The Best Affiliate Marketing Course?

We’re on a mission to find the best affiliate marketing course, based on our own extensive research plus feedback from real students.

123 Affiliate Marketing is a decent course but not the best we’ve seen…

How does 123 Affiliate Marketing help you make money?

Pat’s course aims to help you monetize your existing online audience via affiliate marketing.

The word existing is important there.

If you’re looking to build affiliate sites with the course, that’s not what it’s for. It’s taking an audience you have, or one that you are building toward, and finding the right products to promote, and campaigns to support those promotions.

Affiliate marketing is a business model in which a company pays a commission to affiliates (ie. you) for promoting its products. When a customer clicks on an affiliate’s link and makes a purchase, the affiliate earns a commission on the sale.

Who is 123 Affiliate Marketing for?

123 Affiliate Marketing sells itself as a platform for business owners with an online presence of any size.

As stated on the sales page…

1•2•3 Affiliate Marketing was built for the ambitious online business owner. This course is geared toward people who already have an online presence. The audience size doesn’t matter—you can actually benefit quite heavily from implementing these strategies early on in your business—but you need to know who you’re serving and have some sort of following online, whether it’s in a small email list, on social media, or a website with a bit of traffic.

The important takeaway here is that Pat’s course doesn’t show you how to grow or build an audience. Unlike most other affiliate marketing courses I’ve seen, there are no lessons on traffic generation via SEO or any other method.

Instead, 123 Affiliate Marketing assumes you already have an audience and simply teaches you how to monetize it via affiliate marketing.

Does Pat Flynn have a good reputation?

Yes.

Pat Flynn is a well-known entrepreneur, podcaster, and online business coach. He has apparently earned more than $3.5 million via affiliate marketing since starting in 2010.

Known for his transparency and honesty, he frequently shares his knowledge and resources with others who are looking to build their own online businesses.

Pat has a successful podcast – the Smart Passive Income Podcast – where he shares his experiences and insights on online business and entrepreneurship. He has also written several books on online business and marketing.

Below is a video from Pat’s YouTube channel so you can get a feel for his style…

Are 123 Affiliate Marketing students getting results?

It’s hard to tell.

You’ll find lots of praise for Pat Flynn online, but I found few testimonials that speak to tangible results achieved from following his advice.

I would have liked to see many more testimonials like this…

The course made me realize how important email marketing was and got me started collecting emails. I now have a list of over 55K and I’m making money from that list because of this course. Susan Ray

Unfortunately, nearly all the 123 Affiliate Marketing success stories that I’ve seen offer generic praise rather than speak to the results achieved from following the training 😕

How much does 123 Affiliate Marketing cost?

Lifetime access to 123 Affiliate Marketing will cost you $499.

You can also get access to this course and several others if you subscribe to the Smart Passive Income All-Access Pass for $179/quarter or $599/year.

Keep in mind that you’ll need some extra money to spend on email marketing software to make full use of the course (Pat recommends ConvertKit).

123 Affiliate Marketing Discount?

My search for a discount or coupon code, both near and far, has been unsuccessful.

So it looks like you’ll have to pay in full.

(Or join via the All-Access Pass, which can work out cheaper.)

Refund Policy

The refund policy page for 123 Affiliate Marketing specifies a 15-day money-back guarantee for those that bought lifetime access to the course.

As stated on the sales page…

We offer a 15-day money back guarantee on individual course purchases. If you are unhappy with the course for any reason, let us know within the first 15 days and we will refund your payment. This does not apply to the All-Access Pass. All-Access Pass purchases are non-refundable.

I prefer to see at least a 30-day guarantee for a course like this.

That said, I haven’t seen anyone reporting issues getting a refund on their purchase, so you can rest easy with this policy.

How is 123 Affiliate Marketing structured?

Here’s what the training looks like once you log in and open one of the lessons…

The core training is broken up into 6 modules and has a total of 38 lessons. Nearly all of them are in video format with an accompanying transcript.

The training is rather short, especially for the price. The majority of lessons aren’t even 10 minutes long, and the longest lesson is shorter than 20 minutes.

As mentioned earlier, there aren’t any lessons on growing an audience. So don’t expect to learn anything about SEO or building an email list. This course is purely about monetizing your existing audience with affiliate offers.

Unfortunately, it seems like many of the lessons haven’t been updated for several years. And I would have expected to see more screencasts – ie. Pat sharing his screen and going through things step-by-step – and less of Pat just talking in front of the camera.

If you only buy 123 Affiliate Marketing, you get access to its community, but there seems to be very little activity there. When I checked it, the most recent post had been uploaded a few months prior.

However, subscribing to the All-Access Pass gives you access to the entire Smart Passive Income community. There are some active threads there, but not a lot about affiliate marketing.

Green Lights 🟢

A few things to like about 123 Affiliate Marketing…

• Pat Flynn walks his talk.
• No overhyped promises or shady marketing.
• The training is concise.

Red Flags 🚩

A few things to be wary of regarding 123 Affiliate Marketing…

• Lack of significant success stories from students.
• Somewhat expensive for what it has to offer.
• No training on building an audience / generating traffic.
• Core training is rarely updated.
• No mention on sales page of expenses beyond the price of the training.

Other things you should know

Even though you’re not getting lifetime access to the course with the All-Access Pass, I found it to be a much better investment than 123 Affiliate Marketing. You’re basically getting access to all Pat’s courses at a price that feels more reasonable.

You’ll find a bunch of downloads within the training, including transcripts and PDF files.

Should you join 123 Affiliate Marketing?

I’d only recommend this course if…

• You have an existing online audience.
• You want to monetize that audience with affiliate marketing.
• You want someone experienced to show you how it’s done.

If you don’t check all 3 boxes above, you’re unlikely to find value in 123 Affiliate Marketing.

IMO, it’s a bit too short and expensive for what it has to offer. I’ve reviewed a bunch of other affiliate marketing courses (see below) that cost about the same but are much more comprehensive.

That said, if you’re a big fan of Pat Flynn and would love to learn from him in particular, consider signing up for his All-Access Pass so you get access to all his courses.