Posted by: Bob King, CEO

I have to laugh as I follow along with all the debate and controversy regarding the Long Tail Theory of marketing and retailing. For those of you unfamiliar with the Long Tail Theory, several years ago Chris Anderson from Wired magazine wrote a book advancing the theory that the Internet is going to fundamentally change consumer buying habits. His theory was that online commerce will allow larger, basically unlimited, assortments of product to be made available. This would be a big shift from the limitations of brick and mortar stores, where space constraints limit the number of products to just the top-selling items. Now the consumer is free to buy whatever niche product they want via Internet commerce, without being limited to only what is stocked in the store.

I have to admit, when I first saw this theory, I was new to ClickBank and the Internet business and I said, “Wow, this is great!” Every time I talked about ClickBank to my friends or anyone else, I somehow worked Long Tail into the conversation.

Now a Harvard Business Professor, Anita Elberse, has come along and said, “Hey, wait a minute, this Long Tail isn’t really that revolutionary.” Her argument is that even though more product assortment is available, we are creatures of habit and we still mostly just buy the most popular items. She uses movies and music examples to support her argument.

So maybe it’s time to drop the Long Tail from my conversations, so I don’t have to get into a senseless argument.

But when I think about ClickBank in the context of the Long Tail, we are the Ultimate Long Tail. Not many businesses could be as niche-oriented as ClickBank. If you have information or advice on virtually any subject that you can put in digital form, you can find out if anybody wants to buy it by using ClickBank.

Granted, we have a modest number of products that are our best sellers, just like any other business. But we have a vast amount of product out there on the “ClickBank Long Tail.” Because of that Long Tail, it can still be profitable to create and promote an e-book or software program that doesn’t sell millions, or even thousands, of copies.

All it takes to get started is a little work on your part to get it ready and $49.95 to list it. It exists in digital form, so there are no warehouses, no trucks, and no further expense until it sells. Then you just pay the commission to the affiliate that promoted it and a small transaction fee to ClickBank for processing the order.

So, the Long Tail, with the blockbusters and thousands of other products, is alive and working here at ClickBank. That’s good news for everyone.

Take a look at these related posts:

1. Self-Publishing ClickBank-Style
2. You’re an Expert