I just finished the Jasper Mastermind x Adam Enfroy course on blogging. The last video ends with the instructor saying, “I will see you in the next video,” so there may be more to come. Since I've finished the course as it is now, I wanted to post a review of the course as it is. I'll update this review after the last video(s) are posted.
I took this course because I wanted to learn how this blog could promote my books and art projects. I came away with a deeper understanding of how blogging can be its own business or a valuable (and profitable) part of an existing business.
Looking back a year from today, what would you like to have done? If one of your answers is “start a blog” or “find an audience,” read this review to determine if Jasper Mastermind is right for you.
Note: Jasper used to be called Jarvis, so you'll hear the term “Jarvis” throughout the course. When they say “Jarvis,” they're referring to Jasper. The software is the same, but the name is different.
Course Overview
Jasper.ai, a company that makes AI writing software, and Adam Enfroy, a blogger in the marketing niche, co-created this course. The course is designed for bloggers who want to build a successful blog and make passive income (well, passive-ish) through affiliate marketing.
The course starts from the foundations, beginning with choosing a domain name and setting up your blog. From there, you'll learn how to build a website, write informative and persuasive content, and build links that drive website traffic.
You'll also learn the essentials of search engine optimization without any fluff.
And you'll learn how to find affiliate marketing opportunities and when you should start looking for them.
Adam Enfroy and Colin Shipp, the course's co-hosts, are successful bloggers with a lot of experience in blogging, marketing, and SEO. They're also good at presenting information in a clear and easy-to-understand manner.
Adam recommends starting a blog based on your name and choosing a niche based on your interests and experience. Instead of choosing a domain name that reflects your niche, use your name so you can pivot if a certain niche doesn't work out.
Starting a Blog from Scratch (or Not)
If you've never set up a blog before, the course will show you how to get started. The course will recommend hosting, plugins, and an SEO tool that you can use for keyword research. If you don't know what that is, don't worry. The course will tell you everything you need to know.
This course's keyword research and content-creation units focus on search intent. Are people looking to buy, or just looking for information? It's not bad to write informative posts. It's actually necessary. But that's not all you should write. Certain posts, e.g. “best of” lists, will generally be your money-makers.
Getting More Traffic to Your Blog
The link-building unit in this course is worth the price of admission. In this unit, you'll learn how guest blogging can dramatically change your blog's positioning on search engines like Google.
You'll also learn how websites like LinkedIn, HARO, and Crunchbase can help you find the right people to contact if you want to get your work featured on other websites. And the course focuses on building relationships, not spamming everyone with form letters that they won't actually read.
If you hate social media, this is the course for you. You do not need social media to join the blogging world or become a successful blogger.
Meet Other Masterminds
This course also includes a private Facebook group to allow you to talk to other course-takers and compare notes on your progress.
Once you've joined, you can ask questions, see what other people are struggling with, and tell everyone about your own blogging journey so far. The community is very supportive and full of information.
You'll also get to feel like you're part of an elite blog academy–or maybe that's just me.
If you've signed up for the course, search Facebook for the “Jarvis Mastermind” or “Jasper Mastermind” group to get started.
Strategy Call
This course also allows you to book at least one free strategy call to discuss anything you're having trouble with. My call is scheduled for later, so I will update this review and let you know how it goes.
Who is the course for?
The course is designed for bloggers of all levels of experience. If you're starting from scratch, the course will show you how to start blogging and get search engine traffic in 6-12 months.
If you've been blogging for years, it will show you how to pivot, or create a new blog, if you need to.
If you're just starting out, you'll be able to ignore everything but this course's strategies for content marketing and organic ways to drive traffic to your website.
Do you need a PhD in computer science, or a massive social media following, to run a successful blog?
You do not need any coding knowledge to take this course or to run a successful, profitable blog.
You do not need a pre-existing online business, a massive following on TikTok, or a certification in Google Analytics. You can start from absolute zero.
I'll be honest with y'all. I barely know what a DNS zone is. Or PHP. My “programming” knowledge begins and ends with 2008-era CSS. And I was never confused while taking this course.
This course does assume a certain baseline of technological literacy, but it's not very high.
Have you ever bought hosting for a domain, installed WordPress on that domain, and installed a new plugin inside WordPress? If you've done all three, you're pretty much good to go.
If the above paragraph confuses you, you'll need to consult other tutorials to make this course work.
Content, Traffic, and SEO Strategies
Other online blogging courses are tailored to getting absolute newbies over the technical hurdles, and navigating platforms like Google Search Console.
This course is much more big picture and strategy focused. If you're struggling with content marketing or trying to launch a blogging career, then this is the course for you.
Do you need a Jasper account to benefit from this course?
You will still get a lot out of this course even if you don't have access to any AI writing software, including Jasper.
There are a few videos about using Jasper/Jarvis and SurferSEO to optimize your content. Most videos don't mention Jasper, or AI content writers, at all.
This course does not focus on using AI to write your content; for that, see Jasper's free SEO course.
How thorough is this course?
The course covers every major aspect of creating a profitable blog: finding a niche, writing posts that generate revenue, getting more traffic through search engines, and monetizing your blog through affiliate programs.
The videos on all of these topics are very thorough, without including a lot of extraneous information. You don't have to worry about evaluating 15 different plugins; they tell you everything you need to start a minimum viable website to get up and running.
LIke all the best blogging courses, Jasper Mastermind includes a lot of information about how long you should wait before monetizing your blog.
It's not as simple as throwing up some posts, installing AdSense, and calling it a day. It wasn't even that simple ten years ago, when I started making websites. Ask me how I know…
What's missing?
There is no total cost estimate for all the tools recommended throughout the video series. What will it cost, in total, if I buy every recommended plugin and program? What if I only buy the absolutely essential ones?
There are not many recommended programs, and only a few of them are expensive, but it would be good to see an estimate of how much all these tools will cost when you add them together. I was fortunate to get some of these tools in Black Friday sales, but not everyone can be so lucky!
Limited Monetization Options
Affiliate programs are the only monetization model discussed in this course. There's nothing about, for example, setting up a WooCommerce store, using blogging to promote your own products, or when you should start your own course (if ever).
Too much information? How to start a course, for example, is probably a course all its own. And Jasper Mastermind is designed to narrow down your focus so you're not pinging about trying 15 different things at once and going nowhere.
There are so many blogging courses, it helps to choose one and focus on the strategies therein.
If you're like me, and tend to bounce from project to project, this course might help quiet the noise in your head and get you to focus on what matters.
No Social Media (Is That a Bad Thing?)
Speaking of focus: there is nothing about social media in this course. Social media can be a huge timesuck, and it's too easy to get distracted by TikTok when you haven't even written your first blog post.
That said, I wish there was at least one video about how to automate your social media using an app like Canva, IFTTT, or Metricool.
No Email Marketing
For some niches, email marketing is esssential, especially if you sell your own products. Sending an email is the easiest way to connect with your audience
Course Organization
This course is divided into 10 units with 3-5 videos in each unit. All videos feature Adam Enfroy and/or Colin Shipp. Most videos are about 20-30 minutes long, though a few are longer than an hour.
You can watch these videos at your own pace. I listened to the videos, via BlueTooth headphones, while working around the house. It took me about a month to go through all the videos.
The course, and all its videos, are available for both desktop and mobile. I only watched this course on my smartphone, and had very little trouble navigating the course website. My only complaint is that you can view the course video titles, but not click on them, from the “Course Overview” screen. That's a little annoying.
The course website allows you to watch the videos at up to 2x speed. Adam and Colin both speak relatively slowly, and the audio quality is pretty high, so it was easy for me to understand them even at 2x speed. (I'm also a speed demon when I read audiobooks, so that might help!)
The course is hosted on Adam's website. To take this course, you'll need to create a new account on his website. There is no social sign-on, i.e. through your Google or Facebook account. Some users might be annoyed at having to create yet another account and remember (or store) another password.
Course Homework
The homework assignments are very manageable, even with a busy schedule. If you need to start a blog from scratch, you may have to carve out 2-4 hours to get started. Most of the other assignments take one hour at the most.
Whenever I take an online course, I try to do everything in the video before I move onto the next one. This was easy to do for most of these videos. A few videos are so comprehensive, you really can't do everything in them unless you give yourself a few months. Thankfully, you can go back to the videos and watch them again anytime you like.
I have three kids under six, so any free time I have is hard-fought. Often my “free time” isn't really free; I often listened to these videos while trying to empty the dishwasher (or fold the laundry, or wipe down the counters, or…) with three little kids vying for my attention.
I was still able to follow the course material and do the assignments over about 30 days. It may help that I already have my own blog with a built-in target audience. Or that I'd already experimented with blog monetization on previous websites.
Course Cost
The course was $1400 per year or $199 per month when I signed up. The course is now $2400 per year or $299 per month. The course is currently waitlisted, so it's possible that price will increase.
Is it worth it?
Short answer: Yes. I think the course is well worth it at $1400 or even $2400. The unit on link-building is worth the price of admission by itself.
Long answer: Yes, right now. At $2400 the course is still well worth it if you're serious about blogging for income. But if this course reaches a higher price point, say $3,000 or even more, then I think the Mastermind should add a few more units and videos to justify the higher price point.
A top-dollar blogging course should have videos that at least introduce other revenue-generation models, social media automation and delegation, and related topics like email marketing.
If they don't add these, I hope that a higher cost package will grant lifetime access instead of a yearly fee.
I understand that Adam and Colin (the course instructors) don't really use social media or direct ecommerce on their websites. Perhaps they could include some guest videos or interviews with people who do, e.g., Anaita from Sell Anything Online (@sellanythingonline on TikTok and Instagram).
And I do hope the course will add a few more templates, especially templates for outreach to established bloggers, publishers, and reporters on HARO.
I had to take screenshots on my phone of Colin's email templates, and then send them to myself on Dropbox. I'd much rather copy a Google Doc and have it auto-sync to all my devices.
Until there's a price increase, I recommend this course to anyone who is ready and willing to start their blogging journey. If you are serious about driving affiliate sales in 6-12 months time, this is the best course for you.
There are a lot of free blogging courses out there, but this course will help you focus on what really matters: creating great blog content and building links to your website.
Overview
Good Points
- Thorough information presented in easy-to-understand, bite-sized sections
- Well-paced course designed with a beginner in mind. If you've never started a blog before, you can get started pretty easily with these tutorials.
- Eliminates distractions and sidepaths by focusing on what matters most
- Comprehensive guide to building a blog from start to finish
- Invaluable unit on link-building, which is one of the most challenging aspects of blogging. Highly recommended for this unit alone.
Issues
- No total cost estimate at the beginning of the course, making it hard to plan for future expenses
- Would benefit from a few more templates in Google Docs, e.g., outreach emails to bloggers and reporters
- No social sign-on means one more password to store somewhere
- All monetization focus is on affiliate revenue, at the expense of other forms of monetization
- No information on social media strategy, even automating or delegating it
Overall Recommendation
Overall, I would recommend this course for anyone who is serious about blogging as a business in itself. This is one of the best blogging courses online for people interested in exploring affiliate marketing.