Clickbank and affiliate marketing?

Ben_Grimm · #1 04-06-2007, 04:23 AM

I was wondering if anyone could refer me to some info on clickbank. What I mean is a sort of how to or something. Ive checked the actual site and opened an account but I find that there is little information about getting started and such.

Im also looking for any good info on affiliate marketing. I know there is a ton of stuff out there if I search google but I dont really know enough to seperate the good from the bad. For that reason Id rather have someone recommend something.

Like always if my questions are super stupid simply call me a name and send me on my way. My feelings wont be hurt. Thx guys.

-Grimm

KidLifeCrisis · #2 04-06-2007, 04:12 PM

Check your PM's

lgas · #3 04-06-2007, 08:52 PM

I would love to hear stories from anyone that has made money promoting clickbank items. I'm giving it my first shot right now. I simply bought some adwords ads that go straight to my clickbank hoplink. I have set up a relatively small budget for this test run so I only get a few clicks a day. Based on the specific product I'm trying to promote I need about a 8% conversion rate to be profitable. I picked a medical product and targetted to keywords that I figured people would only be searching for if they were motivated to buy... I've only had my ads up for a couple of days but so far I have a 0% conversion rate.

I know most people take a more elaborate approach than just going straight adwords->hoplink but I figured if this worked, why bother with anything else. I guess this isn't working (so far) though. Has anyone (KidLifeCrisis?) found an approach that provides consistent results? If so, mind sharing some of the details with the forum?

Tupacia · #4 04-06-2007, 09:21 PM

Ben Grimm - I also am getting started in affiliate marketing. I found a great resource (it costs a monthly fee) that has helped me out a bunch. PM me if you want more info as I don't want to post an affiliate link.

Igas - Your approach is destined to fail. For one, 8% conversion is much too high and you will definitely lose money regardless of which product you are promoting. Secondly, you should use a landing page as opposed to direct linking to increase your ROI. Hope that was helpful.

SanONeill · #5 04-06-2007, 09:27 PM

Direct linking can work but tends to not work on offers that require the user to enter a credit card.

lgas · #6 04-06-2007, 09:28 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Ben Grimm - I also am getting started in affiliate marketing. I found a great resource (it costs a monthly fee) that has helped me out a bunch. PM me if you want more info as I don't want to post an affiliate link.

Igas - Your approach is destined to fail. For one, 8% conversion is much too high and you will definitely lose money regardless of which product you are promoting. Secondly, you should use a landing page as opposed to direct linking to increase your ROI. Hope that was helpful.

[/ QUOTE ]

Using a landing page seems to be the common approach, but I don't understand why injecting an extra step in the path to the purchase is going to help me sell more. In fact it, intuitively, it seems like it would reduce your conversion rate because some percentage of people are likely to bail on the landing page that would have made a purchase if they had made it to the final destination.

Also, the destination pages for most clickbank products are generally all hyped up and I assume well designed for closing the sale. What can I put on my landing page that is going to do a better job?

The one benefit to landing pages I can see is that you can have autoresponder signups and build mailing lists to market the same or other products to in the future, increasing the contact you have with the same potential customers. Right now this is more work than I want to do, but I'd be willing to do it if need be. Is this the type of thing you are suggesting, or are you just talking about a landing page that does some pre-selling?

Tupacia · #7 04-06-2007, 09:40 PM

While intuitively landing pages seem like they would decrease your ROI%, you're not looking at the big picture. By having a relevant landing page, Google increases your Quality Score (thus meaning you pay less per click) as well as it avoids the problem of another affiliate direct linking to your product that uses Adsense (only one destination URL allowed by Adwords). Also, people like to be "pre-sold" before having to go to the merchant page as it increases the chances of them buying the product once getting there.

Haunted Ghost · #8 04-06-2007, 10:29 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Also, people like to be "pre-sold" before having to go to the merchant page as it increases the chances of them buying the product once getting there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pre-selling does not seem to make any sense. The product site is the point at which the buyer will finalize his decision to buy. In other words, it is the "point of purchase" in the same way that Borders is the point of purchase when a book buyer buys a book. Why not pick a site that has good ad copy to begin with and just focus on getting the prospect there ASAP?

I understand that people who buy Tide Detergent are pre-sold by TV ads so that they will be ready to buy once they get to the store. But this does not seem to apply to affiliate marketing where the person can go from getting pre-sold to point of purchase in just a matter of seconds, instead of taking hours to days to go through the process.

Please explain why pre-selling is absolutely necessary in this situation.

Tupacia · #9 04-06-2007, 11:04 PM

Haunted -
1. Landing pages decrease your cost per click that you pay Google (as proper ones increase your quality score)

2. A properly worded landing page can greatly increase your conversions (even targeted Adwords traffic usually converts at only 2%-4%.

3. You can build your opt-in mailing list where you can continually follow up with buyers and sell them the same product (if they didn't buy it) or future products.

4. You avoid the Adwords problem of some other advertiser having the same display URL as you (which will invariably happen say if you're advertising a Clickbank product).

Hope that was helpful.

BradleyT · #10 04-07-2007, 12:25 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Please explain why pre-selling is absolutely necessary in this situation.

[/ QUOTE ]

I find a book that looks good according to the publishers website. Now I go to Amazon and read the customer reviews - that either sells me on the book or makes me not buy it.

Now think about how you can use that concept on your landing pages.