 products in many categories and their affiliate program is simple to join.
As a guide the average price of a ClickBank product is $41. The average commission rate is 55%, although
the top sellers often offer a much higher rate e.g 70% or 75% (the maximum).
We can say that success with ClickBank boils down to
- selecting a suitable product
- promoting (getting the word out) about the product
We will expand on these points in the next chapter.
PS. At this point you may be wondering who I am and what are my credentials for writing a guide about
ClickBank
- I own the ClickBank Success Forum with over 13,000 members. http://www.clickbanksuccessforum.com/forum/
- I own The Complete Guide to ClickBank , the only site devoted completely to ClickBank. http://www.clickbankguide.com/
- I am the author of three books about ClickBank and numerous guides. http://www.clickbankguide.com/cavs-order.htm
- I have participated as an Advisory Board member in ClickBank's European Client meetings.
3 http://www.clickbankguide.com/cb-europe.htm
Chapter 3. How to succeed with ClickBank
If you are not a ClickBank affiliate sign up now, it's free. Click here
You will need to choose an id or 'nickname' and this will appear in your affiliate links so that you will gain
credit for your sales.
3.1 Selecting a suitable product
3.1.1. Finding the product
You can search for a product at the ClickBank Marketplace where several thousand vendors display their
products in an organized directory.
3.1.2 Is the product worth promoting ?
a) Look at the product price and commission rates
You should aim for products with a reasonable rate of commission, say 50%, to make your efforts worthwhile.
Be aware that ClickBank deducts transaction fees from a sale: here is a CALCULATOR
b) Is it an in-demand item ?
The Marketplace listings are ranked by popularity, so you can see which are the in-demand items. Popularity
is determined by a number of factors, the main being the amount of sales and the number of affiliates making
sales over the last 12 weeks. Note therefore that a product at the low end may still turn out to be popular
especially if it is new.
c) How effective is the sales page ?
Visit the sales page of the product to confirm that the sales copy does a good job of selling the product.
(There's another important factor - sales page leaks - which we cover in the next section)
3.1.3 Check out the affiliate support
The vendor should provide you with much more than just a link to join the affiliate program. Check for any
useful promotional material (e.g. sample ads, articles, solo mailings, endorsement/reviews, signatures).
Ideally there will be an affiliate mailing list so that the vendor can convey useful news. You want someone
reliable who won't disband a program or make rule changes without telling you.
Tip: Check how responsive the vendor is with a simple enquiry.
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3.2 Warning - look for sales page "leaks"
As an affiliate you want the visitor to read through the sales page and hit that order button with you getting
credit for the sale. There are a number of reasons why this does not happen
1. There is an overt link to an affiliate sign up page. Your potential customer could simply become an affiliate
and purchase the product himself.
2. The vendor offers multiple payment options so if ClickBank is not chosen you do not get the commission.
3. Your product is just one of many unrelated products on a page - a put-off for the potential customer. (The
reason for this usually is that all the products belong to one ClickBank account which is restricted to only one
affiliate landing page ).
4. There are many external links which distract the visitor from reaching the order page.
5. The vendor captures your commission. There are offers to join a mailing list or claim a free report: you
should get credited for any sale ensuing from these leads but an unscrupulous vendor may follow up and
make the sale via his own link. Similarly the vendor may use a pop up upon exiting a site to convert a leaving
visitor into a sale for which you do not get the credit.
3.3 Promoting the product
3.3.1 Sign up for the affiliate program
Once you are happy that the affiliate program is worth promoting and does not suffer from potential 'leaks'
you can collect your affiliate link, known as a hoplink.
The basic hoplink has the format http://xxxxxxxx.vendor-id.hop.clickbank.net where you substitute xxxxxxxx
with your nickname. (Hoplinks from the Marketplace will have a longer cloaked format)
You should check the validity by clicking on it and following through to the ClickBank order page where you
should see [affiliate=yournickname] at the bottom.
If not then you may have incorrectly formatted your hoplink or it's possible that the affiliate program has been
discontinued.
3.3.2 Link cloaking
The basic hoplink is not 'protected'. A customer can simply substitute his own nickname and get commission
for the purchase.
There are techniques and tools which can encrypt (or cloak) your hoplink to prevent link theft.
3.3.3 Getting traffic
Tip: If you own and use the product it's highly recommended that you provide a review showing exactly how
and why you use it.
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You then want to get targetted visitors clicking on your hoplink and making a purchase.
So here to help you - a FREE book aimed at affiliates. You'll see the main strategies for getting traffic -
whether you have a website or not. But there's also another special reason for including this book here -
coming up in Chapter 6.
It's different from any other traffic book.
Click here to collect the Traffic Guide.
The topics mentioned in this chapter are covered in depth in the book ClickBank Affiliate SuperTips
for example
- Marketplace search tools and tips
- Product history, new products and ClickBank storefronts
- Sales leaks - how to eliminate them
- Hoplink tips
- Cloaking tools and techniques
- Promotion tips
- Tracking your hits
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Chapter 4. The problem - why most ClickBank affiliates fail
So you've made your first sale.
Happy ? Motivated ?
Of course.
Now for the bad news.
Getting a sale does not mean you get paid.
The first reason (easily solved) is that you need to meet a payment threshold before you get paid. By default
ClickBank sets this at $100. So what you can do is lower it if you wish, you can go as low as $10 but be
aware that $2.50 is deducted for each check payment to you.
Note also that payment is only sent at pay period end time which is every 2 weeks. You need to have
received 2 pay checks before you can opt for direct deposit and receive payment every week.
But it's the second reason that is the BIG one.
In my experience it's one of the most common complaints at my forum and others.
Before getting paid you need to need to meet the Customer Distribution Requirement.
You can read the full detail in ClickBank's Accounting Policy but here is the essential bit
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.
What this means is - at the very best - you are going to NEED FIVE SALES BEFORE YOU GET PAID.
Feeling frustrated ?
Well it get's worse.
Let me tell you about 'dormant' accounts.
Accounts with a positive balance but no earnings for an extended period of time are considered dormant.
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Dormant accounts are subject to a charge of $1 per pay period after 90 days of inactivity, $5 per pay period
after 180 days of inactivity, and $50 per pay period after 365 days of inactivity.
So you could hit lucky on your first day as an affiliate, earn a big commission ( the maximum possible is
$100) then wait and wait for at least 4 more sales before you can get hold of your earnings. Meanwhile after 3
months of no sales deductions begin chipping away at your account.
Are you then surprised why newbies struggling to make sales become disillusioned and start to quit ?
Over 90% of ClickBank affiliates are INACTIVE.
But here's how we are going to solve this problem.
Chapter 5. The solution
Obviously if you could make some quick easy sales of something, anything - which need not even be your
selected product niche - then you will be able to meet the Customer Distribution Requirement, become
eligible to receive your first check and soon get the 2 checks allowing you to move to direct debit - which then
means weekly payment and no more waiting for the postman to deliver your check.
So our problem would be solved if you could offer customers an affiliate product which is so highly desirable
and attractive that it will be a no-brainer for them to purchase.
Well there is such a product.
- It's a product aimed at ClickBank newbies
- It solves their biggest problem
- It's incredibly cheap
- It's our Silver Package which costs just 3 (THREE) dollars ! That is the minimum sale price for a ClickBank
product.
Let me show you something
Click here but don't purchase just yet.
Go to the order form and look at the bottom of the page.
You should see [affiliate=xxxxxxxx]
where xxxxxxxx represents an affiliate id.
This means that when you do purchase then the affiliate whose link you followed to download this book is
going to receive commission on this sale.
His commission is trivial, it's 75% of $3 which works out after deductions at $1.35 but that's not the point. He
has just made another easy ClickBank sale which is rapidly enabling him to meet the Customer Distribution
Requirement, maybe allowing the release of funds from other sales waiting in his ClickBank account, and
providing the springboard to a successful ClickBank career.
So how would you like to do the same ?
How would you like an affiliate link which inserts your ClickBank id in this book (a process known as
rebranding) and gets you quick and easy commissions.
Well that is just part of the package I am offering.
When you purchase it for $3 you will receive a Silver Link that will makes this happen. All you do is give out
that link. (The good news: you WON'T have to copy, rebrand and upload the book to a website as other
rebranders require you to).
Now - how to promote it ? (you must be asking).
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Well I did say earlier that a good affiliate program should provide useful promotional material.
And that's why I am including in the package as part of your $3 purchase a special Promotion Guide.
It's a huge resource of tips, advice and ideas for promoting this book.
What's more, you are welcome to use and adapt the information for any other of your affiliate programs.
So tell me.
Do you think someone who clicks on your rebrander link, such as a newbie ClickBank affiliate or a beginner
wanting to know how to make money online, will resist turning this down ?
Especially when they are being besieged non-stop by hyped up promises of earning quick fortunes on the
Net if they purchase say a $499 course.
Somehow I think not.
And that means another commission payment for you.
But before you purchase for $3 there's more good news I want to tell you.
Chapter 6. An irresistible offer
Now I did say that there's an opportunity in this book for ALL marketers.
An experienced ClickBank marketer is not going to bother offering a free book just to get commission on $3
sales. (Although there is another way he can profit from this - there's a Supertip coming later)
No, he will want something much much more. And he'll get it in this chapter.
To explain how I'll first answer a question that you might be wondering about.
How am I making any profit out of this ?
After all I'm giving away this book for free, I'm not capturing email addresses, I'm only making $0.42 per sale.
Well I'll tell you.
Throughout this book you will see links to my sites and products such as
- My ebook ClickBank Affiliate SuperTips
- My SuperTips site
Now, all my sites and ebooks link to and cross reference each other.
Which means that someone reading my free ebook Forum Marketing SuperTips for example can end up
purchasing my recommended ad tracker AdTrackz or any other of the SuperTips ClickBank Products.
That's how all my free books work.
Readers will (hopefully) like what I write, note the absence of hype, see that I am an authority on a topic and
make a purchase.
So here is my offer to you.
How would you like a Gold Link which gives YOU commission on all these sales ?.
The commission on offer ?
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A massive 70%
You might be wondering why I am so kind and generous to make this offer.
Well it's nothing of the sort.
I know that when you see big 70% commissions (such as $49 for an AdTrackz purchase) you will double and
treble your promotion activities.
Which means more commission for you and more profit for me.
Makes sense ?
And so, what should I charge for the Gold Link . . .
Well all the time, month after month, that you are handing out the link - you can be getting 70% commissions.
And so I first thought of charging ... $37 per month.
Then I thought about $27 per month as it would take as little as one average sale in a month (with 70%
commission) to cover the cost.
Finally I decided ....
Turn to next page
$37 per month ?
$27 per month ?
I want you to be eager to spread the word about your rebranded book.
So that's why I'm going to charge just a token fee for the Gold Link - so that you will snap it up without
hesitation.
The cost ?
It's just a one-off payment - of $27 !!
That's right - NO monthly fee.
You will get 70% of sales from the links to my products you have already seen in the book
Here they are again
a) ClickBank Affiliate SuperTips (note that about 60% of customers end up buying the full package)
b) The SuperTips ClickBank products (35+ and growing)
c) My main site SuperTips
d) The Complete Guide to ClickBank and my three ClickBank books
e) The Ultimate Rebrander
And I'm also throwing in the two links to ClickBank itself in Chapter 3
- The link to the ClickBank Marketplace which means that you get commission on any purchase there.
Currently there are 35,000+ products in the Marketplace.
- The link to the ClickBank sign up which means ClickBank will pay you when any of your sign-ups become a
ClickBank vendor.
And there's more
Remember the Traffic Guide book in Chapter 3 ?
.
It's part of the Catalog System which pays you monthly recurring commission
It will be branded with your affiliate link.
Which means that anyone who wants this book (and surely every online marketer would like a free book on
traffic strategies) must sign up under your account.
Then if and when they upgrade to take advantage of all the benefits of the Catalog System (which is
designed specifically to attract ClickBank affiliates) you will receive commission.
But hold on
I have even more fantastic news for you . . .
How about this . . .
If your visitor downloads this book, and then decides to purchase the Gold Package option (not a difficult
decision) I'm going to give you the commission.
The MAXIMUM that ClickBank allows.
I'll give you 75% of their $27 payment !!
Quick Summary
This is what you will get.
For $3 (Silver Package)
- commissions on $3 sales from your rebranded book - which means you are getting sales to meet the
mandatory Customer Distribution Requirement and stopping your account going dormant
- the Promotion Guide which you can use for any affiliate program.
For $27 (Gold Package)
- same as the $3 purchase plus
- 70% commissions on the links described above
- Commissions from the links to ClickBank described above
- Your own rebranded link to the Traffic Guide, gateway to the Catalog System which provides monthly
recurring commission
- the maximum 75% commission on every $27 Gold Package purchase.
- For now, I'm also throwing in this superb traffic-generating ebook. Full details coming up in the package
description section.
Remember: Just 2 sales will recoup your outlay.
To help you decide
Well I'm positive that you, or one of your future customers, are certain to choose ONE of these options. The
first is quite obviously a no-brainer. (If a newbie is unwilling to 'risk' $3 can he really be serious about online
marketing ?)
But if you are wavering regarding the second let me remind you.
* You are offering a book that every ClickBank newbie needs
* A book which you can offer to all newcomers to online marketing
* A book which has a powerful inducement to ANY level of marketer on account of the Gold Package option
* A book which is free, a quick read, and does not demand a sign-up - which is a most powerful inducement
to download.
* Amongst your target market, hundreds of thousands of inactive ClickBank affiliates
Some other great benefits:
* All the links in the book are cloaked - you cannot be deprived of your commission by replacement of your
ClickBank id
* The system provides tracking stats so you can check which of your promotional activities are getting the
most or least hits and adapt accordingly
* The system continually gets upgraded so that it can achieve the best conversion rate. When I make these
changes there's no need for you to do anything. Your customers will be taken to the latest, and most
effective, version of the download site and the book.
* Oh - and have I told you about the no-risk guarantee ? See the FAQ on the last page.
OK Harvey, you are indeed the ClickBank guru with your sites, forums and ebooks. You even give advice to
ClickBank.
And I understand you are going to show me yet another Supertip and an awesome statistic when I click on
the Gold Package page below
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Further Information: Choose your option here
[1] Tell me more about the total Gold Package.
OR
[2] Sorry, I can't afford the Gold Package offer ($27) at the moment.
Take me to the Silver Package ($3)
OR
[3] Harvey, I don't believe you are a ClickBank guru and even if you were I can't afford to lavish $3 on such a
risky proposition. It's just a trick so you can get your vendor share of $0.42. I'm out
YOURS - with either purchase . . .
* * * * * * *
Remember: It's Simple.
You can forget the old methods of rebranding where you had to download the book, run a rebranding
program, upload it to your website and write your own download page. All you do here is give out an affiliate
link.
I'm sure you have other questions, I've answered the most common ones here on the next page.
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FAQ
Your questions.
1. Is it difficult to set up my rebranding link ?
2. How long does it take to be up and running ?
3. Can I purchase the Silver Package now and upgrade to the Gold later ?
4. How much money can I make with the Gold Package ?
5. Tell me about your Promotion Guide
6. Can I get a refund if it doesn't work out ?
Click here for the FAQ
PS. Whatever you are selling on the Net - I've added a SuperTip in the FAQ
Thanks, Harvey
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