So many affiliate s consider ClickBank THE world’s most important affiliate site, mainly because the company keeps a tight rein on what products are allowed on their site and will quickly remove any product or vendor that falls short of the company’s very high standards of quality control and customer care.
But there are other reasons also why big earners turn to ClickBank when seeking new affiliate products as well as for selling their own digital download items.
The main reason is that ClickBank has been around for several years, they know how the digital product business works, they understand what affiliates and product owners want from a professional affiliate company and they work very hard to achieve and exceed that standard.
ClickBank is reliable, user friendly, and boasts never to have missed a scheduled payment to affiliates or product owners; I know that’s true for at least seven years of the company’s existence.
Moreover, their customer service for affiliates, product owners, buyers and enquirers is second to none; when you need help you ask for it and you can expect an answer within twenty four hours, sometimes much less. And it’s this aspect of genuinely caring for affiliates and vendors that brings the highest accolades for ClickBank because, unlike many other major companies, this one actually sends personal answers to whatever questions are asked and you’ll never be fobbed off with autoresponder messages or referred to the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) section because human beings are not inclined to help.
However, there are two main problem areas which new affiliates should know about that are inherent to the ClickBank system and have quick and simple solutions.
Firstly, ClickBank pays in US dollars no matter where in the world affiliate and product owners live. This means recipients without US dollar accounts must pay banks to convert their dollars to local currency, British Pounds, for example, or Euros. The problem of sorts is that many banks charge the same high fee to convert US dollars to local currency, regardless of dollar value. In the UK, for instance, banks charge £8 for the conversion – about 16 US Dollars – whether your ClickBank check is for $100 or $20,000. Thankfully there’s a simple, easy option provided by CB itself, in that affiliates and vendors can set their accounts to release checks only when a specific – usually high – level is achieved, such as $5,000, $10,000, or more. Don’t ever worry about not being paid, no matter how high commissions go, the company has proved its reliability, and this one simple step slashes the banks’ share of your hard-earned cash.
The other problem few newcomers know about is the ease with which ClickBank commissions can be hijacked by unethical affiliates. It works like this: when an affiliate receives a mailing about some new product sourced by you, he or she will recognise the affiliate component of the destination url, and some will substitute their own affiliate nickname for yours and rob you of your commissions for sourcing the product. So instead of up to 75 per cent of the product price making its way into your affiliate account, the unscrupulous affiliate will pay full price for the product and have 75 per cent bounce back to his own affiliate account. There is little you can do to prevent experienced affiliates participating in this practice but two alternative solutions present themselves:
– It’s mainly business opportunity seekers and online marketers who understand the ClickBank hoplink, which makes it good sense to target buyers outside the business opportunity field. So instead of business opportunity enthusiasts sell to hobbyists wanting craftwork ideas, sports men and women seeking training plans, dog owners needing help to train their unruly pets, young men and women wanting information about dating, parents seeking advice to prevent their child from being bullied, and generally to people having little interest in affiliate marketing .
– Offer gifts and bonus items to everyone ordering through your affiliate link, and make the bonus items available solely from you. Get buyers to email you after ordering, ask them to provide their order transaction number, then email back with the download link for the bonus items. If the bonus items are good, most people will order through your link, even affiliates who might otherwise steal your profits for themselves!
