How To Make Money With ClickBank? Unlock the Secret!

ClickBank is a digital marketplace connecting product creators (vendors) with affiliate marketers who promote their products for a commission. It offers a vast range of digital products, making it an ideal platform for potential earnings.

Through this post, I’ll share the strategies for ClickBank success. So, let’s unlock the secrets to making money online with ClickBank.

What Is Clickbank and How Does It Work?

If you’re curious about Clickbank and how it operates, let me break it down for you. Clickbank is like an affiliate network, but it’s not your typical platform. It functions as a marketplace where both product creators and affiliates come together to make money without dealing with complicated paperwork or agreements.

So, what exactly does Clickbank do? Well, it acts as the middleman between digital product creators (think ebooks, videos, music, and more) and the people who can sell those products, known as affiliate marketers. Depending on which side of the marketplace you’re on, Clickbank serves a specific purpose:

For Affiliate Marketers:

If you’re an affiliate marketer, you can dive right in. Simply create your unique affiliate links for thousands of products (more on that later) and start driving traffic to make money. You’ll even see your earnings in real-time, which is pretty cool. The best part is, joining Clickbank is completely free, and there’s no screening process or complex metrics to worry about. It’s a straightforward affiliate network open to anyone willing to give it a shot. To get started, head over to their homepage and register.

For Product Owners:

Now, if you’re a product owner, you can add your product to Clickbank’s database, and they’ll handle all the checkout and e-commerce aspects for you. On top of that, Clickbank offers an affiliate program for your product, so others can promote it and help you make sales. To become a seller on Clickbank, there is a one-time activation fee of $49.95. This fee serves as a way to keep low-quality vendors away from the platform, which is definitely a good thing. It’s worth noting that Clickbank does take a portion of your sales, specifically $1 plus 7.5% of each sale.

Now, if your sales start to pick up and you’re generating significant revenue, you might consider moving away from Clickbank to platforms like Thinkific or Teachable. The reason being that these platforms don’t take a percentage of your sales. 

Additionally, with Clickbank, there’s a $2.5 payment processing fee every time you withdraw your earnings, and they may also charge you $0.50 or $1 for customer refunds they approve. This is why many creators have been exploring alternatives like Thinkific and Teachable, which offer more favorable terms.

Why ClickBank is a Great Choice for New Affiliate Marketers

As an affiliate marketer, you may question the value of selling ebooks and online courses from unknown producers when established platforms like CJ or Amazon Associates offer reputable products. However, I want to explain why ClickBank could be the ideal choice for you.

First off, online education is a massive market, and ClickBank itself generates nearly a quarter billion dollars in sales revenue every year. That’s no small feat! So, there’s definitely money to be made in this space.

But what really sets ClickBank apart is the beauty of digital products. Why is it beautiful, you ask? Well, it’s because of the sky-high profit margins. Unlike physical products, making a copy of a video or an ebook costs practically nothing. That means you get to keep a hundred percent of the revenue as profit, minus your marketing costs, of course. And guess what? ClickBank pays out some pretty generous commissions, up to 75% in fact.

Personally, I’m a big fan of ClickBank, and I believe it’s an excellent platform for new affiliate marketers to dive into and start earning money online without the hassle of dealing with more advanced affiliate networks. One major advantage is that there’s no cap on your earnings potential. You can start selling right away, without needing approval for 90% of the offers available. Trust me, that’s a huge plus when you’re just starting out and don’t have an impressive track record to show those big affiliate networks.

To give you a better idea of what to expect, here’s a quick rundown of the pros and cons of the ClickBank platform:

Pros:

• Highly paid offers (75% commission is common)
• Ability to sell in most countries
• Multiple recurring offers for ongoing income
• Simplifies the technical aspects for you

Cons:

• There are a fair share of low-quality products and poorly designed sales pages to navigate through
• Popular products often face stiff competition from other marketers
• It can be challenging to gauge the success of a product without investing in traffic
• There are some high costs associated with the e-commerce platform

Key Metrics and Strategies for Success with Clickbank Offers

When you’re evaluating potential offers on Clickbank, there are a few crucial statistics you should focus on. These numbers can make or break your money-making dreams, so pay close attention:

1. Initial $/sale: This represents the average amount of money you’ll earn for each sale as an affiliate.
2. Avg %/sale: This tells you the average commission percentage you’ll receive from the sales price.
3. Grav (Gravity): This number indicates how many other affiliates have successfully sold the product in the last 12 weeks. It’s a good indicator of conversion rates.
4. Avg Rebill Total: This is the average commission you’ll earn from recurring payments made by customers. It’s a fantastic source of passive income!
5. Avg %/Rebill: This percentage tells you how much of those recurring payments you’ll receive, on average.

Remember, screening offers is a critical part of the Clickbank money-making game. Here are the things to consider when deciding which offers to promote:

1. Look for low-cost initial offers with additional upsells. The more chances you have to make a sale, the better.
2. Video sales pages and “native” sales pages are highly effective. These pages resemble genuine content and have a higher chance of generating sales.
3. Choose products with positive online reviews. Low refund rates mean more money in your pocket and less disappointment for your audience.
4. Keep an eye on the Gravity score. A score above 20 indicates a page that converts well.

By following these guidelines, you’ll increase your chances of success with Clickbank.

Common Methods to Make Money with ClickBank

Before I reveal our secret sauce, let’s quickly go through some of the most “common” ways people make money with ClickBank.

1. The “Banner Slap” Approach

This one’s the most common, but often the least profitable. The tactic is simple: find a somewhat related article on your site and slap a banner on the sidebar or in the middle of the article, without bothering to presell the product in any way.

Sure, some people might convert because the traffic is somewhat relevant to the offer. However, your earnings per click (EPC) will be disappointingly low because the product lacks that personal touch or recommendation from the author.

2. The In-Content Recommendation

In-content links are usually those subtle recommendations embedded directly in the text. The author’s voice carries the weight of the recommendation, and if they’ve done a good job building trust throughout the article, the conversion rates can be decent.

However, these recommendations aren’t very eye-catching and will only capture the attention of the most attentive readers. Unless readers trust the author, there isn’t much incentive to click through.

3. The Almighty Product Review

This tactic is still alive and kicking for a reason—it works! Review traffic is super targeted, and when people land on your page, they’re already primed to make a purchase.

If your review doesn’t come across as completely biased, there’s a good chance they’ll trust your judgment and click through your affiliate link to buy the product.

But here’s the catch with reviews: getting the volume of traffic you need to make a lot of sales can be challenging. Review keywords have low search volume and intense competition. Every SEO expert and their furry friend is trying to make money with reviews, so you end up caught in a negative SEO frenzy for a trickle of traffic.

Not exactly ideal if you’re aiming for long-term success. Plus, the only way to scale is horizontally by producing more reviews, since there’s limited traffic for each individual review. This makes it tough to grow quickly or leverage paid traffic to boost your results.

A Better and Effective Approach to Make Money With ClickBank

Instead of bombarding visitors with sales pitches right away, approach your website like a media company. Provide valuable free content and maintain a clean front end without commercial offers. Aim to establish yourself as an authoritative source of information.

Now, you may wonder, how do you generate revenue? Remember all those individuals who desired additional free content and willingly provided their email addresses? They are your target audience. Here’s what you can do: develop lead magnets such as content upgrades, opt-in pop-ups, and retargeting campaigns. These lead magnets offer even more complimentary resources to those who express interest by sharing their contact information.

Once you have their email addresses, you can begin promoting your offers. But wait a moment! You might think, “If I only present my offer to those who opted in, am I potentially missing out on sales?” That’s a valid concern. However, let’s be realistic here. If someone isn’t willing to provide their email address, they’re unlikely to be willing to spend money either.

Now, let me break down the system for you:

1. Drive Traffic:

• SEO: Optimize your content for search engines. If you need more guidance, check out our free authority SEO course.
• Facebook: Tap into the vast audience on Facebook. It’s a great platform for generating cheap traffic.
• Content distribution networks: Give this tactic a shot, especially if you’re covering a widespread issue.

Remember, your content should be clean of promotions, offer value, establish your authority, and don’t get greedy. That’s how you stand out from the crowd.

2. Create Lead Magnets:

• Opt-in pop-ups: These work wonders for us. We collect hundreds of emails daily using them.
• Content upgrades: A compelling call to action at the end of your content can be highly effective.
• Retargeting + Opt-in page: If someone didn’t take your offer on the site, retarget them on Facebook and direct them to an opt-in page to download bonuses.

To create these lead magnets, I recommend using Thrive Leads or Elementor PRO if you’re using Elementor as a site builder.

3. Thank You Page and Promoting Your Offer:

• Redirect people who opt-in to a thank you page where you can promote your offer.
• Bridge the offer with the lead magnet they just downloaded. Explain why the offer complements the lead magnet and how it can help them achieve better results.

Remember, be transparent and avoid misleading your audience. You want to build trust, not deceive people.

4. Email Marketing:

• Set up a 3-part autoresponder to test the offer’s conversion.
• Send the lead magnet link again and introduce the offer in the first email.
• Help them visualize the benefits of the product in the second email.
• Create a sense of urgency and push for action in the final email.

Ethics are crucial here. Only promote products that truly deliver value and help people. Building long-term relationships with your audience will make you more money in the end.

5. Scarcity and Deadline Funnels:

• Consider using tools like Deadline Funnels to create real scarcity and limited-time offers.
• Open and close the offers as a product launch to create a sense of urgency and drive sales.

6. Building Your List and Re-engaging:

• Once people have gone through the autoresponder series, add them to your main broadcast list.
• Keep providing valuable content and create new mini sales funnels for those who opt in again.

This way, you can continue selling without burning out your email list. Only those who are genuinely interested will receive your promotions.

7. Retargeting:

• Use retargeting services like Facebook to create audiences of people who visited your website.
• Advertise lead magnets to them for about 30 days, ensuring you don’t run into ad fatigue issues.

Now that you have their attention, direct them to a squeeze page with a compelling offer and achieve high opt-in rates.

Remember to track your conversions by creating unique affiliate links for each promotion. This way, you can identify which emails, Facebook ads, or blog posts are generating the most conversions.

Note: If you’re new to email marketing, I recommend Getresponse for its superior features and automation capabilities. They even offer a free trial so you can test it out.

Tips for Scaling Your Sales Funnel like a Pro

So, you’ve got your initial sales funnel up and running. Now it’s time to sit back and let it do its thing for a while. While you’re at it, why not consider building a second funnel too? After a little bit of time, you can evaluate its performance and decide whether it’s worth investing more of your precious time into it.

If your first funnel is showing some promising sales and you’re eager to expand, don’t worry, it’s easier than you might think. All you need to do is focus on one area and give it a boost. Here are a few strategies you can try out:

1. Create more SEO content: Start by targeting additional keywords that are relevant to the product you’re selling. By doing so, you’ll increase your chances of attracting more organic traffic and potential customers. 
2. Build those links: Strengthen your existing content by implementing some link-building strategies. This can help improve your content’s rankings in search engine results, making it more visible to your target audience.
3. Embrace paid social media: Consider using paid social media advertising to drive traffic to your content. It’s a great way to reach a wider audience and increase the exposure of your sales funnel.
4. Supercharge your email autoresponder: If you’re already using an autoresponder, why not take it up a notch? Increase the number of emails in your sequence from 3 to 12-15. This extended series will give you more opportunities to engage with your subscribers and ultimately boost sales.
5. Test, test, and test some more: Experiment with A/B testing for your pop-ups and opt-ins. By tweaking and refining these elements, you can increase the likelihood of visitors opting in and joining your sales funnel.

Remember, scaling your sales funnel is a process that requires a bit of patience and experimentation. So, don’t be afraid to try out different strategies and see what works best for your specific product and target audience. With time and dedication, you’ll be well on your way to maximizing your sales potential.

Level Up Your Affiliate Business: Swap Offers and Maximize Profits

So, you’ve hit a certain scale in your affiliate business, and you’re already making several thousand dollars per month. Now, it’s time to take things to the next level by considering a crucial move: swapping the affiliate offer with your own offer. Why? Well, because it comes with a bunch of perks that’ll make you feel like a boss. Let’s dive in!

First off, by promoting your own offer, you get to keep all the money coming in. No more sharing the profits with the affiliate program. Plus, you gain full control over some important aspects, like the upsales and the sales page. You can tweak things to your heart’s content and optimize your conversions like a pro.

But wait, there’s more! When you have your own offer, you can buy traffic directly to your sales pages. That means you have the power to drive targeted traffic straight to your awesome product, without relying solely on affiliates. Speaking of which, you can also have affiliates promoting your product and making money for you. It’s like having your own personal sales team working hard to grow your revenue.

Now, let’s keep it real. This transition isn’t a walk in the park. I wouldn’t recommend diving into it if you have zero traffic and no revenue. You need to prove that you can get people and sell them info products before taking this leap. Once you’ve done that, though, this is one of the best ways to boost your earnings and expand your empire.

When you reach that stage, it’s worth considering platforms like Thinkific or Teachable to sell your own courses or information products. These platforms are super user-friendly, up to date with the latest features, and best of all, cost-effective as you grow. Thinkific even offers a totally free plan where they take a small percentage of your sales, similar to Clickbank.

Swapping offers and taking control of your own destiny could be the game-changer you’ve been waiting for. Remember, it’s not easy, but the rewards are definitely worth it. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, ClickBank offers a promising opportunity to boost your earnings and diversify your monetization strategies. Unlike traditional methods like Adsense and Amazon, ClickBank provides a gateway to real sales and increased revenue. Whether you choose to leverage the platform as an affiliate marketer or promote your own products, ClickBank can be a powerful tool in your arsenal.

However, it’s important to approach ClickBank with caution. Offers on the platform can sometimes disappear unexpectedly, so it’s wise to have a backup offer or be prepared to create one yourself. Being proactive and staying adaptable is key to long-term success with ClickBank.

By moving away from the “easy” monetization methods and embracing ClickBank, you have the opportunity to build a sustainable and profitable online business. It’s time to become a value adder and create a valuable asset that generates income over the long term.