There are a number of reasons why I like the ClickBank affiliate program. The Clickbank Marketplace is an amazing program that allows you to generate revenue, which is included in their affiliate zone. This site is friendly, and resourceful, one that generates traffic, commission sales and runs by itself.
Clickbank also features a professional design and comes fully developed as a search engine. It is fed by the Clickbank's Marketplace of over 50,000 products and businesses. The Clickbank Marketplace offers an automated database update system and Clickbank cookie features giving you commissions on sales from visitor's for up to three months after a visitor has left your site!
The commission percentage structure is based on monthly revenues through sales from your Clickbank ID. You receive a commission rate form 5-65% that is determined by the partner site. This is one place where you won't have to sit around and wait for your checks because ClickBank pays you through faster venues (like PayPal).
ClickBank not only allows you to accept credit cards on your web site without the need for a merchant account, but it also provides other ways in which you can generate income. I'll highlight five different ways you can start making money with ClickBank.
1. Become an affiliate for ClickBank products
You can easily sign up as an affiliate through their website at http://clickbank.com. Take some time to "shop" and look through the full range of products that are in their marketplace for products that you'd like to promote. For example, you can start by looking in the appropriate category on products that you have a good handle on. You should find products that match up well with your existing business and that you'll be able to promote to your mailing list.
To promote a product, you simply create a hoplink, which is designed in the following format:
http://hop.clickbank.net/hop.cgi?nickname/merchant
All you have to do is replace the word 'nickname' above with your own ClickBank nickname, and 'merchant' with the nickname of the merchant. It's that simple. If you're not sure what the nickname of the merchant is, you can always go to their sales page and get it from their sales link which will probably look like this:
http://www.clickbank.net/sell.cgi?Merchant/1/ProductName
Where 'Merchant' is the merchant's nickname. Or you can look for an automatic way to generate hoplinks by trying to find it at the page below:
http://clickbanktoolkit.com/promoteaproduct.html
2. Sell your own product through ClickBank
There's no better way of making money online than selling your own product, and with ClickBank you can start doing this very quickly and with little trouble.
You can sell up to 50 different downloadable products through ClickBank with a single account. To become a merchant costs less than $50, rather than the hundreds of dollars it often takes to set up your own merchant account.
The best part is that you will not be going it alone either. There are literally thousands of web masters that sell their products through ClickBank. Some of these people include, but are not limited to, Ben Prater, Joe Vitale, Jeremy Burns and Jim Edwards.
3. Sign up your own ClickBank affiliates
When you sign up with ClickBank as a vendor, you can start recruiting affiliates to sell your product almost immediately. If the other affiliates are receiving commissions from selling your product that means YOU are making money as well. The best thing about this is that you can choose exactly what level of commission you want your affiliates to receive.
4. Refer new clients to ClickBank
You can earn a great deal of money just by promoting ClickBank itself. You can get complete details about this at: http://clickbank.net/reseller.html You won't make millions doing this referral, but it's useful as an additional income stream with commissions that can range between $0.05 and $10.00. When you are trying to make some money, every little bit helps.
5. Promote a ClickBank Storefront
What makes ClickBank a great program is that ClickBank actually has its own MarketPlace. The Clickbank Marketplace is fairly limited in terms of how functional it is, but various companies offer a 'storefront' for all (or some) of the products listed in it. Also, each one of which will have your ClickBank affiliate nickname attached to it giving you even more exposure.
The idea is that you can promote your own storefront, get commissions from people who visit, and go on to purchase products that are listed. All of these moneymaking possibilities are appealing to all affiliate marketers.
One of the most powerful link ups that I've seen so far is http://www.CBGold.com, followed by a couple of others you can view for comparison at 1stPromotion.com and ClickbankAffiliates.com. I guarantee that it will be worth your time.
David Cooper is the editor of the Affiliate Marketing Articles Newsletter. David specializes in helping people with their affiliate marketing efforts by offering real world tips and strategies. Download his FREE Affiliate Marketing Primer ebook at: http://www.affiliatemarketingarticles.com