Elite Blog Academy Review: How to Know If It's Right for You

Are you a beginner or intermediate blogger? Are you frustrated with watching other blogs take off and wonder why you just seem to be staying in the same place? If so, Elite Blog Academy might be right for you.

This review is designed to cover the pros and cons of EBA.

I’ll answer some of the frequently asked questions I get.

And I’m going to flat-out tell you who Elite Blog Academy is NOT for. Yes, seriously. It’s not for everyone. And some of the cons. (Those sections are about 3/4 of the way through if you want to hop straight to them).

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What is Elite Blog Academy?

It’s a self-paced course of 12 units with 36 assignments designed to turn your blog into a successful, profitable business.

I am an affiliate for Elite Blog Academy. In order to be accepted as an affiliate, I was required to go through the entire program.

And I paid for the course, just like you’ll have to. So you know you’re talking to someone who has actually invested in and used the product. And seen results.

Elite Blog Academy covers a ton of material including:
• Getting started- has you work through your niche, organization, etc.
• Content creation- has a great system for writing posts (if you’re looking for more information on writing post, check out my article “Ultimate Guide on How to Write an Awesome Blog Post.”)
• Website design & presentation- you’ll get reviews of your site and work to make it better. Plus learn how to make pin images.
• SEO and networking
• E-mail list creation
• Social media
• Monetization: ad networks, affiliate programs, etc.
• Product creation- this section is FABULOUS and the #1 reason I recommend Elite Blog Academy. I never would have launched a product without EBA. Now I have a Shopify store!
• Growing your business- honestly, I haven’t really done a lot with this section. I hire the occasional freelancer for editing, etc. And I have a tech guy. But that’s it.

When is EBA open?

This year (2020), EBA is open from Monday, March 2nd 7:00 am EST to Friday, March 6th @ 11:59pm PST. And they’re serious about those dates and times. If you don’t sign up then, you won’t get another chance until next year.

Click here to get on the waiting list to be notified. In the meantime, there are a ton of great FREE bonuses you can check out:

• 120 Awesome Blog Post Ideas
• The Small Business Roadmap
• 7 Genius Time Hacks for Bloggers
• The Beginner’s Guide to Branding Your Blog
• 7 Surefire Ways to Boost Your Blog Income Overnight
• Secret Blueprint for Blogging Success
• 8 Bad Blogging Habits & How to Break Them

Check them out and see if you like Ruth’s style. Her fabulous freebies are how I first was introduced to Elite Blog Academy.

How Much does EBA Cost?

This is going to hurt. Sorry about that. I’m not joking that it’s a serious investment.

For the silver plan (which is the basic EBA stuff…which is what I signed up for), you’re looking at $1,097 this year. There is also a payment plan of 4 monthly payments of $297. It includes the core curriculum, some bonuses, and Facebook group access (and yes, I’m in the group to answer questions).

For the gold plan, it’s EBA plus. It costs $1,597 or 5 payments of $377. This is an AMAZING bundle that you might want to check out. It includes everything in silver access to ALL of Ruth’s other courses and books they’ve previously launched, including the “Product Launch Playbook,” “Social Boom,” advanced Facebook ad training, etc.

Finally, there is the platinum plan. Students that choose this option will have a dated syllabus with due dates for their assignments, they will meet with Ruth each week for a dedicated group lesson, they will meet for a 1 day Live Traffic School intensive that will replace 6 months of work, and they will receive feedback on three key assignments as well as a personalized website audit. But the price is $4,997. Or 6 payments of $947. It gets you through the entire EBA course in 6 months. There are only 50 spots available for this.

This is where you need to look at your return on investment. I’ve MORE (like 100 times) than earned my money back since then from implementing things I’ve learned on the course.

But there is no guarantee. YOU have to do the work and apply the knowledge to your particular blog. If you’re a beginner blogger, it might take longer for your traffic to pick up since you don’t have a backlog of posts that are bringing in consistent traffic and you have more to learn. For an intermediate blogger, it should take less time.

You might also invest in other tools, such as an e-mail service or keyword research tool as you work through the course.

The Results

Elite Blog Academy has a ton of success stories behind it. But you might be interested in my personal results.

It took me about a year to work through Elite Blog Academy. The course is self-paced, so that wasn’t a problem. I took a few months on the unit dedicated to making a product because I wanted a fabulous product that my readers would love. Check out “Life Organized” if you want to see what I created! I’m working on my second product this year, and am dedicated to product creation as a reliable source of income.

But back to the results. Here’s a screenshot of my page views. As you can see, over the first year, my page views went up over 250%.

And 2019 compared to 2017. As you can see, I hit 100,000 page views in one month and page views are up over 450%. Not to mention that I’m getting more pages/session, people staying longer on the site and not bouncing away.

My e-mail list has gone from 3,000 to over 14,000. And more every single day.

But the real results. Before I was making (maybe) $50 a month and that was in ad income that slowly trickled in. I’m actually making money now. It’s not a lot. I average between $800 to $1,700 per month. For 20 hours a week of work, I’m not complaining. And I could be making more. But I decided sponsored posts weren’t a direction I really wanted to go in. And I took 3 months off in 2019. That isn’t the $5,000 (or crazy $25,000) a month other people are making.

But I’m on the path to that. And have no doubt I’ll achieve it. Yes, seriously. I have confidence in my growing business now.

pros and cons of EBA

PROS OF ELITE BLOG ACADEMY

Self-paced.
Facebook support group. The support provided in the group from both the staff and especially the other students was worth a good portion of the cost. In fact, I started a mastermind group of 7 of us other EBA students and that mastermind group alone has probably been worth at least half the cost of EBA. Seriously, our group ROCKS…we’re always willing to share what we know and help each other out.
On the negative side, you’ll only actually see Ruth herself during her weekly live session…it’s mostly other bloggers helping out bloggers in the Facebook support group.
Covers almost everything. I was amazed how much material was covered in this course. I was expecting something good for the investment, and this product delivered. It covered basic stuff that I THOUGHT I had done. One example? Refining your message (an early part of the course). I thought I knew what I was doing and what my site was about. But going through the material and assignments, I realized how much was left to do. And it (of course) covered a ton of stuff that I hadn’t done yet.
The product launch stuff is FABULOUS. It goes into how to set up a sales page, has swipe copy for your e-mail funnel, and more. And the support to get a product launched by other students was amazing.
Lifetime access. I joined with the 3.0 group and can’t wait to see the new material and bonuses that are coming out with 4.0. Yep, lifetime access includes access to each year’s bonuses.
365-Day return policy (new!). Before the return policy was 6 months…which I felt wasn’t long enough for bloggers to be able to work through everything and actually see results. But they expanded it to a full year! It requires you actually take all of the course before deciding you want a refund. Which is fair. But you have to have proof (pictures of your completed worksheets) and screenshots of your Google Analytics (before and after) that EBA didn’t help

CONS OF ELITE BLOG ACADEMY

You have to have your blog set-up. You can check out my post (it should have been a mini-book) on how to do that: “How to Start a Successful Blog.” It has a lot of steps, but includes printables and a TON of information to help you do it right.
It doesn’t go as in-depth into a couple of things. One particular area that was lacking was SEO. But I took an entire course on SEO (Sticky Blogging SEO) and realize that it’s impossible to cover everything as in-depth as a course designed specifically for it. But the basics are covered. I learned a lot I didn’t know. In fact, it was the SEO unit that prompted me to dig deeper and want to learn more.
I didn’t like the product launch process (it calls for a seed launch before the actual launch). In fact, this was the one area in Elite Blog Academy where I ignored the advice and did it in a slightly different manner. But it worked for me.
And the pressure and support to make a product was greatly appreciated. I never would have taken the leap without Elite Blog Academy. And it turned out to be the direction I want to take my blog in the future.
No tech support. I can understand that it’s impossible to provide all the tech support needed for thousands of students. But it’s a definite con. If you’re having coding problems, some glitch with plug-ins, etc., it’s still up to you to figure out it. They DO have a tech expert who can give some basic answers in the Facebook group, but it’s not in-depth.
You’re going to have to buy other courses. Or find the resources yourself. In particular for SEO and building your list. I took Email List Academy and Sticky Blogging SEO and both of them were AMAZING.
I haven’t talked to a single EBA success story who did it JUST with EBA. There is so much to learn that I don’t think one course could possibly cover it all.
In fact, I’m launching a much more reasonably-priced blogging course and I’m trying to cover everything…but I don’t want people to get lost in SEO and stop taking the course. It’s hard to find a happy medium. To be fair, no other course covers as much as EBA…they’re just niched down so easier to explain absolutely everything.

EBA is NOT For You If…

You’re already an advanced blogger. If your blog is well-organized, full of great posts, you have an e-mail list, and have a product…well, you should already be where most bloggers want to be. You’ll still get something out of the course, but it might not be worth the investment.

You’re not self-motivated. This is a self-paced course with a ton of information. If you have a tendency to buy courses and then never complete them, this might not be the investment for you. (Unless you get the platinum plan, which has due dates and weekly meetings with Ruth).

Your significant other isn’t on board. This is a serious investment for someone who is serious about blogging. Look at it like going to college. You wouldn’t start that without their love and support. Same thing here.

You don’t have the money. If spending this money is going to put your family at risk of not having housing or groceries, grab the freebies, and get added to the waitlist. But wait to buy.

You want to make money overnight. Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint. I’ve NEVER met a blogger who hit 50K the first year.

If you’re a course junkie who doesn’t complete courses. I know, I know. I LOVE courses. I feel you. I get the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit every year and go through a ton of the stuff. But this is an absolutely serious course that you have to put your time, effort, and dedication into every lesson.

EBA IS FOR YOU IF…

You’re willing to do the work. Elite Blog Academy walks you through everything, has worksheets so you can apply every step. But YOU will have to do the work. You have to apply the information to your blog.

If you want turn your blog into a profitable business, this is a great course.

You want to take your blog to the next level. If you feel like you’re stuck and your page views are low, then this course is going to fix that.

Elite Blog Academy FAQ

How Long Does EBA Take?

Great question! EBA is self-paced (unless you buy the platinum level, which has due dates). This is a major benefit that you can work EBA in around your life!

I took about a year to work through it. (But I wasn’t working full-time at it).

The big hold-up for most people is getting 1,000 e-mail subscribers. The way EBA works, you build your e-mail list before you launch your product. And they recommend having 1,000 subscribers before you launch.

But if your e-mail list grows fast (like mine did), then you can definitely get it done faster.

I’m completely new to blogging. Will EBA Work for Me?

Yes. In fact, I wish I started EBA when I first started blogging in 2015/16. I started on Weebly (big mistake) before I finally switched to a self-hosted site on WordPress.

EBA does NOT cover the tech details of getting set-up. But if you use the link above, BlueHost will help you install WordPress. (In fact, they did it automatically for the last site I set up). EBA does do a “Build Your Blog Bootcamp” each year before the doors open. I’m in the Facebook support group for that every year. Just tag me if you any questions (I’m Jennifer Becker Landsberger on Facebook).

I also have a post “How to Start a Blog” that has screenshots that walk you through getting your blog set up.

I already Have a Blog, is EBA Still Useful?

Yes! If you’ve been blogging for awhile and wondering why everything just isn’t “clicking,” then EBA is perfect for you. The first lessons will seem basic to you, but I highly recommend going through them anyway. The “refining your message” section in particular helped me really narrow down my niche. And my traffic went UP after niching DOWN!

Is it Worth The Price?

That’s going to be up to you. If you lay out the money, but don’t really APPLY yourself to doing the lessons, you’re not going to see your income increase.

Personally, the return on investment was beyond worth it. I made 10x the price when I paid (but that was back in 2017, when it was cheaper) in the first year after starting it. And my income has only gone up. I made more in January 2020 than the entire CURRENT cost of EBA.

How Long Can I access EBA?

FOREVER. And you get ALL THE UPDATES that they make. Forever. This is what really sold me on EBA. Ruth has a tendency to always improve stuff even more. I was in on EBA 3.0. But when EBA 4.0 launched, I went ahead and went through the course again (of course, it took much less time).

Oh, and you get the bonuses every year too. Yep, when they do new bonuses every single year. And you get access to them.

How do I get the most Out of EBA?

Okay, you’ve purchased it (or are on the waitlist). How do you get the most out of the course?

1. Overcome your “I already know this” feeling. Absolutely do NOT skim a unit and decide you know it. You have to go through the worksheets. I was amazed to find out how much I didn’t know that I thought I knew. (Did that make sense?).

2. Don’t get distracted. Dedicate time every week to working on EBA. Don’t get distracted by other courses, resources, and squirrels. (Where? Oh! A squirrel!)

3. Trust the process. There is a reason for working on the items in the order they are created. Don’t try to jump around the course. Slow down, work methodically, and do the work.

Is Elite Blog Academy a Scam?

Most definitely NOT. It’s an in-depth course on par with taking college classes. But like college classes, you have to do the work.

Even if you decide EBA isn’t for you, make sure you scroll back up and grab your freebies! If you have any questions, please comment or contact me personally at jennie {at} thehousewifemodern.com.