Last Updated on May 4, 2022
Affiliate marketing is a billion-dollar industry and for good reason. People venturing into this industry invest time and money and ultimately receive returns as they go along their way, attracting more aspiring entrepreneurs and online business owners.
It is for this reason why affiliate marketing courses are abundant on the Internet. To cope with the massive number of people creating their own online business, of course, someone has to teach these people the rules of the game and how to play it.
This brings us to Affiliate Institute. You may be thinking how this is just another affiliate marketing course and that there’s nothing much significant to know about it. However, after I have done further research on Affiliate Institute, I have failed my mission to find criticisms on this affiliate marketing course. Damn.
Surely if this the case, this must be one of the greatest affiliate marketing courses that a start-up affiliate marketer would come across, right?
I’d like to think that’s the case, and if you have ever visited their website and see their reviews online, you would think like me too.
However, there’s something Affiliate Institute is not telling us, and I’m here presenting you this Affiliate Institute review to get to the bottom of it.
Is Affiliate Institute a scam? Let’s find out.
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What is Affiliate Institute?
Affiliate Institute is a company that provides an affiliate marketing course for aspiring entrepreneurs, freelancers, and online business owners. They claim that you can become a savvy and experienced affiliate marketer that can achieve a lifestyle of freedom, working wherever you are in the world without the need to create and promote your own products.
It is their mission, as stated on their homepage, to provide you tools enabling you to stake your claim in the digital economy with your own pacing and timeline, from wherever you are. Affiliate Institute describes its program to be fully-customizable – built for every lifestyle and every schedule for almost anyone.
Founders of this affiliate marketing training course are presented as the best of the best in the field of digital marketing and industry leaders that are known worldwide. You have Chris Smith, Julian Sherman, and Kameron George as the masterminds behind Affiliate Institute.
Affiliate Institute boasts its membership with the Performance Marketing Association (PMA), which is a non-profit trade association with the mission to champion and protect accountable performance marketing.
What I like about Affiliate Institute is their strong belief in this motto: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” It is this belief that drives them to donate 5% of every first order of their affiliate marketing course to an organization known as Kiva. This organization provides microloans to small businesses in poverty-stricken countries and Affiliate Institute is proud to be a part of this movement.
Right, all of this seems nice and very promising for a company offering affiliate marketing courses. However, the question still stands strong, is Affiliate Institute a scam? Let’s first understand how this company works and what you’ll be getting for signing up.
How Does Affiliate Institute Work?
The homepage of Affiliate Institute indicates that you can sign up and get started with them for FREE – “100% No Cost – Seating is limited, register now!”. These are their words, not mine. Keep reading to discover something funny about these statements.
Once you register your email and create your password, you will receive an email from Affiliate Institute which contains links to their products.
There you will be provided with a copy of their Affiliate Playbook and free affiliate marketing training content. It’s a free web-class where they’ll be breaking down the same steps that the founders used to start promoting and selling the products of others.
So, it seems that this web class is a three-part which are as follows:
Part 1: How to set up fully functioning ad campaigns in 24 hours without any prior knowledge or technical experience.
Part 2: Simple step-by-step process that allowed me to start generating thousands of sales with affiliate marketing.
Part 3: The 3 dirt cheap tools that I used to source products, launch ads, and scale campaigns.
Well, of course, what else should you be expecting from an affiliate marketing training course? I feel like Affiliate Institute is just coating these facts and common sense to instill hype on their prospects. If you’re a complete beginner in this industry, one way or the other you’re bound to fall for this deceitful way of promotion.
This bothers me so much because instead of informing people of what they’re really getting, they just keep on blabbering and sprinkling some fancy words to keep you hooked. Affiliate Institute lacks transparency, and I’m not a fan of that. I want something to be straightforward, unfortunately, they’re not delivering in this aspect.
Nevertheless, Affiliate Institute still offers an affiliate marketing training course to teach you the basics. However, we’re just scratching the surface here. Is Affiliate Institute a scam? The only way to found out is to know how this company really works from the inside, which is what we’ll be talking about in the next section.
What’s The Real Deal Behind Affiliate Institute?
Remember how Affiliate Institute is offering their training course and that they donate 5% of their earnings for each course they manage to sell to Kiva? That’s nice and touching, however, do you think that’s their real intention?
See, Affiliate Institute is a representative of a company called Enagic and their products, particularly their water purifiers called Kangen. They also teach you how to join and be a part of the Amazon Associates program.
Cool, so what does this have anything to do with you? Well, this only means that you’re being taught how to be an affiliate marketer to promote the products of Enagic.
Okay, we get it. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re a scam. Yes, they do provide you with a real and legit training course on affiliate marketing. That we know is true. It’s just that no one really expected this to be a funnel that leads you to an MLM. This is just plain deception right there.
It seems that the reason they constantly keep you hooked without telling you what you’re really getting is that they want to cover up the fact that they’re really an MLM from behind.
If you’re not familiar with MLMs, let me break it down quickly to you. These are companies that employ the business model of multi-level marketing. You become a representative of a company by signing up and paying a fee. For you to earn money in a business model like this, you have to promote the products of this company and earn a commission for every product you manage to sell. Simple.
Affiliate Institute leads you to an MLM. They want you to promote Enagic and their water purifiers called Kangen. So, they think of a way to recruit people into this scheme. What other way would be best to recruit people and have them sign up to be an affiliate other than offering exactly what they need? That’s right, a training course on affiliate marketing.
See, I’m in no way saying that Affiliate Institute or Enagic is a scam. Multi-level marketing is a legitimate business model that lots of companies are employing as their primary business model. I just hate how they try to cover this up until the end just so you can’t escape what’s really coming.
You signed up thinking you’re getting a free training course on affiliate marketing, which is great, but you’re also getting something else that nobody really asked for.
Oh, you think the deception stops there? Remember how they also said that the training course is free and comes with no costs at all? It’s a joke. Well, to be fair, it is free – but only for 14 days.
You do have the choice to opt-out of it within 14 days if you feel like if it’s not for you, but these 14 days are meant to “grease” you up to have you sign up and purchase these upsells. The first upsell, or the first level of training, costs $99 per month. That’s not so bad, right? It’s cheap and affordable.
But get this, the second level of training is a one-time fee of $2,995. Here is where you get live training sessions, weekly Q&A webinars, and personal mentoring among others. You also learn about the different ways and platforms involved in affiliate marketing.
I can’t even fathom how they can pitch something for less than a hundred dollars while then pitching something for at least $3k the second time around. Most companies would take it slow and gradual but Affiliate Institute just punches you in the face without any warning or whatsoever.
Plus, considering how this is an MLM, you’re also most likely required to buy their water purifiers. Hence, more spending.
Are you seeing some kind of trend here? For every little thing that Affiliate Institute makes you do, it’s all just for one thing – and that is for them to make money. They don’t care about their customers, as long as they get more money from you and milk out every cent you have – they’re the real winners at the end of the day.
Even if we turn a blind eye on the MLM aspects of the company and just focus on the training course itself, it would cost you all your money if you want to get your hands on all the content of the training course. Sure, you are going to learn affiliate marketing, but there are cheaper and better alternatives out there, and better – doesn’t deceive you.
Can You Earn Money With Affiliate Institute?
Let’s try to shed more light on the MLM aspect of Enagic. I mentioned that this is a legitimate business model that a lot of companies employ, but I’m not a fan of it. Though Enagic does offer you a 30% commission for each of your referral that signs up, an MLM is designed to make money for the ones at the top of the structure.
Yes, you can make and earn money through Enagic, but it wouldn’t be enough for it to be a stable and primary source of income. According to statistics, being a representative for an MLM can only compensate you with $500 to $2,000 on an annual basis. So, you’re not earning a lot in the first place.
What you’re really just doing is working your butt off so that the ones at the top of the pyramid become rich while you live from paycheck to paycheck – knocking on everyone’s door and begging them to buy a damn water purifier.
If you’re up for paying 3 grand for their affiliate marketing training course, then why not? Just keep in mind that there are better alternatives out there for a cheaper price. But if you’re going to sign up just for the MLM aspect of this company, don’t. Just don’t.
What I Like About Affiliate Institute
- You can learn the basics of affiliate marketing. They do deliver the training course as said on their website. Though this still has a lot of setbacks, I can’t call them a scam because the training course is there.
- They donate 5% of the earnings for each course they sell to Kiva, which provides microloans to small business owners in poverty-stricken countries.
- The 14-day trial is a blessing because you have the choice to opt-out of it if you don’t feel like spending almost $3,000 and unexpectedly become a part of an MLM.
Red Lights of Affiliate Institute
- I don’t like how they make it look like you’re getting the training course for free when in reality you have to pay almost 3 grand for it which is incredibly expensive. That’s called deception.
- Again with the deception as they try to hide the fact that they’re a funnel to an MLM up until the end just so you can’t escape what’s really coming.
- You’re most likely going to end up buying one of their water purifiers since that’s how MLM works.
- MLMs are not a very optimal way of earning money. You do have the capability to earn money but it wouldn’t be enough to suffice your daily needs. The ones who are making real money are only the ones at the top of the pyramid.
- You’re only learning affiliate marketing to be an affiliate of Enagic and promote their water purifiers. There’s nothing wrong with being an affiliate of Enagic but this just works in the favor of Affiliate Institute itself.
Is Affiliate Institute a Scam? Wrapping Up!
I can’t call Affiliate Institute a scam because the affiliate marketing training course that they promised is there. However, this doesn’t justify all the deceptions they made us believe. This company is full of tricks and surprises and it’s not even funny.
They make you believe it’s free but pitch in $3k when you’ve come to the point that you’re so greased up by their tricks that you have no choice but to take out your wallet.
Plus, they’re only teaching you affiliate marketing so you could become a member of Enagic’s MLM program to promote some water purifiers. It’s like feeding pigs so they can be eaten by carnivores and humans. There’s nothing wrong with being a part of an MLM but the way Affiliate Institute hides this fact just doesn’t sit well with me.
Also, I will never be a fan of MLMs because of its low-income potential. It’s designed to bring money to the upper part of the structure and you will be living from commission to commission knocking on everyone’s door, begging them to buy a water purifier.
Their training course is just too expensive and MLMs will never compensate you enough. Everything here is just a way for Affiliate Institute to make money, without considering the welfare of their customers.
Thankfully, we don’t have to get stuck with Affiliate Institute since there are better affiliate marketing courses out there and for a cheaper price.
One of the best affiliate marketing training courses I have stumbled upon in this industry is Wealthy Affiliate. It’s affordable, provides you rock-solid content on affiliate marketing, and helps you in building and maintaining your online business every step of the way. Check out my Wealthy Affiliate review to find out more about what I’m talking about!
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