The Gears that Turn Clickbank

The Gears that Turn Clickbank

Venturing into the world of the Clickbank marketplace requires that we start from a fresh slate and not go in with any presumptions.  The two presumptions that seem to slow people up the most is that Clickbank is for internet guru types who know every trick of the trade of internet technology and marketing to be successful.    

But Clickbank isn't a marketplace that requires that you have tremendous technical knowledge to use.  The designers of Clickbank have made most of the functions you need to operate either as a merchant or as an affiliate in the system fairly easy to use.  That is one of the keys to why Clickbank is so successful.  So to smooth your entrance into using Clickbank, it pays to look at the inner workings of the gears of Clickbank to get a feel for what you should expect when you sign up and want to get going fast making money there.

Like a lot of successful online markets, Clickbank doesn’t make anything and it doesn’t sell anything.  The value Clickbank adds to the world of internet commerce is that it provides a "place" for vendors of digital products can place their goods for sale and for people skilled in marketing to take those products and sell them to a large internet community.  Clickbank has cashed in on two basic principles which are (1) people who make things don’t like to do marketing and (2) people who love to do marketing don’t like to make things.   By getting these two groups together, merchants, affiliates and Clickbank all take away a nice profit because each makes the other successful.

Clickbank then at its core is a clearing house that works as a meeting gourd for merchants, affiliates and customers who can order the product, pay for it and download it or receive it by some other digital delivery system.  It is very important to understand that Clickbank ONLY DEALS IN DIGITAL PRODUCTS.  So you cannot sell clock radios, salt shakers or children's clothing through Clickbank.  If you were looking at Clickbank for any other than a digital product, look elsewhere for market such as eBay.  The kinds of products Clickbank will allow to be sold include ebooks, computer courses, digital music and software programs and games.  

Clickbank also offers real value to both merchants and affiliates because they handle all of the financial details and take a lot of the administrative work off of its members.  Clickbank operates a fully functional merchant account so there is no need to use PayPal, 2co or any other funds management system.  The handling of money is secure so when a sale is made, the money goes to Clickbank who then pays the affiliate his or her commission, keeps what is deserves by way of commission for the sale and delivers the balance to the merchant efficiently and without fail.

The "gears" of selling on Clickbank are simple and straightforward.  To get set up, you step through the registration procedure as you would with any membership service online.  For a merchant, there is a one time set up fee of $50 which should be easy to make back because Clickbank can get your product into the hands of over 150,000 affiliates which represent a customer base that numbers in the millions.

Once you have you account, you begin listing your digital products in the marketplace.  You don’t need many accounts for more than one product as Clickbank can be used to sell up to 50 products under one account identity.  Once you have completed setting up the product on the service, you then take a link that is given to you which can be used to direct customers to your Clickbank product listing and you put it on your web site.  When affiliates pass customers to Clickbank to sell them the product, Clickbank will take them to your web site to use that link to complete the ordering process.  It is a truly collaborate process and yet entirely seamless because Clickbank has taken care of the details.

You have a little more information to give to Clickbank such as the commission you will give to affiliates who sell your products and the URL for the "Thank You" web page that you will use to assist the customer in downloading what they bought.  And with those simple steps, you are a Clickbank merchant.  It's as easy as that.