Internet Opportunity seekers will very quickly come across Clickbank in their search for profits. Chances are they’ll buy a Clickbank listed product and quickly move on to trying to sell one.
Now Clickbank isn’t all bad, but for at least these 7 reasons, they suck…
1) Hop links are as ugly as they come
Not only do they immediately identify the product as being listed on Clickbank (exposing you to the other nasty shortcomings found below) they’re also damn ugly. Hop? Common, you’d think we could do better.
2) Commission theft is so rampant you factor it in as a cost of doing business
Unethical people can very easily place a cookie at the time of purchase that changes or adds their affiliate ID into the link. They get paid for the purchase, not the person that really referred you. And if no one referred you, they just grabbed 50% of the sale from the vendor, all because of malware that took seconds to install on your browser.
3) Commissions are so high, they get your business anyways
Clickbank not only offers huge commissions on the products listed, they also get strong recommendations from the whole “internet marketing†crowd. This serves to give new affiliate marketers a difficult training period before the honeymoon wears thin.
Can anyone say “Love/Hate Relationship�
4) The tracking and stats are spectacularly deficient in comparison with other affiliate networks and even most individual affiliate programs
Ever signed up to a real affiliate network? If so you’re probably annoyed that you can’t search by certain factors like earnings per click.
And would you like to know how many people are clicking on your links? You’ll need another tracking application because Clickbank won’t tell you.
5) Refunds are a plague on all affiliates and vendors
As a vendor, I’ve seen carbon copy emails from buyers where they are having 4 products refunded at once. Refunds are not negative per se, but Clickbank has its share of chronic fake buyers that abuse the Clickbank policy for all it’s worth.
6) Too easy for users to swipe commissions from affiliates
You push traffic to a Clickbank publisher. The customer decides to buy. By changing a couple of letters in the order link, they appropriate your commission. Literally takes less than 2 seconds. How many sales are you making that you don’t get paid for?
7) Too easy for users to swipe commissions from vendors
Same idea but his time for merchants. The Clickbank Policy against buying with your own affiliate link: “we’re against it, but go ahead and do it anywaysâ€
Now that’s not to say Clickbank is all bad.
• There are great products listed there.
• Payouts are massive.
• As a vendor, it’s easier and cheaper to get your product set up on an affiliate network with Clickbank than anywhere else
• They accept just about anybody
• With the right niches, you can outright cleanout
So why this rant against Clickbank? Don’t get me wrong, I still like Clickbank and use them as a vendor and as an affiliate. The good outweighs the bad.
Only people need to look outside of its confines every now and then. When you’re paying for your traffic, how much difference does 40% or 50% return make on your bottom line. Those are realistic figures depending on what products you are pushing.
Which brings us to the next point:
“Diversify away from “internet marketing†products a bit… Think outside the Bank”
If you’re selling anything remotely related to affiliate marketing or internet marketing, keep in mind that your target audience is very likely wise to the ways of Clickbank. Which means a great number of them will find your site, read your review and kindly replace your aff link with their own, turning your work into charity.
Go have a look at programs listed on Clickbooth or CPAempire.com. You’ll find it a lot more relaxing to know that refunds are inexistent, commission theft is combated in any way possible and replacing affiliate links is nearly unheard of.
There’s whole world out there just waiting for internet marketers to jump out of the self-canibalizing guru moshpit.
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I Am From Malaysia.And I Think You Wanna Said Is 8 Things Click Bank Suck, The Number 8 Thing Is Click Bank Rejects Malaysian To Sign Up In Their Site, Because Of “Fraud”. Come On, This Is The Most Reason I Hate Click Bank.
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