ITT: Feeling Generous. Answering CB Questions

heres a question -

have you done anything with putting your own products on cb?

if so, how would you go about getting a good number of affiliates to promote your stuff?

[edit] looks like someone just asked this lol
 
Advertise on BHW
sampo1time said:
I've been looking at getting into info product creation for some time now. At CB seems that every product has at LEAST 2 copycats. How do you go about choosing your products?
Click to expand...

I really don't care too much whether there are other products already on CB in the niche I want to be in or not. If there are, sure, I'll look at them and see what I can do better but think about this: almost all consumers and believe it or not, most website owners have never heard of Clickbank so they don't care if there are other product owners in Clickbank or not. More likely than not, they'll never even see them. All you have to worry about is making sure that your product fills your customers needs, the sales copy makes them want it, and that website owners/affiliates will want to promote it.

That leads me into this:

sampo1time said:
Is it better too have one high quality product or a network or lower priced niche products?
Click to expand...

More products, more problems. Haha I kid, but seriously, would you rather deal with customer support for one product or 100? That being said, every product you put out will not be a smash hit. A good analogy that I read somewhere is that everything you put out won't be a home run, but several single's will still get you to home base. Just squeeze every dime out of each product possible, but always be looking forward as well. Get my drift?

sampo1time said:
How do you go about recruiting affiliates? Do you launch products with JV's or just pay for placement on CB?
Click to expand...

I have never paid for placement on CB. I do "grunt work", so to speak. I go out and find the sites that are ranking for the terms that directly relate to my product. I look for a phone number. If I find one, I call them up and first compliment them on their site. Who have you ever heard of that does this? Nobody. Think I have their attention? I sure do. Then I tell them that I think their site may be a good match for my product and I ask them if I can send them an email with a link to the my sales page, affiliate center, and I even offer to personalize a "free report" with their site details and affiliate links that they can give to their site visitors.

For potentially REALLY BIG affiliates that I can't get on the phone, I sometimes FedEx them a single sheet of paper saying all that, give them my office #, email address, and all the info. I typically only do that for 10 to 12 potential affiliates per product, but it almost always works out well. I'm not in the IM niche where this is more commonly done, so its still very much a novelty to potential affiliates. I learned this in some ebook years ago and thought I'd give it a shot. That's one thing that I learned in an ebook that actually paid off. Why use FedEx? Because FedEx packages go straight to the recipient 99.999% of the times. You typically won't have some db assistant or the guy's wife (or the woman's husband) opening it first.

If I can't find a phone number or physical address, then I'll look for a contact form. Again, I'll praise their site, ask them a question or two, and get them to reply so I can build up a conversation with them usually before I drop my sales page on them.

If no contact form, then I have to resort to email. The ebook I got this tactic from is called something like $20k in 20 days and that's one thing that actually, really works...especially in niches outside of IM. It may be posted here in the DL section, I dunno. It's been years since I read it.


Edit: Found it: $20k in 20 days Worth a read, even if the title is a bit...um...let's say...optimistic.

sampo1time said:
I'm assuming all landing pages and content is outsourced. Correct?
Click to expand...

No. I personally write all my sales copy. That's because I'm pretty good at it and I test it, test it, test it. For my "main money maker" sites, I usually write that as well. For article marketing, etc. I will usually outsource that.
 
Last edited:
Also, when looking for affiliates, look at the paid ads for CB products in related niches. Let's say you have a fitness product and you're looking for affiliates. Go through and search for affiliates that are promoting using PPC/YouTube/SEO/whatever in your niche AND similar niches like weight loss, muscle building, yoga, etc.

This can be expanded on. Think about what your target demographic is. Is it females aged 35+? Males aged 18 to 25? What else do they like?

For example, if its females aged 35+ then you can check out sites in other niches they may go to like crafting, parenting, flower gardens or whatever-the-hell else women that age do for fun.

If you have a "ab" product that's geared towards males in their twenties, approach site owners that cater to that niche as well.

I've grabbed up affiliates that run gaming sites for fitness products and affiliates that run Etsy sites for fat-bitch-weight-loss products. You never know how something will convert unless you test it. And even if it BOMBS for that affiliate on that site, you never know if they have 100+ more sites, a dozen or so which may fit your product and convert perfectly.

Basically, what I'm saying is to not hide behind your keyboard. Get out there and mingle. When's the last time someone called you up on a professional basis and said:

"Hey i like your site! It ranks well for keyword a, keyword b, and keyword c. I see you did a lot of work to it and i really love how the header looks. did you design that? sweet! speaking of which, i have this new CB product with a 160 x 600 banner already made up that would look really good in your sidebar where those stupid Adsense ads are. can i send it over? Yes? Awesome! Aw, that's sweet! I love you too! blah blah blah...!

More likely than not, if you did your research on the site you may know more about what the site ranks for than the guy that owns it. At least HALF the time I actually call someone up, I surprise them by telling them they rank high for a popular keyword they never even thought about. No shit. True story.

When you reach out to someone like this - you know, other than blasting generic emails - and they respond well (they usually do), it's often the start of a beautiful relationship. You guys will be drinking champagne out of strippers' shoes together in no time.
 
Last edited:
Awesome information! Most of my questions seem to be answered just wanted to find out.

1) Which auto responders to you use and how many emails do you send out before you go for the sales email?

2) Does other .info, .co.uk have the same effect as .com for SEO?

2)Would you reccomend PPV traffic?

thanks in advance
 
fearos said:
Awesome information! Most of my questions seem to be answered just wanted to find out.

1) Which auto responders to you use and how many emails do you send out before you go for the sales email?
Click to expand...

Aweber. In my autoresponder messages as a product owner, I mention the product in each message, even if its not a "hard sell"

For example, I'll have a message set up that is basically a small article about the topic as well as something like this:

"don't forget, the [product name] has 17 more ways to do this as well in chapter 6. If it's not already sold out, it also comes with the bonus "18 ways to skin your cat". See if its sold out yet or not here => www*sitename*com"

fearos said:
2) Does other .info, .co.uk have the same effect as .com for SEO?
Click to expand...

I don't mess with anything but .coms, but from my knowledge there's no difference in SEO factor with any other .TLD. I could be wrong, though. If any TLDs would be looked at most harshly, it would be .infos. I just always go with .coms.

fearos said:
2)Would you reccomend PPV traffic?

thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Yes and no. If you are very experienced in PPV traffic, then I'd recommend using it the same way I recommend using PPC or even media buys (read up in an earlier post) but if you're new to PPV, then definitely not. You want the fattest possible margins and PPV doesn't always allow for that unless you're really dialed in, which can take some testing (and $$$) to find out, same as PPC.
 
cool thread, most of my question had been answered
but there are several things that I still curious to know:

1.which is better?? Have a site that ranked in top 10 Google, or 10 websites that spread all over the article directories??

2. What kind of traffic that convert very well beside organic traffic from SEO?? I've tried youtube and social bookmarking sites like digg and reddit but it didn't convert very well

thanks
 
britevalue said:
1.which is better?? Have a site that ranked in top 10 Google, or 10 websites that spread all over the article directories??
Click to expand...

I assume when you say "10 websites that spread all over the article directories" you mean 10 articles that rank well in Google? I can't be sure so correct me if I'm wrong.

But the meat is in the traffic, of course. Your job is to get it where you want it. Ideally, you will be able to get your site ranked as high as you want, but sometimes it's easier to get articles up there first since you're relying on the authority of the article directory. It doesn't make it better, you're just going to funnel that traffic through your article to your site. In time, after constant link-building and building out your own site, you can get that to the top spot in Google for the term you want. Yes, your own site is better but if you have to substitute that for an article, then so be it.

Did that answer your question? It wasn't really about CB as much as SEO but I hope it helped.

britevalue said:
2. What kind of traffic that convert very well beside organic traffic from SEO?? I've tried youtube and social bookmarking sites like digg and reddit but it didn't convert very well
Click to expand...

Digg and Reddit traffic generally sucks balls, period. Those guys aren't there to buy or even to browse. They want to see a funny kitten photo and move on. Digg and Reddit are only really good for link building ~unless~ your site adheres to a specific formula that would work well off that traffic (ie something like theoatmeal*com or burbia*com or theonion*com). But none of those sites are monetized by CB or anything close to it so that site model isn't relevant to this thread. Maybe its possible to get that traffic to work, but it would be like catching lightning in a bottle. There are greener pastures elsewhere.

YouTube is still a very good place to get traffic if you know what you're doing. I see a lot of people on BHW still stick to the "slap up 1,000 videos a day and hope for the best" kind of attitude. Personally, I'd rather have a few videos with 100,000+ views over a month each than 1,000 videos with a few hundred views each. It's easier to maintain, you don't have to worry about getting banned, and you're always building up a reputation in the YouTube community. Build a few helpful YT vids and promote them with SEO just like they were your own page or article or whatever (proper kw titles, links, etc) and you'll come out farther ahead 99% of the time. I know this is BHW and all, but really the white hat way of doing things for vids has worked way better for me (and has been a lot easier) than any fly-by-night black hat schemes.

I think that people are thinking about the idea of "traffic" too hard and totally missing how important it is to put themselves in their potential customers' shoes. For example, if you're promoting a CB product like "truthaboutabs*com" then put yourself in the shoes of a man or woman that is actively searching out how to get six pack abs. They want to know a way to get six pack abs with as LITTLE WORK AS POSSIBLE. Now, short of outright lying to them, your job is to give them that information and put it in front of them. The ebook says how to do all that, yes, but in the info product business, most of the time you give your best information out first. If you give people a nugget of info that they'd never heard before, they're going to claw tooth and nail to get more from you because you stand out from the rest of the assholes that are out there trying to tell them how to get six pack abs. See what I mean? Find a unique exercise they can do to tighten their abs while they're at work for 8 hours a day while sitting on their asses and then say "there's more in my free newsletter or whatever" and then drop another tip in each autoresponder message, making sure to say there's even MORE great tips at this website => truthaboutabs*com/yourhoplink.

Use your articles, videos or whatever to "sell the click" to your website, then use your website to "sell the opt-in" or even "sell the sale" (I do both). Get them IN the sales funnel. Each step has its purpose. Once you wrap your head around that, you're golden.
 
Last edited:
made few thousands in casino affiliating. i always wanted to do CB. but, somehow, something kept stopping me. maybe it is just my way of thking that no one would be buying ebooks online. maybe that is what's stoppin me. seeing ya posts tells me that PPL are still buying EBOOKS and CB Affiliates are still making Money. maybe it is time to dive in to CB.
 
great answer, that's really hit me on my face
your answer makes me realize that I've been sucking balls all this time lol
I have several websites that aren't converting at all
and yes, those websites main traffic come from digg and reddit
I should do some link building to my sites and maybe several videos that point to my opt in page.

Thanks so much, rep given
 
gonzomcribbinz said:
I only mail subscribers that have opted in (not always double opt-in) and I use Aweber.
Click to expand...
How does opting in work? Do opt in email addresses get inboxed over non opt in emails (scraped ones)? I am pretty new to mass emailing and was wondering what to do to get inboxed.

Thanks
 
thethrowdest said:
How does opting in work? Do opt in email addresses get inboxed over non opt in emails (scraped ones)? I am pretty new to mass emailing and was wondering what to do to get inboxed.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I'm not mass emailing, per se in the terms you may be thinking about. Actually, what you're talking about is miles apart from what I'm talking about. You're talking about taking a list of emails and inputting them into a mailer and blasting out an offer. These people have no idea they're getting an email from you. What I'm talking about is collecting emails from users that input their name/email into a submit form in exchange for me sending them information. A basic opt-in list, if you will.

I'm not bashing email blasting or anything, just clarifying the difference between the two schools of thought of emailing.

I've never promoted using the mailing style you are referring to. I only mail lists that have opted in to my offers, whether free or paid.

That help clarify it?

Edit: Look at the sites/squeeze pages in this post to see what I'm talking about when I say "opt in form"
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Jaz
I have to say, this is one of the better Q&A help threads,no fluff and pretty detailed answers, the gurus that like to charge $, like to conveniently leave out the last 10%, heck I even picked up a few things I need to keep in the fore front of my mind.

+rep Gonzo
 
I've got a clickbank product on a small niche that made 5 grand last year. Created it myself and I rank #1 for my keyword. I'm happy, so I'm thinking "I gotta make more of these!" Lemme ask this again since I didn't see an answer:

Are you a super affiliate of some sort for did you create all the products yourself?

The stumbling block I see as being an affiliate is the fact that I have to build a whole site/landing page which just points to ANOTHER landing page. The affiliate review site seems the best way to go in this regards.

I know the mantra is BUILD AN EMAIL LIST via ewebber and I've always felt that it delves into the world of email spam. (What idiot would actually submit an email address that they actually check and read on a regular basis?) But I like your analogy of having that email to dangle the bait in front of them a few more times, you don't always catch them the first time.
 
Jaz said:
I have to say, this is one of the better Q&A help threads,no fluff and pretty detailed answers, the gurus that like to charge $, like to conveniently leave out the last 10%, heck I even picked up a few things I need to keep in the fore front of my mind.

+rep Gonzo
Click to expand...

Thanks. I pick up stuff from threads on here all the time that I already knew but just kind of forgot about and some completely new ideas (or twists on old ones) all the time. So I'm glad this has helped.
 
biks said:
I've got a clickbank product on a small niche that made 5 grand last year. Created it myself and I rank #1 for my keyword. I'm happy, so I'm thinking "I gotta make more of these!" Lemme ask this again since I didn't see an answer:

Are you a super affiliate of some sort for did you create all the products yourself?
Click to expand...

I'm both a vendor and an affiliate. I'm glad you asked this because it reminds me that I haven't shared one of my favorite strategies, which works really well for really permeating a niche.

Let's say I'm thinking about building a product for...I dunno...let's say penis enlargement (I don't actually have plans to enter this market, but it seems to do ok from what I've seen in the marketplace).

Now, of course even before I decide to promote as an affiliate, I'm going to delve into the niche with some research. I'm going to look at keywords, I'm going to browse the top SERP listings for those keywords to check out the competition, and I'm going to see what the PPC guys are doing.

If everything works out and its a niche I want to go into, I'll pick up a domain name. Something generic but - and this is where it gets good - something at least mildly brandable. I always look for a domain that has my primary 1 or 2 word keyword .com available with "secrets" or "guide" or something like that at the end. So for our penis enlargement example, I'd run over to bustaname*com and see if penisenlargementsecrets*com or penisenlargementguide*com or whatever is open. Now, those are taken in real life, but after looking I can see that penisenlargementfactor*com is open.

Now you have a .com name (albeit a bit long, but whatever) with your primary keyword term at the beginning. Just as importantly, it's pretty brandable. This is crucial for later.

So I'll set up my wordpress blog on it, start adding articles and I'll "review" the CB products in that niche on the front page. Point some links, get some age on the domain, and in a couple of months, I should be ranking pretty well for at least the mildly competitive related terms. I'll have also started building up a nice little list that I'm promoting stuff to at the same time, giving them good content so they don't unsubscribe.

Now, I do some hardcore analytics and assess what I've got. How are conversions? How are refunds? Are people emailing me back? What are they saying? What are my competitors doing? Can I do it better without spending so much capital that it's cost-prohibitive? Are there currently affiliates out there that I can approach with confidence if I did decide to make my own product? I'll even send out an email asking my subscribers what they'd like to know about. This technique isn't mine or new, but it works, particularly if you "take care of" your list by not spamming them daily with crap and feeding them good content (PLR goes a loooong way with email newsletters).

Then I take all that data, absorb it, and make a decision, yes or no. If yes, then I trek off to the library to find the resources to make a better product than what is currently out there (the library is the best-kept secret in this business, no doubt about it). If no, then I just keep the review site and move on, no muss no fuss. With a generic name like that, I can even pull the clickbank reviews off of it and sell some other affiliate product such as enlargement pills, lotions, potions; whatever is available in that niche. The options are limitless, really.

But if I do make a product, I now have:

1) Real market research. I know the market, I've profited from it, and I know all my major competitors and I have a tight keyword list I've been targeting for months.

2) A list in my niche. I can "tease" my product launch with emails to my list saying "hey, I've got something better than what has ever been released before! Here's Chapter 1 for free! blah blah blah" to keep interest up.

3) I've got a brandable domain name for my product: PenisEnlargementFactor*com. It's already indexed and ranking well. All I have to do is slap the sales copy on the front page where the reviews previously were, build up an affiliate center, and the site is done (other than the obligatory constant testing of the sales copy, of course)

4) Since I already know who the big players are in the niche, I can now shift my perception of them from "competitors" to "possible affiliates" I know their sites, I know how often they update their content, and I know what keywords they rank for often better than they do. I am thorough to a fault most of the time. I keep excel spreadsheets on all these bastards. Who knows? I may have one on you :P

I've never seen anyone really mention doing things quite like this before, but let me tell you it works.

biks said:
The stumbling block I see as being an affiliate is the fact that I have to build a whole site/landing page which just points to ANOTHER landing page. The affiliate review site seems the best way to go in this regards.

I know the mantra is BUILD AN EMAIL LIST via ewebber and I've always felt that it delves into the world of email spam. (What idiot would actually submit an email address that they actually check and read on a regular basis?) But I like your analogy of having that email to dangle the bait in front of them a few more times, you don't always catch them the first time.
Click to expand...

Using Aweber in and of itself pretty much eliminates the possibility of you spamming. Simply put, they won't let you. And as for people submitting their real email addresses...yes, they still do. My experience is that the more clean and professional (read: not hyped up or scammy-looking) your squeeze pages are, the more real email addresses you get.

Take, for example, the opt-in form on O'Reilly Media's site. If you're a web developer that values what their information, why wouldn't you put in an email address that you check?

Code: 
https://members.oreilly.com/account/login

My goal is to create a similar level of trust with my site's visitors and that's one reason I stay away from blinking, flashy arrows and hyped up, salesy fonts. People surfing around aren't the brightest bulbs, sure; but as you know, their bullshit detectors are set on a pretty high setting. Once you get your system down for breaking through that ice and establishing trust, you will get many more opt-ins with real email addresses and much more positive reactions from your mailings.
 
Last edited:
So I'll set up my wordpress blog on it, start adding articles and I'll "review" the CB products in that niche on the front page. Point some links, get some age on the domain, and in a couple of months, I should be ranking pretty well for at least the mildly competitive related terms. I'll have also started building up a nice little list that I'm promoting stuff to at the same time, giving them good content so they don't unsubscribe.
Click to expand...

OK, hold on...if this is a review site, where does the aweber email opt in thingy go? Before you actually SEE anything on the site? Or are you putting something into the sidebar along the lines of "free report, click here?"

(OK, if your orange, I'm gonna be green) :)
 
biks said:
OK, hold on...if this is a review site, where does the aweber email opt in thingy go? Before you actually SEE anything on the site? Or are you putting something into the sidebar along the lines of "free report, click here?"

(OK, if your orange, I'm gonna be green) :)
Click to expand...

I started using orange so people browsing the thread could easily see my long-winded replies at a glance, but I gotta say...that green looks good too. :P

Anyway, I usually use either a sidebar opt-in that tells my visitors to get a free, special report ("3 secret methods to keep your baby from eating paint chips!", "9 ways to cut your toenail trimming time in half!", etc) with an Aweber opt-in ~OR~ I use a not-SO-obtrusive pop up like Opt-in Pop (which I've seen convert at nearly 20% on some sites...not too shabby!).

Just like your sales copy, test test test. Test the title of your special report. Test the placement of your opt in. Test the timing of your pop up. Test your pop up on entry. Test it on exit. Getting traffic can be hard sometimes so squeeze every opt-in out of the amount of visitors you get by testing. The more opt-ins you get, the more sales you make. It really is that simple.
 
So what's your feelings on choosing topics?

One of the things that perplexes me is the huge area of selling "how to make money on the internet" to other people who want to make money on the internet. It's like this weird Ouroboros Matryoshka doll. (Snake eating it's own tail Russian doll) OK, there's money to be made, but long can you sustain it? I personally like the idea of selling to "civilians", anyone NOT in the IM biz.

Which then goes down to "I've got my fat/acne/wart I want fixed" categories or "I need a loan/lawyer/my debt fixed".

Where have you found the best hunting grounds?
 
Advertise on BHW
You must log in or register to reply here.
Sign up now!

Main Menu

Home Main Forum List Black Hat SEO White Hat SEO BHW Newbie Guide Blogging Black Hat Tools Social Media Downloads

Marketplace

Account Selling Content / Copywriting EBooks / Methods Hosting Misc Proxies For Sale SEO - Link building SEO - Packages Social Media Social Media - Panels Web Design More

Making Money

Affiliate Programs Hire a Freelancer IM Journeys Making Money Pay Per Click Site Flipping Want to Buy

BlackHat World

Dispute Resolution Forum Suggestions & Feedback Introductions Lounge
Back
Top