Affiliate marketers usually use different affiliate platforms to find products to promote. Clickbank is surely one of them.
But, it is safe to use?
Yes, Clickbank is completely safe to use. It was founded back in 1998 and has been a trusted affiliate platform since then. They are currently one of the leading affiliate marketplaces on the internet right now.
Clickbank is surely a great place to start for beginners as there are a lot of good things about it. However, there are also some reasons why I would personally stay away from that platform.
What is Clickbank?
Clickbank is simply an affiliate marketplace as well as a global internet retailer. It was founded in 1998 and has more than 6-million clients worldwide.
Signing up on Clickbank is completely free and once logged in, you are free to choose any product to promote within the 1000s of available products.
Clickbank also provides you with the option of selling your own products through it’s marketplace. This means that if you have some product of your own that you would like to sell, you could list it on Clickbank. Once your listing is approved, any Clickbank affiliate will have the power to sell it.
Related Article – ClickBank Vs ClickFunnels!
4 Reasons Why Clickbank is Safe
Clickbank as I have mentioned above has been operating for more than 2 decades. If it was a fraudulent website, it would have been long gone by now.
Moreover, there are a lot of people who use Clickbank for affiliate marketing, which is a clear sign that Clickbank is safe.
2. No Signup Fees
The main thing to look for when you join an affiliate program is the upfront cost. If some company asks you upfront payment in order to promote their products, there is a high chance of it being a scam website.
Clickbank however, doesn’t ask you for any payment and is free to join.
3. Actually Pays You
Clickbank is known for its reliable payment system.
They currently payout in 4 different ways – Wire Transfer, Direct deposit, Check, and Payoneer. It’s a shame that there is no Paypal option but that’s okay, I guess.
4. Money-Back Guarantee on Affiliate Products
Most products on Clickbank do offer a money-back guarantee. This can be a huge thing for the customers who actually buy the product.
This is even more important in the case of Clickbank as there are a lot of trashy, good-for-nothing products, and a Money-back guarantee might help your customers get their money back.
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The Only Reason Why I don’t Like Clickbank
1. Scam/Useless Products
Clickbank has a large collection of affiliate products. But, a large portion of these products are either a big scam or don’t work.
This has been a problem for quite a long time. Since the suppliers/vendors provide a whopping 70%-100% commissions on most of the products, affiliate marketers blindly recommend them to their audience.
This is quite sad because, in the end, consumers are the ones who are affected by the lack of unbiased information on the internet.
Most Clickbank products have a biased positive review on the internet. If you can’t believe me just google any Clickbank product name along with the keyword ‘Review’ and see for yourself.
Most of those scammy products are in the fitness, self-help, and internet marketing niche. So, if you ever plan to promote them to your audience, make sure to buy them yourself and review them before recommending them.
Related Article – Is ClickBank Legit? Or Is It a Scam Website?
Alternatives to Clickbank
ShareASale
Shareasale is a good affiliate marketplace. There are a lot of products to promote in a variety of categories.
However, unlike Clickbank, where most products are from some unheard, stupid companies, ShareAsale only lists some branded companies.
Some well-branded companies include Reebok, Shein, Freshbooks, US Polo, etc.
The commission rates vary anywhere from 5%-30% for each sale. In addition to that, there are some products that pay per lead.
Amazon Associates
Amazon is the largest online shopping website in the world. It’s trusted by many and provides high-quality products.
They do have their own affiliate program, however, the commission rates are quite low, ranging from 0.1% – 8%
Recently, The commission rates were slashed and this has led a lot of people to choose other affiliate programs.
Even though the commission rates are quite low, the conversion rate is very much higher and you also get the commission for every product that the person has in his/her cart.
Related Article – Is Amazon Affiliate Program Worth It?
CJ Affiliate
CJ affiliate is also almost similar to ShareAsale with many branded products. They do have a lot of categories to choose so you are almost likely to find something to promote in your niche.
There are more than 3000 affiliate products and the commission rates range from 1% – 30% depending on different products.
Even though there are quite a lot of competitors to Clickbank, I generally only use Amazon associates. The rest of the affiliate programs that I promote are usually companies like Shopify, Bluehost, etc which are niche-specific. If you do want to find some niche-specific affiliate programs go to google and search for Your Niche + Affiliate Programs.
Conclusion
Clickbank is surely a safe platform and is a good platform to start your affiliate marketing journey. However, the presence of a large number of trashy products is surely a big concern.
You could get past that by actually buying and reviewing it before you recommend them to your audience. That way you not only will be able to provide more value, you will also earn a lot of trust from your audience.
With that said, hope you have a good day ahead.
Peace!