ClickBank, the web's premier digital product marketplace, is literally teeming with thousands of different products that you can promote as an eager affiliate marketer. Some products are bad, some are average, and a much smaller selection are actually very good.
Picking the right product on ClickBank can mean the difference between making little or no money, or stuffing your bank account full of cash. This is especially true once you start building up bigger traffic or list numbers — a simple change of product to something that converts even 1% better could result in a lot of extra cash!
So how do you find these fantastic money-making products? I'll walk you through it. I've even created a super easy-to-use template for saving promising options as you go:
With this template, you'll be able to fill in all the ClickBank product details you need, and reference them later. Now just head to the Clickbank Marketplace and we'll get started.
Step 1: Find My Categories
Once you've arrived at the ClickBank Marketplace, the first choice you're faced with is: Which category to look at first? The answer to this question depends on whether you already have your website up and running. I'll talk you through both scenarios:
I Already Have a Website
Since you already have a website up and running, it should be fairly straightforward for you to pick the categories that suit your audience most.
Ask yourself:
What is the focus of my website — my "niche," so to speak?
- Which categories in the ClickBank Marketplace align with that topic?
- E.g., If you have a weight-loss website, you might consider these your main categories:
- Health & Fitness
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- E.g., If you have a weight-loss website, you might consider these your main categories:
- Who would be most interested in my website?
- E.g., Male, female or both? Rough idea of age group? What types of interests?
- What else would someone of that audience be interested in?
- E.g., If your audience is predominantly women aged 18-45 with an interest in weight loss, you might also consider...
- Self-Help
- Spirituality, New Age & Alternative Beliefs
- Home & Garden
- Parenting & Families
- Languages
- E.g., If your audience is predominantly women aged 18-45 with an interest in weight loss, you might also consider...
It really depends on the tone of your website and what you think your audience will be interested in. Make a list of your possible categories, in order of relevance to your audience. You can do this on paper, in a Word document, or in the left-hand column of your spreadsheet.
You'll notice when you click on the arrow to the left of a category, you'll see a drop-down menu of sub-categories. Feel free to add relevant sub-categories to your list next to your main categories.
I Don't Have a Website
If you don't have a website, never fear! Whether you plan on building one or not, you've got the chance to start fresh, which is exciting stuff.
The main things to consider when choosing your category are:
- What are you interested in?
- It's much easier to target categories that interest you, as you'll already have some knowledge on the topic.
- Which categories will be the most profitable?
- You really want to make sure that a category has a strong selection of promising products for you before you go ahead.
- Learn more about picking a profitable niche here.
If you can find a category that you like with a lot of promising products, you're on the right track already. :)
Jot down your top picks once you have them, either on paper, in a word document, or in the left-hand column of your spreadsheet. If you are planning to build a website, make sure all the categories you write down suit roughly the same audience.
What Do I Do with My List of Categories?
You'll want to go through the following steps, starting with the first couple of options on your list, and working your way down until you've found a handful of promising products to promote.
For this example, I'm going to look at the "Diets & Weight Loss" sub-category of the larger "Health & Fitness" category.
Step 2: Filter by Gravity
Starting with the main category you'd like to look into, the first thing you want to do is set the "Gravity" filter on ClickBank. This will allow you to see just how much success any given product is already having.
What is Gravity and Why is it Important?
Gravity is based on the number of affiliates who are currently earning commissions from any given product. If a lot of different affiliates are selling a product, then it will have a high gravity. If very few affiliates are making sales, it will have a low gravity.
You don't want to waste time building promotions around products that might not be easy to sell. Filtering by gravity can help you find products that are already proving themselves, while avoiding products with no proof of success.
How Do I Set My Gravity Filter?
You should ideally look for products with a gravity of at least 6, so that's the lowest you'll want to set the minimum value on the filter:
Anything below that has very little proof of success. I'm not saying that low-gravity products can't be successful; they could just be new and haven't had a chance to succeed yet. Often though, low gravity really does just mean that the product... well... sucks.
It takes a lot of effort and risk to attempt to find a hidden gem, so best to look at your higher gravity options first.
While high gravity means a high success rate, it can also mean higher competition. This will often not be too much of a problem, but to be safe, consider targeting a few products with high gravity and a few with medium gravity to get the best spread.
Step 3: Review Product Metrics
Now that you have a list of products with a gravity rating of at least 6, it's time to pick out the most promising products for your list. So what, other than gravity, indicates a promising product?
There are a few other metrics available to you. You can find each of these in two places: the filters box where you can choose to set your preferences, and at the bottom of each product listing.
So let's run through what these stats are, and what they mean for you.
Avg $/Sale: The Average Amount Affiliates Make Per Customer Over Time
This will include the original sale of the product, but it could also include "Rebill" values — people spending more with the vendor after the initial product purchase.
While this is the average amount other affiliates are making, it's not a guaranteed number for you because:
- Not everyone will go on to buy more later on, and
- You can't guarantee that the people you send through will be the ones buying more.
Initial $/Sale: The Amount You'll Make Straight Away from a Single Sale
Initial $/sale is a much safer value to look at when considering your profit-per-sale, because it's the amount you'd earn from every sale right then and there. Even if a customer doesn't go on to buy other products or subscriptions later on, you'll still make this amount.
You can set a minimum value for this with the filter on the left, to make sure you're promoting a product that will make you enough money. For example, you might decide that you don't want to make less than $20 per sale, and set the filter minimum there.
Avg Rebill Total: The Average Amount People Spend After Their Initial Purchases (if They Buy More)
The avg rebill total is the average amount made from each customer who buys more following the initial purchase. This is fantastic when it happens, because you earn further commissions from the same customer.
If you're interested in options that rebill successfully, such as subscription-based products, set the minimum Avg Rebill Total to be more than 0. Then, look for options with a good rebill total value, and check that the avg $/sale is higher than the initial $/sale. These are good indications that a product rebills successfully.
Avg %/sale: The Percentage of Profits You Get from Each Customer
This is just a way of seeing which vendors are stingy with their commissions, and which ones are practically throwing their products away, keeping only a tiny cut per sale.
It's easier for vendors of digital products to give a higher percentage of the sale price to affiliates because there aren't any costs, unlike physical products. Because of this, it's quite common to see commission percentages around 75% on ClickBank.
Have an Example:
To show you how I'd think about it, I'm going to look at the top option on the list in my example search: The Venus Factor.
- The "Grav" value shows a very high gravity at just over 260
- This makes me think that the product has a high level of success, so I know already that it can sell itself if I get people to the sales page.
- I also think it'll have high competition, so if I went with this product I might also pick a couple of other products with lower gravities (maybe between 50 and 100) to target for my lower-competition options.
- The Initial $/sale is $39.59
- I'd make almost $40 per sale. That's a fine amount!
- Avg %/sale is 90%, and avg %/rebill is 76%
- This makes me think: "Woah, I'm getting a large slice of the pie!"
- I make 90% and they make 10% from the initial sale, when I send someone through and they buy.
- Then I make an average of 76% from other purchases after that.
- This vendor is looking to get as many signups as possible, and potentially make more money from rebilling.
- Avg Rebill Total is $106.61
- That's a high amount... This is promising.
- The Avg $/sale is $58.5
- This is quite a bit higher than the initial $/sale, which makes me think that a decent chunk of customers are rebilling successfully. This is also promising.
Looking at this products metrics, I would take it to the next phase: reviewing the sales page. If it passes that final check point, I'll add it to my final list of profitable products to promote.
Step 4: Check Out The Sales Page
When a product looks good on paper (or in this case: on your computer screen), it's time to see if it checks out. Often good stats indicate that the sales page works, but you need to see it for yourself before you send your hard-earned traffic that way.
To go through to a product's sales page, click on its name.
Then you'll want to review the sales page to see whether you think your target audience would buy this product. When I look at the Venus Factor, I can see straight away that there's a sales video. In fact, it's the only thing on the page (until a bit of time time has passed and a large sales page appears underneath, full of awesome sales copy).
Sales videos are often very effective, so if a sales page you look at has one, that's a good sign. If it doesn't have a video, but the content is very compelling, then that's also very promising. Think about the design of the page, the wording of the copy, and any bonuses or features offered, such as discount pricing or product reviews.
My favorite rule of thumb is this: A great sales page will make you feel good, even if you didn't buy.
The process from here goes like this:
- Pick a product with promising metrics from your search on ClickBank.
- Look at the sales page and decide whether it's good quality, as well as a good fit for your audience.
- If it passes the test, add it to your list.
The best way to set up your list is in a spreadsheet, like the ClickBank Products Template you can get here.
That way you have neat columns for saving each product's name, your affiliate link, and any key metrics you might want to compare later on, such as gravity, initial $/sale and avg $/sale.
Once you've done this a few times, you'll come out with a fantastic list of profitable products to start promoting!
Step 5: Final Considerations
Last, but definitely not least, I have a few final tips to keep in mind, which will make sure the products you choose will be as profitable for you as they can be. These types of things you should make a note about in the "Notes" column of your spreadsheet.
1. Make Sure Your Product Choice is an Exact Match to Your Niche
I can't stress this enough. If you pick a fantastic product, but the type of website you have doesn't attract the right audience, you'll be out of luck! You've really got to think hard with each product you look at: "Could I sell this to my target audience? Does it line up with their interests?"
The Health & Fitness niche offers a few brilliant examples of this with the various fat-loss, muscle-gain, and weight-loss programs around. If you run a weight-loss website then selling a muscle gain product (even if it's an absolutely awesome product) probably won't net you very high conversions.
Why? Because a muscle-gain product is likely to be aimed at men looking to bulk up and get stronger, whereas the weight-loss niche is largely women looking to lose weight. The closer you can match your choice of product to your niche topic, the better.
2. Ask for Review Access
Let's say that you find a product that looks really good in terms of sales page and testimonials. It could all be very slick and professional, but you still want to make sure that the product itself is up to scratch. You can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't judge an e-book by its sales page.
Get in contact with the product owner and ask for review access. Don't be demanding or rude, but instead do your best to convince them that you are a serious affiliate, and you want to make sure your customers are being looked after.
3. Read Honest Reviews of Products
Although you don't actually own the products you're promoting, if you refer people to junk products, they'll harm your reputation (not to mention you'll suffer the cruel fate of ClickBank refund requests).
It pays to seek out honest, unbiased reviews of the products you are planning to promote. Look for discussion boards/forums and blogs that discuss your products in an honest manner. If a product "stinks," don't be afraid to look for an alternative; this could save you a lot of hassle down the line.
So Where to Now?
You've got a few great options going forward. Which one is best for you depends on whether or not you already have a website and/or a plan for your affiliate promotions. Either way, you need a solid strategy going forward; these ClickBank products won't promote themselves!
So let me run through some options:
I Already Have a Website, and a Plan!
Good for you! Go forth, live long, and prosper with the profitable affiliate products you'll find with the steps above. If you ever want extra tips on affiliate marketing, our free lessons and affiliate marketing blog are always there for you.
If you haven't already, I'd look into email marketing. It really is the best strategy: you'll build a list of genuinely interested people to whom you can sell products over and over again, rather than losing people the moment they leave your website.
I Don't Have a Website, I Don't Know Which Niche to Target, but I Have Time to Do the Research.
There's a fantastic training course that can take you right through from your niche research, to building a website, to setting up your affiliate promotions and finally marketing that website to a profit.
It's called, "AffiloBlueprint," and if this is the situation you're in, it could be just what you need to make sure you're getting it right the first time around. After all, no one wants to sink masses of time and energy into a project, only to find out they'd set it up wrong right from the foundation.
I Don't Have a Website and, Honestly, I Don't Have Time for All This Research. Isn't There a Fast-Track Option?
There is a quick-setup option available to you. All the niche research is done for you, including a selection of profitable affiliate programs. Not only that, but website setup is fast and easy with just a few clicks. You also get an e-book giveaway to encourage people to sign up to your mailing list, and a years' worth of newsletters laced with affiliate promotions designed to make you money on autopilot.
If you're interested in a fast-track low-effort option like this, check out AffiloJetpack here.
So that concludes this post! I hope you've found it useful. If you have any questions at all on this topic, fire away in the comment section below.
Have you found ClickBank's Marketplace easy to use? What are the main perks or problems in your eyes? Let me know in the comments below!
