Is IMPho a scam or your best bet to success?

IMPho Review

Product: IMPho
Overall Ranking: 80 points out of 100, 4 out of 5 stars
Price: Starter member $0, Premium member is $1 for 7 days then $27 monthly, 3 month plan $67 every quarter, Lifetime membership $147
Owner: Allen Payne
Website: http://www.impho.com

Introduction

I came across IMPho by chance and after seeing all the scam sites online I was a little skeptic of this site as well. But in the end IMPho, founded by Allen Payne, turns out to be a genuine site. A good place to start if you are thinking of starting an online business. You can get the training you need at a reasonable cost to get your business going.

Who is Allen Payne?

Allen Payne has been an internet marketer since 2002. He has authored several information products and has built a substantial affiliate business. Alan started out as a waiter and has achieved success without having any previous marketing experience.

What is IMPho?

IMPho is an internet marketing training program. In addition to the training you benefit from a community of like minded internet marketers, resources, marketing tools and support.
The site was started in 2011. The name of the site, IMPho, simply means Internet Marketing Phorum.

Who is this for?

Although the program is for anyone who wants to start an internet business, I would say it is more for someone who has already ready some online experience and wants to take their business to the next level. Having said that some of the training does start with the basics of setting up a WordPress website, getting a domain name, etc which is good for the complete newcomer.

If a newbie signs up for a free trial and they go to the Starter Pack, where the first thing you are shown is about list building, quite honestly they will be lost.

This is who Allen Payne says the site is for:

PROS & CONS

Pros

• free starter membership
• $1 7 day trial for premium membership
• month to month money back guarantee
• no upsells
• warning not to expect to get rich overnight
• non members can join the affiliate scheme
• step by step training

Cons

• starter pack training not aimed at newbies
• you don’t have access to all training when you sign-up for premium membership. You have to sign-up for lifetime membership to access all the training modules or stay a Premium member for a few months.
• some training a little dated
• web hosting not included
• no keyword tool

The training and tools

The Internet Marketing Training

The Starter Pack

As a free member you have access to the affiliate bootcamp and the  forums. The affiliate bootcamp is for promoting IMPho, so that you can make some money from their affiliate program.

I found it a little strange that step 1 was about sending promotional emails to your list. If you are just starting in internet marketing you won’t have a list! There are several other modules in the Bootcamp that assume you already have a list or a website.

Although there is some useful information and some good tools for promoting IMPho in the starter pack, I had imagined it would teach us more about building a website and getting traffic to build our own list.

All in all a strange introduction for someone who is completely new to internet marketing.

Premium Training

The Premium training is made up of 480 modules. The training is presented either in the form text or video. Some of the training is aimed at beginners and some at more experienced marketers.

Here is a brief look at what is included in the training modules.

The “30 Days To Success” Challenge

This is where you are encouraged to start. In the 30 Days Challenge you are shown how to build an email list and start making money by either selling your own products or by affiliate marketing. You are also shown how to build your own website and to get traffic with both free and paid methods.

You have to choose a niche, but if you have not found your own niche you are recommended to promote IMPho through their affiliate program. You get a 50% recurring commission on all sales when people sign-up to IMPho through your affiliate link.

I had signed up for a 7 day trial and wanted to have a look at what was offered and the quality of the training. After I had quickly looked at the first 7 training modules, I was told that the courses were delivered on a weekly or monthly basis.

However, it was possible to unlock the content by paying for an extension. After clicking on the link, I was taken to a clickbank page for a lifetime membership and access to all content for a one time payment of $147.

Affiliate Marketing & Blogging

In this section of the training there is a lot of information.

• how to build your own website with WordPress
• get a domain name and hosting
• write content
• how to start in affiliate marketing and choose a good product to promote
• how to become Amazon super affiliate
• CPA marketing
• how to make money from niche blogs
• how to build an email list from your blog

Product Creation & Selling

In this part of the course you are shown how to create your own digital product and promote it.

Web Traffic Generation

This part of the course as the name suggests teaches you about how to get traffic to your website. Starting from choosing a targeted keyword phrase, submitting to social book marking sites, going on to AdWords, article marketing, banner ads and social media.

Local Business Marketing

Training that shows you how to approach local businesses and what products or services to sell them. You are shown several methods of how to make money from your local business market.

Allen’s Best Selling Reports

You are shown different business models to enable you to create different income streams. These are models that Allen Payne says he is using himself.

Premium Video Walk-Throughs

Step-by-step videos for the beginner to the advanced internet marketer. The types of subjects that are treated are keyword research, forum marketing, Pinterest or rapid Google indexing.

Each month there is meant to be a new video, but the last one was posted July 2013.

Email Marketing & List Building

With this module you will learn how to: build your own email list, create a monthly newsletter, do an email broadcast and drive more traffic to your site.

Search Engine Optimization

You are taught DIY search engine optimization.

WordPress & Tech Tutorials

This module teaches you how to set up a website with WordPress and then there is a section of how to videos that treat a wide range of subjects.

There is a good selection of training, for the most part quite good but some a little dated. But to have access to all the modules you would have to stay a member of the site for a few months or pay for life membership.

Tools

I found the SEO and Web marketing tools section very disappointing. The most useful tool was probably the keyword rank checker. It’s a shame that there is not a good keyword tool.

There are also the Premium Member Downloads also known as the Done 4 You Resources where  you have access to graphics and templates, newsletter sets, PLR articles, niche website kits and ClickBank review swipes. All these items are available for you to download.

The PLR articles that are offered might be useful to get ideas, but you need to write your own articles with original content.

Help and support

It is possible to get help and support by several means – posting a question in the forum, you can message Allen or a community member, leave a comment or a question after each training module or open a ticket at the Helpdesk.

How much to join?

You can join as a starter member for free. You don’t have access to much training, but you do have access to the forums and community members.

Premium membership is $1 for 7 days then $27 monthly. If you are thinking of joining IMPho try the 7 day trial to see what you think of the training. The only drawback with this (or even the $27 monthly subscription) is that you don’t have access to all the training. You will have to be a lifetime member or stay a member for a few months to see all the training.

Premium 3 month plan $67 every 3 months

Lifetime membership $147

My final opinion

IMPho is definitely not a scam, it is one of the better sites online for teaching internet marketing and quite good value for money. There is certainly a great deal information available, but I am not sure that it is arranged in the best manner for someone starting an internet business. For instance if I was a newbie I would like to see a step-by-step lesson that starts from building your website, creating content, opt-in form and then dealing with you email list. All the information is there, but may be not in a logical order or in the same place.

This is a genuine program that offers a free trial, which is quite rare, so if you are interested sign-up for the free trial.

One note of caution, as far as I can see the content has not been updated since 22/04/2014 and Allen has started another site http://www.neotuts.com. So will IMPho continue to be updated and improved, will the forum be so active, will Allen still be interacting with the community?

The site does resemble my #1 recommendation Wealthy Affiliate, but the training, tools and support are not of the same quality.  A great original is better than a good imitation!

Visit IMPho.com

See the chart below for a comparison with Wealthy Affiliate.

My Verdict: Recommended