In this review I am looking at a new product, launched in March 2018, called RefreshEn. This training module, created by Jason Fulton and Mosh Bari, shows you how you can make money by using Pinterest as a traffic source.

As always, I base my review on the fact that I buy the product and I tried it to make sure that it will actually help you make money online. So, will 'RefreshEn' help a beginner earn money with Pinterest?

What is RefreshEn?. This course contains a series of video tutorials which teach you how you can use Pinterest to make money. I will not go into specifics, obviously, but the method itself is quite clever and you can see some success using this method.

One thing to keep in mind here is that this is a cheap and cheerful product, you get what you pay for, and the training does reflect this.

The idea is that you drive traffic from Pinterest to your website and then use a variety of monetization methods to earn an income, such as AdSense or Amazon product placements.

This method is not original but it does utilise 100% free traffic which is quite nice to see.

The training is basic and straight to the point. It consists of about 14 videos which show you the method and the strategy behind the traffic source.

Each video is detailed enough for you to understand the process, and you can start implementing it more or less immediately. There is no real technical skills needed here or any difficult theory to master.

Pinterest is like any other social platform, very easy to navigate and anybody can use it. Also, learning to monetize social media is relatively straight forward.

However, even though the training is OK, that is as far as the usefulness of the training goes. You are essentially just buying an idea here, not an actual training method as such.

The training lacks some very important aspects which would confuse and deflate most beginners.

The first thing they do not explain thoroughly enough is how to create a website. The author assumes that you already know how to create a WordPress website and use the dashboard efficiently.

During his tutorials he clicks, saves and changes settings very quickly without really explaining anything he's doing. A complete beginner would, at this point, be completely lost and not fully understand what they are doing.

Also, there is no real training about affiliate programs and how to monetize your website. They do mention programmes like AdSense or Amazon, but fail to explain how you actually implement them by applying to join and adding the adverts or products.

Any person who buys this would be left to their own devices to work out how to monetize their website. The practicalities of joining Amazon Associates, for example, is not as easy as it sounds.

Another problem is the quality of the website which Mosh makes. He uses RSS feeds to import duplicate/syndicated content, which is fine for the purposes of just making a website, but I am unsure if AdSense would actually approve a website like this.

AdSense and Amazon Associates do have quite strict requirements when it comes to:

• quality of the website design,
• quality of the content, i.e, no duplicate content,
• implementation of terms and conditions and privacy policies before you apply,

This is where the training will most likely let you down because a website created, in the manner they propose, is quite likely to be rejected, in which case, you would have to find another way to monetize your website. 

It is my opinion that you are unlikely to make money using this method.

If you are a complete beginner, you will get very lost and confused when it comes to the actual building of the website. I can tell you, from experience, that most people do struggle with the actual practicalities of editing and manipulating WordPress in the way they show.

However, if you do know how to you use WordPress, and you have experience with affiliate marketing then this could be an interesting thing to try out.

As I said, it is not original even though it is clever.

You would need to think long-term on this one and use the method suggested but be realistic and accept that you will not make money within a day. Like any other method online, you need to think long term and put in the work.

Simply posting a few pins on Pinterest and building a basic website will not make you money.

So, if you do decide to try RefreshEn, give it your best try and stick it out for at least two or three months before you quit. Even then, only quit if you have given it your best shot.

I would recommend you only buy the front end product and do not spend any more money because using a method like this can easily add up if you start buying plugins, monthly subscription software and other gadgets to measure analytics etc.

Another small issue, which you need to consider, is the fact that all your eggs are in one basket.

If you were to succeed with the RefreshEn method, which is possible if you put the effort in, you are in a very precarious position because your entire traffic source is Pinterest.

As anyone will know, social media platforms change their algorithms all the time in an attempt to improve user experiences. This is shown by Facebook's recent algorithmic change in early 2018 which will have a huge impact on brand names and advertising.

You need to be aware that if Pinterest, for whatever reason, change the way their results and pins are shown then this could have a detrimental impact on your traffic overnight.

This is something to keep in mind if you use this method and you start seeing results.

No, I don't think so. There is nothing wrong with this method and I do think if you put in the effort and you had the technical know how, then you can see results with this strategy.

However, as I said prior, if you are a complete beginner then this is probably not for you because the training lacks the depth to cover all aspects of the monetization funnel.

You would get as far as halfway through the video tutorials before scratching your head thinking “what do I do now?”, and there would not be any resources available to help you.

You would have to buy another product or go back to Google to find the solution - regardless, it will cost you a lot more money. 

Here are a couple of very useful and free resources which will give you some more insight into making money with social media.

Neil Patel talks about a cool method to drive more traffic to your website using Pinterest.

Also, this lengthy post from Oberlo, which shows you how they produced a profitable dropshipping business using Instagram.