Advice for Beginner Affiliates
August 21st, 2009 | 
Author: Posted by: Beau Blackwell, Community Manager
Several times over the past few weeks, I’ve been asked what advice I would give to affiliate marketers who are just starting out and trying to learn the ropes. During my time at ClickBank, I’ve seen many affiliates go from knowing very little about what they should be doing to being extraordinarily successful. While every affiliate’s path to success will be different, as I’ll explain below, there are several general pieces of advice that I think can benefit every affiliate marketer. I hope they’ll be useful in helping you on your journey to affiliate marketing success.
- Treat affiliate marketing as your job- I can’t stress this point enough. While the ultimate goal of most affiliate marketers is to eventually make enough money to only have to work an hour or two a day (and there are many who do), one key to starting off well in affiliate marketing is to work as hard as you would at any other job. The most successful affiliate marketers start out by putting in long hours and doing lots of work on their promotional efforts, both in studying effective methods and actually putting them into practice. If you work 8 hours a day doing affiliate marketing, you’re going to be successful a lot sooner than if you only work 1 or 2 hours a day. Even if you’re doing affiliate marketing part-time, the more time you spend on it, the more successful you’re likely to be.
- Do what you’re good at- Affiliate marketing takes a lot of work, but one of the best parts of being an affiliate marketer is the freedom to choose how and when you work, what products you want to promote, etc. One of the best ways to avoid burnout, especially when you’re not yet making good money, is to choose promotional techniques that fit your personal style. Not everyone is a great writer, or even enjoys writing. If this describes you, you’re probably better off avoiding article marketing, which requires you to write large quantities of high-quality content. If you’re not the most social person and prefer anonymity, you probably won’t enjoy social media marketing very much. Since one of the main reasons for doing affiliate marketing is so you can work how you want to work, it’s important to figure out what suits your style and personality. Your work will be better, and you’ll be more willing to stick with it, if you’re enjoying yourself.
- Recognize that there are many ways to succeed as an affiliate- Since many new affiliates start out by reading books or following programs created by affiliate marketing experts, they think that these techniques may be the only way to make a lot of money and do well in the business. I’ve met many successful affiliates, and they’ve gotten to where they are today by many different paths. What works for one affiliate may not work at all for another, and there are always new tools, techniques, product niches, etc, being developed that can completely change the affiliate marketing game. Never be afraid to branch out on your own or try a crazy idea that you think just might work. Don’t be afraid to fail, because when you make mistakes you’ll figure out what works and what doesn’t, making you more successful in the long run. There’s a lot to learn in the business, so the sooner you start making mistakes, the sooner you’ll start learning what works!
Besides this advice, I recommend reading our Help Center article Affiliate Dos and Don’ts, which offers some more specific advice for working with ClickBank and how to avoid common mistakes.
I’d also like to welcome comments from experienced affiliate marketers who have advice to share with beginners and can offer some encouragement or guidance. Please share your advice by leaving a comment!
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Dear Mr Blackwell I am so new to the internet I have some trouble with a lot of the ‘language’. I think I have an account with clickbank but I don’t know how to access it I’m not even sure I have a Website. Can you steer me in the right direction? I have printed and read several of the help topics ,but I still don’t know if I’m on the right track.
Just a short note about something I wish someone had taken the time to pass on to me when I was first starting out as an affiliate marketer.
Whether you are researching a niche or searching for a tool on the net . . . whatever you seek, first check the “free” listings. Search for “free” blogs, “free” email, “free” websites. Whatever it is, check free first. You will be surprised at some of the quality products and services available online that fill the bill quite nicely where the only alternative you are aware of is some similar product or service you would have paid a couple hundred bucks for. For bulk emailing, check out “sendblasting” for instance. You can always upgrade to a paid product if the “free” one doesn’t cut the mustard.
I say, “save money, earn money, and have fun!”
Thank you very much for the article. I am very new to being an affiliate, so this info helped very much.
Okay I have signed up for a click bank account, I also signed up for a google adwords account I understand how to find companies to advertise for but I cannot figure out how and or where to go and post these advertisements, I am totally lost, heck I even got the hoplinks I want to post but I have no idea how to advertise them or where to go to advertise them. Please help my confused self.
Thanks,
Bryan
I appreciate the video and think that it is an awesome idea! I have an affiliate marketing (fairly new) website that gives away a lot of free ecourses for new online marketers. I wonder if this approach would work on my site. I am definately going to give it a go! I’ll let you know how it works.
Thanks Again,
Liz Nelson
Thanks for sharing this advice to old and new affiliate marketers. I strongly agree to take affiliate marketing as my job and work as hard as I would at any other job towards a success. I’m in the right place.
I’ve got my site set up. What’s the best way to let the public know it’s there?
This is great information, but I am not sure how set up a site, or get it out to the public.. Help???
This is a really great article and you are absolutely right. I often feel that people don’t understand that being successful online as an affiliate, or any other way, takes quite a bit of work in the beginning. But it’s just like digging a well. There’s a lot of work to do at the beginning but eventually just a little click on the handle will produce as much water (money, success, etc) as you want. Sometimes setting up a successful affilaite campaign can mean getting less sleep to get the job done. But once the money starts coming in you can get a few real “gushers” of thousands of dollars.
WORK. It’s the real secret to success in anything worthwhile doing.
Wow! I liked the article and now I want to help all these people! I’m not wealthy but I do advertise a lot and I’ve been earning online for several years from several businesses. I want to tell you lost people to read all the details of whatever you’re lost on and TAKE NOTES…whether it’s Google or Clickbank, all the info is there, you just need to study it step-by-step and it will fall into place for you.
The most important part of your Google ads is your title, you also need a short display link (some vendors tell you to use their main page link) but be sure to use your Clickbank hoplink for the destination link. You can practice for free with Google before you pay for an account. Google can be expensive, there are others you can try that cost less and have less competition in keywords, search on PPC ads and you’ll find some, or email some of the vendor contact links on the Clickbank businesses and ask them. About getting people to your sites, advertise continuously and enthusiastically, choose products/services that make you excited so you’ll relay that excitement in your ads.
Use an autoresponder and set up at least 7 messages, the first one immediately, the 2nd will be 2 days later, the 3rd will be 3 days later, and so on until the 7th message is 7 days after the 6th message, I hope you follow that so far, then that 7 message series will go on for 28 days to your prospects.
If you know basic web design, you can try making your own intro pages (one for each Clickbank item per intro page) with an autoresponder form at the top, a few graphics from the Clickbank program you chose, not too many graphics, and testimonials if possible, those are fantastic in bringing in prospects, and a list of benefits of the business. With time and practice, you’ll get better at all of it and soon you’ll be churning out intro pages just for fun. Your autoresponder messages are also great for mentioning other items at the bottom of later messages such as starting with the 4th message.
The good explanation. It is general but comprehensive.
i just started my affiliate marketing today, i agree with mr. Blackwell advice, and i really fired up to do affiliate marketing, hope i can learn a lot from you all her.
Thanks for the post Beau!
It is golden information coming from someone with visibility to affiliate activity behind the scenes of clickbank.
I started out by reviewing a clickbank product and made good money, sometimes daily just by having posted a review of this product to my site. But now we have to up our game and produce a whole site dedicated to the topic of interest for this to work.
Then work at driving traffic to our site.
For the newbies out there, the easiest way is to register a domain name containing the keywords of your topic. Then install WordPress on the site and get a custom theme designed for it.
Then blog at least 10 original long posts on the subject of the site.
Then build inbound links and traffic to your site via article submissions (write articles and post to EzineArticles and other article sites, post different articles that You write) and find the community interested in your topic and post comments to the blogs and contribute to forums.
Also twitter about your topic with occasional links to your site in the Tweets.
Embed links in your blog posts to the clickbank products that solve the problems of your site visitors. And add graphics provided by the advertisers to spice up your site and funnel extra clicks.
Well a bit brief, but hopefully newbies get an idea of ONE way to do it.
Andy
my names alex im a marine in iraq and i have some time to spare so i oppenned an account with google adwords and clickbank i know that when you go to the “marketplace” tab on clikbank you choose the website you want to promote right? so i click on the “create hoplink” from there on i am *LOST* SEE it gives you two links right, one for refferring someone and another you use but how? i have an account with google adwords to make ads and post them, i guess what im trying to say is do i copy and paste it there or somewhere else because i tried doing that but the link is too long or not a valid link.
Hi Alex,
Since you’re using ClickBank with Google Adwords, you’ll just need to use the first link we give you when you click “Create HopLink.” The second link we provide is only used if you want to post the link on your own website, or somewhere else that you need HTML code. Since you’re using Google Adwords, that’s not necessary, and you can just use the first link. I hope that helps!
Beau
I’m glad to be here. I’m actually getting more familiar to this site unlike before so as to be properly acquainted. In fact I was well motivated seing a friend of mine having five good ClickBank checks as income made, very interesting I must say. I’m here learning pretty well. Thank you.
VERY SERIOUS QUESTION HERE
what protections do affiliates have against vendor fraud. I have been promoting several vendors here and I find that although I am getting hops and order impressions through the analytics section buutthere are some vendors where i get no order form impressions ever.. idont want to name the vendors but one of thme iactually went to the order form page but it never registered in the analystics section. i am almost possitive there s vendor fraud here
This is my first try at doing anything online. Last evening I chose a Clickbank product, set up a Google adwords account, and submitted an ad. I had the same trouble as Alex – the hoplink was labeled invalid. I used GoogleProfits to find out how to construct my own hoplink (not encrypted), which was accepted. What do I do now to find out if I am getting clicks?
Please how many hoplinks can I post on my site per time?
Hello Beau,
Excellent article especially for the “newbie” affiliate marketer. Glad you pointed out the fact that affiliate marketing takes hard work. If an affiliate marketer has determination, patience and don’t mind a little hard work, there are many opportunities to make a decent income.
For me, having my own websites…I have 4…that are targeted to specific markets is how I sell Clickbank products. I have one site that is focused on my home state of Minnesota, one that is a recipe site, one that is focused on romance and dating, etc. It’s easy to find Clickbank products to fit these niches, then weave in text link or add graphics to the pages of my site that talk about these topics.
Okay, who wants to be my mentor? I am obviously doing something wrong and would like some mentoring from successful affiliates! I am tired of getting “teaser” checks and a whole lot of $0.00 days! Please help! Thanks.
Hi Gus. To answer your question I believe Vendor fraud is very small. ClickBank get on to them pretty fast but it can be worrying when first starting out and choosing what products to promote.
A sure fire way to know your links are working and you will get paid is to click on your affiliate link, find the ‘Buy Now’ button on the sales page, and go through to the ClickBank order form.
Then scroll down to the bottom and you will see text like this:
[affiliate = none]
If it says none, then your affiliate link didn’t work and the vendor will get the full amount. If it displays your ClickBank ID instead of the word ‘none’ then you know it is working perfectly and will get commission when someone buys through your link. If it displays someone else’s ClickBank ID then they will get the commission so either you have not set up your link right, or you have visited the site through someone else’s affiliate link, or in the rare occasions the vendor is using his own ClickBank ID.
If this is the case it should be reported straight away.
As an affiliate myself it is important to check the landing pages from time to time, as I was promoting one product for a while and then noticed that they had removed the ClickBank order button and were only selling the product through PayPal so they were keeping all the money. I notified ClickBank as soon as I found out and they closed that vendors account and informed me to stop promoting it. A good tip is to avoid vendors that have multiple payment options like paying via ClickBank, PayPal, etc as you could be losing commissions to people who don’t purchase via the ClickBank order form.
All the best with your efforts Gus. One more tip that I avoid too is not to promote products that display a menu item to their Affiliate Program on the sales page. I am also a vendor and I don’t display my Affiliate Program link anywhere on my website so the visitors you send don’t have the opportunity to sign up as affiliates which would mean you miss out on the commission.
Kind regards, Ian
http://www.pixelfreeway.com
I have a good question. I put up a website from a paid “how to” marketer. However, he then instructed us to put up a blog and I only put up the part of the website that he taught us.
As far as the blog is concerned – I can’t seem to figure out how to do this and I’m surprised at how difficult it is and how everyone seems to have such an easy time with this. I don’t even have it set up with anything except one post and have the thesis theme (paid for) on it – because it said it made it easier. Again, can’t seem to figure out how to do this which is stopping me from doing everything I want to do.
Any advice on how to get a blog and website up? Anything would help. I tried a book but it’s difficult and tedious.
Again, any info would be greatly appreciated.
Good luck to all of you – and great article Beau.
In some markets there will be a lot of competition especially if you plan to use Pay Per Click advertising. Another great way to promote a product and avoid competing with the other affiliate adverts is to go offline.
Yes, go back to the basics. You can try advertising in local newspapers and magazines and you will pretty much be the only affiliate promoting the product in your area. Or create and print out flyers or business cards and deliver to the letterboxes in your neighbourhood.
Get some vinyl sign writing done and add your website address to your vehicle and park in busy areas. This is a great way to promote your website and is free ongoing advertising as people will see your website and then go online to check it out.
You will need your own domain name or a free blog so that the visitors first come to your own site where you can then send them to the vendors site via your affiliate link so your ClickBank ID cookie will be created on the visitors computer. If you send them directly to the vendors website using their domain you will not get your commission because the cookie will not be created.
All the best, Ian
http://www.pixelfreeway.com
Hello Mr. Beau Blackwell,
I am very grateful that you have posted the video instructions on how to set up a hoplink on Clickbank site. I a very new to this program, but somehow I was not able to put all the instructions into my head even though I signed up with Maverick’s club. Your instructions were clear and easy to follow. i am happy to say I have the first two sites up. No sales yet, but soon they will be there. Thank you.
This is such a great, great post! I am still new to blogging and affiliate marketing and I love them both! I have not made nothing, but a few cents from google adsense and have fought the urge to quit many times. These so called gurus make it seem so easy that you start to question yourself. Let me tell you that it’s not that easy folks, but it can be done! I am not going away that easy! You can get a ton of info on how things work for free, don’t pay for the info when 9 times out of 10 if you search you will find what you are looking for. We should all get together and start our own “newbie affiliate support group” and help each other out! That is what a group of pro bloggers are doing and if you want proof go and read problogger.net and the article that Mr. Darren Rouse wrote about 2 weeks ago!
i thought as an affiliate i just copy the hoplink and display it at my blog. but reading this article, it is not. i’m new, just over two weeks and the income is 0.
thanks very much for ur advice and also for the replies here.
you have helped me to understand ‘affiliate’ better!
cheerio.
Hi.
I agree that you have to work as hard at affiliate marketing as you do at your day job (or night job, in my case!), but for many of us newbies its an uphill struggle.
I have slowly built up my website, but naturally I havent made a dime yet, im just filling it up with alsorts of affiliate links all over the place.
Im trying to learn about s.e.o. (which I know is search engine optimization) adding keywords meta tags and all sorts of things im only just beggining to understand, but it isnt easy.
I would welcome anyone who wishes to help with tips etc, or even someone who just wants to know how I did something, I would gladly share the info I have.
One last thing I must say is that I have learnt many simple tips by watching some shawn casey webinars (yes, I am an affiliate for his products, but Im not just saying this, I do believe there are some very useful beginners tips in the 10k club or easy profit strategies club)
Many thanks to all.
Paul.
i built this website over a year ago and the only shopper i have is myself! i get traffic but no one buys anythings. i have picked quality sites for my mall shoppers that offer great prices and specials, but no one shops my mall. i know zero about putting a blog on my site. i have tried but it just doesnt happen! I really appreciate all the advice i read about but nothing sinks into my learning bank head! i need a course in stupid 101. thanks for all the good advice that does help other people. i’ll just keep on working at it. i’m sure someday it will do me good!
1.the problems faced by beginners is to choose which internet marketing program/system to work with.quite often in the sales-letter or video promotion of this program,the main trust is to entice people to sign up rather than giving the real picture of what internet/affiliate marketing is all about.
beware of these words when reading a sales-letter/page;easy,fast,autopilot,millionaire,rich,wealth,riskfree
ironically,these are the exact keywords people use in browsing the internet searching for opportunities to make money.
2.since there is no overheads and in most instances,the capital investment is very minimal,therefore in internet marketing,we can take lots of risk in our business adventure.failure along the way is really a learning process.trial and error is the main method of learning and development
cheers
Hi Susan,
I highly recommend checking out http://www.becomeablogger.com. They have a series of great videos that show you every step of setting up a blog, so it should help you out quite a bit.
Great Post Beau, Both useful and informative! Thank you
And…. Hi Andy,
Would you please expound on:
(1) “…register a domain name containing the keywords of your topic. Then install WordPress on the site and get a custom theme designed for it…”
(2) How does ‘buy a domain name’ and ‘register a domain’ name differ?
Thanks
~Krystalina~
Krystalina,
Glad it was useful!
Here’s what Andy is referring to:
1. He’s suggesting that you register a domain name like lose-weight-fast.com or something like that, which contains the kinds of keywords someone would search Google for if they’re looking to lose weight. Try to identify the keywords that are important to the niche you want to promote, and try to get a domain name with those keywords in it. For the Wordpress part, he’s referring to downloading the WordPress platform from http://www.wordpress.org and installing it on your server. You’ll then want your site to look unique, and there are many designers who can make a totally custom theme for you. However, there are also many great free themes out there that you can tailor to your site if you can’t afford a fully custom design. See http://www.becomeablogger.com for more info about setting up and using WordPress, as they walk through the entire process from start to finish, specifically for WordPress.
2. Buying and registering a domain name are the same thing.
My advice is to learn a sever side scripting language such as .net, python, coldfusion, etc. Then learn how to build database driven websites using my-sql, sql-server, etc. With these skills you’ll be able to get a big leg-up on the competition. Information is also power. Talk to as many people in the business face to face to learn the tricks and secrets.
Hi everyone, this is a great post and I have gleaned much info from it. I understand that this is to be treated like a job and is simple but not so “easy”. I have chosen a “homesteading” niche as my primary outlet and do most of my marketing via social networking. I have linked all my social networking sites together ( what I post on twitter goes to facebook, friend feed, etc.) I have heard that a landing page converts better but I do not know how to set one up. I’m guessing that you could set up a blog (wordpress or blogger) and put a landing page there. One for each product??? I guess my question would be how do you get a landing page to look similar to the vendors pitch page so it looks like they originate from the same place and/or entity. Also how do I get one of the pop up “e-mail opt in” windows (I have seen so many on landing pages)to build a e-mail list to work with and eventually send autoresponses to this list?? Thanks for all your help.
Regards ,,
Rich Gately
pls u people should help us it is not as easy as u taught.i have worked for hours,days,weeks and months but i have not made a dime.2 weeks training (course) on it through our E-mail will be of good help to us.
thanks
I am agree to work long time but only no to read a book because I have problem with my eyes. That is why I would like to know is other product on the Clickbank Marketplace except books? Thanks.
My questions seem short-lived, which means I can’t wait to break the confusion. I’ve researched several hosting sites, and even tried Google. I do not like Google because they give you credits for ppc and blog spot positive remarks of “great organization” than Google takes the revenue away like a bad dream, so I do not Google anymore. Do not want anything to do with Googling…Googling seems to do that to groups of IM’s. ClickBank, SAS, Wealthy Affiliate(unsure of K&C) and LinkShare seem like honest folks from my intense research, except I keep coming back to ClickBank more often because of the trust I have with them.
Few questions, and please explain if I took wrong turn at the intersection.
First, to insert your given code in your website, how is that done as I understand the copy and paste part, will others (visitors) not see this in your site where you insert the code, as some are lengthy.
Second, are landing pages also same as one’s websites’.
Third, does convert mean that your making changes or converting in how your commissions are paid, like PayPal, Exchange Pay, D.deposit etc. I have complied about 25 pages of great keywords, blogs to relate same and direct from each domain I’ve compiled list of vendors that I think are great; consequently, someone please tell me if the 3 questions are correct. Thank you all and wish everyone well with their progress.
David
Clarification of this “dont”
Don’t promote the “resolved” form of a HopLink. An example of this would be http://www.examplesite.com/?hop=yournickname. Instead, you must use the HopLink format ending in hop.clickbank.net so the Hop can be tracked correctly, ensuring you receive affiliate credit on the sale.
This one would be tracked and paid:
http://fallacy.dylanloh.hop.clickbank.net
This one would not?
http://www.royaltyfreeproducts.com/?hop=fallacy
How did we (affiliates)come by the wrong one?
How should they be changed around?
Ron
Ron
Great information no all i need is to implement this!
Looks like that is going to be the fun part
Ron,
You are correct. The second link you posted (www.royaltyfreeproducts.com/?hop=fallacy) would not be credited with a sale if the affiliate posted that as a link on PPC, their website, etc. Some affiliates may accidentally come by this URL by clicking on their own HopLink (like the first link you posted), having it Hop to the vendor’s site, but then copying the resulting URL to use in their promotions, instead of the original HopLink. To fix the problem, just use the original HopLink (which should always end in “hop.clickbank.net” like the one you posted). Properly-formatted HopLinks can always be quickly created in the Marketplace.
Thank you Beau for answering my previous questions, would you please clarify where does a “resolved” form of a hoplink come from. Is that something done manually?
I’ve watched your video several times on “How to Create Hoplinks” and I’ve just set up 4 affiliate promos on my website. When I click on each one, they work perfect and take me straight to the vendor’s sales page. I did notice http://…..com/?hop=mynickname in the browser when I got there. I’m certain I did this right as I copied and pasted the address from the lower box in the ‘create hoplink’ for my website. I did follow each link all the way to the “Buy Now” page and did see [affiliate=mynickname]on the bottom of the page just as you mentioned in your video instructions.
Here’s somehting else I did. I right-clicked on the words “Click Here’ on my website then clicked “Properties”. The address it gave me was what you mentioned to Ron, “hop.clickbank.net”. So that tells me it’s set up right.
My concern is that it looks like the “resolved” form on the browser. YIKES!!! I hope this is not what you’re talking about.
Thank you,
~Krystalina~
Hi Krystalina,
It sounds like you’re doing everything right. The “resolved” form of the HopLink just means that address you see once you click on your HopLink and end up on the vendor’s website, with ?hop=mynickname at the end, like you mentioned.
Just to clarify, it’s totally OK that you’re seeing that resolved form of the URL once you’re on the vendor’s website- that’s supposed to happen. When I said not to use the resolved form of the HopLink, I just mean that you shouldn’t copy that URL (such as http://www.vendorwebsite.com/?hop=mynickname) and link to that URL in your promotions instead of using the link ending in hop.clickbank.net.
If you’re using the hop.clickbank.net links, and especially if you’ve followed each link all the way to the ClickBank order form and are seeing [affiliate=mynickname] at the bottom, then you’re doing everything right, and your links are being tracked properly. I hope that helps clear it up! I know this issue is a bit confusing. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Beau
Hello Beau,
Thanks for your promptness in clarifying the details. Sure glad I’m set up right, it’s my first with affilaite marketing. I hope this information helped others too. I’m a total newbie at this affiliate marketing stuff and I truly commend you for your very informative videos and interviews you’ve made available for us.
Well, I’m off to new adventures in the “CB marketplace” now that I know I’ve done this part right, it gives me the confidence to keep moving forward.
Thanks Bunches Beau
~Krystalina~
Hi Krystalina, You can also setup php redirects to your links and make them
look like http://www.yourdomainname/yourecommend/product. Do that, it looks professional and ur hoplinks will not be seen in the beginning.Take care.
Thanks for your tip Sharath,
I’m getting ready to get into article writing (marketing) to promote my product, is that ‘php redirects’ the same as ‘cloaking’?
Also can you direct me to more information on ‘php redirects’? What what does ‘php’ mean?
Thank you,
~Krystalina~
I just got clickbank and have no clue how to start…anyone ?I do not have my own website either so where do i go from here?
gc5gal,
Start here: http://www.clickbank.com/help/affiliate-help/affiliate-basics/get-started-as-an-affiliate/
You don’t need your own website to be a ClickBank affiliate.
Wow, I have done everything backwards. Got started with the gurus who just waste your time. I did look into click-bank, but I thought that was the last thing to do, not the first. All the info we newbies need is on the web, but finding and understanding it is hard. I agree we need a newbie support group. Thanks for great articles and feedback. Bette