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Guess who’s back… back again… Bradley’s back… tell a friend…
Sorry. Couldn’t resist.
I had to cut off the last Coffee Shop Millionaire review since it was starting to run on a little. Here’s part two of my insider’s look at the Skillset Videos training module.
I’ll pick back up where I left off, under the “Intermediate” videos, with Website Critique.
Intermediate Skillset Videos, Continued
Website Critique
Basically, this is a recorded webinar that was initially put on exclusively for active members of Coffee Shop Millionaire.
As you might expect, Fabricio Cruz is doing live website critiques.
Coming from a dude who’s purchased nearly every affiliate marketing course ever launched, professional feedback on live websites is always one of the most helpful things a product owner can offer.
It’s sorta like reverse engineering what’s already proven to be successful.
(Assuming you’re critiquing a profitable website.)
Heck, even if the site sucks, you can learn a lot from hearing/seeing a legit online marketer tear it to shreds ;-)
Plus, different people will prefer different learning styles.
Some like reading, whereas others are more visual, like myself. I prefer to see the process with my own eyes, rather than reading or hearing about it.
For these reasons, I felt like this video was very helpful for all skill levels.
Killer Email Copy
In this video, F.C. gives you the low down on writing email autoresponder and broadcast messages that ‘sell the click.’
He does a better than usual job of covering the basics and even gave examples of emails he’s sent out in the past that converted well. Newbies and intermediates could benefit from watching this.
Hey, I haven’t gotten to say that often throughout these reviews.
Banner Ads
“But I thought banner ads were dead.”
Well, according to CSM, they’re not. Now, I gotta admit, I’ve generally got my rear end handed to me any time I’ve experimented with banner ads.
Only recently have I seen a positive ROI.
But that was after thousands of dollars that didn’t return anything but non-profitable clicks. So I’ve certainly paid my dues.
Thing is, although the content in this training video was decent, you have to be sending your paid traffic to a highly polished website that’ll convert well if you want to stand even a remote chance of breaking even.
… Let alone, seeing a return.
That’s not totally a knock against what they’re teaching you inside Coffee Shop Millionaire.
For $37, I guess they can’t cover everything under the sun… but up to this point, I’ve yet to see one complete step-by-step system that someone could plug in and use to see their very first sales start to roll in.
Okay, up next: TRAFFIC – the lifeblood of any Internet marketing business.
This section needs to be strong if there’s any shot left of me giving this product my “Cash Review stamp of approval.” Here goes…
Traffic
Being such a massive topic, they’ve broken it down into the following sources of traffic:
1) Ad Swaps – Fabricio Cruz teaches you how to seek out high quality Internet marketers who already have responsive email lists. From here, he advises you on how to strike a deal to get these marketers to mail for you.
All in all, a nicely done video on ad swaps.
2) Forum Marketing – nobody really talks about forum marketing these days, as it’s considered to be fairly old school.
But I can tell you this still works well when you do it right. Cruz runs down the bullets associated with forum marketing for profits. Again, a solid video.
3) Link Building – the cornerstone of SEO, link building is still the greatest determining factor as to whether or not your site ranks at the top of Google (second to ridiculously awesome content, of course).
However, the past 5 months we’ve seen enormous changes with Panda and Penguin updates… and the link building methods suggested in this video are not going to be effective in today’s SEO environment.
This video needs to be updated to reflect what’s working TODAY.
4) PPC – here you’ll learn pay per click basics and F.C. shows a few live examples of how to perform your keyword research and even how to create your ads for Google PPC.
Problem is, most small time affiliates cannot afford to use Google for PPC traffic.
Although he does mention Yahoo and Bing for PPC, there are no instructions given to show you the way.
5) SEO – this was one of the videos I was looking forward to the most.
I wholeheartedly believe that search engine optimization mastery is a must for any online marketer with a very tight budget.
Paid traffic is awesome if you’ve got money to bow, but if that’s not the case, then ranking at the top of Google for ‘buyer keywords’ is where you’ll make the cheddar.
Unfortunately, this SEO tutorial was outdated and weak. As usual, no real plan of action was ever laid out. Just a bunch of general suggestions.
6) Podcasting – I’ve never done any podcasting yet and after watching this video, I couldn’t tell you the first thing about how to start my own podcast.
Typical Coffee Shop Millionaire stuff here — you get briefed on the history and evolution of the podcast, but you’re on your own when it comes to the doing part.
7) Press Releases – this video was a little better, but still not much more than a comprehensive overview.
The same recurring problem with all of the training by Anthony Trister’s staff is that it feels like there’s absolutely no road map that can take you from A to Z.
8) Video Traffic – if you don’t have experience with filming, editing and uploading videos, this training won’t do you much good. It’s tough to become technically savvy just from listing to concepts presented over a powerpoint presentation.
9) JV Traffic – I know, I know – I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but nice overview and nothing more. This is the final video categorized under Traffic, so summing things up…
… Coffee Shop Millionaire gives a very comprehensive traffic 101 workshop, but comes up short as far as usability of their teachings are concerned.
If you’re more well-versed in online marketing, you may be able to take these concepts and with a lot of self-discipline and stick to it-ivness, make things happen.
On the other hand, if you need to be told (and shown) exactly what to do, step-by-step… you will not be happy with what you receive here.
Finally, I’ll wrap this section up with a quick look at the Advanced module.
Advanced Skillset Videos
The Next Level
This was the funniest video yet. The content is meant to take you to 7-figures and beyond. What you get is a bunch of random suggestions on how to run your Internet business – most of which are already completely obvious.
What a joke.
Advanced Webinar Replay
“Super advanced money-sucking techniques” — that’s what is promised at the beginning of the webinar.
Hmm, not quite.
What you end up learning is more like “how to send an email to your list and direct ‘em to a hype-y landing page.”
Internet marketing 101 and I’d go so far as to say I wouldn’t recommend running your business like this. Everyone in the IM space is super fake and the only way you’ll stand out is by being different (translation: real).
Bottom line is there’s nothing advanced about the methods revealed in this video.
Alright, that was an exhausting journey through the Coffee Shop Millionaire “Skillset Videos.” Talk about wasting away my Saturday morning ;-)
But I’m doing it for YOU. Hope it’s appreciated.
More bomb diggity reviews coming up,
- Brad Campbell
