ITT: Feeling Generous. Answering CB Questions

Allegretto said:

When you first enter a market or a niche, what do you find is the most effective way to start building your list? Do you find people to JV with or do you buy ads on sites like Ezine? I would love to hear your take on this

P.S. Calvin and Hobbes is the best comic strip ever

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Sending traffic to a squeeze page/landing page. Basically just what I've been saying in the thread. Test different forms of traffic from different places. Send it all to the squeeze page and offer them something to opt-in. Tweak it and test it a little bit and concentrate on the higher converting traffic sources and scale it out as much as possible. Rinse and repeat...

There are no "secrets"

But yeah, sometimes I JV but not until I have my own data in a niche. I'm a data hog. I like to know everything I can. I don't want to know just what kind of traffic converts from where, but I want to know what TIME it converts from where. Is it 8pm EST on a Sunday? That means that my target demographic is online during that "sweet spot" time (most people are online on Sunday evenings). Is it 12pm EST? That means that people are browsing my site from work. Etc, etc.

host32 said:

So my question is how do you go about finding the PPCers with the big budgets ? we've all seen those CB merchants saying that their top affiliates are making six figures a month, where can we find them ? we do believe that our product will deserve more attention than those products,

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Have all your data in line for them. You can have the best product sitting on the best landing page in the world, but if you don't approach these guys with data, you may as well be offering them a dead skunk. They already have successful campaigns or else they wouldn't be "big." Your job is to convince them that yours will be successful for them as well. You do this by running your own traffic to your pages and collecting a large amount of data so you can say "this converts at x% on y search engine for z keyword."

PPC guys are all about the data.

To find them, just look at what else is being promoted out there. What PPC campaigns are being run for your competitors? See if you can dig up any "big guys'" info by tracing those campaigns.

Basically any CB product will do for this type of research - it doesnt have to be about the niche as much as it has to be about the format. CB guys are obviously comfortable promoting CB products or they wouldnt be good at it so they are likely to jump over into different niches if the majority of their traffic is from PPC. If its in the same niche, it will certainly be easier for them, of course, but if you have a compelling product then it only takes good data to intrigue someone enough to test a market.

But if someone is an SEO guy and he's not in that niche, then obviously promoting your product will be more of a pain in the ass.

I guess the biggest thing is to have your ducks in a row when you start approaching these guys. I know that the last thing in the world I want to do is spend my money on testing the sales page of a new product. Which is why I always chuckle and shake my head when I see people trying to grab affiliates for a product they've never made a sale on themselves.

I have two products on CB right now that I haven't actively recruited affiliates for yet because I don't feel I have the data for it yet. This is being accumulated right now and I'm covering all my bases because I want to make sure these are "big" products, not just little ones.

I don't do all that hyped-up pre-launch bullshit because I think that really only works in the IM niche so I "soft-launch" the product on CB and let it sit there while I collect my own data promoting it. When I have that, I feel like I can approach potential affiliates with confidence. This usually takes about a month of trying different things.

gonzomcribbinz, your post's are really useful and you have inspired me to work on my old sites and get back in CB business, however I have had a lot of problem with them and am not sure why my new site is not succeeding as much as the almost identical earlier site which was a squidoo lens and got closed down due to false ratings (my friend tried to help me out and they found out a year later)? At first I copied the content 1:1, then I tried with Aweber but got like 60-90 subscriptions and they didn't do much. Then I even created forum for the niche but understood that it will shrink sales even more because people who visited my forum from the other one said bad things about the product.

I built a lot of backlinks over a large period of time, I have a ton of content on the site (autoblogging rules) and generally the site is pretty old, about 1.5 year, has some good backlinks, etc...but google is just not giving it traffic or if it is - the traffic is badly related and not even close to the main keyword.

Yahoo is better but still not ranking for the main keyword I try to rank for which could give me sales.

I really want to get good at CB again but I'm not sure what to do.

I've sent you a PM since I didn't want to reveal my site to public here, so maybe you will be able to help me (I would appreciate it).

small_town_boy said:

gonzomcribbinz, your post's are really useful and you have inspired me to work on my old sites and get back in CB business, however I have had a lot of problem with them and am not sure why my new site is not succeeding as much as the almost identical earlier site which was a squidoo lens and got closed down due to false ratings (my friend tried to help me out and they found out a year later)? At first I copied the content 1:1, then I tried with Aweber but got like 60-90 subscriptions and they didn't do much. Then I even created forum for the niche but understood that it will shrink sales even more because people who visited my forum from the other one said bad things about the product.

I built a lot of backlinks over a large period of time, I have a ton of content on the site (autoblogging rules) and generally the site is pretty old, about 1.5 year, has some good backlinks, etc...but google is just not giving it traffic or if it is - the traffic is badly related and not even close to the main keyword.

Yahoo is better but still not ranking for the main keyword I try to rank for which could give me sales.

I really want to get good at CB again but I'm not sure what to do.

I've sent you a PM since I didn't want to reveal my site to public here, so maybe you will be able to help me (I would appreciate it).

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Replied to your PM. Since most of it is niche-related, there's not much more I can say here that I didn't already say in PM but I do want to reiterate what I said in PM: keep your site clean and focus, Focus, FOCUS your visitors on that one goal: opting in. After that, redirect them to wherever you want (preferably a sales page so you can convert them right away) but get the opt in.

As for Google, tighten up your keywords. Your main site title = your main keyword. Then pick other keywords and focus them on individual posts. As of right now, your site is kind of all over the place and so big G probably doesn't know what to think. Tighten it up.

I have two questions too. Hopefully you are still in a good mood to answer them.
I am planning to promote a lottery offer that has 3% conversion(great copy, great product).
I plan on writing 100 articles and making 100 slideshow videos in the next month.
I will send the traffic to my review style website and direct them to the offer after a presell.
The payout for the aff is 60% (about $50).

1. Will my effort get me at least 4sales/month? (I know there are a lot of variables, but could you tell me from your previous experience if it will or will not give the results I desire).
2. Have any advice on how to get the most of 1 article. (For example, post it on my website and other websites?) or uniqueness all around

Thank you.

MrDoru said:

1. Will my effort get me at least 4sales/month? (I know there are a lot of variables, but could you tell me from your previous experience if it will or will not give the results I desire).

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There's no way I could even begin to speculate. I don't know the market, the product, or most importantly, the demographic. I don't even TRULY know if the products that I create will sell 1 or 1,000 a month until I test them. All I can say is get out there and test.

MrDoru said:

2. Have any advice on how to get the most of 1 article. (For example, post it on my website and other websites?) or uniqueness all around

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Sure, post it on your website, then rewrite it (not spin, rewrite) 4 times and submit those to ezinearticles, go articles, article dashboard, and buzzle for backlinks. Then spin it and submit it to the ~100 or so lesser article directories for even more backlinks. Then, like you said, make a slideshow out of the article and post it on all the tube sites. Then use the beginning of the article in your autoresponder with a link back the rest of the article on your site. Then rewrite it as a press release and blast that out.

You can get a lot out of the content from one article.

How many articles should be written when attempting to rank for a moderately to low competitive keyword?

- TheStrangefruit

thestrangefruit said:

How many articles should be written when attempting to rank for a moderately to low competitive keyword?

- TheStrangefruit

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You have to know that I'd say it would differ for each keyword, right?

Take a look at the site in the #1 position. Look at the backlinks that guy has. Beat them.

That is exactly what I do.

Guys, there is not just one, but two entire forums for SEO on BHW: White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO as well as another on Link Building. I'm sure everyone would agree that this thread would be more productive if we kept it about Clickbank.

Thank you for your post. It may change my life

sincerely

gonzomcribbinz said:

It's Sunday evening and I'm feeling a bit generous. Got a question about Clickbank? I'll do my best to answer it. -GonzoMcribbinz

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BEYOND generous ... you are quite likely changing some lives here. Thanks hardly says enough. Rep given.

sw40

nappy-headed said:

Thank you for your post. It may change my life

sincerely

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S&W40MPc said:

BEYOND generous ... you are quite likely changing some lives here. Thanks hardly says enough. Rep given.

sw40

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Thanks for the kind words, guys. Truth be told, there's nothing really major I've shared here. Just a basic blueprint - albeit the same one that I follow day in and day out. And a lot of people do the same with the same blueprint. Just fill in your own details, tweak, test, and work hard and anybody can do as well (or better) than me.

Hi Gonzo....Tried to PM you this mail but I dont think it went thru...dont know why. Anyway...gotta book for you to read

Just joined BHW a couple weeks ago. Im a noob, I'll say that straight out.

I actually found this website while trying to find feedback on George Brown's Google Sniper product. I liked this idea because:

1) Using a simple website building program (Wordpress) and targeting niches

2) Combined with affiliate marketing( dont need my own product).

3) Using Clickbank (Handles all the payouts and less potential headaches than dealing with PayPal)



I havent been here at BHW that long but I know its a major time sink if you arent careful. You seem to be a no BS guy and wanted advice on the tools I would need to do this and what I really need to study in a direct way.


***Approach: You talked about finding traffic on the net AND THEN choosing a clickbank product to fill that need (regardless of gravity and other clickbank statistics) Im interested in this approach.

***Tools: Market Samurai, Keyword Elite, Google Suggestor or their later evolution at Totalkeyworddominator.com , Scrapebox and of course the free Google keyword finder.

These are the tools that seem to be the most associated with what I want to do. What...if any of these do I really need? One thing I heard that kinda bothers be about tools like this is my keyword data being sent"backdoor" to the developers...essentially stealing my research. Not sure if its true or if I should even worry about it.


*** Tactics: I hear and see all these programs that auto blog, article re-writers, content language translation and back again ( Read about WordPress Mage)....etc. Im wondering if all those types of things will get you de-listed or worse. If there are any automation tools that you could suggest in regards to what I want to do that would be helpful. I want to build a long-term cash cow and not have to worry about the rug being pulled out beneath me.


*** Education: You mentioned educating your self buy buying actual books or finding somthing online you print out thats solid and legit. Im new to IM and need to learn a few things. I could use BHW but in a way I want to stay away from it so I can concentrate.
As far as the technical side Ive decided on Wordpress no matter what. So any helpful tips or study material on this program would help alot. At the same time I dont want to overwhelm my mind to the point of taking NO action at all. If I dont need to "master" something Im totally fine with that..Im not a detail freak like some people.

**** Testing: You talk about this so much in your posts and I find myself wanting to take the easy way and not do it. Can you tell me specifically how you test...I mean, are there tools help that help you to do this or is it just some drop down menu in your CP panel of your host? Im going to be using Wordpress so maybe there's something specific there as well. Ive heard that all this is simple but Im totally foreign to internet analytics.

*** Marketing in other Languages: Interesting...you mentioned this in one of your posts. A big undertaking to learn a language fluently. I was intrigued by this because my girlfiend is from Austria....speaking German. Now she could probably help in a limited way but it would be up to me to do this. Any particular languages, markets or niches you might suggest? Whats the IM competition like outside the English speaking world? Do you market English language items and use English language support and software or does everything from top to bottem have to be in that langauge? Really interested in knowing more about this.

In conclusion:

****Progression,Learning Curve, Making Money: CPA? PPC? SEO? People have their opinions on where to begin if you are new to all this. Now, I made kind of an arbitrary choice on what i wanted to do before reading or discovering BHW...Whats your take on this? Where would you start....what would you read to go about this business now...in April 2010?

I hope I didnt kill you with all these questions. You are taking some time to give back to people and I really liked your honesty. Wanted to get your advice while I could. Maybe one day I could help you...you never know. Thanks Gonzo....Billy

I initially started out advertising the CB product with a bonus. So "Fat Burning Furnace with Bonus!" and did PPC for the actual product name instead of terms like "lose weight" or "burn fat".

When someone was researching the ClickBank product they'd see my little ad pop-up and realize they could buy the product and get some free stuff along with it if they bought through me.

Adding an incentive helped me to close my first few sales but I was still barely breaking even.

What helped me turn the corner was not using an incentive for the sale but just for the
opt-in. Give them my bonus just for the opt-in (as Frank Kern would say - the "bribe").

So for me - the best way to promote CB is:

1. Get traffic
2. Get optins
3. Promote to my list

BTW - do you mind telling us roughly what kind of money a popular product on CB could make?

I've written so much stuff in terms of free reports and videos that I think I'm at the point where I can just re-edit this all into my own product.

Hey gonzomcribbinz, thanks a lot for posting this thread, and keeping up with all the questions here, bhw needs more people like you here I have launched a few clickbank products myself and sold a couple last year, this thread has inspired me to get back into cb, but as an affiliate this time. I never really was an affiliate (completely opposite of what you say to do) and I think I could really do well as an affiliate with all I know now. I bookmarked this and will be reading it all through at least once or twice more hehe...

couple questions for you

Would you be willing to provide an example of one of your landing pages you are promoting as an affiliate? or even a landing page or type of landing page you find converts well, examples would really help

About your lists, could you tell me a basic timeline to what you send your list?
ex. 1-free bonus, 2-pre-sell, 3-presell, 4-sell+link
is that along the lines of what you do, normally pre-sell more or do you always include your aff link in the emails?

Thanks again for posting all this.

I would like to ask about scrapebox and clickbank - I have had very small success with CB, I just promoted by articles and blog comments - I must add I just didnt really try but I think Ill give it a much more mature look at it now!

Along with the article marketing, setting up a domain masking my hoplink - What would happen if I just set up another domain and used scrapebox for driving traffic to "dummy" domain and hopefully in return get buyers?

Hey, thanks for doing this Q&A with us. I really appreciate your help.

I don't see any info products on CB that's done in Spanish. Do you think it's a good idea to say translate some of the better selling ebooks, rebrand it and sell it on CB?

Never tried ebooks but alot of the Spanish market does not have the same computer access as the English speaking population. I have seen (and briefly tried) spanish PPC ads, but there is alot of competition there.

Hi http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/members/17628-gonzomcribbinz.htmlgonzomcribbinz,

Great thread you got here.

I have one question, do you recommend using frames to create sites with our hoplinks instead of creating landing pages?

example
Not my site BTW

This way even if the customer bookmarks or returns to the site after few days our hoplink would be still valid. Have you created such sites for promoting CB products and what was your experience with them?

Regards

what are good categories to promote, i mean products?


Thank you very much

This is an awesome thread, thanks for being so willing to help. One thing I have a question about is ClickBank tracking and/or shaving. I have found that there are serious flaws in their tracking or they are shaving like crap.

In 3/09 I ran a test and created a site, and had family members/friends make 4 test purchases (i have receipts for proof of purchase) and only 1 showed up in tracking. All purchases were done from different areas (Denver, VA Beach, Lynchburg VA, and Raleigh NC). How are you overcoming this issue? If I am only gonna get credit for 1 out of 4 sales, I am wasting my time. Any advice?