ClickBank University Review (2024): Is It A Legit Affiliate Platform?

Updated On: January 28, 2024

Welcome to my Clickbank review. My goal is to answer common questions like: how much it costs, if it's a scam, and if you can actually make money with it. The end goal is to help you understand if it's a good fit for you personally, and if there are any better alternatives out there.
ClickBank University Review

This Clickbank review has been throughly researched with information and testimonials that are available online to anyone in the public. Any conclusions drawn by myself are opinions.

Table of Contents

Program At A Glance

What I liked
Affiliate training tools fit non-techies
Provides a wide scope of course curriculum
Partners with international networks
What I Didn’t Like
Features a lot of profitless yet high-end products
Program is chased by online scammers
Tough competition on most products

ClickBank University Review

ClickBank University

Are you a marketer? Looking for the bestof affiliate marketing networks? Or just a newbie curious about online marketing? Fret no more! You’ve just found yourself the ultimate ClickBank University review!

Is ClickBank the best affiliate platform out there?

Is affiliate marketing the right online business for you?

Is a ClickBank account worth it?

At the end of this review, you’ll get answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding internet marketing and of course, ClickBank.

You ask, I deliver, so…

In this Clickbank University review, we’re going to go deep into the upsides and the downsides of the program.

But before I can say Clickbank University is good, I have to ask a very important question: is affiliate marketing even worth it?

Like other affiliate programs, we get pitched an ultimate dream…

Run an amazingly profitable business where you don’t have to worry about anything – no products, no inventory, no shipping, no customer service.

The only thing you need to worry about is putting this product in front of someone that wants to buy it, and the rest is money in the bank.

The best part?

“You can do it from anywhere in the world!”

Sounds pretty great… but is it?

It is 100% possible to make money with affiliate marketing – the real question is: is Clickbank University the best affiliate marketing program out there?

Well, the most difficult (and therefore most valuable) skill in the internet business is driving traffic AKA getting people to visit a website.

Later on we’ll talk about why it’s so difficult to drive quality traffic.

But for now, let’s just say it isn’t exactly an easy process (unless you have a proven traffic source for the exact product you’re trying to sell).

If you really break it down, is affiliate marketing much different than a 9-5 job? You work for someone else, sell their stuff, and they can fire you at any time.

You don’t really control anything, despite doing the most important part – driving traffic.

To be 100% clear, I’m not saying affiliate marketing wont work. If you’ve followed my blog for long, you’ll know that I’ve made money myself as an affiliate marketer (selling women’s health products).

I have several friends that make over $20,000/mo as affiliate marketers.

What you don’t hear about is the $200,000 they had to invest UP-FRONT to start making that money.

But let’s suppose that you REALLY want to work that laptop-entrepreneur lifestyle.

What if there was a way you could build a legitimate recurring income stream?

Recurring income that doesn’t require:

  • Tens of thousands of dollars and months of time before seeing $1
  • Doing the heavy lifting, but only getting a small % of the sale
  • Living at the whim of another person that could take it all away if they feel like it

Something that could net you anywhere from a few thousand, to over $10,000 every single month, practically on auto-pilot

A recurring income stream that you could build in a few hours per day, grow as big (or small) as you want, and doesn’t leave you at the mercy of another person?

If that sounds interesting, the Digital Rental Method might be for you. 

It kind of takes the nice parts of affiliate networks, but transfers the control back to YOU.

All that being said, let’s continue on to the Clickbank review.

What Is ClickBank?

The Clickbank University

ClickBank has been in business for 17 years, making it one of the oldest affiliate marketing networks out there.

Clickbank claims to have served millions of customers across the the globe. According to their site, they’re among the top 100 online retailers in the US.

Too often companies will brag about having a good reputation – they hide any errors in the equation.

But if that’s the real case, retailers would never have to crawl their way out of affiliate marketing business. I know several friends who quit due to lack of customer base.

ClickBank affiliate programs are known to be the home to thousands of digital goods like software, e-books, and videos. As a merchant, you may create your own products and set them up using ClickBank’s system.

They then showcase your products in the ClickBank marketplace making you visible to several affiliate marketers.

Clickbank deals with all of the tracking using unique tracking links and cookies so that you’ll know precisely where the sale came from and credit the respective bank account appropriately.

Unlike most affiliate marketing networks, the ClickBank marketplace focuses primarily on digital products created by entrepreneurs from around the globe.

Also in contrast to other affiliate networks that attract large companies, ClickBank is a spot for the small guys to work together & generate cash.

Digital product developers put their goods into the ClickBank platform, and affiliate marketers develop an affiliate link to market each of those products and get an equivalent commission.

They often sell themselves as your “not-so-typical” affiliate network, and probably have the edge among others. But at the end of the day, their items are easily-accessed in an internet world.

Meaning to say, there’s no way that you can control your competition. Reality check: tons of competition means a greater work effort with – let’s face it – possibly lesser revenue.

Is ClickBank The Best Platform For An Affiliate Marketer?

Clickbank Affiliate Program

To give Clickbank the benefit of the doubt, here are a few claims they put on their marketing platform:

First, they feature a well-established affiliate system. They’ve been around the internet game for quite some time, and it shows. However, their website still looks like it was made in the early 90’s. Which, in contrast, doesn’t fit well in today’s culture.

It has a reliable online community. ClickBank is among the largest affiliate network websites online, with products to choose from in nearly every niche.

They also offer a well-documented knowledge base for both affiliates, vendors, and product creators.

ClickBank swaggers on having a fairly reliable payment system. In fact, they give automatic payments on sold affiliate products, which are usually made on time.

It gives you other controls over your payment setup, which lets you set things like your payment threshold. And upon checking several reviews, I’ve found this Clickbank payment system to be true.

Just remember, some cash in won’t make you rich. Just a warning: start to learn some patience because a high sales conversion is never guaranteed when using this system.

Worse case scenario, slow paced income commissions lead to burnouts.

But when it comes to insight tools, ClickBank provides a selection of useful product insight, reporting, and research tools.

They also host a money-back guarantee to get you into Clickbank platform. This is an excellent selling point for most money making programs.

Finally, there’s ClickBank University (the topic of this review) where you can learn the hows and whys of being an affiliate marketer, particularly with ClickBank.

Can’t deny that Clickbank has established a pretty good reputation over the years, it’s just that their curriculum and tools have a lot of similarities with other online marketing platforms.

And to be honest, it’s really hard to distinguish if they’re the best… continuous innovation is something that marketers should always prefer over a more stagnant system.

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

What is Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is the process of making a commission by promoting services and/or products from other businesses.

Through an affiliate network, you look for a product, market it to potential customers, and get a portion of the profit for each and every sale that you make.

To simplify it: you assist another company in producing sales through an affiliate link, & then you get a cut!

So, the upside is that you don’t need to invest a ton of time to create a product because another person has already done that part. But you need to take time researching and implementing sales tactics. As mentioned, there’s a continuous increase of competitors in this business.

Typically, you need to build your own sales page before you can start making money as an affiliate.

How To Be An Affiliate Marketer With ClickBank?

Clickbank Affiliate Marketing

Being a ClickBank affiliate starts with one single crucial step: signing up for a ClickBank account. Price points aren’t clear enough though.

All you have to do is:

  • Be a resident of eligible countries like Canada, the United States, etc.
  • Enable cookies in your web browser.
  • Have a social security number and a TAX ID.
  • If you intend to register as a vendor, you have to spend a one-time activation cost of $49.95.
  • Any extra accounts need additional payment
How Much Does It Cost To Join ClickBank?

The Cost To Join Clickbank

Some say it’s absolutely free!

Let’s be honest, the “no price to pay” tactic usually attracts newcomers in the online space. Newbies are often captivated with being part of the leading affiliate marketplace.

To reiterate, Clickbank pricing (for vendor registration) only costs $49.95.

There’s also no screening process, and no complicated metrics or caps. It’s essentially as simple as any affiliate system can be—open to anyone who would like to give it a go.

The cost, however, also includes other resources. If you can afford to spend much of your time to build, optimize, and generate sales, there’s a chance that you can kick off this affiliate business.

As An Affiliate Marketer, How Can You Weed Out The Bad Products?

Weed Out Bad Products

To look beyond the trash and uncover the gems through mountains and mountains of digital products, here’s a step by step guide, curated by yours truly, in selecting products:

1. Try the item first

Try The Product

You truly want to help others, right? Then why not request a review sample item from the seller to decide if the product is a good one or not.

If they say no, buy the products yourself. This way, you can make sure of the authenticity of the products.

2. Check the reviews of the products

Product Review

Browse through customers’ reviews about the merchandise you plan to market. Do not limit to reviews by other affiliate marketers as those might be fraudulent.

Search for reviews on reliable review websites like Trustpilot, etc. If the item is popular, it’s more likely to have been reviewed somewhere on the internet.

3. Check the item’s gravity score

Check The Score

Gravity is the number of affiliates who have offered a vendor’s item in the last twelve weeks. The bigger the gravity is, the greater the item’s trustworthiness. Each gravity point is a product’s endorsement.

4. Watch out for overblown claims

Unrealistic Claims

While it’s possible to earn money on ClickBank, it’s not magic. If any make money online method guarantees you a million dollars immediately while you binge-watch Netflix, run away!

They’re not genuine; and probably a scam. And they’re out there targeting and taking advantage of you.

5. Watch out for sketchy vendors

Watch Out
Business concept. Deals

Cheats hide in the shadows. They don’t want to show their faces on an affiliate site.

If you can’t find your vendors online or on an affiliate website, then think twice. Good vendors already have a traceable internet history.

ClickBank Review: Is ClickBank Legit Or A Scam?

Scam Or Legit

So, time for the $1,000,000 question – is Clickbank University a scam?

No, it’s not a “scam”, technically speaking. They aren’t going to collect your payment and then ride off into the sunset without delivering you a program.

You can make money with this program. My only gripe is that making money with affiliate marketing is NOT NEARLY as easy as Clickbank University wants you to think it is.

As I said earlier, the most important part of doing affiliate marketing right is driving traffic. That means being good at:

  • Writing ads that sell
  • Running ads on Google
  • Running ads on Facebook
  • Writing website blogs
  • Ranking websites
  • Converting users that land on your site
  • Email marketing

And a whole lot more.

If you’re going to spend time learning those skills, why not do it in a way that makes YOU all the money – instead of someone else?

There’s just a lot of work to be done here, and no real guarantee of success (not to mention commissions can be small).

Don’t get me wrong – I’m ALL FOR doing the hard work now, so that you can reap the benefits later.

But if you’re going to hit something super hard for 3-6 months, and your reward is barely enough money for a tank of gas… it’s just not worth it (in my opinion).

Again, I’m not saying it won’t work – I’ve personally made money with it, as have many of my friends.

I’m just saying it’s a situation where the stars need to kind of align for you in a perfect way.

And you shouldn’t be in the business of leaving your fate up to the stars…

But what if instead of all that, you could work those same 3-6 months, and generate a handful of checks that generated you $500-$2,000 EACH, every single month (almost on autopilot)?

And what if you learned it from someone who has already mastered the ability to drive traffic profitably?

Better yet, what if you could see your first payment in one week, not 3 months?

And what if you could double or triple that income within the next month or two?

That’s my experience with being a Digital Landlord.

All you really need is a laptop and some internet.

Some of my friends are Digital Rental Method that run their 6-figure businesses from:

  • Camping trips at national parks
  • Beachfront in Hawaii
  • On the road in a camper-van (with a pet pig!)

They focus on living an enjoyable life first, and focus on income second. All thanks to this program

They can take weeks or months off, and money keeps rolling in.

Living happily is the top priority.

If the thought of living perpetually at your dream vacation spot interests you, using the Digital Rental Method might be for you!

How Does An Affiliate Marketer Get Paid With ClickBank?

 

Clickbank Payment

Affiliates can receive payments via four different payment methods with ClickBank!

Check – The traditional paper check will be the default payment method. It’s mailed to the address specified in the affiliates’ bank account.

Direct Deposit – Direct deposit in the U.S. and other selected places is offered by ClickBank. Direct deposits, however, take one to two business days or even weeks to get into the affiliates’ accounts.

Read Our In Depth Breakdown Of The Top 5 Affiliate MarketingOpp Courses For 2024

Did Clickbank Make The List?

Wire Transfer – Affiliates can also get payments via wire transfer. This alternative is designed for countries not covered by global direct deposit. Payments take up to five days, depending on the place you live.

Payoneer – You can opt to get paid with the Payoneer Mastercard—a global money transfer service you can get for free. This service allows you to open a U.S account in which money can be deposited.

As you can see, ClickBank doesn’t tie you with the payment method you’ve selected previously. There’s other available mode of payment.

You can change your preferred method at any time. It’s your money; therefore, you get it your way.

However, if you alter your email address or password, you can’t switch payment methods for a week or so.

Others even their accounts getting blocked to shield Clickbank from scammers. The intention’s good, but going through verification and retrieval can be pretty annoying.

Their payment method sure provides plenty of choices. But remember, the most important factor solely relies on how you can make a good sale. You won’t get paid if you aren’t making any sales.

What Is My Top Recommendation For Making Money Online In 2024?

Make Money Online

I’ve personally tried all of the major online business models:

  • I’ve sold women’s health supplements via Clickbank affiliate marketing
  • I’ve sold fidget spinners through Amazon FBA
  • I’ve drop-shipped a toilet-bowl putting green on Shopify

And I made money with all of them, so trust me when I say: there is no “perfect” business model.

That being said, my #1 recommendation for making real money online is, hands-down: being a Digital Landlord

Whether you’re a complete newbie, or you’ve been around the block before but have never had that “big win” to propel you forward, using the Digital Rental Method is for you.

Why?

1)Time commitment: If you have an hour or two per day, you can do this. Even if you want to drop everything and commit fully, that works too.

You don’t have to be constantly working to make money. The income you generate is recurring.

Imagine taking off for a month to places like Hawaii, Paris, National Parks, & other spots people only dream about – all while collecting dozens of little $500-$2,000 checks. It’s like a dream come true.

But it’s only possible to do it when you’ve separated your income from your time.

2)You Own & Control EVERYTHING: With affiliate marketing, you don’t really own a single thing – not even the customers you worked so hard to “acquire”.

Don’t believe me? Go read the terms of service for any major affiliate program – they can fire you or change your compensation at the drop of a dime.

With the Digital Rental Method, you own everything, so you have ultimate control.

3)It’s Effectively Copy-Paste: Here’s my favorite part: once you have your first Digital Rental Property up, you can literally copy-paste another version of it and find another willing “renter” in a few days. DOUBLING your income doesn’t get much easier than that…

If you wanted to double your income as an affiliate, you would need to sell twice as much inventory, or double your profit margins. And I can guarantee you (from my days selling women’s health products as an affiliate), that’s a lot harder than a few clicks & a phone call.

4)Great Margins: Margins on affiliate products can be pretty low, unless you’re selling high-ticket products. When you sell high-ticket stuff, you typically have a lot of competition, and so driving traffic is expensive.

using the Digital Rental Method, your profit margin is nearly 100%. Watch here to learn how.

Just a reminder: these Digital Rental Properties are worth (at a minimum) $500/mo in semi-passive income. And each time you create another one, your income increases, and the effort put into creating the next property decreases.

Best case scenario, you have properties bringing in over $3,000+/mo on auto-pilot.

5)You’re Helping REAL People: My biggest gripe with affiliate marketing is that you’re selling products that will bring you the biggest commission, not the products that will help people the most.

It’s cool in the short term to make a quick buck, but in the long-term, it eats away at your soul.

But With the Digital Rental Method, you’re helping solve REAL problems that people are ASKING for help with:

Small local businesses around the world need one thing: customers. Without them, their business would fall apart. If we can provide those customers, they’re going to be really happy – and they’re going to pay you for it.

You’re helping a struggling mother or father put FOOD on the table for their families, put their kids through college, or simply live life a little bit more comfortably.

Having this type of impact on the world is what will help you sleep soundly at night.

So, the rest is up to you. You could keep looking at other affiliate programs like Clickbank University which might make you money 12 months from now.

You could keep researching and researching for the next few months (or few years), never making a concrete decision.

OR, you can look deep inside, think about those dreams, hopes, & desires, and make the decision to ACTUALLY make it happen, just like it has for thousands of other students before you.

Making a fortune while actually helping real people that need it.

If this sounds like you, click here to see how it all works.

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