I wanted to let all my readers who have blogs or are interested in blogging that Elite Blog Academy blogging course is open now! If you keep reading, I'll explain in this Elite Blog Academy review exactly why I love this course, and why you may want to get on the wait-list so you know when it opens again.
I took this course myself. I signed up back in September 2014 when it opened for the first time, and I've seen absolutely fantastic results from it, so I have no hesitation in recommending it.
In a nutshell — in 2014, I was NOT a six figure blogger. In 2015, I had my first six figure year. I can't say that would have happened if not for what I learned from Elite Blog Academy.
If you are serious about blogging professionally and want to take things to the “next level” in 2018 with your blog, then this is definitely the right course to register for.
Why I Decided to Pay For Elite Blog Academy
The course was created by Ruth Soukup, blogger at the very popular frugal living & personal finance site Living Well Spending Less, and author of a best-selling blogging book you might have read, “How to Blog For Profit Without Selling Your Soul.”
When I realized that Ruth — easily one of the most successful bloggers in the money-saving niche — was creating a course where she promised to share all her secrets, I became very interested in signing up. I had also read Ruth's book earlier this year and learned a ton from it that helped me out, so I already knew I trusted her advice. She gets something like 1.5 million page views per month, so she knows her stuff.
What Elite Blog Academy Covers
The course is designed for everyone — beginner, intermediate, and advanced bloggers — and it's not niche specific, so you could apply what you learn to any type of blog. If you don't actually have a blog set up yet, you may want to do that before enrolling since this course doesn't really explain how to actually create a blog from scratch.
The course covers a ton of things, but here is just a little to just scratch the surface for you:
- Blog content – the most important thing.
- Blog graphics – how to make amazing, eye-catching images to help grow your Pinterest traffic and help your content go viral. It's not as hard to make great-looking graphics as you might think!
- Blog structure – this is much more important than you might realize. If people who visit your blog can't immediately find what they need, they won't stay.
- Marketing – very specific info on Facebook and Pinterest, and Ruth shares her personal marketing plans for each of these social media outlets. For once, you'll know exactly what you're doing on these networks so that they drive you traffic!
- Monetization – how and what resources to use for earning money from ad networks, affiliates, private advertising, and selling your own products.
The info provided is very straightforward and easy to understand, and it's self-paced, so you can work through it as you have time. There are about 12 total units. Each one comes with a video, PDF handouts that go in more detail, and assignments to complete for each unit that you're supposed to do for your blog. You also get occasional bonuses sent to you via email with even more information as well as access to live Q&A webinars.
There is additionally a private forum for the people enrolled in the course. I couldn't begin to tell you how valuable that has been! Not only have I made lots of great connections with other bloggers, I've also learned a lot about blogging from them. Many bloggers in the group freely share their own tips, strategies, and resources that they use.
Another thing that's awesome is EBA members get added to the EBA Pinterest group board, which has almost 90,000 followers. Being able to pin my content to that board has done amazing things for my traffic all on it's own! I've had a lot of things go viral after being pinned to that board that continue to bring me fantastic traffic.
Elite Blog Academy Got Me Results
I enrolled in the course in late September 2014…
I received 30,000 more blog page views in October than I did in September, and hit a record high of 420,000 page views in one month!
Update 2/2015 – My page views for January rose to an all-time high of 600,000!
Update 11/2015 – One year later, and I am nearing 800,000 page views per month, and have not only doubled my income from this time last year, but have also been able to replace my husband's income with the income I generate from this blog, allowing him to quit a job he hated and pursue a completely different career path.
Update 2/9/2016 – I hit a million page views in a month for the first time ever! And I am still using strategies that I learned from this course.
Elite Blog Academy 2018 Update
Still getting right around million page views monthly, and my income has more than doubled since my last update in 2016! I can't credit Elite Blog Academy entirely for this, because I've taken some other courses and I'm always learning. However, I know that I reached this point a lot faster than I would have without Elite Blog Academy. The course taught me where to focus my energy to get the most results from my blog — fast. I'm still operating in much the same way as I was after I took the course.
I never thought I'd reach this point, but I'm telling you now it is possible with the right guidance, and I believe this course provides that. It provided it for me, and it will provide it for you — but you have to do the work and be committed.
My Pinterest Traffic Exploded – See the Proof Below
As mentioned above, Ruth shares her personal Facebook and Pinterest marketing plans in the course, and I have been putting those to work. She focuses on Facebook and Pinterest because those are the networks she uses the most since she sees better results from them than she does Twitter, Instagram, etc.
While I have seen results from Facebook, the uptick in Pinterest traffic since working through the course has been pretty much amazing. See the below graphic taken from my own Google Analytics account, which shows how much traffic I was getting from Pinterest in September 2014 and how much I'm getting now … (graphic updated 4-6-15 to show increase through March of 2015).
How Much Does Elite Blog Academy Cost?
The course is $897 as of March 2018. If you don't see the results you want to see after you've gone through the course, you can get ALL of your money back. All you have to do is send them an email and request it. They will not ask any questions, so there isn't much risk to you if you're thinking of trying it. There is a payment plan available if you cannot afford the cost of the course all at once.
I know this is a lot of money. I had to think about it a lot myself before deciding to purchase it. But the increase in my blogging income thanks to what this course has taught me has multiple times over made up for the cost of the course, so for me it was worth every penny I spent since I made it all back and then some.
Elite Blog Academy was endorsed by the likes of Darren Rowse at ProBlogger and other top bloggers, so I figured I'd consider it an investment. I paid for it directly out of some of my blog earnings for the month of September 2014, and I was also able to deduct the cost of the course on my taxes as a blogging expense.
Can't Afford Elite Blog Academy? Buy Ruth's Book
If you don't think you can afford the course now or any time in the future, I'd recommend at the very least downloading and reading Ruth's blogging book, “How to Blog For Profit Without Selling Your Soul.” There is a Kindle version, or you can just order a paperback copy.
If you want a less expensive e-course, there are some good Elite Blog Academy alternatives that cost less money.
Get On The Elite Blog Academy Waitlist
If you want to read more about the course, or opt-in to get alerted when it opens again, you can do so here. You also get a no-strings-attached copy of Ruth's short Elite Blog Academy PDF e-book, “7 Surefire Ways to Boost Your Blog Income Overnight.”
Feel free to comment and let me know how it's going for you if this is something you're already taking, or if you have any questions about the course I can answer for you!
P.S. – Don't even have a blog of your own yet, but want to get one set up? Here are my step-by-step instructions for setting up a WordPress blog on the cheap in ten minutes or less.
You said you got 30k more views in the first month, do you mind me asking what you started at when your started the first?
Also, I know this course can be great for niche blogs. I’m a travel blogger. Do you think it could help me?
In September 2014 (it was toward the end of that month I purchased the course) I got 375,000 page views. In October 2014, that number jumped to 420,000 page views. And it just went up from there. That’s been some time ago, however. My traffic has increased even more since then. In January of last year, I had my first million page view month!
The course would definitely be fine for a travel blogger. I think there are quite a few travel bloggers enrolled. I have seen some of them asking questions in the groups/forums, if I’m not mistaken.
Good luck to you! It is a pricey course, but I can assure you it’s top notch.
This is great! This stuff is hard, no doubt. I’m fairly new and I’m working as hard as a second full time job on overtime. But, I think that this will help. Thank you!
This was definitely the largest one-time investment I have made for my blogs, but I’m so glad I did it. It has already taken things to another level and I still have a chapter or two to complete.
Would you recommend the book for people who don’t yet have a blog but are *interested* in starting one? Or is it more geared towards people who are already bloggers? I would love to have a blog but I have no idea what the content would be. :/ So I need some suggestions on that to even get started in the first place. Thanks. 🙂
The vast majority of the book covers things that will only be relevant to you if you already have a blog out there. I don’t think she talks much about deciding on your content, other than to stress that it needs to be something you’re passionate about. But it would still be a good book to have on hand if you’re thinking about it seriously. Better to have all the helpful info in mind before you even start to avoid making mistakes lots of beginners do make.
I read her book and it was excellent. Wish I could afford her course it looks fantastic!