Could MSN be in error ?

[harv]

If you search on MSN for "ClickBank"
you will find in 6th position my site

-- The Complete Guide to ClickBank --
with a correct description

Fine, except for one thing.

Instead of my URL

www.clickbankguide.com

there is another Url

www.kdenney.com

If you go to that site you get page not found,
although it is a registered domain.

My first thought was whether someone could be
copying my site but I very much doubt it.

Could MSN have made an indexing mistake ?

NB. I used to have my Url in the paid
Inktomi a while ago but no longer.

Harvey

[Advisor]

Harvey, I believe that's probably an old LookSmart listing. Since it's a directory listing, it hasn't been removed. LookSmart is riddled with 404 error pages.

That other site probably was selling your book (through their clickbank affiliate link), and managed to get their site listed through LS. Guess it didn't do well enough for them so they took it down (or it's just temporarily down).

J

[harv]

Originally posted by Advisor
That other site probably was selling your book (through their clickbank affiliate link), and managed to get their site listed through LS. Guess it didn't do well enough for them so they took it down (or it's just temporarily down).

J


Seeing that my new book was only launched
a few HOURS ago this is rather improbable !!

Harvey

[ihelpyou]

hmm. Interesting. I have no answer for you harv.




I have often wondered though why a site would use Clickbank to process their credit cards. It's a third party processing software and the site is not required to get their own merchant account. I don't get it as Clickbank makes lots of money off of this. Why does a site do this and not get their own merchant account so they can get ALL the profits and not a third party processor?

From each sale amount we keep $1 + 7.5% and pay you (or your affiliate) the rest as a commission.
That is the reason why I ask the question. That is very high compared to getting a real merchant account. Not as high as I have seen from other 3rd party processors but about triple the fees you can get with a real merchant account.

oops. Not triple, as it's about 5-6 times more.

btw harv, nice looking site there! :thumb:

[harv]

Hi Doug,

Thank you for the compliments about my site.

>>Why does a site do this and not get
>> their own merchant account

I know that in the past getting a merchant
account was expensive or difficult so that
maybe it is still 'perceived' to be.

Another advantage of ClickBank is
that they handle all the affiliate operation
for you

Harvey

[ihelpyou]

"Perceived" is a good word for it. I think that is exactly it. When I got mine 4 years ago the setup fee was $150. That is it!

Now a days, most will "waive" any fees at all. You get your own merchant account now for virtually nothing.

Yes, you do have to run your own affiliate program but that is extremely simple to do.

The perception out there is prevalent, that is for sure.

[Advisor]

Harvey, I've heard of your book before today. Or am I thinking of a different book? I could have sworn I learned about it at least a month ago.

As to clickbank, Doug, it's a nice easy way to sell your ebooks via an affiliate program. A few of the ebooks I've reviewed in my newsletter were affiliated with ClickBank, and it makes things very easy for me to get commissions on these things. I'm definitely more apt to review something that's set up with ClickBank, because I'm already an affiliate there, have an account and can keep my checks all in one place. Since the markup on ebooks can be a lot (it's mostly all profit), I can see why it would be worthwhile for many ebook writers to use them. If I ever get moving on my ebook, I'll probably use them also.

Jill

[harv]

Originally posted by Advisor
Harvey, I've heard of your book before today. Or am I thinking of a different book? I could have sworn I learned about it at least a month ago.

Jill

Hi Jill,

It may be my SITE that you heard of
- The Complete Guide to ClickBank
- http://www.clickbankguide.com

but a month ago the book was not even
a figment of my imagination.

It's called ClickBank SuperTips, I only
announced it yesterday to a limited
audience to get some feedback.
It's free by the way. Do have a look
http://www.clickbankguide.com/ckbook.htm

(The other main book I have is called
Guru Magic )


You've also given some extra good reasons
to Doug for choosing ClicKbank. They have
100,000 affiliates who could sell your
book for you just by setting up a simple
link.

Harvey

[ihelpyou]

Oh sure, I agree that selling an ebook through them might be the way to go.

I'm just saying that many more sites out there are using clickbank and other 3rd party people, who are selling things other than ebooks.

This is sort of like the "paypal" thing.

[harv]

By the way, ClickBank can only be used
for the sale of 'digital' products and services, which
means items that can be delivered entirely over the
internet via web pages, downloadable files, or email

So ebooks are the main category, followed
by software



Harvey

[Advisor]

It may be my SITE that you heard of
- The Complete Guide to ClickBank
- http://www.clickbankguide.com

but a month ago the book was not even
a figment of my imagination.
Could that other guy have stolen your site info, perhaps? Might explain why he's shut down now. He may have even gotten it into Zeal (since there's no looksmart redirect on the link) if all it was all free info.

Jill

[harv]

Originally posted by Advisor
Could that other guy have stolen your site info, perhaps?



Jill,

I doubt it.
It would have been a lot of work to convert
all my affiliate links to his and remove all
references to my ezine/web site (supertips).

And at the end of the day if we were
to dispute the true ownership of
'The Complete Guide to ClickBank'
who would you believe

- the person with the domain name

clickbankguide.com
or
kdenney.com


WHICH is a very good argument for having
a MINISITE with a good domain name.

But you've heard me say that before !!!


Harvey

[nitewing2]

Hi all,

Say, while we are on the subject of ebooks...what software do you use? I have been searching around for a good while trying to find a good one but all I've seen so far sort of falls flat.

I have an idea for an instructional one about Astrology.

BTW Doug...I paid almost 600 bucks for my merchants account with a bank in Ca.....that was almost three years ago.

Boy things have changed a lot. Did I mention it was hard to get? :(

Had to get a separate one for discover cards, (more expense)...boy at the hoops you had to jump through there!

Ann

[harv]

Originally posted by nitewing2
Say, while we are on the subject of ebooks...what software do you use?

Ann,

See my review of

Activ E-book Compiler

at
http://www.clickbankguide.com/productreviews.htm


Harvey

[Advisor]

Well then, Harv, I'm at a total loss about that other site and MSN! I take it you emailed MSN about it? If you hear from them, let us know what happens!

J

[harv]

Originally posted by Advisor
I take it you emailed MSN about it?

J

Not yet. Will do.

Thought I'd ask you guys first


Harvey

[nitewing2]

Thanks Harv!

I downloaded it and IF I can learn to comfortably use it I will purchase.

It looks more robust than the ones I checked out....from the ridiculasly simple to the unbelievably complicated!

Ann

[Dan0]

Just a few notes...

I use Clickbank to sell my e-book, because they run the affiliate program - just about everyone I deal with has a Clickbank account, so it's easy to set up affiliates. They also deliver a few new affiliates every week, through their site.

I also have a merchant account, but quite frankly, it's not worth using it compared to Clickbank. Administering my own affiliate program would be a major hassle, not to mention all the other junk that comes with it.

Finally, I use Active e-book compiler, and I like it for making little freebie e-book apps for Windows. But if you're trying to sell an e-book you'll sell more (and have happier customers) if you use Adobe Acrobat. PDF is great for e-books. They're portable, they're printable, and you can pretty much do everything an e-book compiler does.

-- Dan Thies

[Mertu]

Ahh... I think I see why.

Doing a WHOIS on both domains, both sites are hosted by successfulhosting.com.

The kdenney site is no longer up. (Apparently it sold oil paintings by one Ken Denney.) That implies that successfulhosting is no longer actually hosting or providing an IP address for the site. Who knows how long ago that ended.

Since the kdenney site no longer needed their IP address, successfulhosting gave it to another site they are hosting.

One guess what the name of that site is.

Inktomi goes to the site by IP address, finds it's still up, and puts the new content in the index under the old name. Or Ink goes to the site and is told the actual domain name is kdenney.com.

In addition to contacting Ink, you might want to contact successfulhosting to make sure everything is kosher there and maybe even see if they can move you to another IP address.


Sean

[harv]

Sean,

What an excellent deduction.

Thanks for solving the problem

Harvey

[Advisor]

Yep, good call, Sean!

I've seen similar things happen when IPs are shared at hosts, and it's another reason I recommend always getting your own IP address. This case is a bit difference, as it appears that maybe they just gave you the IP of someone who is no longer hosted with them. But these kinds of mix ups can be a royal pain to fix.

Good luck with it Harv!

Jill