Commission Domination - I am DONE

I am updating to say that I have tried the C0mmission Domination site and I have mixed feelings about it. But not mixed enough to prevent me from asking for a refund (which I did today).

Commission Domination - The Good

What they teach in the videos make sense and I get what the benefit of their education and product is. They really go into niche marketing techniques and they have their app that helps you create a site optimized for affiliate marketing.

The high level process is straight forward:

• They show you how to research some niche markets with Google's keyword tool
• They guide you on getting a URL and web hosting (both which they recommend using their "preferred" vendors - i.e. they likely get a commission)
• You then use their "Launchpad" software configure the website your need setup (you will need to their app access your admin functions of the website)
• They it pings a bunch of search engines to get it noticed
  

Commission Domination - The Bad

While conceptually I like most of what they do, the big win I was expecting was their Launchpad software optimizing my website. In their videos, you see what the base Wordpress site looked like before, and what it looks like after the software "Energizes" the site.

However, the "Energize" process did not work. I saw a file on the website called "Energize" after I did the process with their app, but no changes happened to my website.

Now this alone would not all me. The first video from Anik Singal says his support guys are there to help and you just need to email them if there is an issue. Well let me tell you - I emailed them 5 times over 2 weeks and I never received a response from them. I have issues with companies who will sell you a product, claim they support, then never do and sit there enjoying my cash. That is bullshit! And the more annoying part is, once you sign up, you get tons of spam from Anik, almost daily, sometimes multiple times a day. Apparently they have time to sell me more broken products but no time to fix the one they sold us.

So I do not recommend Commission Domination. I have requested a refund from Click Bank today, which will be processed in one day. I will keep you posted on that.

Signed Up for Commission Domination

I have recently signed up for Commission Domination to test out how it works and whether it is worth it or not.

The Details of the Sale

After the (lengthy) video sales process, I got to the purchase page for the product. Simple enough to fill out, and for $47 it seems like a good deal.

Of course, after you hit the first submit button they bring you to an upsell page. The page is for their add on product for generating larger traffic volumes and I think some niche marketing tactics. This upsell was about $297 or around there. I decided to pass on this until I confirmed the base model worked.

What You Get

So, what happens after you buy? You get emailed to you a URL, user name (your email address) and a password. When you log on the first thing you see is a video from Anik (the guru) welcoming you to the program and he gives you a quick blurb about what do to.

Below the video is five links. The titles and description is below:

• Start - seems to take you back to the log-in page
• Cash Launchpad - the app, which is one of the key items in your purchase
• A-Z Training - a link to download about 30 PDFs that cover a whole range of topics from Affiliate Marketing to SEO.
• VIP Members - links to their upsell sites
  
• Make Money - links to other related products

Initial Impressions

So far, I have reviewed all the video instructions for the Cash Launchpad. In their five steps, what they show you is:

• how to find a niche market (related to a click bank products)
• get a good URL for it and install it (you need to use a host that supports certain functions)
• how to "energize" your site - this is their special app that will connect to your site and load web pages suited for info product marketing (one the real values of this purchase)
• how to customize your site, using some of their templates (and their web host)
• and how to use their tool to "promote" your site - which is really just pinging your URL to a bunch of search engines, which is really useless to get ranked (or really even noticed)

My thought is the real value is their template system for creating a good affiliate marketing site. I will be trying soon to see how it works.

For those interested so far, click here to buy.

In the Beginning - My Exposure to Affiliate Marketing

I decided to start this blog to record my experiences with online affiliate marketing, specifically with Click Bank. I learned about Click Bank (and a lot of details around online marketing) from a DOT COM seminar held by Ron LeGrand/Global Publishing. One concept they taught was affiliate marketing was an easy way into online marketing with low to no cost and could generate easy revenue. So I wanted to put this to the test.

WHAT DOES CLICK BANK DO?

Simply put, people who have a product to sell but don't want to solely do all the marketing can add their product to Click Bank. Then, people who have no products to see but with ability to market them can go to Click Bank, market someone's product, and earn a commission from each sale. Pretty straight forward.

My experience so far is that the products tend to be information based. So courses, eBooks, audio/video education, etc on many different topics. The general categories they have are:

• Arts & Entertainment
• Betting Systems
• Business / Investing
• Computers / Internet
• Cooking, Food, and Wine
• E-business & E-marketing
• Education
• Employment & Jobs
• Fiction
• Games
• Green Products
• Health & Fitness
• Home & Garden
• Languages
  
• Mobile
• Parenting & Families
• Politics / Current Events
• Reference
• Self-Help
• Software & Services
• Spirituality, New Age, and Alternative Benefits
• Sports
• Travel

The mechanics of the process is easy enough for anyone to follow:

• Find a product you are comfortable to promote
• You will get a special URL for a landing page for the product (they seller/Click Bank will have a professional landing page for the product)
• You will market this URL
• Anytime anyone buys the product from the URL, you make money
• Click Bank will send you a cheque every two weeks (or more) depending on your payout threshold, which can be as low as $10.

HOW DO YOU PROMOTE?

So what is the best way to promote a product? Well, Click Banks provides some general suggestions. They suggest things like:

• Article Marketing
• Niche Sites and Blogs
• Social Media Marketing
• Search Engine Marketing

They provide a bit of info on these. However, my online marketing experiences thus far is that all of this is easier said then done. You essentially need to match your product to:

• the right target group
• who is motivated to buy
• in sufficient volumes (as you will only get a tiny percentage who buy)

DOES IT WORK?

That is what I plan to find out. I have heard of many people making decent extra income from online sources (one buddy makes $500-$1,000 a month from Google ads on his blog). But I want to see if this sort of marketing will work better.

I put my first Click Bank ad up a few months ago on a web site I have, but really ignored it to date. From that, I made $14. I also started doing some more aggressive marketing (mainly blog commenting) and I have made another $33. Not huge money, but pretty good for no cost and minimal effort. As time goes by, I will update how I am honing my abilities.



MY NEXT STEPS

I plan on learning more about the products I promote. The following are my current list of promotions. (Disclaimer - if you go to these sites and buy the products, I will make money). I plan to buy the Commission Domination product as it is training for how to use Click Bank.

Trick Photography

Digital Wedding Photography

XBOX Repair

Commission Domination

We will see where these go in the next little while. :)