Today I’m going to show you how to make money with the Clickbank marketplace as an affiliate marketer.
By the end of this post you’ll understand the Clickbank basics and why gravity is important. You’ll also learn how to select products that produce recurring income so your business can have steady and reliable revenue.
Then I’ll walk you through creating a basic affiliate marketing funnel, including pages like a landing page for capturing email addresses, and an affiliate bridge page for promoting the offer on. Finally, we’ll create an email sequence that builds trust with your subscribers so they purchase products based on your recommendations.
And we may even take a shortcut or two along the way.
Table of Contents:
What is the Clickbank Marketplace?
Clickbank is a popular affiliate marketing marketplace, that enables anyone to become an affiliate marketer. You can browse their directory and find products to promote as well as sign up with Clickbank in order to be able to promote the offers you like best for yourself or your business.
Find the Right Product: Criteria to Consider
Affiliate marketers on the ClickBank marketplace have a wide variety of products to choose from. However, not all of those products are created equally and some might be better than others for your purposes. In order to help you find the right product, I’ve compiled a list of criteria that affiliate marketers should use when choosing a product to promote:
1) The price point (affordability is key!)
2) The commission rate (should be at least 50%)
3) The approximate number of affiliates in your niche promoting this product. The less competitive a market is, the easier it will be for you
4) Product reviews by customers who have already purchased it
5) Whether your target customer or type of business would be interested in this product. Relevancy is key to affiliate marketing success
6) Clickbank gravity is an indication of how popular a product is. The higher the gravity is, the higher the number of sales. If you’re choosing between two products with similar gravity, the one that is more popular will likely perform better
What is a landing page?
A landing page can be used to capture email addresses that you will market future offers to, as well as promote products through affiliate links.
You should include an optin form above the fold with title text, subheadings about what readers are getting when they sign up for your newsletter, and a call to action. Include bullet points below describing what subscribers get access too, such as a lead magnet, monthly newsletters or training programs.
This type of landing page is more accurately called a ‘squeeze page’.
A squeeze page is made up of a few key elements. The most important is the headline. It should be short and concise. Give people an idea of what’s in it for them by being specific about your offer.
The next thing to consider when making a squeeze page are bullet points describing benefits or features that you have on offer, such as discounts, gifts with purchase etc. Bullet points create interest, and encourage people to read on.
The call-to-action can either be a button or a link, asking visitors to subscribe.
What is a lead magnet?
A lead magnet is an excellent way to attract subscribers on your email list. It can be a free gift that’s valuable to the subscriber, such as a PDF report, checklist or webinar recording.
The lead magnet should always have one of three values: it educates people about something they want and need; solves their problem(s); and offers them practical advice they can use in their day-to-day lives.
The Email Sequence
Then we create an email sequence that educates to raise awareness of potential problems they’re facing, and motivate them to seek a solution.
Emails should contain a mix of actionable content, but always include a link to a relevant offer in which you earn an affiliate commission for promoting.
What is an affiliate bridge page?
An affiliate bridge page is an essential step in your marketing funnel – it’s where you send visitors immediately after they subscribe to your email list.
The affiliate bridge page does two things. First of all, it thanks your subscribers for joining your email list and tells them to check their inbox for their free gift. Secondly, it serves to promote a relevant affiliate offer.
This means you can earn an affiliate commission immediately. However the conversion rate will be considerably less than sales generated via your email list.
Using Swipe Material
Swipe material is a collection of words and phrases that merchants give away to the affiliates promoting their products. It’s intended to help marketers increase conversions.
A swipe file, or swipe-copy folder as it’s often called, is an essential part of an affiliate marketing toolkit. This type of “swipe file” is a collection of successful and effective marketing materials that have been tested and proven to work.
These examples provide much-needed inspiration during those times when your affiliate feels like they’ve hit a mental block, or don’t have the marketing skills or knowledge required to promote a product. It’s a shortcut to get them up and running.
Swipe copy can be used in many different ways, depending on the business you’re promoting or the type of affiliate program you’re running. These are just a few of the ways swipe copy can be used: to help with article content, for social media posts, as blog post topics or headlines, and in your emails.
If you have an affiliate offer that is not generating much interest then it might be time to consider adding some swipe material.