During the end of 2014, I purchased Elite Blog Academy, sort of on a whim/sort of hoping that it would help me to catapult my blog to rock star levels and bring in extra money for my family. Here’s I am giving you a full Elite Blog Academy review, from my own experience as well as from others’.
In my experience, Elite Blog Academy is worth it if you are a beginning/middle blogger – but In honor of a crazy low price on the course coming up on September 17th, I’ve decided to do a full, in-depth review of the course, so that you can decide for yourself. As with all online products, everyone’s situation is different, and I want to give you the information that you need to make an informed decision.
Elite Blog Academy is a lot of work, make no mistake, but if you’re willing to put in the work, you could see results like I did. In the year since I’ve purchased Elite Blog Academy, I:
- Left my office job as an accountant
- Started working on my blog full time
- Launched my company, The Pinterest Assistant, which now employs a staff of 4, and brings in far more money than I ever could have hoped for.
- Make more money than I ever did as an accountant
- Get to be home with my daughter – no daycare!
- Work as much or a little as I want
- Have written 2 books
- & Am working on a course call “Your Blog Or Your Life” which will teach you how to keep your blogging to 6 hours per weeks, while still earning $1,000 – $2,000 every month (or more)
But again, everyone’s circumstances are completely different, which is why this is going to be loooong. I’m giving you tons of info in this article, so that you can make the best decision for yourself and your blog – and, if you decide Elite Blog Academy is right for you, then I’m also giving you an opportunity to take advantage of unheard of pricing: $499.
Elite Blog Academy (EBA) Basics
Elite Blog Academy is designed to help you take your blog to the next level. Whether your a beginning or intermediate blogger, Elite Blog Academy focuses on strategies to make more money with your blog, be that through boosting your page views and increasing your ad revenue, learning how to boost your affiliate sales, or developing your own product.
It starts with the basics, the foundation of a great blog. Even if you don’t have a blog yet, EBA is a great course to purchase before starting your blog so you can get a great start right from day one.
Transparency Note
As I said before, I purchased Elite Blog Academy in September of 2014. I purchased it myself, and it actually cost everything my blog made in an entire month. Crazy how things change, right? Since the beginning, I have been committed to complete transparency on this blog, in our budget, in my income, and everything in between, including this review.
Since I purchased EBA, I’ve watched every single video, filled out every single course outline, and downloaded every handout, and bonuses. I even attended every Q&A offered.
The reason I was so convinced that Elite Blog Academy was worth my hard-earned money was because of Ruth. While I have not met her in person, Everything I have seen about her convinced me that she is the real deal: genuine, sincere, and “gives it all away” in this course – she truly wants each and every Elite Blogger to succeed.
The links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click a link on this page and purchase Elite Blog Academy, I may make a commission. Buying through a link on my website does not in any cost you more money. All opinions are my own, and I would never promote a product that I have not personally used, loved, and believe that you will love too!
What Comes With Elite Blog Academy?
- 12 Units: From the basics of building a blog on a strong foundation to social media, and finally monetizing your blog, Elite Blog Academy has 12 units that each have a video, a fill-in-the blank unit worksheet that you can fill out during the video, 1-4 handouts with extra information and tutorials, as well as 2-4 guided action steps to go along with each unit.
- Live Q&A’s: Each course has 4 Q&A’s where Ruth will answer as many questions as she can in a live session.
- Private Forum: Each course comes with a private communication forum where members can not only communicate and ask questions of each other, they can ask questions of Ruth and her team. Plus, if you ask and questions and no one within the forum has an answer, Ruth or a member of her team will find one for you. I have personally used this more times than I can count for all of those “little questions” that come up during the day-to-day of running a blog.
Private Facebook Group: Before the forum was implemented, EBA used a private Facebook group. While not everyone is active in the group, there are some very influential bloggers who prefer to use the group.- Bonuses: Many of the units contain bonuses material that enrollees have either asked for, were added after the initial course, or that didn’t fit squarely within one unit. Most are downloadable PDFs, but I’ve found the bonuses material to be just that: a crazy good, unexpected bonus.
The Money-Back Guarantee
While I have found that for myself, Elite Blog Academy was worth the money, it may not fit you or your blog, and that’s ok.
If you purchase Elite Blog Academy and find that it doesn’t meet your expectations, Ruth will refund your money – no questions asked.
It’s really that simple.
It all just depends upon how much you expect to get out of it, as well as how much work you’re willing to put in. As I said, everyone is different.
Can’t You Find A Lot Of The Information For Free?
The short answer is yes. A lot of the information about laying the foundation for the blog, social media, and even monetizing your blog can be found for free online. However, Elite Blog Academy gives you a place you can go for solid answers. No wondering if the source was reputable, no wondering if the person who wrote it actually implemented it.
I’ve found that the value comes from:
- The Organization: Even thought I’ve already completed the course, when I need answers, I know exactly where to go to find an answer that I’d forgotten, or skimmed over in the beginning. Instead of hunting down the information for free from 10 different source, the information is neatly packaged in a format that is easy to follow and that you know works – because it worked for Ruth.
- Ruth: Ruth’s genuine caring attitude shines through everything in this course.
- The Forum: I purchased the course for, well, the course, but I’ve actually fallen in love with the forum. It’s a place I can go with crazy easy, or crazy technical questions where no one judges, everyone encourages, and I get answers.
Pros of Elite Blog Academy
- The sign-up process is ridiculously easy. Once signed up (it takes about 1 minute) you get instant access to the course, which you can then complete at your own speed.
- Elite Blog Academy is the result of experience. Ruth learned the lessons she is teaching in the course the hard way – through trial and error. She is an established blogger, published author, and formidable speaker. According to Ruth’s Advertise page on Living Well Spending Less, in January 2014, Living Well Spending Less got more than 3 million page views. Those are serious numbers.
- It’s professionally done: The videos, the handouts, the forum, even the emails you get are professional and easy to use.
- The EBA Pinterest strategy is quite amazing and detailed. Whether you’re new to blogging or in the throes of it, Ruth’s Pinterest strategy gets crazy results.
- The course helps you build relationships. Through the forum, and the live Q&A’s, you get the opportunity to meet other bloggers, both within your niche an outside of it, that can become lifelong friends and resources. In blogging, networking is everything, so don’t underestimate this, which leads me to:
- Elite Blog Academy is much less expensive than attending a blogging conference. Blogging conferences often catapault mediocre blogs into rockstar territory, but tickets, travel, and meals and be quite expensive. Elite Blog Academy provides far more benefits than a blogging conference, and at a smaller price tag.
Cons of Elite Blog Academy
- I did disagree with a few minor things in the material, but nothing big enough to mention. My disagreements were more a matter of opinion and efficiency. In the forum however, I had quite a few disagreements with some questions posed about blogging ethics. My advice is to do your own research if the answers you get to your questions don’t come from a reputable blogger, Ruth, or her team.
- The Pinterest strategy: I provided the Pinterest handout as a pro above, and it is, but it’s also a con because there has been no update since Pinterest introduced Smart Feed, Rich Pins, and API partners. (Shameless plug: if you want up to date information on which pin schedulers you should be using & why, as well as solid pinning strategies, visit my services site: The Pinterest Assistant)
- Very little technical help. Ruth admits that is she is not technical, and as a result there is very little technical information contained within the course.
Who Is EBA Right For?
Elite Blog Academy is a great resource if you’re a beginning to intermediate blogger who wants to make at least a $1,000 a month with your blog and if you’re willing to set aside a couple of months and put in some serious work on your blog.
Maybe you’ve been blogging for a while, but have been struggling to grow your audience, your social media, and of course your income. Or maybe you’ve been thinking about attending a blogging conference, but don’t have the time or money to do so. If so, then Elite Blog Academy may be a great fit for you
This course is right for you if you love working off of lists, love learning, and consider tenacity one of your greatest strengths. Elite Blog Academy takes times, energy, and some serious thought to implement and see results from. However, if you’re willing to put in the work, the results you will see will be amazing.
If you’re blog topics is roughly related to: DIY, Frugal Living, home decor, food, lifestyle, living, parenting, or fashion. All topics considered “mommy blogs.” I hate to use that term, but think of topics of interest to moms, and chances are those type of blogs will benefit the most from Elite Blog Academy. Ruth does touch on other types of blogs, but you will get the most benefit if your blog falls under those topics.
Finally, Elite Blog Academy is a great course, but only if you can afford it. If you’re unsure about the benefits of the course or your budget is tight, then consider buying Ruth’s book, How To Blog For Profit: Without Selling Your Soul. The price tag is much smaller (right now the book is $1.99), but Ruth gives so many strategies for building and growing your blog within the book at a much smaller price tag.
There is no one course that fit every single blog, blogger, or blogging niche. However, if you’re looking for a course that gives you loads of information and that is an excellent option for many, many bloggers. However, I hope that I have given you enough information in this review so that you can make an informed decision for yourself.
I myself have seen great success with Elite Blog Academy, like I detailed in the introduction, so I won’t rehash it. I want each and every blogger who reads this to succeed, and I believe that many of you can do that with Elite Blog Academy, but that the course is not a perfect fit for everyone.
If you believe that Elite Blog Academy is a great fit for you, then you’ll want to take advantage of a great price on the course:
On February 22nd, for 5 days only, Elite Blog Academy is having a flash sale, offering the course at the unbeatable price of $499.
This is a great deal, since the course will help you to start earning crazy amounts of money with your blog faster than you imagined, and the team at EBA is only offering this sale because the feedback they have received from students over the past year has been overwhelmingly positive. Originally, the EBA team was not going to open enrollment again until 2016, but because of the numerous requests they received!
Finally, if you enroll in Elite Blog Academy April 14th – 21st, and forward me your Welcome Email, I’ll give you more than $250 in Pinterest Marketing products:
- A copy of my book, Generate Traffic with Pinterest, a $16.99 value!
- A Custom Pinterest Marketing Plan, a $100 value!
- A Pinterest phone Consultation, a $150 value
- Access to me by phone or email, anytime you need me!
- Simply forward your welcome email to retiredby4oblog (at) gmail (dot) com!
Don’t let this sale pass you by: It’s for only 5 days, starting February 22nd!
Buy Elite Blog Academy Now
Shirria @ GDTH says
This course sounds amazing! Being new to the blogging community is challenging. I developed my blog on my personal finance to hold me accountable, most importantly, and provide me with “my story” but making some type of profit from it would be ideal. Thanks for the full details. I’ll seriously be considering it!
Gretchen says
It definitely is! Your journey sounds similar to mine – I’ll definitely have to check out your site!
Ramona says
I have heard many great things about the course, but the price is still way out of my league right now. I’ll have to do the ‘old fashioned’ blog promotion / growth and then see in 2016 if I can enroll.
Jennifer says
Wow, good for you! All bloggers would hope to do as well as you. Your course sounds very helpful. Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop. Your post has been pinned!
Cheers,
Jennifer
http://awellstyledlife.com
Pam@over50feeling40 says
Sounds like you have a good business mind! Thanks for sharing with the Thursday Blog Hop!
Derek @ MoneyAhoy.com says
I am going to check it out now – sounds promising!