Posted by: Brad Wiskirchen, CEO

As the new CEO of ClickBank, I’d like to introduce myself to the ClickBank community and tell you how excited I am about the incredible opportunities that lie ahead for ClickBank and its clients. Despite the difficult economic conditions, ClickBank has experienced double-digit growth in 2008. Additionally, our efforts this past year have put us in a great position to grow even more in 2009.

I’ve been actively involved with ClickBank since 2005, and worked closely with my predecessor Bob King, so I know firsthand what makes ClickBank so unique and successful. Under Bob’s guidance, ClickBank introduced a wide array of valuable new features for our clients, achieved huge sales growth for the company-as well as for our publishers and affiliates-and strengthened our position as a market leader in the online digital marketplace.

I will continue to champion the constant innovation and improvement that have led to ClickBank’s explosive growth the past few years, and look forward to finding new and better ways to help our clients prosper. We have exciting projects in the works for the coming year and I look forward to the continued growth and success of ClickBank and our clients.

Posted by: Beau Blackwell, Marketing Coordinator

If you’re a ClickBank product publisher, you need to take advantage of a new feature we’ve just released that will soon help increase sales of your ClickBank product(s). We will soon roll out a new ad-serving platform that will easily allow affiliates to display advertisements for relevant ClickBank products on their Web sites. This will help affiliates and Web site owners monetize their traffic more effectively than ever, which in turn leads to more sales for publishers who are included in the ad network.

The first phase of this new ad serving platform, which went live last week, allows publishers to create a customer-facing advertisement that will be integrated into the ad platform as soon as it goes live. This advertisement allows publishers to briefly highlight the benefits and selling points of their products or sites, and makes it easier for affiliates to quickly identify what a product is and how they can promote it to consumers. In addition, these new advertisement fields will soon be included in the ClickBank XML feed, which will allow developers to use them in existing and future third-party applications and widgets.

Creating this customer-facing ad is totally free and only takes a minute, so if you haven’t already submitted your ad, don’t delay! Each ad will go through an approval process to screen for accuracy and appropriate language, punctuation, etc., so be sure to submit your ad as soon as possible so you can be included in the ad platform as soon as it goes live. Click here to start creating your ad now!

Posted by: Ashley Adamson, ClickBank Senior Customer Service Representative

This is the final post in a five-part, five-day series about how publishers can attract more affiliates.

To really succeed as a ClickBank publisher, you need to get as many affiliates promoting your product as possible. In this five-part series, I show you some of the best techniques for becoming an affiliate magnet! Did you miss part one, two, three, or four?

Tip 5: Advertise

To further increase exposure of your product to affiliates, ClickBank provides a means by which you can purchase ad space within the ClickBank Marketplace, highlighting your product to hundreds of thousands of affiliates.

The Marketplace ads are three-line advertisements found on the right-hand side of Marketplace pages, under ‘Sponsored Links.’ You can see some current ads here:

http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace.htm

The costs of Marketplace ads vary, depending upon how much traffic a particular page or category receives. More exposure means a higher priced advertisement.

All contracts are month-to-month, so clients may utilize the ad space as long as they wish without being locked into any long-term agreements. To check availability and add your name to a possible waiting list, visit https://www.clickbank.com/advertise.html. Select the location where you’d like to place an ad, fill out the form, and someone from ClickBank will contact you when a space becomes available.

Final Thoughts

Many publishers spend months, if not years, in product development. After so much arduous effort, why would you want to leave the success of your product to chance? No matter how great your product is, if you don’t do a good job of communicating that fact to the people who can help you promote it, it will never be as successful as it could be. So as you build the pitch page to sell your product, be sure that you work as hard on attracting affiliates as you do on attracting customers. By putting in the extra effort to make your product attractive to affiliates, you can become a serious affiliate magnet!

Good luck, and thank you for choosing ClickBank!

Posted by: Ashley Adamson, ClickBank Senior Customer Service Representative

This is part four of a five-part, five-day series about how publishers can attract more affiliates.

To really succeed as a ClickBank publisher, you need to get as many affiliates promoting your product as possible. In this five-part series, I show you some of the best techniques for becoming an affiliate magnet! Did you miss part one, two or three? Click to learn about how to take full advantage of the Marketplace or creating an affiliate tools page or getting your site right the first time.

Tip 4: Offer High Commissions

A penny saved is a penny earned? You’ve heard it all your life, but the sound advice your mother gave you could actually be damaging in the affiliate marketing industry.

When affiliates are looking for a new publisher to promote, they have thousands of products to choose from. Searching through each pitch page for the perfect product and sales copy is not always practical. Of course, having a professional, great-looking pitch page is important, but for most affiliates, other factors take priority.

Advertising costs can be expensive for affiliates. An affiliate wants to be able to look at a product and, in a glance, be able to trust that they’ll receive a positive return on their advertising and promotional investment. One of the most important stats in the ClickBank Marketplace that affiliates look for is “% sale.” This is the average commission percentage earned per affiliate per referred sale on a particular product. With many of our top products offering the maximum commission of 75%, you really can’t afford to not be generous with your commissions.

Though it may seem that the maximum payout amount is high, remember that these are sales you would not have made otherwise.

For more information about this subject, and data that proves the advantages of being generous with your commissions, check out our Generosity as Business Strategy article by Bob Dunlap:

http://www.clickbank.com/blog/2008/04/17/generosity-as-business-strategy/

Check back tomorrow for the fifth and final tip on becoming an affiliate magnet - advertising.

Posted by: Ashley Adamson, Senior Customer Service Representative

This is part three of a five-part, five-day series about how publishers can attract more affiliates.

To really succeed as a ClickBank publisher, you need to get as many affiliates promoting your product as possible. In this five-part series, I show you some of the best techniques for becoming an affiliate magnet! Did you miss part one or part two? Click to learn about how to take full advantage of the Marketplace or creating an affiliate page.

Tip 3: Get Your Site Right the First Time

When you’re sending in your first Product Approval Request, your top priority is probably getting your site active as quickly as possible. It certainly seems like a reasonable notion; the sooner you’re active, the sooner you can start receiving sales.

However, I strongly recommend that you take the time to perfect your site content, and to double-check that your Marketplace title and description are optimized to attract affiliates. You should make it clear what type of product you are selling and list the benefits affiliates receive by promoting your site.

There are third-party companies and sites on the Internet that feature newly-listed ClickBank products for a short period of time. If your site content is not optimum, you may be losing out on an opportunity for attracting affiliates right off the bat.

Check back tomorrow for the fourth tip on becoming an affiliate magnet - offering high commissions.

Posted by: Ashley Adamson, ClickBank Senior Customer Service Representative

This is part two of a five-part, five-day series about how publishers can attract more affiliates.

To really succeed as a ClickBank publisher, you need to get as many affiliates as possible to promote your product. In this five-part series, I’ll show you some of the best techniques for becoming an affiliate magnet! Did you miss part one? Click to learn about how to take full advantage of the Marketplace.

Tip 2: Create an Affiliate Tools Page

Something that ClickBank doesn’t require, but that can make a huge difference in attracting affiliates, is setting up a Web page specifically to help affiliates promote your product.

The feedback we have received from affiliates indicates that they are more inclined to promote products that provide affiliates with assistance in their marketing campaigns. Some ideas for tools you could provide to affiliates include:

• Banner images
• Other product images
• Textual ads
• Keyword recommendations
• Cloaking scripts
• Ad content recommendations (such as features or benefits of your product)
• Customized email signature ads
• Suggestions of places where affiliates can advertise your product effectively

ClickBank also provides a method for you to recruit affiliates directly from your own Web site. This tool gives affiliates the ability to create an affiliate link for your product directly from your Web site, without having to visit the ClickBank Marketplace first. For more information on using this tool, please go to “Leveraging The Affiliate Network.”

If you decide to create a Web page for your affiliates, you should consider listing the Web address as part of your Marketplace description, for added affiliate attraction.

Check back tomorrow for the third tip on becoming an affiliate magnet - getting your site right the first time.

Posted by: Ashley Adamson, ClickBank Senior Customer Service Representative

This is part one of a five-part, five-day series about how publishers can attract more affiliates.

As many successful Internet marketers already know, ClickBank’s extensive affiliate network can be a powerful force for taking your product’s sales from mediocre to massive. Unlike most advertising and promotional efforts, ClickBank only pays out commissions to affiliates on your behalf for completed sales. This makes our affiliate program much more cost-effective than other traditional methods of product promotion. For example, when you place a paid advertisement in a search engine, you have to pay for the cost of the ad even if the clicks you get generate little or no sales. With our affiliate program, you are only paying for marketing costs when you’re actually making money.

To really succeed as a ClickBank publisher, you need to get as many affiliates promoting your product as possible. In this five-part series, I’ll show you some of the best techniques for becoming an affiliate magnet!

Tip 1: Take Advantage of the ClickBank Marketplace

ClickBank provides all new publishers the option of being listed within our ClickBank Marketplace: http://www.clickbank.com/marketplace

The question is, with the ClickBank Marketplace containing over 15,000 products, what can you do to obtain the most exposure and make your product attractive to affiliates?

The first thing that most new publishers don’t realize is that the majority of the Marketplace audience is comprised of affiliates, not consumers. So rather than have your Marketplace title and description tailored to consumers, you should use it to describe what makes your product appealing to affiliates.

Do you have a high commission percentage, a high payout or a Web site containing useful affiliate tools to help them promote your product? Be sure to list features like these in your Marketplace description so that affiliates can quickly see why they should promote your product.

To edit your Marketplace title/description, you’ll need to log in to your ClickBank account, click the “Account Settings” tab, the “My Site” link, and the “Edit” link under the “Marketplace Information” section, then modify your Marketplace description as needed.

Be sure to click “Save Changes” when finished!

Check back tomorrow for the second tip on becoming an affiliate magnet - creating an affiliate tools page.

This is the final part of a three-part series by guest blogger and ClickBank publisher Scott Tousignant on using Twitter to increase your ClickBank sales. We suggest reading Part One and Part Two if you haven’t already.

Part Three: Twitter Turn-Ons and Turn-Offs

Twitter is all about conversing and building relationships with like-minded people, whether they are customers or joint venture partners. If you are using Twitter for blatant self-promotion, you may make some sales of the ClickBank products that you promote, but you will quickly be ignored by the Twitter community and lose out on the massive benefits that Twitter has to offer.

In my previous two posts, I shared the reasons why you should use Twitter as a means of promoting ClickBank products, as well as how to get started. Today I’ll share the most effective strategies for incorporating your promotions through Twitter, including the most important “Do’s” and “Don’ts.”

Your goal in using Twitter should be to become a valued resource in your niche. Ideally, you’ll become a resource for both potential customers and other experts in your niche.  Offering a little bit of help can go a long way toward this goal. On the other hand, if all you do is include links to products in every tweet, you are setting yourself up for failure.

So how do you strike the perfect balance between promoting ClickBank products and providing useful information on Twitter? Understanding these fundamentals can mean the difference between turning on customers and joint venture partners and turning them off. Let’s start with the “don’ts” of Twitter.

Twitter Turn-Offs

• Every tweet that you do has a link to a product or your blog posts.
• Not engaging in any form of conversation. If I visit your Twitter profile page and I don’t see any form of conversation with other Twitter users, it’s likely that I won’t follow you because I can see you’re not really participating in the community.
• You are still using the default Twitter avatar. This gives the sense that you could be a Twitter spam-bot, rather than a real person.
• You are following 2,000 people and only 10 people are following you. If you have followed that many people and only a handful have followed you back, it’s proof enough for me that you are not a useful resource.
• Neglecting to respond when someone begins a conversation with you. If you visit your replies box and see that I asked how your recent product promotion was going and you don’t respond to me, chances are that I will not try to engage in conversation with you again.

Twitter Turn-Ons

• An inviting profile page, including a vibrant avatar picture of yourself and an intriguing bio that makes me want to learn more about you.
• You are engaging in conversation 80 percent of the time. If I visit your profile page and see that the majority of your tweets begin with @twittername, it’s a sign that you are regularly communicating with others.
• Sharing resources. I once heard someone refer to Twitter as a global Rolodex. It’s a place to discover amazing resources that are working for others. Join in the sharing. When you come across a helpful tool or service, let your followers on Twitter know about it. They’ll look to you in the future as a good resource, increasing your stature in their minds.
• Twitter Shout Outs! This can be done in many ways. If you really enjoy my tweets, do a tweet yourself, saying, “If you are not following @TheFitB do so now, he’s a great fat loss resource.” You’d better believe that you’ll catch my attention with that and get some reciprocation.

This last point is one of the biggest potential benefits of Twitter, so I’ll explain it a little more thoroughly. What do you think would happen if I responded in a tweet, saying, “@yourtwitterid I appreciate your kind words, I see that you are an expert in my niche as well. It’s great to see you helping others succeed.”  I’ll tell you what would happen. You would get a bunch of my followers following you!

You may not be able to get a guru in your niche to send out an email promotion for your product to their list, but when you use Twitter effectively, you can get them to bring their followers’ attention to you and the work that you do.

How To Incorporate Promotions Into Your Tweets Without Turning People Off

If you follow the 80/20 rule, you’ll do just fine. If you restrict promotions to just 20 percent of your tweets, your chances of turning those tweets into sales are much greater.  One key reason is trust. Another key reason is that you have proven to be a useful resource with your free advice. If your tips have helped them out and you are now recommending that your followers check out a product that would be helpful to them, chances are good that they will click on it.

I spend most of my time engaging in conversation, and then when it’s time for me to work out, I’ll post a tweet mentioning that I’m about to hit the gym for a great workout and provide a link to a blog post review that I did for that workout program. I don’t send them directly to a sales page through my ClickBank link. I provide them with more information to help them decide if the workout program that I’m following would be the right fit for them as well. At that point, they can click on my ClickBank affiliate link to check out the program. Chances are much higher that they will purchase at this point than if I had just posted a link to a pitch page with no explanation.

Sometimes Twitter users will come right out and ask if anyone knows of a great product to solve a certain problem. This is a great opportunity to share your affiliate link for a product that you believe would be of great help to them. The more respected you are as a resource to your Twitter followers, and the more trust you earn from them, the greater the chance that they will purchase the products you recommend.

Be sure to return the favor, as well. If you purchase a product because someone recommended it to you, be sure to tweet them and let them know. I have discovered some pretty awesome products because of people I’m following on Twitter. I let them know that they deserve the commission for helping me make a wise purchasing decision.

Twitter really is a worldwide Rolodex at your fingertips. It will help you and your business in more ways that you can imagine. Use it effectively, and you can harness the power of its true potential.

Scott Tousignant of www.unstoppablefatloss.com harnesses the power of social media to help bring him closer to his goal of reversing the nationwide obesity trend by 2015. Connect with Scott by following him at www.Twitter.com/TheFitB

This is part two of a three-part series by guest blogger and ClickBank publisher Scott Tousignant on using Twitter to increase your ClickBank sales.

Part Two: How to Get Started With Twitter

Step 1: Choose a Name (Twitter ID) and Update Your Avatar and Profile
You should decide whether you want to brand yourself, your persona, or your company’s brand on Twitter. Your decision should be based on who you intend to communicate with on Twitter. You may choose to have a Twitter account for your own name, where you communicate with fellow marketers, and have a separate account for your product brand that you use to communicate with your customers.

It’s important to edit your profile with useful information, such as your blog address and a short blurb about yourself explaining how you can help your target audience. Add a picture to your profile immediately. Using the default Twitter avatar can make you seem like a spammer. When you have an avatar that displays your smiling face, it becomes much more inviting to engage in conversation with you.

Step 2: Begin to Tweet
You can start off by mentioning that you are trying to figure this ‘Twitter thing’ out and then share a bit about yourself. Follow that up with some resourceful tips that would pique the interest of your target audience. It’s a great practice to ask questions in your tweets as well. The feedback you get from your followers will expose you to new ideas and tools you’d never have found on your own.

Step 3: Start Following People
When you follow someone on Twitter, all of their tweets will appear in your timeline.  You will see the discussions they are engaged in, as well as who they are communicating with. You should follow people who share similar interests with you. After all, you need something in common to talk about.

Use the Twitter search tool to find like-minded people to follow. Visit http://search.twitter.com and type in your area of interest. Let’s say that your niche is gardening. Once you type ‘gardening’ into the search box, a list of everyone that has been tweeting about gardening recently will appear. Within that list you’ll find potential customers, as well as other experts in the gardening niche.

In addition to following these individuals, I recommend that you click on their avatar and check out their profile. If they have a link to a blog or Web site, check it out to learn more about them. Then I recommend that you send them a tweet mentioning that you checked out their blog and really enjoyed their recent post, or something along those lines.

You can direct a tweet at someone in one of two ways. You can either direct message them, in which case they will be the only person that views your tweet. Alternatively, you can use the @ symbol and make your tweet public. For example, let’s say the Twitter ID of the person you are sending the message to is ‘gardenguru.’ Your tweet would look something like this: @gardenguru I’m looking forward to learning more about you. Your recent blog post was outstanding!

This tweet would be made public for everyone to see, and because you started off your tweet with the @gardenguru your tweet will appear in the replies section of @gardenguru’s Twitter page. The benefit of making your tweet public, rather than a direct message, is that everyone will see that you are indeed on Twitter to network and aren’t just a self-promoter.

Step 4: Engage in Conversation
When someone posts a question, comment, or statement in a tweet and you have an opinion, share it with them. If ‘gardenguru’ is looking for the best fertilizer to use for his watermelons, you should respond by tweeting: @gardenguru I’ve been growing watermelons for years and found brand x to be the best.

You have now become a resource for ‘gardenguru’ with one simple tweet! Also, other Twitter users will have viewed your useful tweet, making you more of an expert in their eyes.

One of the best ways to learn how to get the most out of Twitter is to follow people who are using it effectively and learn from the conversations that they are having. After you sign up to Twitter, feel free to follow my tweets by visiting www.Twitter.com/TheFitB and clicking on the follow button. Send me a tweet letting me know that you found out about me through the ClickBank community, and be sure to let me know how I can be of help to you.

In my next blog post, I will share the most effective strategies for promoting ClickBank products using Twitter without being seen as a spammer.  Be on the lookout for “Twitter Turn-ons and Turn-offs” soon!

Scott Tousignant of www.unstoppablefatloss.com harnesses the power of social media to help bring him closer to his goal of reversing the nationwide obesity trend by 2015. Connect with Scott by following him at www.Twitter.com/TheFitB

This is part one of a three part series by guest blogger and ClickBank publisher Scott Tousignant on using Twitter to increase your ClickBank sales.

Part One: What is Twitter, and How Can It Help Your ClickBank Business?

Social media has quickly become the easiest and fastest method of generating targeted exposure for your ClickBank promotions. Participating in the most effective social networks, and using them correctly, will lead to an increase in conversions and boost your ClickBank sales.

With new social networking sites popping up every day, it can be difficult to determine which ones are worth your investment of time and effort. That’s why today, I’m going to make your life a bit easier. After spending thousands of hours in hundreds of different social networking communities and tracking where my traffic and sales are coming from, I can tell you without a doubt that Twitter has produced the best results for my business.

What Is Twitter, You Ask?

It’s hard to say, really. Twitter means different things to different people. To some people, it’s simply another form of a chat room, public instant messaging, or a virtual water cooler. To others, it’s a place to network with like-minded individuals, connect with customers, and attract joint venture partners.

The technical term that is often used to describe Twitter is ‘micro blogging.’ Each ‘tweet’ is a 140-character blog post. It’s quick and to the point. That’s part of the appeal to many Twitter users, which makes it important for you to understand that you need to provide value within each tweet that you make.

Why Should You Use Twitter?

Connect with Customers and Joint Venture Partners
Twitter allows me to build trust and enhance the relationship that I have with my customers. It’s one more way that I can erase any skepticism they may have in regards to my credibility and the value of my products.

Twitter has also become the easiest and fastest way for me to connect with industry leaders. There have been times where dozens of emails and phone calls failed to reach my prospective JV partner, but one simple tweet did the trick.

Increase Traffic to your Blog and Web Sites
When you are posting valuable content in your tweets and becoming a resource to your followers on Twitter, you can guarantee that they will be clicking on links in your profile and eagerly looking to learn more from you.

When you create a blog post, it is acceptable to announce it on Twitter. Having a catchy title and intriguing first few words of the post will increase click-throughs to your blog post. I recommend that you automate your blog posts to appear as tweets by using Twitterfeed.

Another example of leveraging Twitter is inviting your followers on Twitter to listen in on Webcasts where you are interviewing an expert in your niche.

Get More Incoming Links to your Site

Each tweet is its own unique page on the Web. When you include links to your blog posts, product review pages, or Web sites, you are receiving inbound links to each of those sites. Incoming links mean more traffic, both from direct visits and improved rankings in search engines.

Hopefully this post has given you a good introduction to Twitter and how it can help you grow your ClickBank business. In Part Two, I’ll show you the basics of getting started with Twitter, as well as the steps you need to take early on to be as successful as possible. Stay tuned!

Scott Tousignant of www.unstoppablefatloss.com harnesses the power of social media to help bring him closer to his goal of reversing the nationwide obesity trend by 2015. Connect with Scott by following him at www.Twitter.com/TheFitB