Clickbank Review | Why Clickbank is great for newbie affiliates

By Simon Slade
Clickbank Review | Why Clickbank is great for newbie affiliates

 

Choosing an affiliate network is one of the first decisions a new affiliate has to make. Ideally you want a network with a good range of products, decent commissions, an easy to use system and good support.

Clickbank is a network we talk a lot about here on Affilorama, but we thought it was about time we did a Clickbank review post to weigh up the pros and cons of the popular network.

A little background:

Clickbank was founded in 1998 and has now grown into an online retail service provider with over 12,000 digital product vendors and over 100,000 active affiliates. Processing over 26,000 transactions daily, and averaging over 700,000 unique visits a month, Clickbank has grown into a major player in the affiliate network market.

Getting Started:

When you first head over to the Clickbank sign up form, you will notice that everything is pretty straight forward requiring only basic address and contact information. A distinct advantage for affiliates is Clickbank's lack of requirements when you first sign up. Rather than requiring preapproval like many networks, Clickbank allows virtually anyone to sign up and start promoting. This is great for newbies who can't really point to existing websites and programs they have promoted. Clickbank also allows affiliates from over 150 countries to sign up - which is most. Unfortunately if your country isn't listed in the drop-down menu on the sign up page, there isn't much you can do.

Strolling the market-place:

Once you've signed up, one of the first thing's you'll want to do is have a look through the Clickbank Marketplace. Clickbank has thousands of products that you can choose from. However it is important to take your time in promoting. While there are some really high quality products on Clickbank, there are also a lot of sub-par products that should be avoided.

The best thing to do is check the "gravity" score of a product. The gravity is essentially a calculation that takes into account how many different affiliates have made a sale in this product in the past 8 weeks; the higher the number the better. Our in-house affiliate expert Mark Ling recommends that you always aim for a gravity of at least 30. In addition to the gravity, there are a number of other statistics for each product - these are;

  • $/sale: This is the average amount that an affiliate earns for each sale of this product, including refunds, chargebacks, and tax.
  • Future $: The average amount an affiliate will make from recurring billing of a single sale after the initial purchase (recurring billing only).
  • Total $/sale: For one-time purchases, this number is the same as $/sale. For recurring billing products, it equals the average total of the initial sale plus all rebills, divided by the number of initial sales.
  • %/sale: Commission rate
  • %refd: This is the percentage of sales that were referred by affiliates.

All this information gives you a snapshot picture of the products - how much you are likely make and how competitive it is.

The Technical Bits

Clickbank has a very straight-forward tracking system - basically there are two kinds of affiliate links you can get; either encrypted or standard. The standard Clickbank affiliate link or "HopLink" is in the format http://affiliateid.vendorid.hop.clickbank.net. Clickbank also has encrypted HopLinks that hide the vendor ID and affiliate ID. While I can understand people wanting to hide their affiliate ID, I believe a redirect is a far cleaner way to do it as the encrypted links are not exactly pretty (e.g. 902q3fhawiojewasdfef3.hop.clickbank.net). Also it's important to remember that if someone buys through your link, you affiliate ID will be visible on the payment page.

Some merchants set up more sophisticated set-ups for their affiliate programs through Clickbank. For instance here at Affilorama we allow people to link to any page in our site by simply adding "?aff=affiliateID" to the end of the url. However this is not standard for every product. This does mean that often the only affiliate link you can get is to the main sales page.

Personally I recommend setting up affiliate links in the original un-cloaked format. This is just personal preference, but it is way easier to troubleshoot any problems if you can see what the code actually is!

Getting paid

Clickbank pays out commissions every two weeks. One of the great advantages of Clickbank is that you get to choose the payment threshold which can be set to as low as $10 - which means no waiting around for weeks because you were $1 below the threshold.

Payment is either by posted check or direct deposit is available to 17 countries including the United States. However in order to qualify for direct deposit you have to receive three paper paychecks within any 12 week period - that might be a bit frustrating at first, but once you qualify you're set.

Commissions on Clickbank are generally quite high - many over 50%. This means you are really rewarded for your efforts.

Because Clickbank is also a payment network - i.e. they process the payment of sales, Clickbank is quite good at preventing fraud. Merchants aren't able to try and trick you out of sales (unfortunately this does happen) because Clickbank gives you your cut straight out of the payment.

Becoming a Merchant

A really big advantage of Clickbank is how easy it is to become a merchant. They provide a ton of support material and it's really cheap to get started (just $49.95 to activate a product). While this might seem out of reach for beginners, you'd be surprised how easy it is to create a product and start selling it.

Need Help?

Clickbank has a massive Help Center, with lots of frequently asked questions and informative articles that cover most of the information you will need to know. There is also a video library of useful video tutorials and a frequently updated blog that provides up to date information, news and advice. In addition they do have a contact form for direct requests.

One slight downside with Clickbank is that there is no direct way to contact the merchant unless the merchant goes out of their way to provide contact details. However most merchants have affiliate pages on their site - usually located at www.merchantsitename.com/affiliates, so I always recommend looking through their site and seeing if there's any affiliate resources.

All in All:

In summary, Clickbank is a great network, with a simple and easy to use system, easy sign up and good support. While there are a few things that could be improved, overall Clickbank is a really accessible network that should be perfect for people first getting started in affiliate marketing.

Clickbank
Date published: 9/11/2011
4.7 /5 stars
50 Comments
Alessandro Zamboni 15 years ago
In my first Internet Marketing year I was acting as Affiliate, and Clickbank was my first choice.
It gave me optimal results, you need only to trust in what you are working on and write with the hearth, following the directions of Chris.

I used Clickbank as a Merchant for my first launch, and I can say that's simply one of the most trustable and working platform, so I confirm all what you said Chris.
You are covered by strong security, the system is always online and I never registered downtimes or problems in payment process by customers.

For any questions you may have, a strong and quality support will answer in only a few hours.

And I tried other three payment processor, equally famous, but they never delivered the same quality, and I got also one fraud.
So, make your choice but keep in mind Clickbank effective highest quality, as merchant but also as Affiliate !

Thanks again Chris for your high quality Clickbank review !

Goodbye,
Alessandro Zamboni
geraline mcchesnie 15 years ago
More very helpfull information for this newbie. I do so appreciate you putting this out here for us.

Geraline
Grant 15 years ago
I too have had a foray into clickbank. It is great but probably the only drawback I've had with it is that its extremely competitive as it seems to always be promoted to folks starting out with affiliate marketing.
Grant
Colin Hayvice 15 years ago
Hi there,
So to become an affiliate via clickbank you just click on hoplink?
Do you need a website up to promote this product? if not how is the promotion done?
I am a newbie and probably slow and sure but I don't think I have had this point
explained to me.
Regards colinhvc
simon321 15 years ago
Hi there,
Actually I'm still stuck in looking for a suitable niche from clickbank. It seems like it's quite difficult to get a few products to promote with the same niche, not to mention those popular niches like weight loss, dog training, etc... Or it's difficult to find most of the product with gravity more than 30, either one or two product with very high gravity (more than 100) and the rest is less than 20). It really make me headache.
Simon.
Moira Anthony 15 years ago
Hi Simon
Wow what a relief I was begining to think that something was wrong with me. I actually feel like I know clickbank off by heart I have been searching for so long.

This is really holding me back and I cannot figure out how to get around it so if anyone out there has any help I would be really grateful to hear it.

Thanks Moira
11 years ago
Have you started any promoting with Clickbank, I am new to this game and I want your on Clickbank.
James Pruitt 15 years ago
Great post again, love following your blog. The biggest problem I had with Clickbank is getting paid. Waiting for that fifth sale grrrrrr. took forever.
simon321 15 years ago
Hi there,
One thing I've found in clickbank market place is that, whenever I type a keyword and press Go, there will be a lot of irrelevent searches pop out. Can anyone help me to solve this problem?
Simon
clickbank affiliate 15 years ago
It’s my hobby to scan the net and read blogs with different type of subjects and have not been with a blog like yours. It’s awesome!
Karoly Domonyi 15 years ago
Frankly speeking I have to tell you that I cannot sell any products with ClickBank affiliate from one month.
Can you tell me anybody how can sell better?

Thank you for your answer in advance.
Tim Winner 15 years ago
I live in the UK. Now posting a chq to me to bank here is like using a turkey as a bait to trap a robin.
I think clickbank should make paying their customers living in other countries out of the US easier by using paypal.
damian biggs 15 years ago
Ye veritable i agree the problem i have is the payment thing as i live in the uk and paypal is one off the best ways to get paid we have to look in to asking them to support PAYPAL my best friend.lol
Eric Moore 15 years ago
So far I have only promoted products on Clickbank, though I have been thinking about expanding to other networks lately. It also took me seemingly forever to finally get the 5th sale, multiple payment methods etc. and get my first check. Now, they come like clockwork every 2 weeks. My most recent check was $1,400. I followed Mark's course AffiloBlueprint and it's really all you need to make money on Clickbank. It covers everything from finding products to building websites to getting ranked on google. Hopefully in a few months I'll be making enough to quit my day job.
balogun abiola 15 years ago
how can i register to click bank when my country is not included among the states selections.
Molly 12 years ago
According to the web page where I saw your question, "Clickbank also allows affiliates from over 150 countries to sign up - which is most. Unfortunately if your country isn't listed in the drop-down menu on the sign up page, there isn't much you can do."

If you want to see the whole page where I got the answer from, go to:
https://www.affilorama.com/blog/clickbank-review

15 years ago
This is my first visit to Affilorama; and I have to say it looks quite promising. I am just taking up affiliate marketing; and , naturally, I have alot of questions. I am already seeing that many are answered right here, either throught training lessons or user forum.

Thanks for the help; and I'll keep posting as I learn and succeed.
rocky 15 years ago
Many questions were revolving in my mind about this topic and many are vanished after reading this post
Chris Goddard 15 years ago
Hey everyone - thanks for all the comments. I hope these responses help you:

@GRANT: You're right that Clickbank often draws a lot of newbies, so there may be a lot of people promoting the same product as you - however because they're all newbies you will find it won't be too hard to beat them - particularly as most of them won't have Affilorama's training material to fall back on!

@COLINHVC: You can sign up as a Clickbank affiliate at https://www.affilorama.com/redirect/clickbank-application . A hoplink is just what Clickbank calls an affiliate link. You do not have to have a website to promote Clickbank products, however it is certainly advisable. However if you don't yet have the money to invest in this, you can use free methods like posting links in forums, blogs and social media sites (like Twitter) - just what ever you do, don't spam! It's the quickest way to get banned. My advice to you would be to look at getting a site as soon as possible though - you can get some really cheap hosting options, like Hostgator, which you can see here https://www.affilorama.com/redirect/hostgator or Affilorama Premium also includes web hosting.

@Simon1234: This can often be one of the trickiest things - remember though that while it is preferable, not ever product you promote has to have a gravity of above 30 - so long as you have one or two with high gravity, you can add in some lower gravity related products to give your site more options. Remember though - just because there are lots of people in the niche doesn't mean you can't get in there - in fact if there are lots of people making money out of a niche, that means that you can likely get in and take your share of the pie too. Also with searching Clickbank, yes sometimes you can get unrelated results - best idea is to narrow your search options by category. Then it's just a matter of reading through and research - it takes time, but it's worth it.

@Paylpal: This is often one of the biggest criticisms of Clickbank - that they don't have Paypal, however the trouble with Paypal is that they take a no-insignificant chunk of the transfer - to ensure you got the full amount, Clickbank would have to absorb these fees, or you would miss out on some commissions. Remember they do provide wire transfer to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore,Spain, Switzerland, and the UK.

@BALO1234: Unfortunately if you're not on the list of countries you cant promote Clickbank products.
Erina Feala 15 years ago
HI THANKS FOR THE INFO'S, BUT REALLY! I AM NEWBIE TOO....I LIKE TO GET TRAINED FOR PROMOTING AS A CLICKBANK.....AFFILIATE,,,JUST DON'T KNOW WHERE MY HOPLINKS CAN POST TO HAVE IT ADVERTISED....PLEASE, LET ME KNOW...WOULD APPRECIATE IT...THANKS.
Detonyish D Maalory 15 years ago
I M A NEWBIE TOO.. I WOULD LIKE TO GET STARTED NOW. THANKS FOR THE INFO. CAN YOU HELP ME GET STARTED NOW???

IE TOO.. I WOULD LOVE TO GET STARTED NOW. PLEASE SHOW ME HOW.
David Dombeck 15 years ago
I am also a newbie, but this has given me a larger piece of the puzzle. I believe once you make a total commitment like a professional businessman you can make a success ot it. Just don't give up.
sumatriptan 15 years ago
works for me
zahid 15 years ago
Can anybody please help me in knowing if it is possible at clickbank to have two affiliates in a single hoplink whereby it would be possible to divide the commission from the sale between these two affiliates? i tried to get an answer at clickbank but it first requires me to be a member. God bless you.
Thomas 15 years ago
Why not use Omnistar Affiliate http://www.osiaffiliate.com for affiliate marketing because it is easy to setup and it can increase your sales by alot.
Deanna 14 years ago
Hi,
I am new to ClickBank and it looks pretty straight-forward. However, I am a bit concerned about one of the conditions to joining that I read on the site. It said that if your account becomes dormant, they can charge you each month that you do not earn money. Do you know what that is all about? I am concerned because I'd hate to not sell anything at ClickBank to earn money and then start getting charged for not selling anything.
Thanks.
Meg 14 years ago
I have to admit, I haven't been impressed by the products I've seen at ClickBank. The company itself seems OK; I can't speak about payments since I've never managed to sell anything from them (even though I've tried). They *have* been good about processing refunds for me, most recently when I didn't receive a response from the merchant after three email attempts. But I haven't found any products there that I'd want to promote, for lots of reasons: almost everything is an ebook, a lot of sales pages are poorly done (some don't even have prices!), some product ideas are just ridiculous, many products are way overpriced (maybe to support those huge commissions), and the site seems to be dominated by internet marketing products (which is not an area I, as a newbie, want to venture into). And then there are merchants like the one I just mentioned. I realize these things aren't CB's fault. But it is frustrating. I think CB would be easy to work with. I just wish I could find something I thought was worth promoting there, that *isn't* an IM product.
Steve Sr. 14 years ago
The first thing any new or old affiliate should be concerned with is stolen CB commissions...

If You Are Running Your Own CB Store You Can Protect Your CB ID And Your Commissions...For More Info... Click Here!!!

Check Out More CB Articles At: http://www.yourtrafficmanager.com
Steve Sr. 14 years ago
correction:

If You Are Running Your Own CB Store You Can Protect Your CB ID And Your Commissions...For More Info... Click Here!!! http://www.noelinfoservices.com/CBStore
Mark Collin Glynn 14 years ago
Hey i am a newbie and by reading the lessons and comments posted i think i am getting somewhere in terms of knowledge but i still need that push towards action. I would like to create a website that can promote multiple products without seeming confusing. HELP?
Market Guru 14 years ago
Stolen CB Commissions are the biggest problems in Affiliate Marketing. Usually Cloaking the links is always a good idea.
CBReviewed 14 years ago
All good information, Clickbank is the best place to get started if you are new to affiliate marketing. The best part is that you can start with no set up costs at all!
internetten para kazan 14 years ago
netten ek gelir
I was just browsing here and there to get some stuff and got to read this post. I am new in affiliate marketing and I think also that the best way is to start with CB. Thanks a lot for this excellent post.
saran 13 years ago
Im a newbie...is clickbank works? can i quit at any time if i want?
ianfrederick 13 years ago
The best thing about Clickbank? Their returns policy.
Hassan Jawad 13 years ago
i hate google adsense , google disabled my account i guess it's a very nice option to publisher's .
mohammod 13 years ago
Clickbank is a total waste of time. Trying to promote scams. You think people are that stupid to fall for a bunch of garbage websites. Here's a tip. Go to school and learn how to actually do affiliate marketing properly. Or be an affiliate for an actual company selling actual product.
George Edwards 13 years ago
@Mohammod - agreed. The only products I could find on ClickBank that had any credibility were language training videos.
Didik Rahmanto 13 years ago
I will and use try with Clickbank
LIcinio Vasconcellos 13 years ago
I've signed up. However, I got stuck on hop link.and I don't know how to proceed and promote a product. Is there a sequential procedure to follow so I can get this right. Not much help from Utube. Thanks
Keshri Nandan 12 years ago
Clickbank is not opening in India in day time recently....

What is the reason ?

My campaigns are getting hindered due to this...

Please help...
Dan 12 years ago
Clickbank is a scam from the customer service side of the equation. They took my money. I never received any product. Contacted 6 times via support. Never once did anyone call, email of tell me to go to hell. Had to contact my Visa provider to get the charges reversed.
Joe S 12 years ago
Clickbank might be good to you as a selerl but as a buyer, they SUCK! I am trying to resolve a chargeback and they have been 100% unhelpful. They claim they cant return my funds as the issue is with some other company within their network, blah...blah...blah. I will NEVER do business with them or any person or business using them. Keep that in mind, I am sure I am NOT alone.
John 12 years ago
Clickbank is a scam. These people are dirtbags, nothing more, nothing less. I watched my balance slowly trickly from $59 to $0 over a few months. Nothing justifies stealing webmasters' money. I will no doubt be removing their products from my site.
Ganhar dinheiro 12 years ago
Hey Simon, pretty good post you have here. Thanks for share.
Clickbank is for sure an excellente tool to make money online.
Continued success to you !
Mathias 11 years ago
I'm not sure where you are getting your info, but good topic. I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more. Thanks for excellent info I was looking for this info for my mission.
Beni 11 years ago
How is the playback speed and quality of video products on clickbank? I am in the process of creating one, and I uploaded a relatively small video (187 mb mp4) and the play back is really bad. Buffering crazy slow.
Cecille Loorluis 11 years ago
Hi Beni,



Are you creating your product sales page or squeeze page on ClickBank? If so, I suggest you get in touch with their vendor support. They had a major update on their site late last year that should have improved the merchant tools on their site. I also recommend optimizing your video prior to uploading it.



Hope that helps. Have a good day!
Teetee 22 10 years ago
i am 22 years old and new to clickback, it is something i want to take seriously. however, i cant seem to get it any right. trust me i have done research however im lost as to what i am doing wrong. if there is anyone who will be nice enough to help me or mentor me i would be very grateful. you can email me for for my skype or account information
thank you!!!
Melissa Johnson 10 years ago
Hi, Teetee@22 -- I recommend heading over to the Affilorama member forums. You should be able to find what you're looking for there.

https://www.affilorama.com/forum/
Carol 10 years ago
What is your address and phone number to contact you directly??
Melissa Johnson 10 years ago
The best way to reach us with your questions: https://www.affilorama.com/support
vernetta sims 10 years ago
Can any one help me? I am not able to Copy and Past the
HopLink, and I am trying to find out if there is an alternative?
I really need to start selling on line and that is the only thing
that is holding me back.
Can anyone help.
Thanks
Vernetta Sims
Melissa Johnson 10 years ago
Hi, Vernetta --



I'm not sure what the issue is, but you might want to head over to the Affilorama forum to ask your question: https://www.affilorama.com/forum/ Our members and staff there should be pinpoint your trouble!
Cecille Loorluis 10 years ago
Hi Vernetta,



You can post your inquiry in the Affilorama Forums as Melissa suggests, but you might want to check with your affiliate network too and see why you can't copy/paste hoplinks.



If you're trying to promote Affilorama courses, then you can go to our Affiliates area https://www.affilorama.com/affiliates and get your affiliate links from there.



All the best!
vernetta sims 10 years ago
Thanks Cecille I will go there and try again, I went to that site and was not
able to find the site to be able to sell products. And I was told at
ClickBank today that I can type in the code. and I think the reason I can't
copy & paste is because of the browser.

Thanks for reaching out!
Hope you all the best with your selling.

vernetta sims 10 years ago
And thanks Melissa,
I will do that I appreciate the feed back.

I wish you all the best!