Though the world of online marketing is plagued with scams, I’m glad to report that Chris Farrell’s Membership site is not one of them.
However it’s not perfect or for everyone. In this review, I’d like to explain exactly what to expect from this program.
Chris Farrell’s Membership in a nutshell:
This is an online marketing course for absolute beginners. I’m not even kidding when I say that.
It’s literally a course for people’s whose highest understanding of internet marketing is opening up an email, which is actually great considering how SO many places start you off from a point which most beginners simply cannot understand anything. In this regard, kudos to Chris Farrell.
You learn the fundamentals of building an online business from scratch, from starting your own website, to making it receive traffic and potential profit. This pretty much summarizes the whole of this program.
Digging deeper into Chris’s membership and uncovering it’s value:
The good news is that you can explore the initial parts of Chris’s website by simply signing up for free.
You then gain access to a new page within the site where you can see what the membership has to offer. The good news is that there is a video is located on this page which gives you a “test drive” through what you’ll expect to see if you decide to join.
This is actually great since most places glamorize how much you can make with their “proven systems” without ever actually showing you what’s inside, until you pay, then most of the time come up-sells and other shady things I DO NOT like. Luckily this is not the case here, which definitely adds more credibility points.
Currently there is a 7 day trial offer where you can join this site for $4.95, then be billed $37 monthly considering you stay. The price to check it out is pretty fair, but I still prefer my #1 recommendation Wealthy Affiliate because that costs $0 to try, but that’s beside the point.
What Chris’s Membership provides you:
There are A LOT of components of the membership, but the most important thing you’ll go through is a series of steps to build an online business from scratch. This is a 21 day training program where you first learn the essentials such as:
- How the process of making money online works.
- How you can get in on it.
- Building a website from scratch. Chris’s membership offers free hosting (with a yearly membership purchase). Though I prefer my approach to making websites as it’s much better/easier in my opinion.
- How to create your own products such as ebooks .
- Using SEO, Email marketing, Social marketing and other methods to attract visitors to your site and build a relationship with them from which you can sell to them.
Chris mainly focuses on these 2 aspects of marketing, not so much SEO (search-engine-optimization) which I believe is a huge missing piece of the internet marketing puzzle (more details below).
Most of these things are broken down into separate sections from which there are videos explaining exactly how to get started. The videos are for the most part short, but very informative, easy to understand and if you’re not a visual person, there is a text version of each video posted below.
Either way the flow of information is comfortable.
Usually people who start to learn internet marketing go through the initial information overload side effect. In Chris’s site, things are laid out in a way that doesn’t over complicate things. You gets bits and pieces of a puzzle (internet marketing), but each piece you learn gives you a better understanding of how this business works and exactly what you need to do.
Note: I also find these 7 other similar affiliate marketing programs have great value, like Chris’s and are also worth looking at.
Other training in Chris program includes:
1) How to find niches (here is a list of over 50 amazing niches).
2) How to promote Chris’s Membership program to other people.
3) Done for you websites. You basically get pre-built WordPress sites that have been set up for you. All the text, programming is there. You just add your own thing.
I do not recommend this personally because of the fear of duplicate content. If many people buy the same pre-built sites, they’ll have the same text there. Although you can change it, there’s still a risk of being spotted by Google and penalized for duplicate content. You’re better off making your own WordPress site from scratch.
4) A forum where you can ask questions. There is staff there that can help you out if you need it as well as other members of Chris’s site that can you can talk to. This forum gets mixed reviews from what I’ve seen.
Some say it’s great support, while others say it’s complicated to navigate through and some questions go unanswered. Either way the fact that there is support is good news since most places flat out ignore you.
5) A Mentor Me program. This is probably the only up-sell I have issues with. For $997 (cheap right?) you get a 1 on 1 “audience” with Chris where he’ll help you make a successful online business. I always stay far away from expensive offers like these. I’ve had bad experiences with them before.
Obviously I can’t say the same will happen with Chris, but in all honesty, I believe this offer is vastly overpriced and can be substituted. For example, get my internet marketing coaching here, it’s way less.
Pros:
- Excellent program for beginner internet marketers (official Chris Farrell Membership site).
- The training is smooth and easy to understand.
- Chris has a very likable personality.
- A lot of positive feedback from users.
- Good support.
- Doesn’t cost much to try. 7 day trial for $4.95.
Cons:
- Some training outdated.
- People have reported issues with forum.
- The training doesn’t go much past beginner level. Not ideal for those who want to take it to next step.
Final Rating: Chris Farrell Membership
Green Light
5 out of 10 stars. Great program for absolute beginners. Credible, honest and upfront, but doesn’t go as far as it can and that’s it’s biggest limitation (plus the coaching price!). I like Chris’s site, but I feel you can get more out of other options out there, for even less. For example, Wealthy Affiliate:
My final thoughts on Chris’s program & if you should join it:
As I said in the beginning of this review, there are tons of scams out there when it comes to learning to build an online business and Chris’s program is one of the VERY few which is legitimate. I’m glad to give this program 5 stars out of 10, which is a good score. It deserves it, but at the same time a BIG missing piece to it being even better is taking the training further.
Chris shaped the training of his site around his own experiences and there are more ways to be successful online than just his approach. What I’m trying to say here is that his method to this business may not exactly be suitable for you. And even if it is, the training doesn’t go beyond that beginner level I talked about before.
You do get a GREAT foundation to online marketing through him. You learn the basics: You build a website and you learn how to get visitors there. That’s great, but what’s next?
This is something I believe a lot of people including myself have asked. I’ve been in the business of marketing online for over 8 years and it’s important to know that there is more than just this! You need complete training and this is why no matter how good Chris’s membership is, it still isn’t as good as Wealthy Affiliate.
The bottom line:
This program is great for beginners and if you’re considering it, at least try the $4.95 offer to see how it works for you. But if you want a better alternative, Wealthy Affiliate is the best choice in my opinion.
Have you tried Chris Farrell’s membership? If so, I’d love to hear your experiences/thoughts on it!
Great review, Vitaliy.
I wouldn’t even try this product because I am not a newbie to Internet Marketing. However, just like you – I would suggest people to check out the free Wealthy Affiliate membership. I completely love them 🙂
I thought it looked like a good introduction to Internet marketing but like you I would be wary of using pre loaded websites.
You would need to re write the content in which case you would be better off learning to build your own website and adding unique content which Google loves.
What do you think?
Absolutely. I mentioned this as an argument above and a reason to not use that feature of Chris’s site. It’s really far better to start fresh from a brand new site, which I would like to add IS taught there, but I would always avoid anything that claims “Done for you”. Experience and by that I mean a lot of money wasted has taught me never to depend on anyone to do work for me that I could do myself.
I have to agree that Chris’s membership site is not a scam and that he teaches from the very basics. It’s a great way to learn how to build a business. The training revolves more around squeeze pages and emailing to your list, so it is very valuable in it’s own right. I didn’t know about the mentor me programme, so I’ll have to have a look at it if possible. It is expensive, but he is very, very good at what he does. he is also an excellent teacher. As you write Vitaliy, there are different ways to learn about marketing from those in the know. Thanks for the honest review, though I’d probably have given an eight!
Well the main reason for giving it a 7 was for 2 reasons:
1. It doesn’t show other ways to make money online. As you and I mentioned, most of the focus is on email marketing using social networks, not so much SEM.
2. It doesn’t really go further than beginner level and in an industry like this one, it’s absolutely important to show people what happens next, after the foundations have been set, it’s time to build the house and in Chris Farrells case, you don’t learn how to build a house. What if you don’t like email marketing or using social networks? Then you need to try something else which is where Chris site does not go into.
As for the Mentor me program, though I haven’t tried it, experience has shown me never to pay such high prices for things you can on your own. I don’t doubt Chris is teaches well, but the simple fact is, I believe his way of training can be substituted by better places like WA.