This is the ultimate Authority Site System review.
The Authority Site System (TASS) is an affiliate marketing course – you could also think of it as a blogging course – created by Gael Breton and Mark Webster of Authority Hacker.
My team and I have spent 40+ hours examining the course materials and getting feedback from real students.
(Have you taken this course? Add your rating!)
If you’re eager to learn…
- If the training is still effective nowadays
- How TASS compares to other affiliate marketing courses
- Who are the guys behind Authority Hacker? (hint: I’ve met them both)
- How to get a $900 discount for TASS 3.0
- What real students think (see their reviews)
Then definitely keep reading.
Jump to…
About the Author
Hey, I’m Niall Doherty.
I quit my last 9-to-5 job back in 2010.
Since then, I’ve earned my living online in various ways. Over the last 4 years (through 2023) I’ve earned $842,000 from my laptop, mostly via affiliate marketing.
I’m on a mission to accurately rate and review all the best affiliate marketing courses. My team and I have spent 900+ hours investigating these courses and getting feedback from real students.
All that to say: we know a thing or two about such courses and making money online.
The Best Affiliate Marketing Course?
We’re on a mission to find the best affiliate marketing course based on our extensive research and real student feedback.
The Authority Site System is the best we’ve seen so far.
🏆 Best Affiliate Marketing Courses 🏆
How does The Authority Site System help you make money?
The Authority Site System helps you make money by establishing an authority content website and leveraging its traffic to promote other people’s offers as an affiliate.
So what exactly is an authority site?
Here’s how Authority Hacker defines it…
An authority site is [a] content-driven website that is a respected and trusted source of information. It is a larger site that delivers real value through it’s excellent editorial standards. This makes people trust the advice and recommendations from the site.
They go on to explain…
In short, the goal is for your website or blog to earn money through multiple revenue steams. The main way is by recommending products and services to readers on your site.
This is called affiliate marketing.
Here’s more on how it works…
The above graphic uses the Amazon affiliate program as an example. Many other ecommerce sites also have affiliate programs you can sign up for, such as…
- AliExpress
- eBay
- Target
- Walmart
There are affiliate programs spanning almost any niche you can think of, from gardening to investing to supplements to tarot reading to hearing aids.
Some networks to find these offers include…
- CJ (Commission Junction)
- ShareASale
- ClickBank
- Digistore24
- MaxWeb
- AWIN
- Flex Offers
- PartnerStack
And if you’re looking for recurring income, there are plenty of affiliate programs for that too, including…
- Almost every web hosting service (eg Bluehost)
- VPNs
- CRMs
- Email autoresponders
If someone else is selling something online, chances are they have an affiliate program you can sign up for. Then it’s simply a matter of linking to their products and services from your website and collecting a commission for every sale you refer.
TASS walks you through the monetization process in depth, so you’ll know exactly what offers to promote to maximize your revenue.
The main “traffic generation” method they teach is search engine optimization (SEO). So the idea is to get your site ranking high on Google for good keywords. That will bring lots of visitors to your website.
You then monetize that traffic mainly via affiliate marketing, though display ads is another popular monetization method taught within TASS.
Who is The Authority Site System for?
The Authority Site System is for people looking to build their first affiliate site and eventually generate passive income.
It’s intended for “online marketing newbies,” people who have tried and failed to earn at least $1000 per month with authority sites, and “builders wanting to scale.”
Here’s how Authority Hacker puts it on the sales page for the course…
To be clear, The Authority Site System is for beginners. It differs from Authority Hacker Pro, their highly-rated course for more advanced students.
Co-founder Mark explained the difference a while back (and this still holds true today)…
Absent from the TASS sales page is an explicit description of who the course is NOT for.
Having gone through the course materials multiple times now, I’d say this is a fair assessment of the type of people who would NOT benefit from The Authority Site System:
- Anyone expecting to “get rich quick”
Authority Hacker is clear that it usually takes students at least several months of effort to start earning $1000 or more from an authority site. - People short on time
Authority Hacker says you should have at least 10 hours available per week to build an authority site, which I agree with (unless you plan to outsource a lot of the work). - Anyone expecting every little step to be detailed for them
Mark notes that TASS is largely “paint by numbers”…
And this is true, but you will still need to Google many things and utilize the private TASS community to solve problems specific to your site/niche.
- People on a very tight budget
As noted below, you’ll need to spend a bit more money beyond the price of the course to follow the training and give yourself the best chance of success.
It’s also worth mentioning that TASS might not be the best fit for absolute beginners with no online business or real world work experience.
There’s a lot of information to process, and the work required to succeed might seem overwhelming.
Here’s how Authority Hacker addresses this…
Considering you get lifetime access and community support, a total beginner could follow TASS successfully. In fact, many have.
It comes down to whether you’re willing to put in the work over time.
If you want to make money online but are on a very tight budget or aren’t sure this model is for you, I’d recommend starting with freelancing or a remote job instead.
But if something in your gut is saying this is the model for you (and you have the means), I say take the leap.
Worst case scenario, you get a refund. Best case scenario is limitless.
- 70+ ways how to make money online (including easy options)
Does Authority Hacker have a good reputation?
Yes, one of the best in the industry.
Authority Hacker is owned and operated by Gael Breton and Mark Webster.
Here they are (seated) with the Authority Hacker team…
I first met both Gael and Mark in Budapest in 2011, before they had started Authority Hacker. We hung out several times back then, and I’ve kept in regular contact with Mark over the years.
Here’s Mark’s bio from the Authority Hacker website…
You can learn more about Mark and his story via this 2017 interview with Miles Beckler…
And here’s Gael’s bio…
A video of Gael’s 2011 talk at Harvard Business School…
Authority Hacker itself has been around since 2014 and has built an impressive reputation in the internet marketing world.
They’ve received praise from big names, such as…
Gael and Mark also have a popular podcast…
And they’re quite famous for starting an authority site from scratch in 2017 and selling it only 18 months later for a hefty sum…
Here’s a video from Authority Hacker’s YouTube channel so you can get a feel for their style…
Are Authority Hacker’s students getting results?
Yes, many students are getting good results by following the Authority Hacker training.
According to the TASS sales page…
Over 13,000 Existing Customers Already Saw Results With Our Training
And some of the results are incredible…
There are also plenty of students getting smaller wins…
I’ve seen enough verified testimonials from customers to believe that the success rate of TASS students is equal to or better than every other affiliate marketing training program.
And the system still works. Student results go back as early as 2018, and new ones are still coming in 5+ years later.
How much does The Authority Site System cost?
The Authority Site System’s regular price is $1499 one-time or six monthly payments of $330.
But use this link to you’ll save $900 instantly or $198 monthly 😉
In addition, there are some tools and services you’ll need to buy after signing up for TASS.
Here’s the estimated breakdown of extra costs in month one…
- Ahrefs – $99/mo for 2-3 months
- Domain – $18/yr
- Hosting – $36 year one
- Elementor Pro – $59/yr
So you’ll need around $215 extra your first month.
In total, additional costs in your first year average out to be about $40/mo.
There’s a lesson in the introduction module that breaks it all down for you…
Remember that you’re building a real business here. And just like any real business, you will have expenses.
For example, Amazon FBA often requires you to have $5,000+ to get started.
And someone who goes to culinary school will always need to buy equipment and ingredients if they want to start their own kitchen 👩🍳
The Authority Site System Discount?
Yes, you can get a significant discount via this link, giving you 60% discount off the regular price.
That’s either $900 off today or $198 off for 6 months.
The discount will be automatically applied…
Refund Policy
The Authority Site System offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The official word…
…That’s why we offer a 30-day “no questions asked” money-back guarantee. If you join today, you can try the whole program for 30 days and then decide if you want to keep it.
If you don’t get life-changing value out of the course, if you don’t have time to implement it, or even if you don’t like the font we use in the lessons, we will give you a full refund.
I’ve never seen anyone complain about getting a refund from Authority Hacker, so you can rest easy with this guarantee.
How is The Authority Site System structured?
The Authority Site System 3.0 is divided into 15 core modules with 200+ video and text-based lessons.
Rather than just being told what to do, you’re shown over-the-shoulder what to do every step of the way.
My favorite example of this appears in module nine of The Authority Site System, where Mark walks you through the entire process of creating a high-level piece of content – researching, planning, writing, and editing.
The result is an impressive 1,016-word article…
The article is all the more impressive considering, by Mark’s own admission…
- He’s not much of a writer himself
- He had little experience with the subject matter
- He researched, planned, wrote, and edited the entire thing in one day
Next, here’s what The Authority Site System looks like when you log in…
And here’s a sneak peek inside a lesson…
In addition to the core training, you also get access to a giant template database.
Here are just a few…
You’re also getting access to a library of AI prompts to help you save time when researching, writing, and marketing…
And, of course, you get to join the private FB community where you can get answers, connect with other entrepreneurs, and see/post success stories…
Having been in the Facebook group myself for a few years now, I can tell you it truly is an invaluable part of The Authority Site System.
While writing this review, I jumped over to the group and grabbed screenshots of two recent posts. As you can see, they both received solid engagement within a few hours…
What’s more, you”ll receive all future updates, which are pretty frequent…
IMO, joining TASS is like being a part of a thriving membership program but only having to pay once.
Green Lights 🟢
A few things to like about The Authority Site System…
- Tons of student testimonials and success stories.
- Students love the active and supportive community.
- Relatively low cost training (especially with the discount).
- 30-day “no questions asked” 100% money-back guarantee.
- Multiple courses in one; comprehensive, practical, and step-by-step.
- Regularly updated, with free updates for existing students.
- Gael and Mark are respected experts with proven results
- Lots of bonus content and downloadable resources
Red Flags 🚩
Really just one knock on The Authority Site System…
- Possibly overwhelming for newbies.
Other things you should know
- A good way to think of Authority Hacker’s training: It basically documents everything Gael Breton and Mark Webster have done to build multiple highly successful affiliate marketing businesses. With your enrollment, you’ll receive access to all of this.
- The training provides many useful downloads, including guest post templates, niche analysis spreadsheets, email scripts, website templates, AI prompts for SEO, blueprints, SOPs, and much more.
Should you join The Authority Site System?
Authority Hacker’s unique systems and blueprints for SEO, site planning, branding, link building, affiliate marketing, and outsourcing are not just industry-leading. They’re proven to work over and over again for people of all skill levels and backgrounds who put in the work.
First by Gael and Mark, then by their students, and even by me back in the early days of this website…
That’s why I’m 100% confident that if you’re looking to build an affiliate marketing website with the goal of earning passive income, The Authority Site System is the best course you can buy right now.
And with the 30-day refund policy, there’s zero risk for you to join.
If you’ve already decided, do yourself a favor and click here to get TASS for 50% off.
For those willing to invest the time and effort, it’s currently one of the most reliable ways to make money online, and I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon 🚀
And for those who wish they’d gotten in sooner, I’ll leave you with this…
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
The Authority Site System Alternatives
Here are the top affiliate marketing programs we’ve reviewed…
And here are our top blogging courses…
Your Thoughts on The Authority Site System
- Have you taken this course yourself?
Add your rating so others can see if it’s worthwhile. - Do you have a question about this course?
Let us know below and we’ll try find the answer.
Hi Niall,
Love your content especially how you quit your day job to travel and build an online empire which is what I intend on doing.
Appreciate this may be vague but I had a couple questions:
1. Would you say with the recent updates combining affiliate marketing with your own product is the best option to build a sustainable business?
2. Do you think it’s possible to build a 6 figure business from this method?
3. You mentioned previously it’s not the fastest route to achieve job replacement income, what alternatives would you recommend?
Best,
Hey Corey,
1. Yes, though you could also add display ads to that mix. Check out Matt Giovanisci’s Swim University for a good example of a mature authority site. He started off doing affiliate, and now he mostly does his own products (digital and physical) and makes something like $500k a year. Affiliate marketing is great but ultimately having your own products/services makes for a more secure business.
2. Absolutely. Swim University is one example but there are tons more. My site made $306K last year and that was 99% affiliate. At some point I’ll be adding my own products/services into the mix.
3. I strongly believe the fastest route for most people to achieve job replacement income is via freelancing or a remote job.
1. What if you don’t have enough followers?
2. What if you don’t have a niche?
3. Do you have to show your face on social media?
1. They mainly teach you how to get SEO traffic, so you don’t need an existing audience.
2. They show you how to research niches and select the best one for you.
3. They don’t teach much about social media in this course, but ultimately it’s up to you if you want to put your face out there or not. I’d say it’s an advantage to show your face nowadays, helps you stand out from all the AI-generated content.
Great review here! Thank you for taking the time to write it 🙂
Does this course also cover how to make profitable YouTube channels?
Thank you!
Hi Seth. No, this course doesn’t teach anything about YouTube. For that you might want to check out Project 24.
Hi Niall,
Thanks for all of your hard work to bring us this invaluable information about the best affiliate programs. I am a new subscriber to your newsletter.
One question I have is about the difference between the Authority Site System and the Authority Hacker’s TASS. These are both listed in a small section of your review called ‘Affiliate Marketing Courses – Expert Picks’. When you click on either link, it appears that the websites are exactly the same. Are these the same course? Also, one (TASS) is noted for being the ‘Best Overall’ and the other (Authority Site System) is actually noted for being ‘Best for Beginners’. I thought this was a bit strange since your one critique of the latter course was that it is possibly challenging for newbies. I’m just asking because I want to make sure I choose the right one as a novice myself… that is, if they’re not the same program. I feel like perhaps I missed something. Thanks so much for your guidance!
Hi Michael,
Yes, those are the same course. Sorry for the confusion. And yeah, I say that TASS is possibly challenging for newbies because that’s the best critique I could come up with for it. The same is true of all these courses. I’d say TASS does a better job of guiding newbies through everything than any other affiliate marketing course.
Hope that helps!
Thanks, Niall, for the detailed review of TASS. I have a few questions that are not addressed in your review or questioned in this Q&A section.
1) In these ever-changing times of AI, where no one knows what’s written by AI and what is written by a human, is it still possible for a complete newbie to create an authority site and make money? What are your views on this?
2) I noticed that in your review you have mentioned that, apart from the cost of this course, one needs around $500 if they are creating their own content. I have some doubts about this. On this website, you’ve mentioned in multiple places that you bought multiple courses to write an unbiased review. I’ve seen other authority websites where the owner says they bought or used the physical product, course, or other digital products. When someone starts a brand-new authority website, for informational or review articles, don’t they need to buy physical or digital products to be authentic in their research or review? This seems to add a HUGE additional expense. No one seem to talk about this. Can a new authority website be created without buying physical or digital products? What are your views on this?
Hey Desai,
Good questions.
1) Yes, it’s still possible. Two ways you can do it. First, you can leverage AI to scale faster and help you create lots of content. Second – and this is my preference – you can add more personality to your content to stand out from all the AI-generated content. I’m planning to go the latter route with my site this year, adding video reviews to complement the written reviews, where I show my face and people can see I’m a real person doing the reviews, not AI. I’m betting that will earn me a lot more trust with visitors to my site vs competitors.
2) I spent very little on courses starting out. I bought 2 courses by Tai Lopez that cost $97 and $37 respectively, and I got a good ROI on those pretty quick once I had reviews of them published. I didn’t start spending a lot on courses until I could see my approach was working and it made sense to invest more money into it. Another thing I did to save money was to request “review access” to courses. Some course creators gave me that access, and so I would give preference to reviewing those courses.
All that said, it definitely is an advantage if you have money to spend on the things you want to review. But if you can’t afford that, start by reviewing cheaper items you can afford and request freebies. You’ll get more freebies as your site grows and people see that your reviews are high-quality.
Thanks Niall for the detailed answer.
I am still on the fence about increasing my expenses of buying additional products top of $600 for the course and $500 for the tools. Can someone “realistically” create new authority sites from scratch without buying physical or digital products to write review articles?
It’s definitely possible, but don’t expect it to be easy. It’s not easy even if you do have extra funds to buy the products. No matter what, you’re looking at 12+ months of consistent work before you can hope to earn $1000/month from your site. You’ll have to keep going through lots of self-doubt and frustration and occasional setbacks. If you go into it knowing that that’s the best-case scenario, and you’re still excited to do it, then I wouldn’t bet against you.
Hello there, do you have to create your own content for products and services to sell…or can you “piggyback” what they currently have if any, thank you.
Hi Matthew. No, you wouldn’t create your own products or services to sell. You would be an affiliate for existing products or services. And you would recommend those products/services through the website they show you how to build in TASS. Eventually you could go on to create your own products/services, but they only recommend doing that once you’re making a good income from affiliate marketing.
Hi Niall,
Thanks a lot for your the in-depth review, I have something to ask. So this business model requires a very high level of English right? Since you should be able to write proper and appealing contents for your website. Is it possible to succeed in this field as a non-native English speaker?
Thanks
Yes, you can do this as a non-native English speaker. Gael from Authority Hacker is French, and he’s built several successful niche sites. It definitely helps to be a native or fluent English speaker if you’re going to be writing the content yourself, but you can use tools like Grammarly or even outsource content production if you don’t think you can write well enough.
There’s also the option of using your native language if there’s a big enough market for your niche in that language. I know there are a lot of successful Spanish-language niche sites, for example.
Thanks Niall for your detailed review! I will be enrolling in this course right away as I’ve been looking for help with affiliate marketing for a while! I have my own vegan website for 5 years now. but I’m doing so many different things that I’m doing nothing well. I have many affiliate programs but am not making much monthly (less than $50/month, if even…). My questions are: Can I hit the ground running with my existing website? I certainly don’t want to forget about it. Does the course teach you how to make your own ads on Youtube and Facebook for example? do they go over how to make Youtube videos with your blogs? (ie. make one video of every blog article?) Do they teach you how to pay for advertisements using keywords on Youtube and Facebook? If not, is that in the pro version? Is it a key to getting more affiliate income faster? Thanks!
Hi Denise. Yes, you can use your existing site, but I’d still recommend going through the niche research lessons to ensure your niche has good potential. It probably does, but best be sure. As for ads on YouTube or Facebook, no, they don’t teach anything like that in TASS. They focus on organic search traffic, monetized with affiliates and display ads. And they teach you how to create written content primarily. I’d advise against trying to do paid ads if you’re only making $50/month. You need to be very confident in your conversions of high-ticket affiliate products before doing paid ads. Or have a huge budget for testing. I’d also advise against doing YouTube right away. Just focus on getting your written content right and monetize with display ads and affiliate offers. That’s enough to keep you busy, and it’s also enough to earn you a good income if you stick with it.
Hi Niall, Appreciate the in-depth review and especially the user Q&A and reviews with links to the actual people (can never tell nowadays what’s real and manufactured ‘real’ content)…
Wondering if you think the TASS program (or another) might be right for us based on our situation as from what I’ve been reading it’s not the typical…
We already own a growing Landscape & Plant design business (we offer everything from full residential landscape design/build services, to indoor potted plants & vessels, housewares/gift items, etc) and are looking to develop an e-commerce arm for the brand. Been researching a bit on what the best avenue for us might be as we definitely DON’T want to have to carry inventory of the items we want to sell online.
That being the case, unless I’m missing something, it basically comes down to dropshipping or affiliate marketing, no? and if that’s the case, would one be better over the other based on our circumstances?
Thanks!
Hey Travis. Yes, sounds like dropshipping or affiliate marketing would be your options. I don’t have any experience with dropshipping – aside from researching it quite a bit – whereas I have lots of experience with affiliate marketing. So I’m pretty biased towards the latter. That said, I see affiliate marketing as much easier to start with. There are less moving parts, and you don’t have to worry about customer service. Ultimately it would probably be best for you to do a combination of both – dropshipping would ultimately give you more control over the end result the customer experiences – but I’d start with affiliate offers and make sure you have good traffic flowing to those before looking to do dropshipping.
Hello there, I recently discovered this program while looking for the best courses online for digital affiliate marketing.
I’m thinking of purchasing it, but the question is, does TASS have an affiliate program itself?
I would be willing to promote it especially since it has a good reputation and maybe benefit an online audience that is looking to earn money online. I have to admit I’ve been a fan of the whole “earn while you learn” concept that many programs offer.
Yes, they do have an affiliate program, but they don’t really promote it. I’ve seen many other affiliate marketing courses that try to get everyone signed up to their affiliate program as part of the training, but Authority Hacker doesn’t do that. They seem to be very selective as to who they accept into the program. You would likely need to have a well-established website before you would qualify. So it’s best not to sign up to TASS if you’re new to affiliate marketing and your main goal is to immediately start promoting the same training to other people.
Do you need the bump offer niche research for $199 when buying this course?
Good question! I personally think you’re better off doing the niche research yourself in the beginning. You’ll learn a lot from doing it. But if you’re in a hurry or just want to see some examples of done-for-you niche research, then it can be a good addition. I believe it falls under the same 30-day money-back guarantee as well.
Hi I hope everyone is doing well.
I have been just recently introduced to Authority Hacker. I am new to all the online business stuff. So I am still figuring out how and where to start.
I have worked as IT sales person for many years and now I have decided to move away from that and focus on a career online.
My question is, please forgive me if it is too stupid.
Assuming I start the TASS course from 1st September, how long or how many months will it take to make 1000$ per month net profit?
I will really appreciate your kind feedback and response. Looking forward to hearing from you all. Because your responses will help me and my family make a regular income. Thank you all kind people.
Kumar
Hi Sanjeev. Nobody can tell you exactly how long it will take you to reach $1000/month net profit. It depends on many factors: the niche you choose, how many articles you can publish, the quality of those articles, how well you implement the SEO strategies you learn in TASS, etc. But a safe assumption is that you won’t earn $1000/month within the first 6 months. Maybe within the first 12 months if you do a good job. I’d encourage you to read my affiliate marketing primer before starting into this kind of business, as I don’t think it’s the easiest/fastest way to earn $1000/month online.
Dear Niall
Thank you very much for the candid feedback. It really helps in understanding the variables involved..which is absolutely understandable..just like it applies to every business. I will soon be joining TASS, because as per various independent reviews TASS seems realistic with great training/content for beginners like me.
I really appreciate your review, it is quite in depth and detailed at the same time simple. Thanks for your support.
Hi Niall
Great website with thorough reviews.
I have some questions wondering if you could answer.
I’m torn between this (TASS) and (TAL)
Both seem like outstanding courses with great teachers.
Before I found this site and the reviews, I was watching Youtube which made me eager to learn about affiliate marketing. Unfortunately, Youtube is the wild west when you try to learn something with all the content and so many strategies.
After watching tons of videos I decided to get started and jumped the gun to buy SEMrush as an SEO tool.
I noticed that TASS uses Ahrefs and wondered if that would be an issue following the course.
I also noticed that you wrote in your The Affiliate Lab review:
“It errs on the side of a dark grey hat, so if you have an issue with buying links, citations or social signals to boost your website – then it won’t be for you.”
and I got the impression that it might not be for me if that is the main focus of SEO strategy.
I read the comparison between TASS and Project 24 which I really liked and wondered if you plan on writing a similar comparison between TASS and TAL, or maybe you have a few Pros and Cons comparing these two to help with the decision?
Hey Santi. You technically could use SEMrush to follow either course (TASS or TAL) but they both use Ahrefs and it’d be much easier for you to follow along if you’re using that too. I don’t plan to write a direct comparison between TASS and TAL in the near future, but if you’re on the fence then I’d say TASS is the safer bet, mostly because they have a 30-day refund policy. So you could try TASS for a few weeks, learn a ton, and still decide to ditch it, get your refund, and sign up for TAL instead.
Will I need to reveal my actual identity or I can use a alternative persona?
They used to recommend using a fake persona but now they recommend using your real identity. This isn’t a hard rule though. There are plenty of successful websites out there owned/managed by people who don’t put their names on them. Usually though they will hire expert writers and have their names on the articles. Google says it wants content to be written by and attributed to real people, ideally people who are recognized experts in their field.
I read your Authority Hacker Review with great interest.
It talks about the Authority Hacker owner writing a ‘master’ blog post of over 1,000 words including research, that took a full day, and teaching this method of writing on the course. Quite shocked by that. How many blog posts do authority site system say should be written a month? One blog a day (=full time new unpaid job), or one blog a week and that would be like like dedicating 2 hours per day writing/researching.
A whole day to write the perfect post, not sure how that is manageable to get those all important blog posts out there? I’m absolutely no good at writing, have chronic writer’s block, but want to learn how I can breakthrough this and write very good blog posts. But spending a full day making one blog post, doing that a few times a week and holding down a full time job, how practical is that?
Thanks again for your wonderful reviews.
Hi Lester.
As with most questions related to SEO or affiliate marketing, the answer is: it depends.
If the niche you choose isn’t very competitive, or you’re targeting low-competition keywords, then you won’t need to write many blog posts each month. And the quality won’t need to be very high. Though of course the more posts you can write and the higher the quality, the faster you’re likely to succeed.
The demo site they build in TASS is in quite a competitive niche and they wanted to show what a very high-quality piece of content looks like. Not every piece of content needs to be like that. It would be overkill for a lower competition keyword.
If writing isn’t your thing, what they teach in the Authority Hacker course may not be the best fit for you. Actually, pretty much every affiliate marketing course recommends that you start off writing the content yourself and getting somewhat good at that before you outsource it. But if you’re already comfortable with hiring and managing people then you could start off doing that. It would increase your expenses though.
Thank you so much for your response and advice.
Too bad, I had my heart set on signing up to TASS through your link. I think perhaps I need to search for a good genuine blog writing course first.
Hi Lester,
Mark here from Authority Hacker. I created a full module in TASS that teaches you how to write a blog post. We start with the absolute basics and presume no prior knowledge.
Everything in the module is filmed step by step. We start with research where I show you how I research a topic that I know little about initially. Then I plan out the article and film myself writing every part of it. You can pick up a ton of little details along the way from how I write this.
It’s not necessary to do this, but I take a trip to the supermarket to pick up a few props for some recipe ideas. And I even film myself in the kitchen cooking them. This is just to show you what’s possible and how easy it is to stand out.
There are many writing courses out there, but you don’t need to be an expert writer to start creating content. That’s a huge misconception. We took 5 years worth of feedback from past versions of the course when constructing this, so it really is the easiest and best way to get started writing content for authority sites.
If you need any help when you get started, our support team can assist you too.
Thanks
Mark
In “the affiliate lab” review you mentioned few times that the course is only for those who committed to building an affiliate marketing business. This wasn’t only related to the fact the course is not refundable.
In which way the Authority hacker course is different? Cause I guess this statement is true for any business.
I’m asking to better understand which course suit me best.
Thanks.
Hi Gali. When I say you need to be committed, it’s also because building a successful affiliate marketing business takes significant time, effort and patience. That’s true no matter what course you buy. But it’s helpful to have at least the 30-day refund policy. That way, you can spend 4 weeks going through all the course materials and still get your money back if you decide you don’t like the Authority Hacker approach.
Hey Niall, Thanks for your amazing reviews! I’ve learned SEO skills in Europe and now I’m working as an SEO consultant. As I always want to set up my own passive income stream, I never stop learning, and I’ve watched tons of videos on youtube and read so many articles in our field. I tried dropshipping but was not very successful. I also bought several affiliate marketing courses, they were not bad for increasing google organic traffic. But I’ve been always looking forward to a course that can blow my mind. After reading your review, I really want to try. My concern is I’m a Chinese, and I work in China. I saw most people who were interested in this course are from America or Europe, at least countries or areas that can use google freely, and visa and MasterCard to easily set up payment. I do have VPN that makes me use google freely in most cases and a debt visa card from Europe. Do you think there will be other limitations for me to join this program in China? Btw, I actually have a good salary, but my goal is to earn $10,000 a month, or it is not worth for me to spend too much time to do it. I kind of have some experience on affilate marketing, do you think it is possible for me to reach that goal? Thank you very much!
Hi Hamilton. I suspect you would be fine doing affiliate marketing from China, but if I were you I’d contact Authority Hacker and ask if they already have students in China who are successfully implementing their training. They will give you an honest answer. (I heard from someone recently who contacted AH support asking if he should buy their training and they told him no, given his circumstances.)
I see, Thank you very much Niall!
Hey Niall, great write up there! I was thinking if this course would be suitable if i wanted to just learn and get good at using SEO for other purposes? For eg building my own site in my own country
Let me know your thoughts Nial!
Yes, it is good for that. I’d say the main skills you learn from TASS would be: SEO, researching and writing great content, basic web design, and project management.
Hi Niall! This review is amazing! Thankyou so much! I was about to go with Income School but now I’m reconsidering.
Before I make the payment though I have a doubt I can’t find the answer to, maybe you could help? Is it possible to be in a European country and non US citizen and earn through US affiliates with a site totally targeted towards the US market? Do US affiliate programs pay out to Europeans or would I have to find affiliate products from my country?
Thanks so much for all your work!
Hi Chris, yeah that’s totally doable. The Authority Hacker guys have their biz registered in the UK, one of them is based in Budapest, and yet they mainly target the US market with their authority sites. I’ve seen plenty of other examples of US affiliate programs paying out to Europeans as well. And you don’t have to find affiliate products to promote from your country. It’s usually best to focus on the US market no matter where you are located or your business is registered. That’s true for many types of online business aside from affiliate marketing. Eg. Amazon FBA, SaaS, etc.
Hello Niall!
I have a simple question: I bought Godaddy hosting early on this week for my website, with domain and SSL included. But I am wondering if inside the course they do suggest any other program?
Do we get any cheaper/better suggestion from the team?
Many thanks,
Tim
Hey Tim. Right now AH recommends SiteGround for hosting a new site. GoDaddy is fine though, and probably cheaper. I honestly don’t think it matters too much for a new site. The host you choose isn’t that important for the first year or two – since you won’t have much traffic then anyway – and it’s not too hard to switch later if you need to. I used to use GoDaddy myself and it was fine starting out.
Hello Niall,
Great review/s not only for TASS but also for all the other Affiliate Marketing courses.
I don’t have a question. I just wanted to point out something that also other people said in the Q&A section bellow.
I was between choosing TASS or Passive Income Geek until I got a bit annoyed with the way TASS send me an email with yet another fake countdown saying the usual *Last offer / You have until midnight to grab a 40% Off offer / No last minute extra offer *
Of course they must have marketing techniques. I get that. And since they are way way more experience than me I imagine what they are doing works.
But personally it turned me off. As great at TASS is (from your reviews it really looks like the best choice) I don’t want to start a long course with my first feelings/thoughts to be : *Why you push me so much with this fake easy to skip last time offer / last time countdown ?
I expect better, more professional treatment from the best Affiliate Marketing course.
Hey Iakovos, yeah I hear you on that. As I’ve mentioned in previous comments, the TASS countdown is as real as it can be for an evergreen offer. As in, it’s not like truly fake countdowns where you just refresh the page and it starts over. I believe the TASS countdown recognizes your browser and IP address and won’t let you get the discount if the timer has expired. (I’ve had numerous people emailing me asking if they could still get the discount after their timer went to zero.) Personally I think that’s fair enough.
I sold a course myself years ago and some people simply won’t buy unless there’s a sense of urgency. I used to tell people who were interested in my course that they could buy whenever they felt like it, and often they would just never get around to it, and I ended up feeling like I did them a disservice by not giving them more of a nudge.
Beyond that, if you’re looking for a course or a course creator that doesn’t use any kind of marketing tactics to nudge more people towards a purchase, I think you’ll end up disappointed. Everyone does it to some degree. As long as it’s not completely misleading or excessive I’m okay with it. And I’m more forgiving of it if the course itself is very high quality and they have an easy refund policy.
Hey Niall,
An amazing review filled with helpful information. I had a love-hate relationship with it. 😛
My question to you is:
Is there any payment plans or instalment plans available for purchasing the course?
Thanks,
Ali
Hey Ali, I know they have offered payment plans in the past but I don’t see that option at the moment when I go to checkout. Your best bet would be contact Authority Hacker directly and ask them if they will offer this payment option again.
Is the Done For You Niche Research thing worth the price? And does refunding actually work?
I’m worried about being not satisfied with the course and not being able to do so. This is just a precaution before I decide to try out this course. Thanks.
Hey Sean, refunding definitely works. I’ve heard from people who signed up and decided not to continue with TASS for one reason or another. They’ve never mentioned any issue with getting a refund.
As for the niche research, that add-on can be handy to save you time, but I’d strongly encourage you to do your own niche research anyway.
Hey Niall,
Just curious, did you Authority Hacker help you build this site? This site is amazing, would really reassure me to hear that TASS helped you build this amazing site!
Hey Reuben. I built this site myself, after learning a lot from the Authority Hacker course about SEO and how to create good content. I though I knew how to create good content before but their training really took me to the next level.
Hey Niall,
I do believe TASS is one of the best affiliate marketing courses out there. But can you suggest any other course that has the best niche selection process besides TASS?
It’s been so hard for me to find a profitable niche that suits me the best.
Hey Jack,
TASS has the best niche selection process I’ve come across. It might be worth checking out The Affiliate Lab as well. I haven’t been through that myself properly yet, but I’ve only heard good things about it.
Niall! You are something else! This review was straight forward and so thorough! Not only am I going to purchase AH through your link (thank you for the discount,) I also subscribed to eBizfacts!
This comparative series between all the affiliate courses had been invaluable. Thank you for all the effort you and your team put forth. I cannot wait to read more. Take care.
Hey, thanks for the review. It just seems like the discount is gone (instead there is monthly payment plan being offered, which adds up to ~1200 Euro).
Hey Oliver,
I just tested it with a Chrome incognito window and a VPN connection. The discount offer still shows for me when I do that. It probably doesn’t show for you because you’ve been offered the discount before and the timer expired. Try it on a different device (like your phone) and you should still get the special offer.
Hi Niall,
Firstly, great review! It is very thorough and I can tell a lot of time has been put into it. Thank you!
Secondly, I was wondering when you’ll be completing your review of The Affiliate Lab, by Matt Diggity? I am torn between the two.
I am not sure whether you’d be able to give me a quick comparison between TASS and The Lab, from what you’ve seen from both, thus far?
Thirdly, if I was to purchase either course via your link, would you offer any bonuses/perks? You seem quite knowledgeable in the Make Money Online space, and I would love to learn a few tips and tricks that perhaps you’re only happy to share with a select few, namely customers/referrals ;).
Hi Sam,
Thanks for the comment. I was hoping to have The Affiliate Lab reviewed already but I’ve had to give priority to other projects. It may be a while yet before I get to it, so unfortunately I can’t give you a fair comparison between that course and TASS.
That said, TASS does seem like a safer bet. I can personally vouch for it being a great course. But they also have a 30-day refund policy, whereas The Affiliate Lab doesn’t give refunds.
No, sorry. I don’t offer any perks like that. It would simply take too much time, time that I’d rather spend creating more content for this site.
Hi Niall,
What factors are to be considered when choosing a niche? I understand that TASS teaches that early on, is that correct? Do they take idiom into consideration for such evaluation?
I’m afraid that it could be hard to figure out a niche in my country (non-english). Do they only look into traffic, or do they consider the affiliate opportunities as well? Could some niches have nice traffic but no affiliate opportunities in country X?
Thank you.
Best
Eduardo
Hey Eduardo,
Yes, all those factors are taken into consideration in the TASS niche selection process. You research both the traffic available in the niche and the affiliate opportunities. If you want to focus on a specific language or country, Ahrefs shows you estimates of search traffic for whatever country you want.
Yeah, definitely. Russia is a good example of that. From what little research I’ve done on that country, there is tons of traffic but nowhere near the amount of affiliate opportunities I’ve seen in the English-speaking world. It really depends on the country and the niche though. There probably are still a handful of niches in Russia that are highly profitable for affiliate marketers. You might just have to dig deeper to find them.
Thank you for getting back to me. Yeah so I’m afraid I’ll not be able to find a good niche – traffic and affiliate opportunities – that I know enough about in order to be able to write dozens of articles. I’m in Brazil for instance. The niches I could think of are gambling, dating and men interests in general. Any thoughts? Thank you.
You don’t have to find a niche you already know a lot about. It’s great if you do, but it’s also a viable path to find a promising niche you know nothing about and simply research it better than anyone else and share your research. In Authority Hacker they walk you through researching and writing an article from scratch, on a topic that you don’t know much about going in.
That’s a skill you’ll need to master regardless. I plan to review a bunch of dropshipping courses in the near future, and so I’ll need to learn a lot about dropshipping along the way. I don’t need to become a leading world expert, but I’ll need to learn enough so I can write helpful content for people who don’t have time to research the topic themselves.
All that said, it is possible that you won’t find any niche that you feel confident about. To guard against that possibility, make sure you sign up for Authority Hacker when you have lots of time available for the next 4 weeks. That way you can step through all the niche research stuff and avail of the 30-day money back guarantee if you don’t find a niche you’re excited about.
So I eventually ended up here after days and days of “online business” research and getting let down again and again with scams. Think drop shipping and “marketing” businesses like wealthy affiliate and digital prosperity movement that basically just get you sucked into a MLM scheme that promotes the course and its own affiliate scheme rather than actual affiliation.
So, TASS sounds very promising. But here’s the question…
I’m confident after your thorough review that TASS is a genuine course (unlike WA which is how I got to this review in the first place) but the price tag, like many other courses I’ve come across, scares me. I currently work a full time job 40 hrs a week for minimum wage so parting with the money for this course and needing the time for this course worries me. I desperately want to get away from the 9-5 rat race of life and work for myself on my own terms so I want to really know if this course will provide me a way out.
I know not to expect results in the first months but, the fact the course is expensive but doesn’t even include the other costs worries me. How much are we generally talking here to run the website day to day? Because I’m not sure I can afford another £200+ a month to host a domain and whatever else a website requires to be successful after all my bills (think mortgage, electric, internet, car ect.)
Basically I’m asking if you think it’s possible for someone like me who works 40hrs a week and earns bare minimum wage can afford the money and time to give this a go??
I’m only 24 but the thought of slaving away at a job I hate and getting paid peanuts for the rest of my life and needing bosses approval to have any time off just depresses me. I would love to work on my own terms and be my own boss and affiliate marketing sounds like something I could actually do. I have no marketing experience so to speak but would feel confident enough in technology to get the hang of building a website ect.
Sorry for the long post! I’m finished now. Look forward to your response!
Hey Lauren,
How many hours per week would you be able to devote to this? As I say in the review, anything less than 10 wouldn’t be enough. If you can devote 20 hours per week to it on top of your day job, you’d have a really good shot.
If you’re writing the content yourself then it won’t cost you £200 a month. You’ll need about £200 after paying for the course to get a year of hosting and a domain, plus a month of Ahrefs (though you could feasibly do all your keyword research with Ahrefs during the $7-for-7-days trial). Start with a free WordPress theme and don’t invest any more money in the site until you start seeing your first commissions. It’s really more about putting in the time and effort than it is about investing more money.
One other thing: if you can, wait until you have a week or two off from your 9-to-5 before buying TASS. That way you can really devote yourself to it and get off to a strong start. You’ll have more time to go through the materials and make sure you’re happy with the course before the refund period expires.
Hi Niall
Thanks so much for your quick response! I’m sure I could manage dedicating at the very least 10 hours a week to this.
By the sounds of your review I’m sure the course will provide a newbie like me all the knowledge I need. I just wasn’t so sure about what additional costs there would be after the course! I wouldn’t want to be hit with a load of monthly fees for running a website after paying so much for a course. Obviously I don’t expect everything for nothing but just within reason for someone living paycheck to paycheck like myself not to be ripped off.
I’m assuming this course still works just as well for UK residents as I see all the pricing is in $?
Yes, it works for UK residents. I’m from Ireland myself and living in Georgia currently (the country). The two Authority Hacker guys are from Scotland and France. They just price in USD because that’s more the international currency.
Just got the time to sit down and watch the free webinar and it’s put me right off buying the course. A lot of information in the webinar which I’m sure is valuable to anyone it makes sense to. But I lost count of the amount of extra programmes recommended during the webinar including as you mentioned “Ahrefs” which after the free trial I think Gael said is 99$ a month!!!! And that’s only one programme mentioned, it’s a bit ridiculous. If I’m paying nearly $600 for a course I would expect all of these tools to be included within their course. It all seems extremely expensive for a gamble on payback as it could be months or years before you would get any affiliate commission to offset the expenses!
Also I didn’t appreciate the usual “this course is worth $9000 but we’re going to sell it for only a tenth of that!” And the pushy “one time limited discount offer!” thats obviously lies because the offer still stands months even years later clearly if you are still offering the discount here on your page. Where do they pull these figures out of of what this information is “worth” I could like to know?
I appreciate your blog and review but once again I just feel let down that I’ve wasted my time on just another course that wants to take my money. As I always thought if it’s too good to be true it probably is. I often think if people are making this much money online and it’s so easy to do, then why would you tell everyone about it?? And that’s it, because selling these courses to suckers like me is what makes them the money.
Also I’m pretty sure the “live chat” under the webinar was just automated bots. Never once got replied to when I asked questions and I’m pretty sure if I signed up to the webinar again it would just be the same names and messages.
I’m just glad I’m skeptical enough to properly research all these things before I waste half my bank account on useless courses that always have the escape clause of “results aren’t guaranteed!”
Hey Lauren,
I’m glad you watched the webinar first, and thanks for sharing your impressions of it. Given what you wrote, I would encourage you to try freelancing before buying any course like this and investing in a long-term business.
I have to disagree with you on that. Wealthy Affiliate claims to include all the tools you need within their training, and it works out a good bit cheaper overall, but IMO their internal tools suck. Authority Hacker recommend Ahrefs because it’s a great tool, and I don’t see how any training could give a free tool that’s comparable.
That said, you really only need to pay for Ahrefs for a month. You can do all your keyword research up front and plan out your content for the next 6-12 months. That’s what I did initially.
Yes, it will be months or years before you earn that money back. This isn’t a quick or easy business opportunity. It takes work and there is risk involved. I took that risk myself two years ago and it has worked out well for me and many others, but nothing like this can be guaranteed. If you’re looking for a guaranteed outcome I believe you’ll be searching for a long time.
Yeah, I’m not a fan of that either. It’s hard to find an online course nowadays that doesn’t use that marketing tactic. I assume it’s used so often because it works well. As to where they get the number from, it certainly is subjective, but I wouldn’t call $9000 an exaggeration. I’ve certainly gotten far more value than that from everything I learned in TASS.
See my reply to Zoe about that.
That is true sometimes. But it’s unfair to assume everyone selling an online course fits that description. That’s like assuming that every professor teaching architecture (for example) at a university is a charlatan because surely they’d be doing rather than teaching architecture if they were any good at it.
There are many overpriced and overhyped courses online. I’ve bought and reviewed lots of them. IMO, Authority Hacker’s course is excellent value for money so long as you put in the work consistently.
I’m sure it would be, too. I believe they recorded the webinar live once, with a live chat, and now the video and chat are automated so they appear live even thought they’re not anymore. I don’t like this either. Something shouldn’t be labelled “live” unless it’s actually live. I bet we’ll see less of that in future as more and more people are growing weary of it.
As good as I believe TASS is, I would absolutely NOT advise that you spend half your bank account to buy it. Start with something smaller and simpler, like freelancing. That costs very little to get started and you can start earning much faster. Freelancing isn’t as scalable as something like an authority business, but it’s lower risk and a great stepping stone.
Just wanted to add, as I went through the first few minutes of Authority Hacker’s free webinar again today… that I didn’t see them mention anywhere that either the webinar or the chat alongside it are “live”.
Maybe they were calling it a live webinar or a live chat before, but not anymore.
@Niall, do you know when the next AH Pro will be available and how much it will cost? Will you have an affiliate link? If I purchase either AH program, I would like to support your site, as I am sure others will as well.
Hey Kevin,
I’m not sure when AH Pro will be available again. I do have an affiliate link for it (here), but it is quite an advanced course and I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re just getting started.
Thank you though for the kind words about supporting my site 🙂
Hi Niall, How much would you think the total cost of using the tools that they have recommended and on top of that if I outsource my content?
Hey Ryan,
From the FAQs on the TASS sales page:
I’d say that’s accurate if you’re writing the content yourself.
If you’re outsourcing content, then it really depends on the level of content you want, if the topic requires a high level of expertise/experience, how much content you want to outsource, if you’ll be editing and adding to WP yourself or hiring someone to do that part as well.
Lots of variables there, and if you’re new to hiring writers there will probably be some trial and error and time spent giving feedback initially.
TASS recommends that you write the first 5-10 articles yourself no matter what, and I think that’s good advice. You’ll be better able to hire and manage writers if you have that experience. Then I would say you should expect to spend at least $50 per article after that.
hey i want to get commsions from marketing software like clickfunnels,activecampaign,semrush and that stuff but does this course only focus on amazon affiliates i am in a big doubt for buying this course because of this
Hey Dilum,
They don’t just focus on Amazon affiliates. They redid the entire course this year after Amazon slashed commission rates again, so the new version doesn’t focus on that.
I’m pretty sure the Authority Hacker guys would tell you to do proper niche research first before you commit to something like that. If you’re starting a brand new site on a fresh domain, it will be very tough to compete with established sites that rank high for reviews of those products. Digital marketing is a super competitive niche that even seasoned affiliate marketers would hesitate to get into. If you don’t have much experience, I’d recommend starting with something easier.
Hi Niall,
thanks for your review of the program. Please tell how long does it take for your fresh website to start ranking in Google and bring traffic, if you follow AH program? Do you have a real experience? As I noticed in the program review they claim it takes around 2 months, but I searched reviews on this question and in the web people say normally up to 2 years… What is your experience and also what is this time really following AH program?
Thank you!
Hey Oleg,
It definitely doesn’t take 2 years to rank in Google with a fresh website. Last week I was speaking to a friend who is going through the TASS training. He launched a site on a new domain a few weeks ago and he’s already ranking and getting traffic from Google.
How high you rank and how much traffic you get depends on a lot of factors though. Content quality, link building, your on-site SEO, etc.
That said, don’t expect to earn any money with a new site for at least the first 6 months following what they teach in TASS. You can start to rank and get some traffic within a few weeks, but it usually takes much longer to earn good money from an authority site.
Hi Niall,
thanks a lot for your valuable feedback, I’ll take it into account, 6 months are surely shorter than 24 months 🙂
If you’re referring to Income School’s Project 24, the idea there is that they’ll help you build an affiliate site that will earn you a living within 24 months. As long as you put in the work, of course.
I think their training is pretty good, too. But I consider the Authority Hacker training to be more effective, should get you there in less time. But not in only 6 months. The first 6 months you’re unlikely to earn anything, and then it should start picking up.
Hi Niall,
I love your review. It helps me know more about TASS. But I have a little tricky question. Is it suitable for me who is a non-English speaker? I read some reviews, but I can’t find my answer for this question.
Thanks for your help.
Hey Khoi,
You can apply the same strategy taught in TASS to non-English countries/niches. Those markets might not be as big, but competition will likely be less as well. The niche research part of TASS will help you determine if a non-English niche you’re considering is worthwhile.
Maybe your question is more about consuming the content within TASS though? If so, the lessons are only available in English, but each video has closed captions and an article summary so you can read through all the training as well as listen to the guys talking in the videos.
I hope that answers your question. Let me know if not.
Hi Niall,
Thanks for your feedback. Your answers helped me a lot.
I heard that TASS would have a big updated version in January. Should I wait for it? I don’t know if the price goes up after that.
I’m going to build my first site alone. Do you think it’s the right choice or not? I know it will be challenging, but I can’t find my partner right now for some reason.
How did you overcome disappointment, frustration, or worries when building your first site?
The updated version of TASS is already being rolled out to existing students. The roll out should be finished in January, but no need to wait for that as it’ll take you a few weeks to go through the whole course properly.
From what I’ve heard, there are no firm plans for a price increase on TASS but Mark has told me that they’ve considered raising the price several times.
If you find a good partner that can be very helpful. But it’s not necessary. I didn’t have a partner for my site. I own 100% of the business. It really depends on your personality type though. Some people struggle to work alone and do better with a partner.
Have the right expectations. Don’t expect to make much money at all for the first 6-12 months. And know that building any kind of business is a rollercoaster. TASS gives you a good strategy but there will always be unforeseen issues that come up and you’ll need to find a solution for. It’s never a straight line to success. I was devastated September last year when all my organic traffic suddenly disappeared with no obvious explanation. Luckily the traffic came back a few days later but even if it hadn’t I was determined to keep going and figure out a solution.
Expect that you will encounter disappointment, frustration, and stress along the way. But know that none of it has to stop you. You’ll get better and stronger as you overcome each obstacle.
Hey Niall,
Great review! Masterclass in writing a review lol.
I currently own a website that makes anywhere between $1000 – $3000 per month and I feel like I want to do “more” with it, or start another. (It’s nearly 2 years old)
It’s a level 1 authority site, and since I’m not really interested in putting ads on it, I think it’s going to stay that way.
I’m currently a Wealthy Affiliate member, and their training has got me this far, but I’m looking for something else. I feel like I’m missing some pieces that could help me grow my website or improve it.
Given where I’m at with my current website would you recommend I go for the Authority Site System or the Pro?
Also, do you have any thoughts on the Wealthy Affiliate keyword tool Jaaxy?
Thank you for your help!
Hi Emily,
Congrats on your success so far! That must have taken a lot of work. Well done.
Go with TASS. You’ll find that a big step up from Wealthy Affiliate. I still mostly follow what they teach in TASS, haven’t dipped much into AH Pro.
I wasn’t impressed by it. And as mentioned in my Wealthy Affiliate review, in a survey of 137 internet marketing experts, nobody mentioned Jaaxy when asked which tool is best for keyword research. Not a good sign!
Hi Niall. Appreciate your honest appraisal. Do you need to come from a tech background to realistically be able to set something up using AH? I also was not clear on how I would make money doing this, i.e what product do I try sell and how do I know I can make money trying to sell? Are there any examples on the AH website or can trial before committing? Thanks Ed in Dublin
Hey Ed,
A tech background helps because there is a learning curve to setting up a website. But I wouldn’t consider it a necessity. The same way a writing background helps for creating content but it isn’t a necessity. TASS is pretty good at walking you through website setup, content creation, and everything else. Then it’s really just a matter of diving in and practicing everything yourself. Or if you have a budget for it you can hire help.
That’s all figured out when you go through the niche and keyword research process. They show you how to pick a niche that you have a good chance of succeeding with and how to find products to promote in that niche. Then it’s a matter of creating good content based on keywords that you can rank for.
I’d recommend going through all the free affiliate marketing resources I have listed here, including the free Authority Hacker webinar. That will give you way better insight into what affiliate marketing is and how it works. If you like the sound of it after that, you could sign up for TASS and you’d have 30 days to try it out properly and get a refund if you decide it’s not a good fit for you.
Hi Niall
Thank you for the most honest and in-depth review of an online course that I’ve ever come across. I might consider re-purposing an old website of mine with related existing content to see if it may give me a headstart of sorts on Google. But anyway, with regards to the budgeting spreadsheet provided by TASS, I was wondering if you would consider it a fairly good estimate or otherwise?
Hey Adam,
Thanks for the comment.
Yeah, I’d consider the TASS budgeting spreadsheet to be very helpful and a good estimate of what it costs to build a legit authority site. Much less accurate is the minimum time they say you need to invest each week to build a successful site. They say it’s only 5-7 hours, but I reckon you have little chance of success unless you’re spending at least 10 hours per week on it.
Hi Niall,
After reading through your review of Authority Hacker, I am sure that Authority Hacker is the site for me to invest time in. My only question is that, being only 17 and going into college, will my age have any effect on me building a successful site? Especially with the case that I do not have any prior experience with writing on a professional level and web designing.
Hey Dennis,
Thanks for the comment. I don’t think being 17 years old should deter you. Nor should inexperience with writing or web design. But if this your first try at building an online business then I think you’ll find affiliate marketing quite tough, especially if you’ll be going to college at the same time.
If I were in your shoes, I’d pick a skill related to affiliate marketing, like SEO or writing or web design, learn as much as you can about that in 1-2 months, then try find some freelance gigs. You’d be making money faster that way, and you’d also get to practice and improve skills that you can use to build your own affiliate site later if you still want to.
Hi Niall,
Thank you for posting such an accurate and thorough review.
I do have a question if I don’t have a lot of experience writing articles will this still be a good course? I know writing has never been my forte and may be holding me back. I was unclear if they teach you how to write for your website.
Thank you
Hey Quinn,
It’s definitely better if you have some writing experience, but one of my favorite parts of the course is where Mark walks you through writing an article from scratch. I mentioned it in the review. See above where I wrote, “The end result is an impressive 2,590-word article.”
That part of the course won’t make you a great writer overnight, but it’ll give you a solid process for creating content, and you’ll get better with practice.
One question I’d ask you though: do you think you’d actually enjoy writing lots of content? If not, building an affiliate website probably wouldn’t be a good idea for you, unless you can outsource the content creation.
Hi Niall,
May I know if members of TASS have the freedom to choose where they want to host the domain? I joined one of affiliate course that was rated low by you, and it seems like it recommended to host domain through their site.
After reading a few of the reviews on TASS, I kind of regretted that I rush into my current course instead of doing some research for other affiliate courses available out there.
Hi Vivian,
Yes, the TASS training tells you to use whatever hosting your want. If you already have hosting somewhere, use that. If you don’t, they have a couple of recommendations. If I remember right, one of them is SiteGround. But I don’t think it matters that much for the first year or so. I had my site on Dreamhost for several months before I outgrew that hosting and switched to Kinsta.
That sounds a lot like WA. If you want to move your site off their hosting, search for Marion Black move Wealthy Affiliate hosting and you should find a decent guide there.
Thanks for the insight and suggestions!
Hi, the discount is not working. I see the full price when I click on the link, please advise
Hi Jawdat,
I just checked and the discount is still working for me. Try using this link and let me know if it works for you.
I pasting what I see when I click your link:
INSTANT ACCESS TO ALL NEW & UPDATED 120+ VIDEO LESSONS
ACCESS TO THE NEW CASE STUDY SITE & ASSOCIATED VIDEOS
ACCESS TO ALL UPDATED COPY & PASTE TEMPLATES
ACCESS TO THE NEW SITE “TO-DO LIST” SYSTEM
ALL FUTURE UPDATES TO THE PROGRAM FREE OF CHARGE
FREE LIFETIME ACCESS TO THE MEMBERS ONLY FACEBOOK COMMUNITY
Only $997
Use an incognito window and try the link again. Let me know if that works for you.
Great article- So thorough and honest!
Really looking into trying to build An affiliate marketing side hustle with a hope to be a full time gig…Have you any thoughts on Dean Holland’s internetprofits?
Hi Lynsey,
Thanks for the comment.
I haven’t researched Dean Holland’s course at all so I can’t give you any thoughts on that. This article might be helpful though for you to evaluate it yourself.
Thanks Niall for that great review.
I am beginning on affiliation but not in a hurry so I’d like to engage with TASS in a long term building website.
Only one point is confusing.I see that most people making money with that kind of website is using amazon affiliate program for their revenue or a big part of their revenue, so if I want a website without amazon affiliate shall you still recommend that course to build a business with affiliate website.
Thanks.
Hi Hassan,
The TASS training does include the Amazon affiliate program, but they warn of the dangers of that. When I first went through the training about 1.5 years ago it was clear to me that it was risky to focus solely on Amazon. I know Mark and Gael are updating the TASS training now to make that even more clear and present additional alternatives.
Hello,
The results you posted ($7798), were those obtained with free traffic? Also, may I ask how much of that is profit? Did you create a website, etc? Just trying to get an idea of expenses incurred while working an affiliate…
I’m seriously looking into this and this course, based on your review.
Thank you so much!
Marie
Hi Marie,
Yes, all free traffic. I haven’t bought any traffic since I started eBiz Facts in December 2018.
As for profit/loss, you can see all my business income and expenses in my monthly finance reports. I built the website myself – I have lots of experience with web design – and also wrote the content myself, so I didn’t need to outsource anything big. I did hire some VAs every now and then to help with small tasks, and had the usual hosting/software expenses, but nothing huge there. I did buy several courses so I could review them.
But I worked A LOT those first six months, and still work a lot on this website. If you break down my earnings per hour worked it’s not going to impress anyone. If you’re going to build an affiliate site, do so with the understanding that you’re unlikely to start seeing a good ROI until year 2 or 3, maybe longer.
Note that I also had some advantages starting out. One was my experience with web design and content writing. Two was having a fairly well-established website (I repurposed an old blog into ebizfacts.com) which allowed me to rank faster and higher in Google. Three was that I came in with pretty good knowledge of my subject matter (online business).
You can still succeed without those advantages, of course, but if this is your first time trying to make money online, I’d recommend starting with freelancing or a remote job instead. You could build skills and experience that way which would increase your chances of building a successful affiliate site down the line.
Hi Niall, Thanks for the review!
Is there a spanish version of this course or, failing that, with english subtitles?
Thanks again!
Hi Felipe,
There isn’t a Spanish translation for the course but there are English subtitles. I logged in just now and took a screenshot of one of the video lessons with the subtitles turned on:
Great review! really appreciate the work put into these reviews! Looks like AH is the real deal. My question is if i dont have any prior training in website design/creation, is that a dealbreaker for me?
Hey Bert,
Web design experience definitely helps, but it’s not a deal-breaker. I’d say the most important thing you need is persistence, because it usually takes several months to start seeing decent results.
Also, in the first few months, I believe it’s more important to focus on writing/creating content than on web design. It’s very easy to get caught up with making your site look pretty, but Google cares a lot less about that than they care about the quality of the information you provide. I know some trustworthy people like Miles Beckler even recommend using one of the default WordPress themes for the first few months so you don’t spend loads of time on web design when you should be creating content.
Wow, that’s an insightful review. Am keen to step up my affiliate game and this review nailed it for me.
Just a question. Does TASS go on a discount of sorts during Black Friday or July 4th?
Kamsahamnida!
Leo
Hey Leo,
I believe I’ve seen Authority Hacker do Black Friday discounts on some of their higher-priced training, but I can’t remember them ever doing that for TASS.
I understand this isn’t a great rich quick scheme, but if I had more time to invest per week than your recommendation of 10 hours per week, would that speed up the process? Or do websites need time to gather organic traffic even with more frequent posts? For example, if I had 20-30 hours per week to devote, is it plausible to be at a replacement full-time income after a year?
Hey Jennifer,
Oh yeah, the more work you can put into it, the better. It will still take time for your content to rank on Google. But say you published 100 quality content pieces in 6 months compared to 50. With the 100, you’ll likely be getting twice as much traffic, and so potentially twice as much affiliate and advertising income.
Of courses, you’d still need to make sure your content is targeting good keywords, and that a significant chunk of that content is monetized properly.
Aim for that but don’t get your hopes up. I think $1000/month is a great result after a year, even if you’re putting in 20-30 hours a week.
I was able to get to about $2500 per month after a year, just with affiliate marketing (no ads), but I wasn’t starting a site from scratch (I repurposed and started monetizing an existing site), and it helped a lot that I focused on affiliate programs that pay high commissions (ie. not Amazon).
One of the screenshots in my review shows an Authority Hacker student reporting earnings of $23,000 in one month after only a year, but that is truly exceptional. From what I know about that student, he basically did nothing except obsessively work on his site for a whole year. And I’m not sure if he started completely from scratch.
Is this unbiased, or based on the amount these companies pay commission per sale? Authority hacker doesn’t have many reviews elsewhere…
Hi Lee,
I don’t think any review can be 100% unbiased, but we do a few things here to safeguard against bias:
Beyond that, we’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time reviewing affiliate marketing courses that we DON’T recommend people buy. Wealthy Affiliate is a good example (reviewed here). If our main goal was to earn commissions by any means necessary, we’d have given WA a positive review. But we didn’t think it was good so we gave it a negative review.
As to why there aren’t more reviews of Authority Hacker online, part of it is probably due to them not pushing members to become affiliates. Wealthy Affiliate does that, actively encouraging and even training members to promote the product. That’s why you see so many (overly positive) reviews of WA everywhere.
I actually enrolled in TASS and must say that I do not regret it. It’s very thorough yet simply put together. The seo keyword research is an excellent summary. I am very confident that this system is going to work for me!
Hey Niall! Thank you so much for the great review. Affiliate marketing, authority sites, SEO…. All new to me. Your work brings light into the chaos. Feels like learning a new language!
Thanks for reading, Jedi!
Hey Niall! Another great review as always. You’ve got me thinking about taking this course. As a content writer and editor for many different online sites, even if I didn’t get a successful site running myself, I would become much more of an expert when it comes to creating effective content for my clients. I’ll go watch their webinar soon and keep mulling it over! 🙂
Hey Zoe,
Thanks for the comment.
And yeah, even if you don’t plan on building an authority site yourself, there’s a lot to gain from TASS. I’m a far better content creator because of it. Their content creation module could actually be packaged and sold separately and I’m sure it would do very well.
I watched the free webinar and have been getting some emails from TASS about signing up with the discount they offer at the end of the webinar.
In one of the emails they write:
“When the countdown timer reaches 0, you can bet your Grandmas teeth the price will have jumped up considerably. And once it goes up, it doesn’t go back down.
If you take action NOW, before the countdown timer reaches zero, you’ll pay a heavily discounted price of $599 (instead of the usual $997). This also happens to be the lowest price we’ll ever offer this at. Period.
We’re very serious about price increases, so please don’t expect to email us afterwards to get the discounted price. (Others have tried and failed. Please, don’t be that person.)”
So they are basically lying when they are saying all that, correct? Since you say you can just click that link and always have the discount at any time, right?
Hey Zoe,
Thanks for the comment.
I believe Authority Hacker have their sales page set up so that it reads your IP address and/or cookies when you visit, and it doesn’t give you the discount if it knows you’ve been offered it before and the timer has expired. So in that sense, the discount offer is about as strict as it can be.
As for the discount link in this review, here’s a little context…
When I first wrote this review, I didn’t include the link to the discount, because that was supposed to be an offer reserved for people who watched the webinar. That’s how the Authority Hacker guys set it up initially. So I just hinted in my review that people should watch the webinar before buying.
Then I noticed another review of TASS that told people about the discount. That review linked directly to the discount offer.
I asked Mark from AH about this, and he said yeah, they didn’t want affiliates doing that initially, but it was too hard to police so they just embraced it. After hearing that, I added the discount info to my review as well.
Yeah. And the fact that there was a pushy, sleazy countdown timer on their sales page is a massive, MASSIVE turn-off for me, however ‘strict’ it is.
Going with Income School.
I’m not a big fan of countdown timers either, but Income School are known to use them, too. See the 5:10 mark of this video
, for example. There the Income School guys overhaul someone’s site and use an evergreen countdown timer to boost sales of an ebook, something they say they’ve done on their own sites many times before.
Hey Niall, great review! I did the Authority Hacker Pro course and it was one of the best courses that I ever took on online marketing. Great videos, over the shoulder content, no fluff and very practical/to the point. Great job on writing up this review and covering each and every aspect that someone would want to know before buying. Your review is even better than the course itself :)!
Haha, thanks Michiel!
Maybe I should start charging people to read my reviews 😛
Great review; answered all my questions about this course I think.
I’m very tempted but not sure I trust myself to put in the 10+ hours a week after I’ve been writing blog posts all day as my day job.
Plus, when I’m getting paid to write for my day job, I find it hard to justify writing for a side project that doesn’t make any money (yet), when I could be writing for clients and getting money today.
Do they talk about how much content is required for a typical site, like 10 x 4,000 word articles to start, then 3 x 2,000 words a week being added etc?
I guess the other worry is picking a niche that looks great after carrying out research, as they did with the health one, then getting hit with an unexpected Google update, and losing everything!
But I guess that’s the risk with all businesses, you could open a brilliant coffee shop, then 2 months later, Starbucks opens next door and you’re out of business.
Definitely tempted though…
Hey Joe, thanks for the comment.
What about outsourcing content creation? They show you how to do that in TASS. They do recommend writing the first 10 articles yourself, but in your case, since you’re already an experienced writer, it sounds like it wouldn’t be necessary.
It really depends on the niche and the competition.
But if I remember right they have 50 articles as a big milestone to get to. I’ve seen sites with less than that do well, but the articles have to be top-notch. For a long time I believe Brian Dean at Backlinko only had 40-50 articles on his site and he was still crushing it.
As for word count, the advice there is to make your article a little longer than the average word count of the articles ranking on page 1 for the same keyword. Google seems to be rewarding that length, so you write just a bit more.
Look up what a YMYL niche is. Those are getting harder and harder to compete in without some serious expertise and/or authority. Pick a non-YMYL niche and you’re less likely to get whacked by Google at some point.
Thanks Niall.
I will give it some more thought.
That’s a good point about outsourcing. Do they discuss the best way to do that in the course? I know about sites like Upwork etc, but maybe they have some extra advice.
Thanks,
Joe
Yeah, they list three sites in the course that they’ve used for outsourcing. One of them is Upwork, though that’s not their first choice. The sites aren’t a big secret or anything, but the value of that lesson in TASS is that they give you their template for creating a content brief that you can then send to writers. It’s very well done.
Thanks, it all sounds very appealing!
By the way, I HATE it when people say they’ve earned X amount because of a course, but don’t disclose how much of those earnings came from referring THAT VERY COURSE!
*cough* pretty much every Wealthy Affiliate review ever *cough*
So let me not be one of those people, and tell you that, as of this writing, I’ve earned $7,663.93 from affiliate marketing so far this year.
And only $676.87 – less than 9% – of those affiliate earnings have come from referring people to any Authority Hacker course.
Unlike Wealthy Affiliate, which constantly urges members to become affiliates for the course itself, I’ve seen ZERO mention of Authority Hacker’s own affiliate program within The Authority Site System.
Kudos to them for that.
I bought this course and have struggled with it. If you don’t have a particular passion for any given topic you’ll have your work cut out maintaining enthusiasm for getting through the very large number of training videos and then thinking of what to write when you’re putting a site together.
Ahrefs is essential for this course but you only get 100 credits for £79 per month on the recommended Lite version and in my opinion that’s not nearly enough, particularly when trying to find the dreaded low DR sites on Ahrefs. As another poster said, the Ahrefs interface changed but this isn’t reflected in the AH videos.
There are well over 100 niches identified as potential areas to work on and you might think that’s more than enough but if you’re not especially enthusiastic about these (which many won’t be) the number reduces drastically and very quickly. I also don’t see the point of including finance and tech in the list when Authority Hacker themselves say these niches are ultra competitive and hence are for the very experienced.
The two guys who run the course aren’t American but the course is very American-oriented to the extent where you wonder if it’s of any use to UK users. Looking at affiliate programs, ever single one seems to relate to US firms. Also, taking an example niche, is there much point in pursuing ‘real estate’ – or property as it’s known in the UK – as a niche, given that things are done differently in the two countries? Presumably the focus on the States is because that’s where most of the money to be made is but I often get a feeling of AH not being relevant to those of us who aren’t American.
I did contact the AH’s support on a couple of occasions for queries other than the above but they weren’t much use.