Introductory Note
Update 20/08/2022: The Lab has disbanded, and in its place came The Affiliate Lab by Matt Diggity, which does NOT include any of the other course providers in this review, please refer to the link above for more relevant information.
I thought I’d clear something up before we even get into this post – No, I am not making any money off this review.. I do not have an affiliate link in place here, I am purely doing this as I am either friends or associates with every one of the course’s coaches. I think just from their reputation and approach to internet marketing, that this course is already going to be jam-packed with info. Even if it does run at a $2k cost.
I’d also like to note, that due to the HUGE size of this course (there is over 400 individual video lessons..) that I haven’t had a thorough chance to go through every video. I’ve instead gone through key parts and made sure I watched pieces of at least every single category. That being said, the fact that this is all in video format makes it significantly easier to go through an entire category (and pick up those golden nuggets) in a fairly short amount of time.
I’d like to first say, that this course is for EVERYONE. There isn’t a single person I could think of in the IM world that wouldn’t benefit from some part of this course, due to the gigantic amount of knowledge each of those coaches has in their respective fields. As well as the level of detail that each category goes into.
Table of Contents
When I first opened this, I was impressed and slightly worried by the number of videos that the course entailed.. It’d literally take a full weeks worth of work to go through (and absorb) the entire thing. Which is both a good thing, and a bad thing – Due to the immense size of this course, it’s likely that you won’t be using every section for your specific business and if you attempt to learn everything, then you’ll likely be met with a huge amount of information overload.
So, I’d suggest (at the start anyway) to pick specific categories that are going to be the most beneficial for you and your business.
Just remember as well, that all this information is meaningless without actual action – So keep on top of yourself and try to apply the new found information as quickly as possible.
Meet The Coaches
So, who is actually behind this course?
Matt Diggity – If you’re reading my blog, then you likely know who Matt is.. If not, then Matt is an affiliate SEO with one of the world’s biggest PBN services and has routinely ranked in some of the most competitive, multi-million dollar niches year after year.
Mark Luckenbaugh – Again, someone you should be all too familiar with. Mark is the epitome (in my opinion) of a good businessman and has an agency that generates 6 figures/month.
Brian Willie – You want to rank locally or dominate the maps space? Brian’s your go-to guy.
Dino Gomez – Another agency owner, this time though Dino specializes in Facebook Ads. His most recent case study saw him selling tickets for the Chiang Mai SEO Conference (Which you may of heard me talk about) at a cost per sale of under $15, whilst the actual tickets varied from $99 – $297.
Brendan Tully – A former SEO advisor for the Australian Government, Brendan now consults with and runs multiple E-Commerce sites across the globe.
Dave Schneider & Mark Samms – Co-Owners of NinjaOutreach, these 2 have more experience in running outreach campaigns combined than most staff, combined at 7 figure SEO agencies.
My Initial Overview
The Lab is running through Kajabi, which makes it a super reliable platform for any training video content. The one downside I have always had with Kajabi is it doesn’t automatically mark a lesson as completed, you have to manually press the button – Which is pretty frustrating. Other than that though, you’re onto a winner with extremely low downtown and fast loading times when trying to learn.
The setup for the categories is plain and easy to click around, though it did throw me off that there are no featured images for each section – C’mon guys, I know I’m nitpicking, but give us shiny object syndrome guys something pretty to look at!
The introduction and Facebook Group videos are really short and it let’s you get straight into the action. I hate fluff, so this was a bonus for me.. No sitting through an hour of rambling marketers trying to tell you all about their amazing course whilst not letting you actually dig into it.
A Breakdown of The Categories
There are 7 “Labs” (or categories) currently on the site, with 1 of those 7 still in the process of being made: The Maps Lab – No surprise there, Brian Willie’s segment is likely delayed due to the amount of time he’s spent putting this entire thing together.
The Affiliate Lab
I don’t think I was properly prepared with how huge of a section this was going to be. I knew Matt would dedicate some serious time into teaching this, but the OnPage section alone has 57 training videos.
I hate to admit it, but this course beats my own affiliate training just by the sheer intricate detail Matt has goes into on literally every part of ranking affiliate sites. I also really enjoyed the fact that he straight up called out Amazon as a bad platform to make money (as an affiliate) from.. Couldn’t agree more, Matt.
There is a HUGE amount of detail when it comes to the link building section.. Covering everything you’re going to need to know in relation to social link building, PBNs, citations and outreach.. However I would of liked to see more information about additional link building techniques, and specifically covering more stuff on Tier 2 (that isn’t Local Tier 2, because it’s a very different ballgame) etc.. Though I know (from my own reverse engineering of Matt’s sites, hehe) that you can rank for very competitive niches with just the link building information in this category.
The only things lacking in this section is how to actually sell your site (which may be a great addition from the Empire Flippers guys, who I know Matt is very friendly with) and an overview of growing your site beyond the initial niche and promotion selection.
The Local Lab
This specific section didn’t actually have a huge amount of information on ranking locally, but that’s because I’m going to assume it’ll be covered in significantly more detail in the Map lab that is coming out soon.
That being said, this Lab taught something far better than traditional SEO courses.. Which is how to do mass local SEO campaigns. Local is a lot easier than most people will have you believe, and to make real money out of it you either need to:
- Own the end business/es that you’re actually ranking
- Do mass local SEO, so covering multiple states/counties/cities and doing things like PPL (Which is one of the bonus courses you get in The Lab)
- Do mass client SEO for local.. Ranking tens, if not hundreds of businesses on a monthly spend
This section teaches you how to do effective (almost automated) SEO for these less competitive niches, which allows you to scale, where the real money is.
I’m interested to see what they put in the maps parts for the real on the ground local SEO, but if you’re looking to do any of the above 3 industries that I talked about.. Then this section is a goldmine of information.
The ECommerce Lab
I really enjoyed Brendan’s section here, it covers a lot more than just basic ECommerce and talks about all sorts of different tips that he’s learned from years of experience. I also liked how he converted all of the videos into actionable Word Doc’s, so you can see specific print screens of exactly what he means.. This makes a whole heap of difference to non-technically literate folks and non-English first language speakers.
He goes through the process of optimizing your entire site for both SEO and CRO, but also covers a ton of additional advice around AdWords, fraud/hacking protection, YouTube and more – There’s really not much else I could add to this.. Brendan really came through with his expertise here, and if you’re looking to either get into EComm yourself, or working more with clients in it already, then his advice and expertise will really put your knowledge above the rest.
The White Hat / Outreach Lab
Even though the 2 guys behind this section own their own outreach tool, I appreciated the fact that they showed off several competitors and even gave ways to do it without requiring a prospect tool at all.. As well as showed you how to use both NinjaOutreach (their own tool) and GMass to do the actual campaign.
This section is BIG, it’s a lot of learning and you don’t need to watch every video on the individual tools if you already know which one you prefer.
I liked how they answered a lot of questions you won’t really even think to ask prior to launching your own outreach campaign, and gave insights into a lot of mistakes you’d like – This saves you a bunch of time and money straight off the bat.
They also go into detail about more than just your standard guest post, which is what too many people are obsessed with now-a-days – Podcasts, broken link building and so on.. They give you a ton of different ways to approach site owners to get links, besides the obvious.
Again, these guys went hard in a topic they’re obviously very, very familiar with – I actually met Dave Schneider for the first time around 4 years ago, in an outreach email he sent me.. I replied, that should tell you all you need to know about his skillset.
The Facebook Lab
I was really interested in this section.. I’m trying to up my ads game even more due to a range of non-SEO info products I’m currently working on with other people.
As I said in Dino’s introduction above, he managed to get Chiang Mai Conference ticket sales at just $15/sale.. That’s an incredibly low price point for the amount these tickets were going for, and Dino’s already said he’ll be adding that case study to The Lab over the coming weeks.
Initially, Facebook Ads really isn’t all that hard to get setup.. But optimizing your campaigns (from everything from your audience to the 150 character description you get) is where the real expertise come in.. And I’ll admit, I’m not that great at it.
Dino covers the basics to perfection and gives some insights into how he sets up campaigns to be significantly more cost effective than the standard ad price, and gives real demo examples of his funnels. Just for added value, he also does individual video walkthroughs for local, ECommerce and client campaigns – As well as a bunch of extra “Killer” tips and tricks from his personal arsenal to help you even further.
The Beginners Lab
This section is going to be infinitely beneficial to those literally just getting started in internet marketing. Teaching people in a clear and concise way to setup domains, hosting, WordPress and all the lingo that us marketers love to spew will put you on a direct path, rather than a convoluted tour of old blog posts and videos from random Google searches.
They’ve also included some extra videos on Schema, as well as tools (like Ahrefs) that will be used by pretty much every internet marketer in the near future.
Additional Bonuses
I’ve literally seen people spending $2k on this course just to skip the (huge) waiting list for Diggity Links. Now that’s when you know you have a powerful brand!
Aside from accessing Diggity’s PBNs, the main bonus is the addition of the Local Profit Breakthrough course that is it’s own course in it’s own right.. Showing you how to build a local SEO business (Like with the 3 models I talked about earlier) in a very interesting way. There is some crossover from other sections, where the other sections cover it better.. but this entire video course is insanely big and there’s crossover throughout – Just pick and choose what it is you want to learn about step-by-step.
You’ll also get access to a bunch of bonuses throughout the course, and direct access to Mark’s own waiting list service for wholesale buying links.
My Conclusion
My overall conclusion is that this course is a very worthwhile investment for any marketer looking to up their game across an array of fields.
Even though it is lack luster (and I mean that in the most trivial of ways) in regards to certain topics, and it doesn’t cover additional things (though it never claimed to in the first place) like AdWords and graphic/site design which could be vital to your business.. We have already been promised a plethora of updates, and as I personally know the coaches behind this.. These aren’t just false promises.
I’d also like to see the course formatted in a more organized way, it currently just jumps from one section to another and some of the categories aren’t fluidly interlinked. It requires you to go back through the individual category pages to be able to get the most fluid way through the course – Again though, this review is almost a bunch of recommendations for the course owners to improve as time goes on.. And it is very early days, and I know for a fact that this is an initial offering with many long term plans.
9/10, Well Done Guys.
You can check out The Lab here.
P.S.
I haven’t blogged or been uploading to YouTube in a while.. That’ll be changing as we approach Black Friday & the holidays in general, I have more free time opening up after an insanely hectic past 6 months.
