Here are the five most common questions we receive from new ClickBank affiliates:

1. I opened an affiliate account, now what do I do? What are HopLinks and where do I put them?

2. As an affiliate, do I need to make a Thank You Page? Also, what is my HopLink Target URL?

3. Where are the HopLinks I created? Do you have a list of them?

4. As an affiliate, do I need to submit my HopLinks for product approval?

5. What is the difference between the two HopLinks automatically generated when you use the link “Promote” in the Marketplace?

#1: I opened an affiliate account, now what do I do? What are HopLinks and where do I put them?

Thank you for creating an account with ClickBank! Keep in mind that you can use the same account to be an affiliate, a vendor, or both. For now, here is more information on how to get started as an affiliate with your new account.

ClickBank affiliates earn a commission for every sale they successfully promote.

As an affiliate, your first steps are:

1. Choose which products you want to promote.

2. Create correctly formatted HopLinks.

3. Place your HopLinks to promote your chosen products.

Step 1: Choose which products you want to promote

To choose which products you want to promote, visit the ClickBank Marketplace. You can either use the “Find Products” search box to type in words related to the kind of products you are interested in promoting, or click on a main category in the Categories list on the left side of the page.

Step 2: Create correctly formatted HopLinks

A ClickBank HopLink is the method ClickBank uses to successfully track the sale and give the proper affiliate credit. The HopLink takes potential customers from your advertisement of a product to that vendor’s website, while automatically crediting you, the affiliate, with the referral. If the customer then buys the vendor’s product you will receive a commission for the sale.

After you choose a product in the Marketplace that you want to promote, the next step is to create a correctly formatted HopLink. The simplest way to create HopLinks is to visit the ClickBank Marketplace. ClickBank will automatically generate the HopLink necessary for you to promote any of the products listed.

Simply find a product you want to promote and click “Promote.” Upon clicking “Promote,” a window will open prompting you to enter your ClickBank Nickname and your Tracking ID, if you want one. (Tracking IDs are not required. Do not enter your password as your Tracking ID.) Enter your nickname and click “Create.”

After clicking “Create,” a window will appear with your properly formatted HopLink. The HopLinks you create in the ClickBank Marketplace will automatically be in the following format:

http://YOURENCRYPTEDTEXT.hop.clickbank.net

Please note that the “YOURENCRYPTEDTEXT” section of this link will be encrypted text that includes your account nickname and the vendor’s nickname using our HopLink Shield technology for more privacy and security. Here is an example of how an encrypted link looks:

http://2de14oqj69s7oq8dml2ppljxff.hop.clickbank.net/

If you were to decode the above encrypted link on our HopLink decoding page, you would receive the following:

http://affiliate.vendor.hop.clickbank.net/

As you can see, when you create your HopLinks through the Promote button in the Marketplace, both your affiliate nickname and the nickname of the vendor you choose to promote are automatically encoded into the HopLink.

For every product you choose to promote you must create a properly formatted HopLink. Your HopLink will be different for each product you promote.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  There is no place within your account to save your HopLinks, and ClickBank does not store HopLinks for affiliates. See question 3 for more information.

Step 3: Place your HopLinks to promote your chosen products

The next step is getting your HopLinks in front of customers who are interested in the products you have chosen to promote. Affiliates use primarily web-based marketing methods to target potential customers and direct them to products.

There are a variety of Internet marketing methods used by affiliates to present their HopLinks to potential customers. The list of possible options is too exhaustive to be covered here. Some popular methods include paid search engine marketing, content and niche sites (for example, product review sites), personal websites or blogs, and email marketing.

For more ideas on common ways affiliates promote products, please see the following article:

http://www.clickbank.com/help/affiliate-help/affiliate-guides/common-ways-to-promote-products/

It is important to ensure that the ways you choose to promote products are in compliance with our Client Contract and our Network Abuse Policy. All ClickBank clients are prohibited from using our services in conjunction with any form of network abuse, spamming, spyware, denial of service, or other illegal activity. Sending any email to purchased lists or lists obtained by any other method (such as harvesting) is not acceptable. Clients may only send email to recipients who have joined mailing lists directly from their own web site.

Also, if your advertisements contain endorsements and/or testimonials, ensure they comply with the FTC Endorsement Guidelines:

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005endorsementguidesfnnotice.pdf

For more information on important “Dos and Don’ts” when promoting products, please see the following article:

http://www.clickbank.com/help/affiliate-help/affiliate-guides/affiliate-dos-and-donts/

#2: As an affiliate, do I need to make a Thank You Page? Also, what is my HopLink Target URL?

Affiliates do not need to make a Thank You Page or set up a HopLink Target URL. A ClickBank account is set up to be used by both a vendor and an affiliate. Because of this, there are some settings within the account that are only relevant to the vendor.

Specifically, clients who wish to be affiliates only do not need to fill out the information requested on the “My Site” and “My Products” links under the “Account Settings” tab.

As an affiliate, you only need to create your HopLinks and start promoting them. You do not need to enter anything more into your account.

Please also note, a “HopLink” is different than a “HopLink Target URL.” A HopLink is the method ClickBank uses to successfully track a sale and give the proper affiliate credit. A HopLink Target URL is the Pitch Page, or sales page, for the vendor’s product. When a customer clicks on an affiliate’s HopLink they are taken to the vendor’s HopLink Target URL to look at the product being advertised.

Do not attempt to enter your HopLink as the HopLink Target URL on the My Site page. Because you only want to be an affiliate, you do not need to enter your HopLink anywhere in your ClickBank account.

For more information about how to create and promote HopLinks, see the answer to question number 1 and/or read the following article:  http://www.clickbank.com/help/affiliate-help/affiliate-basics/get-started-as-an-affiliate/

#3: Where are the HopLinks I created? Do you have a list of them?

ClickBank does not keep a list of the HopLinks affiliates create. As such, you are not able to view your HopLinks within your ClickBank account. When you create HopLinks, we recommend that you save them somewhere you can reference them, such as a text document or spreadsheet on your computer.

While we do not save the HopLinks you create anywhere in your ClickBank account, we are still fully able to record all of the earnings made through any HopLinks you promote.

For more information on how to track your sales in your ClickBank account, please see the following articles:

http://www.clickbank.com/help/account-help/reporting/transactions-reporting/

http://www.clickbank.com/help/account-help/reporting/analytics-reporting-new/

#4: As an affiliate, do I need to submit my HopLinks for product approval?

As an affiliate, you do not need to submit your HopLinks for product approval.

Since there is no approval process for HopLinks, you must be certain that your HopLinks are formatted properly before you start your promotional efforts.

You can verify that your HopLinks are set up correctly by following the steps outlined below:

1. Enter your HopLink into a new browser address bar, and hit “”Enter.”

2. Click on one of the vendor’s ClickBank order buttons.

3. Scroll to the bottom of the ClickBank order form. You should see your account nickname listed as the affiliate. For example, [affiliate = yournickname].

This test proves that your HopLink is set up and working correctly. It also ensures that your account will be credited with any commissions earned from customers who order as a direct result of your referral.

For more detailed information about ClickBank HopLinks, please see the following page from our Help Center:

http://www.clickbank.com/help/affiliate-help/affiliate-basics/all-about-hoplinks/

#5: What is the difference between the two HopLinks automatically generated when you use the Promote button in the Marketplace?

When generating a HopLink via the ClickBank Marketplace, you are presented with two variations of the same HopLink.

The one on top is simply your properly formatted HopLink, in the following format: http://YOURENCRYPTEDTEXT.hop.clickbank.net

In addition to the first link you see in the box, there is also an example of that same HopLink formatted in HTML code. When using HopLinks on your own web site, you will need to utilize HTML. Here is what a properly formatted ClickBank HopLink looks like in HTML (with no line breaks):

<a href=”http://YOURENCRYPTEDTEXT.hop.clickbank.net” target=”_top”>CLICK HERE</a>

You do not need to use this second link for anything unless you have created your own website on which to promote ClickBank products. While having your own website can be helpful (see this video for more information), it is not required to promote products.

If you have created a website of your own, this is the link you will enter in your source code to create a hyperlink to the vendor you’re promoting. Once it is saved in your website’s code, you should see a hyperlink created when you view your page.

Remember, if you do not have your own web page, you will never need to use this second link in HTML coding at all. You can simply copy and paste the first link given into any advertisements you create.