ClickBank University 2.0 Review (Is CBU Legit or SCAM?)

Welcome to my review of ClickBank University 2.0.

I heard about this a while ago and was curious to see if it lived up to the hype, or if it was just a waste of time. So I decided to become a CBU member and check it out first hand.

Is it a scam? No, ClickBank University (CBU) is not a scam. For $47 you get access to a legit platform that teaches you how to start a real business online. As well as access to a private community and Q&A webinars, among other things. But it’s not perfect either.

In this review, I’ll show you what it’s about, how it works, the pros and cons, and share my overall feelings on the platform. To help you make a more informed decision either way.

What Is ClickBank University?

ClickBank University (2.0) is a platform that teaches you how to create and sell your own products, and how to promote other people’s products, through the ClickBank marketplace.

ClickBank itself is a site where vendors sell digital products and affiliates find products they can promote for a commission. It kind of “bridges the gap” between the vendor and affiliate, and handles all of the technical stuff, like payment processing and so forth.

CBU was originally created by Adam Horwitz and Justin Atlan in 2013, as a way to help people take full of advantage of ClickBank. The logic here is that the more successful sellers and affiliates they create, the more successful ClickBank itself will become.

Adam Horwitz is kind of a big deal in the internet marketing world. He has created a number of successful products over the years, and made a lot of money online. Justin Atlan is also a successful online marketer, and works closely with Adam.

Adam presents the “8-Week Affiliate Track” course which is a course on making money with affiliate marketing (promoting other people’s products online). And Justin presents the “12-Week Publisher Track” which is all about creating and selling your own products on ClickBank.

In addition to the training, there are also “add-on” courses to build on what you learn in the core course material, bi-weekly training webinars, and a private community (CBU forum).

How much does it cost?

CBU 2.0 costs $47 per month and is primarily aimed at beginners who’ve never made money online before. And overall I think there’s a lot of value here and it’s worth the price. But there are some things I didn’t like, and some big upsells immediately after buying.

Here’s What Happened Immediately After Buying…

Immediately after paying the $47 fee, I was immediately taken to an “upgrade” page. Where I was asked to buy ClickBank Builder 2.0 for $594 (or 2 monthly payments of $297).

I’m personally not a huge fan of these kinds of upsells, but unfortunately, they are very common. Because they make vendors and affiliates a lot more money.

So I get it. But it’s just not a nice feeling to pay for something, then immediately be hit with an additional $594 fee. Which in reality isn’t as “optional” as you might think.

See, the training is aimed at beginners who have no idea how to create sales funnels, or how to put together the essential elements of a successful online business. So it’s definitely a relevant upgrade, but it’s kind of a slap in the face I think.

Because much of the training is based on using ClickBank Builder to actually build out your business. Which means, as a complete newbie, if you don’t have this, it’s going to be very difficult to follow along and implement what you learn.

The good news is, there are better, more cost effective alternatives out there. Alternatives that will still allow you to follow the CBU training and build out a successful business.

For example, you could setup a simple WordPress site and install the Thrive Architect plugin (what I use). Or for an easier (more expensive) alternative, you could use ClickFunnels.

In any case, my point is, you don’t have to buy CB Builder to be successful.

However, if you don’t “upgrade your order”, it’s going to make it more difficult to follow along if you’re a beginner. Because there’s no training on using an alternative site builder.

Overview of ClickBank University 2.0

Once I got past the upsells, I got access to the member’s area. Which I’m happy to say contains a lot of value and is very easy to navigate.

There’s basically two “paths” you can take.

The first path is for those that do not want to create their own products. It’s referred to as the “8-Week Affiliate Track” and teaches you how to create a successful affiliate marketing business. Where the idea is to promote other people’s ClickBank products as an affiliate.

Related: The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Affiliate Marketing

The second path is all about creating your own digital information products, and selling these through the ClickBank marketplace. This is referred to as the “12-Week Publisher Track”.

Regardless of which path you take, each “week” of training consists of three training videos and some downloadable content to supplement each lesson. 

The cool thing about the format of the training is that it’s easy to follow along. And it’s easy to keep track of your progress, because you can check off the lessons as you go.

The main drawback of the way the training is structured, is that it is “drip fed” to you. Which means you can’t just complete it at your own pace, you must wait for each “week” of training to be unlocked.

On one hand, this could be good for people who rush through everything. On the other hand, it makes the process of building your business a lot slower than it needs to be.

Anyway, let’s take a closer look at each “path” of training, so you know what it’s about, how it works and whether it’s going to be right for you.

8-Week Affiliate Track With Adam Horwitz

I’m personally more interested in affiliate marketing, since this is how I earn 6 figures per year online. So I spent most of my time here, seeing what “nuggets” I could gain from Adam.

What is affiliate marketing and how does it work?

Affiliate marketing is a simple business model where you earn commissions for promoting other people’s products.

There’s all kinds of ways to do affiliate marketing too. But in this case, you are learning how to promote digital information products, like online courses, as a ClickBank affiliate.

The good thing about being a ClickBank affiliate is that it’s a legit company that pays on time, every time. And there’s a lot of high converting offers you can promote. It’s also cool because they pay 75-90% commissions, which is very high.

The downside is there’s some spammy offers within their marketplace which means the refund rates can be higher than average on some products. Which as an affiliate, you have to wear.

Either way, the training Adam provides is quite good.

There’s a lot of talk on the sales page about making money with a passion or interest. But that’s not really the case. Adam basically shows you how to select a niche such as health, wealth or relationships (the big 3) and promote products in one of these niches.

The reason for this is that the majority of products within the CB marketplace are focussed on these niches and this is where the most money is being made online.

In any case, once you’ve chosen your niche and a product to promote, the rest of the course is about creating your sales funnel.

How does it work?

Well, you don’t just send people straight to your ClickBank affiliate link. The idea is to send people to an opt-in page you create, that warms them up, and then sends them to the offer page where you can earn commissions.

Here’s how the process works in a nutshell:

• Create a Facebook ad that leads people to your opt-in page.
• Your opt-in page warms people up to the offer, collects their email, and directs them to the sales page.
• The sales page is where you earn commissions if the person buys the product.

This is a proven process so you can make money this way. But like any affiliate marketing method there are pros and cons to consider which I will elaborate on shortly.

Course Summary (my words)

• Week 1 – Introductory videos
• Week 2 – Concept of affiliate marketing and navigating ClickBank
• Week 3 – Choosing a niche and product to promote 
• Week 4 – Creating a sales funnel using capture pages
• Week 5 – Writing and outsourcing content to give to your email list
• Week 6 – Email marketing 
• Week 7 – More email marketing
• Week 8 – Scaling your business
• Bonus – Affiliate promotions

12-Week Publisher Track With Justin Atlan

This path is presented by Justin Atlan and was designed for those wanting to sell their own digital products within the ClickBank marketplace. 

Justin shows you how to create a digital information product, like an e-course. And he shows you how to create your product based on a passion or interest, which is cool.

For example, you might be passionate about health and fitness and create a digital course on “getting ripped in 30 days”. Or you might be interested in wood working or sustainable living, which are both potential ideas for a ClickBank product.

The cool thing about creating your own product to sell on ClickBank is that you have an army of ClickBank affiliates who can promote your offers. So you don’t pay for traffic, you simply list your offer and affiliates start promoting it, which can lead to huge profits since you only pay when an affiliate makes you sales.

This is how guys like Wesley Virgin became a millionaire. He created a product called Fat Diminisher which took off. Now he sells products on ClickBank like Overnight Millionaire which I recently reviewed.

Anyway, the downside is, there’s a lot more work involved than being an affiliate. Because you need to create the product, the upsells, and a winning sales funnel. Which is easier said than done. And there’s no guarantee affiliates will promote your offer.

With that being said, if this is what you want to do, it’s possible. And Justin offers a lot of great insight here, so you’re in the best possible place to learn how to sell a product on ClickBank as a member of this course.

Course Summary (my words):

• Week 1 – Introduction to the concept
• Week 2 – Choosing a niche
• Week 3 – Understanding your customer & tailoring your offering to suite
• Week 4 – Creating written or video content for your course
• Week 5 – Including upsells in your funnel
• Week 6 – Writing sales copy
• Week 7 – Creating a video sales letter
• Week 8 – Making sure your product and everything you’ve done so far is tip top
• Week 9 – Selling within CB
• Week 10 – Working with affiliates
• Week 11 – Testing different elements to increase conversions
• Week 12 – Scaling your business
• Bonus – Selling high ticket products on webinars

Getting Traffic

Aside from the core course material, there’s a lot of extra training on important aspects of running a successful online business, like getting traffic.

Making ANY money promoting anything online requires traffic. Without traffic you cannot make a dime online no matter what you are promoting or selling.

And there are 2 ways to get traffic: free and paid. CBU teaches you how to get paid traffic.

This can be very effective with the approach you are being shown. But unless you are already familiar with running these kinds of campaigns and getting the most out of your traffic, this could end up costing you a lot of money.

There are many ways to drive a steady flow of quality paid traffic but with CBU you are shown two main paid traffic strategies.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these strategies so you know what to expect.

Traffic Method 1: FaceBook Ads

This is the main traffic method you will learn about within the course. And it’s a good one, because Facebook has billions of users and it’s just an amazing platform to advertise on.

The best part about this is how they show you exactly what is working  for them within their actual campaigns. The insights being given were very worthwhile. I was able to pick up some useful tips for my own campaigns here that in reality are probably worth the $47 alone.

With that being said, if you are looking for a Facebook ads “how to guide” then this is definitely not it. This is more of an overview with some great insights, but not a comprehensive FB ads course like Robby Blanchard’s Commission Hero for example.

The main drawback to this is the cost. As a beginner, this is an easy way to lose money so it’s important to tread carefully and educate yourself as much as possible.

Method 2: Instagram Shoutouts

This is quite an interesting traffic method and one that could be quite effective.

The idea is to offer people (with a large enough Instagram account) money to place a relevant picture on their profile page in front of their followers.

A percentage of people will click through from your picture to your opt-in page where you will then be able to collect their email address and send them into your sales funnel.

Is this possibly a little spammy?

Maybe, maybe not. For the most part think that as long as you are offering relevant value and not just promoting junk then it’s totally fine, but I don’t use Instagram so I have no idea how the average user would feel about it or what IG’s policies are regarding this.

There are other traffic methods taught too, such as video marketing on YouTube for example. But these are the main ones.

The Toolkit

The “toolkit” is essentially one big series of extra products you are encouraged to buy, mixed with a couple of basic trainings on using free tools.

The paid tools are of a high quality though, and this is stuff you can use to develop and scale your business. So some of this is worth checking out.

Here’s a quick summary of the tools section:

• Buying a Godaddy domain name (paid)
• Powerpoint training for creating sales video slides (free training)
• Video creation with Camtasia (paid)
• Creating pictures with Canva (free)
• Split testing software (paid)
• Lead generation tool (paid)
• Social media tool (paid)
• Outsourcing with upwork (free training)
• Awebber (paid)
• Demographic research (free training)

Bi-Weekly Webinars

These are webinars that are hosted every couple weeks by Adam and Justin.

Not only is there some great content here, but you can also ask Adam and Justin questions. And they record these, so you can go back and watch them later as you want.

This is probably the only way you could justify paying $47 per month for CBU 2.0 on an ongoing basis. Because there’s fresh, up-to-date content that is of a high quality.

So to be clear, CBU 2.0 is only a one-time $47 fee, but to get access to the bi-weekly webinars, you need to keep paying $47 each and every month.

So I do think this adds a lot of value to ClickBank University.

Private Community

As a member of CBU, you get access to a private community of people who are going through the course like you. This is a cool feature because it allows you to connect with like-minded folks, get answers to your questions, and learn from successful people.

Don’t expect to get answers from Adam or Justin here, but it’s cool all the same.

Other Resources

Other resources CBU members get access to include “add-on” training from industry experts. For example, Gary Vaynerchuck, Matt O’Connor and Abel James.

Each of these guys specialise in something like Facebook or YouTube marketing, copywriting or some other key aspect of your business. The idea behind this is to give you additional content beyond the core training, to help you build out your businesses.

ClickBank University Affiliate Program

ClickBank University has its own affiliate program that you can promote.

This is why you’ll see many reviews pitching you CBU 2.0, because they earn commissions if you buy this course through their affiliate link. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s a great platform/ course, but it pays to know this.

To get started, you need to visit the CBU affiliate signup page and request approval. And if approved, you’ll get access to your affiliate links and resources to promote ClickBank University.

How much can you earn?

It’s actually a pretty good affiliate offer that allows you to earn low, medium and high ticket commissions, as well as recurring commissions.

Here’s a breakdown to show you what I mean:

• CBU 2.0 ($47 per month): 75% of first month and 25% recurring commissions
• ClickBank Builder ($594): 50% commission
• Advanced Training ($97): 50% commission

This isn’t bad, especially considering how well the sales funnel has been put together. So promoting this could be worth checking out once you learn the ropes.

What I Liked

• The methods taught within ClickBank University are legit and proper ways to build an affiliate business, or a business where you sell your own products on ClickBank. So if you follow what you are taught, you can create success.
• The members area and training modules are laid out nicely and in such a way that makes it easy for you to follow along with. And the system keeps track of where you’re at in the training so you know what you need to do next.
• The overall support is good in comparison to most programs I’ve tried over the years. It’s not amazing, but you do get access to email support, you can ask questions under each lesson and you get access to bi-weekly Q&A webinars.
• The cost of the base membership is reasonable at $47. And there’s a 30 day “no questions asked” money back guarantee in place which is cool.

What I Didn’t Like

• I’m not a huge fan of the immediate upsells that I encountered, like CB Builder 2.0 which costs $594, and the $97 Advanced Training option. I don’t like the CB Builder upsell because it’s more essential than an “optional upgrade” (at least, within the scope of this course). Yet they don’t even mention it until after you buy CBU.
• The content locking is lame. I like the ability to go through the training modules at my own pace, not wait 8-12 weeks to finish. Honestly this is a ridiculous amount of time to complete the course. The good news is I emailed support and they unlocked it immediately, so give this a try if you want to get through it faster.
• Paid advertising is great, but can be risky for a complete beginner. So while I’m a fan of running FB ads and so forth, I would only really recommend this if you have a decent ad budget and are prepared to spend more money educating yourself on this stuff.

Is ClickBank University a Scam?

No, ClickBank University is not a scam. It’s a legitimate platform that teaches you how to make money online by selling your own products or someone else’s as an affiliate.

There are some aspects of it that I didn’t like as mentioned, but these don’t make it a scam. I review a lot of programs on this site so I see a lot of actual scams and shady marketing tactics used. And in my opinion, this is above board in both the promotion side of things and the platform itself.

Does that mean it’s the best platform ever?

That might be a bit of a stretch.

I mean, it’s great, especially if you want to learn how to sell/ promote stuff on ClickBank. But there are other, less expensive, and overall better ways to build an affiliate marketing business.

Like Wealthy Affiliate (review) for example, which is where I learned how to create a 6 figure affiliate business from scratch, on a shoestring budget.

Either way, CBU is not a scam and it’s something I would go as far as to recommend if you’ve read this review and think it could be a good fit for you.

Summing It Up

After purchasing ClickBank University 2.0 and going through the platform, I believe it is worth the money and could be a great investment for the right person.

You get access to legit training and support, to build a profitable business online. Whether you want to sell your own products or promote someone else’s.

One caveat here is that you should probably be prepared to invest a lot more money into this than $47. Because that is only really for the core training. If you want the advanced training, and the tools you need to build your business, you’ll need to “upgrade”.

Not to mention, you’ll need a decent budget for paid ads. Because the training primarily focuses on running paid traffic to your offers, which can become quite costly.