Finding Products to Promote in the Marketplace
Searching the Marketplace
To find a product to promote, you should start in the ClickBank Marketplace. You’ll see a search box that looks like this:
Find Products Box
There are two main ways you can look for products: you can search on particular keywords or sales statistics, or browse through product categories and sub-categories in a number of different ways. We have 23 categories of products, with quite a few sub-categories under each. If you’re not sure exactly what types of products to promote, choosing a general category can be a good place to start.
Once you’ve narrowed down your search, you can further sort your results by using the Sort Results By dropdown, narrowing your results based on product attributes, or by performing an Advanced Search.
* Sort by: This menu allows you to order the results of your search based on the sales performance of the products. For example, you can order the results in terms of number of sales, products with the highest average commission rates, amount earned per sale, or more. For a useful guide to how these sales statistics can help you decide which products to promote, see our blog post Sort Your Way to Success. In addition, if you perform a keyword search, products will automatically be ordered based on how relevant they are to your search term(s).
* Narrowing results: You can filter search or browsing results based on a few different criteria, such as product attributes like Shippable Media, in what language(s) the vendor offers the products, and whether the product is a one-time purchase or is a recurring billing product.
* Advanced Search: Our Advanced Search menu lets you perform sophisticated searches to meet certain product criteria. For example, you can look for listings in a particular category that fall within a certain gravity range, or recurring billing billing products above a particular commission rate. Advanced Search lets you get extremely targeted search results, to make sure Marketplace listings meet your rigorous criteria for promotion.
Improving Your Search Results
Sometimes keyword searches occasionally turn up results that don’t fit with your niche. For example, if you search using the term “dog training,” further down the list of results, or depending on how your sort the results, you may end up with other listings that use the term “training” in the description that don’t have anything to do with dogs. If you find that you’re getting too many irrelevant results, you may want to make your search more specific or eliminate keywords that don’t fit your niche. You can do so by adding certain criteria to your search, such as:
* If you enter your keywords in quotes, such as “golf swing,” we will only return listings that use the phrase exactly as entered.
* If you enter your keywords with AND in between, such as golf AND swing, we will only return listings that use both terms.
* If you enter your keywords with OR in between, such as golf OR swing, we will return listings that have either term.
* If you enter your keywords with NOT between, such as golf NOT swing, we will exclude any listings that include the second term.
* If you enter + before a keyword, such as golf +swing, we will only return listings that include the + keyword.
* If you enter – before a keyword, such as golf -swing, we will exclude any listings that include the -keyword.
* If you use parentheses with your keywords, you can do more complicated searches. For example, if you type (golf OR swing) AND help, you will get results that include either golf or swing combined with the word help, such as golf help or swing help.
In addition to those searches, you can also include “wildcards” that can help broaden your results:
* Using the character ? will return listings that use keywords where the ? is replaced with a single letter. For example, if you type gol?, you would get results that include golf or gold.
* Using the character * will return listings that use keywords where the * is replaced with multiple characters. For example, if you type gol*, you would get results that include golf, golfing, golfer, gold, golden, etc. This can be very useful for returning listings with related keywords, like the golf/golfer/golfing example.
* Using the character ~ after a keyword will return listings that include keywords that are spelled similarly to the keyword. For example, if you type roam~, it would return listings with keywords such as roams, foam, etc.
By using these special search techniques, you can make sure your searches are as targeted and relevant to your niche as possible.
What Marketplace Stats Mean
Once you’ve run your search in the Marketplace, you’ll see a list of ClickBank products. At the bottom of each listing, you’ll see sales statistics that look like this:
Sales Stats
Since these statistics are unique to ClickBank, it’s important to know what they mean and how they can help you decide which products to promote. If you forgot what these mean, you can click Stats under any listing to return here.
* Initial $/sale: This is the average amount that an affiliate earns for each sale of this product. One-time upsell purchases are also considered initial sales. This number takes into account refunds, chargebacks, and sales tax. Since vendors may offer products with different prices and commissions, the amount you earn on any given sale may not match this number exactly.
* Avg Rebill Total: This number is only shown if the vendor offers recurring billing products (e.g., products like memberships and subscriptions that regularly bill customers over time). This number shows the average amount an affiliate makes on all of the rebilled sales. Note that this number doesn’t include the initial sale amount.
* Avg $/sale: For one-time purchases, this number is the same as Initial $/sale. If the vendor offers recurring billing products, it equals the average total of the initial sale plus all rebills, divided by the number of initial sales. To put it simply, for every new purchase of this product, this amount is the average you’d make in total over the life of a new customer. However, this is just an average; this amount is not guaranteed.
* Avg %/sale: This number shows the average commission rate earned for all sales of a vendor’s products, including one-time purchases, rebills, and upsell purchases. Since vendors can offer different commission rates for different types of products, this number may not exactly match the commission rate you earn on any given sale.
* Avg %/rebill: This number is only shown if the vendor offers recurring billing products, and shows the average commission rate earned only on rebills.
* Grav: Short for Gravity, this number represents a unique calculation by ClickBank that takes into account the number of different affiliates who earned a commission by promoting this product over the past 12 weeks. Since more recent transactions are given a higher value, this number can give you an idea of what products are “hot” at the moment, in terms of being promoted by many affiliates and making a good number of sales. However, high gravity can also indicate that there will be a lot of competition in promoting this product.
* Cat: The Marketplace category and sub-category of the site.
For more ideas about how to take these different sales numbers into account when deciding what to promote, take a look at our blog post entitled Sort Your Way to Success.
You’ll also see a number of different icons below each listing. Here are the meanings of these icons:
* english Product(s) in English
* french Product(s) in French
* german Product(s) in German
* spanish Product(s) in Spanish
* standard Standard (single-sale) product(s)
* recurring Recurring billing product(s)
* shippable Shippable product(s)
* upsell Upsell product(s)
* afftools Vendor Spotlight listing includes an Affiliate Tools page
Showing posts with label promoting clickbank products. Show all posts
Showing posts with label promoting clickbank products. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Get Started As An Affiliate
Get Started as an Affiliate
Becoming a ClickBank affiliate is a quick and easy process. By following the three simple steps below, you’ll be on your way to becoming a successful affiliate in no time! If you’re looking to get started creating and selling your own products as a vendor, click here.
1. Create an Account Here
To get started as a ClickBank affiliate, first you’ll need to create a free account. Fill out the ClickBank signup form, which takes just a couple of minutes. Be sure to enter all of your contact information accurately, in case we need to contact you regarding your account and so we can send you your earnings. You’ll receive an email with an 8-digit confirmation code you’ll need to enter to complete the signup process. This email will contain your account nickname (which you chose) and password (which is the same as the confirmation code you received).
Now that your account is created, click the Log In link on the confirmation page or at the top of the ClickBank website. Once you log in, you’ll be taken to the Account Home page. This is the page where you’ll eventually be able to see your earnings, as well as important ClickBank news, updates, and more.
If you click the next tab, called Account Settings, you will see all of the information you entered on the signup form. If you have listed a U.S. address, you will see a field called Tax ID flashing in red in the Account Information section. If you have a U.S. address and earn over $600 by the end of the calendar year, you’ll need to enter an Employer Identification Number (for businesses) or a Social Security Number (for individuals) in the Tax ID field. For more information, see our Accounting Policy.
Next, you’ll see the Contact Information section. Since you’re an affiliate, you do not need to fill out any of the email addresses or phone numbers in the Contact Information box except for your basic Account Email address and phone.
By clicking Edit on the Payment Information box, you can change your payment threshold, which is the minimum amount you need to earn before we send you a check. Please note that there is a $2.50 processing charge per payment we issue, regardless of the amount of the check or direct deposit. When you first start out, you can only choose to be paid by check. However, once you’ve received two (2) checks, and if you’re in our list of supported countries, you can choose to be paid by direct deposit to your bank account.
Important: Affiliates should not fill out the My Site, My Products, or My Images pages. These are for ClickBank vendors only. Affiliates should not submit product approval requests and do not need to pay an activation charge for their account!
2. Find a Product to Promote
Now that your account is created and you have a ClickBank nickname, you’re ready to find a product to promote. Unless you already have a product in mind that you want to promote, the best place to start is the ClickBank Marketplace. You can find products you’re interested in promoting by searching on particular keywords or browsing by categories and sub-categories. Once you hit Go, you’ll be presented with a list of products matching your criteria.
For more information about deciding which product(s) to promote, see our article Finding Products to Promote.
Once you’ve selected a product, click the Promote button to the right of the product listing. This will pop open a new window, where you’ll enter your ClickBank nickname, an optional Tracking ID, and click Create. This will create a HopLink that’s specifically tied to your nickname and the particular product you choose. It is automatically encrypted for your protection.
You’ll see two versions of the same HopLink. The top version, in black text, is in plain text. You’d use this option if you want to share your HopLink via email, Twitter, Facebook, or any other method where you don’t need to create HTML code yourself. The second version, in blue, is formatted in HTML code in case you want to insert the link directly into your own website or another source that requires HTML formatting. On the second option, you can change the part that says “Click Here!” to say anything you want, such as “Check out this great product I found!”
We recommend that you copy and paste your new HopLink into a text document or save it in some other way on your computer, as ClickBank does not store HopLinks for you. If you don’t save it yourself, you’ll need to return to the Marketplace each time you want to generate the HopLink, which can be time-consuming.
To learn more about HopLinks, see “All About HopLinks,” but for now you’re ready to start promoting your HopLink!
3. Start Promoting Your HopLink
OK, you’ve signed up for your free ClickBank account and have created your first HopLink. But where should you actually start promoting your HopLink? Trying to decide where to spend your time and effort can be a bit overwhelming at first, but we’ll give you some ideas to get started. Once you’ve mastered the basics, your imagination is the only limit to the ways you can promote ClickBank products.
If you have your own website, that is one great place to promote hoplinks. However – it is not necessary to have a website to be a ClickBank affiliate! We’ve created a guide called Common Ways to Promote Products that’s a great place to learn about other methods affiliates use to promote ClickBank products effectively.
An important rule of thumb to remember is that if you want to get a good return on your time, money, and efforts, you should promote products to audiences that might be interested in them. For example, if you post your HopLink to a course on Internet Marketing in a forum dedicated to politics or gardening, people won’t click on your HopLink and you may find yourself quickly banned from the forum.
However, if you link to the same Internet Marketing course in a forum or discussion group dedicated to making money online, along with reasons why you think this is a great product and how it can benefit other members, you’re likely to get many more clicks and purchases from your HopLink. Posting a useful and relevant HopLink and description will also make it more likely that members will trust your recommendations in the future.
The same principle goes for other common promotional techniques like article writing or tapping into your social network— the more relevant and useful the product is to your audience, the better your sales will be.
For more tips on best practices and what techniques to avoid, see our guide Affiliate Dos and Don’ts.
FAQ
Q: To promote different products as an affiliate, do I need multiple accounts?
A: No, you can promote any number of different products as an affiliate through a single account. There is no need to sign up for separate accounts.
Q: Do I need my own website to get started as an affiliate?
A: No, it is not necessary to have a website to be a ClickBank affiliate, though you may use one if you wish. Some other examples of how you might advertise affiliate HopLinks are through the use of online banner ads, e-mail newsletters, online magazines, ads in online classifieds, or advertising on search engines. For more ideas on common ways to promote products, please see our guide called “Common Ways to Promote Products.”
Q: Does ClickBank provide image banners to use in product promotions?
A: No, although many ClickBank vendors will provide banners directly to affiliates via an Affiliates page on their product website. Check Marketplace descriptions or look for an Affiliates link on a vendor’s Pitch Page to see if they offer banners for their product.
Becoming a ClickBank affiliate is a quick and easy process. By following the three simple steps below, you’ll be on your way to becoming a successful affiliate in no time! If you’re looking to get started creating and selling your own products as a vendor, click here.
1. Create an Account Here
To get started as a ClickBank affiliate, first you’ll need to create a free account. Fill out the ClickBank signup form, which takes just a couple of minutes. Be sure to enter all of your contact information accurately, in case we need to contact you regarding your account and so we can send you your earnings. You’ll receive an email with an 8-digit confirmation code you’ll need to enter to complete the signup process. This email will contain your account nickname (which you chose) and password (which is the same as the confirmation code you received).
Now that your account is created, click the Log In link on the confirmation page or at the top of the ClickBank website. Once you log in, you’ll be taken to the Account Home page. This is the page where you’ll eventually be able to see your earnings, as well as important ClickBank news, updates, and more.
If you click the next tab, called Account Settings, you will see all of the information you entered on the signup form. If you have listed a U.S. address, you will see a field called Tax ID flashing in red in the Account Information section. If you have a U.S. address and earn over $600 by the end of the calendar year, you’ll need to enter an Employer Identification Number (for businesses) or a Social Security Number (for individuals) in the Tax ID field. For more information, see our Accounting Policy.
Next, you’ll see the Contact Information section. Since you’re an affiliate, you do not need to fill out any of the email addresses or phone numbers in the Contact Information box except for your basic Account Email address and phone.
By clicking Edit on the Payment Information box, you can change your payment threshold, which is the minimum amount you need to earn before we send you a check. Please note that there is a $2.50 processing charge per payment we issue, regardless of the amount of the check or direct deposit. When you first start out, you can only choose to be paid by check. However, once you’ve received two (2) checks, and if you’re in our list of supported countries, you can choose to be paid by direct deposit to your bank account.
Important: Affiliates should not fill out the My Site, My Products, or My Images pages. These are for ClickBank vendors only. Affiliates should not submit product approval requests and do not need to pay an activation charge for their account!
2. Find a Product to Promote
Now that your account is created and you have a ClickBank nickname, you’re ready to find a product to promote. Unless you already have a product in mind that you want to promote, the best place to start is the ClickBank Marketplace. You can find products you’re interested in promoting by searching on particular keywords or browsing by categories and sub-categories. Once you hit Go, you’ll be presented with a list of products matching your criteria.
For more information about deciding which product(s) to promote, see our article Finding Products to Promote.
Once you’ve selected a product, click the Promote button to the right of the product listing. This will pop open a new window, where you’ll enter your ClickBank nickname, an optional Tracking ID, and click Create. This will create a HopLink that’s specifically tied to your nickname and the particular product you choose. It is automatically encrypted for your protection.
You’ll see two versions of the same HopLink. The top version, in black text, is in plain text. You’d use this option if you want to share your HopLink via email, Twitter, Facebook, or any other method where you don’t need to create HTML code yourself. The second version, in blue, is formatted in HTML code in case you want to insert the link directly into your own website or another source that requires HTML formatting. On the second option, you can change the part that says “Click Here!” to say anything you want, such as “Check out this great product I found!”
We recommend that you copy and paste your new HopLink into a text document or save it in some other way on your computer, as ClickBank does not store HopLinks for you. If you don’t save it yourself, you’ll need to return to the Marketplace each time you want to generate the HopLink, which can be time-consuming.
To learn more about HopLinks, see “All About HopLinks,” but for now you’re ready to start promoting your HopLink!
3. Start Promoting Your HopLink
OK, you’ve signed up for your free ClickBank account and have created your first HopLink. But where should you actually start promoting your HopLink? Trying to decide where to spend your time and effort can be a bit overwhelming at first, but we’ll give you some ideas to get started. Once you’ve mastered the basics, your imagination is the only limit to the ways you can promote ClickBank products.
If you have your own website, that is one great place to promote hoplinks. However – it is not necessary to have a website to be a ClickBank affiliate! We’ve created a guide called Common Ways to Promote Products that’s a great place to learn about other methods affiliates use to promote ClickBank products effectively.
An important rule of thumb to remember is that if you want to get a good return on your time, money, and efforts, you should promote products to audiences that might be interested in them. For example, if you post your HopLink to a course on Internet Marketing in a forum dedicated to politics or gardening, people won’t click on your HopLink and you may find yourself quickly banned from the forum.
However, if you link to the same Internet Marketing course in a forum or discussion group dedicated to making money online, along with reasons why you think this is a great product and how it can benefit other members, you’re likely to get many more clicks and purchases from your HopLink. Posting a useful and relevant HopLink and description will also make it more likely that members will trust your recommendations in the future.
The same principle goes for other common promotional techniques like article writing or tapping into your social network— the more relevant and useful the product is to your audience, the better your sales will be.
For more tips on best practices and what techniques to avoid, see our guide Affiliate Dos and Don’ts.
FAQ
Q: To promote different products as an affiliate, do I need multiple accounts?
A: No, you can promote any number of different products as an affiliate through a single account. There is no need to sign up for separate accounts.
Q: Do I need my own website to get started as an affiliate?
A: No, it is not necessary to have a website to be a ClickBank affiliate, though you may use one if you wish. Some other examples of how you might advertise affiliate HopLinks are through the use of online banner ads, e-mail newsletters, online magazines, ads in online classifieds, or advertising on search engines. For more ideas on common ways to promote products, please see our guide called “Common Ways to Promote Products.”
Q: Does ClickBank provide image banners to use in product promotions?
A: No, although many ClickBank vendors will provide banners directly to affiliates via an Affiliates page on their product website. Check Marketplace descriptions or look for an Affiliates link on a vendor’s Pitch Page to see if they offer banners for their product.
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