How does affiliate marketing and Clickbank Work?

An expert in the field of natural medicine decides to publish a well-written,
thorough digital ebook about the subject. He researches it intensely, and
composes a comprehensive and informative book in digital format that
should appeal to the general population.
Once the ebook is complete, he then turns to Clickbank to get the ebook
published. Once the book has been approved, he then offers a high rate of
commission for his resellers who sell the book online. This high
commission rate entices new affiliates to help him get the ebook marketed
online.
? Several different affiliates decide to help market this ebook, and create
links that will direct customers to the material for download at a set price.
Every time someone clicks on the affiliate’s link, they are taken directly to
the publisher’s pitch page, or website where more information can be
found, as well as pricing and instructions on how the ebook can be
downloaded.
Clickbank then takes over by processing the customer’s payment and
ensuring that the transaction is a smooth one. This includes taking several
measures against fraud and using the ability to prevent any potential
problems with chargebacks later by implementing new technology.
When the transaction is complete, the publisher gets paid, and the
referring affiliate also gets paid the set commission (this is the percentage
of the sale that has already been set by the author).
The more affiliates who refer the product, the more get paid. In addition, if
a customer happens upon the publisher’s website directly, the publisher
gets paid his set price without having to pay out any sales commission to
an affiliate.

How to Sign up for a Clickbank Account
Signing up for Clickbank is easy. First, it is important to remember that members
act as both publishers and affiliates, so you will be signing up for an account as
both even if you decide you only want to act as an affiliate. As a publisher, you
can sell your own written works online directly through Clickbank, but the material
must be your own original writing. When you sign up, be sure to choose a
nickname that others will see on your affiliate or direct sales/publisher page.
When choosing a nickname, be sure it’s something original, and something that
your buyers will remember. This helps you to stand out in the crowd and
encourages people to return to make more purchases later. Pick a nickname that
fits the idea of what you’re trying to sell in terms of the subject matter or material
you want to market. You can also choose a more general, professional sounding
nickname so it represents a virtual store or business.
The Clickbank sign up page is fairly simple to complete; you’ll need to fill in the
fields for your name, address (where the check needs to be sent), email address,
contact phone number, the address of your website (when applicable), your new
Clickbank nickname, and a secure password.

Before submitting the sign up form, however, there are some important things to
remember. If you provide Clickbank with inaccurate or false information, the
account can and will be deleted without notice, so make sure you’re entering a
valid mailing address, email address, and telephone number.
Once you sign up, be sure to log in and check your account fairly regularly. Even
if you’re not getting sales just yet, it’s important to log in. Any account without a
login for 90 days is automatically deleted by Clickbank, so make sure you log in
on a somewhat regular basis. Finally, it’s essential to know the policies and rules
that are enforced by Clickbank. Deceptive marketing schemes, any form of
marketing products in a way that could possibly create chargebacks, or anything
else that goes against Clickbank’s accounting policy and client contract can
cause your account to be deleted immediately.
If you decide not to provide Clickbank with a telephone number for customer
service, this is fine as it is not currently required. Clickbank will not give your
paying customers a contact number to you directly in the event that they have a
question or concern. Instead, if a customer who purchases something from your
website is unhappy, they are to contact Clickbank directly. From time to time, a
customer or client might request the direct phone number of a publisher, but in
the case of an affiliate, they most likely will just go to Clickbank directly.

Setting up Your Clickbank Account
Once you’ve signed up for an account, it’s time to set it up so you can begin
making money through Clickbank. First, you will want to utilize the site status bar.
This handy tool shows you where you stand with Clickbank.

As an affiliate you have an excellent opportunity to make money through Clickbank.
There are over 100,000 affiliates worldwide, and a sale is made through a
Clickbank site somewhere in the world every three seconds. Clickbank serves
over 200 countries and it is one of the highest traffic generating websites online
today. Affiliates can earn as much as 75% per sale.

They can also earn recurring money (or residual income) from subscriptionbased
sales. Clickbank handles all tracking report, accounting, and payouts, so
affiliates can focus their time and energy on promoting their own website or
products.
Earning money is easy and fun with Clickbank, and sign up is simple, affiliates can begin working on their site and getting ready
to earn money.

How to use Clickbank “Marketplace”

Clickbank offers its affiliates the opportunity to shop through thousands of
different titles based on several criteria in the marketplace area of the website.
This allows users to customize their website to sell ebooks or other digital
downloads based on a particular subject, author, or other term as they see fit.
There are now 23 main categories that affiliates can pick material from.
Any items within the marketplace can be searched by main subject as well as
subtopic, popularity, and of course, a keyword. Users can also look them up by
product type, which in this case will be either standard billing (where customers
are charged a one time price), or recurring billing (where customers are billed
weekly or monthly based on a subscription). Affiliates can view what is called a
“pitch page” so they can see how the products they choose will be presented to
the customer. This page is extremely important, since it is what will actually coax
the customer into making a purchase, therefore generating sales.

The pitch page is also important because it represents what the affiliate will be selling. The red arrow below shows you where you would click to view the pitch
page. It is basically an introductory website with basic information on the topic
that the affiliate will be selling. For example, if the ebook you choose to sell as an
affiliate is about buying a new boat, the pitch page will be a simple website
getting the reader excited to find out more about how to purchase the boat.

The page will let them know that the digital download they’re about to buy is full
of helpful information, and can unlock secrets to getting the best deal on a boat.
Once the customer decides to buy the material, a sale has been made.
Some pitch pages are actually quite detailed, with audio and sometimes video
presentations. The more information included on a pitch page, the better the
odds are that a customer will be interested to find out more and will actually close
the deal. As an affiliate, it’s important to take a look at the pitch pages before
choosing what to sell. Be sure the page is accurate, up to date, informative, and
not too over the top. Sometimes a pitch page can actually turn people off if it’s
too pushy or makes claims that are a little too outrageous.
A great feature of the Clickbank Marketplace is that it’s updated every night. This
means that as new publishers submit their new materials for approval, the
Marketplace is being updated. This also means a lot more selection for affiliates
to choose from, as well as fresh new material. If you want to be a publisher and
submit something to Clickbank, it’s important to note that the current categories
are the only ones available at this time, so be certain that your material fits within
one of the categories.

The Marketplace is an excellent tool for affiliates. It allows them to pick and
choose the pages and products that they feel will work best for them, as well as generate the most sales. The ability to search items by keyword is a good feature
and makes finding what you need much more quickly. Each affiliate earns a
percentage of every purchase that is made by a referred customer. In fact, over
half of the revenue earned comes from the sales of affiliates.

The Marketplace is where everyone goes to select the products they wish to sell
in order to refer more traffic. Each product has is own commission rate which can
range anywhere from one to seventy-five percent of the total sale amount. The
very minimum amount of commission is $0.25, and affiliates can earn up to
$100.00 per sale.

All items in the Marketplace are ranked by something called a productivity score.

The formula as to how Clickbank comes to this score is not made public, but
there are several factors involved. The first factor is the $Earned/Sale, which is
the average net amount of money earned for each sale referred by an affiliate.
This amount is the net dollar amount that is earned for each individual sale. It can
be impacted by things like chargebacks, refunds issued, or the amount of sales
tax charged. Certain things like returned (bounced or bad) checks would not
affect this number.
The next factor involved in the score of an item in the Marketplace is the Future $
factor. This is the average amount of rebilled revenue by an affiliate thanks to
sales they generate from their site. It is usually the total sum of all of the rebilled
sales. Another factor involved is the Total $ which is the sum of all of the initial
sales made and rebills, divided by the number of initial sales. In other words, this
figure is the average total dollar amount per sale, which includes the amount of
all rebills that might come out of that sale.
The %Earned/Sale factor is the average percentage commission that’s earned
for each referred sale, per affiliate. This number will usually stay the same unless
the publisher decides to change his or her payout at a later time. The %Referred factor is the percentage of the publisher’s total sales, which are referred by their
affiliates.
Finally, the gravity factor is taken into account. This is the number of separate
affiliates who earn a commission by referring a customer to the publisher’s books
or digital downloads. For every affiliate paid, Clickbank adds an amount between
one penny and one dollar to the total.

In order to get the productivity score, all of these factors are combined together
using a secret formula. More recent sales will carry somewhat more weight in
computing the total score.
In order for publishers to improve their Marketplace ranking, the products have to
be able to show a history of reliability in converting referred traffic into paying
customers. Essentially, this means that having a page with an item on it is not
enough. Just because your website generates traffic, does not mean that it’s
bringing in sales. The hits must convert into actual sales before the Marketplace
ranking can improve.

Generally, Clickbank looks at the history of sales over the past 8 weeks when
factoring scores. Anything that brings in a higher ranking will usually bring more
affiliates to the table, and in turn this generates more sales.
As an affiliate, it’s important to use the Marketplace to your advantage. Research
which topics are hot at the moment and see what sells the most based on the
popularity search option. Then, look at the pitch pages carefully to ensure they
represent what you’d like to sell.
Try to choose articles or ebooks that are the highest ranking so you can ensure
that your hits to the page will generate real sales. Then, you can wait and watch
as the income starts to come in. It’s important to be vigilant when it comes to
marketing these pages, so you’re making absolute certain that the page and
product is getting the most exposure possible.

Determine What Products You Will Have Success in Promoting

As a Clickbank affiliate, you want to have as much success as possible so you
can make money, and this requires effort on your part. A large part of this falls
onto your shoulders as the individual reseller, and how aggressively you decide
to market your product or products. This can take some time and some research,
and more than likely a few instances of trial and error.
You might not make thousands or even hundreds of dollars in your first year, and
you may not necessarily market the right product the first time. Find what works
by trying to market several different things until you discover what works best for
you. On the other hand, some people can be wildly successful selling digital
products online.
A good way to help sell your Clickbank products is to find out what is selling the
most online at the moment. The Internet is a dynamic place where things can
change rather rapidly, so you want to be sure you’re keeping up with the times.
Network with other affiliates to find out what works best for them as well. Look
into items that people are buying, current events that people are keeping up with,
and the hottest trends in technology and other things like natural supplements,
and social activities. Understanding the customer and what they want in a
product will really help you to hone in on what people want.

Utilize the Marketplace and try to search for the top products fairly regularly. By
knowing what is currently the most popular item, you can have the edge over
other sellers. Push the product as aggressively as you can online by creating a
real presence. This means using the pitch pages in a manner that will get others’
attention. You can do this by creating hoplinks on other websites, which are
designed to direct potential customers to your affiliate site.
Blogs are another great way to market your products. Create a blog that is
specifically about the subject of your product. For example, if you choose to
market an ebook about natural cures for common ailments, create a blog around
this topic. You can use a format such as WordPress (www.wordpress.org),
Blogger (www.blogger.com) or any other blogging site. These websites are
already successful in their own right, so by creating your own blog and joining the
website, you have the potential to reach thousands of potential customers.
When you write the blog, try to sound like an expert in the subject. This shows
people that you are confident in what you’re discussing, and that the information
you can provide them will give them the ultimate answers to what they are
looking for. By posting a thorough, well-read blog, you’re encouraging people to
go that next step and purchase the ebook or other published work, which will
clench the sale. It’s a good idea to learn as much as you can about the subject of
the items you’re selling, so you know what to tell those who ask specific
questions on the blog. This really helps to encourage visitors to look into the
subject deeper.

It might take some time to get the sales you’re looking for, and the skills you
need to market effectively will also take some time to master. Learn about all of
the wonderful resources available to you on the World Wide Web so you can
market the information accordingly. By doing your homework and trying out
several different avenues to help you market the material, you’ll be guaranteed to
find one that will work best for you and be able to clench sales to bring in
revenue.
You can also utilize SEO writing to help you get better success. SEO stands for
Search Engine Optimization, and it’s designed to bring you more exposure when
someone searches for specific terms in search engines such as Google.com.
Writing an article rich with the keywords you’ve designated to sell your ebook and
then implanting that article on your website will bring in more hits, thus bringing in
more sales for you to gain commission on. SEO marketing is quite successful; it
has been attributed to a lot of affiliate’s success over the years.

The real trick to determining which products you will have success in promoting
is to find out what the hottest items or topics are at the moment. Then, use
Clickbank’s Marketplace and find products relating to these things, and market
the pitch page as well as link to your site with them. Use blogs, articles, web
pages, and word of mouth to get the exposure you will need to be a success.
Then, let the sales come to you. People will begin buying the product, and you
will begin to see the commission come in.
Use the formula devised by Clickbank to determine your own choices for top
sellers. The gravity factor is especially important, since this one analyzes which
pages generate hits that actually turn into real sales. In the larger scheme of
Internet marketing, the pages that move from a click to a sale are what people
are looking for. Find the products with the best productivity rating so you can help
to ensure that you will make money as an affiliate by getting sales.

Using the “Promote” Feature in the Affiliate Marketplace

A hoplink is a link that will take the customer back to the affiliate’s target URL that
will in turn automatically credit the affiliate when the sale is made. Without the
hoplink, you’re basically referring customers to Clickbank material free of charge,
and you won’t see the great results you would get with a real, active affiliate
account that uses the hoplink feature. Simply click the “Promote” button of
the product you want to promote to create your hoplink.

The hoplink should follow this format:
http://xxxxxxxxxxx.hop.clickbank.net. The xxxxxxx which would normally be your username but will now be random numbers and letters, is because it has been encrypted by HopLink Shield..
The hoplink will look like this in HTML: <a
href=”http://xxxxxxxxxxxxx.hop.clickbank.net”target=_top>CLICK
HERE</a> When the hoplink is entered in HTML format, you’ll also have to
replace the portion that says “CLICK HERE” with anything you like. This can be
promotional wording such as “Don’t miss out! Buy now!” or an image if you like.

The great thing about the hoplink is that you’re able to integrate some of your
own creativity here. You can edit the images you want people to see as well as
the text to better adjust it to your customers’ desires. This may take some time,
but with a little bit of practice, you should be able to find your own combination of
promotional words and images that will grab the attention of buyers. A tracking
code is essential to ensuring that affiliates get credit, so this will also need to be
added to your hoplink.

A hoplink with a tracking code has to abide by the standards as set forth by
Clickbank. It can be up to 8 characters in length and must contain alpha and
numeric characters only. Anything longer than 8 total characters will be
automatically shortened. If a tracking code has anything other than letters and
numbers, it will be removed immediately and will not show up in your tracking
reports. This is important, so be sure the tracking codes you implement are
correct. Here is what a hoplink looks like with an associated tracking code:
http://xxxxxxxxxxxx.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=zzzzz You will notice the
characters tid shown before the code. This is the tracking code parameter and
must be included, and has to be in letter case.

One excellent feature of Clickbank is that you can earn credit for a referral up to
60 days after a customer visits the site, as long as they make a purchase within
that time frame. Remember, over 75% of Clickbank earnings come from referrals
from affiliates, so it’s important to integrate the hoplink into as many avenues as
possible in order to make the most income. Knowing how to use hoplinks is
definitely key. Keep in mind that you cannot integrate hoplinks into applets, or by
making them open into a frame, iframe, or image. This is an illegal hoplink and
will not generate the proper referral. Check Clickbank’s policies to ensure you are
using your hoplinks appropriately to ensure you will get the proper credit.

If you’re caught abusing the hoplink system and continue to post them illegally,
Clickbank reserves the right to remove your account without any prior notice. If
you want to target your hoplink so that it opens in a new window, simply add the
target at the end to “_blank.” This will target the hoplink to a new window. Some
affiliates like to use this feature because it grabs potential customers’ attention
better, but you can use your own personal discretion.

If your website uses rotating ads to generate revenue, you can integrate the
hoplink into the ads, however it cannot take up the entire frame. In other words,
when a customer clicks on the hoplink in the ad, it must be created to open a
brand new window at that point.
Some commonly used browsers are set to reject something called “3rd party
cookies.” If you run into a situation like this, keep in mind that all hoplinks through
Clickbank open at the top level of the browser window. This means that all
cookies will be redirected, making them 1st party instead and therefore not being
rejected.
Many other affiliate programs will not do this. Instead, they usually embed their
links in an outside frame or image on the website. When this happens, the
browser recognizes it as a 3rd party cookie because the domain names do not
match which raises a red flag to the browser.

Cookies are a common way to track what links people have clicked on. In most
cases this is a very accurate way to track your sales and referrals. However,
there are some instances where cookies will not work when it comes to tracking
your sales.
Customers can turn their cookies off in the browser or they might be using a new
form of privacy protection software that has disabled cookies. When this
happens, Clickbank may not be able to register the hoplink. There is a new
technology that was recently developed that helps to accurately track all sales
through hoplinks in cases where cookies may not be enabled.

Customers can turn their cookies off in the browser or they might be using a new
form of privacy protection software that has disabled cookies. When this
happens, Clickbank may not be able to register the hoplink. There is a new
technology that was recently developed that helps to accurately track all sales
through hoplinks in cases where cookies may not be enabled.
Clickbank developed this new technology especially for its affiliates to help make
certain that they are receiving the referrals they deserve, whether the customer
has allowed cookies or not.

There are many other redirect options users can utilize with their hoplinks. It’s
also important to note that publishers can see where their material is being sold.
They know how to tell which affiliates are referring people to their site. In some
cases, a publisher might even hold contests to encourage affiliates to get more
sales. It also helps the publishers to better hone in on the type of material that’s
selling the most, and where those websites are located. This feature gives both
publisher and affiliate an advantage: the ability to track where sales go and
where they come from in order to better market their product.

Another and perhaps one of the most important items to note about hoplinks is
that Google and other popular search engines have no problem recognizing
hoplinks. This means that with the right marketing and keywords, affiliates have
the potential to reach thousands of customers daily! While Clickbank does its
best to ensure that all affiliates get the proper credit through the use of cookies
and the hoplink feature, they have issued the following disclaimer:
“The affiliate (if any) we associate with any sale is determined by an automated
tracking system. Any decision made by this system is final, and not subject to
petition or debate. Though we believe our tracking system to be more fair and
accurate than any alternative, we make no representation regarding the ability of
the system to track any specific customer, for any specific length of time.”
In other words, if you happen to lose a referral or two due to customers going
around the cookies or hoplink system, Clickbank cannot be held accountable.

Publishers may market or sell their material, ebooks, and digital downloads
through other websites aside from Clickbank. If this is the case and you as an affiliate wish to refer someone to their website, bear in mind that you can only get
credit if the person makes the purchase through your individual hoplink. If you do
not, then Clickbank cannot be responsible for the sale coming from another
outside source.

If you find you’re having problems with your hoplinks, you may use the support
forum feature at the Clickbank website. Also, be sure to make certain that
everything has been spelled correctly. Sometimes small, tiny mistakes can cause
you to lose the affiliate referral so be sure that your hoplinks are all coded and
spelled the right way. The hoplinks feature within the Marketplace is an
absolutely wonderful resource for beginning affiliates. It’s easy, fast, and user
friendly. With a little bit of practice you’ll be able to market your links the right way
and watch the sales start rolling in.

All the Best.

Sven Grahn