Adwords Training Course?

[travelhead]

Hello All,

Some of you may know me from this thread:

http://fourhourworkweek.com/vBulletin/showthread.php?t=475

I'm a full time affiliate marketer and was able to travel for about 2.5 years to many places around the world while running my affiliate marketing business.

I'm an expert Adwords user and have managed over $2 million in Adwords PPC spend over the last 2 years.

I am thinking about creating a new muse which helps people improve their Adwords accounts.

Many people use Adwords to drive traffic to their site, but they don't know how to properly set up their campaign so they can make the most out of each dollar.

I wanted to get everyone's feedback... I was thinking about structuring it as a 'membership' site, where you pay $xx per month. The site would have a forum, lots of videos on adwords, tools to build your campaigns faster, articles, etc.

How much would you pay *(if at all) for this service? How do you think I should structure it?

Thanks!
Josh

[dsharpe]

Josh,

As I'm sure you're aware, there is a plethora (my big word for the day:cool: ) of material out there on internet marketing, and PPC info. Some good, some not fit for a sewage treatment facility.

I just unsubscribed from nearly 30 internet marketing lists (part of the elimination process), and in the last year, every one of them has promoted at least 2 different PPC-related courses or membership sites.

That doesn't mean that yours wouldn't be great or viable--I'm just pointing out that there's a ton of competition from some pretty big names.

But, I'm not interested in doing what they are teaching, because at least subconsciously, their lifestyle is tied to what they teach. An article I saw last year claimed that many of the big name internet marketing gurus actually work 80 hours/week or more. Not interested.

What I would be interested in participating in would be a membership site that helped me do what you did--travel around the world while operating an affiliate marketing business.

Obviously, optimizing Adwords campaigns would be a key part of such a site, but the selling point for me--as well as many on this site--would be the coaching/guidance from someone who has already done what we want to do.

I don't want to optimize Adwords, I want a certain lifestyle. Show me how to do what you did, how to get that lifestyle--using Adwords as one of the tools--and you've got my attention....just like Tim got our attention with his book. It's about the lifestyle, not about how to start a supplement business.

Offer a site that combines lifestyle coaching with a business model that lets them achieve that desired lifestyle. (This is one of the methods used by the network marketing industry to attract new prospects.)

Focus on how to create the lifestyle. The business model is one of the tools. Include travel information--traveling around the world is intimidating to someone who hasn't done it before. Checklists. Teleclasses on specific aspects of the lifestyle, etc. Arrange travel discounts as a member benefit. Etc etc.....

I just canceled an affiliate marketing membership site subscription that was costing me $39.95 per month, and had 6,000 members--so that gives you an idea of what people are willing to pay. In the past, There are also Adsense portal membership sites that cost $95/mo. The average beginning lifestyle (or personal) coach gets around $125-200 per hour.

I've been through the (strangely-named) Graduate School of Coaching program, so if you need lifestyle coaching resources to add or want to find some experts, I can point you to some good stuff.

Again, don't let me discourage you from putting together a course on Adwords if that's what you want to do. With the infamous "google slap" and other adjustments made recently, there are plenty of people looking for ways to fix their PPC campaigns...

Dave

[travelhead]

Hey Dave..

Wow! Thanks for the very in-depth and well thought out response. It's very interesting to hear your prospective.

Awhile back, I was thinking about creating a lifestyle website like you mentioned, which I set up here:

http://www.travelingaffiliate.com

Your thoughts? :)

But you are definitely on to something here.. Creating a lifestyle coaching program as you laid out would be very enjoyable! And it would also set me apart from all the scamming & slimy competition / ebooks.

I would love to hear everyone else's feedback!

[dsharpe]

Josh,
That's a good start on what I was talking about. I have some thoughts, but am fighting mush-brain this evening, so let me get a bit of sleep first!

Dave

[webgal]

Well, there is a really good tutorial that's free.

[lesslaw]

That is an interesting concept. One thing you might consider doing is having a few folks that you mentor to affiliate/lifestyle success and use them as testimonials (and affiliates of your system). Jeremy Palmer seemed to do this with success and seems to have added to his credibility.

Also, although your desired lifestyle is globetrotting, you might have others that would choose to be home/involved with family. Your market might be increased if your pitch is more generalized to controlling your own time/lifestyle rather than just the "travel the world" option.

I'm a bored lawyer with a wonderful family and in interest in affiliate marketing so maybe I could be your first success story. Let me know how to contact you if you're interested in teaching me the tricks.

Best of luck and congratulations on your current level of success!

[FrozenCanuck]

Josh - FYI I'm the guy that emailed you about your broken URL masking script. Hope you got that fixed!

I think you DEFINITELY have the skill set to make this muse work, and you should go for it. That said, I have some suggestions to make it even better.

How about, in your course, you actually start a brand new affiliate campaign using ONLY PPC, and show people everything that you actually do.

Step 1: research the niche market, and then use the tools you show in your "how to dominate any niche" series to discover what you should be doing.

Step 2: implementing Adwords PPC

Step 3: Followup, tweaks, show how much profit it made? Did it work?

If you can sell a video showing exactly soup to nuts setup of an affiliate campaign, I think it would be really original.