Product Name: SFI Internet Income
Website: www.sfimg.com
Type of business: MLM/ Affiliate Marketing
Price: Free (With hidden up sells)
Owners: Ben Moskel and Dave Clabeaux
Overall Rank: 9 out of 100 (SCAM)
SFI is a program which I have never heard of (Surprisingly) but I decided to try it out anyways as requests were starting to pile up.
I have to admit, the free to join policy did get off some burdens of my chest but I still keep my eyes open and try to spot for signs of scams to show on my review.
Turns out that despite the cool marketing and sales page, the inside part is terrible so do bear with me as I unveil the truth about SFI below.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- NO pros at all besides the fact that it’s free to join. But I take that back because you will need to pay more hidden costs after you’re in.
Cons
- The sales video is a lie because they told you that you’ll be making millions by processing transactions and filling boxes but in truth, you’ll be doing something entirely different which is promoting ClickBank products on Google AdSense.
- UNREALISTIC expectations on making millions overnight (The very definition of a scam)
- The program focuses ENTIRELY on Google ads which is a really insecure move because Google will soon block the spamming of affiliate links.
- VERY confusing to get a grasp of what you are actually supposed to due to the lack of direction.
- It is a pyramid scheme, and one of the worsts ones at that.
- Lessons are out of date and doesn’t work with today’s Google updates.
- You risk paying more for your membership than you actually earn (a common complaint)
- ZERO customer support (They only want your money)
- DIFFICULT to get a refund.
- Loads of complains and bad reviews all over the web.
Golly, that’s a lot of scams! Better check out my #1 recommendation here instead!
So what is SFI all about really?
Created by Ben and Dave, SFI is a platform for making money online through MLM and affiliate marketing.
Affiliate Marketing is one of the most legitimate ways any newbie can make money online by selling other people’s products in exchange for huge commission (between 40%-70%!)
However to make affiliate marketing work, it needs to be brought about correctly, not spam it all over the place without a strong base.
SFI claims that all we need to do is fill in boxes and process transactions and money will be literally thrown at our feet.
But all of those are just a hoax to reel you in because once you’re in, you WON’T even be doing that!
Instead, you’ll be promoting Click Bank products with Google AdSense which speaking from my experiences, is a bad move because Google will see that as a spam.
The fact that it is a pyramid scheme is also very disturbing and this can clearly be seen once you’re inside JUST after you become a member.
You’ll be told that you need to become an Executive Affiliate (You need to pay every month), refer 5 innocent people to join, and make your referrals refer more people.
SFI Red Flags
There are simple cons, and there are dangerous annoying cons that rip you off.
After trying out SFI, I came to experience a few red flags that made me feel completely ripped off that you should concern yourself with if you’re thinking of joining this program too.
1) They FORCE you to only choose BrainHost web hosting.
Every website needs a web host to store all your website files. (Here’s my blog post on that!)
It is like the heart of a website, but it certainly doesn’t mean that only one company is trustworthy.
There are several great web hosts that work really fine such as BlueHost, DreamHost and HostGator (Which I am personally using now) as they even came out in 2014’s PC Mag which is a very established PC news site.
But is this Brainhost that SFI is forcing you to buy so much even listed inside PC Mag?
Not at all!
Ben and Dave wants you to join BrainHost so much because they are actually selling you that through their affiliate link and that if you join, they make more sweet commissions out of it (they will get a 75% commission on the $200+ sale).
In my personal opinion, there are way better web hosts than BrainHost but the reason Ben and Dave promote this so much is because the commission they will be getting is the highest compared to other web hosting companies.
I don’t know about you but I feel really ripped off considering that there are other better web hosts out there which also have affiliate programs but Ben and Dave aren’t even interested in promoting for value, they are only interested in promoting for the biggest money that goes to their pockets.
This shows that they only care about taking your money for their own and not really helping you.
2) They don’t actually tell you what you will be doing
Perhaps the most irritating part of all!
You paid a few hundred bucks (Yes, you actually need to pay but I’ll get on that later) and they ask you to do this and that but you will NEVER actually get what they are trying to make you do!
I was so frustrated because with the amount of money I spent, I at least expect an insight on what the program wants you to make money because that way, you understand more and will be able to think of more ways on how to boost your income.
For example, if a program tells you that their goal is to teach you SEO and they provide lessons, you just KNOW that everyone won’t be doing the exact same thing as they have their own ways on how to scale their business.
Some people might focus more on content writing, whereas some other people focus more on keywords and somewhere in between, there is this jack of all trades who masters every single trick in the book.
The point of the matter is that NOT telling you want you are supposed to do is very annoying as you are just following directions blindly which can be dangerous because it is your business and you are paying for it, not the other way around.
3) Outdated lessons on affiliate marketing.
Affiliate Marketing today and 10 years back is completely different especially after Google’s updates.
How I get my website up and running with a constant stream of traffic (visitors) is by doing it the right and legitimate way – by getting my website on the first page of Google.
Take a look at this…
As seen from the picture, my website came out on the first page of Google!
You can do that too by learning from the best online business course that I can recommend here.
Although tweaking my website to suit Google is a tad boring process, I believe that it is the best way to do affiliate marketing legitimately because of reasons like…
- You portray that your site is established and professional (Because getting your site on the first page of Google is tricky)
- You are not being pushy because people can have a choice to click on that Google link or not.
- You don’t have to waste money on ads which costs thousands of dollars.
The practice of getting your site on the first page of Google is called SEO and it is the safest most professional way to do affiliate marketing or any type of online business.
Ben and Dave on the other hand, use outdated not to mention black hat SEO tricks like using backlinks and submitting one article on hundreds of directories which in my personal opinion, is not a very wise and ethical move.
Do they offer quality support?
Not at the very least.
There are also NO communities to join too, I wanted so desperately to find other members and ask if they are having similar problems as me and after reading their bad reviews and comments, I came to realize that SFI doesn’t want you to mingle around as bad words might spread like fire.
Getting a refund is next to impossible too when I tried to claim back my money because I was so fed up and they never even replied me!
I couldn’t even access my website despite all my emails to them which really made me upset because it was my money that I spent and they had no right to take the website away from me.
I realized that Ben and Dave used the members’ websites for their own advertisement purposes to promote SFI which is really a dirty trick to play on innocent people like me.
Want a Program With an Active Community Which You Could Learn and Get Help Easily? Find Out More Here!
The Pricing Strategy
Although it is free to join, SFI is definitely isn‘t free.
What Bend and Dave didn’t tell you is that there are upsells and hidden costs that you have to start paying once you’re inside:
- 2 Year Brainhost – $200+
- Domain – $137 (Ripoff Price considering you can actually get one for as low as $11!)
- Google AdSense – requires a LOT of money to advertise which would cost somewhere between $200 – $1000+ depending on how aggressive you want your marketing to be.
- Mentoring program – $1,000-$5,000!
See how they are ripping you off?
Six Figure Income is a messed up program which is clearly a scam that aims at draining your money faster than the amount that you can actually get back so stay away from this program if you don’t want to waste your money on something so mindless.
Six Figure Income vs Wealthy Affiliate
Want to become a Pro Affiliate Marketer?
There is an online course that I highly recommend you joining if you value quality education, 24/7-monitored web host, and an awesome community for which you can mingle around and ask advices from.
There are loads more benefits when it comes to WA so here’s a quick overview of them:
Conclusion
I agree that Six Figure Income can in fact make you some money.
But due to the slimy hidden costs, the lack of support, and the fact that they are not honest when recommending products as they only care about money going into their pockets, Six Figure Income is definitely a SCAM and receives a very low rating of 9 out of 100.
If you’re interested in looking for an honest way to make start your own viable business for free, I advise you to check out my #1 recommendation here instead.
Also, please do share your experiences as every bit of info helps us avoid scams better 🙂 .
Thanks for reading,
Your friend Riaz
www.MyInternetQuest.com