Welcome to my Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Review!
Are you looking to start your own blog? Or do you like the idea of making money online with affiliate marketing?
Then that’s probably how you came across the Making Sense of Affiliate marketing course and it’s founder, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner. It’s a course all about starting a successful affiliate marketing business.
Looking for a legit training course shows that you’re serious about making the most out of this awesome business model. But you’re also on the lookout for anything that might turn out to be a scam or at the very least, not work for you.
That’s what our review is all about. What does the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course have to offer? Does it actually work for it’s members? Should you consider buying it or not? That’s what I’ll help you with in this review.
But who am I to be giving you an opinion?
Hi, I’m John and I’ve been doing affiliate marketing since 2016! I’m now actively earning an income through affiliate marketing and know my way around understanding if something is a legitimate online venture or a total scam.
I love helping others find their way through the minefield of online opportunities and would love to help you get started on your own journey…
Let’s get cracking with the review…
Disclaimer: This Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing review has been thoroughly researched with information and testimonials that are available online to anyone in the public. Any conclusions drawn from that information are my own opinions.
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Overview
Product Name: Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
Founder: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner
Product Type: Affiliate Marketing Training Course
Price: $197 or 2 x $105 payments
Best For: Bloggers looking to monetise their blog, beginners looking to make money online
Pros
- The Course is of Great Quality
- It’s Ideal for Beginners
- There is an Active Facebook Group
- Legit Founder – Knows Her Stuff
Cons
- Text-Based Learning Only
- Doesn’t Teach SEO (free traffic)
- It’ll Require Additional Investment
- Lots of talk But Little Work
Quick Summary
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is a training course that will teach you how to make money from your blog through something called Affiliate Marketing. It’s a legitimate business model and the training that is within this course has a proven track record.
Its founder, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner has earned a lot of money with affiliate marketing and the training course is her sharing her knowledge.
It’s a good starting point for beginners and the price is quite reasonable. But a big stumbling block is that it lacks any training on free traffic methods (i.e. SEO), which means you will need to be ready to invest in paid advertising routes to follow her methods. You’ll also need to have the budget to pay for a blog and other tools too.
I also found that the training only has text-based learning and that this lacked any depth into how to do the steps. Michelle talks through a lot of the material, without clearly pointing out how to do the steps to achieve it.
Overall, it’s a good option for someone wanting to monetise their blog, or a beginner looking to make money online through affiliate marketing
Recommended?
Best Alternative: My #1 Recommendation is the leader in affiliate marketing training! This platform has enabled me to go from earning $0 to $100’s per day with affiliate marketing and blogging! It includes all of the tools and training you require… Learn more here…
Table of Contents
What is Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing?
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is a great title for what you will get with this training course. It’s a course designed by a successful affiliate marketer called Michelle Schroeder-Gardner and it gives you a fundamental breakdown of what affiliate marketing is.
It’s aimed at helping bloggers monetise their current blogs or giving a newbie a breakdown of what it takes to make money online with affiliate marketing.
I’ll go into detail shortly about what is included in this course. But basically, it’s a step-by-step guide that will help you create your affiliate marketing strategy, and then show you how to implement it, and make money from it.
Here’s what you’ll learn from the course:
- What is affiliate marketing and how it work
- Why affiliate marketing is great
- The exact steps I’ve (Michelle) taken to earn over $300,000 from a single blog post
- How to pick the right affiliate products to promote
- How to increase conversions
- How to build trust and not lose followers
- Any required disclosures that you need to know about
- The one major tool you’ll need for affiliate marketing
- Different strategies to promote your affiliate products
- How to use Pinterest to succeed at affiliate marketing
Starting your own blog from scratch is one of the most difficult but rewarding ways of starting an online business.
It’s difficult as it will require a lot of time and effort to both learn the skills you require and then put them into action. But then it can be the most rewarding way of earning money from something you love. Plus, the income potential is limitless (which is a bonus).
The majority of people are unaware of actually how long this method of earning money can take to see positive results. It’s also why so many people give up on this awesome business model.
Now a sign of a legitimate course is whether they are realistic with you when they tell you about this kind of stuff. This shows with Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing, as Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is honest from the get-go.
One of the most common positive things said about her is that she is honest and realistic with her students. But that is also the reason why she has focused more on paid traffic routes, as they can (if done correctly) speed the process up a little.
But they do require you to have a budget.
Overall, her course reminds me of my #1 recommended training platform called Wealthy Affiliate. It gives all of the tools and training required to get started (including how to use free traffic methods for affiliate marketing) but they are also 100% honest about the timescales and effort you will need to put in to see the results.
Check out this 11-second video to see what you can expect from this course…
Before I go into any more detail about the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course, let’s first clarify with you what affiliate marketing is…
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
There are many interpretations online about affiliate marketing, some of them good and some of them bad. But in essence, affiliate marketing is about connecting a customer who is looking for a product with the people who are selling them. In return, you get a commission as a thank you.
But the key is to think of it as helping people find the right product that meets their needs to help them with a solution to a problem.
Your role is to showcase the right product to the right target audience and help them with the decision. Nothing about it should feel like selling.
This diagram below shows you how it works…
It’s important to note that there is a belief that you can just create a website and post lots of affiliate links on them, and then people will magically arrive and click on them to make you money.
It is all about putting your site (and its affiliate links) in front of the right audience. If they trust your opinions and you are showing them the right products, they are more inclined to click your links.
But no way is it as easy as some of the other internet marketing programs make it out to be.
Even Michelle will admit that it’s a hard thing to do. But when you know the right approach to blogging and how to get traffic to your site the right way, then getting the clicks that will make you money will become easier.
Right, I’ve mentioned Michelle a couple of times, let’s introduce her before we get talking about the course she’s created…
Related Post: Savage Affiliates Review
Who Is Michelle Schroeder-Gardner?
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is a very successful blogger and online entrepreneur. She’s the founder of an award-winning personal finance blog, called Making Sense of Cents. This is a blog where she shares her knowledge and expertise on how to save money, making extra money, and blogging, etc.
Michelle started blogging as a hobby but now, she earns over $100,000 a month from her blogging site. It was in 2016, that she created Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing to help other bloggers with affiliate marketing strategies.
Michelle’s success is well known and has been featured on numerous sites, such as Forbes, Cosmopolitan, US News, MSN, Yahoo, and the list goes on… You can check out this article on Forbes.
All things considered, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is a legitimate blogger and affiliate marketer who really knows her stuff. Let’s continue with the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing review to show you what’s on the inside…
Turn Your Passion into Profits
How Does Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Work?
Once you’ve completed the signup process, you will get access to all of the materials.
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing works as a course in printed sheets (PDFs). It is delivered via a platform called Teachable.
This course only provides you with PDF worksheets and doesn’t include any videos (which some might expect). The idea is that the students of this course are busy bloggers, so it was designed to work in a way that would cater to the interests of these people.
This might hamper those who like to be shown how steps are completed, as it relies on you understanding the written instructions instead of seeing it done in front of you within a video.
Related Post: The Authority Site System Review
Inside Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing...
Let’s break down the training modules within the course, so you can get a feel for what is inside… There are a total of six modules with over 30 lessons and nine bonuses:
Welcome
The first module is designed to welcome you to the course and learn a bit more about what you’ll be doing. You’ll meet Michelle, gain access to a workbook, and learn about the mastermind Facebook group you can join.
- Introduction to the course
- Workbook
- Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Facebook Mastermind Group
Module 1: What is Affiliate Marketing?
This is where the content starts ramping up, the first workable module will provide you with three lessons. You’ll get an explanation about affiliate marketing, the basics and how affiliate links work.
The content includes:
- Why Affiliate Marketing is Great
- The Basics of Affiliate Marketing
- How Affiliate Links Work
Module 2: How to Find and Apply to Affiliate Programs
This module is much larger and includes a lot more content for you to get your teeth into. Michelle breaks down the traffic elements and how to understand your reader’s mindset. You’ll also learn how to find your niche and affiliate programs.
Here’s the content within this module:
- The Amount Of Traffic You Need
- How To Determine What Your Readers Want
- Worksheet – Brainstorm What Your Readers Want
- How To Find Affiliate Programs
- 80+ Affiliate Program Ideas For Different Niches
- Worksheet – Affiliate Programs You Are Interested In
- Affiliate Tracking Spreadsheets
Module 3: Follow the Rules
Affiliate Marketing brings a number of legal obligations for you to consider with your online business. This module covers that off for you. You’ll learn the importance of disclosing that you’re an affiliate and what do to do if you live in a Nexus State (US citizens online).
Here’s the content within this module:
- Requirements and Disclosures
- Understanding Nofollow and Sponsored Links
- What To Do If You Live in a Nexus State
Module 4: How to Get Your Readers to Convert
I find this to be a module that is out of sequence with what you should be following, as you require good quality content before you start talking about conversion and making money. But either way, Michelle talks about this subject in module 4.
This module talks about how to pick products and then also about analysing your affiliate links’ performance.
Here’s the content within this module:
- The Tool You Need To Master Affiliate Marketing
- How To Build Trust
- Worksheet – How To Pick The Right Affiliate Product To Promote For Your Brand
- Deep Linking 411
- The Importance Of Your Click-Through Rate
- The Value of a Bonus
- Worksheet – My Bonus Ideas
- How To Have Affiliate Marketing Success
- Improving Your Top 10
- Worksheet – Improving Your Top 10
Module 5: Strategies and Ways to Promote Affiliate Links
In this module, Michelle gets into a ton of strategies for promoting affiliate links. For example, you can create product reviews (like I do on this blog!).
There are also other options like, you can build an email list, leveraging Pinterest, running an informational blog, etc. The good thing about this course is the fact that all traffic-related techniques are free!
Here’s the content within this module:
- Introduction to the Different Strategies
- Creating Successful Affiliate Reviews
- Worksheet – Creating The Perfect Affiliate Review
- Teaching With Tutorials
- Having A Helpful Resources Page
- Using Interviews To Drive Sales
- The Money is in the List
- Your Average Blog Post Can Lead To Affiliate Success
- How To Rock Affiliate Marketing On Social Media
- The Crazy Impact Pinterest Can Have
- How I’ve Earned Over $500,000 From One Affiliate Product
- Worksheet – Strategies To Promote Affiliate Products
Module 6: Rinse and Repeat
The last module is all about the importance of creating a relationship with your audience. There are also lessons on how to review and improve your performance.
Here’s the content within this module:
- The Importance Of A Strong Relationship
- Maintaining Your Affiliate Marketing Strategy
- Worksheet – Regular Maintenance Checklist
- The Things You Do NOT Want To Do
- Making Your Affiliate Marketing Strategy Long-Lasting
- Tips To Improve Your Affiliate Income Around the Holidays
- Worksheet – Tracking Your Affiliate Income Progress
Bonuses
Along with the 30 lessons and the workbook, you’ll also get a ton of bonuses too:
- How to Always Get Approved To An Affiliate Program
- How To Drive Thousands of Visitors To Your Blog With Pinterest
- 9 Things You Must Do When Something Goes Viral
- How To Increase Your Page Views
- Worksheet – My Affiliate Products and Services
- Worksheet – The Perfect Affiliate Link Checklist
- How to Maximize Your Reach, Your Impact, and Your Revenue with Facebook Ads
- Editing And Writing Strategies That Will Take Your Content To The Next Level
- How To Legally Protect Your Blog
If you want to get a quick insight into the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course material, check out the YouTube video below…
How Much Does Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Cost?
There is a lot of content that is included within the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course. But it will cost you $197 upfront to access the material. There is also the option of choosing a payment plan option, which means you pay 2 monthly payments of $105.
I would suggest you pay the $197 option as you will save money. There will be those that say this is expensive, but looking at the value within it is a really good price.
But you need to consider whether you are serious about exploring affiliate marketing and blogging. There will be additional costs for you to consider, but if you’re serious and it works out, you won’t really think about the upfront cost.
But if you pay it and then say it’s not for you, you can’t really say it’s a waste of money as you are aware of what you will get from it.
I also cannot find any information about a money-back guarantee. But as you will get all of the materials when you sign up, it does make sense that you won’t be offered a refund as they won’t be able to retrieve the content from you…
There is also the consideration that you will need to have an additional budget available to follow the strategy that Michelle sets out in her Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course. To give you an idea, this could set you back $100’s to both get started and continue the strategies.
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Online Reviews
There are many examples of positive reviews online about the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course. There are several testimonials on their website from real users.
The common themes of online reviews are that the course is:
- Comprehensive
- Legitimate
- Educational
- Worth the Price
Here are some other positive reviews:
“Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is a comprehensive resource taught by one of the top affiliate marketers. I truly believe that if you apply the strategies in this course, you can achieve remarkable results, just like thousands of other students.”
“I am so glad I purchased this course. In my opinion (and in business in general) it takes money to make money as long as you’re smart about who/what you’re investing in.”
But there are also some negative feedback about the course, mainly around the gaps that the course doesn’t cover…
“There are some decent teachings and ideas within the course, but nothing is covered in-depth, there are significant gaps in the material, and you can easily find better training freely available online for 90% of the topics covered.”
Related Post: Commission Academy Review
Is Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing a Scam?
I’m hoping that after reading this review so far, you are quite clear on the fact that Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is not a scam.
It’s a legitimate course designed by a very successful blogger, and it will definitely teach you about affiliate marketing. It isn’t the most comprehensive course out there, but it is still worth the $197.
This course will give you a solid foundation of the basics of both blogging and affiliate marketing. But this course will not suit those who already have a good knowledge of affiliate marketing, or those looking for more advanced strategies.
If you’re a complete beginner, then you will definitely find value within this course. But it cannot guarantee you that you will earn money from it, as that will depend on your time and effort, rather than what’s within the course.
Turn Your Passion into Profits
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Review: Pros
Here’s what we liked about Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing:
#1 Good Quality Content + Bonuses
Overall, I think the content is really good quality. You will be able to follow the written steps to allow you to learn how to earn money from blogging with affiliate marketing.
There are also a lot of valuable bonus bits thrown in too.
#2 Ideal for Beginners
The content is definitely pitched at the beginner level. It is written in a way that a beginner will understand, so you shouldn’t find too much jargon thrown into the mix.
But that does mean that the course is very basic to keep that understanding level low. This means that if you’re already an established blogger, then this course might not benefit you at all.
#3 Active Facebook Mastermind Group
Look, there are Facebook groups and then there are Facebook groups. Some programs will promote a group as part of the deal, but when you try to engage in it. You find that no one is around.
Not with Making Sense of Affiliate markeitng. You will see that the group is very active with other students, and you’ll be able to ask questions and help each other.
Michelle also hosts a Saturday thread where you can ask here anything about the course and affiliate marketing and get a response.
Want access to a 24-hour community with excellent affiliate marketing training and the tools to get you started? learn more about Wealthy Affiliate here…
#4 Good Price
$197 is a good price for what you actually get as part of the curriculum. There are many other programs out there that are charging fees of $1,000’s to get access to the training.
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Review: Cons
Here’s what we didn’t like about Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing:
#1 Text-Based Learning Only
We all learn in different ways, but you better like reading reams of text as that is what you will get with Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.
There aren’t any video tutorials showing you what to do…
#2 Doesn't Teach SEO (Free Traffic)
This is the one thing that does disappoint me, considering this is targeted at beginners. Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing doesn’t teach you about SEO or Search Engine Optimisation.
You’ll learn how to build a blog and write content and product reviews. But you won’t be instructed on how to optimise your website to rank on Google. It’s a critical component for any online business, as it means free traffic.
Otherwise, you are fully reliant on having a budget each month to spend on advertising.
#3 It'll Require Additional Investment
Like I’ve mentioned before, you will require an additional budget to implement the methods that Michelle describes in her training.
You’ll need money for:
- a website and web hosting
- keyword research
- paid advertising
#4 Lots of talk But Little Work
One thing you might notice when going through the content is that Michelle will spend a lot of time talking about something. But she doesn’t really explain how to do it in sensible logical steps.
#5 Rarely Updated
The Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course was released in 2016. But from the looks of it, it hasn’t been updated since. That is concerning, considering how the online world evolves. For example, Google has recently changed what they want to see in a product review, but this might not be reflected in the training.
Do I Recommend Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing
Yes, there are reasons why I would say it’s a good option.
It’s a legitimate training course that would teach you the basics you need to start a blog and earn money from affiliate marketing.
But it wouldn’t be my #1 recommendation. Simply as there are better options out there.
It gives you enough to get going but doesn’t give you a granular step-by-step model and it fails to teach you about SEO, which is such an important skill.
As the training is only text-based, it can mean that you need to go elsewhere to find resources to help you understand the topic which isn’t great when you’ve spent money on a course.
There are some good aspects, like the Facebook group. But overall, I would say it’s good but not great.
That said, I do have a much better alternative to share with you, so make sure you read this review to the end!
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Review - Conclusion
Right, let’s give you my personal opinion of the Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course. It’s a legit course that will give you the knowledge you need to get started with a blog and earn an income using affiliate marketing.
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is a perfect example of how successful you can be with this business model.
This course is a great starting point for anyone looking to explore this route. Having said that, I don’t believe its the best option out there.
But it is still a solid option against the backdrop of all the other Internet Marketing training programs out there.
How I Make Money with Affiliate Marketing
My #1 recommendation is a platform that offers everything a budding affiliate marketer would need. It offers a step-by-step beginner-friendly training course that will take you through all the steps you need to build your own profitable online business. It has helped me go from $0 to earning $100’s a day with affiliate marketing.
The reason why I recommend it over all of the other courses is that they are the leader in the affiliate marketing training industry.
Not only do they offer world-class training, but they also offer all of the tools you need too. Including web hosting, website builder, keyword research tool, etc.
The success rate speaks for itself, with thousands of users earning good incomes from following their methods.
Then there is the fact that my top-rated course is the largest online community of marketers you will find, of all levels.
This means that you can get help 24/7 and get answers from thousands of expert coaches, including me!
Best of all, I used this exact system to go from $0 to $1000’s per month in passive income!
My #1 recommendation is a platform that offers everything a budding affiliate marketer would need. It offers a step-by-step beginner-friendly training course that will take you through all the steps you need to build your own profitable online business. It has helped me go from $0 to earning $100’s a day with affiliate marketing.
The reason why I recommend it over all of the other courses is that they are the leader in the affiliate marketing training industry.
Not only do they offer world-class training, but they also offer all of the tools you need too. Including web hosting, website builder, keyword research tool, etc.
The success rate speaks for itself, with thousands of users earning good incomes from following their methods.
Then there is the fact that my top-rated course is the largest online community of marketers you will find, of all levels.
This means that you can get help 24/7 and get answers from thousands of expert coaches, including me!
Best of all, I used this exact system to go from $0 to $1000’s per month in passive income!
Amongst the best features of my #1 ranked course is that you can take it for a test drive (just a $49 Premium subscription).
You will get one complimentary site and access to the very first ten lessons from the course to try things out.
Wealthy Affiliate is the best course online for learning effective strategies to make money online with affiliate marketing!
If you’re looking to do the same, then click the button below:
Thanks for reading my Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Review! If you have any questions, or any experiences to share then please write them in the comments below. ;).
