Affiliate Guide

1. How ClickBank Works

Anyone can join ClickBank as an affiliate - it's free. When you find a product that you wish to promote, either at a publisher's website or by searching through the ClickBank Marketplace, you will be given a unique Url which you use to bring customers to the product page.

For a detailed explanation click to the affiliate section at the ClickBank site.

2. Operating An Affiliate Account

2.1. Opening an account

The first thing you need to do is to sign up for a ClickBank account. This information is needed so that ClickBank can send you payments. It's free to open an account and very simple.

2.2. Getting paid

ClickBank pay periods end on the 1st and 16th of each month. Checks are mailed within 15 days after the end of the period. Full details of the ClickBank Paycheck Policy here

Tip: you can alter the minimum payment setting (default $100) in your account. But note that a $2.50 accounting fee is deducted from each check issued.

3. Promoting Products

Now you are ready to promote ClickBank products and earn commission.

3.1 Choosing the product

To see the complete range visit the ClickBank Marketplace.

The MarketPlace listings are ranked by popularity, so you can easily see which are the in-demand items.

Against each title is a percentage rate e.g [earn 50%] showing the rate of commission you receive on selling that item. Click on that to generate the Url that you need to promote the item.

You should aim for products with a reasonable rate of commission, no lower than 25%, to make your efforts worthwhile. Be aware that ClickBank deducts transaction fees from a sale: here is a calculator showing the actual commission paid.

NOTE: For a much more extensive search facility use the free ClickBank Product Selector in section 4.4 below.

3.2 Check the sales page

Visit the sales page of the product to confirm that the sales copy does a good job of selling the product but even more important that your chances of making a sale are not reduced by the following factors

1. There are many external links which distract the visitor from reaching the order page

2. There are offers to join a mailing list or claim a free report which might mean that the publisher could later follow up these leads but you would not receive commission

3. An overt link to an affiliate sign up page: your potential customer could simply become an affiliate and purchase the product himself

4. The publisher offers multiple payment options so if ClickBank is not chosen you do not get the commission

5. The publisher uses a pop up upon exiting a site to convert a leaving visitor into a sale that does not use ClickBank

If you still want to promote such a product you can advise the publisher to use the ideas in this article How To Stop ClickBank Link Theft

3.3 Check the ClickBank order page

Visit the order page and ensure that your nickname appears in the [affiliate= ] line at the bottom of the second order page. If not then you may have incorrectly formatted your Url or it's possible that the affiliate program has been discontinued. Or, the affiliate program is only for selected items at the site not the one you have chosen.

Similarly you should periodically check that your links are working. ClickBank does not have a method to inform affiliates and publishers that links that they set up are not working

3.4 Product Links

There are 3 ways you may wish to link to a product

The basic link to a ClickBank item
http://AFFILIATE.PUBLISHER.hop.clickbank.net
A link to a specific product page, useful when a publisher has multiple products in one ClickBank account. If the publisher is using affiliate management software there should be provision for this. Otherwise see the software tool Affiliate Cloner below.
A link to the order form - so that you can bypass the publisher's sales page.

3.5 Commission priority rule

If a customer has visited a sales page on more than one occasion, as a result of following links supplied by different affiliates, the rule is that the last affiliate gets the commission.

3.6 Additional ClickBank links

Here are some further links you can provide to your visitors. Replace AFFILIATE with your nickname to ensure you get the appropriate credit when the links are followed through.

1) ClickBank Signup Form
http://AFFILIATE.reseller.hop.clickbank.net

2) ClickBank Marketplace
http://AFFILIATE.marketplace.hop.clickbank.net

(Note: a more profitable method is to use a ClickBank Storefront in section 4.2 below).

4. Software Tools For Affiliates

4.1 Affiliate Link Cloaking

Affiliate Cloner is a tool which provides solutions to 3 common problems:

1. The great advantage of ClickBank - the ease of signing up as an affiliate for a product - is also a weakness. It is very easy for another to replace your affiliate nickname and claim your commission. Affiliate Cloner can disguise (cloak) your affiliate links.

2. It provides a way to link to an order page (so that you can bypass the publisher's sales page).

3. It provides a way to link to a specific product page when a publisher has multiple products in one ClickBank account.

4.2 ClickBank Storefronts

In addition to offering individual products (as shown in section 3.1) you can link to a storefront containing the MarketPlace products - each one encoded with your own affiliate link.