There are a TON of ways to make money online, but if you are new to internet marketing it can be very difficult to know where to start, because there are many different approaches.

Here I’ll show you a comparison of Wealthy Affiliate vs Clickbank , which are two of the most popular platforms for making money online.

Let’s start by looking at what all is included with each program, and then how to decide which one is right for you.

Two Ways to Make Money Online, Two Different Philosophies

Each of these platforms provide completely different ways for making money online.

Wealthy Affiliate is my top recommendation for an affiliate training course ( read more on this here ), while Clickbank provides a platform for people who own products. Clickbank teaches you how to develop a product, and is a resource for affiliate marketers who are looking for products to promote.

Wealthy Affiliate Overview

Let’s first look at the Wealthy Affiliate approach.

This platform is designed to teach you the basic skills needed to become a successful internet marketer.

It helps you start from the very beginning, so even if you’ve never had a blog or website before, you’ll be able to follow the instructions and have your own site live before the end of the first course.

The courses teach you the fundamentals of affiliate marketing, but it ALSO teaches you how affiliate marketing fits into the online ecosystem. During the process, you will learn important skills that will help you market any product online, Such as, niche and keyword research, industry competition, content marketing, social media marketing, paid advertising, etc.

At the end of each lesson you are provided with suggestions on what you should do to implement your new knowledge and expand your business. There’s also a FANTASTIC community available to help in case you run into any problems. Most are other successful internet marketers.

Join Wealthy Affiliate Now!

Clickbank Overview

Clickbank has a different approach. They focus is on teaching you how to build your own product, not how to market that product.

You will cover how to choose a topic (niche), improve a product idea, and how to get that product setup with their affiliate network.

This course DOES NOT cover some of the important basics of online marketing. With this you are starting from scratch, which means it is pretty unlikely you will be able to make any significant progress selling your product. Basically you’ve just built the product, not the audience to market the product to.

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So Which Is Better?

Honestly, these two programs are more difficult to compare than others, because they are both completely different. I’m not even sure I would call them competitors.

The real question is, which direction do you want to take your internet marketing business? Should you build a product first, or an audience?

Pros and Cons of Building a Product First

If you decide to build a product first, then Clickbank University can be a good choice for you. They offer easy website building tools. But I feel the website tools are limited, and you can do everything they offer just as easily with free WordPress plugins.

Another main benefit is the immediate access to their affiliate network. If you are interested in promoting a product, this can be a huge boost to get you started. BUT, Clickbank’s system isn’t as promising as it seems. There are very few ways to promote your new product to affiliates, which means that (even though they include tracking tools) finding affiliate partners to help you isn’t easy.

However, many affiliates view Clickbank as a source for low quality products, one page offers, and scams. Finding truly great programs is like looking for a needle in the haystack.

So, even though having a product that other marketers can sell for you may sound appealing, it really isn’t an easy way to start if you are a beginner.

Pros and Cons of Building an Audience First

The Wealthy Affiliate training, however, teaches you how to be a successful internet marketer.

Their courses run a complete range of major internet marketing channels. They include information on SEO, content marketing, social media marketing, and paid advertising (PPC).

So if you go this route, you are going to get a well-rounded education, which will in turn serve as the foundation for a successful long term business online!

Even though the information presented at Wealthy Affiliate is based on the context of affiliate marketing, you are also able to market a HUGE range of online products.

This means you will develop the knowledge and skills to build an audience first. Then when the time is right for you, you can develop your own product if you want. You will already have access to your leads and access to find your own affiliates to promote it too.

Final Thought

Should You Join ClickBank or Wealthy Affiliate?

When you get down to the details, even though these programs aren’t direct competitors, it is clear that the value and quality of the program provided by Wealthy Affiliate significantly outweighs the program provided by Clickbank University.

So if you are wanting to start an internet marketing career (on the right foot), get access to the FREE Wealthy Affiliate starter course that will walk you through those critical first days of getting your business going by clicking the link below…

If you have any questions about ClickBank or Wealthy Affiliate, or have had experience with them, please leave a comment below!

Your Friend,

Karissa