Review: Opportunity.Com

Everyday, I get e-mail messages hyping this new training course or that new e-book. All of them are “guaranteed” to make me wealthy in record-breaking time. Most of the time, the only person who makes any money from the programs are the people who wrote them and those who hyped it up. Most of the time, the information is old, obvious or, in some cases, just plain wrong. With this being the case, it is easy to see why I read most Internet marketing e-mail messages with a very skeptical eye.

That was the case this past wee when I began receiving a ton of  messages promoting Opportunity.com.  It is the new affiliate marketing training site founded by John Reese.  I must say that the pitches I heard sounded pretty good, but I wasn’t sure that a product like this is necessary.  After all, I strongly believe that a new person can get a pretty good affiliate marketing education just by reading and digesting the knowledge found in Rosalind Gardner’s Super Affiliate Handbook.    Even with my reservations, I decided to purchase a membership anyway.  After all, they offered a money-back guarantee and the worst that could happen is that I would have a new topic for a review.

So, I joined and checked out the site.  At first glance, I did notice that the site is very easy on the eyes.  The light blue and white color scheme allow you to focus on the site without the eye-fatigue that “loud” colors can cause.  Then, I started looking at the content.  There are some areas that are still waiting to be filled in and several pages announce that more material is on the way, but I still found enough to keep me occupied for quite a while.

I will say that the opportunity listing is very helpful.  As an affiliate marketer, it is difficult to track down which vendors belong to which affiliate programs (such as Commission Junction, ShareASale, etc.) but this listing allows you to find vendors through several different programs.  That’s very helpful when you are trying to find products to promote on your website. 

There is also a section called “My Opportunities” where you can store information on programs that you’re interested in or that you belong to.  Believe me, this is very helpful.  I know, first-hand, just how hard it can be to keep this stuff straight.  So many times, I have joined multiple affiliate programs, just to forget all of the ones I belong to.  The ones that are forgotten don’t get promoted and soon, I get an e-mail telling me that I am inactive in their program and I end up scratching my head because I didn’t know that I was in their program to begin with.  This feature is going to save me a lot of aggravation like that.

Although those are good features, my favorite feature of the site is the training section.  There are tons of videos that cover everything from the basics that a new affiliate marketer should know, all the way to advance topics that will give you the edge on the competition.  My son, Kevin, and I started watching some of the introductory videos last night.  The videos were complete and easy to understand.  In fact, they may have been too easy to understand.  After awhile, my son (who has never done anything with affiliate marketing) was starting to say, “OK, OK.  I get it.  Let’s move on.” 

After Kevin went to bed, I stayed up and watched several more videos.  There was a video on using Google Alerts to build your business.  Now, I’ve used Google Alerts for years, but only for personal news gathering.  Who knew that it could be a business-buildign tool?  In fact, some of the videos teach how to use resources that I didn’t even know existed! 

The site isn’t perfect and my long-term membership will depend on the site being regularly updated, but, for now, it is worth the price of admission.  If you are looking to use affiliate marketing to monetize your site, I urge you to join this site for a month or two to see if it is for you.  Only you can answer that question for sure.  I know that I’ll be making the most of it and John Reese can rest easy because I won’t be asking for my money back.

So, now I have two items to recommend to friends who want to make money on their websites using affiliate marketing:

1.  The Super Affiliate Handbook (Click Here For Information)
2. Opportunity.com (Click Here For Information)

(Please keep in mind that this review is not from a marketer who is promoting the product just to make a buck.  I am an actual Opportunity.com member.  I paid full price for my membership and I use this website as part of my own business.)