Has anyone used Clickbank before?

[KingHippo]

Has anyone used Clickbank before to sell their digital products?

[vangogh]

I signed up with them and had an account. I think it might have been disabled due to non use. I can't say I ever did much with the account, but I'll be happy to try to answer any question you may have. I'm probably not going to be the best source of information, but I may know where to point you for better.

[billbenson]

Seems to me I either signed up or spent some time researching them a while back. I don't remember. I think they are like a CJ sort of thing? You might search some of the affiliate forums for comments. Be careful on those forums, though, a lot of misinformation in all areas including seo. Probably some good affiliate forums as well, but I haven't found one.

[orion_joel]

O signed up for clickbank, more so to use the links and ads on my site, however, i quickly made the decision not to worry about it, primarily because the number of scam's that seems to be using clickbank to offer their service is phenomenal.

I am not really sure if clickbank is the cheapest or easiest or has the loosest rules or what but i would expect there may be better options.

[Spider]

I signed up for Clickbank twice. On both occasions I gave up because of all the hurdle and hoops to climb over or through. It seems very complicated and I never managed to get my head around it. By comparison, Commission Junction (not the same thing, though) has a very simple user interface.

Another thing that helped me set Clickbank aside on each occasion was the company one would be keeping - so many of the products using Clickbank appear to be very spammy - I had a tough job finding things to promote that weren't in the "Earn $1,000,000 in 3 weeks!" category.

It may be worth considering Clickbank to sell your own e-product but affiliate with CJ to sell others' products.

[billbenson]

I've also heard that with CJ you get canceled if you don't have a certain amount of traffic. In other words, you need to have a site with the traffic before adding the affiliate to the site.

I haven't played the affiliate game either as an affiliate or selling affiliate products. I suspect, though, that it is best to go directly to the affiliate in most cases, not through a broker such as CJ.

Spider - whats the difference between the way Clickbank is set up and CJ?

[orion_joel]

I would see the biggest difference is that clickbank seems to be focused mainly on people trying to move a single product, or a small group of products, even membership sites. While CJ is most definitely geared towards pushing whole businesses, and a very large number of the them seem to be very well known companies, or more trusted looking type of programs.

[Spider]

Bill, I've been a member of Commission Junction for years, don't earn much from it, which means I don't deliver a lot of traffic, and I have never been cancelled. So, it's not true to say you need to have a site with traffic before becoming an affiliate. You might get dropped by one of the advertisers but that's no big deal - you just add a different advertiser.

Whether you do it direct or through CJ is a choice. I choose CJ because it is convenient, easy to switch in and out of advertisers, only have one place to check my stats and earnings. And only have one company to trust that they will pay me.

I have never been an advertiser on CJ - only a publisher. I have been neither with Clickbank (Cb)

The difference, as I see it, is Cb is for nerds and might be quite simple and understandable for techies, and techies might not find the hoops and hurdles of much consequence. CJ is so simple a trained chimpanzee can use it.

Cb only caters for selling e-products - downloadable ebooks, programs, etc. CJ deals with anything and everything sellable - from gymnasium equipment to greeting cards, from theatre tickets to truck parts, and e-books, of course.

To me, the comparison is chalk to cheese.

[seolman]

I signed up for Clickbank a long time ago because I was going to make $37,465.00 in only 60 days. Instead I would have had to spend that in 30 days on adwords to make $100.00 - I think they can also help you adjust the odometer on your car so it reads like new again if you want them to.

[billbenson]

Seolman, PM me, I've been contacted with this great opportunity from Nigeria

Frederick, I'm pretty sure I saw that on some forum posts, but I don't use either CJ or CB so I could be mistaken.

Thanks Joel. That clarifies it a bit.