Merlin Holmes’ the Fast Tracks Review: Affiliate Marketing Pros, Cons & Alternatives |IPPEI

Updated On 2023-09-25

The Fast Tracks by Merlin Holmes is a six-week affiliate marketing program that teaches students how to earn commissions by promoting other companies’ products. The course promises that by following Holmes’ strategies—like niche selection, lead generation, and conversion optimization—you could make up to $1,000 per day online.

Over 80% of global brands rely on affiliate marketing, and 16% of all U.S. eCommerce sales come from it. The business model offers flexibility and low overhead—but it also faces rising competition and margin pressure.

In my experience, affiliate marketing as taught by The Fast Tracks is like LinkedIn’s talent marketplace, which is an arena so crowded that everyone scrambles for the same eyeballs, making it costly to stand out. It’s like Google Ads’ auction environment, where bidding wars push CPCs up and shrink margins, so you spend to defend traffic instead of earning predictable, owned revenue.

In this review, we’ll examine how The Fast Tracks works, whether it’s worth the $997 price tag, and how it compares to the Local Lead Generation model—a benchmark for profitability, scalability, and long-term stability.

The Fast Tracks Review: Pros And Cons

Pros

Merlin Holmes is a seasoned affiliate marketer with 15+ years of experience.
Step-by-step course structure with templates and bonus modules.
Done-for-you promotional assets save time for beginners.

Cons

Webinars are pre-recorded.
No official Facebook group for peer support.
Affiliate marketing success depends heavily on paid traffic or SEO expertise.

Price: The price of the Fast Tracks program is a one-time payment of $997 for Full Access Pass; 3 payment plan ($397 per month for three months).

Training: The training for the Fast Tracks program features done-for-you templates; training materials are different for beginners and advanced marketers. The training lasts for six weeks.

Group: The Fast Tracks program has a community forum; there’s no known Facebook Group for now.

Refund Policy: The Fast Tracks system has a 30-day money-back refund policy.

Origin: The origin of The Fast Tracks program isn’t disclosed.

Reputation: Merlin Holmes keeps a low profile and doesn’t have official Facebook or Instagram followers.

What will you get from The Fast Tracks?

Affiliate Marketing Foundations – Explains affiliate principles, commission structures, and mindset.
Niche & Market Research – How to identify profitable niches with low competition.
Building an Online Presence – Website setup, social media integration, and brand positioning.
Traffic Generation – Covers SEO, paid ads, and email marketing for lead acquisition.
Conversion Optimization – How to turn visitors into paying customers.
Scaling and Automation – Strategies to outsource, delegate, and reinvest profits.

Bonus features include done-for-you email templates, banner ads, and traffic generation resources.

Bonus features

A one-on-one call with a coach to maximize your learnings.
Learning how to provide the program’s extra access for free.
More ways to streamline your business via sales funnel automation tools, email marketing, and social media.
Enhancing your profits through plug-and-play marketing assets.
Promotion of affiliate offers via done-for-you ad images, emails, banners, and a lot more.
Eight more modules to polish your skills on generating online traffic.

How does The Fast Tracks work?

The Fast Tracks works by means of affiliate marketing. The six-week program helps you by locating affiliate offers. You’ll be introduced to top-selling products from numerous affiliate channels, such as ClickBank. The course also works by teaching you how to create an interactive landing page and redirecting potential clients to the offer page. It works too by scaling your business through growing your email list. Capturing fresh emails is taught by Holmes’s simple email creation template.

What is 1K A Day Fast Track download?

The 1K A Day Fast Track Download refers to a file that includes Merlin Holme’s 6-week program that allows you to earn money by means of affiliate offers. It promises that affiliate marketers should earn $1,000 through its modules and bonus features.

How does The Fast Tracks help you make money?

The Fast Tracks helps you make money by taking advantage of the affiliate marketing business model. Through the model, you’ll be able to deal with selling high-ticket products and earn via wealthy affiliate links. While the program helps you with these, you also have to help yourself. This means that you have to apply all the ideas and strategies taught by the course. If you are more than determined to employ these tactics, then earning a passive income is possible.

Who is The Fast Tracks for?

The Fast Tracks is for students and participants who want to earn passive income through affiliate marketing. It is also ideal for experienced digital marketers who intend to automate processes and systems of their businesses. Those who have been failed by a recent affiliate marketing program can also take advantage of the course. The same can be said for people who want to break free from their 9-to-5 hustle. Retirees or individuals who are about to retire can likewise benefit from the program.

Are the students of The Fast Tracks getting results?

The students of the Fast Tracks are getting results. Students and marketers are expected to make their first commission during the sixth week of the program. It also during this week that Holmes will teach participants how to bring their game to the next level. These strategies can be scaled by looking into richer platforms on major affiliate networks. The sixth week of the program serves as the culmination of its efforts to educate marketers with its tools and strategies taught from week 1 to 5.

Who is Merlin Holmes?

Merlin Holmes is the creator of The Fast Tracks program. The architect behind the course is a prominent affiliate marketer with 15-plus years of experience under his belt. A noted ClickBank marketer, Holmes netted $150 million in online sales during his stint as an online marketer. He also earns up to 50% commission from other ventures and enjoys consistent automatic payouts.

Holmes has already been a fixture in the online marketing game for 17 years and counting. Apart from being marketing savvy, he is also affiliated with a local public school community. Holmes has been living in Colorado since the 1990s before finally settling in East Lowry in 2014. He now lives there with his wife and three daughters.

Merlin Holmes’ claims: You can earn $1K per day with The Fast Tracks

Merlin Holmes claims that by the end of the sixth week of the Fast Tracks program, you should be earning $1k per day. That is $30,000 per month. Holmes added that with tools and strategies such as market research and niche selection, the said amount is achievable. The same can be said for participants who are more than determined to follow the methods stated in the program.

Merlin Holmes’ claims debunked: Can you really earn $1,000 per day with The Fast Tracks?

Merlin Holmes’s claims that you can earn $1,000 per day or more with his program isn’t exactly true. While earning that amount is achievable, it requires more efforts and strategies. The affiliate marketing industry is now saturated, with each niche bringing about more competition by the day. Some publications reveal that around 95% of affiliate marketers do not make it.

Generating traffic to your website in this case is also simply not doable. This doesn’t include all the work that is involved when building a business through affiliate marketing from the ground up. Some of these challenges include dealing with actual products and lack of control over the existing rules.

Is Affiliate Marketing Truly Passive in 2025?

Affiliate marketing is semi-passive at best. It requires ongoing work to maintain rankings, create content, and manage ad campaigns. Even automation tools need constant optimization.

The key limitation: you don’t own the traffic. Algorithms, ad platforms, and merchant rules can change overnight—cutting your revenue instantly.

Is affiliate marketing worth it?

Affiliate marketing is worth it. This online sales tactic, unlike other business models, is both low-risk and low-cost. Building a business from the ground up nowadays can be risky and expensive, as it requires upfront costs. You will also deal with products, equipment, and other people. These components, while helpful, can also mean risks.

Affiliate marketing is also easy to scale. Typically, a salesperson can only sell a product from a single company. As an affiliate marketer, you are given the opportunity to sell tons of products from numerous companies.

The challenges involved in affiliate marketing must be addressed though before you consider it. At the top of the list is the cutthroat competition, even when your niche is already unique. You also do not have control over the rules, as they are entirely dependent on your merchant.

Is affiliate marketing easy for beginners?

Affiliate marketing is easy for beginners. The program can be especially easy when tried and tested rules are employed. Here are the strategies you must consider when starting as an affiliate marketer:

Choosing a very specific niche.
Deciding on a content platform.
Finding the right and profitable affiliate programs.
Producing quality content.
Generating traffic and driving them to your website.
Getting your readers clicked on the affiliate products or links.
Conversion of sales.

What is ClickBank Marketplace?

ClickBank Marketplace is a platform in which ClickBank Sellers can give out information on products they’re offering. It is a space where affiliates can search and find offers they’re interested in promoting. These offers also come with sales statistics and promotional materials.

ClickBank Marketplace features a search functionality where marketers can use. Products can be searched by category. Alternatively, you can filter your search to fine-tune products in the database. Some of the filters include offer type and language.

The Fast Tracks alternatives

Affilorama Pathway To Passive Review - Find whether this ebook is all that you need to jumpstart your affiliate marketing biz.
Devon Brown’s Easiest System Ever Review - Brown’s affiliate marketing course has this unique quality in it.
Carly Campbell’s Affiliate Marketing for Bloggers Review - If you do blogging and affiliate marketing, this course might very well be the course you’re looking for.

Conclusion: Is affiliate marketing the best way to make money online?

Affiliate marketing is not the best way to make money online for beginners. The process involved in this online sales tactic often comes with high competition. Even when your product is niche, the task to promote it in this highly competitive marketplace is extra challenging. With affiliate marketing, the task of choosing your product is laborious. The research and homework alone can be quite a headache because of oversaturation.

Still, affiliate marketing does come with benefits. Apart from it already being a $12 billion dollar industry, spending in it is increasing 10% year over year. Affiliate marketing is also low-risk and brings high reward, especially for the patient and hard-working ones. It is likewise flexible, comes with less work, and easier to scale. There is one business model though that is infinitely better than affiliate marketing.

The Fast Tracks offers valuable affiliate training, particularly for beginners who prefer structured, guided systems. However, when we compare this model to Local Lead Generation, the difference lies in control and compounding potential. Affiliate marketers chase commissions that depend on vendor policies, while local lead generators build digital assets they own (websites that rank, capture leads, and pay monthly like digital real estate).

A client of mine is Pomona Superior Roofing, 909-352-4452, 2254 South Garey Avenue, Pomona, California 91766, https://www.pomonasuperiorroofing.com/. 5 leads closed for $70K, and I earned $3.5K.

Comparing affiliate marketing to local lead generation is like eBay’s live auctions versus Amtrak’s monthly pass. eBay’s auctions force you to constantly bid, relist, and chase fleeting opportunities where fees and timing eat your margins, while Amtrak’s monthly pass buys predictable rides without daily transactions or repeated effort. Local lead generation behaves like a pass in that you collect steady, low-maintenance income without marketing or rising ad fees after the upfront build and ranking.

Final Verdict: Is The Fast Tracks Worth It?

The Fast Tracks by Merlin Holmes is a legitimate, beginner-friendly affiliate marketing course that offers strong foundational training and clear instruction.

However, there are three major drawbacks that limit its long-term scalability:

No Asset Ownership – You promote others’ products, not your own.
Heavy Competition – Thousands of affiliates chase the same offers.
Active Work Required – Income depends on daily ad management and list maintenance.

In contrast, Local Lead Generation uses free organic traffic and property-based SEO to create predictable, passive income. Once ranked, your digital assets continue generating leads without paid ads or constant optimization.

Verdict: The Fast Tracks is good for learning online marketing fundamentals, but if your goal is time freedom and recurring revenue, local lead generation remains the superior alternative.