When choosing an affiliate network to promote there are many things that you should take into consideration. One of the affiliate networks which has stayed in power through the years has been Clickbank.
I am going to share in this article some insightful stories about Clickbank. I started making online back in 2016. Clickbank was the top digital affiliate network then and I would argue that it is still today. During the past years information products became more and more popular. When people realized that they can pack information and sell it into a digital product the Clickbank popularity grew.
Contents
The Good
Someone that owns a digital product could amplify their sales through Clickbank. One of the biggest successes in the make money online space back then was the Rich Jerk. It included some good ideas like arbitrage, I had checked it and not ended up buying it, but I recognize that it was a success because of the high number of sales. Over the years I’ve promoted many products on Clickbank, raging from diet programs to make money guides.
I’ve also launched Clickbank products as a merchant. These were digital products helping people in different categories. They were successful and people still buy these products to this very day. So I come qualified with a great experience with Clickbank. Before I go on about the legitimacy of Clickbank in 2021 I’m going to share a success story with Clickbank.
Back in 2017, there were a high number of people who wanted to watch the Wold Cup online. We set up a bing ad about watching the Wold Cup online. We could make a high amount of money as a result of this promotion. It was definitely short-lived, but it is a case to be replicated in similar situations.
The Bad
But not everything is good for Clickbank. What are the downfalls of Clickbank? Refund rates started to spin out of control on Clickbank a few years before. Also, some products on Clickbank have a lot of upsells.
Clickbank is good about refunds, almost too good. As a result many referrals ended up frustrated, loosing money and leaving Clickbank for other networks.
Clickbank started alienating all the gurus pushing their crap and have moved to other networks with higher product standards. Clickbank has started to improved from this, but there’s still a problem.
A great portion of early Clickbank’s success came from certain programs: the money online niche. Also, people that wrote about affiliate marketing had the tendency to recommend Clickbank as one of the top of the affiliate networks out there. However, Clickbank a few years ago created a Clickbank University which would teach people how to make money with internet marketing by promoting products on Clickbank.
They simply can not afford to give traffic to a company which is their competitive. No sane marketer would drive traffic to Clickbank or recommend them.
The Pros and Cons of Clickbank
I have some good things to say about Clickbank and some bad things.
Pros
1. They pay on time
2. Their programs offer higher commissions
3. Auto-aproval on products
Cons
1. Try to upsell you on services like the Clickbank university
2. Doesn’t allow certain countries to join
The Clickbank University
What you promote at the end of the day is related to what is a good fit to your audience. Clickbank is a legit affiliate network with come cons. After one of the lessons in Wealthy Affiliate certification courses, I did join Clickbank. I pulled away from them because of the upsell of the University. It can be frustrating when you join an affiliate network and then you are faced by promotions from the network to pay for education. This is a big reason why you don’t see any educational programs on Clickbank, because by driving traffic to Clickbank you are basically giving away your traffic.
In earlier days Clickbank had a lot going on for it. I definitely had a great opinion of them and think they lost a lot of credibility compared to the earlier days.
Clicbank has evolved over the years. Overall, you can rely on Clickbank as a solid network to find high quality affiliate programs to promote. I kept seeing the upsells for the University, so I’m still deciding if I should give it another try and learn as much as I can. I recommend that you choose affiliate programs you choose to promote based on what is relevant to your niche. If you have an article on your site related to a specific product, you can find a good information product on Clickbank and promote it.
So, do your due diligence and research when coming up with affiliate programs to promote. I have a site related to health and Clickbank is a major affiliate network for me. If you are promoting products on Clickbank on your site that is just fine. When it comes to affiliate marketing you want to align the most relevant and specific products to specific audiences.
Over the years Clickbank moved away from the make money online niche to including also physical products. There have been some decisions they made over the years that I obviously don’t agree with, but this goes with any company I guess. At the end of the day, it is up to us marketers to find products that we can promote without hurting our reputation. The upsell component is frustrating as you don’t expect that sort of thing to happen when you join an affiliate network. But yes, they have a lot of good products that you can promote.
My Final Words
We definitely recommend them if you are looking for digital products to promote. It is good place to start as they handle all related to payment management. Some people are making a lot from Clickbank and some not even make a penny. I have been an affiliate on Clickbank as well as a merchant on Clickbank. I can say that their platform is very solid and if you have a digital product, you can easy list it on Clickbank and not worry about payment management and starting your own affiliate program.
I hope this article was informative for you and you now know better the history of Clickbank and how they have evolved over the years.