With the New Year approaching I have been thinking about the best ways to market ClickBank products in the coming year. Although much has changed since I began marketing with ClickBank nearly 13 years ago, many of the same marketing principles and practices still hold true. Trust, integrity, transparency, communication, and honesty are the cornerstones for a successful ClickBank business and ever more so in today’s online environment.
What’s been interesting to observe over the years is how the Internet has transformed from a place of anonymity to a place of ever growing transparency. The days of hiding behind a website and selling your products anonymously are quickly disappearing. With the advent of more social tools and resources on the web, people are increasingly buying from those they know and trust. In addition, a person or company’s reputation is becoming ever more important as every comment about a customer experience is now shared, spread, and stored indefinitely on the web.
With the increasing demand for reputable, honest, and responsible merchants I think it’s fitting to say that in 2012 the best way to promote ClickBank products will be to adopt sound business practices by…
Engaging with video – The Internet is a social medium. In order for people to trust and buy from you, engaging with them to build and maintain trust is imperative. Video is powerful because this allows you to engage your visitors in a way you simply cannot do otherwise. You need to be putting your face out there; you need to let people see and hear exactly who you are. Gimmicky infomercial type videos without a real person in them and videos with a fake voice and only screenshots may work for now, but going forward they will lose out to credible videos with real people who engage and connect.
Standing out with social media – The Internet is only growing and increasing numbers of people are signing up for ClickBank every day. It’s now easier to get lost in the sea of noise, and as a result you MUST be unique and you MUST connect with your audience. A great way to do this is to engage with past, present, and potential customers using social media. By engaging with people you’ll immediately stand out as someone they can get to know, trust, and buy from. Make sure your business or website has a social media presence and you’re using that to engage.
Delivering more value – In the past, customers were not as Internet savvy and there weren’t as many places for them to share their bad experiences. Today is a different story. Word spreads even faster with sites like FaceBook and people are looking to others for instant recommendations through Twitter. One of the easiest ways to build trust and deliver value is to simply live up to your promises. If you want to take your business to the next level then under promise and over deliver. If you can do that you’ll be doing more than the majority of affiliates and vendors, and you’ll also be one of the few marketers that people want to buy from over and over again.
Thinking long term – So many people online start out thinking they can make loads of money by finding some loophole in the system or exploiting some secret tactic only a few know about. As we get into 2012 these little known tactics have all but disappeared. For example, this year, Google made many significant changes in their search algorithm, decreasing the traffic to countless websites overnight who were trying to game the system with poor content and low quality inbound links. If you want to build a sustainable business in 2012 you need to stop playing games for a quick buck and start building your business for long term success.
Learing from the past – As we move forward into 2012 we shouldn’t forget the lessons we learned in 2011. This year we watched as ClickBank implemented stricter guidelines and tighter regulations in regards to quality and transparency for their vendors. We saw Google change their search engine algorithm focusing more on original unique content that provides value. We also saw the launch of Google Plus, another social network which forces you to use your real name and identity. As you can see, all of these changes are heading in the direction of value, trust, and openness.
In 2012 I only see the trends of transparency, integrity, and trust continuing. More and more we’ll see a move toward honest and ethical business practices, which will certainly be the best way to promote your ClickBank product in 2012 and beyond!
May 19, 2012 at 6:17 pm
I have been following your valuable posts since I joined Clickbank last 3 years (as a silent reader). This one is another precious sharing that I would like to agree 100% with you Miles.. Keep up a good sharing!
May 19, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Thanks Asyraf! Glad to have the support and hope to hear from you more!
April 8, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Thank you Sir for the wonderful sets of comments and the 2012 report it makes me feel very comfortable to step into this wonderful IUniverse, that promises to make one huge Nation out of the World. The Words that emphasize our need to market clearly, cleanly and with pride come through your statement. Again thank you from New Zealand and the next generation of growing countries.
February 27, 2012 at 3:27 am
Hey Miles, Great article… where do you get your traffic from for clickbank products these days now that adwords is effectively ‘dead’ for us affiliates?
and feedback on this would be great.
February 27, 2012 at 8:05 pm
Hey James, great question! Personally I use SEO, Social Media, paid advertising on other websites, email, Yahoo/Bing, and guest blog posts. Those methods seem to still do well for me. I don’t do much article marketing but I know it still works some. Partnerships as well work. There’s still loads of places to advertise online for paid traffic, and it’s still possible to use Adwords, but you have to go about it much differently and for most people it’s not as effective as it used to be. I find social media sites like YouTube to be effective because they send you visitors to your website and your video can also rank in Google’s search results in addition to YouTube’s.
February 8, 2012 at 4:34 am
Hi Miles,
There are only few marketers talking about transparency, honesty, and trustworthiness out there and I agree with you 100%. I do believe that these are very basic fundamental aspects to run whatever business we are involved in. I’ve read so many articles but most of marketers emphasize their effort just to discover new tricks to get high traffic from search engine without enough concern to these aspects and even practice some “blackhat strategies”.
I’m still a newbie in internet and still struggling to find the best way to start my internet business, particularly with clickbank products. And I enjoy reading this valuable article from an experienced mentor like you. Thank you.
February 9, 2012 at 3:38 am
Hey Erwin, thanks for your comment. I really appreciate it! I hope I can continue to help you further. Thanks again!
January 4, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Hi, Miles great content, I agree with your article at clickbank, making those long boring articles takes to much time. i also was having some success with classified ads. I learned that if you made a 200-300 word ad it would sometimes appear on search results even on the the first page of Google in a matter of days with 0 back links! But video just catches your attention so much more. I have a question, I bought paid surveys at home and Im using it as a review for my Youtube videos. Will Youtube erase them if I make ; lets say 30 or 50 similar videos? Thanks for the help and happy new year!
January 4, 2012 at 5:25 pm
Hello Juan, I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
YouTube will not allow you to upload the same video twice, even if it has a different file name. If you upload slightly different variations there’s a chance YouTube will still detect is as duplicate or they may remove the video from your account if they suspect it’s duplicated. I haven’t heard of anyone having their account banned for this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you repeatedly did it that they would. I would recommend against this practice.
In my experience when working with companies like Google, YouTube, etc. you want to go with the flow and give them reasons to rate your content highly. When you start going against what they are encouraging you will eventually run into issues.
December 17, 2011 at 11:33 pm
I really like your year in review and advice of what to look for in 2012. You have a way of making a reader anxious and looking forward to your post. Its flows very well and everything you talk about has substance. I too believe that integrity, honesty and loyalty are critical success factors for a lucrative business sustainability.
Thank you
January 4, 2012 at 5:17 pm
Thanks Danny! I’m glad you got something out of the article. Thanks for your comment!
December 16, 2011 at 6:09 am
Hi Miles, I just found your site after watching your video on YouTube, which Clickbank nicely put out there as an example of a “Clickbank success story”.
Excellent post and I agree 100%, especially about the transparency and trust. Looking forward to 2012 with Clickbank!
~Nat
December 17, 2011 at 12:22 am
Hey Nat, glad you like the post! Looking forward to 2012 with ClickBank as well. Hope to see you around!
November 19, 2011 at 8:52 pm
All i want is for someone to guide me through the minefield that is the internet as i cannot seem to get the products i’m trying to promote to publish anywhere. I just want to make a little extra money each week or month. So could anybody please help me to get started, i’v registered with clickbank etc and tried to promote some items to no avail and i don’t know what i’m doing wrong. I tried the advice from clickbank about liking somethings and posting them on facebook and yes they posted on my page but nobody seems to be able to click on them to see the products for themselves. i’m not greedy and don’t want tons of cash instantly (the quick buck) i am not very computer literate so please please please can anyone help me get my business off the ground and help me, as i am in it for the long term not get rich quick schemes. thankyou very much. martin…..
November 19, 2011 at 9:50 pm
Hello Martin,
If you ask your questions in our forums I will be glad to personally answer them myself or have one of my staff assist you.
November 17, 2011 at 7:56 pm
Agree with you 110% Miles – the days of hiding behind a shallow alias are long gone.
November 17, 2011 at 9:23 pm
Thanks Eric, which is why you should get a Gravatar so we can see your pretty face!