I did a quick count and module 1 is just over 1000 words long, broken into 4 sections. That's 4 small articles of about 250 words each...
(EDIT: I've now added some of the external links to publicly accessible pages which the course uses to flesh out their thin posts)
Module 1 - Gut Check
1. Choosing the Right Market
2. Determine If You Have A Reason To Exist
- Link 1: Conscious Capitalism book
Code:
http://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Capitalism-Liberating-Heroic-Business/dp/1422144208/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364908050&sr=8-1&keywords=conscious+capitalism
- Link 2: Why Corporations With A Social Purpose Perform Better
Code:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2011/11/07/why-corporations-with-a-social-purpose-perform-better/
3. OPTIONAL: Research More “Idea Hangouts” If You Need Them…
- Marketing Source
- Weddles Associations
- Amazone Magazines
- Magazines.com
- MagsDirect
- MrMagazines
4. Commit To Taking Action
- Neil Patel - A Cheat Sheet For Building High Ranking Authority
Code:
http://www.quicksprout.com/2012/06/18/a-cheat-sheet-for-building-high-ranking-authority-without-cheating/
In 1 Choosing the right market they go straight into the Google KW tool and, guess what, leave it on broad match for their research. Nice. That's point you in the right directions. Although to be fair, they don't really explain anything other than, if there's lots of searches this is popular. Right, thanks for that.
There's nothing remarkable in any of these posts. They advise looking on Clickbank and Shareasale, cheking out Magazine.com and Amazon Magazines and all that sort of stuff. There's a couple of videos so you think that's where the real detail will be but they turn out to be just 1-2 minutes long and just saying whats in the post.
There's also some resource links but those turn out to be links to clickbank and amazon. So you move quickly onto module 2.
Module 2 - Establishing Your Brand
1 Create Your Customer Avatar
2 Define Your Unique Point of View (POV)
3 Select Your Brand Type
4 Establish The Personality and Tone of Voice For Your Site
5 Name Your Authority Site
- Nameboy
- Bustaname
6 Create Your Elevator Pitch
- Venturebeat - Creating the unforgettable elevator pitch
Code:
http://venturebeat.com/2011/01/27/creating-the-unforgettable-elevator-pitch/
- Huffington Post - Elevator Pitches: 5 Things You Need To Know
Code:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/15/elevator-pitch-5-things-you-need-to-know_n_1345524.html
- Entrepreneur - How to Write Your Mission Statement
Code:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/65230
- Hubspot - How to Craft the Perfect Marketing Elevator Pitch
Code:
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33822/How-to-Craft-the-Perfect-Marketing-Elevator-Pitch.aspx
Module 2 is a bit longer than 1, at about 1500 words in total. With 6 sections that makes for even shorter blog post-type presentation. And again you get nothing more than you would expect to find in a 200-250 word blog post.
I guess there's no better example than showing you one. Here's the ENTIRE lesson from section 2 of Module 2, enjoy:
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2 Define Your Unique Point of View (POV)
Just as we discussed in module one, it’s crucial that you offer a unique point of view that differentiates your content from all the other voices out there.
In the old days of marketing, this concept was referred to as a “USP” unique selling proposition. You can think of this as how you plan to relate to your target market.
Here are a few examples of brands that talk to very similar markets from very different points of view:
• DailyWorth vs. Fool.com - DailyWorth.com talks about personal finance… for women
• AbsoluteRights vs. SurvivalLife - SurvivalLife.com talks about preparedness… NOT politics
• LifeHacker vs. ZenHabits - ZenHabits.com talks about simplicity… NOT productivity
The point is to force yourself to commit to having a unique POV. COMMIT...PLANT A d*** FLAG!!!
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Yes, that's it. Ok, so there's a couple of pictures which are also included as resources, and there's a video too, which is basically some guy, not Ryan, talking about the post and the pictures for 3-4 minutes. So apparently that's all you need to know about point of view for an authority site, because that's all there is.
But don't be totally disappointed. There is some decent content.
In the resources section of each post there is occassionally a link to an in depth article which is well written and quite informative. The problem is that these links go to sites such as The Huffington Post, Forbes.com, Quicksprout, Kissmetrics and, get this, Hubpages!
Yes, you understood correctly - the most detail and the best written content is publicly available free content on OTHER sites.
And this is a course on content creation and building authority.
So you can understand why some people were getting a bit annoyed that after two modules of no more than about 2500 words total, that's 1/3rd of the way through a 6 module course, they then have to wait a week or more for the next 2 modules.
Some complained enough that they got early access to the later modules. But things donn't get any better, apparently.
Here are the headings for Module 3.
Module 3: Building Your Authority Site
1. Purchase Your Domain Name
2. Get a Hosting Account
3. Install WordPress (or have WordPress installed)
4. Configure WordPress
5. Select and Configure Your Theme
6. Install These Required Plugins
7. Determine Your Content Categories
8. Create Your About Us Page
9. Create Your TOS Page
10. Create Your Privacy Policy Page
11. Create Your Contact Us Page
12. OPTIONAL: Trademark Your Site Name
13. OPTIONAL: Get a Phone Number and Post it on Your Site
14. OPTIONAL: Get a Google Places Listing… Even if Your Business is Virtual.
15. Prime The Pump With “Core Concept” and Filler Posts
16. Prime the Pump With Bad Ads From Big Companies
17. Setup Branded Social Properties
18. Integrate Social Properties Into Your Authority Site
Module 4: Establishing a Content Strategy
1. Determine Your Posting Schedule
2. Determine Your Mailing Schedule (Editorial Calendar)
3. Brainstorm Possible Writers
4. Use Your Competition
5. Do All The Google Author Rank stuff…
6. Contact 20 Writers From Section 3
7. Add A "Write for Us" Page On Your Site
8. Post A Job Listing At Problogger.com
9. Post A Listing On Gust Blogging Sites:
10. Install the Postrunner WP plugin
11. Become A Curator Of Content
12. Regularly Go Back and Interlink Old Blog Posts
13. Make Active "Commentors" Famous
Module 5: Monetizing Your Authority
1. Convert Visitors into Subscribers
2. Lead Magnets
3. Sidebar Forms
4. Landing Pages
5. In-Post Opt-Ins
6. Create Two-Step Opt-In Forms
7. Sell Advertising
8. Hold a Webinar
9. Promote an Affiliate Offer
10. Add a Premium Subscription Level
11. Virtuous Cycle
Module 6: Scaling Your Media Empire
1. Know Your Numbers
2. Monitor Your Rankings
3. Increase From 3 - 5 Posts Per Day to 5 - 10 (but make sure key metrics don't trend down)
4. Hire a Managing Editor to Take Over Your Role
5. Syndicate With Other Top Sites
6. Run a Contest
7. Expand to Paid Advertising
8. Use Retargeting to Bring Traffic Back
9. Buy Tweets to Raise Your Profile
Now I can't sit here and tell you that there is absolutely nothing in any of that which is useful, new to me, helpful or anything else. But from experience of the first two modules, and from what I hear, there isn't a hell of a lot. And following the policy of short blog style posts under each heading, which simply expand on the information in the title, I would say that it's almost enough just to know the titles here. If you do your own research you will probably be able to create the course yourself - because, let's face it, these guys are linking out to other properties when they want anything filled out.
Here are the posts in a thread titled:
"Light and Lame content so far"
I've been through Modules 1 and 2 and like others here have said, the real info that I want and need to move forward is in Modules 3 and beyond. To have to wait for another week for access is frustrating.
The information in the first two modules is really lacking. A short video showing someone using the Google Keyword Tool on "cat juggling" but NO DETAILS or explanation of the numbers, really, what they mean, what you're looking for. Even the search done on the keywords was for a broad match and not an exact match. Not a single sentence of mention of that.
Most of the "training" is so general and light as to be laughable. You're charging people for this?!
At this point I'm very disappointed. I'll stick it out until the 8th. If all of the content is not unlocked on that date, I'm outta here.
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If you write to support, or the Admin who posts here, you can request access to the later modules. I did and got access after about a day.
Although I must warn you. The content doesn't get any better. Like you, I was frustrated by the 'lite' info and lack of detail, but assumed the 'meat' was in the later modules. Not so. The whole course seems to have been written by one of those article writers you can hire on elance for 2c a word. In fact, the best content is contained in the links which take you to EXTERNAL FREE BLOGS and hubs, written by other people.
Funnily enough, although a big thing was made of the 'made for you' website 'by our dedicated team' there is absolutely no mention of it anywhere in the course. I'm going to ask for a refund, you are right, this is not content to pay for.
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Ok, I am not a Ryan Deiss defender or a moderator in here, but let's wait until the launch is complete before getting pissed at everything
I will say this. Deiss and his team are EXCELLENT at refunds. If you aren't happy with the product and you ask for a refund, they honor it, end of story. I bought the local mobile thing and didnt want the add on they refunded no question asked and since then I've bought more and they had no problems with me.
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I have to agree with the above post. Modules 1 and 2 were really light on. I would love more info regarding choosing the right niche ie. How to determine adequate competition and How many monthly global keyword searches are considered enough. None of this is explained but would have been super helpful.
Also frustrated that no new content can be accessed until the 8th. I have this week off work and was looking forward to getting stuck into it.
I am also disappointed. I am not waiting until the 8th. I am going to request a refund now.
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I think the content is extremely disappointing, laughably lightweight, very sparse, and the lots of links to far superior public content elsewhere kind of sum it up.
The videos (poor as they were) TOTALLY dry up in later modules (I asked for the later modules to be unlocked)., and frankly the content later on looks like an afternoon's worth of notes that were made in order for the weeks of fleshing out to be done later... which then never got done. For instance, there's a page on attracting external advertisers that says, "yeah, why not?" And one of webinars that says "great idea!..." - end of training.
I am going to hang around to see if they do the decent thing and admit it's not delivering on the sales letter promise, and revamp it, and also to see if the community develops into something useful, or I'm after that refund. Very upset really, I had heard great things about Ryan Deiss and this company, but this seems to me to be a poor, cynical excuse to sell high markup, low quality web outsourcing.
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So, I took the step of going back to Ryan Deiss's sales page and listening again to the sales pitch. It's very exciting and it really makes you want to get onto the course. I still do - unfortunately, the course he talks about doesn't exist.
By the way, do you want to know what are Ryan Deiss's recommended plugins that he uses on EVERY ONE of his sites. Like he said he would tell you in the sales video... drum roll please...
They are:
1. Akismet
2. Google Analytics
3. WP Super Cache
4. oh no, sorry, that's it. There's just 3. Although they do provide links to the download pages.
Save your money and your time. Even if this turns up free as a share, it's unlikely it will be worth bothering about.
What does this course actually teach you about building Authority sites? Nothing new, is the answer to that. I did a bit of research and chatted with some people who got access to later modules, things don't get any better. The basic lesson being taught is that if you want to build authority then you need good content. Right, thanks for that, here's my $240.
And how do you get good content? Pay popular writers. Hmm, seems rather obvious really, once you think about it. But how do you find those popular writers?
Strategy 1. Check out the competition in your niche, find some names, email them.
Strategy 2. Advertise on Problogger
Strategy 3. Get a 'write for us' WP plugin or just advertise on your site.
Strategy 4. hmm, no, I think that's it.
The main website they seem to reference is at
Code:
http://www.survivallife.com
which, they say, does everything they teach in the course - has a silo structure, guest posters, newsletter, busy looking wordpress theme, and regular daily posts targeting the specific market. I guess if you study that site then probably you can guess the rest of the course. Not sure if its one of Mr Deiss's or not, but I get the impression it is.
Actually, if you study that site AND make notes from the pre launch material then use your head you could probably create a better course on Authority than they have. Seriously, whoever wrote this course seems to have been working from a checklist and must have agreed his/her rate before starting.
The rest of the course is the same old same old. Actually, not 'same old' this is not the same as all the other stuff, this is worse. This has less detail. This is far more cynical.
