Back in 1998, when I am still new in the Internet Marketing arena, I used to sell a Clickbank product called the Secrets of the Big Dogs. Although I tried using their so-called “secrets” for a while, I made more money selling it at Clickbank than using the system itself. I am not sure where the product is right now but it was a hot item back then. And I made some money with it as well enough to pay for merienda and hosting fees.
There were only a few products to choose from back then and it was thrill for me to see a “New Sale” email message from Clickbank every morning. And of course, what a good feeling to see your USD cheque coming by mail every 45 days. It is good and it is fun.
Fast track 13 years there was so much to sell now on Clickbank. More than that, Clickbank reinvented itself to become the undisputed leader in selling digital products. Although some others are following their footsteps, this industry icon has been stronger than ever. They offered more choices now than ever before which to me is both good and bad.
THE GOOD
There has never been a time when such wide array of products to sell through affiliate marketing exists at Clickbank. They now also give you a much better sense of which ones are selling hot or which ones are new in the marketplace. Clickbank redefined their website and added tools to help you sell even better and faster. They have banned the Philippines for quite some time but now all is good.
Other websites sort of piggyback on the Clickbank phenomenon and provide more tools and analysis to the internet marketers worldwide so they can better position their wares to the market. There also many online resources to help you get started in Clickbank some of which are now in video tutorial format. Wow, I wish I have those before in the late 1990′s!
But the biggest goodness for me is the explosion of the internet marketing industry as compared before. Now there are millions of players and potential players coming its way and the market is getting bigger and better. Bigger market means more in numbers and more potential income per product launch to digital product sellers. Better markets provide better closing rates since the players are well informed and has more confidence in putting their credit card details on the internet than before.
THE BAD
I can say that the quality of digital product has not improved ever since for the basic stuff. Many of the info products now are just rehashed ideas from way before and those “new secrets” yet to be revealed turn out to be a repackaging of some sort of older products. I am sure by now your 1.5 terrabyte of disk space from Western Digital are full of shitload of the so-called information products that promised more money and more income for you.
There are also many “packages”, compendiums and bundles out there mostly of trash information. This came about when the best internet marketers discovered outsourcing. Not that outsourcing is that bad but the thing is they (the product owners) seem to have not reviewed the outputs of their “ghost writers” such that trashy talks and articles are being packaged as unique products of sort. Disgusting to say the least that a product seller would push them out in the market at such raw and unedited state. It’s true there are quite a few nuggets of wisdom coming out from time to time but for the most part, the ugly beats the pretty ones many many times.
Although variety is good, the biggest drawback for me now is the confusion it creates to the marketplace. This was the true bad side of the information overload. Now, many internet marketing players (I prefer this than “customers” because of obvious reasons that we are all players here) are just swamped with all sorts of stuffs that it is so hard to decide which is the best Clickbank Secret is really working out there or maybe which Email Marketing Secret is more effective than others. Ahh it is every seldom to have those evergreens we have before.
Oh well I’ve said so much but I hope you get the idea. Selling Clickbank products then and now are way way off the charts. But what has not changed is that despite the trash in the marketplace, many people are still selling and buying stuffs there and therefore good for the affiliates like you and me.
Which therefore begs the question: What’s your money-making experience with Clickbank? Please share with us.