If you’re looking for an education in affiliate marketing, you have many options. Some are good, some not so good. There are many people out there competing for the affiliate marketing education dollar and my aim is to help you find the right affiliate marketing training for you.

Universities Now Offering Affiliate Marketing Education

Universities are businesses too, and due to the rise in popularity of affiliate marketing, they are also competing for the education dollars. While there are many professions that require a college degree, this does not apply to affiliate marketing. If you want to become employed as an affiliate marketing manager for a large corporation, then a degree may be necessary.

However, if you are an entrepreneur, a University education in affiliate marketing would probably be a waste of money. You may have heard the saying; “Those who can’t do, teach”. This is definitely the case with affiliate marketing. You want your education to come from people who actually do this for a living, not just teach theories.

OTO Online Training Courses

OTO stands for “One Time Offer”. In other words, it’s much like a correspondence course. You pay a set price and receive a set amount of training material. OTO’s can be a great way to learn specific techniques or a particular aspect of affiliate marketing.  However, if you’re looking for a well rounded, A to Z type education, OTO’s usually fall short.

Another disadvantage to OTO’s is the fact that the information is stagnant. It doesn’t change with the times. Affiliate marketing is a rapidly evolving industry that requires new information to stay competitive in the market place. The older the course is, the more likely it is that the information is outdated.

The Up-Sell

There are many affiliate marketing training courses out there that are disguised as OTO’s only to hit you with an immediate up-sell (sometimes multiple up-sells) before you can even access the training you just paid for! I’ve experienced this several times and it irritates me to no end.

There’s nothing worse than paying for a course only to find out that you can learn the REAL way to make money if you’ll just pony up a couple hundred more dollars. If you decline the offer, you will usually be offered a discount (or a round of discount offer’s). If you accept the offer right away, you could actually pay more than someone who declines the first and second offers!

It’s deceptive and it’s wrong in my opinion.

How To Avoid The Up-Sell Trap

The best way to avoid up-sells is to not buy these courses in the first place. The problem is, how do you know if there’s an up-sell coming? They certainly don’t advertise that in their initial sales page. My advise is, read lots of reviews. Not just the reviews on the first page, sometimes you need to dig.

You will find many favorable reviews because affiliate marketing courses almost always have their own affiliate programs. That doesn’t mean that the review isn’t credible. They just often fail to mention the cons of such programs.

Membership Sites

For my money, membership sites are by far, the best places to get an affiliate marketing education. I am a member of an online business building community and I learn more in any given month than I did in the previous 4 years combined! We’re talking about hundreds of dollars spent on multiple courses.

Yes, there is a monthly fee to belong to this community but I have access to some incredibly valuable tools and some of the best and brightest minds in the industry. The cost is far less than that of a University education and I am learning real world concepts to build my businesses. Concepts that are working now, and will continue to work into the future!

Try Before You Buy

I have never heard of a “one time offer” that has a try before you buy offer. Probably because they know that 90% would never buy! Some will let you try it for 7 days for $1. If you don’t cancel before the trial period ends, they have your card information on file and will hit you for the full price.

Some membership sites, such as the one which I belong to, will give you a free, no strings attached trial because they know that what they are offering is superior to most of what’s out there.