Clickbank is viciously competitive. Lots of affiliates fighting for a slice of the pie. A lot of new marketers pick the top products in the marketplace and dive in only to find they're sharing that niche with hundreds of other hardworking affiliates. Doesn't mean that an affiliate can't carve out a decent revenue stream from a crowded space, but oftentimes it's tough going.

Consider this formula for finding less-competitive CB products.

Gravity: 10-40.
Percent of sale: 40% or more.
Minimum Commission: $20

Gravity is the important number in this formula. Over 10 means a product is selling reasonably well, but hasn't caught on yet. Over 40 you start to see hyper-competitivness. 20-30 is the perfect gravity range.

Upsells: See if you can find products that have upsells. I'm a huge fan of vendors that provide this... It's a great suprise to see a sale and then a greater charge to see you've made a second commission with an upsell product. Upsell products can bolster your earnings substantially.

In no way is the definitive way to pick Clickbank products. It's just another approach to finding and promoting products. I've promoted top 10 products and done well. I've also picked products with 0 gravity and done well on those.

Question: One thing that confuses me is that on a few products, the refund rate says 'na', while on the rest it always shows a percentage (even when it's a new product, and the rate is 0%)

What does the 'na' signify?

Answer: NA signifies NOT AVAILABLE. We are unable to calculate return rates for recurring products and vendors with multiple product IDs. Keep in mind, refund rates are not an exact science. We simply subtract the payout from the average earned to get a percentage. Occasionally vendors change product prices which will skew return rate percentages.  We're hoping in the future Clickbank makes precise return rate data available.

Matt

I'm so impressed with this marketer, Kim Roach, and her Instant Payday Formula System and what it can do for CBengine members that I'm going do a massive bonus to encourage you to invest in it. I want CBengine members to be wildly successful, period, and this is absolutely going to help you do that. If you invest in this system through my hoplink, I will upgrade your DEMO or PRO account to a non-expiring LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP.

I've done incentivized giveaways in the past for content I believe in, but never a lifetime membership. So this is a good opportunity not to only get a wealth of information found in Instant Payday Formula, but also a CBengine PRO account that never expires.

Where most Clickbank systems simply cover ONE facet of Clickbank marketing, her system covers it all. It's spelled out in easy to follow videos and will quickly put the new or intermediate Clickbank marketer on the path to flushing their day job.

Even if you're an old Clickbank marketing pro, there are tips and tricks in this system I guarantee you've never heard of.

To me, just her 10x method alone is worth the price of admission and that's just ONE of her techniques.

1) To claim your bonus, invest in the system through this link.

2) Then go to the CBengine contact form found here. In the contact form subject write INSTANT PAYDAY FORMULA OFFER and give me your CBengine ID and I'll set your account to a non-expiring lifetime PRO membership within 24 hours.

This is a limited time offer, so get it while the gettin’ is good.

Happy St. Patty's Day,

Matt

QUESTION:

Hi:
  My question is, why can I still create a hoplink for a product that has been removed from the cb market place since 12/13/2008??
 Is this product still active or still paying comissions? The product I'm talking about is , vendor id = "ecoworld" url= "homemadepowerplant.com" 
  I still see ads for this on google, I dont want to advertise it if I'm not gonna get paid . I'm confused please advise
  Thank you in advance
               Robert

Answer:  For various reasons vendors elect to not have their products listed in the Clickbank Marketplace. Absence in the marketplace doesn't mean that they aren't using Clickbank to process payments.  Before creating a hoplink always verify that the vendor is still using Clickbank by visiting their website and simply checking. Also check to make sure your affiliate ID properly carries over. Click the ORDER button which takes you to Clickbank's payment page.  On the bottom of that page you'll see [affiliate = YourAffiliateID]

I just checked and ecoworld is still using Clickbank to process payments.  I also noticed they have an affiliate page on their website to recruit Clickbank affiliates.  You should write them an email to check what percentage they're paying before you spend time and money promoting their product.

Question:

I was looking through some of your options today and I came across your store and I thought it was a great idea. Since I am pretty new to this whole sell online thing I was wondering what would be the best way to setup the store and promote it for selling products. I thought it might be great on a blog but I am going to have to look into see if it can be added to one. If you have any ideas for me I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Brian

Answer:

When most people start working with Clickbank they often think about starting a Clickbank Mall. That's where I started. I tell people that malls are fine, but you need to use them the right way. They should never be used as a solo site, in my opinion. That doesn't mean they can't be, and that doesn't mean people haven't been successful with just malls. But Brian has the right idea above. He wants to combine a mall with a blog. That's a good application. He'll have fresh, original blog content which will help him get good search rankings and the mall which will be monetized with his aff ID.

I would explain your mall to visitors. Let them know they can perform different keyword searches to find different digital products. Instruct your users on how to use it and let them know how they'll benefit. It's also a good idea to make your site centered around a niche. It can be a broad or micro-niche, I would trend more toward broad if the mall is how you plan to make your money.  Example: Marketing & Ads, which is a Clickbank category.

There are many other ways to use a mall, but to keep this answer simple, make your Clickbank Mall a facet of a more comprehensive site.

As the the second part of the question... 'how to promote it?'... that's a big question I can't answer in one blog. Keep reading this blog and over time I'll do my best to give different tactics.

UPDATE:

Q: I like your idea of using mall to add other available digital producs to a niche market. Are you suggesting adding a category for "Digital Products" and just have the section of the mall shown in that category? Or are you saying add a page that has the entire mall in it so they can search for a specific item through the entire mall?

Answer: I would either use the entire mall and tell people to visit that category, or I would use CB Ads and do category or keyword results.


Comment: If your blog is about Make Money At Home or Online Reviews I would think that if you had a tab for a new page that showed only items that were specific about Making Money at home your chances would be better to try and get them to use the mall.

Response: Thanks for the thought. Keep in mind, CB Malls are not our primary focus. We're really about product analysis and search functionality. We see it as a bonus product for our members. Furthermore, I don't like to offer PRECISE advice because I believe there is more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to finding success with Clickbank Malls. I have my ideas and methods, but I worry people won't bring their own creativity to it. I can provide some generalized advice, but experiment for yourself. You may figure out unique ways to promote a mall.

Also, no matter what you do, make a great website with relevant, original content.  That's really the key to success.