Hi, welcome to my unbiased review of Affilorama! 🙂
According to the website, it’s “the largest affiliate marketing community and training platform online”.
But is it REALLY the biggest and best platform for learning the ropes of affiliate marketing and generating enough income to fire your boss?
Or is Mark Ling just tooting his own horn?
Hmm, we shall see…
At a Quick Glance
Name: Affilorama (AR).
Owner: Mark Ling.
Website: affilorama.com.
Cost: Free, $37 & $997.
My Score: 6/10.
Blog Post Contents:
PROS
- It’s free to join
- Stacks of training (+ some webinars)
- Offers help & support
- Create a free website health project inside ‘AffiloTools’
- The option to buy an ebook guide + a ‘Done-For-You’ system
CONS
- Not all free training is “actionable” – making it difficult for newbs to get started
- The support forum is hit & miss – it needs to be more lively
- ‘AffiloJetpack’ upgrade is expensive
Summary:
I won’t say Affilorama’s awesome.
But I’ll say it’s a good place for learning affiliate marketing because although there’s a lot of value from the free membership, there’s no real step-by-step plan laid out.
It’s a mix mash of free articles on various internet marketing topics, that kinda make it difficult for a beginner to digest.
But I like the free website tool and the fact that community support’s available – even if members’ need to make more of an effort.
Final Verdict: Recommended.
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What is Affilorama About, Huh?
AR is designed to help you make money from promoting other people’s products as an affiliate marketer by offering you the resources and support you need.
The platform has been operating since 2005 and seems to be intended for affiliates of all experience levels – whether you’re a beginner or pro.
Mark also claims that his platform is the largest of its type on the web.
But that’s debatable, since there are numerous better and sizable platforms.
Furthermore, Mark reckons AR will “help kiss your day job goodbye” – which is a pretty bold statement to make, in my book.
But I’ll let you decide for yourself when you sink your teeth into this review.
How Affilorama Works For The Bucks…
Upon joining AR, Mark tempts you into purchasing his ‘Pathway To Passive’ ebook.
Which, is a guide on how to build passive profit websites from the promotion of affiliate products and services.
But in my opinion, he should offer his ebook AFTER you’ve actually gone through the free lessons, so you’re more acquainted with affiliate marketing.
I digress.
Here’s a brief run-through of the freebie training that’s divided into 8 lessons.
Lesson #1: Introduction (10 Sections)
Inside this lesson, you’re basically introduced to the concept of affiliate marketing and making money from it.
The sections cover:
- The essential resources every new affiliate needs
- Affiliate marketing for beginners
- How the process works
- Identifying affiliate sites
- Examples of money-making affiliate sites
- Finding affiliate programs
- Making money without a website
- Generating website traffic using alternative methods
- Essential tips for doubling your productivity
- The fastest way of getting started online
There’s a lot of great information in the form articles, snapshots, and videos. Don’t get me wrong.
But the training doesn’t live up to Wealthy Affiliate’s 10 free lessons that actually walk you through “action-based tasks” for getting an online Biz set up.
Wealthy Affiliate’s Free “Step-by-Step” Lessons.
The other cool thing about WA is that you can build a free WordPress website using SiteRubix – WA’s in-house site builder.
==> Start Your 10 Free WA Lessons to Get Your New Affiliate Biz Rolling!
#2: Market Research (8 Sections)
This lesson aims to prevent you coming up short when it comes to niche market selection.
Basically, helping you to choose the right niche that’s profitable in the long term.
Additionally, you’ll receive guidance on some of the best affiliate networks to join.
Sections covered:
- 4 steps to finding profitable affiliate niches
- Keyword research: SEO competition analysis
- What your market wants
- 10 Clickbank alternatives
- 7 techniques & tools for doing keyword research
- Understanding market interactions
- How to select an affiliate program
- Using CJ & applying for your first affiliate program
Recommended: See ‘First-Time Internet Marketing Profits’ & Also Grab ‘From Nothing’ – For The Best In-Depth Niche Selection Training Going!
#3: Content Creation (7 Sections)
Here, you’ll learn all about the written word when it comes to blogging and other sorts of content methods like ebook creation and writing email letters, etc.
Sections covered:
- Easy ways of getting content for your site
- Writing product reviews
- Affiliate site headlines
- Writing pre-sells & sales letters
- How to write winning email subject lines
- Recording affiliate videos
- 7 steps to improving conversion rates
#4: Site Building (19 Sections)
You’ll learn about all sorts of website building aspects – from domain name and web hosting set up to choosing the right template theme, etc.
Some topics covered:
- Building a basic web page
- Uploading your website using Filezilla
- Linking your domain & hosting together
- Which website building software to use (Hint: SiteRubix is my recommended builder for newbs)
- Finding & registering a domain name
- Anatomy of a web page
- Good website housekeeping
- Web design trouble shooting
- Hiding your affiliate links with redirects
- Simplifying navigation
- Sitemaps
- URL Canonicalization
- Robots.txt
#5: Marketing Ideas (11 Sections)
This lesson basically focuses on thinking outside the box when it comes to your affiliate marketing efforts.
Sections covered:
- Introduction to blogging
- How to write a blog post
- 5 ways to monetize your blog
- Introduction to the concept of email marketing
- The top newsletter strategy
- Using Facebook & Twitter for affiliates
- Introduction to Web 2.0
- Social bookmarking
- Creating a buzz with viral PDFs
- 5 traffic methods for inbound marketing
#6: Search Engine Optimization (11 Sections)
In a nutshell, you’ll be educated on both on and off-page SEO strategies for getting your blog content ranked in Google for traffic.
The first four sections already cover topics from the previous lessons.
But as for the other sections, they cover:
- Introduction to affiliate marketing SEO
- What is Google PageRank?
- Getting backlinks for SEO
- Top on-page factors
- How to get your website indexed in the search engines
- 4 areas of on-page SEO to tweak on your site
- 4 steps to building quality links
#7: Pay Per Click (8 Sections)
This lesson teaches the opposite of SEO.
Where, instead of generating organic traffic, you’ll be doing PPC marketing – paying the likes of Google and Bing to advertise your business on their search engines.
Sections covered:
- Introduction to affiliate marketing PPC
- What is PPC?
- Doing keyword research
- PPC landing pages
- Writing & placing Google Ads
- Conversion tracking
- Bonues for better PPC conversions
- Alternative traffic sources
#8: Affiliate Outsourcing (3 Sections)
In a nutshell, you’ll discover the best ways to hire freelancers to do the work on your behalf and how to keep them productive.
All in all, the 8 lessons provide stacks of invaluable knowledge you can apply to create your affiliate marketing empire.
But sadly, some training is too generalised and complex for newbies to take onboard – especially when there aren’t always solid steps to follow.
Not to mention that some topics are irrelevant when starting out, like writing sales letters, video & email marketing, PPC, and hiring freelancers.
Mark should be teaching you the ropes of writing high-quality blog content and getting rankings in Google BEFORE diving into the advanced stuff.
And when it comes to building your site (the most important aspect)…
“Adobe Dreamweaver” is recommended – which isn’t just expensive.
But also requires some degree of HTML knowledge – making it unsuitable for newbs, from my perspective.
Affilorama Teaching Basic Website “HTML” Coding. But Why?!
“WordPress, Mark Ling, WordPress! C’mon, man!”
‘Pathway to Passive’ + ‘AffiloJetpack’, The Only Ways to Success?
In my opinion, as a complete “newbie”, you’ll struggle to wrap your head around most of the free training lessons inside AR.
So in all honesty, I think the best chances of building a profitable online business is by purchasing both ‘Pathway to Passive’ and ‘AffiloJetpack’.
As already discussed, ‘Pathway to Passive’ is an ebook guiding you through the process of building a niche site for earning as an affiliate marketer.
And when it comes to ‘AffiloJetpack’, it’s basically a ‘Done-For-You’ system providing you with all the essential components for building profitable WordPress websites.
But I dislike the fact that Mark refers to it as getting your hands on “magical money-making systems”.
Yes, ‘AffiloJetpack’ makes life a hell of a lot easier for newbies. Don’t get me wrong.
But “hard work” IS still required for a passive income, at the end of the day.
‘AffiloTools’, What The Heck’s That About?
As a free member of AR, you’ll also gain access to an “all in one” tool suite called ‘AffiloTools’ – allowing you to create a free project.
Which, is to help you manage and monitor the progress of your website when it comes to health, SEO & keywords, traffic, revenue, social, and research.
Despite the freebie AR training not being the easiest to follow, I must admit, I was quite impressed by ‘AffiloTools’.
Because it really does help you to stay on the right track with the progress of your website by displaying all the essential data under one roof.
So if improvements need to be made in a specific area of your site, ‘AffiloTools’ will let you know.
Does Affilorama Offer a Helping Hand?
If you’re in a spot of bother with any part of the training or features, there’s a private members’ community forum where you can fire your questions at.
Some posts seem fairly active (receiving replies in minutes), which is what I like about the AR forum.
But on the other hand, it’s been days or even weeks since the last replies on some posts.
So on a whole, the community seems hit-and-miss, which I think is an issue that Mr. Ling needs to address.
Additionally, you can email or phone the AR support team if the forum doesn’t work out for you.
How Much Does Affilorama Cost, Huh?
At the $0 membership level, you’ll have access to training, a taste of ‘AffiloTools’, and a forum for support.
However, I’m not entirely sure of the cost of ‘AffiloTools’ if you want to create more than one website project, since there’ no pricing info.
As for the ‘Pathway To Passive’ ebook, it’s $37 one-time – which comes with a 60-day money-back-guarantee.
When it comes to ‘AffiloJetpack’, it’s a hefty $997 one-time – which also has a 2-month returns policy in place.
Final Conclusion: Is Affilorama Worth it?
Given the fact that you can get your hands on heaps of training, website progress features, and also a support forum for free.
Then, YES, it’s absolutely worth taking the plunge with Affilorama.
However, just bear in mind that the training can be overwhelming for newbs – especially when it’s lacking a solid “step-by-step” structure for getting started.
Which, (in my opinion) means you’ll need to invest cash in Ling’s ebook guide and ‘Done-For-You’ system if you want to make any real progress online.
The ball’s now in your court.
Your buddy, Neil 😀
Got any questions or AR experiences to share? Please drop them down below…
What really got me to sign up with Wealthy Affiliate is how much you got for such a low price!! But most of all, I was very impressed when the owners themselves got in contact with me as well! I never regretted my decision.
I get help whenever I ask whether it is via private coaching from my ambassador that looks after me or via live chat! When I read excellent reviews like this one, I am reminded of how helpful and complete WA is compared to Affilorama.
There are certainly numerous benefits with Wealthy Affiliate, and the support is fantastic.
I’m glad your experience with WA has been nothing short of awesome so far. Affilorama is a great platform, but it’s not everyone’s cuppa.
Thanks for this review of Affilorama… This is one of the bigger platforms that many people talk about when it comes to learning how to make money online through affiliate sales for which you get a commission. I have not checked into it, but today I decided it was time to do that.
Based on your assessment and summary, this seems like it has some good points and bad points, but it is not a scam. The outdated or limited training is a bit of concern and if someone who did not know the latest followed it that could be bad. I know that things do change especially with the online and internet, but at least letting people know would be good.
Overall, after carefully reading your explanation, I think I will stick with the program and platform I am using now with success. It is the Wealthy Affiliate platform, and it has a lot of features that I like. Although Affilorama is not the worst out there, I just do not feel it comes up to the standard that I have now. Good review!
No problem, Dave! 🙂
I totally agree, Affilorama is the one that usually springs to mind. In fact, I started out with Affilorama myself many moons ago, and I couldn’t get to grips with it back then either lol. Just one of the reasons why I made the transition to Wealthy Affiliate.
Mark Ling’s platform is a great option for the right people, but some parts of the platform are in need of a revamp.
WA is definitely your best option, Dave.
Thank you for an unbiased and excellent review of Affilorama.
It goes without saying that WA is not overtly boastful about its credentials, but the facts speak for themselves. When I take a look at the comparative chart that you gave before your overall rating, I CAN SEE THE DIFFERENCE.
Such an approach shows that you are more interested in adding value to the potential marketer instead of just selling a product.
It’s no problem at all, Bouli!
Indeed, WA has a lot of awesome qualities, that when compared to other platforms like Affilorama, makes it unmatched in numerous areas.
And YUP, I’m all about being helpful to my audience. 😉
Affilorama is a nice platform and I enjoyed reading through this excellent product review, but I don’t think this Affilorama is honest with the claims it’s clinging to.
I mean being the largest training platform online. This article has really done justice to the pros and cons and I think I might consider checking the platform but it is expensive compared to other resourceful training platforms online.
In my opinion, Affilorama needs to be transparent about member numbers from the offset before making such bold claims.
And yes, there are cheaper platforms out there.
But cheers, glad you enjoyed the read. 🙂
This is an awesome review of Affilorama. I almost joined this company a couple of years ago and now I have some good information which I was missing.
Overall I think it’s a halfway decent learning platform for affiliate marketers. I would like to see some comments from someone who has used it and if it was worth the price. Thanks for some good insight into this company.
Much appreciated, Dave! 😀
Don’t get me wrong, Affilorama has some great positives about it.
And I’m sure in time, some members’ will be dropping their success stories here.
But the ‘getting started’ training just seems too complex and all over the place, for my liking. So you’ll need to buy the products to make progress.
I was searching for more information on Affilorama and came across your review here. I am also a member of Wealthy Affiliate and I wondered if Affilorama would add or benefit the existing training I was getting at WA.
It was great to see the comparison from another member of WA here.
From what I have read here, Affilorama seems like a great product, but I am not sure that it would benefit me much by joining as I get that and more at WA. I especially like that I get hosting for my website at WA too, which Affilorama doesn’t seem to include.
In my opinion, there are some aspects of Mark Ling’s platform that you can run alongside your Wealthy Affiliate training.
But I think to get the full benefits of the platform (with a website included), an investment in ‘AffiloJetpack’ will be a requirement.
I like the offers rendered by this platform known as Affilorama, but I don’t think the claim of it being the largest affiliate marketing community and training platform online is truthful.
I’ve been opportune to check out some of these platforms and I’ve come to conclude that Wealthy Affiliate is the best and largest, newbies are beginning to make great waves because of the quality training offered by WA. Affilorama is expensive and I don’t think it’s all clean.
That makes two of us, Jones!
I’ve tried MANY platforms since 1999 (Affiorama and Chris Farrell Membership being two of them) – but the WA community is unmatched in terms of size, resources, and price.
And I agree, more newbies are beginning to succeed with WA, and Ling’s platform is in need of numerous improvements – well, at least the “free” version anyway.
This was a good review of Allilorama.
From the review, it seems the free content for newbies may be confusing and not actionable but the paid services can be very useful. This will help people to make an informed decision.
Thanking You, Christian! 🙂
Indeed, Ling’s free ‘getting started’ training is overwhelming with SO much to get through – without any clear direction for newbies either.
But I’m hoping he’ll address this issue in the future.