If you are new to the world of affiliate marketing, then one common term you probably heard of was “ClickBank”, and I am guessing this got you thinking what exactly ClickBank is, and how it works, right?
Well, if you are still confused about what ClickBank is all about, then this post should be of help to you.
ClickBank for Beginners
Because, in this post, we will take a look at a basic understanding of ClickBank for beginners, and also how ClickBank works.
So, without wasting much time, let’s dive into it.
What Is ClickBank And How Does It Work?
In simple terms, ClickBank is an online affiliate retail marketplace for digital products with over 200 million customers across 190 countries.
ClickBank was created in 1998 and it is a top-dawg in the world of affiliate marketing.
Essentially, ClickBank is a third-party “middleman” that allows affiliate marketers to advertise and sell digital products for companies.
These digital products consist of eBooks, Software, PDF documents, you just name it.
Essentially, the way ClickBank works is simple; assuming a vendor or a company has a digital product they want to sell, they will sign up with ClickBank as a vendor.
Once they create an account, ClickBank will provide them the opportunity to upload their products on their platform.
Once the vendor uploads the product with the necessary details and documents by the vendor, ClickBank then displays these products to affiliate marketers that signed up on their platform.
When you become an affiliate, you can search through the various products displayed by ClickBank, and then you choose the product you would want to market.
Once you choose the product you want to market, ClickBank gives you an affiliate link (a special link that contains your user ID or number).
Essentially, what this affiliate link does is to tell ClickBank how much traffic you brought to that specific product you decided to advertise.
So, once anybody purchases that product through the link you advertised, ClickBank will take a cut of the purchase, and pay you a commission per each sale you make, and then pay the vendor as well.
This makes ClickBank a win-win situation for everyone involved.
Most vendors that publish their products on ClickBank have little to no following. Or probably, they do not know how to market their product, or they might not have a large budget to market.
So, it can be quite difficult for them to get their products out there, therefore, for them to get their product out there, they utilize the affiliate marketers on ClickBank that know how to market and sell their product.
In summary, ClickBank connects vendors to affiliates, and Clickbank doesn’t sell these products, it just a marketplace or connector model that advertises tons of different products.
Is ClickBank Free to join?
Yes, ClickBank is free to join, provided that you are in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.
ClickBank isn’t present in every country(some countries are banned), so, for you to be able to sign up, you need to make sure that your country is part of the list of countries ClickBank is part of.
It is important to note that ClickBank is free for affiliate marketers. However, for vendors, you will be required to pay $49 to sign up and then pay an additional $29.95 for any extra account you create.
Can You Make Money With ClickBank?
Yes, you can make money with ClickBank. However, the money you make is commission-based.
What this means is that the amount of money you can make isn’t fixed, but it depends on the commission placed on the products you choose to promote, and how many of those products you sell.
While there are many people out there who claim to make $400+ a day, realistically, achieving this can be quite tough for beginners.
Beginners typically make a $30 commission on average per sale, and if you can sell 3 or 4 products per day, you should be looking to make between $60 to $150 daily.
However, achieving such results will require the right knowledge, hard work, and consistency.
So, if you are interested in making some money with ClickBank, we will want to take you through the process of creating an account.
ClickBank KIT
Full 30-day follow-up email series, designed to earn you tons and tons of very nice Clickbank commissions without breaking a sweat.
How To Create A ClickBank Account?
Creating a ClickBank account is simple:
- First, you need to make sure that ClickBank provides its services in your country.
- Visit ClickBank’s website.
- Click On Sign Up and fill in the necessary details( Your country, name, telephone number, email, and password).
- Turn on your cookies on your browser
- For US affiliates, you need to have your social security or Tax ID number ready to submit.
Once you get your account created and you log in to your ClickBank account, you want to make sure that you complete your profile with the necessary remaining details to ensure that you have full access to your account.
Once you are done with that, you can now access tons of different products on the ClickBank marketplace.
ClickBank Gravity Meaning
If you have signed up for your account and you’re going through the various products on the platform, one term you might have come across is “gravity score” and this is attached to every number.
Well, if you are confused as to what it is, we will try and make it as easy as possible in this section.
A gravity score is an algorithm number assigned by Clickbank to each product, to highlight the number of affiliates selling a product and the success rate at which affiliates can sell these products.
In summary, the gravity score tells you the number of affiliates that made a sale of a particular product in the last 12 weeks.
The higher the gravity score, the higher the number of affiliates that have had success selling that product.
So, for example, if you see a gravity score of 720, then it means 720 affiliates have been able to successfully sell that product in the last 12 weeks.
Generally, a product with a low gravity score doesn’t necessarily mean it is a bad product. While some products might be bad per their gravity score, some aren’t.
For example, if a product is brand new or maybe many affiliates haven’t discovered that product yet, there is a tendency that the gravity score of that product will be at a low score.
So, a low gravity score doesn’t mean a bad product, however, we recommend that as a beginner, you stay away from products with very low or zero gravity scores.
You want to make sure that the products you choose have a high success rate with many affiliates.
What is a Good Gravity Score on ClickBank?
So, if it isn’t recommended that you promote products with a very low or zero gravity score, what type of products should you promote?
Generally, as a beginner, you want to target products that have a gravity score above 10 and you want to stay away from products with a gravity score below 5.
Products with gravity scores above 10 usually mean they have a great sales page or sales funnel, which makes it easy for traffic to be converted to customers.
However, gravity score isn’t the only factor you should consider, there are many more factors to consider when choosing a product to promote, and we will dive more into this in subsequent sections.
ClickBank Legit or Scam?
While some people see ClickBank as a money-making opportunity to make some bank, others see it as a flat-out, scam.
In my opinion, ClickBank is legit.
As stated earlier, it was created in 1998, and they have been active in the affiliate marketing space to date.
The reason why most people think ClickBank is a scam is because of how unsuccessful they are at affiliate marketing.
Most of these people are looking to make wealth overnight, however, you need to understand that for you to be successful with affiliate marketing, you require patience, skill, consistency, and hard work.
Without these four factors, you are not going to succeed.
ClickBank only becomes a scam when you make a sale and they fail to pay you your commission.
However, I haven’t heard any stories of such happening. ClickBank is a legitimate affiliate platform that allows almost everyone around the world to promote products and get paid.
Another reason why people might think ClickBank is a scam is due to some policies kept in place by ClickBank.
This is why you must read their policies to understand how the platform works before you begin promoting their product.
However, generally, tons of affiliate marketers have made banks from ClickBank and you can be the next person to do so.
ClickBank Commission Rates
Generally, the commission rate of most ClickBank products is 50%, or 75%, or even more. But, before you get too excited, you must have an understanding of how ClickBank commission rates work.
Because, generally, you do not get paid exactly the commission that appears along with these products, and we will dive more into these in this section.
First, before you get paid your commission, ClickBank takes out a $2.50 processing fee from your commission, plus a 10% return allowance. These two deductions will cause you not to receive your full commission.
So, assuming you get a commission of $200, ClickBank is going to deduct $2.50 plus 10% of the $200, which is $20.
This means at the end of the day, your $200 commission, will end up being $200-$2.50-$20=$177.5. So, instead of getting your full $200, you will get $177.5
These deductions are made on every commission you earn per product you sell. However, the 10% return allowance fee is returned to you after 12 weeks.
The reason why ClickBank takes the 10% return allowance is to help ClickBank deal with quality issues such as chargeback sales.
In addition, it is important to note that you will not receive your commission until you have made five sales from 5 different credit cards.
And this is done to prevent people from using someone’s credit card to purchase a product to earn their commission as quickly as possible.
So, until 5 different people use 5 different credit cards to purchase a product you promote or sell, ClickBank wouldn’t pay you your commission.
How to find your ClickBank Affiliate Id?
Before you start promoting any product, you must know where to find your ClickBank affiliate Id.
This id is the most essential aspect when it comes to your success with ClickBank. Because without your affiliate ID, ClickBank wouldn’t be able to track any sales you make to you.
To find where your ClickBank Id is, you want to follow the steps below:
- Log in to your ClickBank account, and go to your dashboard.
- Once you get to your dashboard, you want to click on the “Accounts” tab.
- Once the Account tab opens, the alphanumeric name you see under the “Nickname” is your affiliate ID.
So, now you’ve discovered the affiliate ID, what next?
Well, whenever you find a ClickBank product you might want to promote, ClickBank will require you to type in your affiliate nickname or ID to help them generate a hoplink which you would use when promoting the product on your platform.
Once, you type your affiliate nickname in the space provided, then you click on “Generate Hoplinks” to get your link.
It is important to note that the affiliate ID is not what you promote.
The affiliate ID only allows you to create a hoplink, which you would attach to the promoting or advertisements you make to enable Clickbank to track the traffic and sales you direct to the product, and this helps ClickBank to know whose account to credit.
How to Choose ClickBank Products to Promote?
As stated earlier, gravity isn’t the only factor to consider when promoting a ClickBank product.
There are numerous factors you should consider as a beginner to help boost your success rate with various products.
Professional Sales Page
The very first thing you want to ensure as a beginner affiliate marketing is to ensure that the product you sell has a professional-looking and eye-catching sales page.
Because the sales page is the page that converts traffic into customers. So, you want to make sure that the company is helping you convert the traffic you direct to their product for you.
So, ensuring that a product has a professional-looking sales page is essential. Regardless of the niche you choose, here are a few things to look out for to show the sales page of the product you want to promote is professional:
- It should have an eye-catching and persuading headline
- The graphics on the page should be vibrant
- It should show some sort of credibility through testimonials
- A short post about how the product can help the customer
- A proof that the product works
- A call to action button.
These are the basic elements to look out for when choosing a page with a professional-looking sales page regardless of the niche.
Video Sales Page
A video sales page can be another layer added to the product sales page to improve your conversation rate.
A video sales page increases your conversion rate by 80%. The reason being most customers will rather watch a video than text, and a video sales page can easily explain how a product works and how it can benefit people in a minute or less, which is faster than text.
So, if you want to make a great ROI on the money you spend to drive traffic to products, then ensure that the product has a video sales page.
Social Proof That The Product Works
Credibility is a core factor in your success with affiliate products, especially as a beginner.
People are going to invest their hard-earned money into the products you advertise, so, you want to make sure that these individuals get a good return on their money.
This is why you must check that the product you promote has some form of social proof which proves that the product work.
You do not want to choose a product because of their high commissions, you want to promote products that bring value to people, and this way you can get more long-term customers who would trust anything you sell to them.
Gravity Above 10
As stated earlier, gravity score is important since it tells you the number of affiliates that have sold the product in the last 12 weeks.
So, instead of worrying about products that you aren’t about how easy they are to sell, why don’t you try out products that have been proven to sell well? A good way to start is to choose products with a gravity score above 10.
Product Upsells
You also want to ensure the product you sell has an upsell to help boost your earnings.
An upsell means how likely a customer is to buy another product (usually the product is in the same niche as the product you promote) in addition to the product you promoted.
And when they purchase that product as well, you get an additional commission.
A great way to determine product upsell rate is through the Avg $/Conversion. This metric consists of three factors, the upsell of the product, the initial sales, and rebill.
Generally, the higher the Avg $/conversion, the higher the product upsell conversion rate, and the higher the amount of money you make.
Is the Product on the Marketplace For a While? If Yes, Then It’s a Good Product
Also, you want to go online and check how people are using the product you want to promote, and how long that product has been in existence.
The longer the product has been in existence, the more credible it is, which makes it easier for you to market the product to people.
You want to also check to see the reviews people have written about the product as well to decide on whether to promote it or not.
Providing Support
Finally, you want to make sure that the product you want to promote offers support to answer any questions or concerns you or others may have.
How to Shorten ClickBank Affiliate Links?
After you have generated your hop link, it can be lengthy, which can make it spammy, and non-ideal to promote it, and most sites will end up blocking it.
This is why you need to shorten the link to make it appealing to people to click on it.
To shorten your link, you want to copy your generated hop link or affiliate link to your clipboard, you want to visit TinyURL.com to help you shorten and customize your long URL.
Once you visit the site, you want to paste your URL and then click on “Make Tiny URL” and you should see your shortened URL, which you can copy and then go ahead and promote.
When someone clicks on your shortened URL, it will take them straight to the product page of the product you want to promote.
How to Drive Traffic to ClickBank?
There are two ways you can drive traffic to your website, you can either use free traffic or a paid traffic source.
We have a full article that throws more light on these methods, however, we will go through them to give you an idea.
If you already have a substantial amount of followers on social media, a blogging website, or YouTube, then you can promote your product to these people for free.
However, you do not necessarily need to have a large following to utilize free traffic sources.
If you are part of Quora, Pinterest, other forums, or Facebook and WhatsApp groups, and you provide value to people or you have some sort of credibility, you can leverage this to promote your products to them.
If you have the money to spend, then you can go in for a paid, then you can utilize some paid traffic sources such as Facebook Ads, Google/YouTube Ads, and use influencers.
ClickBank How to Get Paid?
Before you get paid on ClickBank, you need to fulfill two criteria. First, your earnings must exceed your minimum threshold, and secondly, you must fulfill the Consumer Distribution Requirement.
The Consumer Distribution Requirement requires that the purchases made for a product must come from 5 different customers using two payment methods.
ClickBank offers a variety of payment options for affiliates. Some of these options include:
- Check
- Direct Deposit
- Wire Transfer
- Payoneer
ClickBank Payment Method PayPal?
ClickBank doesn’t pay affiliates commission through PayPal. However, Paypal can be used as a payment option for customers to purchase products. You can read more on this on ClickBank’s page.
Conclusion
ClickBank is a great way to start your affiliate marketing journey as a beginner because it offers tons of products and it is easy to sign up, unlike some affiliate marketing platforms.
Now that you have all the ClickBank for beginners step by step guide, you can start your affiliate journey with ClickBank.
For starters, I will be completely honest with you. If you want real success, you’ve to take real, meaningful action.
Effective marketing strategy and good-quality content are the key to success with ClickBank affiliate marketing.
ClickBank KIT
Full 30-day follow-up email series, designed to earn you tons and tons of very nice Clickbank commissions without breaking a sweat.