Welcome and thanks for stopping by to read my Secret Affiliate Machine Review. When it comes to making money online, we'd all like it to be easy, but you probably suspect that's not true.
If you're struggling to find work (or sick and tired of the job you already have), you're not alone. I've been there too. You may even have medical issues keeping you home or children to look after and The Super Affiliate Machine system claims to have the answer… but do they really have the answer or is it just another scam?
Disclaimer:
Please note, I am not a member or an affiliate for Secret Affiliate Machine. This review has been researched with information and/or testimonials that are available online in the public domain. Any recommendations and/or conclusions are strictly opinions and may not to apply to, or agree with, all persons or situations. See full disclaimer for more info
What Is The Secret Affiliate Machine?
You're reading this review, which means you have doubts. So do I…
Can you really make $4000 a month and drive your dream car with just 30-minutes per week of work? I think you know the answer.
That doesn't mean The Super Affiliate Machine doesn't work, but to understand what it is and how it can make money for you, we're going to pull back the curtains and look inside.
We're also going to talk about the “red flags” because yes… there are a few, and before you waste your time (and money) you need to know if this thing is a scam or if it's actually legit.
The Secret Affiliate Machine is a done-for-you “marketing funnel” similar to the Lazy Affiliate Method and other get-rich systems that claims to generate passive income with very little effort on your part.
It's a “business in a box” I've heard some members say.
As mentioned, the big promise is this…
With the Secret Affiliate Machine (or SAM system) you should be able to earn $4000 per month and have your dream car paid for with as little as 30-minutes of effort each week.
And the real kicker? Setting it all up is a piece of cake.
Wouldn't that be great?
I'm not really sure what to say here because the truth is, whoever is behind is The Secret Affiliate Machine (who wants to remain anonymous) is probably just trying to earn his is own online income and support his family…
… but making money online is just not that easy. At least, making a “full-time income” online is not that easy and I'm going to explain the complications you'll run into below.
Having said that, you can definitely earn some spending money online doing simple things like online survey with sites like surveyjunkie.com. You can even earn some cash doing things you do online anyway like watching videos, searching the web and visiting websites with swagbucks.com.
But, sites like that are not going to give you $4000 per month and your dream car.
For that you're going to need a real online business. Not a “business in a box”, but a real online business.
And, if making money online is something you need because your health is preventing you from working a regular job or you have children at home to look after, a real online income is what you want.
I could tell you a real online income requires no effort but you know that's not true.
If you're like me, you're not afraid of hard work as long as there are rewards at the end… and getting started with the basics of how money is made online is what youneed in order to get what you want.
Now, I'm going to give you a free step by step beginner's guide to making money online and you can get it by Clicking Here
Is The Secret Affiliate Machine a Scam?
This is an interesting question. The short answer is no, the Secret Affiliate Machine is not a scam.
Does that make it legit though? In my opinion the numbers are not as simple as the SAM system suggests.
Everything you get with the Secret Affiliate Machine is real, it’s just that you’re not getting much. There’s nothing wrong with that because it’s free, but there are some subtle deceptions here.
The first is that you don't learn how much this is really going to cost until the end. The videos and the sales funnel you’re getting are free but making the entire system work requires additional products and traffic, which are not free.
In fact, it’s quite expensive.
I’m going to go over each step of the Secret Affiliate Machine so you’ll have a much clearer picture of how it works but I need to say this…
Despite what I consider to be subtle deceptions, it’s important to know that the business model this system is based on is not a scam.
In other words, I’m not saying you won’t make money this way because a lot of people do. It’s legit, but there’s also lot more involved than what you’re being led to believe.
How Does Secret Affiliate Machine Work?
Alright! Let’s jump into the juicy details. The Secret Affiliate System is broken down into 4 basic steps (not to be confused with these 4-Steps).
- Watch the intro video in its entirety.
- Set up an account with Clickfunnels (more on Clickfunnels in a moment)
- Import your copy of the Secret Affiliate Machine into Click Funnels (this is your “done-for-you” funnel).
- Get floods of traffic.
Before I go deeper into each step, let me just go over your basic objective here, which it to earn money with Affiliate Marketing.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
As the name suggest, the Secret Affiliate Machine is all about earning “affiliate” commissions. If you’re not familiar with the term affiliate, it’s an online method of marketing in which companies pay you a commission when someone purchases a product based on your recommendation.
It’s like an online version of word-of-mouth..
So, your basic objective here is to recommend products to other people and earn a commission. In this case, that product is called Clickfunnels.
One of the reasons Clickfunnels is a good product to promote is that they pay 40% commissions… which works out to about $40 bucks in your pocket for every sale and recurring sale.
Get 10 people to sign up and you earn $400. Get 100 people and, well… you get the idea 😀
Sounds like a good deal, right?
Well, the numbers don't exactly add up that way because we haven't included expenses yet, I'll talk more about those below but first, what is Clickfunnels?
What Is Clickfunnels?
Clickfunnels is the software you’re going to use to create your own funnel (your version of the Secret Affiliate Machine), which you will then send traffic to and hopefully make money.
Clickfunnels is not only a legitimate product, it’s considered by many (myself included) to be the gold standard when it comes to sales funnel software. The problem is that it’s relatively expensive at $97/month for the basic version and $297/month for the full-meal-deal.
Source: ClickFunnels pricing page ($97/month and $297/month)
The price is not a criticism of Clickfunnels, it’s an amazing software. The problem is that it’s often used by the wrong people for the wrong purpose.
Clickfunnels is an enterprise software, best for businesses and professionals with legitimate products and services to sell. A health supplement company for example, or a financial services provider. A photographer might use Clickfunnels to book more photo shoots, a fitness coach to find more clients.
You may even see professionals like doctors, personal injury lawyers and psychologists using Clickfunnels.
For them, the return on investment justifies the cost.
For newbies on a tight budget though with no real experience in digital marketing, the decision to use Clickfunnels is a lot more risky.
To better understand what’s involved and how much this SAM system is going to cost, let’s go over the steps involved with the Secret Affiliate Machine.
Step 1 – Watch The Intro Video
Personally I wouldn't call this a “step” to making money online.
A real first step might be something like deciding what kind of business you want to start and why you want to start it. You also need to understand the demand and who your competitors are.
For example, do you have experience (and enjoy) working on cars and is there are demand for someone who can work on cars.
Can you play an instrument and do you have a passion for music? Let's see how we can turn that into a business.
These are good first steps…
For the Secret Affiliate Machine though, your first step is watching the introduction video which in my opinion is really just a promotional video that gets you excited.
There's nothing wrong with being excited, you're going to need that excitement to make money online. I just disagree with it being a “first step” but maybe I'm just being too picky 🙂
A couple “Red Flags” to point in this step are…
1. The use of false scarcity2. The creator “J” want to remain anonymous
False Scarcity
Using false scarcity to create “urgency” is a common tactic among scams. That doesn't mean something is a scam but when it comes to digital products that don't require the creators time (like personal coaching for example), it's usually a deception.
In the case of the Secret Affiliate Machine, “J'… the creator says this is only being offered to “the next 50 takers ONLY”.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this is simply not true. If the machine is really that great those 50 spots would be gone in the first day. The Secret Affiliate Machine has been around a lot longer than that though, and I've seen some YouTube videos of people claiming they've made a lot of money within days of signing up and using the same “funnel”.
So, if they made a lot of money promoting the Secret Affiliate Machine, they would need a lot of people to sign-up… which means those 50 spots would be long gone.
We know the creator “J” wants a lot of people to sign up or he wouldn't have made this product in the first place.
He's also not offering “personal coaching” which would be time consuming so there's no reason to limit the number of spots to 50. Furthermore, I've returned to this funnel days later and it still says “The First 50 Takers Only”.
I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but this seems a little shady to me. I will give him credit for adding a disclaimer though which states that his results are not guaranteed or typical.
Who is he and what are his results though? That's the question…
The Creator Wants to Remain Anonymous
There is nothing wrong if you don't want people to know who you are (especially online), so I wouldn't hold this against the person (or maybe group of people) who are behind the Secret Affiliate Machine.
Having said that, being anonymous does't make great business sense either.
There are other make-money-online programs with owners who not only tell you who they are… the do it proudly.
They want you to know who they are, and they want to get to know you too.
In the intro video “J” says “He cares about YOUR results” but being anonymous and providing no opportunity to communicate with him does not support that claim.
To be clear… this is just my opinion. He can run his system any way he likes and as I mentioned earlier, the business model that the Secret Affiliate Machine is teaching here is legit. I just don't think this is a good implementation of that business model.
Another thing that was mentioned in the intro video that is true though, is this…
“You never have to create, store, warehouse, fulfill, create merchant processing, support, or ship any products”. This is the advantage of affiliate marketing and promoting other people's products.
Step 2 – Set Up Your Clickfunnels Account
In step two you are going to set up your Clickfunnels account.
Now, I mentioned that Clickfunnels would cost you $97 per month, but it won't cost you anything when you sign up. Clickfunnels has a free 14-day trial.
I don't mind telling you in my early days of building an online business I tried a similar program. It wasn't the Secret Affiliate Machine, but like you may be thinking now, my thought was this…
“If I can make enough money before my 14-day trial runs out, the cost won't matter.”
I bought into the propaganda of earning thousands of dollars virtually overnight and living my dream lifestyle…
Well, I didn't make any money in those first 14 days and I ended up paying $97 because I wasn't going to give up after just two weeks.
As it turns out though, the $97 was the least of my problems, and I'll talk more about that when we get to Step Four (which you'll want to be sitting down for).
Step 3 – Import the Secret Affiliate Machine Funnel and Get Your Affiliate Link
In this step you're going to import the Secret Affiliate Machine into Clickfunnels so you can promote it to other people.
It's a simple process and this is the “done-for-you” portion of the Secret Affiliate Machine.
The other thing you're going to do is get your own Clickfunnels affiliate link and add that to the “Create Your Free “Machine” Account” button so you get credit for the clicks you generate with your own version of the funnel.
Now, Something you need to be aware of ( and I'm NOT saying the SAM system will do this) is that some other scams will make you think you've put your own affiliate link in there but they secretly hijack it so that they get the credit for you sales… and take your commissions.
Again, I'm not saying that's happening here, it's just something you need to keep an eye out for.
Step 4 – Get Floods of Traffic (The “Catch”)
An easy “plug and play” system to make passive income online sounds so good, and you want it to be true… but I'm sure you're thinking there has to be a catch is right?
Well… there is a catch. It's all about the traffic.
Your funnel ONLY works if you send a ton of traffic to it and traffic is not cheap. I'll say that again, traffic is not cheap.
Remember when I said you'll want to be sitting down for this?
Here's why…
“J” recommends you use a traffic broker called “TrafficForMe” and start with 1000 clicks at somewhere between 60 to 70 cents per click, which is between $600 to $700.
As you can see in the screenshot below, their current price for 1000 clicks is $675.00.
As I said, I’ve been down this road before and I can tell you it’s not fun. This why $97 I was paying to ClickFunnels was the least of my problems.
But before I go any further, I need to be clear… this doesn't make the Secret Affiliate Machine a scam. There are also many other make-money-online programs that use paid traffic.
The reality is that buying traffic on the web is like gambling. It's going to cost you a lot of money, and it's not guaranteed. Contrary to what you're told, you really don't know where that traffic is coming from or if it's even real.
If you don’t have the stomach for RISKING large sums of money, then paying for traffic will be stressful. I don't recommend it unless you have a lot of experience with digital marketing.
For those who have the financial ability to do it, it’s absolutely possible to make money this way but it’s not easy. Let me explain…
How Does Paid Traffic Work?
There a few types of paid traffic. Advertising on platforms like Facebook and YouTube is one of them.
Another type of paid traffic (and the one recommended by the Secret Affiliate Machine) is called “Solo Ads”. These are ads that you pay someone else to send to their email subscribers (which raises some ethical questions that go beyond the scope of this review).
You might also call this “spam” if you're on the receiving end of it, and there are some big problems with this kind of traffic (aside from the ethical ones).
The first is that you might be paying for fake traffic. Of course, they will tell you it's real but in a lot cases it's going to be “bot” traffic.
I mean… they don't mind spamming people's emails with offers, so a lot of them won't mind sending you fake traffic either.
Back when I was getting started and didn't know much, I purchased 10,000 clicks and did NOT make a single sale. It turned out to be 100% “bot” traffic and there was nothing I could do about it.
You can pay for sophisticated software to find out where your clicks are coming from and if they are real, but even then… you've already paid for those clicks. If you lose a bunch of money buying fake traffic from someone shady, the only thing you can do is not buy anymore.
The money you've already spent is gone. Your next step is buy from someone else and “test” their traffic.
As you can probably guess, it’s easy to blow thousands of dollars finding good traffic. This process is painful, especially when you know there is a high probability of getting scammed.
Now, the Secret Affiliate Machine recommends using a traffic broker called Traffic For Me, but these traffic brokers are not accountable to anyone.
They may tell you their traffic is real, and that it comes from English speaking countries with a population who has disposable income to spend… but there is no guarantee.
And… even if it is real, the chances that those people have hundreds (if not thousands of dollars) to spend on traffic as well are is not good. You might get a few, but not many.
Most people won't and if those people can't send traffic their funnel, the funnel is useless and therefore, spending $97 on ClickFunnels is a waste of their money too.
You can probably see where this is going.
If they don’t give ClickFunnels $97 dollars a month, ClickFunnels doesn't give you any money either. And if you don't earn any money, you can't pay for traffic or ClickFunnels either.
That's why I said earlier that the numbers don't add up so easily. And while you're trying to get them to add up… hundreds (and even thousands) of dollars is flying out the window.
Can You Make Money With the Secret Affiliate System?
I hate that I'm sounding like a downer here. I feel like that friend who only points out the negative. Who loves to explain why you can't do something instead of why can do something.
So let me be say this again, it’s not that you can’t earn money with the Secret Affiliate Machine, it’s just that it's going to require a significant amount of money and the math is tricky.
With 1000 quality clicks, you might get 50 trial members, and 10 of them might upgrade to the $97 per month plan (but it's going to require luck because you have no real control over the quality of your traffic).
For each upgrade you earn around $40, multiply that by ten and you get $400, right?
But those 1000 quality clicks will cost you between $600 and $700.
Spending $700 to make $400 is a horrible investment.
The hope is that those who spend $97 with ClickFunnels will pay it every month and through recurring commissions you eventually become profitable. The key word here is “hope” because here’s the thing…
Those people (the people you get into the Secret Affiliate Machine) are up against the same challenge as you, spending hundreds of dollars on traffic hoping it works. Hoping they're traffic is not fake. Hoping people upgrade to the $97 plan…
That's a lot of hope…
And if the people you bring into the SAM system are not profitable (and the people they recommend the Secret Affiliate Machine to are not profitable), you have a lot of people losing money.
Some people might get twenty $97 upgrades, and others might only get two. Many will get zero and that’s why paid traffic will keep you up at night.
And I’ll say this again… what we’re talking about here is NOT specific to the Secret Affiliate Machine. There are countless systems that rely on paid traffic and suffer the same fate (members losing a ton of money).
I learned this the hard way which is why now I only focus on getting FREE traffic.
If I had to pay for the number of clicks I get today it would cost me tens of thousands of dollars every month (and that's a BIG problem because I don't earn “tens” of thousands of dollars every month).
I earn enough that I no longer need a boss, but if I had to pay for all of my traffic, it would be game over for me…
I'm not sure what your situation is like but if you don't have thousands of dollars to spend on traffic, you still have options.
You can earn some extra cash with sites like surveyjunkie.com.
Swag Bucks is another site who pays you for doing things like searching the web, watching videos, and even playing games.
Of course, we're not talking about a lot of money with sites like these but if you've never made money online before, they can be good a place to start for some people.
If a full-time income is what you want but you just don't have a lot of money to get started, a steady stream of high quality FREE traffic is what you need in order to get what you want.
To learn how I did it, I'm going to give you a free step by step beginner's guide to making money online and you can get it by clicking HERE.
What I Like About Secret Affiliate Machine
- Potential for 40% commissions with Clickfunnels which is a high quality product to promote.
- The system itself is free to sign up (although traffic and tools will cost you money).
- A disclaimer that earnings are not promised or guaranteed.
What I Don't Like
- The use of false scarcity. These tactics are an immediate turn off for me personally.
- Paid traffic. It works for some people but is also expensive and risky.
- We don't know who is behind the Secret Affiliate Machine. It's creator “J” wants to remain anonymous.
- Very little training. Making money online is about developing skills, it's not about plug-and-play systems or “secrets” in my opinion. In other words, anyone can turn on the radio but few people can pick the guitar and make their own music.
Where Do You Go From Here?
I know you want to make money online and I wish I could tell you this was the answer. Earning an income online may even be something you NEED (not just want).
If you're unhappy and desperate to escape your current situation, I understand. And, I'd like to tell you there are “shortcuts” like the Secrete Affiliate Machine but I can't. You know what they say…
If it were easy everyone would be doing it.
I don't know the creator of the Secret Affiliate Machine or his story, but I'm willing to bet his journey to make money online wasn't easy either. The basic concept is here… or at least one version of the “make-money-online” concept is here, which is…
“Drive traffic to a funnel and then convert that traffic into affiliate sales”…
But, it's a lot more complicated than that and the Secret Affiliate Machine barely scratches the surface in my opinion.
The biggest roadblock is “paid” traffic which is very expensive. It can literally ruin lives.
Like I said… if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
The only “easy” way I know to make “some” money online is with ” surveys and get-paid-to” sites.
It might not be the big money you're looking for but market research sites like surveyjunkie.com are free to join and pay you for your opinion.
And then you have “get-paid-to” sites like swagbucks.com who pay you for doing things you probably do online anyway, like searching the web, visiting websites and watching videos.
For a full-time income and the laptop lifestyle you want, a “comprehensive” 4-step strategy that teaches “free” traffic is what you need in order to get what you want.
Now, I'm going to give you a free step by step beginner's guide to making money online and you can get it by Clicking Here
I hope my Secret Affiliate Machine review has been helpful and if you have any comments, questions, or experience with the SAM system, please share in the comments section below.
Thank you for the many great recommendations and contributions. They will certainly help many people to become the person they want to be. There are a lot of programs out there. This service has helped me a lot: […] Maybe this is interesting for someone else too…