When it comes to an Internet Marketing Affiliate Program the one that always springs to mind is Clickbank and it is still one of the most popular programs used by tens of thousands of online marketers who are making money through commissions from promoting other peoples products.
It is easy to join and easy to find products to suit your own niche, but can you really make money using this famous program? May be it is time to find out as I take a look inside and share my own experience with Clickbank.
Make Money Online Affiliate Program
That is the point to this program, or network as it is also known, to make money, whether you want to promote other peoples products or you want to create your own and put them in front of others that are looking to promote products.
This is a essentially a market place for digital products, there are no physical products. Everything inside Clickbank can be downloaded or accessed upon purchase. The products are normally ebooks, membership sites or courses delivered via a text or video format.
It really does not matter what niche you are in, there is probably something available for you to promote, but you do have to be careful of the quality of some of the products. If you are looking for a product for you to promote, it is well worth researching that product before you decide to promote it to other people. The best thing to do is to actually purchase the product yourself and then you can evaluate the quality and also give a better review of the product.
If you have created a digital product and want to expose it to an army of affiliates, then Clickbank is a great place to do just that, it does cost but it is a minimal one off payment per product. There are a few hoops you have to jump through, although none of them are that difficult. Your product has to be approved, any images have to be approved, and you will need to make an activation payment of $49.95. You will need a page that customers are directed to after payment, where they can gain access or download your product, and again that has to be approved too.
Whether you are a Vendor, or a publisher it is a place that you can make money online.
Best Affiliate Program
I do like Clickbank and it has been around since 1998, which is a long time now, so they must be doing something right. Here are a few pro’s and cons…
Pro’s (+)
- Free to join
- Easy to join
- Plenty of products to promote
- Expose your own products to thousands of affiliates
- Good commission percentages
- Plenty of information to help affiliates
- Prompt commission payments
Cons (-)
- Not all products are of good quality
- Hard to get your own products noticed by affiliates
- Refund Rates
- Delayed first payment
I have already mentioned some of the pro’s and cons above, but I will just explain the ones I haven’t mentioned. The commissions are very high in comparison to other top affiliate programs, the norm is 50% or above with many offering 75% commissions. This is great if you are promoting products, but when you are selling your own you end up giving a big chunk or your earnings away.
If you offer less than 50% then your products will probably be ignored, also it is hard to get your product noticed in the beginning as many affiliates will promote only products that have a good track record.
Clickbank always pay commissions on time, there is no exception, but when you first start promoting products your first payment can take a while to qualify. If all your sales are being purchased through Paypal, then even if you have earned a fair amount of money, you will not get paid until another form of payment method has gone through your account, such as a credit card purchase, this can be a little frustrating, but it is only on your first payment.
Clickbank have a strict 60 day money back guarantee, which is of course is a good thing, but there are some that will purchase a product with the intention of getting their money back, this means that sometimes the refund rates can be high.
There is plenty of information to help affiliates succeed from their blog with up to date industry information, tips and best practises, plus there is now the Clickbank University which is a complete training camp for affiliates to learn how to make it work for them.
Where To Sell Products Online
There are many places to sell products and the main one is by having your own website within a certain niche, then you can find products that you have researched and you know will be of benefit and value to your readers. You can use social media platforms to promote products, although if you are just bombarding your timelines with products, then you will not get a lot of sales.
To sell anything online you need traffic, no traffic equals no sales, and of course the social platforms have traffic coming out of their ears, which is why it is a good place to access traffic. If you have a website that is providing good quality content, then you will over time generate a good amount of traffic, so this is also a great place to promote selected products.
You can promote your website through social media, forums, chat rooms etc.. and indirectly sell products, by not pushing the products directly you are not going to annoy anyone, but using these platforms to get people to your website and then having products on your website can be a great way to sell online.
Another way to sell products is to buy traffic, through pay per click it is possible to send traffic to a sales page that is promoting a certain product. There are many entrepreneurs that are making a lot of money this way, but PPC can be a little tricky and does have quite a learning curve, so be careful and make sure you test it without blowing all your cash.
Top Affiliate Programs
As far as affiliate programs go, Clickbank is one of the top in my opinion, it is easy to get started with, there is a lot of information to help you along your way, and they are a legitimate company. There so many products in so many different niches, I know some are not always top quality, but as long as you spend a little time searching and researching, then it is pretty easy to find products to suit your needs.
I would recommend Clickbank because of how easy it is to get started, and it is definitely a real company that has an impressive history, so there are no scams here, just a chance for anyone to promote products within their niche.
Go take a look around and see for yourself.