Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Review: Is Michelle’s Course Worth It?
This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via my links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See my disclosure for more info.
TL;DR: Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is the course I took when I was starting out with affiliate marketing, and it is still the one I recommend to beginner and early-stage bloggers: structured, honest, and focused on strategy instead of hacks. At $197 with a 30-day refund window, it is fairly priced — but skip it if you already earn steady affiliate income or if what you really need is traffic. Check out Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing here.
There are a lot of affiliate marketing courses, and most of them are sold harder than they teach. So when I review one, I hold it to a simple standard: did it change what I actually do? This one did — it is where I learned to treat affiliate marketing as recommending things honestly to people who trust you, rather than scattering links and hoping.
Here is my full review: what is inside, what it costs, where it shines, and who genuinely should not buy it.
What is Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing?
It is a self-paced online course by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, the blogger behind Making Sense of Cents. Michelle grew her affiliate income to over $50,000 per month, and the course teaches the exact strategy behind that — with the obvious caveat that her results are hers, not a template for yours.
The course itself is 6 modules with 30+ lessons, covering the fundamentals: how affiliate marketing works, finding and getting accepted into programs, staying on the right side of disclosure rules, building trust with your audience, and turning existing content into content that converts. You get lifetime access, including future updates.
If you are brand new to the concept, my primer on affiliate marketing for beginners explains the model itself — this review assumes you know roughly what affiliate marketing is and are deciding whether to invest in learning it properly.
Pricing
| Option | Price |
|---|---|
| One-time payment | $197 |
| Payment plan | 2 payments of $105 |
Both options include lifetime access, all future updates, and the bonuses. There is a 30-day full refund policy if the course is not what you hoped — which takes most of the risk out of trying it. Note that the payment plan costs $13 more in total, so pay once if you can. Current pricing and bonuses are listed on the course page.
What the course does well
It teaches strategy that does not expire. Algorithms and platforms have changed a lot since this course launched; the core of it — pick products your audience genuinely needs, build trust first, promote deliberately — has not. That is why I still recommend it in 2026 while plenty of trendier courses have come and gone.
It takes the legal side seriously. Disclosure rules and FTC compliance get proper attention, including a bonus from an attorney on protecting your blog legally. Most courses skip this entirely; it matters more every year.
The community is quietly the best bonus. Buying the course gets you into the private Facebook mastermind, plus bi-weekly “Ask Michelle Saturday” group coaching. Getting your specific questions answered is worth a lot when you are stuck at the messy beginning.
Practical bonuses over filler. The Pinterest traffic training by Lauren McManus, the affiliate-approval guidance from an affiliate manager, and the worksheets are the kind of extras you actually open twice.
One-time price. $197 once, with updates included, compares well against the subscription-model course platforms that quietly cost more every year you stay subscribed.
Where it falls short (and who should not buy it)
It will not solve your traffic problem. This is the big one. Affiliate income is a percentage of the attention you already have. The Pinterest bonus helps, but this is a conversion and strategy course, not a traffic course — if your blog has close to zero visitors, buy this later and spend the next six months publishing instead.
Experienced affiliates will know a chunk of it. If you already earn consistent affiliate income, understand disclosure rules, and have a promotion system, you are past the target audience. This course is for beginners and early-intermediate bloggers.
It leans blog-and-email. The strategies translate to other platforms, but the worked examples live mostly in blogging and Pinterest land. If you are a video-first creator with no blog, expect to do some translating yourself.
The community lives on Facebook. If you have deleted Facebook on principle, you lose a real slice of the value.
And the obvious one: Michelle’s $50,000-per-month results made this course famous, and they are also the least repeatable thing about it. Buy it for the system, not as a lottery ticket.
Who it is for — my verdict
Buy Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing if you have a blog (or are seriously building one), some early traffic, and affiliate links that earn little to nothing. That is exactly the gap this course closes: it turns “I put some links in my posts” into an actual strategy. It is the course I credit with making affiliate marketing for bloggers click for me, and the approach it teaches works well beyond your own blog too — the same thinking applies on newer platforms, like I describe in my post on sharing recommendations with Benable.
Skip it if you have no content and no traffic yet, or if you are already past the beginner stage. Courses are only worth it when they meet you where you are. If you want to test the waters first, my free affiliate marketing tips ebook for bloggers costs you an email address and nothing else.
FAQ
How much does Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing cost?
$197 as a one-time payment, or two payments of $105. Both include lifetime access, future updates, the bonuses, and the private mastermind community. There are no upsells hiding behind the checkout, which I appreciate.
Is Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing worth it for beginners?
Yes — beginners are exactly who it is built for. It assumes no prior affiliate knowledge and walks through the full system step by step. The honest condition: you need content and at least some traffic for the strategies to have raw material to work with.
Can I get a refund if I do not like it?
Yes, there is a 30-day full refund policy. That makes the practical risk of trying it low: go through the first modules seriously, and if it is not for you, ask for your money back within the window.
Do I need a blog to take the course?
The strategies are taught primarily through a blogging-and-email lens, so you will get the most out of it with a blog. It can work for other platforms, but if you have nothing yet, start the blog first and take the course once you are publishing.
How fast will I make money with it?
Slower than the sales page testimonials suggest, for most people. Realistically you are looking at months of applying the system while your traffic grows. The course shortens the learning curve; it does not remove the work.
The bottom line
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing remains my standard recommendation for bloggers who want to earn from recommendations without turning into a walking advertisement. It is honest, thorough, fairly priced at $197, and protected by a 30-day refund policy. Head over to the course page to see everything that is included — and if you are not ready yet, bookmark it and go build the traffic it will eventually multiply.
