Clickbank - Not a Good Place for Newbies to Start

[HeyLanny]

There is an evolution in affiliate marketing that I believe is coming. Click Bank will slowly change some of their policies and acquire new software to keep ahead of the competition or they will go out of business.

CJ is changing their policies, and developing new strategies. If the sellers, promoters and buyers don't look down the road then many of them will fall by the wayside.

Bill Gates said something like this back in the 1990s. "Any business that is not on the Internet will be out of business." Was he right or not?: rolleyes:

HeyLanny

[earner]

For me, the major draw backs are:
1) Having no traffic tracking or stats in clickbank. All I can do is track actual sales.
2) Not having an email notification of a sale.

I need to know where my traffic is coming from in order to increase performers and improve non-performers

This is one area where they've allowed themselves to slip behind the others.

I know that if somebody clicks on my link and buys, a previous affiliate might get the sale if they used their link first. I am not sure if I gain or lose from this though. So it's not worth stressing about. Swings and roundabouts.

[HeyLanny]

I have not set this up as yet, but I have read that others have used it since Google reworked their tracking system. This is for your information and investigation. I will post my results if I get the opportunity to set it up and test it myself.

I am not responsible for this information. Affiliate marketing involves testing, tracking, trial and error as well as observing what the professionals and successful markerters are doing right through their trail and errors.

With that said. Here is what one person told me. I purposely removed the one "t" in http to get it posted. It is not a real link.
_________________________________________

If you look at your Google conversion code you will find a line like this:
var google_conversion_id = 123456789;

You can use that conversion id number in your clickbank link and it works to track your conversions.

This is what the link would look like:

htp://hop.clickbank.net/?yourClickbankNickname/
ProductNickname&glid=123456789]Sell Online: eBook,

Software or Digital Product - ClickBank]

___________________________________
Any way you go, marketing on the Internet can be a little time consuming, but can also increase your profits and decrease your mistakes.

It can't hurt.

HeyLanny

[fitnfree]

I have to agree regarding clickbank -- they were one of the first I signed up with years back and at first I was all fired up about it. Even purchased a script to sell multiple products on my own web site and put my heart and soul into promo'ing mine AND selling others.

I jumped ship a couple years back because when I would make sales, I would soon have nearly half of them credited. One of the thoughts I had was that people would read the eBooks they downloaded and then want their money back.

The same thing happened with my own products. I never get returns now, but when offering instant downloads, again about half of my sales requested refunds and in spite of my no-refund policy, I had to thanks to Clickbanks requirments. I felt I was held back from running my business the way I saw fit.

I could go on and on, but will spare you. Suffice it to say, I wouldn't suggest clickbank to newbies, either. You're sure to get more frustrated than anything.

[andrewwee]

I started out with clickbank and was top affiliate for a blogging product.

I think as a newbie aff mkter, you need to learn certain things like how to mask your affiliate links. Many marketers are still using the raw 'hop.clickbank.net' affiliate link and are getting ripped off and are none the wiser for it.

I live in Singapore and I don't see any of these "$2 a month" service charges that people are talking about.

I guess there are a bunch of different experiences here.

[Teli]

ClickBank has been making a lot of changes recently to help out their customers and affiliates. Back in Feb, they instituted link tracking IDs, and now they've just announced recurring payment options. All that's left is for them to get set up with some type of IPN system similar to PayPal (gosh, what's taking them so long).

Personally, I think someone new to marketing needs to select the right product to promote if she's going with ClickBank, but I don't think it's impossible for a newbie to have success with ClickBank.

Like Andrew, when I started out, I promoted a few ClickBank products successfully. Granted, a lot of the products or salespages for the products don't inspire much confidence, but there are plenty of diamonds in the rough.

Not to mention, there are plenty of tools to help affiliates find just the right product, and it's super easy to get started promoting the products. Just sign up for a ClickBank ID, grab the hoplink and go to town.

Oh, and the affiliates in the US also have a $2 charge (or $2.50, can't remember) for cutting checks if your earning is less than $100 (not sure about the exact minimum...may want to verify that). That's another improvement they need - direct deposit.

~ Teli

[john238]

Yep, I think clickbank is now trying to move forward as they now have implemented recurring commissions which will help both the merchant and affiliate.

[Linda Buquet]

Yep the recurring commissions will be good.

And also not sure how well I spelled it out in this thread - but I've said it many times before. I don't think CB is a bad option in general - only for N00bs that try to sell all the IM and get rich quick products.

If a newbie focused on a targeted niche that was NOT IM and found a good CB product for the niche and knew how to cloak I don't think it's necessarily a bad way to go.

It just IRKS me when I see a bunch of newbies saying they don't have a clue how to market, have never made a dime. Then I check their sig and they are selling some "I'm a pro guru and I'll show you how to get rich online without any work" baloney. If you are new and don't know how to market how to can you expect to be able to compete in that ultra tough market.

Yet I understand why they do it, it looks like an easy target to them, but it's just not a good place to start.

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The other big issue I have with Cb is the lack of impression and click stats.
They haven't fixed that yet have they?

To me it's like working blind. How do you know what you are doing is working if you can't see how many clicks you are getting? How do you know what your conversions are or which campaigns are more productive - not just from a sales viewpoint but impressions, vs clicks, vs sales.?

[Nightrain]

Originally Posted by Linda Buquet

Hi mojojuju,

Thanks for posting that. I saw it mentioned in a blog earlier but did not have time to track it down to the official source. THANKS for letting us know!

Thanks for the info. I was just started my site and signed up with CB. I have found another Affiliate that I will promote now. I will close CB. and update my Site.

[POKERMETIER]

After reading all this info on clickbank, I am amazed! I started using them about a month and a half ago,and not only have I been pleased by the performance, I have been amazed at the response to a couple of affiliate programs that I have running through CB! I have no complaints but will take a closer look at what I may be missing!