Ed Dale's 30 day Challenge, a good place to start?

[KathleenMN]

I've been hopping around through the forums and I came across a reference to Ed Dale's Thirty Day Challenge. I was wondering if anyone has worked through this program, and whether this is a good place for an almost newbie to jump in and get started online again?

Any feedback on him or the program would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking Jan 1 would be a good day to start.

[Clay Franklin]

I have watched a few of the videos and think it is a good program.
You could also spend time on Lynn's blog and it has all the information needed to have success online. There are articles on niche research, keyword research, affiliate networks, and just about everything affiliate marketing. It is probably the best resource on the internet for Affiliate marketing.
If you do decide to go to the 30 day challenge, I suggest you post your progress and questions here as a way of providing accountability and getting that extra help on things. Have you been joining the Tuesday sessions Lynn holds for all members?
Later you might consider joining the elite forum and get the extra help and resources available for elites. Nice to meet you Kathleen.

[KathleenMN]

Thanks for the feedback Clay. I was a member of Lynn's forums several years back, and that's why this is the first place I came when I wanted to get back into the IM world. Her articles and information are top notch. My problem is I seem to get buried in the information and trying to soak it all up that I end up sitting there like a sponge doing nothing.
I thought the 30 day challenge would be good for me as it seems to provide some direction and connection to the wide array of information out there as well as telling me what I should be doing to move forward. I would be more than happy to post my progress and questions here, I think it would give me the extra help and support I need.

I signed up for her Tuesday sessions, and will be there next Tuesday. I will also be joining the elite forum here - but need to wait a little bit until the expense is something I can cover. I was a member of Lynn's "elite" group (not sure she called it that way back then) but the support and advise I received was invaluable.

[Clay Franklin]

I love to learn also. It must be my favorite thing to do.
I signed up for three college classes next semester including mobile advertising, e-commerce solutions and New Media Marketing.
I just won a contest from Chris Carpenter so I spent all day watching his Videos on Google cash detective.
Jeff Walker grandfathered in all PLF students so I am looking forward to going through his class again.
I also am taking a NLP class as a beta tester for a future $2000 product.
I use the forum here to help keep me focused on stay on one thing until profit.
So far I have been able to bring my blog up from PR 0 to PR 1, done a guest article exchange and writing on my blog more often than once a month.
Next I need to write my first article for Ezine articles and build out a niche site for getting laser targeted traffic to your money site.
I subscribed to this thread, so post your new thread here so I can be sure to find it and subscribe to it also.

Today's tip:
1) Set a timer for 50 minutes and work on one thing without distractions. Once we get in the habit of doing this, we will get a lot more done every day.
2) Have a plan for what we will do when we sit down at the computer. This prevents opening email and staying busy without doing what we know we should be doing.

One thing about the 30 day challenge is at the goal is that at the end of thirty days you have made money on line and followed a process that is repeatable.

[PpcJen]

I like the 30 Day Challenge for newbies.
The program provides a constant "day after day" routine that gets you in the habit of working on your business every single day.

Another thing I like about the 30 Day Challenge is that you don't have to go looking for the next bit of information. It's all laid out for you - sequentially - which makes it so easy for newbies.

I agree that all the internet marketing information you may need to be successful is available online somewhere - but the time and effort involved in finding that information is enormous. The 30 Day Challenge takes the most basic Internet Marketing information, condenses it down, and delivers it in a systematic fashion.

I think you should give it a shot! You've got nothing to lose. And since you have some experience under your belt, its a great refresher course!
Good luck to you!!

[wade_watson]

I did 30DC in '08 and caught many of the videos in '09. It can be very useful for a newbie, but do keep it in the context of your own goals. You won't come out of it with a business plan. 30DC is focused on preliminary niche research, though it explores a good deal of link-building techniques/social media as well. I considered it useful, but took some of it with a grain of salt. They talk up the free trials of some paid software and services, but you can easily do the same things free if you look around.

Lynn's blog posts and webinars often focus on helping the newbie start in such a way as to build long lasting income from blogging or passive site creation, so do catch up on her stuff. I really think the best place a newbie can start is to go to the Clicknewz main page, click "Archives" at the top and spend some quality time reading her past articles. She lays out the concept and details better than anybody I know.

[MBowe]

I'm currently going through the 30 day challenge... um, but there is a challenge ;-)

Just so you know, I'm a newbie. The challenge, in my opinion, is that the info they give is light on how to find a good niche and helping you understand how to look at a niche from different angles and perspectives. The google keyword tools are so limited in how they long tail and look at related terms that I find them inhibiting at times. Plus, if the rest of the world uses the same tools, many people are going down the same search paths.

Selecting a niche with sufficient traffic potential and low enough competition is key to success in the program. But, for me, personally, that has been where I am stuck. Every niche trail I go down seems to be crowded and doesn't meet the criteria that they give for a quality niche. I've spent hours and hours doing niche research and still have yet to find something that matches their suggested parameters. My guess is that Niche research is a very demanding skill that you have to develop over time. I personally wish I had the time.

I don't say this to discourage anyone. I think the program is top notch. What they do in this challenge is to honestly have you look at a market so that you can invest your time with confidence, rather than being surprised after investing time in a site, links, etc.

In the end, choosing a market is key, so, make sure you allow yourself time at the beginning of the challenge to invest in finding a good niche. I'm finding it frustrating because as a single dad my time is so stinking limited and it seems the competition everywhere is too much to break into that I feel I'm wasting my time. But, if it were easy, I guess there wouldn't be any money in it. I guess we all have to find the path to success... it's an art, not a science. Sigh.

[TomM]

I think the 30dc is a great introduction to online marketing. But it is only designed to help you make your first dollar. It is not designed to teach you how to build an online business. Think of it as your introduction to marketing class and that you will still need to learn a bunch even after you finish it. Good Luck!

[russell]

It seems like a good place to start, and also to get in the habit of taking action, which seems to be the hardest things to do for IM'ers

[KathleenMN]

Selecting a niche with sufficient traffic potential and low enough competition is key to success in the program. But, for me, personally, that has been where I am stuck.

I had the same issue and was stuck on this for a long time. I never did find a micro-niche that fit all of their qualifications. I wanted to move forward and continue to learn though so I decided to pick the best that I had found - which met all of their qualifications except a good competition matrix, and move forward. I figured if it took me more than 30 days, or even if I didn't earn a single dollar, I had still learned the process which I could reapply better when I understood the whole thing.

So, I moved forward, and am about 60 days after the challenge. I haven't earned a dollar, haven't made it to the top of google. But I am steadily moving up in the rankings, and I have learned a ton. I will continue to work at it until I get to page one, and see what happens from there.

Even though my story is not a typical "30 day challenge success story" I consider it a success and very worthwhile - time well spent.

Kathleen