When I had originally reviewed IM Report Card, I wasn’t a big fan of it due to how it worked, but today, I actually think it’s gotten worse.
In this review, I’ll explain all of these things to help you understand what this site is all about, the opportunities it has and whether or not those opportunities are even worth taking the time to invest in altogether.
So let’s jump into this.
IM Report Card review. What it was and what it is today:
What it used to be:
It was actually an HQ for reviews on every kind of make money online opportunity that was around, but it was graded by a community of people who very often didn’t understand if a program was truly good or not and that was what made me not recommend going to this place for advise on whether to buy a money making opportunity or not.
However, it’s been a few years, but IM report card has changed:
It has now become something which I honestly think is worse, a paid survey site. And if you read my experiences with paid online surveys, you’d know why I say it’s worse.
Ultimately, the rest of the review below does not reflect the new changes to IM Report Card, but the older version it once was. So what I will say is that:
If you were originally looking for product recommendations from this site, it won’t give that to you since it became a survey site. So allow me to recommend one program: Wealthy Affiliate. You’ll see why in my review.
Second, I am 100% against doing paid online surveys and warn you to stay away from them. I am not very happy that this site changed into that, but that’s their decision.
And now, with all these updates mentioned, the remainder of this article will reflect (the outdated) review I once wrote on IM Report Card. Again, you’re welcome to read it, but remember, it doesn’t reflect what it is today…
IM Report Card in a nutshell:
It’s a website solely focused on reviewing products in the internet marketing world and giving them a rating from A to F, just like in schools. The only difference is that in this site’s case, the rating of a program/company is based on grades given to it by not just the site itself, but visitors who also say they’ve tried it.
Sites like IM Report Card are in high demand nowadays. There’s tons of programs online that claim to help teach you to make money online and through websites like this one, people can get an “accurate” understanding of the program/s they are interested in. This is how the site is supposed to work in theory and in many aspects it does.
Let me be perfectly frank: I actually like the site, but more so I like the idea. I do believe in many instances, they do judge programs the right way and give them a rating I would personally find fair.
There are however other cases which I’ll show in just a moment where I couldn’t agree more…
How I rate products vs IM Report Card:
How I do it:
I rate programs on a scale of 1-10 stars with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best. I’m a pretty harsh judge when I review programs because I don’t just factor in whether or not they make you money, but I also factor in the reality of succeeding with it and if the program is ethical or not.
I have the credibility to do this because I’ve been in the business of IM for many years and though I don’t know everything there is to know, I posses a lot of knowledge, success and failures, all of which contribute to my experiences and credibility. I never recommend a product I wouldn’t personally use/trust.
How IM Report Card does it:
They have a rating of A-F on their site.
When reviewing products, you get a pretty summarized version of the program which basically comes down to whether or not it will make you money. Now in many instances this is enough for someone to know if the program that’s being reviewed is worth trying out or not, but I believe people should be given an accurate & realistic expectation of what the program can do for them.
Where I don’t agree with them:
Everyone has their own way to reviewing programs so while I don’t agree with certain approaches IM Report Card takes, I’m not judging that, but what I do have issues with is 3 things:
1) If you factor in the reality of the rating system being based on an overall average from multiple people, you can get a lot of misinformation and diluted scores which don’t accurately depict the program/s in question.
Let me give you a scenario to depict what I’m saying here. Let’s say I am I rated a program a scam, or an F by IM Report Card’s standards. Then let’s say I have a lot of people who come onto the site and give the product a good rating.
- Some of these people will not be like minded like me.
- Some of these people are just flat out clueless and/or naive in believing in a product that’s actually a scam.
- Some of these people may be secretly affiliated with the program being reviewed. As I saw on their site, the reviews aren’t being moderated as well as they could be.
Well these people’s influence/s are going to drastically affect the overall score which I originally labeled as a scam and may actually push it into the green zone.
Look I’m all for people sharing their opinions on programs. In fact, I encourage it. But when it comes to rating/judging, I feel people who are qualified to do it should be the ones who do it. When you let the community decide, you’re not always going to hit the bulls eye.
For instance, if I see a program makes people money, but it’s a pyramid scheme, I’ll give it a LOW rating (F). But if someone who is uninformed or just plain angry at my rating rates the program an A, we’ll have an overall rating of C. And this affects the opinions of other people. I don’t want people falling for scams so the last word in my opinion should be with a person who has the qualifications to correctly rate a program.
2) I believe some of the programs they rate, they do so to promote them. I see TONS of reviews for their site and they are pushing 1 product in particular (Project Payday) which I haven’t tried, but will do a review on soon. However, some of the programs being reviewed pay VERY high commissions for referrals.
I’ve seen many sites that do product reviews give a purposely favorable review, not because of them being a good judge of the program, but because it can pay them a lot and it’s financially beneficial for them to promote it. You can often tell if this is the case if you have a lot of high ratings for massive programs. The good sites that can be trusted are those who only recommend VERY few program/s.
3) I just flat out disagree with some of their ratings. Let’s do a quick comparison:
Empower Network:
- Their rating: B+
- My rating: 1 star (F)
See my review of Empower Network to understand why it got an F.
Internet Income University:
- Their rating: A-
- My rating: 3 stars (C-)
See my review of Internet Income University to see why it got a C-.
$7 Secrets:
- Their rating: B+
- My rating: 3 stars (C-)
See my review of $7 secrets here to see why it also got a C-.
Affilorama:
- Their rating: B+
- My rating: 6 stars (B)
One of the few instances where we’re in agreement. See my review of Affilorama here.
Bring the Fresh:
- Their rating: A
- My rating: C
Since I have personal experience with Bring The Fresh, I confidently give them a C (and that might be too high).
My Partner in Profit:
- Their rating: A
- My rating: 3 stars (C-)
See my Partner in Profit review here.
Niche Blitzkreig:
- Their rating: B+
- My rating: 6 stars (B)
This is also a rare exception where we agree. See my Niche Blitzkrieg review here. And it is one of the 7 most legitimate affiliate marketing programs I recommend.
OMG Machines:
- Their rating: B
- My rating: 3 stars (C-)
See my review of OMG Machines here to see why once again the grade is lower than what IM Report Card gave it.
My final word on IM Report Card:
I agree with some it’s ratings, but at the same time, there are many instances where I could not disagree more. When I did a review of ScamXposer, another popular review site, I recommended that when doing research on internet marketing programs to always make sure to check out what different places are saying.
I am going to be giving that exact same recommendation in this case and yes that also means not taking MY reviews as a final word. Sites likes IM report card and ScamXposer among others like it give an awful lot of positive ratings to programs I don’t find worth it. If I had to give IM Report Card a grade, it would be a C. But again that’s my personal opinion.
I question any place that recommends way too many options to succeed. I think it’s confusing and controversial because I feel there may be financial incentive to rate a company high. I personally have rated VERY few places very high on my list. My #1 recommendation, Wealthy Affiliate is really the only place I ever suggest to my readers.
I feel like in the business of internet marketing, it’s a mine field out there and you need to explore multiple places which can show you how to get through this field safely.
What do you think about IM Report Card?