Should You Buy Elite Blog Academy? A Post From A Non Affiliate

Should you buy Elite Blog Academy? Here’s my opinion as someone who bought the program and is not an affiliate.

If you don’t know, Elite Blog Academy is a popular and extensive course for people wanting to learn how to make a blogging business. I’ll get into it more in the next few paragraphs.

It has hundreds of pages of content, taking aspiring bloggers from idea to building a business.

The course is popular for a reason, and in this post, I’m going to chat about why and tell you my thoughts.

What Is The Elite Blog Academy Course?

So, what is Elite Blog Academy anyway? Elite Blog Academy defines itself as “your clear, straightforward proven path to creating a profitable and sustainable online business”.

It promises to teach everything you need to know to build a successful blog, from idea, to content, to beautiful website, to getting traffic, to launching.

Looking at the sales page for it, I have to admit…

I’m nervous to publish this post.

I’ve even done live Q&A’s before in my free Facebook group and deleted them.

But I feel like it’s important for you to get an opinion from a blogger who is NOT an affiliate for this program.

And as a blogging coach who has been blogging for business since 2011 and purchased over $50,000 in courses and coaching related to blogging and online marketing…

I have not only experience, but opinions.

Caveat

I wrote this blog post after I bought EBA, was in the program an group for a couple years, and then purchased the 2.0 version of it for two months. I’m sure EBA has changed and updated parts of the program (like the product launch playbook academy, activate coaching program, money-back guarantee, the purposeful assignments, and more). I haven’t been in the program for over a year now so it’s possible other changes have taken place. The good news is that if you decide you’re interested, you can take a look at their free resources and recent elite blog academy review before handing over your credit card 🙂

Who is Ruth Soukup?

Ruth Soukup is an American entrepreneur, author, and speaker known for her work in the fields of personal development, blogging, and entrepreneurship. She is the founder of the popular blog **Living Well Spending Less**, which focuses on frugal living, budgeting, and home organization. Ruth is also the creator of the Elite Blog Academy, a comprehensive online course designed to help bloggers and content creators build successful and profitable blogs.

In addition to her blogging work, Ruth is a best-selling author. Some of her notable books include “Living Well, Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life,” “Unstuffed: Decluttering Your Home, Mind & Soul,” and “Do It Scared: Finding the Courage to Face Your Fears, Overcome Adversity, and Create a Life You Love.”

Ruth Soukup is known for her practical advice and inspirational messages, helping people achieve their goals, whether in personal finance, entrepreneurship, or personal growth. She has built a strong community around her work, encouraging others to live a life of purpose and intentionality.

Should You Buy Elite Blog Academy – The Pros And Cons

#1: Evergreen Strategies

One thing I love about Elite Blog Academy involves the attempt to create a detailed *evergreen* course.

In other words, the course content remains relevant to any blogger, regardless of niche. This is a challenge, as there are definitely some niches that are easier to monetize than others.

The framework Elite Blog Academy provides in the course content is truly applicable to any blogger, regardless of niche.

The modules are as follows:

• Module 1- Refine Your Message
  • Start with the Fundamentals
  • Conquer Your Content
  • Presentation Is Everything
• Module 2- Grow Your Traffic
  • Set the Stage for Growth
  • Grow Your List
  • Rock Your Social Media
• Module 3- Monetize Your Platform
  • Show Me the Money
  • Create Your Products
  • Master Sales & Marketing
• Module 4- Build Your Profitable Business
  • Work Smarter, Not Harder
  • From Blog to Successful Business
  • Lead Your Team

I bought Elite Blog Academy 4.0 in 2019, which is the same version they released in 2020.

Additional training topics in the 4.0 version include:

• Graphic design
• Email list growth
• Budgeting for your blog
• Setting up a blog
• WordPress
• Google Analytics
• Connecting with the media
• Creating welcome videos
• Traffic growth
• Podcasting
• Pinterest & Tailwind
• Working with brands
• Affiliate marketing
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Tripwires

#2: Thorough Framework

Several of my coaching clients purchased Elite Blog Academy, and I have to say: they are, for the most part, educated bloggers.

Their content is decent or great, and they have a free offer to build their email list.

Many of them have even surveyed their list or done market research for a future product, or user testing to get feedback on their site.

Elite Blog Academy takes buyers through many aspects of a successful blog in a logical and methodical way.

That said, the struggle for many bloggers comes from the second word in this heading: framework.

I’ve had multiple people tell me that they need to buy several outside resources to COMPLETE Elite Blog Academy.

Sometimes spending double or triple what the program cost.

I’ll talk about that in a second.

#3 Community

I’ve bought several higher ticket blogging programs, and the Elite Blog Academy Facebook group is, by far, one of my favorite Facebook groups.

It’s a massive group for a paid program, over 6,000 people and counting. People constantly ask questions, answer questions and help each other.

The size of the community and variety of people in it is a huge asset and resource to course buyers. The group is mostly member-driven. meaning, there isn’t a ton of moderation.

And this works really well. Again, people are constantly asking questions and helping each other. Many members organize small accountability groups or events.

I’ve never watched a live Q&A, but they happen every so often with Ruth (the founder) and other experts and graduates. Members love these live videos.

#4: Generic Advice

OF COURSE some of the advice is generic. the program is trying to be all things to all people.

But here’s the problem:

The sales page doesn’t indicate that the advice may not be specific enough to be actionable.

So, some topics (like content development) are very thorough and come with writing templates and more.

And other topics, like traffic, have generic advice like:

“Choose a social media platform for traffic.”

And I get it – because at the end of the day

1. You need to choose a platform you enjoy and
2. You need to choose a platform that’s best for your niche

But many people I meet pour their hearts out on Instagram (for example) for a click or two a month, never moving the needle in a significant way.

This isn’t the “fault” of EBA. Its not their jam to give personalized advice. But when I help bloggers, I always tell them: for most niches, start on Pinterest. Because nothing makes a bigger impact early on than traffic acceleration.

Another problem I have with the program is to run ads very early on.

I’m ALL for running ads.

…But way too many entrepreneurs will spend a lot of money they don’t have just to check this task off their list when its often not the right move for your business.

Giving advice to run ads without any training on how to do so (because its not simple, ya’ll) is detrimental to a newbie’s progress and mindset.

In my opinion.

#5: Refund Policy

The EBA refund policy is that course buyers must submit homework from all 36 assignments in the course within 180 days of purchasing to receive a refund.

Completing all 36 assignments in 6 months for most people seems like a massive challenge to me.

That said – I appreciate that they have a refund policy.

If you think about it, the moment you BUY the course?

You have access to all the course content. and if you complete the course, you’ve digested all the content.

The fact that they offer a refund after you have all the info is great, and not many programs offer that.

Why Don’t More Courses Offer Refunds?

This is a question I hear a lot, and I can tell you from personal experience…

Its sticky to offer refunds because for buyers, it becomes an out.

The only people who asked for refunds when I offered them were people who never put their full effort into something.

By offering a refund, you make room for people to NOT work hard to use resources available to them.

That’s why their refund policy is so strict.

I personally got on chat support before buying Elite Blog Academy because I wanted to know if it was for me or not – as someone who has been blogging for a while.

They assured me, YES, it could help me.

And I went through the program, checking off every task in every unit, in 3 months.

(Most people take a year or more.)

I found the course beneficial. In fact, I used it to audit and clean up my entire site.

I launched a new opt-in while going through the program, and the opt-in flopped compared to my original one.

(That happens. That’s why you should always test.)

The reason I finished the course so quickly is that I didn’t need to find outside resources to complete each unit, and that brings me to my last point.

I Technically Qualified For A Refund…

That said, I technically meet the qualifications for the refund. I didn’t increase my blog income by completing Elite Blog Academy for my self care blog – Alison’s Notebook.

My blog income exploded when I discovered my own personal Pinterest traffic tip – a unique pinning method.

And having said THAT… I would never ask for a refund.

Pivoting My Business

When I started my coaching business, I was helping real estate agents use blogs to position themselves in their local market. I helped them with other things too – partnerships, referrals, local events, Facebook ads.

Because I have been coaching for 3 years, my activity in the Elite Blog Academy community helped me realize something:

I am uniquely qualified and experienced to be a business coach not just for entrepreneurs, but specifically for female content creators.

Even though I’d been in real estate, agents aren’t who I can help the most.

Its people who were like me. Who liked creating content, but also had an intense desire to change their financial life.

A local company I worked for rank on page 1 of Google for many of their profitable keyword terms, and they remain there today 4 years later.

I grew my own blog from zero to 5,000 page views in 60 days.

My clients often see similar measurable results.

EBA helped me see a gap in the blogging market for people needing next level, accessible support.

And EBA fills its own gap in the market.

#6: A “Framework” Isn’t For Everyone

At the end of the day, its not Elite Blog Academy’s decision to decide if their program is for you or not.

Its yours.

Hundreds (thousands?) of people rave about Elite Blog Academy.

You don’t get that kind of attention without having a heck-ton of testimonials and case studies.

But there are also hundreds (thousands?) of people who will never finish Elite Blog Academy.

Its a ton of information, and you need outside resources frequently to complete the units.

I don’t see that as a downside – except that the sales page positions itself as providing this.

And, there’s tons of bonuses. Some were great, some were so generic they weren’t actionable, even for me.

A course can’t be all things to all people.

How Does Elite Blog Academy Compare To Other Programs?

To give you more perspective on how Elite Blog Academy compares to other programs, I want to mention two.

Elite Blog Academy Versus Blog To Biz Hive

Blog To Biz Hive is a $1,000 course by Melyssa Griffin. It is also accompanied by a huge Facebook group community.

General Versus Specific

Both courses have a similar framework in outline. BBH is far less thorough, but way more specific and focused on monetization.

For example, Melyssa talked about product offers *really* early in her program. And created the free offer opt-in from there.

Whereas Ruth (EBA) talks about the free offer opt-in really early, and doesn’t talk about products at all until later units.

Additionally, Melyssa recommends very specific tools in her program.

Not only that, but the program includes many technical tutorials for implementation.

• Upside: Hypothetically, Melyssa’s program could involve less of a need for third party courses and resources. It might be better for beginners since it doesn’t leave as much room for information overload.
• Downside: Melyssa’s program may not be as universally impactful or evergreen. Especially if someone has existing tools they like.

Elite Blog Academy Versus One-on-One Coaching

Many of you know I’m a business coach. Most of my clients are content creators with a blog.

(Some are content creators that focus on other primary platforms.)

For cost perspective, I’m just going to say that my coaching costs about 3 times as much as Elite Blog Academy.

(There is a range with my programs just like there is with Elite Blog Academy.)

But, for 3 times as much as a blogging course, I guide clients through every aspect of creating and monetizing a blog. As both a coach and successful blogger, I help both new bloggers or more advanced bloggers.

The best part is I also will literally get on a screen-share and walk through specific technical issues.

My coaching program also involves guest coaching, sales page audits, website audits, content review, templates and live weekly calls.

Who Should Choose Coaching

Just like a framework isn’t for everyone, coaching isn’t for everyone either.

If you’re self motivated and like to research, you’ll make Elite Blog Academy work for you. Regardless of how you start, growing a blog business even with helpful resources is a lot of work. Both coaching and EBA give a solid foundation.

It’s a massive program for a reason. And you get hundreds of pages of educational content that you can use to guide you in creating multiple blog businesses. You buy an asset when you buy EBA.

Same thing with BBH – you’re buying an asset for your business.

If you’re willing to invest more because you want hand-holing and CUSTOMIZED advice and support?

You want a coach.

And many of my coaching clients have bought other programs before. So, they’re educated, but got stuck at some point.

That said, I’ve also helped complete newbies go from having NOTHING, to having a profitable blog in 5 weeks.

Online Business Strategy Coaching

Online business strategy coaching is a service where a coach helps entrepreneurs and business owners develop, refine, and implement strategies to grow their online businesses. It typically involves personalized guidance on areas like marketing, sales, product development, and scaling operations, tailored to the unique needs of the business. The goal is to accelerate business growth and achieve specific outcomes, such as increased revenue, improved brand presence, or more efficient systems.

While a course or membership may provide personalized strategy, 1:1 coaching is a game changer for online business owners.

So, here’s a question:

Without the marketing background I have, several people have said that they and others they knew had to spend 2 or 3 times the cost of EBA to finish the program.

That’s not the case for everyone, I’m sure.

But knowing….

• It would take you a year
• You might spend another $1,000 (or more) in additional resources to finish it

Would you rather…

Buy a thorough framework for $1,000 and DIY your business?

Or pay 3 times that and monetize in a few weeks?

I personally hire coaches for a myriad of things because I’m willing to pay more to get the short cut.

In fact, before buying Elite Blog Academy, I monetized my blog using a coach.

(One that I don’t recommend. But I still learned from.)

So, What Is Right For You?

I hope this post gives you some considerations when making your next big purchase for your blog or business.

The bottom line is that whatever decision you make is exactly the one you were supposed to make.

But I hope getting an opinion from a someone without affiliate links for this progra, gives you a fresh and open perspective you haven’t heard before.

Comment below: what’s the biggest investment you’ve ever made for your business?