Making money online can be tough. It's even tougher when you're starting out. Unfortunately, many or the gurus out there are better at taking your money... than they are showing you how to earn it.
So how do you find the best online marketing programs?
To start, I'd look for programs that provide a lot of value up front, and charge nothing up front (my top two recommendations). It's rare to find ones that have the confidence to let you in for free. The ones that do are worth checking out.
The second thing you should check for... are programs that focus on education, NOT on making money.
If they're selling a copy & paste system that anyone can buy... it has little to no value.
Even if you're one of the first one in... it won't be long before a ton of people jump on the bandwagon and they're selling the same cut & paste system as you.
At that point it becomes worthless... which is why you see these systems come and go. Then re-emerge with a different name and look
The value of a program is determined by the education it provides.
Their's a lot of dirt out there, but the following are the diamonds I’ve discovered. They are 100% legit programs with excellent training at a fair price (even free in some cases)
The Factors I Use To Rate
- Reputation
- Training
- Community and Support
- Price
- Tools
Top 5 Make-Money-Online Training Programs - 2018
Although the following is a list of the best programs I've tested (and I've tested a lot), there are thousands out there... many which I'm sure also deserve to be on the list.
These are however, the best ones I’ve found to date and as I discover new programs (or these ones become obsolete) I'll update the list.
It should also be mentioned that these are not get-rich-quick schemes. They are training programs. Tools that will show you step-by-step how to make money online. But like any tool, you must learn how to use it.
A hammer will help you build a house, but it's not going to swing itself.
RANK | PRODUCT NAME | MORE INFO | PRICE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Wealthy Affiliate | Free (w/premium option) | ||
2 | ClickFunnels Bootcamp | Free training (tools $97/mo) | ||
3 | Affilorama/AffiloBlueprint | $67/month / $197 | ||
4 | Internet Jetset | $47 (with monthly option) | ||
5 | Chris Farrell Membership | $37/month |
Best Overall
Wealthy Affiliate is the clear winner here. It has a long history (founded in 2005), the deepest well of training, and the largest and most active community. Also, Wealthy Affiliate has the necessary tools for doing things like keyword research and website hosting built into their platform and included in the membership price. Even their free membership option includes 2 free websites, and step-by-step training to get you started.
Important Factors When Choosing A Make Money Online Program
#1 Reputation
Reputation is important for obvious reasons. How long has the program endured? Is it updated frequently? Who is behind the program?
All the programs on this list are created and founded by successful online marketers who are well known. They are also respected by their peers, although the competitive nature of the industry means they don’t necessarily agree (or like) one another. Even Bill Gates and Steve Jobs had their own opinions of one another.
Most of these programs have been around for years with the exception of John Crestani’s Internet Jetset. Having said that, John has put together a solid a product that has already evolved in the short time it’s been available.
Also, all of the foundational training available among these six programs is relevant today.
#2 Training
Whichever product or method you choose to make money online, they all involve marketing and getting eyeballs (traffic) to your products or affiliate offers. The two primary methods of doing that is with free traffic and paid traffic.
Both have advantages and disadvantages, but generally… the programs that show you how to get free traffic are more comprehensive. The ideal program will teach both.
Choosing a traffic strategy is important, and there are couple things to keep in mind.
Paid traffic is quick. You’re feeding money to a fire. The problem is, once you stop feeding it, the fire (the traffic) goes out. Also, turning that traffic into paying customers isn’t necessarily easy, and is dependant on many factors.
Free traffic on the other hand is like investing. It takes time and effort to build, but those efforts will pay dividends for many years to come.
Of course, traffic isn’t the only training these courses provide. In addition to getting noticed online, there are the nuts and bolts of setting up and building a website, creating and developing social media accounts, finding and promoting affiliate offers as well as developing your own products.
Also, the best training systems share insight and experience that go beyond the technical aspects of building an online business. Each one of these programs have their own nuggets of gold so to speak, and provide thorough training in the areas mentioned above.
#3 Community and Support
One of the most overlooked, and yet most important aspects of online business training is the community and support.
Running an online business can be a solitary experience. It offers freedom and financial rewards that few businesses can, but the real work is done sitting at a desk, alone, and filtering out distractions.
Also, you will experience moments of triumph, and periods of doubt and frustration. You may even get blindsided by something that sets you way back. In my experience, I’ve gone through all of these and like life in general... will continue to ride this roller coaster.
Having support and a community behind you is critical. Even if you don’t join the conversation to discuss your own challenges publicly, others do, and being able to draw on their experience is a huge help.
And of course there are the technical challenges you will likely encounter.
Another reason Wealthy Affiliate is my number 1 recommendation, is because of it's 24/7 live chat where hundreds (if not thousands) or members hang-out. If you have technical issues, there's always someone who can help or point you in the right direction.
An important indicator that a program is not only legitimate, but has a good reputation, is the quality of their support as well as the size and particiaption within their communities. It's one of the first things I look for when evaluating a training product.
#4 Price
Many people may consider this the number one factor, and they’re not necessarily wrong. Personally, I consider price less important that overall value which is why it’s not my #1 factor in choosing a program… although I do consider it important.
At the end of the day, if you’re going to build a successful online business you will eventually have to invest a little money.
The great thing about an online business is that the investment is substantially less than a traditional one. My number 1 and 2 recommendations provide tremendous value with the free training they have available.
If you really want to learn how money is made online, and more importantly how you can do it… I highly recommend these free options to get started. However, the time will eventually come (if you’re serious about earning an income online) that you will have to invest some money.
The amount of money you invest depends on your level of experience, how quickly you want to make your money, and what your goals are. As far as training and getting started, the most comprehensive program listed here is Wealthy Affiliate, which is free to start, with a $49/per month (they also offer a discounted annual option) premium membership.
Their free membership provides the training and website you will need to get started.
Premium goes in-depth into SEO (search engine optimization) which is essential to building a long-lasting online business, as well as paid traffic techniques such as Facebook and YouTube Ads. In addition to mountains of technical training, they also have webinars that cover Local SEO for businesses and professionals, and how you can build your own web design and SEO agency for those local clients.
So at this stage (and for a long time going forward), if you're just learning how to make money online, there’s no reason to spend more than $49/month.
And, that's not to take anything away from the other programs listed here. ClickFunnels Bootcamp and Internet Jetset for example, provide incredible training in the areas of marketing and sales. While ClickFunnels is $97/month for the online tools required to build your business, the training is free.
Internet Jetset has some of the best training I've seen which you can get for a one time payment of $47. I still go back to that training regularly and pick up things I've missed previously.
There is also a monthly option available, but the one-time payment gives you access to the fundamental knowledge (and quite a few advanced strategies) to get you started online.
All of the programs on this list provide tremendous value at a price the average person can afford.
Having said that, a few require additional tools such as an email auto-responder and website hosting which brings us to the next factor used to evaluate these programs.
#6 Tools
One of the reasons my top 2 recommendations are #1 and #2 is because the tools you need to run your business are built into their platforms. These are entirely different programs that teach different strategies, but neither require you to go out and purchase additional products to make their systems work.
The same can’t be said about the other programs. While the additional costs are minor (compared to a bricks and mortar business), they do add to the overall expense. Additional products and services such as keyword research tools, web hosting, landing page builders and email autoresponders may add anywhere from $50 to $150 per month.
But… it’s the integration of all of these systems under one roof that you will benefit from most, saving you time, effort and potential frustration
Home-Based-Businesses Are Becoming The New Normal
Change is coming at us so fast we often don’t see it.
We adapt well, but to put this rate of change into perspective, we don't have to look back too far to see how quickly the world is being transformed.
The late 1800's and early 1900’s brought "generational change", meaning that children were growing up in a world that was vastly different than the one their parents grew up in.
Prior to that, change was measured in centuries, and before that... millennia.
Today, fundamental changes that are transforming the globe (not just local pockets of civilization) are marked by decades (or less). As the media mogul Gary Vaynerchuk likes to say, “10 years ago online dating was something you kept to yourself, today people are swiping left and right with online dating apps every hour of the day”.
Our version of the internet (the consumer version) has only been around for 20 years, and today our lives are dominated by it.
Most of our main channels of communication such as YouTube and Facebook didn’t even exist 10 or 15 years ago. The majority of us only started using a smartphone this decade, and now we can barely go to the next room without it.
If those are the changes we’ve witnessed in the last 10-20 years, imagine what the next 10-20 years will bring.
Task specific artificial intelligence, automation, 3D printing and virtual reality will decimate traditional job markets.
In addition, things such as global unrest, population growth, the internet blurring the lines between borders, and economic uncertainty due to the reasons already mentioned means that you are more responsible than ever for your financial security.
Like it or not, society is charging forward into this connected world and not only is this the best time to profit from it, but the skills you will acquire along the way will be critical to your financial future.
Check out the review of my top recommendation, Wealthy Affiliate.
If you have any program/product recommendations, please let me know in the comments below. I'm certain there are other great programs out there that deserve to be on the list.
Also, if you found this article helpful, or you think it might be useful to others... please share 😀
