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Updated: April 8, 2024

Reviews

123 Affiliate Marketing Review

12 things to know about Pat Flynn's niche affiliate marketing training

123 Affiliate Marketing
3.3/5 3.31
Validated ReviewerSusan RayFelipe Vernaza3 Reviews | Rate This Course

You’ve found the definitive 123 Affiliate Marketing review.

123 Affiliate Marketing is an affiliate marketing course by Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income (SPI). My team and I signed up for the course and reviewed it thoroughly.

(Have you taken this course? Add your rating!)

If you’re eager to learnโ€ฆ

  • The pros and cons of Pat’s course
  • How it compares to other affiliate marketing courses
  • If the whole thing is legit or a scam
  • What real students think of 123 Affiliate Marketing

Then you’re in the right place.

123 Affiliate Marketing โ€“ Key Points
  About

Pat Flynnโ€™s affiliate marketing training.

๐Ÿ’ฐ  Price

Starts at $199/quarter (more info)

๐Ÿ˜  Pros

Pat Flynn is the real deal, no overhyped promises, concise training.

๐Ÿ˜ฉ  Cons

Lack of significant success stories from students, narrow focus, expensive for what you get, rarely updated.

  Verdict

Pales in comparison to some similarly-priced affiliate marketing courses.

Overall Rating
3.3/5 3.32

Jump toโ€ฆ

About the Author

Niall Doherty

Hey, Iโ€™m Niall Doherty.

I quit my last 9-to-5 job back in 2010.

Since then, Iโ€™ve earned my living online in various ways. Over the last 4 years (through 2023) I’ve earned $842,000 from my laptop, mostly via affiliate marketing.

I’m on a mission to accurately rate and review all the best affiliate marketing courses. My team and I have spent 900+ hours investigating these courses and getting feedback from real students.

All that to say: we know a thing or two about such courses and making money online.

The Best Affiliate Marketing Course?

Weโ€™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 weโ€™ve seenโ€ฆ

๐Ÿ† Best Affiliate Marketing Courses ๐Ÿ†

How does 123 Affiliate Marketing help you make money?

Patโ€™s course aims to help you monetize your existing online audience via affiliate marketing.

The word existing is important there.

As Pat Flynn told me via Twitterโ€ฆ

If youโ€™re looking to build affiliate sites with the course, thatโ€™s not what itโ€™s for. Itโ€™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 pageโ€ฆ

1โ€ข2โ€ข3 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 matterโ€”you can actually benefit quite heavily from implementing these strategies early on in your businessโ€”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 โ€“ the Smart Passive Income Podcast โ€“ 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 Patโ€™s YouTube channel so you can get a feel for his styleโ€ฆ

Are 123 Affiliate Marketing students getting results?

Itโ€™s hard to tell.

Youโ€™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 thisโ€ฆ

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 Iโ€™m making money from that list because of this course.

Susan RaySusan 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 ๐Ÿ˜•

How much does 123 Affiliate Marketing cost?

123 Affiliate Marketing is only available through the Smart Passive Income All-Access Pass for $199/quarter or $660/year.

Keep in mind that youโ€™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

Since 123 Affiliate Marketing is only available through the all access pass, it offers no refunds.

As stated on the checkout page pageโ€ฆ

The All-Access Pass is non-refundable and non-transferable. Likewise, we are unable to pause membership access. Please be sure you’d like to join before you purchase.

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

How is 123 Affiliate Marketing structured?

Hereโ€™s what the training looks like once you log in and open one of the lessonsโ€ฆ

123 affiliate marketing review course page

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 havenโ€™t been updated for several years. And I would have expected to see more screencasts โ€“ ie. Pat sharing his screen and going through things step-by-step โ€“ 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.

123 affiliate marketing review smart passive income community

Green Lights ๐ŸŸข 

A few things to like about 123 Affiliate Marketingโ€ฆ

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

Red Flags ๐Ÿšฉ 

A few things to be wary of regarding 123 Affiliate Marketingโ€ฆ

  • 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 youโ€™re not getting lifetime access to the course with the All-Access Pass, I found it to be worthwhile. Youโ€™re basically getting access to all Patโ€™s courses at a price that feels more reasonable.
  • Youโ€™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 ifโ€ฆ

  • 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, itโ€™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 youโ€™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.

123 Affiliate Marketing โ€“ Key Points
  About

Pat Flynnโ€™s affiliate marketing training.

๐Ÿ’ฐ  Price

Starts at $199/quarter (more info)

๐Ÿ˜  Pros

Pat Flynn is the real deal, no overhyped promises, concise training.

๐Ÿ˜ฉ  Cons

Lack of significant success stories from students, narrow focus, expensive for what you get, rarely updated.

  Verdict

Pales in comparison to some similarly-priced affiliate marketing courses.

Overall Rating
3.3/5 3.33

123 Affiliate Marketing Alternatives

Here are the top affiliate marketing programs weโ€™ve reviewedโ€ฆ

1.The Authority Site System (review)
4.8/5
2.The Affiliate Lab (review)
4.6/5
3.Scale Your Travel Blog (review)
4.6/5
4.Blog Growth Engine (review)
4.5/5
5.Passive Income Geek (review)
4.4/5
6.Niche Site Profits (review)
4.3/5
7.Income School's Project 24 (review)
4.3/5
8.Blogging Fast Lane (review)
3.9/5
9.Perfecting Blogging (review)
3.8/5
10.Solo Build It (review)
3.7/5
See all reviews of affiliate marketing courses ยป

Your Thoughts on 123 Affiliate Marketing

  • Have you taken this course yourself?
    Add your rating so others can see if it’s worthwhile.
  • Do you have a question about this course?
    Let us know below and we’ll try find the answer.

Student Reviews of 123 Affiliate Marketing

Rate This Course
Validated Reviewer
  • Validated Reviewer 1
  • Verified Student 2
  • Review Info 3
4.0/5
January 18, 2023

This reviewer has a business relationship with the course creator or a competitor. Not included in overall ratings. Learn more.

Good course, but you need great products to market

This course was very informative and I learned a lot about affiliate marketing. Pat’s course offered step-by-step instructions. I also liked how I could complete it at my own pace and revisit any course at my convenience.

What people will have to ensure is that they have strong products to market. I did not see much activity from my posts. However, I understand that my business is in a specific niche. Pat’s course really taught me how to be an affiliate marketer, but I wish I could get some help on what “sandbox to play in”, so to speak. Where are my customers sitting? Where do they get together?

Pros and Cons

  • Step-by-step Instructions
  • Ability to revisit courses when needed
  • Working at my own pace
  • I applied the skills taught to me but have not seen much activity/growth/$ from it
Susan Ray
  • Validated Reviewer 4
  • Verified Student 5
  • Review Info 6
5.0/5
August 7, 2022
Earnings 7
more than expected
Following Training 8
for 6 to 12 months

I needed help

I was at the stage of still putting all the pieces together on how to do affiliate marketing when I decided to purchase this course.

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.

If you want to know more or are just beginning to work in affiliate marketing, this course is excellent. It breaks down the actual steps needed and shows you how to do affiliate marketing in a way that everybody can understand.

Russell Brunson is the only other person I know who can explain affiliate marketing and the steps that it takes to make money. But Russell got so far ahead from the beginner level, so he doesn’t go into as much detail as Pat Flynn does for the beginner.

Pros and Cons

  • The process of affiliate marketing is broken down to easy steps.
  • The steps are laid out in chronological order.
  • Everything is explained in layman terms. Examples are provided for each point.
  • More attention is needed for implementation of the steps.
more ratings
Implementation 9
easier than expected
Presentation 10
5.0/5
Usefulness 11
5.0/5
Community 12
5.0/5
Support 13
5.0/5
Value For Money 14
5.0/5
Felipe Vernaza
  • Validated Reviewer 15
  • Verified Student 16
  • Review Info 17
4.0/5
November 16, 2021
Earnings 18
none, still new to the course
Following Training 19
for 1 to 6 months

Good course overall but lacks some concepts

I enjoyed taking the course and learned much from it. This is a good course overall for those who are starting with affiliate marketing, but this should not be your only course (more on this later).

This course starts by covering the basics such as what is affiliate marketing, and some rules to ensure long-term success. It then continues by presenting both passive and active promotional strategies, which are explained utilizing videos and homework. Finally, the course finishes with some “recipe books” to help execute the above-mentioned promotional strategies for different types of products.

Unfortunately, the course does not cover some very important aspects of affiliate marketing, such as how to choose your niche, how to obtain backlinks, the importance of topic clusters and internal linking, and SEO tips and techniques. The course should also cover some handy tools used by affiliate marketers. So after finishing this training (which is already quite pricey), you will need to fill in the gaps by taking another course.

Pros and Cons

  • Includes both passive and active promotional strategies.
  • Provides a step-by-step guide to your first affiliate campaign.
  • Has "office hours" and the latest recordings are downloadable.
  • Does not cover SEO: backlinking, internal linking, posting velocity, topic clusters, SEO tools.
  • Could cover concepts in more depth; the longest video is just over 18 minutes long.
  • Does not cover how to select your niche.
more ratings
Implementation 20
about what I expected
Presentation 21
4.0/5
Usefulness 22
3.0/5
Community 23
2.0/5
Support 24

haven't experienced it yet

Value For Money 25
3.0/5
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