Have you heard about Affilorama? If you're into affiliate marketing then chances are you probably have. If you haven't, then stay tuned. If you're just starting out in the world of affiliate marketing, Affilorama just might provide you with the training you need to get started.
There's a lot of debate about whether affiliate marketing is still a viable business model.
Well, I'm here to tell you that it certainly is. And, it can be very profitable if you know how to do it right.
Even if you're just learning about affiliate marketing and perhaps a little doubtful whether it works or not, there's enough evidence in the online business world to validate that it works. Yes, even in 2020.
Affiliate marketing is not going to die out anytime soon, and the reason is that companies are always going to need bloggers, online marketers, content creators, and influencers to help promote their latest offerings.
As a blogger and affiliate marketer, I can tell you that none of my online business ventures would have survived without affiliate marketing.
Over 70% of my annual revenues comes from promoting affiliate products and services online.
So, if you're thinking about starting a new online business venture, in my opinion, there's no better way to start than with affiliate marketing.
You can use affiliate marketing to generate revenues to help you grow your business, regardless of your niche or industry. If you're building a freelance business, affiliate marketing can help you. If you're trying to build an eCommerce business, yep, affiliate marketing can also help you.
Now, here's where it gets a little fuzzy, especially if you're a complete noob at all of this.
As a complete beginner in affiliate marketing, where do you start? How do you start?
Truthfully?
There isn't a great deal of training, information, or knowledge-base on affiliate marketing.
Sure, you can signup to online courses on Udemy, or spend money on eBooks, etc. But these, sadly, don't actually teach you anything.
In fact, a lot of affiliate marketing eBooks seem to be filled with nonsense. Bloggers bragging about their monthly income reports and whatnot, but not actually teaching you anything.
There is something called Affilorama (Affiliate link). I'm not sure if you've heard about it.
If you've never come across Affilorama before, then you might be interested in learning more about this platform here. Because it is one of the only places online where you can get affiliate marketing training.
However, having used Affilorama over the years, I'm a little skeptical whether the site actually offers legitimate affiliate marketing training, or whether it's all a complete scam!
Here's what I'm going to be covering in this review and overview of Affilorama -
Affilorama is an online portal that claims to offer legitimate affiliate marketing training to new and intermediate affiliate marketers.
It's completely free to join (Affiliate link), and as a member, you get access to a vast library of lessons, including videos and tutorials.
In addition, Affilorama offers three premium product packages, which I'll cover in more detail shortly because there's more.
As well as the premium training and online tools (some of which are outdated too), Affilorama also provides help and support throughout, complete with a 'somewhat' active forum for its members.
Here's what I found:
Yes, most of the content and training on the website are sound and legitimate. However, there seems to be a little bit of redundant information (out-of-date content) still on the site. Again, I'll talk more about this in detail later in the review.
So to summarise:
Affilorama could be the ideal starting point if you're completely new to the world of affiliate marketing. Or even if you have some experience and need to expand your knowledge. However, you need to be careful with some of the information that's being given by this site. Some tactics are valid, whilst a few are now obsolete.
Before we get started with this review, I want to be 100% clear and transparent with you.
Yes, I am an affiliate member of Affilorama.
No, I have NOT been paid to write this review by the company for their services.
No, I was NOT given free access to the premium training or online tools for any reason what so ever.
Yes, I did sign up on my own accord for a free membership account only, over 3 years ago. It was actually recommended to me by a reader of Magnet4Blogging, and a close friend of mine.
No, I have not paid for any of the premium content from Affilorama.
This Affilorama review contains affiliate links to Affilorama's premium training and online tools. Should you use one of these affiliate links to purchase Affilorama's premium packages, I will be paid a small commission, at no additional cost to you. You can read my full affiliate disclosure here.
OK, now let's get started with the detailed review below.
I'll assume that you already know what an 'affiliate' is, or, what an 'affiliate marketer' does even. So I won't cover this part.
Affilorama is a 'supposedly award-winning' online training website for affiliate marketers.
The website was founded in 2006 by successful affiliate marketer and internet marketing coach Mark Ling.
As I mentioned earlier in the short summary review, Affilorama provides affiliate marketing training lessons.
They do this using a range of content mediums including blog posts, lengthy tutorial articles, and videos.
Members also get help and support on their learning journey to building a profitable affiliate marketing business model from scratch.
Affilorama is one of the largest affiliate marketing training websites out there, with a community of over 300,000 members worldwide.
Affilorama offers free memberships to affiliate marketers of all levels, however, the content is geared more towards beginners and intermediates.
So, what's good about the free membership?
As a free member, you get access to a host of content and training in the form of blog articles and videos.
You also get free access to a suite of online tools with limited features and options.
Affilorama's three main premium offerings for advanced affiliate marketers are as follows -
Now, let's dive deeper into each of these offerings carefully.
I was actually pleased to read this part as it talks about many important issues that I myself, and perhaps many other affiliate marketers, might have experienced at some stage.
Path2Passive highlights the importance of -
The free content is useful and provides some semi-decent advice, along with personal experiences shared by Mark Ling. However, it is a mere glimpse into the full version of the Path2Passive book.
Of course, you have the option to access the full premium guide to the Path2Passive book which will set you back $37.
Yeah, I know. $37 for an eBook... Pfft!
AffiloBlueprint is a three-part training system designed for two types of people.
The system was designed to apparently teach you three important things -
Mark Ling claims that the training provided through the AffiloBlueprint system (Affiliate link) is based on real 'tried and tested' business principles that will help you to sustain profitability for your affiliate websites for many years to come.
With the AffiloBlueprint system, you get access to -
There's also some homework for you to do after completing each lesson.
Additionally, you get help and support along the way.
Of course, as a free member, you don't get access to any of this. Yep, you've guessed it, there's another upsell. This time with a price tag of $197.00.
AffiloTools is a suite of premium online tools to help affiliate marketers view, manage, and track website growth and stats.
For members of Affilorama, the tools are 100% free, with limited options and features. Upgrading to premium obviously opens up more options.
Here are some screenshots of my Affilorama Dashboard:
OK, so the layout is kind of nice and clean. With the AffiloTools suite, you can manage and track all of the following -
Now, as a free member, you can access the free version of AffiloTools which includes basic options -
Again, the Basic plan is free and provides some simple options. Upgrading your plan will provide you with more advanced tools and options. See the image below.
Recommended Reading: Best SEO Tools For Bloggers and Marketers
AffiloJetpack is a supposedly "fail-proof money-making system" designed, tested, and proven to help you generate sustainable income from your affiliate websites, according to Affilorama.
Now, I know exactly what you're thinking because I thought it too...
The words, "fail-proof money-making system" just sounds like ONE MASSIVE SCAM, right?
Well, I have to agree, that marketing message sucks.
Anyhow, AffiioJetpack contains four components for building a profitable income stream with your niche website.
These components include -
OK, so let me stop here for just a second.
As I was reading through the website's premium offerings, I couldn't help think that some of this sounded too good to be true.
One of the things I have learned over the years, especially while doing affiliate marketing, is that if something sounds like it's too good to be true, then it probably is. As cliched as that might sound.
"how to create hundreds of unique articles and blog posts quickly"?
Again, to me, that just sounds a little scammy, don't you think?
I know just how long it takes to create one piece of valuable content for my blog, let alone hundreds of them quickly.
I certainly hope they're not suggesting creating lots of trashy and poor quality blog posts and articles to save time!
That said, the Path2Passive package really dives into the importance of creating engaging, shareable, useful content, which I was very pleased to read about. Not entirely sure how that can be done quickly though.
And the price for this package? $997!
Anyone can signup to Affilorama (Affiliate link). You don't need to have any pre-affiliate marketing skills or experience to start.
You could also be a blogger looking to learn more about affiliate marketing to help you better monetize your blog.
And just to remind you, Affilorama is one of the largest affiliate marketing community website's out there, so you're in good hands.
So far, it all sounds great, right? So now the big question:
We've covered everything you get, but is what you get of any real value?
Well, I want to say yes but I'm a little hesitant and I'll explain why.
Yes, in the sense that the content is decent enough, OK. Sure it's not the best but as far as quantity goes there's plenty of it. Even as a free member.
So on a score of 1 to 10, I would give the value rating of the free content a 6.5 or 7 out of 10.
Which begs the other question:
"Is the premium training and tools worth your time and money?" Because let's be honest, none of it is cheap.
The answer depends on where you're at with your affiliate marketing skills and knowledge. In addition, it also depends on what's already working for you. What technology you're using right now, etc?
if you are new to affiliate marketing, and even if you have some experience but would like to take things up a notch, it's worth investing in learning how to build profitable affiliate businesses correctly.
Look at this way:
We all know that when it comes to paying for premium content or training, it has to be exceedingly good. It has to be valuable and resourceful, and all the rest of it. No one likes to part with their hard-earned cash and get nothing in return.
If you took an online course, for example, you would probably have to pay a hefty premium. Especially if you knew the course was going to be valuable and would give you the skills and knowledge you needed to grow your online business.
Affilorama, in this instance, is no different.
Yes, I am aware that there's already a boatload of legitimate affiliate marketing advice out there.
There are dozens of training videos on YouTube, in fact. And when it comes to blog articles on the topic of affiliate marketing, there are literally thousands to choose from. And, most of that content and info is freely available to anyone.
So, why would you pay for it with Affilorama?
Because everything you need is in one place. You don't need to go hunting for it and then decide whether that content is useful for you or not.
That's just the start of it. As I said, the content value is decent enough. Now, I've been a free member (Affiliate link) of Affilorama for over 5 years. In fact, I signed up on June 22nd, 2014.
I do log into my membership account from time-to-time, primarily to access the forum. As I said in my disclaimer, I don't pay for any of the premium content.
I also find some of the tools useful when I started, but these days, I prefer to use other more dedicated website tools like SEMRush (Affiliate link) and Hexometer.
Why have I never bought into the premium content?
For a few reasons:
I want to mention something about the content on Affilorama, especially the free lessons.
Although most of it is legitimate and sound, some of the advice on the site is quite generic. That being said, I'm happy to report that Affilorama no longer has a huge problem with regards to redundant information and out-of-date blog articles as it did just a few years ago.
It was refreshing to see that a lot of the content and articles have been upgraded and improved since I originally wrote this review in 2016.
So, what's the verdict on the 'value' then, Fabrizio?
I think you get a mix of things here, and for the most part, most of what Affilormama offers is of decent value. And now that the content has been updated a bit more, it's value has increased.
Once again, without sounding like a broken record. If you are completely new to affiliate marketing or building a profitable online business. And I mean completely new, as in you haven't got the slightest inclination as to where to start with it all. Then I think you could benefit from the free membership account (Affiliate link), at least.
As a free member, you'll get access to the 32-page Quick Start Guide To Affiliate Marketing (Roadmap) downloadable PDF guide.
You'll also learn how to -
Additionally, much of the free lessons provided covers the following -
So, from the 'free membership' standpoint, you get a good amount of value for nothing.
The premium content?
Originally I had my doubts. Having reviewed the free content again in 2020, including the blog: A lot of it has improved I'm really pleased to say. Is is it safe to assume the premium content has also been upgraded? Who knows.
You can get help and support on pretty much anything to do with the products, tools, lessons, training, etc which is provided via the support center.
Affilorama provides support via email or telephone.
You can also access the forum to ask for help from one of the forum members should you need to. The forum is a reasonably active place from what I can see.
Like I said, nothing on Affilorama is cheap.
Again, signing up is completely free (Affiliate link), and you get instant access to a bunch of free lessons, tools, a downloadable PDF guide, and whatnot, as I covered above.
When it comes to value, however, you get a mixed bag of things. You get some great all-around content, some generic advice, some new and improved content, free use of online tools with limited options, etc.
I'm trying to be as honest as I can with you here.
So, to add the complete AffiloBlueprint 3.0 System (Affiliate link) to your free membership, you'll have to fork out $197. Then $67 per month. (You get a 60-day money-back guarantee)
To add the complete AffiloJetpack (Affiliate link) to your free membership, you're going to have to fork out $997. (Again, with a 60-day money-back guarantee)
To upgrade the AffiloTools (Affiliate link), you'll have to pick a price plan that suits your needs. See the earlier screenshot.
So, there's an initial payout of $997, then whatever monthly cost totals up for the services you require.
Here is a list of pros and cons of using Affilorama.
Pros -
Cons -
Once again, for the purpose of providing full transparency to you:
I'm not a premium member. I've already explained why that is and you might have already guessed that for yourself.
So, if I'm not a premium member, how can this be an honest review?
Well, I believe that I've spent enough time (5 years) reading through most, if not all of the free training lessons.
I've also spent a considerable amount of time watching most of the videos, reading through the blog posts, as well as use some of the online tools in the free membership to try and warrant this review.
Rightly so, I don't know what the premium content, training, videos, systems, or help and support are 100% like. However, if it's anything like the free lessons, then I have some reservations about paying that kind of money for advice that I already know about.
Yes: If you're a complete newbie: The content and video lessons you get as a free member is decent enough.
There's a lot of good advice, tips, and ideas that you can use to start the ball rolling with your affiliate marketing business.
You can easily look past the small amount of redundant information. And I mean, there is very little of it now.
There are still tiny flaws in some of the free content, especially in the marketing lessons category, however, much of this has been improved.
The 'sales pages' for both the AffiloBlueprint and AffiloJetpack are somewhat informative, though not very inspiring. They are sales pages at the end of the day and they don't really provide a great deal of value.
The content is basically designed to entice you into buying the premium offers and upsells, and it does that quite cleverly using emotive words.
Is it all a scam?
No, it's not a scam as such. All-in-all, it's a semi-decent affiliate marketing training site, but can be quite expensive. There are better alternative methods of learning affiliate marketing out there. I give Affilorama 3 stars out of 5.
There is another more popular website similar to Affilorama called Wealthy Affiliate.
As for the alternatives to paying money to learn how to build an affiliate marketing business?
My answer is simple:
Save your money and do your own research. Follow and learn from other bloggers and entrepreneurs that are actually building real businesses using Affiliate marketing.
Search for affiliate marketing training videos on YouTube. Search using Google, and check out iTunes to find any potential podcast shows on the topic of niche website building, etc.
I know this takes time, but if you don't have the budget, it's probably going to be your best alternative.
Additionally, you can search for affiliate marketing blogs and forums, Facebook and LinkedIn groups for help and support, etc.
Getting a website set up is not that hard to do. I created this detailed tutorial post here if you want to check it out.
Recommendation: There's an awesome book on how to do affiliate marketing, written by my good friend and fellow blogger Anil Agarwal from BloggersPassion. I highly recommend you check it out here.
I hope you found this review useful, and if you did, do let me know by getting in touch with me here.
