People often ask me which Clickbank product they should be promoting. Half of the time I just give them a strange look because there are just so many things I need to explain in order to answer what they think is a simple question.
I used to delve into the importance of selecting their niche, passion, doing what they love and all that. And they would stand there with their eyes slowly glazing over.
They’re not interested in learning. They just want to know the answer. Immediately.
So here’s my new answer. Promote Blogging with John Chow and IM John Chow. They are awesome products. Do that.
Only joking.
Let’s start again.
The problem with asking a vague question like “which Clickbank product should I promote?†is that you expect the answer to be a certain product. It doesn’t work that way. If that were the case then I could just go around giving the standard answer to promote my products. Why not?
Because if your niche is in infant care, what are your customers going to think when you try to sell them a full guide to monetizing a blog?
I assure you that conversions will be through the floor, into the basement and tunneling all the way to the land down under.
The better question to ask is HOW to select a Clickbank product to promote. Now this I can definitely help you with. It’s not as cut and dry as it may seem.
First let’s talk about Clickbank. For those of you who are new to Internet marketing, Clickbank is the largest online marketplace for digital products. It connects vendors who create products, to affiliate marketers who will promote and sell them.
There are thousands of products on the marketplace in every niche you can think of.
One of the great things about Clickbank is that they provide safe and secure payments. Which is why their database of affiliates is massive. And that’s also the reason why I decided to sell my two products on that platform – Blogging with John Chow and IM John Chow.
So with thousands of products to choose from, how do you select a Clickbank product to promote?
Here are my five cents.
1 – Gravity and Filters
Many first time affiliates just get lost in the Clickbank Marketplace due to the sheer number of products available.
By default, the results are displayed by popularity. However popularity doesn’t necessarily mean sales and conversions. So on top of looking at popularity, sort out products by gravity. This measures how many unique affiliates have successfully sold the product within the last 12 weeks.
As you can see, my latest project IM John Chow has been doing well with a gravity of over 200. Basically this means that it’s selling.
I wouldn’t recommend trying to promote a product that has very low gravity. This pretty much means that no one is buying it.
Another way to narrow down your search is by using the “Filters†tool provided by Clickbank. This allows you to filter results based on different factors.
Examples of how to use “Filters†to improve your results include:
- Selecting a minimum and maximum gravity score of products
- The initial $ per sale to see the amount of money you would earn
- The average rebill total will show you how much you could make from recurring payments (I’ll get into this later)
2 – Look for Longevity
A high ticket item may give you a large commission payout straight up, but if it’s a one-time sale, then that’s all you’ll be getting. Instead seek out products that serve the customer on a long term basis. I’m talking about rebills.
These are recurring commissions that will go to your account every month for as long as that customer continues making payments.
Now this is true passive income.
You can make one sale, then months and even years down the line, you can still be profiting from that initial sale. Without having to do anything.
3 – Checking Out The Backend
Everybody loves a good backend. 😉 But no one really understands the value of a backend better than a smart affiliate.
Before you commit yourself to promoting a certain product, first go through the vendor’s sales funnel.
You want to get the most out of a product. And by doing this you need to know exactly what the sales funnel is. Check for upsells and pricing. Look at the sales pages and value of the one-time offers.
Ask the vendor directly or check out the provided affiliates page. The top vendors will let all their affiliates know exactly what the product is about and whether or not there are any upsells.
And that brings me to my fourth tip.
4 – The Affiliates Tools Page
Any vendor worth their salt will provide an affiliates tools page. To make your life easier, promote products where vendors offer such support. As it is, there’s a ton of work that needs to be done in order to set up your campaign and reach potential customers.
So take advantage of the affiliates tools pages by using the professionally designed banner ads, keyword target lists, free reports to give away, email swipes and more.
This will make your work flow more efficient and it’ll be so much easier to do your pre-selling before sending your reader to the landing page.
5 – Contact The Vendor Directly
I’m not too keen on people who write reviews for products they haven’t even seen, let alone used. By doing this you could lose the trust and respect of your audience, especially if they eventually buy the product through you and find that your claims were false.
That’s why I suggest contacting the vendor directly and request for a review copy. Alternately you can buy the product directly. Test out the product and see how the vendor handles customer support. This will give you a clearer picture of whether or not you really want to promote the product. Keep in mind that if you promote a product that turns out not to be very good, it can end up hurting your reputation and erode your relationship with your audience.