Welcome to our Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Review!
If you’ve been looking into training courses that help you learn affiliate marketing, then you’ve probably come across Michelle’s Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. You’re also probably wondering if it’s worth it’s price tag?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is well-known and is very successful when it comes to affiliate marketing. This course is where Michelle offers her insights into the industry with this training course…
First off, it’s great to see that you’re doing your research before you buy into any “seemingly good” product.
That is how you avoid scams and find only legitimate ways to make money online!
To be completely transparent with you, we’re not associated with Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing in any form. We’re not here to pitch or sell you anything…
Instead, we want to give you a good overview of what Michelle offers you within this course, and that way you can make an informed decision as to whether this course is for you…
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Review Summary
Product Name: Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
Founder: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner
Product Type: Online Affiliate Marketing Course
Price: $197 one-time fee
Best For: Struggling Bloggers, those who already have a blog
Pros
- Comprehensive Training
- Great Support
- Good Price & No Upsells
- Michelle is Legit
- 30-Day Money Back Policy
Cons
- No Video Training
- Basic Content
- You’ll Need to Print the Worksheets
- You Need a Blog First
- No Training On How to Choose a Niche
Summary: There is some great information within the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing training. It shows you how to monetise your blog through affiliate marketing. However, I feel this course is more geared towards those who already have a blog and has a firm grasp of the basics.
A beginner would find this course overwhelming and still be scratching their head over several concepts. On the other hand, more experience marketers would find this training a little too basic.
Something to consider is that this training is still only in text format, and there are no videos to watch, meaning you cannot follow along with how to achieve certain aspects.
Having said that, if you already have a blog and you want to monetise your blog, then this course is still a solid option…
Rating: 80/100
Recommended? Yes
Table of Contents
What is Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing?
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is an online course that was created by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner. It is delivered via a platform called Teachable.
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing aims to help bloggers and website owners monetise their websites through affiliate marketing.
Who's Michelle Schroeder-Gardner?
Michelle has a lot of experience with blogging and affiliate marketing and she also has an award-winning blog called Making Sense of Cents.
I have spent some time checking out her blog and she has some amazing information and experience to share with people.
Michelle also includes a famous income report section on her blog, where she shares all her monthly and annual income details.
In 2017 alone, Michelle made $1.5 Million through her blog. That is an amazing figure.
This is just one example of what Michelle has to offer and what we could learn from her course.
Inside Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
First off, Michelle’s course is hosted via Teachable. Once you are in, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is a total of 6 modules. These include over 30 lessons, several worksheets, bonuses and an exclusive Facebook Group.
Here is the Course Overview:
Module 1: What is Affiliate Marketing
It starts off with covering the basics of affiliate marketing, making sure you understand the importance of it to bloggers and how you could be missing out by not incorporating it.
Michelle also compares it to creating your own products and how it is much easier, how the income is generated and how it is passive income.
You will also learn of several suggest niches to get started in.
Module 2: How to Find & Apply to Affiliate Programs
Module 2 covers traffic and also when you should be applying to affiliate programs. You will also learn how to determine who your target audience is and how to match it up with an offer.
Michelle also talks about relevancy in this module and some research tactics on how to find affiliate programs. You will also gain some worksheets with some lessons.
Another section shows you a list of different types of niche that you could apply for and then some corresponding affiliate programs that are available.
Module 3: Follow the Rules
There are a number of legal rules that apply to affiliate marketing businesses and Michelle covers these really well in this module, but note they are only relevant to the United States. If you are from another country, you will need to look into the relevant laws from there.
Module 4: How to Get Your Readers to Convert
This module is around building trust with your audience which is a major factor to any success. Michelle also covers how to achieve better click through rates, which will help improve the success of your affiliate links.
You will also learn about adding bonuses to your offers to help boost sales, and also where and when you should include them.
Another element that is covered in module 4 is how to shorten and track your affiliate links with a plugin called “Pretty Links”. We currently use this plugin ourselves, and I personally don’t feel you need to pay for the full version, the free version is good enough.
Module 5: Strategies & Ways to Promote Your Affiliate Links
This is quite a large module and covers a number of different elements to promoting your affiliate links.
It starts off with an introduction on promoting your affiliate products using 8 different methods. There are tutorials, a blog post, interviews with product creators, social media and more.
Michelle also covers how to create successful affiliate reviews, and the importance of having resource pages on your blog.
Another section to this module is promoting affiliate products through email. Michelle suggests Convertkit. But there are a number of autoresponders you can use.
You will also learn about promoting affiliate products on social media. The emphasis here is Pinterest. Personally, I don’t feel Pinterest works for all niches, but you might feel differently after getting started.
Module 6: Rinse & Repeat
This module covers how to deal with your affiliate manager to get the most out of your campaigns. You will also learn about ensuring your affiliate links stay valid, how to check your stats, communicating with your affiliate manager and continually optimising your top 10.
You will also learn about using sales around the holidays. This kind of material is good for those starting out or those who have an existing blog.
Bonuses
There are a number of bonuses that are included with the training:
- Bonus #1: Access to Private Facebook Mastermind Group
- Bonus #2: Free Group Coaching Sessions
- Bonus #3: Pinterest Strategy: How to Receive Hundreds of Thousands of Visitors from Pinterest a Month
- Bonus #4: How to Always Get Approved to an Affiliate Program
- Bonus #5: 9 Things You Must Do When Something Goes Viral
- Bonus #6: How to Increase Your Page Views
- Bonus #7: My Affiliate Products & Services
- Bonus #8: The Perfect Affiliate Link & Checklist
- Bonus #9: How to Maximise Your Reach, Your Impact & Your Revenue with Facebook Ads
Who Would Benefit from Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing?
When I was thinking about who would benefit from Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, it kind of steered me away from a complete beginner. A complete beginner would benefit more from a more comprehensive platform like Wealthy Affiliate.
They cover the basics of building a website as well as what affiliate marketing really is. Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing doesn’t teach you how to set up a blog, which leads to believe that only those who already have a blog would benefit from this training.
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is for those who:
- Already have their own blog
- Have the basic skills needed for blogging
- Haven’t been making money online from their blog yet
- Looking to scale up their business or income
- Are willing to follow instructions and can take action
But I would say it is not for those who:
- Have not got a website or blog yet
- Are building a niche-specific website for Amazon
- Want to make money quickly online
- Don’t want to put any effort into their business.
Haven't Made Your First $1 Yet?
How Much Does Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Cost?
The cost of Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is a one-time fee of $197…
Is Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Worth the Money?
If you already have your own blog in place, have a niche and a target audience already in the bag, then yes, I would say that Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is definitely worth the $200.
If you are currently a blogger or website owner and are looking at monetising your blog through affiliate marketing, then this is definitely worth the investment.
If you are already making money with your blog and are looking to scale those earnings up, again this would be a worthwhile investment. But know that some aspects will be a little basic, but there will definitely be some hints and tips you will pick up.
P.S. This program enabled us to Create a 4-Figure Monthly Passive Income Stream. It’s Free to get started, and costs only $49/month to go full-time!
What We Liked About Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
Here is what we liked about Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing:
#1 Comprehensive Training
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing has a very comprehensive course. It covers the basics and offers a lot of Michelle’s knowledge and experience for you to implement on your business. The training is easy to follow and take action from.
Another thing I liked was the detail Michelle went into with regards to the legal side. This is often overlooked in other training platforms, and you will definitely learn something there.
#2 The Support is Great
You will get most of the support from the Private Facebook Group, which is for all members. Don’t let that get you down, I know there are plenty of facebook groups that are not active and not worthwhile. But Michelle is doing a fantastic job of support when it comes to her group.
Both Michelle and her members are very active within this group and you will learn a lot from this group.
#3 Good Price & No Upsell
For the value and the detail included within this training, it is a fantastic price. $200 is very reasonable and affordable for what you receive.
Michelle is honest, and I love the fact that it doesn’t include any upsells. She keeps the course up-to-date and offers a lot of fantastic tips and advice, without feeling the need to charge a really high price.
#4 Michelle is the Real Deal
There are plenty of training platforms we have reviewed, where we are not entirely sure who is behind it and whether they are real. Michelle is a fantastic example of what happens when you work hard and you can see her story on her successful blog Making Sense of Cents.
Michelle graduated from College with loads of student loan debt. But with her blog, she was able to clear that debt and live the lifestyle she wanted to. Like we said she earned $1.5 Million within 2017.
#5 30-Day Money Back Policy
If you are not entirely happy, you can request your money back. But note you do need to show that you have gone through the training, see below:
What We Didn't Like About Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
Here is what we didn’t like about Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing:
#1 No Video Training…
The main concern we have with Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is the lack of video training. Whilst it means you can go through the training quicker, if you are more into watching videos to see how stuff is done, then this training doesn’t have any.
Michelle compensates by including loads of screenshots for you to follow how to do certain tasks.
But I would have liked some videos to compliment the training.
#2 Basic Content
There is an element of if you are at a certain level in your blogging business, the training available at Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing will not be detailed enough for you.
It may feel like the training is too basic. There is a sweet spot relating to who this training would benefit and that would be where they already have a blog but are still getting the hang of certain aspects of affiliate marketing.
#3 You Will Need to Print the Worksheets
The worksheets that are available to use alongside the course are great, but you will need to print them out to use them. This will be an inconvenience for those who have no printer or prefer doing everything online.
#4 You Need a Blog First
There is little point signing up for Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing if you do not already have your own blog or website. This training will not show you how to do this step, it has no training on building a website or blog.
Complete beginners are not going to benefit from this training course, until you have gone and set up your own blog.
#5 It Doesn’t Teach You How to Choose a Niche
You may already have your own blog but haven’t nailed the topic you are going to choose for your affiliate marketing campaigns. Well, this training will not help you as its only real focus is on affiliate marketing.
Before you can move any further forward with your blog, you need to choose a topic that you are going to use. For example, if you are a travel blogger you would blog about travel related topics, or if you are a food blogger, etc…
There are a number of different ways to approach these topics and Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing doesn’t cover these parts.
If you feel like you are stuck at this stage, please don’t worry. Our Recommended Community can really help you out.
Haven't Made Your First $1 Yet?
My Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Review
First off, if you were thinking that Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing was a scam lets put that rumour to bed. There is nothing to worry about with regards to that.
Michelle has done a fantastic job with her training course, it covers all of the important aspects of affiliate marketing and her Facebook Group is a major plus to this platform.
Having said that, if you have not already got a blog then I do not feel this is a sound investment.
If you are someone who has yet to have your own blog yet, I would suggest you keep your money and not invest in Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing just yet.
It lacks the steps needed to actually build your own blog or website, or how to choose a niche. Without these, you will not find this course beneficial.
But please don’t worry, Check out our top recommendation…
How We Make Money Online
Affiliate Marketing is a fantastic business model for a beginner, but it requires the right training to get you started on the right path for your affiliate marketing business. Thanks to the training at Wealthy Affiliate platform, we’ve been enabled to Create a 4-Figure Monthly Passive Income Stream.
If you’d like to learn more, then please check out our Wealthy Affiliate review here…
Thanks for checking out our Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing review. If you have any questions or would like to add any comments, then please write them in the comments section below. 😉
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Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
$197
Pros
- Comprehensive Training
- Support is Great
- Good Price with No Upsells
- Michelle is the Real Deal
- 30-Day Money Back Guarantee
Cons
- No Video Training
- Basic Content
- Worksheets Require Printing
- Need a Blog First
- Doesn't Teach you How To Choose a Niche
Hi John
This review is great! Making sense of affiliate marketing sounds like a good deal. After reading your review I understand more about it. Because, there is no video for the training, is there a way to get back to the training? In case you need to consult it again. Because, printing is not bad but one can easily misplace the printed papers.
Thanks for sharing.
Hey Adyns68,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. You will have a lifetime access to the training, and it is only the worksheets that are provided that you will be required to print. You will still be able to access the written training through the Teachable platform.
So you will always be able to go back and review it
thanks
John
Excellent post on affiliate marketing. I think this would suit someone who already has a blog website. I am with wealthy affiliate myself. I might check this out as I am struggling to make money online…. I struggle with traffic and email marketing I also would like to know some laws governing affiliate marketing
Hey Joseph,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. This training would definitely benefit someone who is already established and looking to push on. But if you are already with Wealthy Affiliate, you will probably have access to more comprehensive resources already in the classrooms?
Either way, I wish you luck with your affiliate marketing business
John
This Michelle should obviously be congratulated on making the amount of money she has through her blogging lifestyle, but her product seems to have missed the mark with me on one thing – what does it offer that’s new?
After going through all the modules I see nothing in there that’s unique, or not already available online – I feel that most internet marketing courses go this way these days. Could you possibly point out something new or unique that she covers? Something that would merit yet another blogging course popping up?
Hey Chris,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. For me, the key element that is beneficial is the legal aspects she covers. It is often overlooked in certain training platforms and is one that could see you fall foul of the FTC and you cannot afford that.
But I also get what you are saying, there is a lot of training courses out there…
thanks
John
I came across Making Sense of Cents many months back and I am impressed with Michelle and her husband who brought their blog to great success. Both of them are great travelers who love to travel.
When I read your review, I felt your statement is right. Those who already got started should consider Making Sense of Cents as it seemed to tap more on conversion issue. However for newbies who are starting out, I also agree that Wealthy Affiliate is a better option as it has a step by step system for beginners to work in.
Hey,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. Their blog is a great resource for those looking to see how it can be done.
It totally depends on where you are in your affiliate marketing business. Most are just starting out and I feel this is not yet the right product for newbies. But definitely one to consider further down the line.
thanks
John
Thank you so much for the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Review. At last, I see a valuable program teaching Affiliate Marketing beside Wealthy Affiliate, which I am a member of.
It sounds like this program would be beneficial for me: I have my blog but haven’t earned much income from it yet. It definitely sounds like the training is worth the price. My only concern is that there is so much to learn within Wealthy Affiliate — not only for the beginners but also for the advanced marketers, and I haven’t accomplished all the additional training that is offered due to the time restraint.
I don’t blame my mentors for my business not being successful yet; I blame myself. I feel like joining another program, even though it sounds awesome, will not give me any additional benefits at this time. But, I will bookmark your post and keep this program in mind for the future.
This was a very comprehensive review. Thanks a lot.
~ Julia
Hi Julia,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. If you are already tackling the training at Wealthy Affiliate, I would suggest that you are not ready for Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.
The training at WA will sort you out, but you have hit the nail on your head. You need to crack on and put the work in to see it start making money.
Once you are earning, you can always consider investing in Michelle’s course.
Keep going with it Julia, I know you can achieve it!!
John
Thank you for your review on Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. I am still an inbetweener, I am not a newbie but I am not an expert either. That’s a bummer that they do not provide the video materials, I find that I learn better that way. This is the first I have heard of her, I will make sure to check her blog on the link you provided, I need to know her a bit better before I buy the program. I can really use module 4 on how to get my readers to convert, I am struggling in this area. Will check Michelle out first and take it from there.
Cheers!
Hey Nuttanee,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. People learn in all different ways, but I do feel video can sometimes be superior to just text Either way, i think you could benefit from the training.
Check out her blog, like you mentioned. You can get a real feel for Michelle and what she has to offer.
thanks
John
I am so happy to see the benefits of Sense of Affiliate Marketing Review shared! I have been looking for opportunities that allow me to work from home and a sustainable income for many years. If you have a blog and want to monetize your blog then this course is a solid choice. It is a making sense of affiliate marketing aims to help bloggers and website owners monetize their websites through. It is delivered via a platform called teachable. Please keep spreading the word about this great platform – I know it’s changed my life for the better!
I will come back to your website again for sure and I’m looking forward to reading your new posts.)
Hey Nasrin,
thanks for checking out our blog and for writing some comments. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. For the right person, it can offer some valuable insights into affiliate marketing.
thanks
John