Strong Future International (SFI) launched its EyeEearn Personal Advertising Network on January 2, 2008. This new program created a lot of buzz among the company's affiliates as it is low cost ($20 one-time) but promises to provide prospects for the participant every month for life. The opportunity is intriguing. It almost sounds too good to be true.

Anyone who has done some Internet marketing knows that building downlines is one of the toughest challenges. Without downlines, there would be no residual income in most cases. One can pay hundreds of dollars to buy lists from lead service providers, knowing that those leads do not necessarily become one's downlines. Can an opportunity that costs $20 one time solve this problem? Reviewing how EyeEarn works may help answer this question to some extent.

There are two sides to the EyeEarn program: the network building side and the retail sales side. On the network building side, the program functions as SFI's co-op. The company does massive advertising worldwide for the program to generate prospects every month. The prospects are then shared among the participants. Participants with upgraded status (Executive Affiliates, Team Leaders, etc.) will get more shares than a free member. However, any participant can choose to get more shares by purchasing more starter kits ($20ea.). As long as the participant stays active, he will continue to get his share(s) of prospects every month for life to help build his team. To stay active, the participant is obligated to log into the SFI affiliate center to do 15 minutes of survey for large companies every month as well as confirming his commitment to personal advertising.

The retail sales side of EyeEarn involves the introduction of MaxMalls, which is a portal to a network of name brand merchants representing one's every day stores. Every month, a percentage of the purchases through this portal is paid back to the program participants much like cashback. The purchases one makes with the merchants through the portal are at the same price as if one made them directly at the stores. Although not mandatory, it is agreed between SFI and the program participant that he should start his online shopping from this portal. In order to create substantial sales, SFI is also heavily promoting MaxMalls to the general public.

It's worth mentioning that a portion of the sales generated through the MaxMalls portal is donated to the nonprofit organization, Save The Children. This certainly adds some class to this otherwise profit driven endeavor.

The $20 starter kit includes some marketing materials that the participant can use at his choice:

(1) - 1 EyeEarn T-shirt (very classic looking)

(2) - 3 car banners with EyeEarn logo (Participants should at least outfit one banner on one car. The banner can be taken off when needed as well.)

(3) - 20 stickers ( to put on computers or any other objects at participants' choice)

(4) - 100 business cards (to leave at restaurants or other public places at participants' convenience)

Participants are required to submit a photo with wearing the t-shirt in front of a vehicle outfitted with one of the banners.

It is impressive and admirable that the SFI's management is daring enough to run the EyeEarn program largely on the honor system. Participants are given the benefit for their promise, not verifiable actions, to advertise. The MaxMalls shopping portal concept is also based on participants agreeing to start their online shopping from the portal, not proof of actual purchases. Given the scale of SFI's affiliate body, the combination of the two programs may perform very well if the millions of participants worldwide all do their fair share. Will everyone do his fair share? That is the question. This will be a test of integrity of the individual participant to some extent.

The EyeEarn program is still young; one is yet to see how it carries out. Should the individual participant's contribution match the heavy lifting of the company in advertising, this program may really work well and become exemplary in affiliate marketing. Regardless of the outcome, an online home biz opportunity that promises to build one's team automatically at a one-time cost of $20 is worth looking into for the budget-conscious and, of course, the intrigued.