I was going through ClickBank’s marketplace, looking for a product to add on one of my niche sites the other day, and since it’s a very narrow niche not too many products were available.
There was one product that kinda did make me have a second look.
To make a long story short, its landing page was a piece of junk. It was all over the place, with many links and distractions that I am certain that it’s a lousy converter just because of that lp!
Imagine a blog with a post as an lp. That’s close to what it was. Sidebar, top menu and ads… LOL
So, I went searching for a way to go directly to the checkout page. That way I could write my own killer sales copy and link to the payment… sweet right?
Yea, but it appears that though it can be done there are a few pitfalls and risks involved. READ ON…
If you manage to get this link right, it will bring you to the checkout:
http://clickbank.net/sell.cgi?yourID_merchantID/ProductNumber/ProductName
yourID and merchantID are simple. Find those in your hoplink
ProductNumber, ProductName, on the other hand, are tricky little bastards. They’re available through the purchase link on the landing page, here’s an example:
http://1.coolproduct.pay.clickbank.net/
1 is the ProductNumber and coolproduct is the ProductName. BUT:
Many merchants cloak their purchase link, usually with a simple php redirect. That fact alone will prevent you from knowing those two variables. Bummer. So far I don’t know where to get those two variable from other than the purchase link.
But that is only half of the problem, because:
When you do this direct to checkout trick, ClickBank doesn’t place the cookie on the prospect’s machine and cannot track this click.
That means that if the prospect was referred to that offer before by another affiliate, this affiliate will be credited for the sale and not you.
So, basically, it’s either you ask people to clear cookies before going to checkout, which looks fishy, or hope that they’d never been to that offer before.
Other than that, this whole technique is against ClickBank’s TOS, so if you get caught you get banned. The only way to stay inline with their TOS is to use a good old hoplink.
Sorry, I wish I had better news for you.. LoL.
- Alex
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So you’re saying that it’s a bitch to do and just pick products with good LP’s.
browie’s last blog post..Twitter Traffic Exposed
Hey,
Yea
that’s a good gist of the post.. Forget about going direct to checkout – pick an outstanding product in the first place.
I guess if the lp doesn’t worth anything, the product is in danger of sucking as well…
Alex, I think I’ve seen something like this as well when I go to the marketplace to check out the campaigns available, i just dont bother with them.
Clickbank is a good source for online income as well. I’ve read about those on forums where they’ve used clickbank to generate over thousands/month. I’m still trying to find ways to do that with clickbank but haven’t really focused on it that much.
Pheak Tol’s last blog post..Manage Your Ads With The WP125 Plugin
Hey Pheak,
Yea, pick one with a good lander, otherwise you’re threading water.
Maybe you’re focusing on the wrong things, Pheak. Why not focus on getting that first $1k/month?
It’s easy, and there’s a good way to do it. First, get the OWM from my last post, and start working that plan!! You will still have time for blogging, believe me. And, you will not have to spend money upfront as with PPC.
darn, the beginning of this post started looking really promising but the end sure will keep me from using this way ROFL
Mirjam’s last blog post..One Week Marketing Plan – Build Your Business Online and Start Earning Money
Yea, that’s my way of luring you in and making you read it through…
ROFLMAO it worked
Mirjam’s last blog post..One Week Marketing Plan – Build Your Business Online and Start Earning Money
I had to read your post several times to get what you wanted to sat. but got it none the less, it could have been more straightforward I guess. but nonetheless a good post.
vinay’s last blog post..Online Money With Google Adsense – Part XVIII
Yea, thanks!
An interesting post indeed. All summed up in stay away from bad LP’s….read between the lines, indeed!
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Best “Blog Improvement Review” Contest – 1 Winner – $100 via Paypal
Well, I couldn’t just say “stay away from bad lp’s …the end…”
You need at least 250 words to pass as “content” in google’s eyes, so why not make an interesting post about it.
And, besides, people actually do this, so if you’re a risk taker you’ll find this post useful.
You need at least 250 words to pass as “content” in Googles eyes…
I never heard that before, is in there guidelines somewhere? They don’t “see” articles with less?
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Best “Blog Improvement Review” Contest – 1 Winner – $100 via Paypal
Yea… I will dig up my reference and post it here.
Tomorrow though, I’m going to sleep now
It’s tomorrow…..
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Best “Blog Improvement Review” Contest – 1 Winner – $100 via Paypal
Keep your pants on Dennis
I’ve been busy with dentists all day. It appears I have 2 root canals and a load of other pleasurable stuff in store for me…
Now, we’ve just picked up our chipmunk from the kindergarten, so I have to spend some time with the family…. In the evening though, we’re going out for dinner, so today is an off-line day
So I guess you’re out of luck for today…
Oh I see how it is, just a big tease; pfft.
I’ll do your root canals for half the price.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Blog Comment Tip: Add A CommentLuv Link With No Plugin (sneaky!)
eeeh, we’re back from our night out.
weeee, had a few beeeeers.
half the price for root canals? surprisingly enough it sounds like a great offer right now… but I guess it’s the booze talking.
Cash only, and of course I get a few beers too…
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Blog Comment Tip: Add A CommentLuv Link With No Plugin (sneaky!)
You’re going to be disappointed, but its either I’m getting old or I need to stop drinking beer…
I can’t find where did it say about the 250 words rule. ’twas about a year ago, and I even mentioned it in one of my old posts.
But, I’ve gone through my folders and can’t find that file.
I’ve tried Googling for seo best practices and optimal length for articles, but other than many many useful advice I couldn’t not find that in particular. Sorry.
Now it’s a project of mine — to find out where do I know this from…
I’ll be waiting…
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Blog Comment Tip: Add A CommentLuv Link With No Plugin (sneaky!)
hey alex!
just thinking about second pitfall. you could use this tool:
http://smugmarketing.com/tools/cookie.html
i think it could be useful
Oh yea.. I saw that one before.
You just have to keep in mind that this too is against TOS in most cases. There are merchants on CPA networks that don’t care though, and it’s then that you are free to do that with no worries.
But, yea, if you are already breaking CB’s TOS by going direct to checkout, this one could be very useful!
Thanks!
Hey!
Great post,
it is very useful tools, It is really hard to escape the pitfall ,thank you for sharing the tips with us.
This is extremely useful because many clickbank sales letters suck at best! Some of their sales letters actually turn away customers after you’ve taken the time and hard work to drive traffic to your squeeze page and eveything…
Caleb (Market Secrets Blogger)’s last blog post..Start Blogging Now!
Yea, this is so true. It’s only once in a while that you find a good LP on a clickbank offer.
I am directly linking to a clickbank checkout page in the way as referred above but what my conversion in adwords campaign are more than the actual conversion in the clickbank for which I am getting commission. Can any one tell the reason?
Hey Jawad,
Try to looking at the “order form submit count” metric in clickbank’s reporting. Some people get the thank-you page several times, either refreshing the page, bookmarking or whatever. Adwords will count those as sales, but obviously only one impression is a sale. Clickbank will show you that and you could compare your numbers.
Other than that, did you try using Clickbank’s “integrated sales reporting” feature? This is way more convenient than asking merchants to put your pixel on the thank-you pages, and more accurate as well.
Cheers,
Alex
I am already using clickbank integrated sales reporting. When there is conversion in adwords and not in clickbank I can see an order form impression but no submit. My source of traffic is only adwords nothing else. It was giving me 37% conversion rate till last week but now getting this problem yesterday and today there are 5 conversions in adwords but nothing in clickbank.
I contacted clickbank when this happened first time and they closed the ticket saying this “This can happen if the customer is unable to download the product from the Thank You Page in a timely manner; therefore, clicking the link more than once.”
I asked the merchant but his reply was dumb.
Jawad
Jawad´s last blog ..Table Woodworking Plans – Great Collection
Well, as I’m saying in the post, if you’re using this technique, Clickbank doesn’t get the chance to place a cookie on the user’s PC, so maybe it’s related to that.
second, maybe they changed the productNumber or any other valirable, or the entire link, which makes your sales worth nothing. Meaning, the customer goes trough a sales process that is not leading to a sale anymore, despite there’s a thank-you page (that’s why you still keep seeing sales in Adwords)
I use Clickbank together with Infolinks on my Blog. You can earn a lot in Clickbank if you just concentrae more on US traffic ~
i also use infolinks on 3 of my blogs and it is also earning as much as adsense. “:’
have anyone noticed that infolinks earnings this week have been a bit lower.::;