20 Powerful Things You Should Know About ClickBank

Let’s start off by letting you know what ClickBank is and who it is for.

ClickBank is a place for affiliates and an e-commerce platform for digital content creators.

What this means is that as a content owner you simply add your digital product to the ClickBank database where they will manage everything from the sale to the checkout process and make it visible their massive network of affiliate marketers.

ClickBank has been around for over 20 years and are at the forefront in leading affiliate marketers reach both their professional and personal goals.

They are active in 190 countries with over $4billion in sales!

According to ClickBank it says that it is a global internet retailer that harnesses the power of an affiliate marketplace. It’s a place for customers, vendors, and affiliates o buy, sell, and promote products that they are passionate about.

As someone who has done well from ClickBank I have decided to help answer the Top 20 questions about ClickBank, according to the internet.

Can You Get Scammed on ClickBank

In the 3 years I have been associated with ClickBank I have never been scammed and as far as I know neither has anyone else.

When I looked a little deeper into the people who were shouting SCAM it was easy to see that these were more grievances than shouts of ClickBank being a scam.

One of the biggest reasons was that a lot of new affiliates weren’t getting paid on time, and as such they were calling ClickBank a scam.

When I looked into this a little further what a lot of these new affiliates were doing was finding products that they liked themselves and purchasing them on their own websites using their own links, meaning that most of the purchases were discounted between 50 – 75%!

This is a definite DO NOT DO and is clearly stated in the ClickBank affiliate marketing policy.

Another reason the scam label was thrown around was due to the fact that newbie affiliates were promoting anything and everything they thought they could make money from, and as an experienced ClickBank user I know that some of the products on ClickBank are absolute garbage. However, does that really label ClickBank as a scam, or is it just lazy affiliates not bothering to research a product before promoting it?

So, my answer to this question is NO you definitely cannot get scammed by ClickBank!

Can You Really Make Money with ClickBank?

There are two ways to make money with ClickBank.

Firstly, as a product vendor either in the digital or physical market space, and secondly as an affiliate.

Unfortunately, newbies to affiliate marketing think of ClickBank as the place to go to get rich quick, and usually sign up, find some crappy product with a really high commission that no one wants, and then live in the fantasy world of how it’s going to make sales and end all their money problems.

Next, they spend a ton of money to throw random traffic at it and watch while nobody spends a cent on their product.

Does this sound familiar? They are the same people calling ClickBank a scam, as I mentioned previously.

I jumped on ClickBank with my businesses back in 2019, and in my first year, after advertising costs my profit was $24,032.00 without really much effort, and I must let you know that ClickBank has and always will be my secondary way to make money for my online businesses.

You will find that most ClickBank products pay at least a 70% commission… YES THAT’S 70%!

The reason most of the commissions are that high is that the majority of products available on ClickBank are digital, meaning no shipping costs, no production costs, in fact no real costs to the vendor at all.

So, if you sell a $200 product you earn $140…

How Do You make Money with ClickBank?

This is only a quick overview of how to make money with ClickBank. If you would like to know more, you can by clicking the link below.

First off you will need to find a product, which may sound easy enough but is probably the most important part of the entire process

If you screw this part up then you will end up spending a lot of money and see nothing in return, because the other two steps are built around your product choice.

The next stage is what we call the funnel, and this is basically the road a visitor takes from landing on your website, reading your ad/review/blog and making a purchase through your affiliate link.

There are so many different ways to set up a funnel, so it is best to experiment and test this phase to find out what works best for your business.

Finally, you are going to need traffic.

You have a product, a sales funnel to get your website visitor to the product and all that is left to do is start guiding those visitors to your sales funnel.

How Much Does ClickBank Pay Per Click?

ClickBank doesn’t pay per click, that is a whole different market, and that is actually called PPC Marketing.

ClickBank actually works on a CPS model (Click Per Sale) whereas explained before you get paid a % in commission from the product you sell.

If it is PPC that you are looking to get into then I would recommend either Google Adsense or Ezoic, both work on the CPC and PPC models.

So, if its Pay-Per-Click that you want to run with here are my top 5 that I use for all my online websites.

1. Google Adsense.
2. Ezoic
3. Mediavine
4. AdThrive
5. InfoLinks

A word of warning, if you don’t know a lot about PPC I would recommend learning it before applying it to your website because if done incorrectly you will have more ads on a page than content, and this makes your website look super spammy!

 Is ClickBank Good for Beginners?

The coolest thing with ClickBank is that you can go from having absolutely no experience to having your first product affiliate link in less time than it takes to boil an egg!

In today’s climate many people have lost their jobs or have had their working hours cut due to the pandemic and are looking to jump onboard with work-from-home internet jobs and trust me there are a ton of great opportunities out there.

ClickBank is just one of the many to choose from, and as a beginner would definitely be my #1 Choice, as this affiliate program offers beginners the best chances of earning a few extra $$$ a month without much experience.

I started with ClickBank a few years ago and now do this for a fulltime living (If you call 3 hours of work a day fulltime).

As a beginner all you will need to do is create a ClickBank account and from that point on you are ready to start selling your first product.

If I can give you one piece of advice as a beginner it would be to thoroughly research the affiliate program that you are looking to promote, research is king in this business.

Is ClickBank Worth It?

ABSOLUTELY! ClickBank is an awesome option for anything affiliate marketing.

Bloggers, entrepreneurs, and content creators can easily promote digital and lifestyle products on their niche websites or various other platforms.

It is becoming more and more evident that the commissions offered by Amazon Associates is getting lower and lower each year and, ClickBank is a great alternative as they have some great products on offer with some pretty hefty commission payouts.

Another reason I highly recommend ClickBank to affiliate marketers is the ClickBank University program that you can promote and make money from using their ready built sales funnels.

The ClickBank University even provide you with a really good email copy that you can send out to your email list.

I use Aweber for all my emailing campaigns and recently wrote a comprehensive and honest review on why I have them as my #1 Choice, which you can Check Out Here.

ClickBank has a ton of different niches to promote so it is an awesome place to get started.

The key point in making money with ClickBank is knowing how you are going to get the product out to your audience.

So, what are the pros of ClickBank?

PROS

• Simple Sign-Up Process – As I mentioned earlier you can sign up in less time than it takes to boil an egg (3 minutes, and if you don’t believe me try it for yourself) and can start selling without all the paperwork and hassles you get with a lot of other programs out there.
• Inclusive – By that I mean that anyone can join this program for free. This is an amazing platform for beginners to get started on their learning pathway into affiliate marketing.
• Huge Selection of Products – ClickBank literally has 1000’s of different products that you can promote as an affiliate marketer in every niche you could imagine.
• Massive Commission Rates – This is the best part. ClickBank on average pays up to 75% and I even have products on my websites that are paying 100%, yes you read that right 100%!! Compare that to Amazon Associates who on average pay between 8% – 10% and it really is a no brainer on what affiliate marketing platform you should be on.

OK, so above are some of the Pros I associate with ClickBank, and it would only be fair and honest to give you some of my cons.

CONS

• Customer Service – This is an area where ClickBank really need to lift their game. I have had times where I have sent an email and waited up to 10 days to receive a reply.
• ClickBank Charges on Non-Used Accounts – You are currently charged $1 per day after 90 days of no earnings, $5 per day after 180 days of no activity, and a massive $50 per day after 360 days of no sales.
• Some Really Bad Products – I mentioned earlier about research is KING, and this is why. ClickBank do very little if any due diligence on the vendors they accept, meaning a lot of shady products make there way onto the platform, and that’s why you should always do your research on them before promoting their product.
• Aggressive Competition for Quality Products – While I have this as a con, in my opinion it’s a good problem to have!

 How Much Does It Cost to Join ClickBank?

It actually doesn’t cost you anything to become a ClickBank affiliate – ITS FREE.

While joining ClickBank is free there are a few different kinds of fees that ClickBank Clients will have to pay to use the ClickBank platform.

The client is the vendor who wants to have their product listed n the ClickBank marketplace for affiliates to promote.

If you are looking at using ClickBank as a client, you can check out their fees HERE.

How Long Does It Take to Get Paid from ClickBank?

As of writing this article ClickBank payments are sent out to users on a Friday, two days after the end of ClickBanks pay period.

If you have decided that you want to be paid via a direct deposit (US or International) you are eligible to get your payment weekly rather than bi-weekly (every other week).

It doesn’t matter what payment frequency you choose, your ClickBank paycheck will always be issued on a Friday, two days after the pay period ends.

Something to keep in mind is that the payment sent date in your ClickBank account is the date ClickBank sent the payment to your bank. What you will need to remember is that it may take a few business days for the bank to process that payment and for it to show in your nominated account.

I have never in my 3 years of working with ClickBank ever had any problems with getting paid on time.

The pay period ends every Wednesday at 12AM pacific standard time (PST).

As a ClickBank Affiliate you will be asked to set a payment threshold. This means you will tell ClickBank when you first sign up how much you want to make before they send you a check. I have my account set at $200, however you can set it as low as $10 from memory.

You can change your payment threshold at any time.

How Secure is ClickBank?

After using ClickBank for the past few years I can 100% guarantee ClickBank is definitely safe!

The thoughts and rumours about ClickBank not being secure have come about from newbie ClickBank affiliates who had no idea what they were doing when they started promoting products.

Remember earlier in this article I mentioned how important it was to research the products you are going to promote? Well, that’s where these guys failed!

While ClickBank is very secure, some of the vendors products listed on the marketplace are border line scams, or just a really crappy product, and this is why these newbie affiliates are labelling ClickBank as a scam website.

ClickBank is in my opinion (And 1000’s of other affiliates) the internets most awesome and trusted place for both product creators and affiliate marketers.

Below is a caption directly from ClickBank…

ClickBank is the Internet’s leading retailer of digital items. Whether you’re wanting to sell, promote, or look for digital products, ClickBank is for you.

For anyone who says they don’t feel safe or secure using ClickBank it would be the same as saying they don’t trust ice to melt in the desert.

Who is the Top ClickBank Affiliate?

Without question this would have to be a fellow by the name of Robby Blanchard.

Blanchard has achieved massive success with ClickBank and is currently the worlds number 1 bestselling ClickBank affiliate in 2019.

Robby is currently (2022) a ClickBank Platinum member and has done this through generating over $500,000 in a single year using ClickBank.

Robby Blanchard is the owner and founder of Commission Hero Pro, the new money-making affiliate system that helps aspiring affiliate entrepreneurs learn how to grow their own online business.

The Commission Hero founder went from an old school gym owner to an online marketing genius and continues to blow peoples minds with his knowledge and skills around internet marketing.

As Robby got more and more into the internet marketing community, he never stopped learning and refining his methods.

He started to really dominate affiliate contests on ClickBank with cold audiences using his extremely lucrative and tested Facebook advertising model.

He is still blowing away most of his high 6-figure-list-owner competitors!

Robby recently stated that after 6 years tens of thousands of ad sets, and millions of dollars invested that he and his team have “Cracked the Facebook Code” and I tend to believe him.

How Many Products Are on ClickBank?

At the time of writing this article ClickBank has over 275 different categories and over 22,000 product listings.

As a ClickBank seller your account will allow you to offer up to 500 products at any one time.

You also have over 200 MILLION customers spread across 190 countries checking out different ClickBank offers and products meaning that the chances of you earning an income from ClickBank are pretty darn good!

How Do I Promote My Product on ClickBank?

WOW! It would be easier and quicker if you asked where can’t I promote my product on ClickBank!

When you first start using ClickBank or you are very new to affiliate marketing I would definitely say promote products the FREE way.

Even now I still have some free methods that generate me a monthly commission and probably will for a long as I have my online businesses.

Before I give you my top 5 free methods I still use today, I want you to cast your mind back to earlier in this article where I said you need to be passionate about the products you are promoting.

If you’re not passionate or have at least done a ton of research your visitors/customers who land on your promoted product will know straight away and I can guarantee they will go to another promotion and buy the exact same thing from there.

OK, so how do I promote my ClickBank products for free and still make money?

1. I do a big chunk of my free promoting through my blogging websites and I can tell you honestly (And from a ton of experience) that this is hands down the best way to get your organic traffic in the affiliate marketing industry.
2. You can also start a ClickBank YouTube channel… I don’t do a lot of this as I’m not a big fan of putting my ugly mug in front of a camera, however there are a lot of guys that make serious cash this way, and it’s all free advertising.
3. You can start a Facebook group and/or page to promote your ClickBank products or use forums such as a Quora space.
4. I am huge fan of both Pinterest and Keen and have a chunk of free promotional pins and keens with these.
5. Build an email list… Be careful with this one. If you start sending out random email blasts willy nilly you may see all your hard work in building your list disappear very quickly.

How Do I Get My First Sale on ClickBank?

About 3 years ago when I first looked at using ClickBank I will be totally honest, I thought it sounded a bit like a scam – I am so glad that I didn’t listen to myself!

My biggest and most valuable piece of advice to anyone thinking about promoting a ClickBank product and getting their first sale would be to firstly head over to the vendors website for the product you are promoting.

Remember there will be times that you will be paying for your ads, and the last thing you want is that after creating an awesome ad, and then getting the customer over to your website (where you have spent umpteen hours perfecting its look) only for them to head from your websites affiliate link to some junky, sloppy site that the seller has really put no effort into.

Whenever I am researching products to promote I always work on the thinking that I am going to buy this product, so when I land on the affiliate sales page, if it doesn’t scream out BUY ME then I move on and look elsewhere for a similar product. Why? Because if its not screaming that out to me then It wont be to your visitors!

I also recommend not selling any products where you aren’t making at least 20 bucks on the sale, at least starting out, and we are talking about your first sale here, and as a newbie I remember that feeling I got when I made my first ever ClickBank sale… It was like I had won the lottery!

How Do I get Traffic to My ClickBank Account?

There are basically two ways to do this, either the free way or the paid way.

Both ways can be difficult especially if you don’t know what you are doing or you are on a tight budget and don’t have a lot to spend on marketing and advertising.

The truth is as I said earlier in the piece is that you can actually get a s&%t load of targeted traffic to your website without having to spend a penny on paid traffic.

Another great way I drive traffic to my ClickBank account is to make sure that I always offer High-Value content on my website which is where I do 75% of all my ClickBank sales.

You could also use Social Media, I mean you just have to look at the ClickBank King, Robby Blanchard to know that this method definitely works!

If you have the budget then I would highly recommend running paid ads on either Google Ads or Microsoft Ads, however unless you have experience with this I would stay as far away from this method as possible. I have seen new affiliates burn through a $500 Ad budget in under a day all because they had no idea on how to set up Ads correctly.

What Is Spark by ClickBank?

Spark by ClickBank is actually a training course developed by Clickbank that says it will teach you how to make money with affiliate marketing

The first thing I noticed when I first researched this course was that it was really just an updated version of the ClickBank University, and if I was to be honest its not one of the best courses I have taken part in.

While Spark has some very useful and valuable content, newbies will get lost.

Trust Pilot also seems to feel the same way giving it just 2.8 stars from 61 reviews with 67% of those being average or below.

Spark by ClickBank has ousted ClickBank University and CBU2 as ClickBank’s official ClickBank affiliate training program.

How Do I Promote my ClickBank Hoplink?

I could write 1000’s of words trying to explain this, but that would then enter this article into the realms of the War and peace novel.

A far easier way would be for you to check out a quick 12 minute YouTube video by Thomas McMahon where he shows you exactly how to promote ClickBank products with your hoplink.

My ClickBank Verdict

Can you make money with ClickBank? ABSOLUTELY YES!, but make sure to do your what?….. That’s right… RESEARCH!

The more you research the programs you are interested in you will make money. How do I know this? Because I have been for years!