Empower Network was launched about October 2011. It is run by a couple of fairly well known marketers David Sharpe and David Wood. There are lots of claims about how people have made 10,000′s of dollars, and I’m sure that the Davids, and their inner circle have.

The question is – can you? The answer is – almost certainly not. Now I am not the target market for Empower Network- I already make a living online and I know a thing or two about affiliate marketing.

So when I signed up for Empower and this is what I got – and my review of them:

1. Core Blogging System Claimed value $497

The blogging system is WordPress. This excellent software is available for free from WordPres.org, or you can set up a free blog at WordPress.com. The free blog at least be on your own sub-domain at WordPress. The Empower blogs are all part of the main domain name of the system. You are providing free content to benefit these clowns on their own website. You will lose the lot when they exposed as the pyramid scheme that they are too.

Actual value – less than zero because of the time you will waste.

2. High Converting Lead Capture Page Claimed value $297

Well maybe – but then you’d actually need a lead to capture first wouldn’t you? And then if you do capture and get someone to sign up – its going to be your merchant account that gets shut down for pyramid selling

Actual value – zero – lead capture forms are only useful if you have something decent to sell and a stream of buyers

3. 8-Part Fast Start Video Training Claimed value $397

Well its certainly fast – these videos are so short you can listen to the lot inside 1/2 an hour. They will carefully tell you how to signup for a merchant account in the first one – wow – really? Actually not – I’m not American – it won’t work for me!

The next one is how to add a blog post to WordPress, the one after that – how to read ever day!

No mention of keyword research, monetization, search engine optimization

Actual value – they owe me for the time I wasted listening to this rubbish.

4. Website Hosting, Design, Theme, Plugins Claimed value $247

You have got to be kidding me! Hosting costs $5 – $7/month. The theme is just their own theme – no value there. Plugins – well there is one paid plugin SEO Presser – which no beginner should be spending money on, particularly as nothing in the training has taught them how to find a keyword yet!

Actual value – zero.

Conclusion: run, do not walk away, from the Empower Network scam

The truth is that while it is possible to make money online, it’s not exactly a walk in the park. There are lots of people who are full-time bloggers and derive a very significant income from that. Some have even gone on and sold their blogs for millions. But while all this makes the news, no one pays attention to the work that has to be put in before you ever get to reach those lofty heights.

Making money online is the same as any other business that you’re trying to build, and the notable exception is that you can start it with very little money. But besides that, you have to give it time, you have to get the knowledge you need to stay ahead of the competition, you have to market yourself, you have to produce the content for your website.

And you can’t pretend there are no costs. Hosting is cheap but once you start getting a lot of traffic, you’re going to have to pay for better and more robust hosting solutions. You might have to pay to acquire design and web development expertise. You may have to purchase marketing books. You may have to attend some seminars to network with peers and advertisers.

I’m not saying that you can’t make money online. Quite the contrary, I think it’s a very valid career choice! But the assumption that it’s something you can do in minutes a day, or that you’ll find the “formula” in a $47 program is just plain stupidity.

Many people think of blogging like writing a diary where they basically write about what they do on a daily basis. This isn’t going to work unless you’re super interesting. In order to make money, you’ll need to drive traffic. In order to do that, you need to blog about things that matter to people or interests them enough to want to keep coming back to your blog as well as sharing your blog to other people. You could write about how to do something or even about controversial issues. Once you build up a large enough reader base, you could have companies advertise on your site. You could also recommend products and make money that way as well.