Clickbank Refunds and What You Can Do About It

The internet is not the only place that refunds is an issue to a retailer.  From the perspective of the internet merchant, customer satisfaction is of the highest priority.  Because competition for customer loyalty is fierce, you know that keeping repeat customers coming back is the fastest and best way to long term financial success in sales.  So offering an iron clan refund guarantee if the customer is not satisfied sends a message to the consumer that their happiness is top priority to you and that they can shop with you in confidence.

As customers, we like to know that there is a return or refund policy in place.  We come to expect that when we get home with a product that it will be to our satisfaction of the store will stand behind the product and give us a refund no questions asked.  Sadly even outside the internet, refund fraud happens all the time.  People bring back stolen merchandise for refund to exchange what they took for money.  There are so many scams like this that one solution the non-internet retail world has turned to is store credits so the money never leaves the store. 

Within the world of Clickbank marketing, we are faced with a similar dilemma.  Except because our products are digital, the problem is compounded significantly.  Clickbank offers an iron clad refund guarantee.  But unlike more wary merchants, there is no "store credit" to protect store funds.  And because both Clickbank merchants and affiliates must abide by the policies of the marketplace, if Clickbank gives a refund, so do you. 

The problem is there really is no such thing as a "return" when it comes to a digital product.  Because you download the product to the customer, once they have a digital copy, they have it and there is no way to make sure they are not keeping it.  And that little quirk of digital sales means that the Clickbank policy is pretty much open season for internet thieves and shoplifters if they chose to buy and download products, cash in on the policy and just keep getting their money back. 

While Clickbank is working to solve this problem, we need to know what we can do until it is solved to cut down on Clickbank refunds taking profits out of our accounts which we very much deserve to keep.  The first line of defense, of course, is legitimate refunds because of customer dissatisfaction.  Put extra work and effort into putting onto Clickbank only products of the highest quality so there is little room for complaint.  That is part of it.  But the other part is making sure customer perception of the product is accurate.

On the internet, overselling a product is almost a way of life.  We all seem to turn into infomercial merchants and we sometimes give the impression our product might be something it isn't.  So go back to your web site and specifically your sales language.  It's ok to use good marketing language on those pages.  But be sure you are telling the customer the truth so there is no reason for them to have a case to say that you sold them something that was not up to what was claimed.  Have others read your marketing copy and get to know the product so they can confirm that what is being sold is what the customer gets.

By building strong customer relationships and building a community of repeat customers, you are more secure not to have to give refunds constantly.  It's an old adage of business but the best defense against lost business is satisfying the customer.  Other than that we can only trust that Clickbank will eventually solve the problem and just keep on selling and doing the best we can. http://Bankofebook.com

Clickbank is About More than Just the Stuff

Most of us think of Clickbank as a service dedicated entirely to digital products. A digital product by definition is a something you sell.  It might be an e-book about anything from children's stories to an analysis of clinical depression to a guidebook to how to play a great game of golf.  It might be a software package that makes life easier or a really cool game you invented.  But by definition, it is "something".  Which means that in that context, Clickbank is all about the stuff.

One of ClickBank's rules of living for merchants lines up with the product only approach to the marketplace because you are expected to deliver the product within 24 hours of payment and preferably immediately by download.  The method of delivery might vary.  It can be by download, by email or by directing the customer to a membership site to download the product.  Clickbank doesn’t get into the details as long as the customer gets his product inside of the time window.

While the variety of predicts that can be sold through the Clickbank marketplace is unlimited, Clickbank does not have any provision for selling services using their terrific marketplace tools.  That 24 hour rule which is entirely reasonable for a digital product is really problematic if the nature of your internet business is a service you provide, even if the outcome is a product.   A service is delivered based on a lot of variables that the merchant cannot necessarily dictate.  Some services are continuous with periodic payments either based on milestones or on deliverables.  In either case, a specified delivery date is questionable and to limit that time frame to 24 hours virtually out of the question.

So many merchants have found ways to take advantage of the excellent marketplace infrastructure and the merchant account services of Clickbank to do business with clients that work within the 24 hour product delivery restriction.  A good example is ghostwriting.  A customer can contact a merchant using ClickBank's communication resources to make arrangements for the creation of a series of articles.  But the actual "product" would not be created within the Clickbank merchandising system until the product is complete and ready for delivery.  Then the customer and buy the product which is an outcome of the service and use Clickbank's systems to work with the ghostwriter.

Whether you organize your service to be moved through Clickbank in advance or after you complete the service, the key is for the price to be well understood before logging the project into Clickbank.  This is healthy for the business relationship between seller and buyer and keeps your nose clean with Clickbank as well.  It might take some work to convert your hourly billed service into a fixed price product.  But simply focus on the outcome.  So if you work by the hour to produce a requirements document for a project, you can set the fixed price when the project is near the end and you set up the payment vehicle as a Clickbank digital service.

Also keep in mind that Clickbank expects to see delivery.  Your service may have consisted of a series of 15 phone calls where you offer expert guidance and advance in your field of expertise.  So to create a deliverable, keep your notes per session and prepare a summary at the end that captures the results of your sessions as well as your conclusions and you can "sell" that to your client for the price of the total consulting charges for the 15 sessions. 

It really just takes some creativity and ability to not just think outside the box to work within the Clickbank box to offer your services as a digital product.  But as an internet entrepreneur, being innovative is second nature to you. http://Bankofebook.com

Clickbank Alternatives

In a lot of areas of technology, there is a dominant player.  We know about how Microsoft pretty much dominates every aspect of PC technology.  There are smaller companies that dominate application areas to like Adobe for PDF file or Photoshop for photo editing.  And when it comes to the internet and online marketplaces, the dominant power there is no doubt Clickbank.    But it's good to know what alternatives are out there for comparison purposes.  And possibly the biggest real threat to the dominance of Clickbank is a site called PayDotCom. 

Each of these fine alternatives has things to offer and some drawbacks too.  But it is worth knowing what to look for so you can make an intelligent decision.  There is just no question that Clickbank dominates the field for good reasons.    Clickbank is far and away the largest affiliate marketplace in the world.  So by putting your product on Clickbank, you could potentially see it picked up for over 150,000 affiliates if they notice you.  That is quite a sales army to cash in on.

An added benefit of utilizing Clickbank that makes it stand out versus PayDotCom is you can get this army of affiliates to sell your products far and wide and you don’t have to pay them a dime.  That is handled by the commission system which means you only see any money go to the ones that are successful and its part of the financial structure of the site.  That’s a brilliant way to organize their service and it has paid off for Clickbank and for the rest of us beautifully.

A few of the policy decisions Clickbank has made are not so brilliant and put them in the negative side of the evaluation.  The policy that is beneficial to Clickbank customers but causes a lot of problems is their iron clan refund policy.  This is an outstanding customer relationship approach because it sends the message that Clickbank stand behind the products sold on the service.  But in a world such as Clickbank's where the entire transaction and all products are digital, it pretty much leaves an open door to thieves and shoplifters who download products and then file for refund without explanation.

PayDotCom is an alterative to Clickbank that has not been able to capture as much of the market.  The commissions issue may be one reason their growth is slower.    Because Clickbank pays the affiliates and keeps that burden off of the merchants who come to the marketplace, the transactions are clean and more merchants feel freedom to participate in Clickbank.  And then because Clickbank has become the premier marketplace for digital products, more affiliates want to be involved which only continues to add to the momentum of the site to dominate this market.

From the other side of the transaction, when a merchant wants to put a product into a marketplace and then go through the support steps of linking to it from a web site and adding keyword optimized articles to drive traffic to the products, that merchant wants to know the largest affiliate base is out there to take it from there and really get that product into broad distribution and sales.  There simply is no better way to do that than to go with Clickbank. 

In a way, Clickbank succeeds by its success.  And even though PayDotCom is a viable alternative, it's difficult to capture enough market to interest merchants and affiliates to switch.   And until Clickbank makes some major mistake, which they probably wont do, that situation is probably not going to change. http://Bankofebook.com

A Little Bragging Goes a Long Way

Its one thing to have a great product and it's quite another to make sure customers know about it.  And that principle is even more vitally true when you list your product on the Clickbank marketplace.  There are literally tens of thousands of products available for affiliates to pick up and sell within Clickbank.   And even though there are over 150,000 affiliates, that is a huge marketing environment.

The literature about Clickbank would give you the impression that all you have to do is set up your account on Clickbank and get your digital product out there into the Clickbank market and, presto, you will see massive sales by the weekend.  But if it was that easy, there would be millions of people on Clickbank.  The laws of economics still prevail and this is a marketplace so even after you get your product out there, there are some basic things you must be prepared to do.

For one thing, to make it in any marketplace and Clickbank is no exception, you have to offer a product that gives value to the consumer.  For one thing, one of the most notorious problems in Clickbank is also one of its strongest customer service features which is the iron clad money back guarantee.  So the one thing you can do to keep that well known Clickbank issue from taking away the good sales you do get is to make sure your product is rock solid quality and that the customer gets more than he expects from the purchase.

Another very basic principle of marketing but its worth bring back up here because it is even more applicable in the virtual marketplace of Clickbank is originality.  For your product to stand out, it has to have something to offer the customer that nobody else offers.  That can be tough because the categories of digital products, which are all that Clickbank sells, are somewhat limited.  You cannot sell a product that requires a physical delivery.  It must be entirely digital which means you are talking about ebooks, digital music, online courses and software and games for the most part.

Clickbank does a good job of providing a categorization system so people looking for types of product can get to it and then for a special kind of product in your niche can find you.  But even with that, you are going to be "on the shelf" with a lot of other products that look and seem very much like your product.  Finding a way to make your product unique and one that touches a need in the consumer that nobody else touches is the goal of any business.  So look at the competition even when you are designing your product and long before you put it out there into the Clickbank to find that "hook" that will make the affiliate pick up your product rather than others like it and for customers want to buy it for its unique twist as well.

But even if you have the most unique and highly needed product there is, its not going anywhere unless you shout about it.  A little bragging goes a lot way in the word of marketing and on the internet, getting attention to your Clickbank product calls for a lot of bragging.  It starts with your product name and the marketing description you use to make the product shout out right from the Clickbank marketplace product pages.

Make sure the uniqueness of your product is highlighted in the title and every aspect of your description and marketing of the product.  Never stop thinking of ways to promote your product.  By making sure the world knows how great it is, you are also make sure that more people get to use it and your Clickbank sales are rewarding and profitable for you. http://Bankofebook.com

10 Simple Tips To Help You Write Better Headlines And Make More Sales

Headlines are the most important part of your sales letter. They account for ~ 90% of your success. In other words, if you don't get your headlines right, your site won't sell.

What's the job of your headlines? They have to get your site visitor excited. Their goal is to grab your reader's attention and to make her continue reading your sales letter. If your headline fails to create excitement, it's very likely that your visitor will leave your site immediately and probably never return again.

How do you create excitement? You have to intrigue your reader with the fantastic benefits of your product. The headline of your sales letter has to present the most important benefit - the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) -- of your product.

The goal of your headline is to stir emotions and to help your reader to imagine enjoying all the great benefits of your product. People buy for emotional reasons and that's why it's so important to describe the benefits of your product and not its features.

Your site visitor is having only one question on her mind: What's in it for me? -- How can I solve my problem?, How can I make more money?, How can I get that job? ... Focus only on your customer and answer her burning questions immediately -- that's how to write a great headline.

In your headline, tell your customer that you have a solution for her problem, that you have the answers for her questions, that you will provide what she wants...

The result? Your reader will be excited right from the start, she will be eager to continue reading through your sales letter and chances are really good that you will get the click on the "credit card symbol" at the end of your sales letter.

Learn how to write a great headline and getting the sale will become easy -- outstanding headlines can increase your sales by several 100%.


One headline isn't enough - use also subheadings

* Right at the beginning of your sales letter you have to fire your biggest gun -- your USP, that's the most compelling benefit of your product. To keep your reader interested and excited, use several subheadings throughout your sales copy.

* Each of these subheadings conveys a benefit. That way you will pull your reader through your sales letter, right to the "Buy Me" button. If you don't keep your reader interested, you risk loosing her. So, keep on firing benefits. Also, it's absolutely ok to state one and the same benefit several times in different ways

* Most web surfers only scan pages, they don't read every single word, but they will you're your headlines. Therefore you have to make sure, that a visitor who reads only your headlines understands exactly what he will get out of your product.

* Make your reader's job easy. Divide your text into small logical blocks and start each block with a headline. A headline is like an ad for the text that follows -- it has to convince your visitor to keep on reading.


10 simple tips to make your headlines more effective:

1. Write down all the benefits of your product. What kind of problems does it solve? How it make people happier, healthier, wealthier?...

2. You might not be aware of all the benefits. Think outside the box and keep on looking for more benefits -- don't let any of them slip away.

3. What is the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of your product. What makes it stand out of the crowd, what makes it unique? That's your most important benefit, that's the one that will differentiate your product from those of your competitors.

4. Use short, active verbs that rouse emotions and create images.

5. Write your headlines only for your target customer and don't care about the rest.

6. Powerful words you can use in your headlines: How to, Free, Why, Who wants to know, Finally... or ask an open-ended question: "Why do so many people fail to attract more money?"

7. Don't hype, what you are saying has to be believable.

8. Brainstorm 10 - 20 headlines.

9. Pretend you are your customer. Which headline would get you excited, which one stirs your emotions? Pick your three favorites and keep on modifying and changing them until you are really happy.

10. Take a break and come back the following day with a fresh mind. Do a final edit if necessary.


Learning how to write a great headline takes time and effort, but its absolutely crucial if you want to succeed. It's very likely that you will spend the same amount of time for your headlines as for the rest of your sales letter -- and that's perfectly OK. http://Infosdemocracy.com

Search Engine Optimization And Why You Just Gotto Use It

E-commerce is a cut throat business. You have to arm yourself with the proper know-how and the tools to make your site a cut above the rest. Each day, more and more sites are clambering to optimize their rankings in websites and if you lose your guard, you may just get trampled on and be left in the abyss filled with so many failed e-commerce sites.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a term widely used today by many e-commerce sites. For the past few years and the next ten years or so, search engines would be the most widely used internet tool to find the sites that they need to go to or the product or information they need.

Most people that use search engines use only the ten top search results in the first page. Making it to the first page, more so to the top three is a barometer of a sites success in search engine optimization. You will get a higher ratio of probability in being clicked on when you rank high. The more traffic for your site, the more business you rake in.

But, it is essential to grab a hold of that spot or make your ranking even better. As I aforementioned, each day is a new day for all e-commerce sites to make them selves rank higher using search engine optimization. It is imperative to make your site better and better everyday.

So just what is search engine optimization and do you have to use it? The answer to why you have to use it is an easy one. You need search engine optimization to be number one, or maybe at least make your site income generating.

With search engine optimization you can get the benefit of generating a high traffic volume. Let's just say you get only a turn out of successful sales with 10 to 20 percent of your traffic. If you get a hundred hits or more a day, you get a good turn out of sales already. If you get only twenty to ten hits a day, you only get one or two if not any at all.

So once again, what is search engine optimization? Search engine optimization is utilizing tools and methods in making your site top ranking in the results of search engines. Getting yourself in the first page and better yet in the top half of the page will ensure that your site will generate public awareness of your site's existence and subsequently generate more traffic, traffic that could lead to potential income and business.

Search engine optimization requires a lot of work to be fully realized. There are many aspects you have to change in your site or add as well to get search engine optimization. These will include getting lots of information about the keyword phrases that are popular in regards to your sites niche or theme.

You may also need to rewrite your sites contents so that you could get the right keyword phrases in your site without making it too commercial but light and informative. There are certain rules and guidelines to be followed with making your site's content applicable and conducive to search engine optimization.

You will also need to collaborate with many other sites so that you could get link exchanges and page transfers. The more inbound and outbound traffics generated by sites among others are one of the components search engines uses to rank sites.

Try to search the internet for many useful help. Tips, guidelines and methods for search engine optimization are plenty to be found. Read many articles that can help you optimize your site in search engine results. The more knowledge and information you gather the better. This will all help you in getting those high rankings. This may require a little time and effort in your part but the benefits will be astounding.

If you can part with some money, there are many sites in the internet that can help you in search engine optimization. There are many sites that help in tracking keyword phrases that can help your site. There are also some content writers that have lots of experience in making good keyword laden content for your sites that have good quality.

Act now and see the benefits garner with search engine optimization. All of these will result to better traffic and more business for your site and company. http://Infosdemocracy.com