Online Affiliate Marketing Marketplace
One of the most used product marketplaces online is Clickbank. Offering only digital download products, Clickbank (CB) not only allows sellers to post their product for sale but handles the processing of payment when product is purchased and the payment to affiliates of commissions earned. Opening a CB account is straight forward and requires only that you meet their guidelines and provide the information about yourself that CB requests.
Your User Name
One decision made when you join CB is what your “user name” will be. That user name will appear in the links created for the items you decide to sell. For that reason it’s good to choose a name that is directed toward customers rather than one that reflects your goals. It can be challenging to find a good user name as there are many accounts on CB but it’s worth trying to find a name that is customer friendly. For example, “infonow” is preferable to “mybigmoney”. If most phrases you think of are unavailable, get creative. “Info2you” is still preferable to “mymoney”.
Digital Products
To sell a product offered through Clickbank (digital products only), go to Clickbank and select a category and choose a subcategory. Type in the keyword you have chosen and sort the results by popularity and then by gravity. Gravity represents the number of affiliates who have been paid commission selling this product. It is not a true total but a percentage that represents recent activity in sales. High gravity numbers represent a product that sells well. Popularity is also important as newer products will not yet have a high gravity number.
In your search for Clickbank products the first ten results are usually the best selling items in that category.
Should you choose one and get started?
Nope. You aren’t ready yet to make that choice. Visit the sales pages of the sellers by clicking “view pitch page”. Is the sales page attractive and well done? Is there an eye catching headline? Does the product seller provide images and suggested ads for affiliates to use? If you were a customer looking for a solution to your problem – would this page be of interest?
Also give consideration to the amount or percentage of commission paid. Promoting products that pay less than $20 per sale is usually not wise. If three products in a category have high gravity and popularity it only makes sense to promote the one that pays the highest commission.
Look at the payment methods. Does the seller have all payments being made through Clickbank or does he offer an alternate payment method from his sales page? If his “buy” links do not lead to a Clickbank page you may not earn the commission even when you send visitors to that page.
Hoplinks
Affiliate links are called “hoplinks” in Clickbank and can be generated on the site and then pasted into your site or blog. That link is tracked by a cookie placed on the computer of anyone who visits the sales page through your link. Clickbank operates on a “last cookie” basis thus a customer who visits your product promotion page but then returns directly to the seller’s page will still generate a commission for you. However, if they order by going through another affiliate’s link, you will not be paid commission.
There is much discusson online about affiliate link theft in connection with Clickbank. This is easily avoided by using a redirect link or script that hides your CB affiliate link. The most common link theft occurs in the “work at home” or “make money” categories where those who are looking for the product already understand the affiliate model and may buy through their own Clickbank link. There’s not much you can do about that except avoid those niches. Products in those categories that appeal to the newest sector of internet marketers usually aren’t much affected by link theft.
Learning online marketing with you,
~ Julie
When choosing a niche product for an affiliate marketing campaign, most affiliates immediately log onto Clickbank, choose the product with the highest commission and the most popularity, and start the campaign. While Clickbank is a great way to find an affiliate product niche, there are other unique tools you can use to choose an affiliate product.
The most common error is choosing a target audience that is too broad or too large. A huge target market such as weight loss or dating is too general to be effective. You will be competing with large, established authority sites in those topics and have little chance of affiliate sales or of gaining good search engine position for your site or blog.
