“stainless steel figurine” by Grahame Jenkins on Unsplash

One Writing Course That Helped Change My Life

A Review of Smart Blogger’s Guest Blogging by Expert Blogger Jon Morrow

Have you ever felt stuck as a writer?

You want to write well, grow your audience, improve your statistics, make money, yet nothing seems to work.

You’re not sure how to find and keep readers, you don’t know how to get featured in the big blogs, you don’t know what to do next.

There are plenty of people online advertising writing courses, but you don’t want to hand over your hard-earned money for a course that’s just a rehash of all the things you already know.

You need an experienced and successful teacher who HAS done all of those things — learned to write well for big sites and make a living off of it — someone who can help you break through the wall, leap past the plateau, or even just help you get started on the right path so that you don’t get stuck in the first place.

If you’re interested in becoming a successful writer but don’t know where to start, Smart Blogger’s Guest Blogging course may be just the thing for you.

How Writing Courses Accelerate Your Writing Success

The two biggest benefits of taking a course with an expert are:

1. Access to the expert’s knowledge and experience, which can save you from hitting dead ends and accelerate your writing success
2. Motivation to actually DO IT

In many ways, I think the second reason is the most important.

If you tried to walk the writing road alone, you might be able to make it. But it will likely take twice as long as it needed to, because you will make lots of avoidable mistakes.

In addition, you WILL feel discouraged or lazy at some point, and it’s hard to pull yourself out of a slump by yourself.

Finding a teacher, investing in a course, and knowing that you have support will help you get past the hurdles and become the brilliant, successful writer you always knew you were capable of being.

Guest Blogging is a great writing course to get you started. I have personally taken it, and find it thorough and information-packed, but not overwhelmingly so.

Here’s a more detailed run-down of the course:

Overview of Guest Blogging

Created by Jon Morrow, who has overcome whopping odds* to become a millionaire CEO of Smart Blogger, Guest Blogging teaches you the whys and hows of becoming a successful and respected writer:

1. Clarifying your writing goals and honing your strategies — whether that is building a business, becoming a more effective communicator, increasing your visibility in your niche, etc.
2. Writing effectively for the online market — how to craft high-performing headlines and create irresistible articles for writers and editors.
3. Finding the right sites for your work — narrowing down your niche and learning which sites are and are not worth pitching your idea to.
4. Approaching site owners and editors with a polished and effective proposal that they can’t refuse.
5. What to do when you are accepted, and how to leverage your new-found publicity to expand your reach, or grow your business, etc.
6. You also get free access to a Rolodex of top sites in all major online niches (personal development, marketing, freelancing, business/entrepreneurship, parenting, creative endeavors, and more) including editor emails and guidelines to guest post for them.

The course includes 6 training modules (each with 8–12 brief Units) which include lesson material, assignments, and brief quizzes so you can self-test your knowledge. Modules include:

1. Finding your Ideal Audience
2. Locating Your Target Blogs
3. Crafting Your Killer Headlines
4. Pitching Your Irresistible Ideas
5. Writing Your Popular Posts
6. Getting the Most From Every Post

There is a final certification quiz to solidify your knowledge and prove to the world that you are a graduate of the program! With this certification in hand, many high-ranking blog editors will take you far more seriously as a writer.

*Challenges Jon overcame include: full-body paralysis, a dozen bouts of pneumonia, and founding three unsuccessful blogs before selling the fourth blog for hundreds of thousands.

Screenshot of the GB student module dashboard

That said, what are the pros and cons of the course?

Pros

• The lessons are extremely thorough and walk you through the entire writing and pitching process, step-by-step.
• Lessons include helpful screenshots and images, and exact examples of headline formulas and email pitching templates that you can literally copy and paste (changing the names, of course).
• There are weekly live Q&A sessions every Wednesday, where you can ask any questions you have and get personal help with your guest posting strategy.
• The course includes extra resources, including an archive of Q&A calls, case studies of successful former students, and a Big Black Book including dozens of the top blogs in every major niche online with editor contact information and guidelines.
• Jon Morrow is one of the strongest writing teachers out there. Not only does he have years of experience in the online writing field and a mind-boggling personal history of overcoming crushing obstacles (see below), Jon is actually a gifted teacher as well. He understands what holds students back and how to teach you the ropes in the most effective way.

Cons

• If you prefer watching videos to reading words, GB isn’t heavy on videos. There are a few videos.
• As with all courses, your success with GB largely depends on, well, YOU. This is not a course for people who expect others to do the work for them. But if you do the work, I guarantee you will get your writing accepted and published, as I have — multiple times!

My Own Experience With Guest Blogging

Less than six months after getting serious about writing my first writing course and getting serious about writing, my work has been featured on well-known sites like Scary Mommy, Thought Catalog, Writers in the Storm, Thrive Global, The Mission, The Writing Cooperative, and more.

Moreover, I’ve gathered over a thousand followers, multiplied my email list by over 10x and written hundreds of articles for dozens of sites.

Jon Morrow’s course has played a large role in that. Perhaps I could have achieved the successes I’ve made without his help, but even if that were true, I may not have been able to do it in such a short time.

I’m not the kind of person who will buy a course for fun just to throw money away. And I always purchase the courses with money-back guarantees so that I can return them if I don’t find them a good fit.

But I chose to stay enrolled in Morrow’s courses because they are worth every penny.

For me, a teacher’s character and skills is most important, and I was impressed that Morrow not only has both, he also has the “teacher’s touch” — the ability to explain and transfer his knowledge to you.

For another, the Smart Blogger customer support is excellent. I really appreciate having the weekly live Q&As, which are recorded. So even if you can’t attend live, you can submit questions ahead of time and listen to the answer afterwards.

And you’re welcome to email the team at Smart Blogger anytime if you have an urgent question. Jon Morrow has a small, hand-picked team, and each person is knowledgeable, helpful, and great to interact with.

All in all, I’m extremely glad I invested in my learning by learning from Jon Morrow, and would highly recommend you give it a shot as well!

A screenshot of the Big Black Book rolodex of top sites

Final Thoughts

As a long-timer in the blogging world, Morrow has connections to some of the biggest names in the blogosphere, including Darren Rowse at Problogger, Brian Clark at CopyBlogger, and more.

And as a graduate of Morrow’s course, you automatically receive higher credibility in the eyes of these major bloggers and site owners around the world. It gives you greater leverage to write for the sites you love.

So if you’d like to try the course, there’s a heavily discounted version of it here, simply click this hyperlink and try out Guest Blogging for 30 days.

If you decide it’s not the right fit, you will get your money back, no questions asked. Either way, it’s win-win for you. 😃

Feel free to give the course an honest try — it just might change your life!

*This review was originally posted on thewritepurpose.com/guest-blogging-review. Links are affiliate links:

Want to Write for Forbes and Other Major Sites?

Ready to Write for Major Blogs and Websites?

Jon Morrow offers a FREE step-by-step case study designed to help you go from total beginner to well-known blogger/writer.

Get the free case study here!