Quick Report:
Name: Beating Adwords by Kyle and Carson.
Price: $67 and no upsells.
Overall Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.
This guide is still applicable in 2019/2020, but more so towards Bing Ads than Google’s network. But I will recommend something way more updated and better.
Recommended? No. I will explain why.
Beating Adwords in a nutshell:
This is an eBook which teaches you how to have successful Google Adwords campaigns in that you correctly target the right keywords, get the lowest bids and maximize your conversions. I’ve personally used the strategies from inside that eBook on my personal campaigns in Google and Bing and have had tremendous success in saving money and making money great profits in the process.
As a quick history, while this eBook is pretty old, it was actually created by 2 guys who are good friends of mine, Kyle and Carson. They created this eBook after they made another, more comprehensive program called Wealthy Affiliate. And they are both internet marketing gurus who I trust more than any other people in the internet marketing world.
Now it was these guys, Wealthy Affiliate and the eBook which were some of the most important events in my life that led me to become a full time marketer and in particular make A LOT of money doing PPC (six figures).
Why I don’t recommend Beating Adwords anymore despite the high ranking.
I find myself in a tough position I’ve never been in before with this review.
On one hand I have rated this eBook quite high in terms of quality. Frankly anything above 5 stars would be recommended normally, let alone 6, but today it is not.
And here are the MAJOR reasons why:
1) Many of the applications inside this eBook are no longer good on the actual paid network in Google.
Allow me to explain why…
Most of the eBook’s training showed how affiliate marketers can promote on this network successfully, but a few years after it was made, a lot of things changed and now the same network is not really a fan of affiliate websites. That has been my experience since in trying to promote my own affiliate sites on that network, I ended up getting suspended from it!
Now let me be clear: My suspension was NOT due to following the guidelines in the eBook, it was due to the network changing it’s policies and a lot of other good promoters had their accounts shut down in bulk when these policy changes came about. It has gotten better years after, but still, Google Adwords is KNOWN to do this. If you are in this suspension spot, here are 7 alternatives to Google Adwords.
2) Ironically, the same things this eBook recommends still apply perfectly well on Bing ads.
To this day, I still use Bing Ads and the same strategies inside that eBook to succeed in it. In fact, I’ve framed many of my PPC tutorials that I’ve written about on this site such as this one from the same guidelines Beating Adwords recommends.
That being said, one would conclude that this eBook is still worth purchasing just based on the value one would get out of it for Bing, but even then I’d say no. And here’s why:
3) You should join Wealthy Affiliate instead and forget this eBook. Here’s why:
Kyle and Carson’s MAIN teaching ground is Wealthy Affiliate. Every single tip they’ve listed in Beating Adwords, CAME from that place and in that program, they have the exact same PPC guide, but it’s more updated and more thorough.
Now in addition to that same type of guide being there, it is also a cheaper way to check it out. While the general Wealthy Affiliate membership is free to explore, their premium membership is where you’ll find the PPC training and that is $49, but still a lot cheaper than the $67 for their eBook.
So really, out of all of these reasons, it is #3 which is why I recommend you do not get their eBook and instead join their program for a better price value and a better value in training overall. I’ll show you the training in a moment, but let me summarize this review:
Final Rating: Beating Adwords.
Green flag
6 out of 10 stars. Still a great resource, just not recommend for Google, but instead on Bing. But even then, I showed you where there’s more value being offered for this topic and that is Wealthy Affiliate.
My final thoughts and the preview of the good PPC training:
I have taken a screenshot from the training inside Wealthy Affiliate on their PPC training:
Now those are 10 of MANY more lessons, but each of these basically encompasses the stuff you’d read about were you to buy Beating Adwords.
I want you to take note of how the training does not say anything about Google’s network, but instead focuses on Bing and Yahoo. Why is that? Simply for the same 1st reason out of the 3 I talked about above: Google just doesn’t really approve affiliate sites nowadays.
Were you to promote a local business, that would be fine, but that guide was geared towards affiliates and putting up affiliate links on the network, and that is just not a good thing. Your page would be called a bridge page and that would be the end of your account were you to do this today.
But once again, the training whether it’s in the eBook or in Wealthy Affiliate is still totally applicable to Yahoo and Bing today and I personally still use the same tactics. These are the results!
So the point being is what Kyle and Carson teach is absolutely awesome, and they are in my opinion the top dudes to talk to when it comes to internet marketing. It’s just that if you wish to get the most out of your PPC and marketing campaigns online, then you’ll really get all that stuff out of Wealthy Affiliate as opposed to Beating Adwords and the other, rare but good resources out there.
It sort of “pains” me to have to write this review but knowing Kyle and Carson, they would understand and would agree with my position on this. I have met these guys several times and they are never too prideful to let go of a previous strategy of thing that doesn’t really work anymore in favor of moving into a more modern day approach of making money online. They always provide their people (aka people like me) with the best, updated training, and ultimately all of that is in Wealthy Affiliate.
The problem I’ve always found with AdWords when I’ve used it, is Google can be so picky when it comes to what they’ll allow you to advertise. There always seems to be a reason to deny an ad, and often those reasons don’t seem very clear.
I’ve definitely had much better success with Bing ads, and they are a lot more lenient in what they allow. I’ve done the PPC training for Bing ads at Wealthy Affiliate and it’s actually really good.
If you can understand what Facebook allows in their ad network, it can be a very good one as well, and more targeted.
Good stuff Darren and yes, I share the same experiences regarding Adwords in how difficult it is to work with them sometimes. In fact, it’s been a long time since I’ve placed an ad with their network because of how difficult it’s become and I too have since stuck to Bing Ads, with great success by the way through the WA training. Still working on the FB part!
Hi Vitaliy,
I really enjoyed your article on Beating Adwords. I had no idea Kyle and Carson had an ebook. But you made a really good case for starting off with Wealthy Affiliate as it already has everything needed to start a successful online business. I’m excited about the PPC training and using that to scale my business. Thanks for the great information here.
Yeah they made this eBook a LONG time ago Ruby, but if you’re already a member inside WA, the SAME training they feature in Beating Adwords is there, plus included is the ability to ask questions and get expert advice with that, so the investment in Wealthy Affiliate is far greater.