Empower Network: The Inception of Deception

Empower Network: Why I Cancelled Service

No matter how new you are to the Internet marketing world I'm sure you have come across many articles and blogs promoting Empower Network.

If you are so much of an Internet or network marketing newbie that you have yet to hear about Empower Network (EN), feel free to do a Google search on the company. You'll find lots of blog posts written on the company and you'll find even more viral blogs written on various sub-domains of the company's main blog.

If researching is not your thing, I'll just go ahead and give you a brief overview of the company.

The Basics of Empower Network

Empower Network was founded by two network marketing "gurus" who claim to have turned the old adage of partial commissions in to 100% commissions.

The basic membership to Empower Network is the viral blog. It is said to be a fully customizable blogging solution set to help you attract more traffic and build your business faster. The viral blog is $25 per month for the ready-made blog and the hosting that keeps the blog online and running.

Empower Network also has other membership upgrades. There is the Inner Circle Mastermind Membership, which is an additional $100 per month for ongoing audio trainings geared towards helping you build a marketing automated machine.

For the record, you can have access to FREE weekly marketing webinars that will give you access to the most up-to-date, explosive business building & lead generation training each and every week.

Yea, not $100 per month... FREE. Head to my blog via the link in the Resource Box

Then there is the Costa Rica Mastermind Intensive. This membership gives you access to an 11-hour video series that is said to teach you how to build a viral marketing machine... wait, isn't that what the Inner Circle was supposed to do? I digress.

There is also an additional upgrade called the 15K Formula.

Listen, there are a bunch of upgrades as you can see. I think you get the point.

Empower Network Affiliate Program

I will note that Empower Network has an affiliate program, which is how you can earn 100% commissions. For each membership you have, you can make 100% commissions on your downline. So with my $25/month viral blog, I could only make commissions on the viral blogs of my downline. So when they pay their $25/month, I am supposed to receive that $25.

If anyone in my downline upgraded, I would never receive any commissions on the upgrades because I, myself, never bought the upgrade. So basically you can never make money off something you didn't pay for or try out for yourself.

I actually like that concept to some extent.

There are plenty of videos that explain their commissions, but basically, you do not receive commissions on every single referral you bring in. You pass up certain commissions, and if your referral upgrades to something you don't have, that commission passes up to your sponsor (the next sponsor that actually has that upgrade).

Empower Network Blogs Are Not Unique

The only membership I paid for was the viral blog. It is true. The blog is setup for you from the very second you confirm your subscription. The only thing it's missing is your unique content. But the blog is not fully customizable (like it claims in it's description). You have very little ability to personalize the blog. This is what I wasn't happy with.

No plugins. No nothing. You can upload your picture. Add a video or two to the side bar. Add a few pages. And that's really it.

You have nothing more than a replicated Empower Network Wordpress blog. Yes, that's all you have. A replicated Wordpress blog. All Empower Network bloggers have the same exact site. They just have different content with different pictures.

Facebook's Beef With Empower Network

Every marketer knows that Facebook is one of the largest money making platforms out there. There are over 1 billion active users on Facebook each month.

So it is no surprise that I was highly pissed off when I found out Facebook does not allow you to post a link to an article featured on an Empower Network blog directly to Facebook.

When you attempt to, you get a popup message that states, "The content you're trying to share includes a link that's been blocked for being spammy or unsafe"

If you search around the net, you will see that people who promote Empower Network will tell you that Facebook blocked Empower Network because of its rapid increase in members and viral blogging nature. Some people go as far as saying Facebook is afraid that Empower Network is too much competition.

Since when did a blog and a social media empire become comparable? Since when did any MLM company compare to a social media empire?... Again, I digress.

Is There a Way Around the Content Block?

Yes there are free 3rd party applications you can use to cloak Empower Network links, but why should I have to go through all that hassle just to share my article to the world? I surely don't have to go through any hassle to post from my own blog (www.keambervaughn.com). Matter of fact, when I publish my post to my blog, everything is automatically sent to Facebook and Twitter with the click of a button.

The Empower Network SPAM to SCAM

Now I'm not quite sure if Facebook blocked Empower Network content because they're haters, they're afraid of Empower Network taking over the site, or what. I've never really been spammed by anyone who promotes Empower Network.

I will be honest and say that most searches I do for internet marketing content almost always has 1-2 Empower Network blogs on the first page.

So maybe using their viral blogging domain does help.

I can't really say Empower is a scam either, because technically you are getting paid for referrals.

The biggest problem I have is that the only product that can be bought by the public-at-large is the viral blogging. All of the upgrades are just that... upgrades. If you don't have the basic $25/month membership, you will never have access to the Inner Circle, the Costa Rica Membership, or the $15K Membership.

That doesn't scream scam to me... but it does scream scheme.

If the Inner Circle, or any other product that is considered an upgrade, has any true value, why isn't there a way to be an affiliate to sell the programs without having to get someone to waste $25/month on a replicated sub domain.

Maybe that referral doesn't like to blog, but loves to learn. Maybe that referral already has a fairly successful blog and doesn't want another one. Maybe that referral's blog is like mine and isn't successful at all yet, but they like the idea of customization and personalization.

In Closing

Yes, I may have had more traffic to my blog under an Empower Network sub-domain, but would I have been happy with it? No.

Yes I want traffic. Yes I want to be successful. But I rather work hard on something I own. I don't want to have to worry about whether I will receive the next commission from a referral. I know that every commission/referral I generate from my own blog will go to me each and every time.

I know that my blog is my blog. And no one else can take that from me. I refuse to pay $25 a month to have something that everyone else has when I can pay $15 a month to host a blog that is unique to me and only me.

Visit KeAmber's blog at http://www.keambervaughn.com for FREE product reviews and FREE marketing tips and tricks. She'll even show you how you can make FREE money online!

So what are you waiting for? Head on over to my blog for more info.