One of the biggest problems faced by ClickBank merchants is the risk of content theft - people downloading their digital products without paying for them.
To gain illicit access to downloadable product files, determined content thieves exploit a range of security weaknesses, each of which can be eliminated if the correct protective measures are applied. Here, we will look at just one area of vulnerability and a simple precaution that any ClickBank merchant can use to protect against it.
Most ClickBank merchants understand that there should never be links to downloadable product files and thank-you pages from the other pages on their website. The only way to access a product file should be via its thank-you page, which likewise should be accessible only via the ClickBank payment process. Observance of these simple guidelines will ensure that there is no way to navigate directly to your downloadable content.
This approach also ensures that the thank-you page will not be indexed by search engine spiders, which is essential, as nothing could be more harmful to product security than a thank-you page with a #1 Google ranking!
However, we should not overlook the risk that your thank-you page and product file URLs may be distributed in underground newsgroups and forums. While this may not necessarily lead to an immediate avalanche of illicit downloads, the risk exists that the forum posting will eventually be indexed by a search engine and that this will provide an indirect route by which the thank-you page itself becomes indexed.
Astonishingly, the solution proposed by some so-called web security experts is to list your thank-you pages in your web servers robots.txt file - a configuration file that informs search engines which pages should be excluded from indexing.
Its true that this approach usually prevents indexing of the thank-you pages. But it creates an even greater weakness - it provides any would-be hacker with easy access to the exact names and locations of all your supposedly hidden files.
It cannot be over-emphasized - never list your product files or delivery pages in your web servers robots.txt file! To explicitly stop a thank-you page being indexed by spiders, use the following Meta tag in the element of each thank-you page:
Although a search engine may discover your thank-you pages by some indirect route, it will silently ignore any page that contains the above Meta tag.
Of course, this is just one of several vulnerabilities that expose your downloadable products to the risks of theft. In chapter 21 of ClickBank - The Definitive Guide, I examine the whole gamut of techniques that online thieves use to steal your merchandise and I describe several of the most effective ways in which this problem can be tackled.
About The Author
Copyright Tim Coulter. All rights reserved.
Tim Coulter is a consultant and software developer who helps netpreneurs to harness marketing technologies.
He is also the author of ClickBank - The Definitive Guide The Ultimate ClickBank Tutorial & Reference Manual.
ClickBank allows its merchants to sell many different types of digital products, but with the proviso that they must be deliverable entirely over the internet within 24 hours of purchase.
Most merchants focus on downloadable products (especially ebooks and software applications), although ClickBank can equally be used to sell digital content delivered by email or via membership websites and other online communities. But there is one category not usually associated with ClickBank - services.
In theory, the need to deliver within ClickBanks stipulated 24-hour timeframe excludes the sale of services. It is almost impossible to absolutely guarantee delivery of a service within a specific timeframe, as fulfillment invariably involves activity on the part of the merchant and may be affected by workload and other variable factors. With some services, implementation naturally takes place over an extended period (often scheduled to suit the buyer), making it even more difficult to comply.
Fortunately, ClickBanks interpretation of the 24-hour rule is somewhat liberal. A number of successful ClickBank merchants operate service-based businesses where fulfillment takes a month or more to complete. In these cases, delivery is deemed to have taken place when the merchant makes first contact with the buyer. This flexibility allows the sale of a very broad range of digital services:
Despite the flexibility to sell various types of digital merchandise, every ClickBank sale involves a specific pre-defined offering at a fixed price. Before a sale takes place, a ClickBank buyer wants to know exactly what she is buying and how much she is going to pay for it.
So, you cannot use ClickBank to sell your services by the hour, nor can you currently establish recurring billing relationships with your clients. Whatever you sell, you need to package it so that it can be described very specifically and offered at a fixed price. For example, as an attorney, you could not use ClickBank to sell legal services using the traditional hourly-based or results-based pricing models. But ClickBank is ideally suited to selling a fixed-price legal service, such as writing a will or creating a simple, standardized contract document.
One of the most practical ways of selling services via ClickBank is to offer a customized version of an off-the-shelf product. For example, a web designer may offer a custom design service, whereby the buyer selects a web template and receives a limited (and specifically defined) amount of custom modifications included in the purchase price. This packaging model enables innovative merchants to penetrate markets traditionally dominated by expensive professionals, broadening their own scope by offering better value-for-money to the buyer.
So, use your imagination and create some new and enticing digital services that you can sell through your ClickBank account!
About The Author
Copyright Tim Coulter. All rights reserved.
Tim Coulter is a consultant and software developer who helps netpreneurs to harness marketing technologies.
He is also the author of ClickBank - The Definitive Guide The Ultimate ClickBank Tutorial & Reference Manual.