SWOM Review – Scam Or Legitimate Social Network?

I first joined SWOM in July of 2010, and this is my second SWOM Review.  I will admit that in the time that I have been a SWOM Member, I have never upgraded to their Gold Member status.  I will explain why I never upgraded later on.

In this SWOM Review, I will be examining this social networking service, and more importantly, their Viral Referral Program.  What is SWOM?  Is SWOM a scam or a legitimate way to make money online?  I will attempt to answer these questions in my SWOM Review!

Furthermore, I would like to share my experiences of this service for those who are investigating SWOM as a potential money-maker, but first I will provide the details.  Lets begin my unbiased SWOM Review.

How does SWOM work?

SWOM, standing for Super Word-of-Mouth is a Social Networking website that aims to connect like-minded home business individuals, as well as provide you with an opportunity to profit as you refer new paid members.

When you first visit the SWOM website, you will have two options for joining:  As a free member, or as a paid (Gold) member.

I will note that as a free member, the benefits and tools that SWOM provides will be severely limited.  In other words, unless you have the intention of signing up and upgrading to Gold Member status, I would not join at all.  I will explain why later on!

The cost to upgrade and become a Gold Member is a monthly fee of $24.95.

Once you have joined and upgraded to Gold status, you will be provided with an affiliate link.  As others join and upgrade through your link, you will earn commissions.

Gold Member Benefits

• Earn Commissions

By participating in their Viral Referral Program, you will earn commissions, as well as their Instant Referral Bonus when you refer members who upgrade to Gold status.

I will go into more details regarding their compensation plan later on in my SWOM Review!

• Unlimited traffic & referrals

Gold members have unlimited access to view as many user profiles as they see fit.  As you connect with others, and as users visit your profile, you will have the opportunity to advertise any programs or opportunities that you are promoting.  This will potentially bring in new business or sign-ups for your existing business or opportunity.

• Free advertising

Your SWOM profile will periodically be posted on the SWOM homepage.  This is a free benefit of being a Gold Member, and will allow you to connect and make new friends, as well as place your programs or opportunities in front of more users.

• Free company sponsored referrals

SWOM will periodically run company sponsored advertising campaigns in an effort to sign up more members.  Members who sign up as a result of these campaigns will be without a referrer.  Instead of pocketing these profits, SWOM will randomly assign these new sign-ups to Gold Members, who in return will earn commissions.

• SWOM Group Invitations

As a Gold Member, you can start and build 5 groups, and send up to 500 invitations per day.

• Communication Tools

This allows you to track your personal performance and provides you with an income breakdown.  Also provides you with other communication tools to assist you in building your team and reward those who are actively building their own teams.

• Priority Support

Gold Members are put in the front of the line when they need assistance or ideas for building their referral network.

How you are paid!

SWOM advertises that their marketing materials and website will literally sell itself.  You just simply need to provide the means (through your affiliate link) to drive people to the SWOM website.

Each time a new members joins through your affiliate link, and then upgrades to Gold, you will earn a commission.  All in all, you can earn from four separate income sources:

1. $15 Instant Referral Bonus

Each time a new member joins and upgrades through your affiliate link, you will earn an instant $15 bonus.

2. Ongoing Residual Referral Bonus

Beginning the second month that a new Gold Member joins SWOM, you will earn a $5 monthly commission.  You will earn this for every referral for as long as they remain a Gold Member.

3. Gold Evangelist Bonus

This bonus will pay you for reaching out to free members and encouraging them to upgrade to Gold.  You will do this by sending them a wall post, and you must include the word ‘Gold’ in your message.

If a free member who you have personally contacted upgrades within 30 days of your message, you will earn 10 shares in the Gold Evangelist Bonus Pool.  The more shares that you earn, the larger your potential bonus will be.

For this reason, if you are joining as a free member, you will want to immediately change your email settings in your profile.

The very first day that I joined last year, I received nearly 200 notification emails to my personal inbox from SWOM within hours.  Each email was from Gold Members reaching out to me in an attempt to earn points for this Evangelist Bonus.

4. Community Participation Bonus

This bonus pool will pay you commissions for just simply interacting with others.

You will earn shares in the Community Participation Bonus Pool as your questions, answers, or videos get voted up, or you receive ‘Like’ votes.

You’ll have an opportunity to win community chests to receive more shares.

The reasons why I never upgraded to Gold…

Like I mentioned, I joined SWOM as a free member over a year ago for the sole purpose of being able to connect with other like-minded entrepreneurs, not for their income opportunity!

I was not really enticed by their Viral Referral Program, because for me personally, the commissions were not rewarding enough.  While the $15 Instant Referral Bonus is nothing to frown at, I am more interested in building a residual income.  A residual income is what excites me.

When SWOM is collecting $24.95 per month from each Gold Member, and they are only paying $5 per month as a residual income, that was not good enough for me.  If I was going to spend my valuable time and effort to promote and distribute my affiliate link, I would require a larger share of the profits.

Now I do realize that SWOM distributes a part of their nearly $20 per month profit per member in the form of other bonus opportunities, but I would rather receive a larger portion of the monthly residual income and forgo the other bonuses that require more time and effort.  I am a busy guy, and don’t have time to SWOM all day long!

Like I mentioned, when I joined, I wanted to connect with others.  I will admit that SWOM is a great place to connect and make MANY friends very quickly.  However, the quality of those friendships and connections lacked much to be desired!

When you join a site with other like-minded business individuals, you will find that pretty much everyone (excluding the majority who are busy promoting SWOM) is already involved in their own business opportunity.  This includes me as well, but when you are working hard to promote your business, you truly believe that your opportunity is the best thing since sliced bread.  There is no convincing you otherwise!  For me, my attempt to attract interest in my business opportunity was a waste of time!

If I was not being spammed by members trying to earn the Evangelist Bonus that I mentioned earlier, I was being spammed with business offers.  Why business individuals lead off with a sales message when they are introducing themselves, I will never understand, but that is besides the point.

I found it very difficult to connect with others on a personal level who did not already have an alternative motive.  If I was not upgrading to Gold status, or joining their business opportunity, I was useless to them.

SWOM Review Conclusion

To be quite honest, other than logging in yesterday to prepare for this SWOM Review, I have not logged into my SWOM account for over a year.

If I am going to pay a $25 per month fee to socialize, I have to find value that does not only include a business opportunity.  I did not find that value in the connections that I was making on SWOM!

Now, keep in mind, I have nothing against SWOM.  I think that they are a wonderful service for some, and money can be made here!  SWOM was just not for me!

This concludes my SWOM Review!  If you have found this SWOM Review to be helpful, or if you have anything to add, please provide your feedback below!

Category: Internet Business Reviews