Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing Review – 16 Things You Should Know

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing is a legitimate course. You get access to six fairly comprehensive training modules that contain workable information, lots of bonuses, community, and more.

Also, the price seems fair. The issue I have is that I would prefer it would include some sort of refund policy or at least a free trial.

And the course itself is not as good as some top contenders in this niche like The Authority Site System, for example. Even so, it is a legitimate course.

But if blogging and affiliate marketing are your things, then Michelle’s course could be a good choice to get started or to improve your skills and business.

In other words, it’s not a scam. Read the rest of my Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing review for more information before you decide.

What Is Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing?

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing is a step-by-step training course created by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, a professional blogger and affiliate marketer.

The core idea behind this training program is to teach you how to start a blog from scratch, get free traffic from SEO and make money with affiliate marketing.

Starting a blog from scratch is one of the most difficult but most rewarding branches of online business.

The most difficult is because it takes a lot of time, effort, and skills to get results. On the other hand, the most rewarding is because once you start getting results, well, they are huge!

Most people don’t understand that it takes sometimes even years to get positive results, which is why most people give up on this great business opportunity.

The good thing about this course is the fact that Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is 100% honest about this fact.

She’s not trying to sell you this course under some fake promises that you will somehow make $1000 per day right from the start.

She gets lots of positive points for being honest.

Lt’s continue with this Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing review to see what exactly this course is about and what you can learn from Michelle Schroeder-Gardner.

What Is Affiliate Marketing Exactly?

Affiliate marketing is a simple process of promoting other people’s products through your marketing efforts.

It comes down to connecting people who are looking for products with product sellers using websites and affiliate links.

The diagram below explains the process:

A word of warning before we move on…

Some people live in a delusion that you can create a site and just post links on your website. Then by some magic, people will start clicking on them and you’ll become filthy rich overnight.

Yeah, right! That is as far away from the truth as possible.

Even Michelle admits that it is a very hard thing to do. However, when you know the right approach to blogging and getting clicks to your site and affiliate links, things get much easier.

That said, let’s see how this course could help you to master affiliate marketing.

Who is Michelle Schroeder-Gardner?

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is a professional blogger and online entrepreneur. She is the owner and creator of MSOAM.

Before she broke through into the online business world, Michelle was living a “normal” life.

Today, she’s a super-successful online marketer who earns a 7-figure income online.

Michelle’s success was recognized by lots of media out there. For example, you can read this article from Forbes. And there are many positive publications online.

She’s also behind the Making Sense Of Cents blog where she shares her knowledge and expertise on saving money, making extra money, blogging, etc.

All in all, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is a real deal, so let’s continue this review to see what you can learn from the Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing course.

Related Review:

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing Course Review

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing is a Teachable course that comes in video and PDF format, which means that you can choose the type of content that is easier for you to learn from.

The content of the course spreads over six training modules where you can learn things like:

• What affiliate marketing is
• What affiliate links are
• How to choose your niche
• How to find affiliate programs
• Affiliate marketing requirements
• How to make readers convert
• How to create content
• And more!

In a nutshell, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is going to lead you through her process and approach to blogging and affiliate marketing. These strategies have worked well for her over the past few years so they are legitimate

The main idea is to create a website/blog where you will be posting blogs about your niche as well as product reviews.

You need to carefully construct your posts so that they appear in search engine results and thus get you free traffic.

Each time a customer searches the net for a product review or some other information clicks on your blog, clicks through your blog, and makes a purchase, you make money.

That is the theory, of course. The reality is something else.

With Michelle’s course, you can learn how to implement this strategy properly to succeed in converting your traffic (readers) to take action with your recommendations.

If you want to learn more about affiliate marketing, see the free video training below:

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing Course Curriculum

In this section of my Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing review, I’ll shortly break down all the training modules within the course. This way, you can see whether this content is for you or not.

Welcome

The welcome module contains three lessons. You will meet Michelle and get access to a workbook and FB group. the former will help you to go through the course, and the latter will assist you on the journey.

Below is the content of this module:

• Introduction to the Course
• Workbook
• Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Facebook Mastermind Group

Module 1: What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Inside the first workable module, you will get three lessons. First of all, Michelle is going to tell you more about affiliate marketing. She mentions the basics and shows how it works in practice.

Below is the content of this module:

• Why Affiliate Marketing Is Great
• The Basics Of Affiliate Marketing
• How Affiliate Links Work

Module 2: How To Find and Apply To Affiliate Programs

During module number 2, Michelle gets busy. She breaks down the traffic and walks you through the process of “getting inside of your readers’ heads” through a series of exercises.

Then, you will learn how to find your niche and affiliate programs.

Below is the content of 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

Module number 3 talks about legal obligations. You will learn why it is important to disclose that you are an affiliate. Also, Michelle will show you what to do if you live in a Nexus State (this refers only to US citizens).

Below is the content of 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

In my opinion, content creation should go before conversions and making money. But in this case, Michelle has decided to go with the details of conversions first.

You will be learning how to pick products and analyze your affiliate link’s performance. This data will help you to improve your overall success and earn more revenue.

Below is the content of 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

By the way, below is a YouTube review that gives a quick insight into the Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing course curriculum…

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 craft product reviews (like I do on this blog!).

Moreover, you can build an email list, leverage Pinterest, run an informational blog, etc. The good thing about this course is the fact that all traffic-related techniques are free!

Below is the content of 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

Lastly, Michelle is going to teach you why it is important to create a relationship with your audience. Also, she walks you through exercises for improving your performance, and more.

Below is the content of 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

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing Content and Bonus

As you can see from the image below, Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing includes 6 training modules with over 30 lessons. You get a workbook, access to a mastermind group, etc.

Also, Michelle’s has included tons of valuable bonuses.

We all love bonuses when we are buying stuff whether online or offline. And with Michelle’s course, you’re getting access to ten bonus resources!

That is a very generous offer in my opinion. So let’s see what these bonuses are about and how they could help you to get better results with this course.

Bonus #1: Access to the private Facebook Mastermind group

The first bonus gives you access to the Facebook Mastermind group. This is the place where you can connect with other members and ask for help, feedback, etc.

Bonus #2: Free Group Coaching Sessions

With this bonus, you get access to private mastermind sessions every second Saturday in the month.

Michelle is going to help you with feedback, support, and by answering all your questions about the course, your blog, and affiliate marketing.

Bonus #3: How To Drive Thousands of Visitors To Your Blog With Pinterest

Pinterest is the third-largest search engine in the world, so to speak, after Google and YouTube.

With this bonus, all members of the program get access to a strategy that helped Lauren McManus a well-known Pinterest expert to receive thousands of visitors from Pinterest.

Bonus #4: How to Always Get Approved To An Affiliate Program

Another friend of the owner shares her secrets about getting approved for any affiliate program. She shares her tips and secrets to getting approved to any affiliate program after sending thousands of applications over the years.

Bonus #5: 9 Things You Must Do When Something Goes Viral

This bonus is actually a PDF that outlines exactly what to do and how to act when your post goes viral. And this is going to happen from time to time.

Bonus #6: How To Increase Your Page Views

Getting more page views is the name of the game so, with this bonus, the creator wants to share exactly what to do to get more page views and increase your income as well.

Bonus #7: My Affiliate Products And Services

This is a worksheet that will help you keep track of the affiliate programs you are in. This way, you can easily reference it and include affiliate links in new social media and blog posts.

Bonus #8: The Perfect Affiliate Link Checklist

This checklist will help you to make sure your affiliate link is in order. It’s important to keep track of your links because it will allow you to measure the performance and increase your CTR and conversions.

Bonus #9: How to Maximize Your Reach, Impact, and Revenue with Facebook Ads

If blogging and free traffic are not enough, Michelle has prepared this bonus where she shows her strategies to maximize your efforts through Facebook Ads.

Bonus #10: How To Legally Protect Your Blog

And lastly, you will get access to a bonus where Liz Stapleton, a lawyer, and blogger talks about the importance of legally protecting your blog. This is highly important!

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing Costs

Okay, it’s time to see how much Michelle Schroeder-Gardner asks to get access to her step-by-step training program. By the time of writing this review, Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing is selling for $197 one time.

If you can’t afford to pay $197 at once, you have another option. You can split it into two monthly instalments of $107 each. This way, you will pay a bit more, but at least it’s easier to take it.

One of the things that I just couldn’t find is the money-back guarantee. So I assume that Michelle Schroeder-Gardner does not give one.

In other words, once you purchase her course, there’s it. There’s no coming back.

Also, keep in mind that you will have to invest some extra money into tools. You will have to buy the hosting, domain name, keyword tool, Tailwind (Pinterest posting automation), etc.

This all will set you back a few $100s rights of the gate.

Related Review: Legendary Marketer

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing Reviews

One of the best ways to find out whether Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing is a scam or legit is to find some reviews.

The good news is that most reviews of Michelle’s program are positive. And if you go to her website, you will find a few testimonials of course users.

However, there is a small problem with these testimonials that affect my review of Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing.

I have done a background check of the websites mentioned on the sales page and the results are not good. Only one site is getting more than 30K clicks a month from SEO.

The other two sites are not doing as nearly as good…

However, since Michelle’s course is not focused on SEO techniques that will ensure more traffic from Google, this is not a surprise. She’s actually more oriented toward Pinterest.

That said, these sites might be getting the large bulk of their traffic from social platforms.

Also, I have managed to find this low-rated review of Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing…

This user has complained mostly about the poor execution of the course, and she thinks it could do better.

But overall, most reviews online are good, which means that Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing is a legitimate course.

Related Review: Commission Hero

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing Review – Pros

I’m usually very strict when it comes to judging make-money-online courses. As far as the Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing review is concerned, I managed to find a lot of good things about this course.

Here’s the breakdown of the things I like about this course:

• Created by a knowledgeable blogger/affiliate marketer
• Training is comprehensive and in a step-by-step format
• Suitable for both beginners and advanced bloggers
• The course is relatively affordable
• The program comes with a lot of valuable bonuses
• You get access to a private group
• The course’s got some really positive testimonials
• It’s not focused on getting rich quickly

Created by a knowledgeable blogger/affiliate marketer

First of all, I like the fact that Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is a real person who has lots of experience in this field. In other words, you’ll be learning from a pro.

Training is comprehensive and in a step-by-step format

Secondly, I like that the course itself is quite comprehensive. Michelle’s course contains step-by-step video lessons where you will be learning how to start a blog from scratch.

In other words, Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing is based on legitimate and workable methods.

Suitable for both beginners and advanced bloggers

Blogging is fun. It’s a creative method that is suitable for anyone interested in expressing their creativity online and making some money. You don’t need any special skills or knowledge to get started.

I like that this course teaches how to get started properly in a step-by-step format. In other words, it’s suitable for both beginners and advanced bloggers.

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing is relatively affordable

Another good thing about Michelle’s course is that the price is quite affordable. You will not have to shell out $1000’s to get access to the training.

The program comes with a lot of valuable bonuses

Another good thing about it is the number of bonuses and extra content. Moreover, these bonuses are extremely valuable.

You get access to a private mastermind group

The course comes with access to a private mastermind group where you can network with other bloggers and members.

This feature is very important, especially for beginners who will have lots of questions.

Positive Testimonials from users

You will also notice that her course has got a lot of followers in the Private Facebook group. On top of that, the course has gotten lots of positive reviews from users.

Those testimonials look genuine and some of them can be verified, which is a good sign.

It’s not focused on getting rich quickly

What I like is that Michelle doesn’t use overhyped promotional techniques to get you to sign up.

She’s very clear in the fact that her course and blogging, in general, take a lot of time and work.

Related Review: Affiliate Lab

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing Review – Cons

In this section of the Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing review, I also want to share a few things that I didn’t like about this course. As far as I’m concerned, nothing is perfect.

Here’s the breakdown of the things I didn’t like about this course:

• No refund policy or free trial
• Does not include tools (extra costs)
• It takes a lot of time and effort to get results
• Not the best affiliate marketing training
• Relies too much on text (A few videos)
• Lots of talks but little work
• Doesn’t focus on SEO
• MSOAM is rarely updated

No refund policy or free trial

The first thing that I don’t like about Michelle’s course is the fact that there’s no refund.

So if you decide to dive in, you have to be 100% sure that you will be in it for real. If you decide to drop out, your investment will be gone.

Does not include tools (extra costs)

Another thing that I don’t like about Michelle’s course is that it doesn’t include tools like websites, hosting, keyword research tools, etc.

This means that you will have to invest more money on top of the price of the training.

It takes a lot of time and effort to get results

Lastly, the methods taught in this course are not the fastest ways to make money online. It may take a year or even two years to establish your blog in search engines and start earning a passive income.

Not the best affiliate marketing training

I have reviewed over 600 training programs on this blog. Most of which are about affiliate marketing. When I compare Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing to the likes of Income School Project 24, I can see a huge difference in quality.

Michelle’s course comes in the top 10, but it’s in the bottom half of the list.

Relies too much on text (A few videos)

Another thing that I don’t like in this review of Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing is the fact that this course doesn’t include too many video lessons. It’s almost entirely PDF and text.

In my experience, the best way to learn affiliate marketing is through visuals. Sure, some people like to learn by reading, but come on, we’re in 2022!

Lots of talks but little work

One of the things I noticed about this course is that Michelle spends a lot of time talking about something. However, she doesn’t explain how to do it in sensible logical steps.

Doesn’t focus on SEO

Probably the worst thing about Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing is the fact that it doesn’t focus on Search Engine Optimization.

You’re instructed on how to build a blog and write posts and reviews. However, you will not learn how to optimize your page for improved SEO. This is critical yet it has been left out!

MSOAM is rarely updated

From my understanding, Michelle released this course back in 2017. Now it’s 2022 and things have changed a bit. Affiliate marketing is still the same, but some methods have changed.

And it doesn’t seem that MSOAM is following the trend.

Is Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing a Scam?

One of the main ideas behind my review of Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing was to help you see whether this course is a scam or legit.

Unfortunately, there are many scams out there today, and the last thing you want to do is waste your time and money on a scam.

As far as I’m concerned, it is not a scam. I found a legitimate training course that focuses on helping people to start and/or advance with blogging and affiliate marketing.

Moreover, the owner of the course, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner gives a lot of value in return for your money and she seems to be an expert on this topic.

You get a comprehensive training course as well as a ton of extremely valuable bonuses.

The fact that this course has got a few testimonials from people whose results are real-deal shows that this course is not a scam.

By the time of writing this Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing review, the course or at least its Facebook group counts 6K active members.

Who Is Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing For?

This course is for people who are interested in earning an income online with affiliate marketing and blogging.

It could be for stay-at-home moms and dads, copywriters, existing bloggers, affiliate marketers who need more education on this topic, students, and anyone interested in starting a successful blog.

Do I Recommend Michelle’s Course?

Yes, I would give it the green light. In other words, I recommend Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing to people who are interested in blogging and affiliate marketing.

However, it’s not my #1 recommendation because it’s not the best affiliate marketing course out there.

It lacks video training, contains a bit of fluff, and skips some of the most valuable lessons about blogging and affiliate marketing such as SEO.

That said, I have a much better alternative suggestion, so make sure to read this review till the end!

Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing Review – Conclusion

Affiliate marketing combined with blogging is the most fun way to express yourself and make money online as well. It’s a great combination that could result in a long-term business. Yes, it’s a business!

Many people think that blogging is some hoax and that there’s no way to turn it into a career. Well, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner knows better and so do I.

It’s more than possible to run a successful blog that gets thousands of views per day and makes a fine living from it.

So if you’re interested in giving it a go, in my opinion, this course is a good place to start from scratch or improve your existing skills and efforts online.

Michelle’s course is relatively affordable and has got a lot of good feedback from its customers.

I would like to see a refund policy or free trial in the future, but all in all, it’s a legit course.

Thanks for reading my Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing review!

The Best Way To Make Money Online

I earn online by creating simple affiliate websites to connect people with products they are already looking for.

It’s called affiliate marketing and it is the best way to make money online (at least in my humble opinion).

If you want to learn more about how to start making money online with affiliate marketing, I strongly suggest you sign up for the free training on the next page.

And don’t forget to share this Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing review with your friends and family!

All the best, Ivan @freeaffiliatemarketingbusiness.com

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