In this Freelance Marketing Secrets review, we’ll answer important questions such as why do many people say Keala Kanae is a scam? Are the contents of the free PDF handbook actually useful? How does his sales funnel work? Who is Keala Kanae and what does he sell?
Freelance Marketing Secrets, also known as Freelance Secrets Download or Freelance Digital Secrets, is a free PDF offered on Keala Kanae’s ads. The free PDF claims to teach you the 3 secrets to becoming a successful affiliate marketer. This PDF giveaway is a marketing campaign with the goal of selling Fullstaq Marketer (previously AWOL Academy) courses.
Affiliate marketing and lead generation are very popular ways to earn passive income online by promoting other businesses. But compared to affiliate marketing, local lead generation provides a more predictable income flow. You don't have to worry about high market competition or spending for paid ads. Check out Local Lead Generation if you want to know more.
Is Freelance Marketing Secrets a Scam?
Why do people call Freelance Marketing Secrets ebook and the masterclass webinar a scam? I found several reviews that explain why these people believe the PDF and webinar are a scam. Basically, it points to the sales funnel that starts with the freebies. Many people find these tactics and upselling to be sleazy.
So, is it a scam? Technically, no. They do offer legit products and services, and it's your choice to purchase them. What you may find offputting is the constant upselling after every purchase you make.
To get the Freelance Marketing Secrets PDF, you only have to enter your email address. You will then get an email that sounds more like a sales pitch. You'll find the link for the PDF download at the bottom of the email.
The basic information in the PDF is easy to find on the internet for free. It’s the same process used and taught by many affiliate marketers and courses. In addition, there’s a link on every page of the PDF that directs you to sign up for the free "master class."
If you sign up for the free masterclass, they will direct you to a page where you can pick a schedule for the "live" event. It doesn't matter what schedule you pick as it is just a pre-recorded 1 and a half hour video made to look like it's live. Keala promises the masterclass is not a sales pitch.
You can even use the chat box, but no matter what you say, no one is going to mind you as it is a recording. Keala even mentions a few times he will not be able to check the chat box or he'll turn off the notifications since it's distracting.
A third of the video is just a collection of stories of his students and their successes. The other third of the masterclass video is full of motivational talk to get you to purchase his Fullstaq course at a "limited offer". Only the remaining third talks about the same 3 "secrets" in the PDF in more detail.
Ads is King
In an interview with entrepreneur Ryan Pineda, Keala spends over $1M a month on ads claiming that whoever can pay the most to acquire the customer wins. The company scaled too fast, and they were losing real money. This drove Keala to push for the role of CEO in 2018. The disagreements and mess in management moved Keala to buy out the company from his co-founder.
The best path to success with affiliate marketing is through effective ad campaigns. The more you spend on ads, the more traffic you get. This limits you from scaling too quickly, as you risk losing money on ineffective ads, like what happened to AWOL Academy.
Pros and Cons of Freelance Marketing Secrets PDF and Masterclass
Pros
The PDF and masterclass are free.
Keala Kanae is a successful marketer with tons of experience who knows what he's talking about.
Cons
Constant sales pitch. They will flood your inbox with emails pushing their programs. Fullstaq Marketer has a reputation for upsells and hidden charges.
We can find most of the information elsewhere.
"Live" masterclass is just a pre-recorded video.
Who Is the Freelance Freelance Digital Secrets Masterclass For?
- Newbies who are looking for a passive income business and want to learn how to set up their own affiliate sales funnel. You can grasp the basics from the PDF and masterclass.
- Entrepreneurs who already have a product or service that they are selling or promoting and want to learn how to create a sales funnel in order to get more traffic.
What Does Freelance Marketing Secrets Teach You?
The handbook is a 10-page PDF that teaches about Keala's 3 freelance marketing secrets which is basically a crash course on how to start your affiliate business. The “secrets” are the 3 basic steps on how to start your affiliate marketing business.
The first step is to find an audience that has a problem that needs a solution or a desire that needs fulfillment. The way to find a profitable audience is to use the Google Keyword Planner, which is a free tool. You type a topic and the Keyword Planner shows several related searches and the monthly search volume.
Once you have a target audience, you need to find a good product to promote. You must find a product that sells well and pays a decent commission. You can find tons of products to promote by searching "affiliate networks" on Google. The PDF also provides you with several affiliate network links. You can also apply as an affiliate on marketplace sites like Amazon and eBay.
After you identify an audience and have a product to promote, you need to create a sales funnel that allows you to automate the whole process. An ad brings the audience to a "squeeze page," which is a simple website designed to capture the contact information of the person who clicked the ad link.
The squeeze page offers the visitor an incentive to give their contact information (ex: a free PDF that is delivered via email). If the customer opts in on the squeeze page, it will direct them to your affiliate link to receive the offer. The email captured will also automatically follow-up on the customer using tools such as Autoresponder.
What Is in the Freelance Digital Secrets Masterclass?
If you sign up for the pre-recorded "live" masterclass, you'll receive another email with the link to the video. You'll also get a "study guide" PDF which contains screen shots and space for you to take notes. In the email, he tells you to watch until the end for an important reason. Why? That's because that's where he makes the course offer.
According to Keala, in the master class you will discover:
3 Affiliate Marketer Tools
Keala teaches how the 3 tools you can use to be a successful affiliate marketer work.
- ClickFunnels - this is the tool you will use to create your website and sales funnels for $97 a month. Signing up with the Fullstaq link gives you a 14-day free trial.
- GetResponse - a tool to build your email list and automatically send emails to customers. It costs $17 a month with a 14-day free trial if you sign up using the Fullstaq link.
- Bluehost - for $59 a year, you’ll be able to have your website hosted on the internet.
The Big 3 Niches
Keala also suggests that you stick to the "big 3" when searching for a product to promote. These 3 are:
- Money and Wealth - products such as marketing courses, e-learning packages, and the likes.
- Health and Wellness - some examples under this niche are digital fitness programs, supplement products, medicinal products, etc.
- Love and Relationships - relationship how-to books, dating apps and programs, and anniversary gifts are a few examples of this niche.
These are the 3 niches that sell well, and promoting those niche products will give you the highest chance of earning a lot of commission. For example, you could start a blog or find freelance jobs on writing sites that pay daily and add links to your content.
After every lesson, there are motivational talks where he gives success stories of students of his courses. He strategically placed these stories to hype you up and help convince you to grab the offer at the end of the video. The pitch is that you get $3,000 worth of programs for a limited offer of $99. This purchase also comes with a 14-day money back guarantee.
Who Is Keala Kanae?
Keala Kanae is an 8-figure affiliate marketer in Las Vegas, Nevada. Originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, Keala graduated in psychology at the University of Hawaii in 2006. While buried in student debt, Keala tried many jobs and investments, such as network marketing (MLM), options trading, and forex. It was in 2012, while he was working in a coffee shop, when he heard about affiliate marketing.
7 months later, he earned his first 5-figure income in a month as an affiliate marketer. He did Facebook solo ads in 2012-2013 before paying for a targeted email list to do email marketing. He mostly made his fortune marketing water ionizers and digital mastermind courses. This is where he got the idea of starting his own coaching business.
In 2015, he launched his coaching business and co-founded AWOL Academy. The affiliate marketing and digital marketing courses were very successful at first. Towards the end of 2018, AWOL Academy lost steam and started losing money. Keala Kanae bought out the business from his co-founder, Kameron George, and rebranded it. At the start of 2019, he launched the rebranded Fullstaq Marketer.
Fullstaq Marketer Courses
What you'll get for $99 is basically what's in the Fullstaq Accelerator course. Fullstaq has 4 courses, and according to reviews, there will be constant upsells for the other courses. If you want to know more about the courses and what's in them, check out my Fullstaq Marketer review.
What Do Students Say About Fullstaq Marketer Courses?
There are about 400 reviews on Trustpilot giving Fullstaq a 4.8 review score. If you inspect most positive reviews though, they mostly seem like generic reviews that are posted consecutively. Keep in mind that Fullstaq Marketer also has its own affiliate program, hence you should take these reviews with a grain of salt as there may be motive to this review flooding.
I've dug in and gathered more detailed review and they are less than positive. You can check out those generic positive reviews on Trustpilot and compare them to these to help you decide if this is for you. You can also check out BBB for more of these reviews.
If you're thinking twice, you can check out other affiliate marketing courses such as Wealthy Affiliate and Authority Hacker. Or you can even try your hand with another type of online marketing such as social media marketing with courses like Productized Profits.
Alternative Freelancing Courses
Why I like Local Lead Generation More Than Affiliate Marketing?
There are many types of internet marketing strategies. What I've found works best is local lead generation. This business model is like a mix of real estate and online marketing. Check out this detailed comparison to know why lead generation works better than affiliate marketing.
In a nutshell, lead generation works by using SEO tactics to rank your sites on google. You rent out to local businesses who pay you to advertise their business and bring them leads.
4 Key Points
So if you are looking to be a business owner that earns passive income that can bring you time and financial freedom, check out Local Lead Generation. Much easier business to build than affiliate marketing imo.
