Powerhouse Affiliate Review: Is Joey Babineau a Scam?

As an experienced affiliate marketer who’s been in the game for over a decade, I’m always on the lookout for new training programs that can give me an edge.

When I first heard about Powerhouse Affiliate, I was intrigued. The promises of comprehensive CPA marketing training and a supportive community caught my attention. So, I decided to give it a shot and see if it lived up to the hype.

After spending several weeks going through the course material and engaging with the community, I have to say – I’m not impressed. While Powerhouse Affiliate does offer some decent basic information for beginners, it falls short in several key areas that I believe are crucial for long-term success in affiliate marketing.

In this review, I’ll break down my experience with Powerhouse Affiliate, highlighting both the good and the bad. I’ll explain why, despite some positive aspects, I ultimately decided this program isn’t worth the investment for serious affiliate marketers looking to take their business to the next level.

What is Powerhouse Affiliate?

Powerhouse Affiliate, owned by seasoned online marketer Joey Babineau, who has been in the industry since 2003, could be an ideal platform for those interested in learning about digital marketing, particularly CPA marketing.

The platform focuses on various aspects of digital marketing, including native and display advertising, email marketing, and media buying tactics.

One of the promises of Powerhouse Affiliate is to teach you how super affiliates make thousands of dollars every day earning CPA affiliate commissions. 

CPA affiliate marketing, or Cost Per Action affiliate marketing, is a performance-based marketing model where affiliates earn commissions for driving specific actions from users, rather than just sales.

Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative

Who is Joey Babineau?

Joey Babineau is the mastermind behind Powerhouse Affiliate, an online performance marketing business that he’s been successfully managing for over 17 years.

Joey is a Canadian-born affiliate marketing expert who knows how to generate high-quality traffic to websites using both free and paid methods. With his extensive knowledge, he created his YouTube channel and website to help others learn how to monetize their web traffic through affiliate marketing.

Content is king, according to Joey, and he firmly believes that creating excellent content is the key to success in any business. He shares his knowledge about monetization strategies through affiliate marketing, Google AdSense, and building your own products on his YouTube channel.

In addition to sharing his expertise on affiliate marketing, Joey also regularly posts videos on lead generation, advertising, content marketing, building landing pages, and sales funnels to maximize business growth.

If you want to get a taste of his teaching style, you might check out his latest video on how to build an email list with solo ads:

What’s Inside Powerhouse Affiliate?

The training at Powerhouse Affiliate is meticulously structured to cater to different levels of expertise, from novices to seasoned professionals. Here’s what you can get with the training program:

Core Training Courses

• CPA Marketing Certification: This course transforms beginners into proficient CPA marketers, teaching them how to turn clicks into potential earnings. It covers advanced strategies for building email lists, creating compelling content, and optimizing campaigns for maximum engagement and conversion.
• Native and Display Advertising: This course delves into creating visually compelling and highly engaging ads that blend seamlessly with the platforms they are placed on. It includes strategies for effective audience targeting, ad campaign optimization, and performance measurement.
• Google 30-Day Challenge: An intensive, 30-day course designed to help members master Google search for affiliate marketing. It includes a series of challenges that enhance skills and broaden understanding of Google’s ecosystem, aiming to maximize affiliate marketing potential on this platform.

Community and Resources

• Forums and Private Messaging: Members have access to forums for community discussions and private messaging to connect with other marketers, facilitating meaningful interactions and exchanges.
• Landing Page Templates and Case Studies: The platform provides high-converting landing page templates and detailed case studies, offering real-world examples and insights into successful campaigns.
• Live Sessions and Priority Support: Members can participate in live training sessions and receive priority support through a dedicated helpdesk, ensuring timely assistance for any queries or issues.

Powerhouse Affiliate stands out by regularly updating its training content to reflect the latest industry trends, ensuring that members have access to the most current and effective strategies for affiliate marketing success.

Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative

How is the Training Structured?

The founder, Joey, will guide you through five stages to build your own CPA business.

However, it’s worth noting that CPA marketing can be tricky and costly, so it might not be the best option for newbies.

With that said, let’s dive into how Powerhouse Affiliate works:

Stage 1: Affiliate Marketing Certification

The first step of the Powerhouse Affiliate Training program is all about getting the right information. This part of the course covers the basics of affiliate marketing and helps you understand the jargon.

Here are the topics covered in Stage 1:

• How You Will Achieve Success
• How You Make Money As an Affiliate
• Niche & Target Market Research
• Setting Up Your Website Part 1
• Setting Up Your Website Part 2
• Time to Make Money With Blogs & Landing Pages
• Set Up High Converting Landing Pages
• Tips for Profitable Landing Pages
• Tracking
• An Overview of Website Traffic
• Free Traffic? Really?
• The 90 Day Challenge

Stage 2: Monetization Channels

Once you have the basics down, it’s time to start collecting emails and building your own online wealth. Stage 2 covers how to set up landing pages and email campaigns, which are crucial for paid traffic later on.

Here are the topics covered in Stage 2:

• The Affiliate Funnel & Email Autoresponder
• Creating Your “Opt-In Bait” & Squeeze Page
• Auto Responders & Squeeze Pages
• Auto Responder Sequences
• Tracking Your Email Opt-ins & Subscriber Rates
• The Blog “Pre-Funnel” Strategy
• List Segmentation

Stage 3: Performance Marketing Arbitrage

In Stage 3, Joey and his team will teach you how to use CPA offers to build a white hat affiliate campaign. You’ll learn how to get leads, promote affiliate offers, set up a marketing funnel, create landing pages, drive traffic to your website, and more.

Here are the topics covered in Stage 3:

• What Is CPA Affiliate Marketing?
• How to Get Accepted into Top CPA Networks
• CPA Offers, Restrictions & Traffic Sources
• How To Collect Leads and Prepare Your Killer Sales Funnel
• Setting up The Squeeze Page
• Setting Up The Tripwire/Landing Page (Advertorial)
• Connecting the Dots & Setting Up Auto-Pilot Sales
• Strategy 2 – The Landing Page “Hack”

Stage 4: Advanced Traffic

Traffic is essential for any online marketing campaign, and Stage 4 focuses on how to get it. You’ll learn how to track and evaluate data accurately, as well as specific traffic methods like Solo Ads, Bing Ads, Push Notification Traffic, Video Traffic, Facebook Traffic, and Native Ads.

Here are the topics covered in Stage 4:

• 4 Pillars for the Foundation of a Traffic Surge
• Solo Ads
• Bing Ads Traffic
• Push Notification Traffic
• Video Traffic
• Facebook Traffic
• Native Ads

Stage 5: Advanced Strategies

The final stage covers Native Ads and how to get traffic that allows you to apply aggressive strategies to grow your business quickly.

Here are the topics covered in Stage 5:

• Webinar worth watching
• What Are Native Ads and Display Networks
• Best Landing Pages for Native Ads
• What is the Perfect Advertorial?
• The Ads and Networks
• Optimizing and Scaling Native Ads

How Much Does Powerhouse Affiliate Cost?

It costs $397 to join Powerhouse Affiliate. It gives you lifetime access to all courses (including certification and masterclass courses), forum access, case studies, landing page templates, live sessions, priority support, and more.

If you’re not sure if the course really works, you might consider the monthly member plan. It only costs $29 per month.

In addition to the course fee, you’ll also need to invest in a few other things to launch a successful affiliate marketing business:

• Web hosting e.g. Bluehost ($40 to $100 per year)
• WordPress editor for creating landing pages e.g. Optimize Press ($99 per year)
• Paid traffic fee ($500 to $2000 a month)

Refund Policy

Powerhouse Affiliate offers a 14-day money-back guarantee.

So if you try it out and decide it’s not for you, you can get your money back.

Recommendation: Here’s The Best Alternative

Powerhouse Affiliate Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Comprehensive Training: Powerhouse Affiliate offers top-notch training modules covering both basic and advanced affiliate marketing strategies.
• Up-to-date Content: The course material is consistently reviewed and updated with the latest affiliate marketing practices.
• Diverse Learning Resources: Training is available in both video and written formats, catering to different learning preferences.
• Supportive Community: Members have access to a private support group and forum with over 98,000 members, providing valuable networking opportunities.
• Real-world Case Studies: The platform offers behind-the-scenes looks at successful CPA marketing campaigns.
• Landing Page Library: Members get access to a library of proven, high-converting landing pages.
• Multiple Certification Courses: Offers various certification courses including Affiliate Marketing, Website Traffic, CPA Marketing, Email Marketing, and Native & Display Ads.
• Affordable Pricing: With options starting from $29 per month, it’s relatively accessible for beginners.

Cons:

• Additional Costs: Users need to invest in external tools and advertising to fully implement the strategies taught.
  Learning Curve: The advanced courses may be overwhelming for absolute beginners.
• Limited Free Traffic Methods: The focus is primarily on paid advertising strategies, with limited emphasis on free traffic generation methods.
• Potential Information Overload: With multiple courses and a large community, some users might find the amount of information overwhelming.
• Dependency on Paid Traffic: Many strategies taught rely heavily on paid advertising, which might not be suitable for those with limited budgets.
• Time Investment: Implementing the strategies effectively requires a significant time commitment, which may be challenging for some users.

Is Powerhouse Affiliate a Scam? My Personal Experience…

Powerhouse Affiliate is not a scam. The course has some value and you’ll learn the basics of affiliate marketing. However, I’m not a fan of their approach because it’s easier said than done.

One of the first things I noticed about Powerhouse Affiliate was the strong focus on solo ads as a primary traffic source. Solo ads involve paying someone with a large email list to send out a promotional email on your behalf. While this can drive traffic quickly, it’s also incredibly expensive. The cost per click for solo ads can range from $0.30 to $1.00 or more, depending on the quality of the list and the niche. This means that even a modest campaign can quickly run into hundreds or thousands of dollars.

In my experience, the return on investment (ROI) for solo ads is highly unpredictable. Despite spending a significant amount on solo ads, I found that the conversion rates were disappointingly low. Many of the leads generated through solo ads were not genuinely interested in my offers, resulting in poor engagement and few sales. 

Joey Babineau also emphasizes the use of sales funnels to maximize affiliate commissions. While sales funnels can be a powerful tool for converting leads into customers, they require a substantial upfront investment in tools and software. Building an effective sales funnel involves costs for landing page builders, email marketing services, and various other tools. It’s also time consuming to optimise a sales funnel for maximum conversion.

During my time with Powerhouse Affiliate, I invested heavily in building and optimizing sales funnels as recommended. However, the results were far from satisfactory. The high costs associated with maintaining and testing different funnel configurations quickly added up, and the returns did not justify the investment.

In my case, despite following the training and strategies provided by Powerhouse Affiliate, I ended up incurring substantial losses. The unpredictable nature of solo ad traffic and the ongoing expenses of sales funnel optimization made it difficult to achieve a positive ROI.

So, if you’re a new marketer, I’d caution you against using Joey Babineau’s methods to start an affiliate marketing business. His approach can quickly deplete resources, leaving little room for error.

Is There A Better Alternative?

If you want to learn affiliate marketing in the right way, I’d recommend you to get started with the best training platform Wealthy Affiliate.

It offers you a free account (including a free website) with comprehensive training on SEO (free traffic methods) which enables you to get started with affiliate marketing right away without paying a penny.

But How Much Can You Earn with Wealthy Affiliate?

A 21-year old student from Wealthy Affiliate was able to earn $7,395 in just 1 week, which means he made more than $1k a day…all while using free traffic methods.

Where to Join Wealthy Affiliate?

Wealthy Affiliate has a very simple pricing scheme. It has free and premium membership.

If you want to feel about Wealthy Affiliate, you can sign up for the free starter membership here (no credit card required). You can select to be a free member with no time limit.

And as a starter member, you can get instant access to the community, live chat, over 500 training modules, 2 classrooms, networking, commenting, 1 free website, access to the keyword tool.

Jack Davis

Jack Davis is an internet entrepreneur. He created the Affiliate Marketing Masterclass and offers personal coaching on affiliate marketing. He has been featured in major publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, and CNBC for his achievements in online marketing. He owns more than 10 niche websites and has made millions of dollars from them. So, he’s the guy you can trust when it comes to building niche sites and SEO.