Is Clickbank A Scam?
Is Clickbank a scam? I will answer that question and more in this in-depth 2017 Clickbank Reivew.
Here is a brief list of details for Clickbank:
- Name: Clickbank
- Website: www.clickbank.com
- Price: FREE
- Owner: Keynetics Inc.
- Who’s Clickbank For: Experienced Affiliate Marketers
- Ease Of Account Setup: 97/100
- Affiliate Support: 92/100
- Commission Rates: Varies
- Clickbank Success Stories: 93/100
- Overall Score: Keep Reading (It’s Up There)
- Earnawayyourdebt.com Score: (Keep Reading)
Preview of My In-Depth Review
- Introduction of Clickbank
- The ‘Marketplace’ Overview:
- Marketplace Terms
- Getting Paid
- Who’s Clickbank For?
- Pros & Cons
- Final Verdict Of Clickbank Affiliate Program
Clickbank Introduction
Largest Digital Product Affiliate Marketing Network
Promote eBook products.
Clickbank founded in 1998 by Tim & Ellen Barber; now owned by Keynetics Inc.
Clickbank is the largest affiliate marketing network in terms of digital products such as eBooks, software and digital memberships.
Not bad for being around since before Facebook and Twitter.
Caters To Vendors & Affiliate Marketers
Clickbank’s platform caters to both Vendors (Who have products.) & Affiliate Marketers (People who promote products.).
Which makes an excellent platform for experienced affiliate marketers who both want to promote products and launch their ‘own’ products.
I will be discussing the affiliate marketing aspect and what’s involved in this review.
Clickbank Handles It All
Clickbank’s platform also handles it all in terms of processing paperwork. This platform handles accounting, credit card payments, and payouts to both vendors and affiliates. This system truly has it all and does it all, which means lower costs and higher commissions/payments for affiliates and vendors.
The ‘Marketplace’ Overview: Research, Click, Promote
Mixed Bag Of Products
Clickbank’s Marketplace is the palce to go for affiliate marketers to pick a product, however it is a mixed bag in terms of products.
Some products are outstanding with high conversion & commission rates, while other products are low quality with hardly any conversions & commissions.
That is why it is important to..
Research Products In The Marketplace
Do not just jump right into promoting the flashy products in the marketplace. The most important thing to do is to research the products within the marketplace. Through this research you will find out:
- Gravity Score
- Initial $/Sale
- Avg. Rebill Total
- Avg. %/Sale
- Avg. $/Sale
- Avg. %/Rebill
These terms will help you better understand the product and how to market it to get the highest commissions possible. I will go more in depth with the terms in the next section however what do you do once you find a product that you want to promote?
Click the ‘Promote’ Button
When you are ready to promote a Clickbank product all you have to do is click the ‘Promote’ button.
This will generate a link for you to put on your site. Once someone clicks on your link and buys the product you get a commission.
That’s how simple it is to use the marketplace. For an experienced affiliate marketer you can use Clickbank to click your way to success.
Now that let’s see how those terms broght up eariler related to your product and how it helps you get paid.
Marketplace Terms
Gravity Score
This number comes from a formula that takes the number of different affiliates who had sales in the last 12 weeks.
The higher the number the more popular it is, however be careful of competition as it too much of it can kill your chances of making money.
However do not pick a product with a Gravity Score of less then 50 because it is either a bad product, or has not sold enough in 12 weeks to make it worth your time to promote.
Initial $/Sale
This is the average that you the affiliate can make from the product once you get a conversion. This number includes tax, chargebacks, & refunds in the average.
Avg. Rebill Total
This number is only shown if the vendor offers products with recurring billing such as subscriptions. This number does not include the intitial sale however.
Avg. %/Sale
This numbers is an average commission rate earned on all sales of the product that you promote. This number comes from the vendor and includes re-billing, up sells and one-time purchases.
Avg. $/Sale
This number is the same as the intitial sale and applies to one-time purchases only.
Avg. %/Rebill
This number only shows if the vendor offers a product with recurring billing. It only shows commissions made on the recurring billing.
Using these terms and your research you will be able to pick out an excellent product that will bring you full-time income online.
Just remember to research the product within the Marketplace or risk having little to show for your hard work.
Now let’s move on to….
Getting Paid
Get Paid Every Two Weeks
Clickbank pays out every two weeks with you having the option of a check or a direct deposit. However before you can get paid there are two requirements you must pass:
Requirement 1: Reach Your Payment Threshold
You set this threshold when you sign up and it can range from $10-10,000. The default setting is $100.Once you have meet your threshold the next requirement you must meet is…
Requirement 2: Customer Distribution Requirement
Your payment will be issued once you have made a minimum of 5 sales that use at least two of the payments shown below:
- American Express
- Discover
- ELV
- JCB
- Diners Club
- Carte Bleue
- Maestro
- PayPal
- Mastercard
- Visa
Tax Disclosure Statement: US Affiliates
Any income you receive from Clickbank is ‘earned income’ and subject to mandatory ‘withholding’ taxes. Clickbank is required to report all paid income to the IRS and give you a copy by Jan. 31 of the next year.
Failure to correctly withhold or report tax information could result in fees or jail time. Consult a tax attorney for advise, no tax advise is given here. I am just providing you a ‘heads up’ so take my advice: Consult A Tax Attorney.
Who’s Clickbank For?
Experienced Affiliate Marketers
Experience = $$$
Clickbank is for experienced affiliate marketers who have at least 9 months of solid income and promoting behind them.
I say this because Clickbank is an awesome platform that will bring you awesome commissions and easy to promote products.
However it is geared for affiliates who can click, write, promote.
Experience Needed To Spot ‘Get Rich Quick’ Products
Clickbank promotes a lot of products, but some of them are marketed to desperate people. These products if handled by an non-experienced marketers could result in bad conversion rates, bad reviews on your site and lower traffic.
Experienced marketers can spot ‘bad’ products a mile away and they just leave those for non-experienced marketers to try and fail at.
However since we are on the subject let’s talk about the Pros & Cons.
Pros & Cons
Clickbank; like any real affiliate program; has both pros and cons. i will present the biggests pros and the biggest cons to show you the whole picture so that you may judge for yourself and come to your own thoughts and conclusions.
Pros
Anyone Can Register
This is great for affiliate marketers as most programs require a ‘record of accomplishments’ and a website to begin an affiliate program.
The registeration only takes a few minutes and once your signed up you can begin researching promoting right away.
Variety Of Products To Promote
As mentioned previously Clickbank is the largest digital product platform and that means an wide variety of products to choose from. With a wide variety of products you can rest assured that if you promote subscriptions you also have…
Recurring Commissions
Recurring = $$$$
Clickbank is one a few affiliate programs that support recurring commissions and they pay you a recurring commission as a result. Although to get a recurring commission you must first promote a product that has recurring billing.
Few Limitiations On Promoting
Clickbank does not have the restrictions that Amazon and other programs have in terms of promoting. You can basically promote the product or service any way you want as long as it is NO SPAMMING! Use common sense though when promoting products and make sure to stay up to date on Clickbank’s promotion policies.
No Limitations On Products
You can promote as many products from Clickbank as you want at any given time. Some programs require you sell a certain amount before you are allow to promote others. No Clickbank just want you to promote and spread the word so to speak.
Cons
Insufficient Promotion Tools
Clickbank does not provide much in terms of promotion tools as they leave that up to he Vendor. So you are at the mercy of the vendor in terms of banners or tools to track conversations.
Some vendors provide more than just banners and tracking. However if none is available it is up to you create them yourself.
A Lot Of ‘Get-Rich-Quick’ Products
Beware of ‘Get-Rich’ programs.
I alluded to this in previous statements and it is true. Clickbank offers a wide range of products including products that offer no value once they are purchased.
It is up to you the affiliate to research the products and especially research any ‘money making opportunity’ products.
Higher Refund Rate
This will be different from product to product, but it exists because Clickbank has a 60 day refund policy. This allows people to purchase the product, try it out and get refunded the money all within 60 days which is not good for commissions.
My Final Verdict
Is Clickbank A Scam?
NO! It’s…..
100% Legit, But..
Clickbank is 100% LEGIT and an outstanding Affiliate Marketing for experienced affiliate marketers. However it does not offer a step by step program that trains you in how to promote the products or services.
Training Needed
This is a must in 2017 with 100s and even 1000s of people turning to affiliate marketing for supplemental income daily. With a training program this program could not only overtake other programs it could dominate the affiliate marketing world well into the 2020s,
Excellent For Experienced Marketers
Liek I have said throughout this review this platform is an excellent platform for experienced marketers. With 6-9 months experience you can literally click your way to success on this platform, but for beginners training & experience is needed first.
Get Training At Wealthy Affiliate
Wealthy Affiliate offers two training courses Online Entreprenuer Certification & Affiliate Bootcamp that walks you through the process of affiliate marketing from start to finish.
Learn more about Wealthy Affiliate by reading my FULL REVIEW.
Summarized Overview
- Name: Clickbank
- Website: www.clickbank.com
- Price: FREE
- Owner: Keynetics Inc.
- Who’s Clickbank For: Experienced Affiliate Marketers
- Ease Of Account Setup: 97/100
- Affiliate Support: 94/100
- Commission Rates: 4-10%
- Clickbank Success Stories: 96/100
- Overall Score: 92/100 (Training Program would bring it to 97/100)
- Earnawayyourdebt.com Score: 93/100
VERDICT: 100% LEGIT!
Leave A Comment Below
If you have any experiences with Clickbank or have any questions about this review please let me know below. I would be happy to clarify or direct you to resources that can assist you in your online journey.
-Alexander
Earning, Making & Saving Online Member
EarnAwayYourDebt.com
