There are 2 kinds of people making $1,000′s a day with ClickBank.

1. The Super Affiliate. This person really knows there stuff. They understand they need to drive a lot of traffic to a specific landing page that has been written to convert. They may spend $100′s of dollars a day on Pay Per Click Advertising, or they may have a large list of subscribers that they mail to, or they may have a ton of traffic to their existing websites. Most likely that are doing a combination of all three methods.

2. The Affiliate Program Owner. These are the people that create the product to sell on ClickBank then recruit affiliate marketers to sell their products for them.

Can you be a Super Affiliate or create your own product? If you can you can really make money with Clickbank.

Lets Talk Money and How You Get Paid by ClickBank

Most of this information comes directly from ClickBank and you should take the time to read their help files.  But for your convenience I’m going to sort out the important facts for you.

Most New Affiliate Marketers get in such a rush to promote ClickBank programs they don’t take the time to read their “fine print”. This is a huge mistake and could really cost you! You must understand the payment process.

How Commissions Are Calculated and Reported

Every ClickBank product has a commission rate that is set by the vendor, ranging from 1% to 75%. When you drive a sale to that product, ClickBank processes the sale, applies its charges, then calculates the commission rate based on the remaining net sale amount. Here’s an example of how much you’ll earn on a one-time purchase product with a 55% commission rate:

Retail Price: $29.95
Subtract 7.5% + $1: -$3.25
Net Sale Amount: $26.70
55% of Remainder: $14.69

Therefore, as the referring affiliate for this sale, you would earn $14.69.

The maximum commission you can earn on a single sale is $150.

Getting Paid by Clickbank

Obviously, the goal of being an affiliate is to get paid for your efforts. To receive your first commission payment, there are two requirements:

1. You must reach your Payment Threshold:

The “Payment Threshold” is a predetermined minimum amount of money you must have in your account before we cut you a check. You may select an amount from $10 to $100,000 as your Payment Threshold amount. The default setting is $100. We hold your payment until your payable balance reaches this amount. A $2.50 pay period processing charge is deducted from each payment we issue. To change your Payment Threshold, login to your account and select the “Account Settings” tab. Click “Edit” to the right of the “Payment Information” section. Select the “Payment Threshold” of your choice, and click the “Save Changes” button.

2.You must meet the Customer Distribution Requirement:

ClickBank will withhold payment of any account balance until the following criteria is met:

• Sales made with 5 or more different credit card numbers; and,

• Sales made with two different payment methods (either Visa, MasterCard, or PayPal).

Note: PayPal purchases do not count toward the minimum 5 different credit card numbers.

This requirement is in place to help prevent Affiliates from abusing the ClickBank Affiliate program by using their accounts for the sole purpose of fraudulently collecting rebates and/or discounts on their own purchases.

Once you have met the Customer Distribution Requirement, your account will begin issuing payments normally, in accordance with our Accounting Policy, beginning on the next payment issuing date.

Now Here is Where ClickBank Really Sticks it to the Average Affiliate Marketer

Dormant Accounts

Accounts with a positive balance but no earnings for an extended period of time are considered dormant. Dormant accounts are subject to a charge of $1 per pay period after 90 days of no earnings, $5 per pay period after 180 days of no earnings, and $15 per pay period after 365 days of no earnings.

Refunds and Chargebacks

One question you may have is whether you will still receive your affiliate commission if the product is returned or if the customer requests a chargeback on the purchase. Unfortunately, the answer is no. All money is returned to the customer, so the vendor and affiliate must return their portions of the sale as well.

Because of the 60-day return period for all ClickBank products, we utilize a return allowance to cover the possibility of returns.

So Can You Make Money With ClickBank?

Maybe! But you really need to be aware of these rules.  Unfortunately the average guy will only make a couple of sales and never be paid.  If you are going to promote ClickBank products you’ll need to do PPC or have a pretty steady stream of targeted traffic.  If your site gets less than 200 unique visitors a day I wouldn’t do ClickBank.  Instead focus on other affiliate products and Adsense.  Then as you build your traffic you can introduce ClickBank to your visitors.

Remember this simple fact (And forget about the Hype you read from people claiming to make $1,000′s a day)… conversion ratios matter!

If you have 200 visitors and a 5% click through rate you’ll have 10 hops a day!  On an average site it is not uncommon to have an actual conversion ratio of 1 in 500.  This does not mean that for every 500 visitors you make a sell, it means for every 500 visitors that actually click on your Clickbank link you’ll make a sell. So the real numbers look like this:

200 x 5% = 10 click throughs to your Click Bank Hop a day

1 sale per 500 visitors = 1 sale every 50 days!

Crazy eh?  You bet it is and if you are doing one sale every 50 days it’s going to take you a while to get your first check!  These are real numbers folks!  Some people do better of course can’t even do this well.  It’s all about traffic and conversions.

Lets take a better case example.  Lets say you have 500 vistors a day at 5% click through and a conversion rate of 1 in 200.

500 x 5% = 25 click throughs to your Click Bank Hop a day

1 sale per 200 visitors = 1 sale every 8 days!

Much much better, but can you live on a single sale once per week? This is the reality of selling ClickBank products. You need traffic and you need conversions.  This is why so many new marketers get frustrated.  They confuse visitors with conversions.  It works like this:

Someone visits your site>They read your pitch and decide to click or leave>If they click they read the pitch on the Affiliate Site then stay or leave>If they stay they click the buy button>Do they stay or leave?

Selling is a process and buyers are always reluctant to pull the trigger.  Most people drop out at the shopping cart.  This is fact!

The Easiest Affiliate Networks to Join for New Online Marketers

Are you the type of person who has a lot of ambition and desire, but doesn’t know exactly how to get started as an Affiliate Marketer? Then this page is for you. These companies are the easiest for new Online Marketers to join. So if you don’t know where to start or “how to” find affiliate programs this is the place for you. There are several more Affiliate Networks you can join, bet these are the easiest to get accepted into when you are new.

Max Bounty

FACTS: By far the easiest way to get started. Choose from 50-100 current offers. MaxBounty is a CPA (Cost Per Action) Network Company. What this means is you get paid when a customer takes an action on an offer. In simpler terms this can mean anything from inserting a ZIP Code, an email address, or making a purchase. Offers include things like Personals/Dating, Surveys, Free Giveaways, Coupons, Free Trials, Ringtones, etc.

Linkshare

FACTS: LinkShare is a professional big time company. You MUST have a professional looking website before you join; however it’s easier to join than Commission Junction. No one should try and join Commission Junction until they have some experience, because they are very quick to close out non performing accounts. Linkshare on the other hand is much more tolerant of lower performing accounts. Linkshare offers a huge selection of quality merchants from a variety of industries – Automotive, Financial Services, Health and Beauty, Games and Toys, etc. You should be able to find programs from almost any viable niche.

MoreNiche

FACTS: First I am going to tell you a very simple “Trick” to make yourself lots of money! MoreNiche pays big commissions to people to promote their products directly by referral. What this means is simple. Sign up for MoreNiche then go get the code to promote the MoreNiche Brand. You make a quick $20 for everyone you can sign up. This is an easy program to promote in Forums and Blog posts, but you have to join first. Then take a hard look at the products they offer and see if they fit your own sites. The product line is mostly Casino/Adult/Health related. I have a dedicated post in this same category to MoreNiche you may want to read.

PepperJam Network

FACTS: PepperJam is growing faster than any other Affiliate Network Company. Each day new advertisers are coming on board. PepperJam will also pay you to recruit new affiliates, but not as much as MoreNiche. PepperJam has a lot of clothing and consumer/retail offers. Pepperjam also has an excellent selection of “cut and paste” banner advertisements for the new marketer.

Adbrite

FACTS: Adbrite offers Adsense Style Advertisements. The “Trick” with Adbrite is to take the time to read the offers and be selective in what y ou display. Some ads can pay as little as a penny or two per click. Sites with large amounts of traffic in select industries can do very well with Adbrite, others will be a waste of time. Definitely a program to check out and learn from the inside out. I have a separate post on Adsense Alternatives which includes information on how to profit with Adbrite.

ShareaSale

Webmaster Sign Up: Shareasale

FACTS: Established in 2000, Shareasale began on the premise that they could provide any merchant – large or small – with high quality, reliable tracking software – at a lower cost than the industry norm – with the added benefit of being plugged into a large network of quality affiliate sites. ShareaSale is a good network for Affiliate interested in smaller niches and working with small businesses. While Commission Junction and LinkShare go after the big boys like American Express and Netflix, shareasale focuses on the smaller business which when appropriately applied can be extremely profitable. Don’t overlook Shareasale there are some real gems hiding within the ShareaSale etwork!

ClickBank

Webmaster Sign Up: ClickBank

FACTS: Well this is both opinion and fact so here goes.  ClickBank… love em or hate em.  Yes there is a whole lot of Crap within the 10,000 digital products you can promote. Finding the true opportunities will make the difference between your success or failure.  Take the time to read everything you can on the site so you understand the ins and outs before you jump in and start promoting. Be aware that ClickBank isn’t exactly a secret site… pretty much everyone in the Industry is promoting somehing from ClickBank so you’ll have your work cut out for you.  The Top Products are heavily promoted.  Find you niche!

Commission Junction

CJ is a very solid network, I promote my share of CJ Affiliate Programs, but they are not the best place to start.  You want to have a fully developed site/blog and some traffic before you sign up.  There is no point in signing up until you are ready.  They may not accept you, and even if they do you may have your account terminated if you don’t start producing quickly.

Tip: The Best Affiliate Program isn’t always buried within a network. Many companies run their own operations.  It’s up to you to find the products and services that match your niche.