Affiliate Marketing Made Easy With Clickbank

If you're interested in earning some extra income with affiliate marketing then your first stop should be signing up for a free ClickBank account. Why?

ClickBank make getting into affiliate marketing super easy. In fact it's so easy it can be summarized in three basic steps.
1. Sign up for a free ClickBank account
2. Find a ClickBank product to promote
3. Promote your hoplink

Let's go through those steps one at a time. You'll quickly see why so many affiliates choose to use ClickBank as the basis of their business.

#1 Sign up for a free ClickBank account
Complete the ClickBank sign-up form at https://www.clickbank.com/affiliateAccountSignup.htm and enter your details. When you've finished, wait for an email that will include an 8-digit confirmation code. You’ll need to enter this code into the Clickbank site to complete the sign-up process.
If you have a US address and earn over US$600 before the end of the financial year, then you’ll need to enter an Employer Identification Number (for businesses) or a Social Security Number (for individuals) in the Tax ID field. Since you can add these details later you don't need to worry about that when you're signing up.

Keep the activation email safe as it will also include your account nickname and password (the same as your confirmation code).

Now you're ready to log in to ClickBank. Use the login details you received in the email and then browse to the Marketplace.

#2 Find a ClickBank Product to Promote
In the ClickBank Marketplace you'll find products organized into different categories. If you have already chosen a niche, such as health products, then browse to the Health & Fitness category. If you're not sure you can just browse the different categories systematically to find a product to promote. Or use the search box and see what comes up.

Things you should look for in a good product to promote include:
A gravity of more than 30 (which indicates the product is currently selling well)
Multiple products in the same category (so you can create a review page)

A compelling landing page (i.e. one that does a good job of explaining why you would want to buy this product)

While not critical, it can help if you're naturally interested or experienced with the niche. This will help you to write effective sales pages.

When you've decided on a product to promote, it's time to get your hoplink.

#3 Promote your Hoplink
Firstly, what is a hoplink? A hoplink is a normal hyperlink that links to the merchant’s product page and includes your affiliate code. Whenever anyone clicks on your hoplink, they are taken to the product page and can choose to buy the product. If they buy the commission will be credited to you. Details of how many people clicked your hoplink and how many bought the product can be viewed in your ClickBank account.

Some sites will keep details of this referral for anywhere up to 60 days after the person first visits the merchant's page, meaning that if they buy within that period (and haven't clicked on another affiliate's hoplink in the meantime) that sale will be credited to you.

To create a hoplink, select a product from the Clickbank Marketplace and click Create HopLink, located below the product listing. This will pop open a new window, where you’ll enter your ClickBank nickname, an optional Tracking ID, and click Create. The Tracking ID can be anything you like and can be used to see where most of your clicks are coming from. For example, you might decide to create different hoplinks for your Facebook page and Twitter accounts, so you can see which is generating the most sales. The hoplink is automatically encrypted for your protection.

Remember to make sure you copy the hoplink correctly so you don't miss out on any potential commission!

Lastly, an important rule to remember is that if you want to get a good return on your time, money and efforts, you should promote products to audiences that might be interested in them, such as related forums and blogs. This principle goes for other common promotional techniques like article writing or tapping into your social network— the more relevant and useful the product is to your audience, the better your sales will be.

With ClickBank you can go from knowing nothing about affiliate marketing to earning commissions in next to no time!

By: Jas Dodd

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Jason Dodd is a copywriter for Affilorama, an affiliate marketing training portal that offers free training, education and tools to Clickbank affiliate marketers.