What is Affiliate Marketing?
If you’re reading this page I’m going to assume you already understand what affiliate marketing is. But, for those of you who don’t, allow me to explain.
Affiliate Marketing is a business model whereby affiliates, people like you and me, market products and services created by other companies. When a sale is made, the affiliate is paid a commission by the product or service owner. It’s kind of like being a commissioned sales person for a big company but, as an affiliate, you don’t work for the company whose products you’re promoting.
When signing up for an affiliate program you’ll receive a customized tracking link that is unique to you. That link is what you will use to promote the products and services of other companies. The affiliate link is used to keep track of the sales made by the affiliate. When a sale is made, the company pays the affiliate a commission for their marketing efforts.
Affiliate marketing is a wonderful business model because it creates a win/win/win relationship for all involved: the product owner, the affiliate, and the customer.
Types of Affiliate Commission Payments
I could write an entire article about the types of affiliate commission payments that exist today. However, for the purpose of this article, I’m only going to focus on two of them here.
One-Time Commission Payments
First, there are what I call one-time commission payments. This is where you are paid one time for making a sale. How wonderful it is if you’re selling an expensive product that pays you a large percentage (30% or more) of the total product price. But, if you’re selling cheaper products then it’s not so great because you make less money on each sale. An example of a company that pays one-time commissions to affiliates is the Amazon Associates affiliate program. So, you would have to sell a lot of items each month just to make a decent full-time income with Amazon Associates.
Recurring Commission Payments
Second, are commission payments that you receive month after month for making a sale just one time. These are called recurring commission payments because you receive payments each month for as long as the customer continues to pay the product owner. An example of a product that might pay recurring commission payments to affiliates is web hosting. If the customer is paying the web hosting company each month for hosting services then they may pay you a percentage of what the customer pays to them each month. ClickFunnels is another company that offers monthly recurring commission payments to their affiliates and there are hundreds more in addition to that.
Pricing Tiers for Affiliate Products
When considering what type of product to promote it’s important to understand the price of the product and how much you will be paid for each sale. The higher the commission rate is the more money you will make for each sale. I’ve outlined the different tiers of product pricing below. Be sure to look for products with high commission rates of 30% or more when choosing your products.
Low-Ticket
Low-Ticket affiliate products typically range in price from zero ($0) to ninety-nine dollars ($99). These kinds of products require that you make more sales to more people in order to build a substantial income from selling them. In the affiliate marketing arena products like these are often offered as entry level products that provide the marketer a viable way to build an email list so that he can market higher priced products to his customers in the future.
Mid-Range
Mid-Range affiliate products typically range in price from one-hundred ($100) to four-hundred ninety-nine dollars ($499). Products in this category consist of things like in-depth online training courses on a particular subject and are generally offered as a way to move the customer up the value ladder of the product owner into higher priced products and services later on.
High-Ticket
High-Ticket affiliate products typically range in price from five-hundred dollars ($500) to two-thousand five-hundred dollars ($2,500) or more. These products are usually informational in nature and are delivered via digital platforms instead of as physical products that require packaging and shipping. High-Ticket informational products are great because there’s no inventory to stock and it’s much easier to scale the business by simply selling more copies of the digital information to more buyers.
Products like this will typically be sold via an online webinar or closed over the phone by an inside sales person. For products that cost a few thousand dollars this is typically the way the sale is finalized because most buyers are going to want to talk to a real person before shelling out thousands of dollars online.
Is Affiliate Marketing a Scam?
What Does This Have To Do With Becoming a ClickFunnels Affiliate?
The answer to that question is that it’s a primer for understanding the ClickFunnels affiliate program of today, why it is structured the way it is, and how best to take advantage of the program for maximum success.
In the next section I’m going to explain a little bit about what the ClickFunnels affiliate program used to look like and what it looks like today. By knowing some of the history of the program and how it has changed, and why, you will have a better chance of getting started down the right path. Ultimately, this will give you a much better appreciation for the program and help you to place a higher value on your ClickFunnels affiliate relationship.
A Brief History of the ClickFunnels Affiliate Program
Killing Version 1.0 of the Affiliate Program
Becoming a ClickFunnels affiliate today is a little bit tougher, but only for those people who are looking for an easy buck. If your intention is to create a solid business built on a foundation of ethical marketing principles, without trying to rip off people, then you’ll have no problem getting in.
With the massive growth of ClickFunnels over the past few years the affiliate program exploded. New people were constantly signing up to promote their products. I was one of them! Most affiliates, myself included, operated with the highest ethical standards and behavior when promoting ClickFunnels. However, some did not, and they tried to take advantage of the system by “marketing” in ways that were deceptive and, in some cases, downright illegal. As a result, the ClickFunnels Affiliate Program, and the ClickFunnels brand in general, suffered.
Giving Birth to Version 2.0 of the Affiliate Program
In response, ClickFunnels put a temporary lock down on all new affiliate sign-ups in late 2019. During this time, they focused on tightening up the program for the benefit of all involved (i.e. them, you, me, and our mutual customers). There was also a big push by ClickFunnels to ensure that all affiliates were operating in accordance with FTC advertising guidelines which required affiliates to disclose their affiliate relationship with ClickFunnels. This meant that all affiliates were required to ethically promote ClickFunnels in accordance with federal law and to no longer make use of deceptive marketing practices.
It took a while for ClickFunnels leadership to restructure the affiliate program but they finally got it done. On December 20, 2019, they posted the new ClickFunnels Affiliate Agreement that clearly outlines the new rules and code of conduct that each affiliate must adhere to.
After affiliate program clean up efforts were completed by leadership, the program was once again opened for business. New aspiring affiliates were now free to apply for the affiliate program.
Is the ClickFunnels Affiliate Program Still Closed?
If you’re reading this post between the dates of December 2019 through January 15, 2020, then the answer is, yes, it’s still closed. Attempts to sign up for the ClickFunnels affiliate program during that time would have been met with a message like the one below.
HOW TO: Become a ClickFunnels Affiliate
There are two ways to become a ClickFunnels affiliate:
One way is to sign up as a paying customer of ClickFunnels. By doing that you automatically qualify for Approved Affiliate status which pays 30% commissions. When you have at least 40 active monthly paying customers under you then ClickFunnels will upgrade your status to a Qualified Affiliate. At that point you’ll begin receiving 40% commission on all sales.
The other way is to sign up as an affiliate without signing up as paying customer of ClickFunnels. In that scenario you will have to wait a little longer to get approved as an affiliate. The good thing about this option is you’re not required to have a paid ClickFunnels account in order to be an affiliate of ClickFunnels. The bad thing is it will be more difficult to successfully promote something you’re not actively using yourself. But, it’s possible. So if you’re strapped for cash then get started with the free option first. You can always work your way into a paid account later. In fact, that’s exactly how I started.
Option 1: Affiliate Sign Up (Paying Customer)
The easiest way to get started as a paying customer, and affiliate, of ClickFunnels is to sign up for the 14-day free trial. When you click that link you’ll be taken to the ClickFunnels home page. It will look similar to the image below but it may appear differently if updates have been made to the site since the writing of this article.
The thing you want to look for is the big blue button labeled “Start FREE 14 Day Trial Now”. All new customers start out with a 2 week free pass to the software. This applies to you, too!
Click on the big blue button on the ClickFunnels home page and you’ll come to the Create Your Account page (Step 1 of 4) shown below. This is where you’ll enter your name and email address. After that click on the submit button. In this case, it’s labeled Start Building My First Funnel.
The next step in the affiliate sign up process is to select which ClickFunnels plan you want. Most people start out with the ClickFunnels Platinum plan because it gives you full access to everything in ClickFunnels. That includes the ClickFunnels editor, Follow-Up Funnels, and Backpack. You also get access to Funnel Flix which is like Netflix for funnel builders. Funnel Flix includes all kinds of video trainings on topics that funnel builders would find useful.
Decide which plan is best for you and then click the Select Plan button to continue.
After you select your desired plan you’ll need to enter your payment information. And, yes, it’s required even for the free trial. The reason for this is to prevent you from losing access to your ClickFunnels data when the free trial ends. If, after the free trial, you decide you no longer want to continue as a paid customer then you can cancel your subscription.
From this point forward you’ll want to complete steps 3 and 4 of the sign up process. Once that is finished then you can login to the members portal of ClickFunnels to access your affiliate dashboard. I’ll show you how to do this in the next section.
How To Access Your Affiliate Dashboard
For paying customers of ClickFunnels you will need to login to your ClickFunnels account before you can access your affiliate dashboard. Go to the ClickFunnels home page and click on the MEMBER LOGIN link in the top right-hand corner of the page. You can see what that link looks like in the image below.
The member login page will look like the one below. Enter your email address and password to login. Be sure to use the same email address you used when you signed up for the 14-day trial. If you forgot your password then click the Forgot your password? link to reset it.
Next, you’ll see the main ClickFunnels dashboard (shown below). Hover the mouse pointer over your name in the top right-hand corner of the dashboard. A drop-down menu will appear like the one shown here. Click on $ Affiliates to proceed to the affiliate section of your account.
The affiliate dashboard will appear as shown below. Here you’ll see a breakdown of your total earnings as well as how much money is pending payment. This section is probably self-explanatory but if you have questions feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this article.
Continue to the next section to learn how to find your affiliate links.
How To Find Your Affiliate Links
In your affiliate dashboard you will see a section called Breakdown by Funnel. Below that will be several blue buttons labeled Affiliate Tools – Get My Links!. These are the buttons you’ll click to access your affiliate links for whatever product you’re choosing to promote. For example, if you wanted to promote the products in the ClickFunnels Affiliate Center (refer to image below) then you would click the blue button above that section to get the affiliate links for promoting products in that category.
https://clickfunnels.com/?cf_affiliate_id=xxxxxxx&affiliate_id=xxxxxxx
where “xxxxxxx” is YOUR affiliate ID
Option 2: Affiliate Sign Up (Non-Paying Customer)
Becoming a ClickFunnels affiliate does not require you to be a paying customer of the product. If this is your preferred method of becoming an affiliate then know that it will be a little more difficult to sign up now because ClickFunnels wants paying customers. Can you blame them?
With all the new changes ClickFunnels made to the affiliate program in 2019 it’s not always going to be open for non-customers. But, when it is, these are the steps you’ll need to follow to sign up for the affiliate program.
The first thing you’ll want to do is actually land on the page for affiliate sign ups. I’ve made it very simple to do just that. Clicking the red button above will take you to a ClickFunnels page that explains how the ClickFunnels Dream Car contest works. And, this is where you’ll begin your affiliate sign up process.
At the top of the page you will see a section for Non-ClickFunnels Users.
It will look like this …
If you don’t yet have an affiliate account all you need to do is simply click on the Sign Up to Become an Affiliate button to begin the process. That button may also be labeled Apply to Become an Affiliate. Either way, it takes you to the same place. That “same place” is shown below.
When the affiliate program is open to new applicants there will be a form to fill out with your details. As you can see now (as of the date of this writing) the sign-up form is marked private which means the program is currently closed. Be patient and keep checking back to see if the affiliate application form is available. When it is … be sure to apply!
Once you become a ClickFunnels affiliate you’ll need to click on the red button under Non-ClickFunnels Users to login to your affiliate account. From there you’ll come to the main login page for the affiliate program.
Since you’re a non-paying customer of ClickFunnels you would obviously want to enter your credentials under the Not A ClickFunnels User? section.
How to Skyrocket Your Chances of Success
As I’ve already mentioned, it is FREE to become an affiliate of ClickFunnels. You do not have to sign up as a paid user of ClickFunnels in order to promote their products. However, if you expect to create a reasonable amount of success in your pursuit of becoming a ClickFunnels Super Affiliate it helps if you have a paid account.
Why?
Because it’s difficult, although not impossible, to successfully market a product you don’t use. In the case of ClickFunnels it helps to know how to use the software so you can assist other affiliates and [your own] customers when they need help. If you haven’t learned to use it yourself it’s very unlikely that anyone will stick around with you for the long term because you won’t have what they need – that is, the ability to help and teach them about ClickFunnels.
Another reason why it makes sense to subscribe to ClickFunnels is because you’ll likely want to incorporate sales funnels into your own marketing efforts. Whether you’re building sales funnels to promote ClickFunnels directly or you’re using sales funnels to promote your own products and services (for those of you that already have your own business) it just makes sense that you’ll have a lot more success if you’re actually using the product.
It’s called “drinking your own Kool-Aid”. That basically means you practice what you preach. By doing so, you instantly gain more credibility. And people want to follow others who have proven credibility.
If you’re ready to go all in on ClickFunnels then I highly recommend you consider the special offer below. It’s the best deal going and the only way to get a discount on the price.
