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Empower Network Review: Why I Gave Empower Network TwoThumbs Downby Ana Hoffman

Review of : Empower Network

Price:Keep your money

Reviewed by: Ana Hof f man

Rating:1

On October 8, 2012Last modif ied:March 19, 2013

Summary:

Empower Network... one of the quickest ways to get someone else rich. And buy something that is availableeverywhere else f or f ree. Really. Get the skinny on the company, their inf amous marketing training, and more.

More Details

It ’s no secret that Traf f ic Generation Caf e, as awesome andpopular as it is, doesn’t make much money.

For some reason, cracking that whole “make money blogging” nuthas been a bit too tough f or my teeth.

And then I had a brilliant idea.

I think I might’ve f ound the hammer to crack that nut af ter all.

Here’s my new business plan:

I’ll sell you a sub-page at Traf f icGenerationCaf e.com.

I’ll make it very easy f or you:

you won’t have to worry about setting up a new blog (since you are buying a blog within a blog);

you won’t have to worry about what your blog looks like (I won’t really give you any choices – therewill be only one theme available);

you won’t have to worry about any plugins (I’ll make it easy for you – you won’t have any);

and I’ll let you customize your new blog with your picture and bio (of course, my picture will remain atthe top of YOUR blog, and I am even thinking of taking my shirt off for that one).

I’ll even make you a deal: you’ll get all of the above f or the rock-bottom price of $25/month.

Who’s in?

OK, f ine; I’ll sweetened the deal – you can resell this awesome opportunity to have a subpage on my blog toyour f amily, f riends, and even total strangers.

Sounds like a win-win, don’t you think?

Empower Network Fundamentals

The f ollowing quotes come directly f rom various pages of Empower Network site.

What is Empower Network?

“Empower Network is a direct response company, that handles front and back end salesconversions – and teaches people how to narrow their focus down to one skill: Getting Traffic.

“The fact? Getting Traffic is easy to teach if you take out the technical and managementcomplications that drive the rest of the marketing niche . . . we’ve now existed for 140 days, andhave more than 20,109 customers who have bought our blogging system.”

Source http://www.empowernetwork.com/blog/should-you-join-empower-network-objections/

With Empower Network You Will…

have a chance to achieve what you couldn’t bef ore (i.e. have a successf ul business)

“Say goodbye to the complicated barriers that stand in the way of you and a thriving business …and hello to Automation, Viral Marketing and 100% Commissions.”

with ease:

“No rules. No hassles. We’ll help you build your business bigger and better so you can do moreof things you want, with the people you want to do them with.”

“You can now leverage our ‘point and click‘ marketing system and leverage our ability to market,convert traffic to leads …and convert those leads to sales. This way, you can stay focused onone thing, and one thing only – getting traffic.”

“We’ve solved every problem marketers and online entrepreneurs face.”

“We’ve built our entire marketing system around a ‘plug and play’ process that members can useto generate 100% commissions into their bank account, instantly.”

“…you have a ‘done for you’ marketing system that pays you 100% commissions, directlydeposited into your bank account.”

making more money you’ve ever made bef ore:

“From this point on, as a member of Empower Network – you’ll never have to wait for anotherless than worthy commission check in the mail again, because you can now get paid instantand automatically, directly into your bank account.”

“… just blog daily, tell others …and learn to get more money in your business, faster.“

“Essentially, you can make ‘guru’ money …without being a ‘guru’.“

(all the quotes come from various pages of EmpowerNetwork.com site)

Turns out silver bullets do exist.

Silly me… choosing the “hard” way to build a business.

Who’s behind it?

1. David Wood | Co-Founder and CEO

From his personal Empower Network bio (reducted):

“…impact the world …transparent …strait forward …message of clarity, honesty and hope …#1producer in almost every business he built …impact and influence lives all over the world …breakthrough business success.”

Side note: notice ” ‘strait f orward’ ” spelling.

Either 1. those boys need to proof -read their copy, or 2. they meant to say what they said, in which case theonly def init ion I could f ind was in the Urban Dictionary and it ’s peculiar.

2. David Sharpe | Co-Founder and President

From his personal bio (reducted):

“…struggle and hardship …homelessness, addiction and personal defeat …he rose from theashes to change his life, change the way he viewed the world …and change the way the world

viewed him …earning more money than ever …traveling the world and living the life of hisdreams.”

Two Cinderella stories indeed.

Good f or them, right?

Note to self:

If I ever want to create a f anatic f ollowing that blindly buys my “simple easy solutions to every problem in life“,I need to make sure to tell my rags to riches story about alcoholic parents, no means to exist, and workingf or everything I ever needed/wanted.

It ’s good f or business.

Empower Network Products

1. Blogging platform – $25/month

“For only $25 per month, you get the full monty – a customizable blog built into the wordpressplatform, complete with hosting, sales videos, capture pages – and if you want, you can evencapture the leads into your own auto-responders.”

Just to sum up: f or $25/month, you get a blog on Empower Network (which really is a WordPress blog that’sfree everywhere else), plus:

one theme everyone else has;

no additional f unctionalit ies to add (like plugins);

8 “Core Commitments” videos that will try to upsell you on everything.

You do get a f ew lead capture templates you can drive traf f ic to – the same pages used by thousands ofother EN members.

2. E-Wallet – $20/month

EN doesn’t accept PayPal, so unless you have your own payment processor (most marketers don’t), this isyour only option if you want to be an af f iliate.

3. The Inner Circle Mastermind Membership – $100/month

“For only $100 per month, you’re going to get the best ongoing audio training you’ve ever heardin your life. We’re interviewing industry Phenom’s who want nothing more than to help you makemore money, have a better life, and build your marketing automation machine…

…on complete auto pilot.“

$100/month is on top of $25/month, of course.

4. The Costa Rica Mastermind Intensive – $500 one time

“…which is a eleven-hour online video course shot in HD video quality – which documents inextensive detail, a live marketing seminar co-founder David Wood hosted for approximately 10high-level entrepreneurs in mid 2011 which sold for $2,997 when it was offered as a live eventto the public, and sold out quickly.”

I wonder what “approximately 10 high- level entrepreneurs” means…

Did someone not have enough f ingers to count to 10?

If they are that high- level and they paid you $3K f or your training, the least you could do f or them is toremember they were there.

5. 15k per Month Formula – $1000 one time

See the training section below f or a f ew notes I made on the kind of training $1,000 will buy you.

6. The “all in” option – $1625 one time

This option is consistently ref erred to and encourage throughout ALL the training, videos, splash pages, etc.

To Sum Up…

Empower Network has two objectives:

1. To make you “guru” money.

2. To teach you how to GET TRAFFIC.

Let’s talk about that.

But bef ore we move on, please:

Show Me the Money

On to the f un stuf f :

Making “guru” money without being a guru.

Empower Network Review: Compensation Plan

Empower Network compensation plan is very easy.

100% commissions.

Instantly.

Deposited straight to your bank.

Just like this:

John earns commission payment of $25 when Stan purchases a product, and another $25 when Kimpurchases a product.

The commission payment, generated by Mary’s purchase, will go to someone else; that will be a person inJohn’s upline.

Stan will earn a commission of $25 when Tim and David purchase a product ($25 f or each purchase).

John will earn a commission of $25 when Martin and Lara purchase a product ($25 f or each purchase).

Tim will earn a commission of $25 when M1 and M3 purchase a product ($25 f or each purchase).

Stan will earn a commission of $25 when M2 and M4 purchase a product ($25 f or each purchase).

Martin will earn a commission of $25 when P1 and P3 purchase a product ($25 f or each purchase).

John will earn a commission of $25 when P2 and P4 purchase a product ($25 f or each purchase).

Lara will earn a commission of $25 when K1 and K3 purchase a product ($25 f or each purchase).

John will earn a commission of $25 when K2 and K4 purchase a product ($25 f or each purchase).

Please also note that:

Although Stan was ref erred to as a “direct sponsor” f or Martin, Martin’s powerline sponsor will be John.

The “powerline sponsor” is the one that the members are sending their af f iliate commission payments to.

Member M3 - his direct sponsor and powerline sponsor will be one and the same, Tim.

K2 will have a direct sponsor Lara, and powerline sponsor John.

And so on.

Easy, right?

100% commissions.

Minus the f ees, of course.

On all sales.

But not your 2nd, 4th, 6th, and every f if th one af ter that.

Of course, that kind of makes it sound like it ’s 50% commission structure in the beginning. Minus the f ees,of course.

On the bright side though, when you make it to <1% of “distributors”, you’ll be raking in $30K+ per month.

And work only 20 hours. Per month.

Just like this:

Source: https://www.empowernetwork.com/income.php

Would love to know how they track the hours EN members put into developing their downline…

Empower Network Review: Refund Policy

Important to remember:

Source: https://www.empowernetwork.com/refund.php

And Keep in Mind…

“If you cancel your monthly subscription you will lose your team and all benefits and services ofEmpower Network.

This also includes all future services and upgrades.”

Empower Network Review: Aff iliate Cookies

Another thing I noticed while doing research f or this post was the f act that Empower Network might have acookie problem.

Generally, when anyone arrives to a product sales page via your af f iliate link, their inf ormation is collectedand stored as a cookie tagging them as YOUR ref erral.

Those cookies can last f or as long or as short as the af f iliate marketing program allows it.

Now I didn’t see any inf ormation on how long Empower Network cookies last, but in a week that it took meto write this post while bouncing through various pages within EN domain, I noticed that the ref erral ID in myURL changed 3-4 times.

Here’s what I mean:

http://www.empowernetwork.com/empower-network-welcome/?id=davidwood

The last part “davidwood” is the ref errer ’s ID.

That’s what the system uses to tag me as someone’s ref erral.

Since that ID changed several t imes during my research, my question is this:

If I were to sign up f or EN right now, who’ll get the credit?

The f irst person? The last one? Someone in the middle?

This t idbit of inf ormation might greatly af f ect your earning potential and you might not even know it.

Learn more about choosing the best af f iliate marketing platf orm in this post.

Have you shared it with your f riends yet?

Empower Network “Get Traf f ic” Training

Side note: I was told that Empower Network has f inally updated their training – hopef ully, f or the better.

I still highly doubt it that it it ’s worth the kind of money they are asking f or it, but I haven’t taken a look at itmyself .

That’s where it gets interesting.

I don’t care how much hype there is around any given biz opportunity, program, system, etc.

If there’s VALUE behind the hype, then it might still be worth the money.

Empower Network claims to of f er the best and the most exclusive marketing training to succeed in ANYonline business.

As a matter of f act, as per one of the numerous videos I watched in the EN back of f ice, David Wood actually“invented” (his word) most of these strategies.

Fine, let’s take a closer look.

Fast Start – 25/month

This is the “training” you get at $25/month level.

There’s actually not much training here at all.

You’ll see 8 videos called “Core Commitments”, like “sign up f or e-wallet” ($20/month), “blog daily”, “marketdaily”, etc.

The main message:

This is what you should do.

If you want to learn HOW to do it, buy the whole package.

15K Formula – $1,000

This training is compiled of 6 lessons, plus 3 bonus lessons.

The average lessons length is 1-3 hours.

I took notes f or 3 out of 9 lessons just to give you an idea of what kind of training $1,000 will buy you.

This is a 3 hour webinar, and here’s what your t ime and money willget you teach you about:

How to get traf f ic to your new post

Email your team.

You can also write blog posts in such a way that only EN membersat a certain paid level can see it.

So when you send it out to members who are below that paid level, you are giving them yet another“incentive” to upgrade, i.e. make more money f or you.

If you don’t have a list yet, it ’s OK; email it to your friends and family.

When you create good content, your f riends and f amily don’t f eel like you are pitching it to them.

They will bring their warm market to you by sharing your content.

Create a tribe.

5 Key Elements of Good Content

1. Write entertaining content.

2…. (the guy who was doing this section was so monotone and boring, I had to drink lots of coffee just to payenough attention to get some key points out of it – he lost me at “Write entertaining content”.)

How to write

1. Be authentic; write like you talk.

2. Be bold; be real.

3. Format your content well (lots of white space, short sentences, etc).

4. Use images.

5. Add call to action.

How to actually write a post in WP

Heading tags (H1, H2, etc) – the lower the number, the bigger the text. Revelation.

Have your keywords throughout your heading tags in EACH post.

Have an image.

Sprinkle your keywords throughout the content.

Write over 500 words per post.

Keywords in the tit le.

Have nof ollow links within your content.

Create Facebook group

Add your name/brand and pic to it.

Don’t allow spam.

blah, blah, blah (sorry, don’t have patience f or rudimentarystuf f ).

Create conversations.

Comment f requently.

Demand participation.

Side note: yes, Empower Network is huge on using Facebook to promote their content.

Too bad they were banned f rom FB f or posting too much spam…

This is what you see if you try to link to their EN site:

Social Media Syndicat ion

Find a way to automate everything.

The more social media shares you get, the more links you get, the more likely you are to rank batter.

(She was reading this segment of the webinar, so it was really hard to follow.)

Lot’s of blah-blah on why you need to get more shares.

Syndicat ion tools

Ping.fm: add a social plugin to your blog and encourage shares.

Yahoo pipes: too technical and just a brief mention of it.

TribePro

A more automated social solution – social media on steroids.

They use OnlyWire.com.

In a nutshell, this is what TribePro does:

So you get more shares because of other people in your tribe auto-posting your content to their socialaccounts and vice versa.

You’ll pay f or submissions with OnlyWire between $15 and $100/month, depending on how much syndicationyou want done.

Plus, TribePro membership prices vary f rom f ree to $80/month.

More blah-blah about all the “sneaky” ways to use Facebook

How to build brand through social media syndication:

Remove the desperation.

Have a game plan.

Find your voice.

Be consistent.

Promote benef its, not the business.

How to embed a YouTube video in your blog

Basic instruction on how to literally add a video to a new post, i.e. add a link and click “Publish”.

Email your team every day

(I’d hate to be on that email list).

Bring more traf f ic to your EN blog = the whole EN community wins (not quite sure how).

How to spin articles and submit them to article directories;

How to use Article Marketing Robot;

How to mass-submit spun content with SEO Link Robot;

Automatically submit your RSS f rom the various Web 2.0properties you create to RSS directories.

They did however say at the end that you’ll get the most benef itout of blogging more and worrying about syndicating less.

WOW…

These are the ADVANCED SEO tactics…

Spam article directories with spun content, send a bunch of useless links back to your EN blog, hope thatGoogle won’t penalize you in any way like it has been doing with thousands of other sites employing thesekinds of “link building” methods, and watch your rankings, traf f ic, and income soar.

Yep, that makes a lot of sense…

On second thought, yes, why don’t you do exactly what EN teaches you to do, spam the heck out of it, andlet Google put it out of its misery?

So What Do You Think?

Would you pay $1,000 f or the training above?

Apparently, many people would and did.

And that’s while I am having hard time selling a f ew online tools that will cost you a whole lot less, yet willhave a true impact on your business.

Go f igure…

Marketing Training Alternatives

There are usually two considerations we keep in mind when looking f or credible marketing training:

time investment

money investment

Usually, it has to be one or the other.

If you are on a string budget, then you can f ind plenty of FREE training out there, like reading blogs, but itwill take some time investment.

It ’s OK though; that’s how I started as well.

If you have a budget (even a small one) to spend on your marketing education and it ’s more important f oryou to get of f the ground quickly, then investing into a solid blogging course would be your best bet.

Either option won’t cost you anywhere close to $1K though.

1. Traff ic Generat ion Café archives – FREE

Take a couple of hours and browse Traf f ic Generation Caf é archives to learn how to REALLY get traf f ic.

It ’s completely f ree, but there’s a con doing it this way:

Silver bullet is NOT included.

Here’s the link: http://www.traf f icgenerationcaf e.com/archives/

Other great blogs I personally learn f rom:

QuickSprout

KISSMetrics

BuzzBlogger

SteveScottSite

BlogcastFM

KaisertheSage

Portent

Of course, there are more, but this is a good start.

2. Stay in touch via email – FREE

Being a part of Traf f ic Generation Caf é email list is your “continued education”.

I send my subscribers emails with various traf f ic generation ideas I come up with, alerts, exclusive bloggingtips, and no f luf f .

You’ll also have a direct line to me.

Join Traf f ic Generation Caf é community here.

3. Facebook Market ing

Empower Network is heave on Facebook marketing and f or a good reason: Facebook is a great traf f ic-driving engine if you can f igure out how to stand out.

Of course, whatever EN teaches you about Facebook traf f ic is exactly what got them banned f romFacebook to begin with.

If you really want to learn how to be banned by Facebook, I can throw in a f ew ideas f or f ree or you canspend $1K to learn it f rom EN.

Another way to learn FB traf f ic generation strategies is f rom this excellent to- the-point inf ographic f romAllFacebook.com:

There’s truly nothing much to it.

Engage, help, post incredible content, and they will come.

4. Internet Market ing Courses

Become a Blogger 2.0

Most blogging courses don’t work.

Very f ew do.

This one DEFINITELY does.

Originally created by Yaro Starak (Entrepreneurs-Journey.com) and Gideon Shalwick (GideonShalwick.com)and now ran by Leslie Samuel (BecomeABlogger.com), Become a Blogger 2.0 is a blogging course with themission of helping as many people as possible to set up Authority Blogs, and build successf ul businessesaround those blogs.

Learn how to build a successful business around your blog

Start a Blog that Matters

Hundreds of millions of blogs are online today. Thousands more are started everyday.

Anyone can start a blog in 5 minutes, but very f ew people will start blogs that matter.

If you think you have the creativity and dedication it takes to create a blog thatmatters, you should consider joining Corbett Barr in this course.

Start a blog that matters with Corbett Barr

Blog Post Promotion: the Ult imate Guide

by Kristi Hines – this is an ebook that is packed with actionable advice on how topromote your blog.

Kristi Hines of Kikolani.com is certainly the best expert in the f ield and she doesn’thold anything back as she shares how she promotes her blog, contest entries, etc.

Start promoting your blog with Krist i Hines

For more recommended tools that WILL make a dif f erence in your business and won’t cost you anarm and a leg, like Empower Network, visit my online marketing tools page.

Why I Admire Empower Network

Yes, I truly do admire certain aspects of Empower Network or how it was built up, I should say.

Building a huge organization by selling a product you can get everywhere else f or f ree requires creativity, acertain degree of brilliance, and great cheerleading skills.

Empower Network spread like wild f ire within months.

And the f ire is t ill burning.

And taking down many dreams with it…

Yet another thing to learn f rom it is this:

Great List Building

Empower Network shows some of the best list building strategies I’ve ever seen.

You basically can’t go anywhere without hitt ing an incentive to sign up f or their list.

It ’s virtually the perf ect sales f unnel:

1. Get on our list to discover our secrets.

2. Now sign up f or the program to use those secrets to realize your dreams.

I only wish my readers implemented this kind of clear call to action on their blogs!

That’s it, this is your call to action:

If there’s only one thing you’ll take away f rom this post (keep your money goes without saying, of course), Ihope it ’s this:

Design your site to guide your readers to your conversion goal.

How Did Empower Network Affected My Income?

No, I haven’t f orgotten about my post headline and here’s a quick explanation of how Empower Network cutinto my prof its.

Though af f iliate marketing is my main income generator at Traf f ic Generation Caf é, I also make money f rompaid banner advertising and occasional sponsored reviews and emails.

Just last month alone, I had to turn down several advertising of f ers f rom various members of EmpowerNetwork, which cost me several hundred dollars.

I don’t mean to blow my horn here – this was not an easy decision on my part.

Like most people, my f amily could def initely use the money.

However, I’ve seen enough of my readers join Empower Network as is and didn’t want to be responsible f orgetting any more of you buried at the bottom of a pyramid.

Empower Network Review: Bottom Line

Now, a week of daily research and writ ing and close to 4,000 words later, I hope you got my point.

For some of my readers, it ’s unf ortunately too late.

I saw many f amiliar names in Empower Network.

It might’ve been an expensive mistake to learn f rom, but it ’s all a part of the growing pains.

Personally, I hoped to write an unbiased review of Empower Network.

However, the endless emails f rom people who I’ve know online f or a while now keep pouring in.

They all say something like:

“You’ve always been such an incredible help in my business, Ana…

I truly appreciated everything you’ve done…

Now I’d love to give something back to you…

Now I’d love to give something back to you…

This opportunity has done wonders for my life…”

Telling f amily and f riends is truly a no way to build a business.

I hope you get that by now.

There’s no way to build a solid business with “No rules. No hassles.”

There’s no such a thing as a marketing system that churns out money on demand.

PS I’d love to see this post on the f irst page of Google f or anyEmpower Network related searches and f or it to become the lonelyvoice of reason and common sense among all the glorious reviewsstuf f ed with af f iliate links.

So please:

Share this post, link to it, tell anyone who’s thinking about jumping on the bandwagon to read it first –help me to spread the word.

You should also read:

Why Traf f ic Generation Caf é Is Not Making as Much Money as It ShouldMy Monthly Income Report: September 2012Monthly Income Report: October 2012My Monthly Income Report: August 2012

If you like this post and think it would be valuable to your f ollowers, share the ish out of it f or me, wouldyou?