April 14, 2021

Is 123 Affiliate Marketing a Scam? Can You Boost Your Income From This Training Program?

If you're new here, take this quick make money online quiz to discover what route is the best one for you

In my affiliate marketing journey, I've met a lot of successful marketing gurus who became my idols. One of them was Pat Flynn. He's an affiliate marketing wizard with the amount of knowledge and experience he has in the field.

Unfortunately, his 123 Affiliate Marketing course is a bit underwhelming when you compare it to his actual brilliance. In this review, I'm going to tell you why that is the case...

If you're as enthusiastic with affiliate marketing as I am, you must've gotten pretty thrilled when Pat Flynn announces that he is finally launching 123 Affiliate Marketing.

But before you do consider purchasing the program, I suggest you put that to a pause until you finish reading this review so that you'll see if this is a legit way to make money online based on the many surprising and accurate information I've laid out...

Disclaimer:
This 123 Affiliate Marketing review has been thoroughly researched with information and testimonials that are available online to anyone in the public. Any conclusions drawn by myself are opinions.

123 Affiliate Marketing Review

The overview and rankings

Name: 123 Affiliate Marketing

Founder: Pat Flynn

Type: Affiliate marketing course

Price: $599

Best for: Beginner online entrepreneurs, anyone who wants to learn about affiliate marketing

Is 123 Affiliate Marketing a Scam: Logo

123 Affiliate Marketing Pros

  • Nice for people with affiliate marketing experience
  • Made by a successful affiliate marketer
  • Positive reviews

123 Affiliate Marketing Cons

  • Not beginner-friendly
  • The course is pretty short for its price
  • Expensive

Summary:

123 Affiliate Marketing is a video-focused training program that teaches the ins and outs of affiliate marketing.

Make Time Online Rating: 40 out of 100 

Recommended: No

What is 123 Affiliate Marketing about?

123 Affiliate Marketing is an affiliate marketing coaching program that teaches affiliate marketing the way Pat Flynn does it.

In that regard, his way is building trust and offering the right products for your audience.

This course focuses on establishing a good relationship with your target audience first. Money-making comes when you start promoting the right products that already exist in the market that your niche falls in...

Is 123 Affiliate Marketing a Scam: Intro

Unfortunately, 123 Affiliate Marketing is not suitable for beginners. In Flynn's words, he stated that "this course is for people who already have an online presence. It's not for people who are just starting or starting from scratch."

So if you're looking to learn how to make money through affiliate marketing, this course isn't for you.

In fact, you can stop reading this review now and start looking for other options. However, I'm not stopping you if you want to know more about 123 Affiliate marketing.

The course is promoted through Pat Flynn's blog, named 'SmartPassiveIncome.' This blog has been around since 2008, so it's earned quite a high reputation.

123 Affiliate Marketing has been available since 2017. It is currently hosted on Teachable, an all-in-one platform that helps create and sell courses online.

Check out this 10-minute video that gives you a glimpse into what affiliate marketing is all about...

And who is the guy behind this?...

Who is Patt Flynn?

Pat Flynn is a successful affiliate marketer who has earned a fortune through online marketing.

As mentioned, he owns a long-standing popular blog. He mainly uses his blog for sharing reports on his growing income over the years...

Is 123 Affiliate Marketing a Scam: Creators

He has made it clear that the majority of his fortune came from affiliate marketing.

According to his website, he has made more than $3.5 million in affiliate marketing revenues. 

He also has a weekly podcast that already has around 400 episodes. The topics he covers are pretty diverse, with Amazon and Kindle marketing and general entrepreneurship as one of the more common themes.

Pay also has a YouTube channel with over 279,000 subscribers. He shares a lot of different content that's related to affiliate marketing. He also makes videos about passive income tips, course reviews, and even updates on what he is currently doing.

He also owns and manages several courses on affiliate marketing, brand building, business ideas, podcasts, and more.

The cheapest of his courses is priced at $249, while the most expensive one has a whopping $999 entrance fee...

Ready to make passive income online?

Hey, I'm Mike.

I created a passive income online within a year. I had no marketing skills or online experience when I started. 

Mike Beatty

How does 123 Affiliate Marketing Work?

As mentioned earlier, the course is hosted on Teachable.

Since Pat is also a big-time YouTuber, the videos and audio quality of his course is top-notch.

They're presented in a reasonably entertaining way. Video quality is available at both minimum (360p) and maximum (1080p).

However, despite the excellent presentation, the sales page can cause some suspicion and concern. The course is advertised to be a three-step guide. However, the program, in general, seems to be relatively short.

The course also doesn't mention free traffic approaches like social media or organic SEO. Sure, organic Facebook or Instagram traffic has been losing some relevance lately, but SEO is still the king of online traffic.

The sales page does mention that it's a paid, traffic-focused program. However, Pat Flynn uses purely organic traffic to market his Bluehost link. He should've considered including a strategy that made him thousands of money monthly in a course on how to become a successful affiliate marketer.

In my perspective, I think the reason for this is that he is marketing this course as an easy process towards success. He thinks people wouldn't buy it if they found out how much work really goes into affiliate marketing.

123 Affiliate marketing contains 23 lessons subdivided into five separate modules. The three main modules are where the majority of the content lies.

These are also what Pat Flynn refers to as the three main steps. These three modules are what you need to learn how to profit with the affiliate marketing business model. 

Here's a brief overview of what 123 Affiliate Marketing aims to cover:

  • How to select the most profitable products to promote online. These products should be beneficial to your target audience—the higher satisfaction, thus higher conversion.
  • How to choose the best affiliate marketing platform to promote the product.
  • How to promote affiliate products legally.
  • Affiliate Marketing best practices
  • Using Affiliate links, building trust with your audience, and creating healthy business relationships.

Inside 123 Affiliate Marketing

Again, 123 Affiliate Marketing contains five total modules.

Module 1

The first module serves as the introduction. It provides a high-level overview of the entire course, what will be covered, and some templates and other course downloadables.

Module 2

Module 2 will provide you three lessons and videos. These materials will talk about what you need to know before starting your affiliate marketing journey. Topics that cover the second module include:

  • An Affiliate Marketing 101 lesson
  • Best practices for long-term success
  • How to ensure that you get the most out of 123 Affiliate Marketing.
Is 123 Affiliate Marketing a Scam: Inside

Module 3

Module 3 is going to be the first of three main steps. Step one will be all about finding the right products to promote.

The entire module will be about knowing how to select the right products that work best for your niche. Basically, the product you are going to promote should solve your audience's problem.

In addition, you will also learn how to determine your 'Focus' product. It will help you identify what product you should center your entire affiliate marketing content. This portion will also be known as your overarching strategy.

Other videos and content for this module include the following:

  • What are affiliate links?
  • How to get an affiliate link?
  • What to do if you don't find affiliate links?
  • The right way to use affiliate links.
  • Building relationships with product creators and affiliate merchants.

The final video will cover some important things you should do before promoting your affiliate product.

Module 4

Module 4 is the second step, which covers passive promotional strategies. This module will teach you how to promote products that you've identified in part one.

The first lesson will define what passive promotional strategies are and how you can earn affiliate commissions passively. 

Next, you will learn about the best strategies for adding links to your content. You will also learn how to set up the most profitable page of your 'Focus Product.' Pat Flynn will then show his favorite home page conversion strategies that aren't often included in most affiliate sites. 

Finally, you will learn how to set up an email autoresponder sequence, which will serve as your passive promotional strategy. This lesson will be about sending email communications to your subscribers in hopes of getting them to convert.

Module 5 is the third and final step. It will be about active promotional strategies. You will start by learning what active promotional strategies are and how they will benefit your affiliate marketing campaign.

Next, you will learn about the different tools to use. You will also get access to a demo video and step-by-step process on how these active strategies look in action.

The final lesson will then cover some affiliate marketing opportunities that you should consider to achieve long term success. 

But note that there are many other courses that offer similar content such as:

Check out this long 1-hour video that gives you an in-depth view into what this couse is really about...

And what about the costs?...

123 Affiliate Marketing cost to join

Since its inception in 2017, the price to join 123 Affiliate Marketing has fluctuated up and down.

However, what stayed consistent is that it has always been expensive for the amount of content you get. 

Right now, the price stands at a whopping $599. Judging from the modules and lessons, the fee you'll pay will only take you so far...

123 Affiliate Marketing monthly cost

123 Affiliate Marketing has a one-time payment of $599.

Is 123 Affiliate Marketing a Scam: Costs

Once you've paid for the amount, you will gain full access to the course...

But there is a good chance that you'll spend on these other tools:

  • ClickFunnels- $97 a month- (totally not needed until you have created your own product or have your own business up and running- you can use Elementor & Mailchimp for free if you want to test a Funnel)
  • Keysearch- $17-$34 a month (keyword research tool)
  • Hosting and domain (Bluehost is known for the highest affiliate payout. It seems cheap for your first year but then it's $100+ a year- and it has pretty poor support and is very slow. I'd recommend Namecheap or Siteground any day before this.)
  • Getresponse - $15+ a month (Email autoresponder)
  • Ads - $100+ a month (otherwise they are a waste of time... and money... and they are VERY hard to make work for affiliate products any more!)

Many people are surprised to know about the hidden additional costs, and the stuff taught here are just becoming harder to implement due to the growing saturation in the market...

123 Affiliate Marketing reviews online

123 Affiliate Marketing is a video-focused training program that teaches the ins and outs of affiliate marketing.

But what you really want to know is if it is worth the price or not?...

Common positive 123 Affiliate Marketing reviews

Many people were unhappy with the visibly underwhelming course content that 123 Affiliate Marketing offers.

I've yet to find any positive reviews about this course, other than the fact that it's created by one of the more reputable figures in the affiliate marketing industry...

Common negative 123 Affiliate Marketing reviews

There are a lot of negative reviews about 123 Affiliate marketing. Here are some of the prominent ones:

"While the course was created by one of the most successful Affiliate Marketers, who clearly knows how to build and scale a successful online business, the content of the course is relatively thin, short, and disappointing."

"With only 22 lessons and a handful of effective marketing strategies excluded from the course, I just can't see how this course that costs $599 is going to propel you to the kind of success that Pat has achieved."

"I seriously don't think it is worthwhile to pay as much as $599 to enroll in Pat Flynn's 123 Affiliate Marketing course as there's nothing much I can consider new or advance."

Is 123 Affiliate Marketing a scam?

Despite its rather low rating and disappointing reputation, 123 Affiliate Marketing isn't a scam by any means. 

owever, the content lacks substantial information that would prove it worthy for its absurd $599 price tag.

Here's my take on what I think are the best ways to fix 123 Affiliate Marketing

  • Lower the price, or 
  • Add more content to make the current fee more reasonable.

Tired of expensive crappy Affiliate Marketing courses? Check out how I make money online here!

123 Affiliate Marketing pros

#1 Made by a successful affiliate marketer

We can't deny that 123 Affiliate marketing is made by one of the most successful affiliate marketers today.

at Flynn has carved a pretty respectable career. His lessons and mentorship are evident in every facet of the 123 Affiliate marketing course.

#2 Nice for people with affiliate marketing experience

I felt like the course as a whole is catered to the more experienced marketers.

Is 123 Affiliate Marketing a Scam: Pros

Yes, it does have a section dedicated to tips for beginners. However, the entire course focuses more on how to leverage an already existing online presence.

#3 Made by a successful affiliate marketer

We can't deny that 123 Affiliate marketing is made by one of the most successful affiliate marketers today.

Is 123 Affiliate Marketing a Scam: Cons

Pat Flynn has carved a pretty respectable career. His lessons and mentorship are evident in every facet of the 123 Affiliate marketing course...

123 Affiliate Marketing cons

#1 Not beginner-friendly

As mentioned earlier, the course lacks any sign that it is made for beginners. The entire course is too short and concise, which isn't ideal for people who are just starting. 

For aspiring affiliate marketers, you need comprehensive material that covers every aspect of affiliate marketing. Unfortunately, 123 Affiliate marketing is lacking more than what it has to offer to beginners...

#2 Course is pretty short for its price

The main point of concern for most people - including me - is the price.

The course is relatively short, which isn't ideal if you're teaching affiliate marketing.

The entire program is incredibly short, making the whole experience as underwhelming as it gets.

#3 Expensive

Finally, we also need to address the elephant in the room.

Is 123 Affiliate Marketing a Scam: Cons

I think I've made my point about the price at this stage in the review. There's just no justifying that whopping $599 price tag to the overall value that you get out of 123 Affiliate Marketing.

Ready to make passive income online?

I've created a growing passive income online with no marketing skills or online experience... 

I've made a special video for you to explain exactly how I did this.

Make Time Online Income

My opinion - 123 Affiliate Marketing

I do believe in the saying that "you need to spend money if you want to make money."

Unfortunately, for 123 Affiliate Marketing, you'll be spending it on the wrong resource. The price compared to the value that you get doesn't make sense, at least for me.

So, here is what I can say about it...

Overall, as much of a fan I am of Pat Flynn and his brilliance, I would not recommend his 123 Affiliate Marketing course.

Just think of it this way: would you pay a university-level fee to enter a primary school?

Of course not.

The same thing can be said for 123 Affiliate marketing.

The outrageous price just isn't worth it...

How I make passive income online

In 2018 I had no idea what affiliate marketing was. 

Once I learnt about it, it just seemed like a great business model that can grow over time using the power of the internet. 

So I tried to figure it out by myself... that got me nowhere fast.

Then I fell for some terrible online scams. 

But eventually, I found Wealthy Affiliate. It teaches long-term proven strategies to build an online business with all the tools & support needed. 

And this happened...

Make Time Online Income

Once you learn the process of getting thousands of people to find your website every month (for free) there really is not limit to what you can achieve online. 

I've reviewed hundreds of courses or programs that claim to help people make money online. And I've spoken to dozens of 6-7 figure online entrepreneurs on my podcast.

This is by far the best place I've seen to help beginners get set up on the right foot. You can read my full Wealthy Affiliate review here (including the pros and cons!) 

Or you can watch an insiders video I made that explains exactly how it works here.  

Mike PE teacher to Passive Income Online

You may also like

10 Best Affiliate Marketing Courses to Earn the Ultimate Passive Income
167 MLM Income Disclosure Statements Reveals 92.3% of Members Lose Money
How to Make Money From a Blog Quickly: Blog Income Reports Study in 7 Niches
{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

Get Your FREE 7-Day Online Passive Income Bootcamp

Download our free 7-day bootcamp to learn how thousands of people make a passive income online with proven long term strategies.

Start a money making website