There’s a guy by the name of Dan Brock who’s been teaching people how to make money online in a rather whimsical way. He portrays a rather lazy character, yet still able to make thousands of dollars through affiliate marketing. I was curious to know what the hype was all about and that took me to one of his training products. Is Deadbeat Super Affiliate a scam? Read this full review to find out.
What Is Inside The Course
Deadbeat Super Affiliate Reloaded is the latest version of Dan’s first step training that teaches the basic of affiliate marketing by promoting products on the Amazon marketplace and an affiliate network called Market Health. The video guided course is about 23 lessons long and cost $17 dollars for a one time fee.
Signing up was pretty straightforward, but it’s not without some sales pitch from the creator himself. I’ll talk more about that in a short while. The course was a pretty long stretch so I expected to find some useful information and I did.
The Positive Side of The Training
1) Dan started off the first few topics with niche selection and even highlighted a few evergreen markets that one can monetize for the long term. They certainly aren’t your only choices and he does show how to discover other sub-niches, using Google Keyword Tool by looking at the number of popular searches.
2) Unlike other training sites, you are taught to build an affiliate website from the very beginning and this is good advice because it allows for better audience engagement that can lead to more sustainable sales conversion. Dan’s platform of choice is self-hosted WordPress which he partners with HostGator to offer a discounted package if you sign up through his link. Although I am not a big fan of this company, it does save you the hassle from having to search around.
3) Interestingly, the training comes with a free Deadbeat WordPress theme that is designed in such a way to make your product recommendation more prominent on a website. In my opinion, it’s not the most gorgeous looking theme, pretty basic, but it does help to get started on your feet when you don’t have any experience choosing a WordPress theme.
4) You’ll learn how to sign up for the Amazon Associate program and research for profitable products in the marketplace that is related to your niche. You’ll also be taught on how to get access to affiliate links and use them on the website that you’ve just set up.
5) Another aspect of the training that I agree with is the way content is being presented to the audience. You begin by targeting their online queries, present them with relevant information and subsequently offer a solution through a product review. This approach is seen as value added content that is more appealing for modern online consumers as compared to the traditional push-selling strategy.
6) If you have a knack for video creation, you are going to like what’s coming up in Lesson 16 to 22. You’ll be learning what software to use, how to upload your first video to YouTube, tips for optimizing your channel and how to get more views (legitimately) through paid ads. In case you don’t know, Dan is a frequent YouTuber and with 143K subscribers, he’s clearly teaching from practical experience and not just theory.
7) At one point, there was a transaction issue and when I contacted their support email, they promptly replied within 48 hours and the problem was resolved. So, I am pretty satisfied about that.
The Signing Up Process – My Personal Experience
The first half of the course generally lay out a good foundation for anyone who’s new to affiliate marketing, such as niche research and website creation. But before I got to start lesson #1, there were a lot of up-sells thrown at me.
The first one was a product called “Deadbeat Traffic Blaster” and as the name suggests, you know it has something to do with generating speedy traffic to your site. As someone who has been blogging for a while, I know this stuff doesn’t work. Dan is selling it for $197 and later downsell it to $47 and then $23, when I didn’t take up on the offer.
Seconds later, I was pushed to another product called “The Deadbeat Millionaire” which is something like done-for-you software that provides instant access to profitable niches, keywords, and apparently, quality content. The way these things are automated is starting to raise some red flags and I am wondering if it involves using content spinners. So even though he offers the product for $97 and later down sell it to $47 (are you seeing a pattern here?), it is still a no-no for me.
Lastly, Dan’s third up sell was an offer to join the Deadbeat University Inner Circle. Apparently, here’s where I would expect to ‘get personal help’ from the creator, learn all the latest affiliate marketing techniques and get access to a community for discussion. The cost? $67 per month.
Honestly, all these up selling gimmicks were starting to rub me in a wrong way that I don’t feel like checking them out even though they come with a 30 days refund. It feels as if the Deadbeat Super Affiliate training is just rudimentary and you are required to upgrade to one (or all of) these packages in order to be cut out for a successful affiliate marketer.
Well, if the basic course can convince me that I am into something useful, I would probably change my mind, but that doesn’t seem to be the case either.
The Negative Side of The Training
1) Even though Dan is on WordPress, he doesn’t actually show the details on how to use an SEO plugin. Optimizing one’s site from the very beginning is crucial because it notifies the search engines and helps with content indexing faster. Without proper settings, you couldn’t take advantage of Google Search Console and Analytics to track incoming traffic and audience engagement. There’s basically no data to evaluate your marketing strategy efficiently.
2) When it comes to creating content, there’s a lack of information about how to do proper keyword research. In the examples provided, he merely picked a popular search term found on Google Keyword Tool and used it as a blog topic. That’s not entirely wrong, but in reality, the process of selecting targeted niche keywords is more refined than that.
Using search volume to determine keyword choices isn’t a good idea. You actually need a good keyword tool with easy-to-understand metrics to find out what’s popular on organic results and what the competition level is like.
3) Before creating a website, you are taught to apply for the affiliate programs first and there are a few problems with this. Firstly, if you can’t make any Amazon sales commission within 180 days of joining, your account will be rejected. On the hindsight, when a website has more content/traffic, it’s probably much easier/faster for your affiliate links to convert.
Secondly, if you want to try other merchants/brands, they are most likely going to screen through your site first for good quality content before granting an approval. If all you have is an empty site, the chances is definitely zero.
4) While implying that content marketing is important, Dan advocates two other traffic strategies – social bookmarking and link pyramid – that I feel has little benefit for today’s SEO. The purpose is to create so-called good quality back links to achieve faster indexing, more traffic and obviously get more social engagement.
Over the years, many marketers have gamed the system, leading to many unnatural and poor quality links being created. As a result, most search engines have gotten smarter in detecting these links and might not necessarily reward your site with higher rankings even if you use them. To make matters worse, Dan actually recommends hiring Fiverr gigs to build those links.
Seriously, anything done for $5 in relation to traffic generation is mostly automated and that is something you shouldn’t get involved with as it will hurt your site in the long run.
So, Is Deadbeat Super Affiliate Worth Your Time?
While the course isn’t actually a scam – you do get what you paid for – just that, a lot of the important topics aren’t explained in details such as setting up a functional WordPress site and exploring the techniques of keyword research.
There’s much to gain in those areas because it provides a good foundation for your affiliate business to thrive on the search engines as well as better understanding your niche behavior. If you have a good grasp of that knowledge, there’s really no need to use any back linking strategies in the first place.
Overall, I found the course to be most helpful (although not the best) for people who wants to get involved in video marketing. As for the rest of the topics, I much prefer that you follow the step-by-step guidance that’s available in the Wealthy Affiliate platform. At least with this program, you are getting good quality hosting, up-to-date tutorials, a reliable keyword tool and a strong community support – all in one platform.
I hope this review has been valuable in helping you to decide which type of training is good for starting an affiliate business. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below and I will gladly respond.
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Hey Cathy,
From this review, it is very clear that even though the training seems useful, many important aspects of affiliate marketing are not being covered. If Dan is not teaching how to SEO your site and keyword research, how can one rank higher in the search engines and get maximum traffic? I think WA’s subscription of $47 per month has more to offer than the Deadbeat’s inner circle group.
Thanks for writing an informative and well-researched article. It sounds like Deadbeat Super Affiliate is a limited program and best for folks who can spot something too good to be true when they see it. If I were more interested in monetizing from YouTube videos, I might check it out but I’m not.
I have been listening to this guy called Dan Brock for the past week or so, having also subscribed to his email list. I can say the information he dishes is somehow valuable, but its scattered. He doesn’t provide a step-by-step training guide. I was listening to his social media use in the affiliate marketing world, but he was quick to dive into Premium features so that you pay money for his courses. I think he has to offer a free starter course.
Thank you for your suggestion on Wealthy Affiliate. I have just signed up and will look into how the program works for a couple of days. When I am satisfied, I will definitely subscribe.
Thanks for your thorough review, Cathy. I have heard about other affiliate training courses and their dreaded up-sells, but not experienced it first-hand. So this information kind of walk me through on what to expect. You mentioned that the course is very helpful for video marketers. Where else do you recommend for training people who wants to get involved in video marketing? Thank you
Hi John, there are many video marketing courses on eLearning marketplaces like Udemy and Skillshare. Take advantage on promotional offers to enroll because you can sometimes get up to 75% discount. Also, I would follow successful YouTubers and see if they offer any private courses. If you want to tackle YouTube from an SEO perspective, Jay from Wealthy Affiliate has got some interesting webinar series on this topic.
Hope this helps.
I am a great fan of Dan and is a subscriber of his videos. He is no doubt a great showman and motivator. I was doing some research to know more about his affiliate program “Deadbeat Super Affiliate” and landed here. Thank you for your well researched and frank review. Seems like Wealthy Affiliate is a better investment for anyone who’s thinking about setting up a long term business.
It seems that WA is better for long term business. Can you please let me know how to research the keywords used by competitor site?
Hey Cathy.
Thank you for taking your precious time in writing this detailed review. I used to be a Deadbeat Super Affiliate couple of months back and to be honest, I didn’t like the platform very much because there isn’t any instant help provided when you needed it the most. There were couple of things I didn’t understand but could find any help from within. I’ve since joined Wealthy Affiliate and it’s been quite amazing here as you get access to top quality training resources and 24/7 help.
Just having the terms “deadbeat and millionaire” in the same sentence would and should throw up a red flag or two! I can see how there a few copycats around, gathering just enough to look and stay legitimate, just under the radar. These are obvious signs and you have to do your own research to avoid getting scammed.
Deadbeat sounds like is has been through several of the real affiliate marketing companies that share their information just enough for a low-life to profit in trying to short-cut a duplicate effort. When will the madness stop or at least slow down?
Comparing to what is provided at Wealthy Affiliate, it’s quite obvious how one can be easily misled when looking for online business training.
Hey! I have actually tried out the Deadbeat Super Affiliate system before. I personally didn’t get great results, but it taught me about YouTube and helped me learned about white-hat vs. black-hat SEO. Dan Brock is an interesting figure, too.
His videos are motivating and helpful (and quite promotional). There are discussions on Warrior Forum with him in it giving advice dating back 5 or so years. At the end of the day, I didn’t really understand the point of building a site with only about 5 pages and a ton of (paid) back links when I could focus on building an authority site. Even though Deadbeat wasn’t for me, I wouldn’t count it as a total loss.
Wow! How pertinent for me. I recently came across “Deadbeat Super Affiliate” and was intrigued by the name. Not because I’m a deadbeat, lol, but it’s an interesting marketing angle. I’m happy I found this review before I made a purchase.
I’m finding that keyword research, and in particular keyword competition research, are majorly important. Do you have any advice about researching for keyword competition? Thanks!
Hi Josh, after finding out the competition level, look at the search analysis. Study the details of the top 10 on the first page. Things like meta-title, meta-description, back links and word counts. It would give you a better idea on how to outrank your competitors for the same keywords.
I like Dan Brock and I have watched many of his videos. He is a showman and for this reason, he has so many subscribers and views.
When it comes to business, he has pros and cons. He says a part of the truth, but some of his claims are too unrealistic. Also, many of his ideas are outdated. I have no doubts that he makes money online and I have heard some good suggestions on his videos. However, I wouldn’t buy a product that recommends link pyramids in 2018.