Archive for the ‘General’ Category

Posted by: Terra Goeres, Manager- Client Account Management

When I was a kid, my brother and I used to look forward to report cards coming out each quarter. If we did well, my parents would recognize and reward us for our efforts. We would get dressed up, go out to a fancy restaurant, and spend a leisurely 2-3 hour dinner as a family. Even today, I still have great memories of those reward dinners. While they weren’t the reason I worked hard in school, they sure were a nice bonus, and I appreciated the recognition of my efforts.

Being recognized and rewarded for loyalty, hard work, and success is a universal desire that manifests itself in several different forms throughout our society. Whether it’s a family celebration, a frequent flyer program, a punch card for your favorite coffee shop, or an invitation to join an elite club, we all like to feel valued by the people with whom we associate most. It is in that spirit that ClickBank’s business development department created the Premier and Apex programs.

We started the ClickBank Premier program in 2008 as a way to recognize our top vendors and reward them for their loyalty, ingenuity, and hard work. The program was so successful that we extended the idea to ClickBank affiliates and started the Apex program in 2009. We also increased the number of benefits awarded, and we’re in the process of dedicating more resources to each program.

The programs have also delivered huge benefits to us, as we’ve been able to build closer relationships with our top clients and work with them to make sure ClickBank remains the best solution for selling and promoting digital goods. In fact, we’ve got some exciting new features and enhancements coming out this year that are a direct result of our communications with Premier and Apex clients!

As with status levels in frequent flyer programs, members of the Premier and Apex programs must requalify each year. Every fall, we look at our sales for the previous 12 months and invite the top 100 vendors and the top 100 affiliates to participate in the programs. Current members who did not requalify are notified of this fact, while new qualifiers are invited to join.

If you’re reading this post and you’re not a current member of either program, I hope this inspires you grow your business with us and achieve Premier or Apex status. ClickBank will reward you for your loyalty, your hard work, and your ultimate success!

Here at ClickBank, we’re always trying to recruit great new publishers and affiliates, since having more products and people to promote them benefits everyone. And there’s no better way to show prospective ClickBank members how successful they can be than for them to hear about the experiences of our existing clients. If you’ve been successful using ClickBank, whether that means making millions, getting your product in front of a wider audience, or just having a little extra money each month, we’d love to hear from you!

Just fill out the form below and share your thoughts about working with ClickBank, along with your name, location and company name (if you have one). Please note that by leaving a testimonial, you give us your permission to use your name and your testimonial in our marketing materials. If you prefer, we can use your first name and last initial only.

Thank you for working with ClickBank!

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Posted by: Jennifer Johannsen, VP of Operations

With the start of every new year, of course, comes New Year’s Resolutions… Well, this year, one of my New Year’s Resolutions (which I challenge you all to take on, as well) is to spread the word about ClickBank to friends and other acquaintances.

During these challenging economic times, ClickBank offers a unique opportunity for anyone to make a little extra money, either as an affiliate or as a publisher. I realized that while I see all of the benefits ClickBank has to offer day in and day out, I rarely tell people that I run into outside of work why it would benefit them to join and how they can get started.

As Greg and Jeff mentioned in their blog posts (”DIY with ClickBank” and “Put Me in Coach…“), first you need to think about your unique knowledge and about your niche. Then you can take that to the next level, and think about what kinds of problems and questions your friends have the answers to that most people don’t, and explain to them the benefits of writing that up in an e-book and selling that through ClickBank.

For those of you that spread the word online, there is something in it for you too…  ClickBank’s publisher referral program is a great way for you to promote ClickBank and earn extra commissions for doing so. You will earn 20% of the $49.95 activation charge when your referred publisher activates their account. You will also earn 5% of ClickBank’s typical markup of each sale that your recruited publisher makes for one calendar year. For more information, please visit the Referral Program and the Referral Program FAQ page on the ClickBank Web site.

I wish you and all of your referrals the VERY best in 2009!!!

Posted by: Greg Lems, VP of Information Technology

I’m in the midst of a long-overdue remodel of the second floor of my home. Although I hired someone to do most of the specialized work, I decided to tackle several projects myself to save money in these trying times.

One task that I learned would save a fair amount of money if I did it myself was carpet removal. However, while the main part of the work was very fast and easy, I quickly discovered that removing the hundreds of staples left behind was a much bigger chore than I had imagined! At first I thought I was in for hours of extra work as I started removing each staple by hand.

Fortunately for me, the contractor I had hired for other work saw what I was doing and stopped me before I wasted too much time. It turns out there’s a simple tool that carpet installers use to remove staples quickly and easily. After he showed me how to use it, all of the staples were gone within a matter of minutes, saving me hours of work and a lot of backache.

It got me thinking about how an enterprising ClickBank publisher could have helped me solve my problem earlier. Every successful ClickBank product solves a problem or addresses a need. In my case, I’m a relatively handy person, but need some specific advice on DIY home remodel techniques that save people money. If someone like my contractor, who has a lot of knowledge and advice to offer people like me, had created an e-book that addressed common remodel techniques that save money, I’d have bought it in a heartbeat. The time, money and effort it would have saved me would have been well worth the cost.

If you’ve always wondered what kind of e-book you could write and sell, think about what kinds of problems and questions you have the answers to that most people don’t. For example, most people don’t have the time or inclination to become a full-fledged contractor, but they’d love to take advantage of all the time- and money-saving tips that contractors have learned over the years.

Chances are good that if you faced a particular problem in the past and figured out how to overcome it, there are many other people who will face the same problem at some point and would gladly pay for the solution! Some of our most successful products address needs like this. Here’s a 2009 DIY project for you: think about your experience and knowledge, write it up in an e-book, and list it with ClickBank. Who knows who else you’ll help?

Posted by: Bob Dunlap, Director of Marketing

Nobody said it was going to be easy.  Successful affiliate marketing takes discipline, savvy, and hard work.  Even experienced Internet marketers go through tough times and make their share of mistakes.  While everyone likes to talk about their most recent success, few are willing to detail their failures.  That’s why I found this recent blog post interesting.  The author recounts his “worst month ever,” where he made exactly $182.64 in profit after normally making thousands.  Your mistakes are likely different than his, but you should still analyze “why” when things don’t go according to plan. It’s the only way you’re going to grow as an affiliate marketer.

Speaking of planning, now is the time to prepare for 2009.  The end of the year is always a good time to reflect on the accomplishments, challenges, and mistakes from the previous year and formulate your goals and plans for the next twelve months.  As part of this process, you might want to check out the December issue of Affiliate Classroom magazine.  This issue provides some great lessons learned from 2008, and things to consider when compiling your 2009 plan.

As 2008 winds down, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the ClickBank community for a successful and memorable year.  Our success is a result of the hard work and creativity you put in every day.  From all of us at ClickBank, Happy Holidays and best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2009!

Posted by: Kristen M., Marketing Communications Manager

For many people creativity doesn’t come easy. Companies use strategies as varied as brainstorming meetings in rubber-padded rooms with beanbags, popcorn parties, and even brainstorming retreats to try to foster creativity and find the next big idea.

We don’t go to quite those lengths here at ClickBank, but I do take steps to cultivate my own creativity. One resource that I find very helpful is the Springwise Weekly Newsletter.

Springwise summarizes new business ideas spotted around the world—everything from maps that allow you to navigate cities by mood to personalized PDF magazines converted from RSS feeds.

Only some of these products are digitally delivered. Other inspired ideas include customized couture helmets and sticky car art.

Almost all, however, are creative solutions to an existing business need. Not to mention, they are certainly fun to read about. So check them out, and get the creative juices flowing for your next big idea.

Posted by: Jeff Leget, Director of Operations

During my family road trip over Thanksgiving I listened to a great deal of 80’s music on the radio. John Fogerty’s “Put Me in Coach, I’m Ready to Play” got me thinking about ClickBank and how many people these days may be “ready to play” and not even know it.

For example, my sister-in-law recently finished her second Ironman triathlon. She trained for 9+ months with the help of a coach, with whom she mostly corresponded online. (She did great, by the way.) My wife did the same thing for a half-Ironman earlier this year, and she too had great success. I am now getting almost-daily updates from a financial advisor via email about the stock market turmoil.

I have heard that a lot of people are re-evaluating their lives and looking for “life coaches” in the wake of financial catastrophe. Advice is important even for small decisions. Before my family started out on our road trip, we looked online for travel advice regarding where to go, where to stay, and what to do.

My point is that a lot of people have great information and experience to leverage for advising or coaching others. How do I avoid foreclosure? How do I land a job after I’ve been laid off? How do I start a new career? How do I pull together the best holiday party on a budget? How can I be a better parent, athlete, coach, or person?

So what’s your unique knowledge? What’s your niche? It’s time to get off the bench and start making money from your experiences. ”Put me in coach, I’m ready…” to get paid.

Andrew Warner of Mixergy recently conducted an extensive interview with ClickBank’s Director of Marketing, Bob Dunlap. In their discussion, Bob shared strategies he’s observed over the years for successfully creating and selling ClickBank products, particularly ebooks. If you’re thinking about developing a new ClickBank product, or want to know how to increase sales of your existing product, be sure to check out the Mixergy podcast.

Posted by: Monty Sooter, CTO

Wow, the U.S. presidential election is over at last. The U.S. has a new president-elect and I can finally get back to focusing 100% on work, our customers can get back to surfing the Web for solutions to their problems, and we can all sell more digital products.

It has been 21 months since President-elect Obama kicked off his campaign and change has been constant for all of us during this time. I read an article the other day that talked about how a baby born when Obama launched his campaign is now walking and talking.  That is change those families can believe in.

I went back and reviewed what has happened at ClickBank over the last 21 months, and the following are some of the changes we have implemented:

• Recurring billing
• Supplemental Hops
• Hop analytics
• Publisher-requested refunds
• Lower initial payments and additional frequencies for recurring billing
• System status page
• Installment payments
• ClickBank Newsletter
• ClickBank Blog
• Instant notification service
• PayPal recurring billing
• ACH payments
• My Site and My Account page redesign
• Weekly ACH payments
• Customer service help URL
• Multi-currency capability
• Multilingual capability - Spanish, German and French

That is not quite as impressive as winning a presidential election, but unlike the U.S. economy, at least the ClickBank economy has continued to grow steadily.

It is a great time to be part of an Internet business. As we saw in the election, the Internet can fundamentally change how things work, whether that is a political process or figuring out how to sell your ideas.

Let’s keep working together to make sure we understand your needs so we can continue to deliver “Change We Can Believe In.”

Our Director of Marketing, Bob Dunlap, recently wrote an article for Electronic Retailer Blog about monetizing blogs through affiliate marketing. Check it out here.