Quick Report:
Name: AWAI.
Price: So a chunk of the site itself is free, but in order to get into the actual training, you need to buy one of their programs.
Some of the programs prices vary, one is $108, one is $297, another one is $29 a month with a $1 trial and there may be others. One commenter below mentioned a course for $2,500 too.
Overall Rating: 3 out of 10 stars
Freelance writing is indeed an awesome opportunity and you do need to training to become successful at it, but I don’t feel the prices and sales funnel of AWAI is the place to do it. I honestly think there’s better place for this and I’ll show you them in this review.
Recommended program? Not really.
What is AWAI? Is it a scam?
It stands for “American Writers & Artists Inc”. It is not a scam. It is basically a freelance training program which has several packages which you can buy to learn the “art” of being successful in the business.
Pros:
1) Well the program has been around for a long time.
2) There are some free resources worth checking out to get tips on freelance writing.
Cons:
1) I don’t like that most of the site, even where it offers free resources/blogs leads into one or more sales pages trying to get you to buy stuff. I understand why they do it, but the value of the free training needs to be incredible to justify buying into the next level content.
2) There isn’t much free, high quality info you can use.
3) There’s different price points and programs you can purchase, but this can leave a potential freelance prospect confused on where to start.
4) Not only are there different price points, but some of them are also very expensive.
7 other things you need to know if you’re considering freelance writing:
1) It is tough to get gigs as there is an over saturation of writers trying to find them too.
2) In order to break through, you have to become a good writer in one particular area, a niche subject is the ideal route to go.
3) There are also other obstacles to consider before you enter this market: Where to find gigs (Upwork.com is good).
4) Are you really a good writer? Submit your work to places like Text Broker and Content Mart and see what other potential clients think.
5) Do you have good experience and writing skills on particular niche subjects? If so, then this will really help you out.
6) Adding to the last one, if you have knowledge on niche markets that are popular, this will be even greater. A freelance writer who knows a lot about subjects pertaining to fitness is much more valuable and more likely to find work than someone who knows about knitting for example. See examples of 50 profitable niches here.
7) Are you a writer who understands basic internet marketing stuff (things like SEO)? If you do, then this is another competitive advantage you have. If you don’t, it’ll be tough to get writing gigs as a lot of potential clients seek people who can not only write well, but can also write articles that satisfy search engine and get those articles you write high rankings.
If you have these tips down, you have great potential to be a freelance writer, but if you don’t:
Then you need an alternative and this is where I can share my personal views. I do blogging full time and in many ways, it’s basically freelance writing, but I create my own content, own it and my blog is what makes money (through affiliate marketing).
The skills you can get from doing this are actually quite liberating because you don’t rely on finding clients and there is no limit to how much you can make. This business is lucrative, but it also takes time to do, and if you would like to know how it all works, then I recommend trying Wealthy Affiliate, here’s why:
Back to the AWAI review:
So one of the reasons I am talking very little about this program, despite it being the heart of the subject is because of the cons I put up.
There’s honestly not much I can write because there’s not much you can see on the actual site and the free content provided unless you buy some of their things and I really dislike that element of the site as I said before.
Freelance writers who seek good tips are unlikely to get them there in my opinion as I said before as the articles you get don’t really expose or reveal that many secrets or at least good tips to get started, they are usually pointing to one of AWAI’s programs to buy.
Freelance writers, and especially those getting started need free info to start with in this business.
While I cannot comment on the actual products inside the program, I would hope they are good and provide freelance writers with excellent info, because the price of those programs better be worth it.
Let us assume that they are good though:
I have never been a fan of programs that offer free info but the value of that info is pretty low. It makes me hesitate and not want to buy their paid stuff. If a program however provides me with good info, then I am more inclined to go further and buy their paid stuff. AWAI so far is on the former end unfortunately.
Final Rating: AWAI (It’s free option).
Yellow Flag
3 out of 10 stars. Again, assuming the programs they sell you are good, I still don’t like how they structure their site with the “free” content. I don’t find value in it and the other program I recommended will provide you with good stuff. The program is legitimate, but in my opinion, not awesome.
My final thoughts: 4 reasons why checking out my alternative is better:
1) Wealthy Affiliate provides a free site and some free training to help you learn about creating your own niche blog. The quality of the training is far higher than the free training in AWAI, in my opinion. Here’s more reasons why Wealthy Affiliate is awesome.
2) I honestly like blogging for yourself over freelance writing because I enjoy working for myself vs having to rely on another person.
3) Freelance writing is not a simple business to become successful at. It takes amazing skill, word of mouth recommendations to get clients, and a lot of hustling to make it all work. Blogging too has it’s own cons and takes time to grow, but in the long run, it is more profitable in my opinion.
4) AWAI’s main products are just too expensive in my opinion and I didn’t see justification to buy even 1 of their programs because their free content wasn’t good enough to convince me to do it. Wealthy Affiliate’s free training on this stuff is far higher and their paid courses are far less, while offering high value.
1) The Content Audit Profits class promotes the idea that you can land freelance copywriting gigs by auditing a client’s website. The amount of work that it takes to land a client willing to pay you to audit a website is the same effort to get one to hire you to write. True website content audits lean more toward software testing or web development than copywriting. In effect, the audit is a way of offering a critique of the way a website is written so you can serve as a web copywriter to a potential client. I suggest marketing yourself as a web copywriter and skipping this offering altogether.
The course is around $2500 and there are comparable and free website audit checklists and tools available online. You basically pay for the privilege of being “mentored” by a teacher that has a checklist to sell. The completion badge and certificate are clearly some stock graphics that they created long ago. It lacks any mark of authenticity as from a recognized authoritative body.
I suspect that the prize of being able to “audit” AWAI’s DirectResponseJobs.com website for a site re-design is offered to every class without anyone actually being able to perform it. (My opinion) I came to this conclusion because it has been some time since I took the course and the winner of the prize in my class was supposed to work on the next site revision. It remains relatively unchanged at the time of this writing and the course has been offered a few times since. (I have received contacts from several recent students asking me about the course.)
None of the classmates that I have kept in touch with from the end of the class through 2021 have had any success earning a living doing these content audits. They have had to revert to other interests that they were already working on. The ready market that the course marketing touts is not as easy to find as they hyped. Just as you would have to know someone to hire you for any other job or gig, you have to know someone to hire you for a content audit– if they even know what one is and why it is worth what they suggest you charge for it.
2) The course on Building a Website in Four Days sells another questionable hope. Without any experience or a website concept, you too can build a new, functioning website in just four days? The course is taught over four days, but the individual’s learning curve will depend greatly upon their prior experience and knowledge. It sounded too good to be true and who really is able to build a functional website in four days without any experience or forethought as to what it should be?
Like everything else with their marketing, no experience, no portfolio, no ideas– no problem! They allege to teach you every thing you need to know. Trust me that the learning curve takes months to figure out how the solitary skill that they teach you actually fits in the marketplace. You have to determine your value proposition and who needs what you just learned.
3) Another note: The marketing of all their content is extremely persuasive. You will get a lot of emails with a great sense of urgency about new opportunities that are easy to learn and ready to be taken. They demonstrate on you how effectively they write copy. The implication is that you too can be an effective copywriter– see how well they persuaded you to buy in? So learn their methods. Their materials are self-referential as the established copywriters that they point to for examples are others in the AWAI network. It comes across as very insular
I could say more but this is just a taste of what I experienced. I strongly urge you to read the free stuff and avoid the paid courses and conferences. The AWAI name does almost nothing for establishing your professional credibility. Your own quality portfolio and good networking is the proven way to six figure income, not AWAI.
Hi MT, I really appreciate you writing up all of this stuff you learned with AWAI as well as your own experiences. I’d like to offer my own responses to the things you said in accordance with the 3 main points:
1) Very awesome critical analysis of this section of AWAI’s products and I can verify from personal experiences how there are people who email me saying they’ll audit my website and of course, this leads down the rabbit hole of “oh buy our services of freelancers and copywriters”.
I look at these emails as spam, but it can work for more authoritative websites/people and freelancers with an existing reputation where the website owner approaches them and not the other way around. Not saying that what AWAI teaches doesn’t work, but for me personally, selling the course for $2,500 to teach this is ridiculous in my opinion.
2) I know a ton about website building and agree with literally 100% of what you said. In fact, you listed the possible problems with making a “fast site” through this service better than I ever have (ever think of starting a personal blog? I think you’d do very well!).
But anyway, building websites and attracting customers, traffic, and making money are hard things to accomplish in this business and this is something I help people do personally with a program called Wealthy Affiliate. I can tell you that instead of 4 days with AWAI, my experience shows me the closer timeframe to success with websites is closer to a year in most cases.
3) These are clear marketing pitches (urgency, secrets, ect…) and as a marketer I can tell you that I also am skeptical everytime I see this stuff being pitched.
Overall, I have to say, your critical thinking skills are very well reflected in the way you write and I think this is a very important skill people need to have to protect themselves from spending money needlessly online.
In general, the thesis of what you said is very similar to what I said about AWAI in that you don’t need to spend the kind of money they’ll charge you to learn about copywriting, freelance writing and so forth.
Thanks again for your awesome feedback on AWAI!
Thank you, Vitaliy. I am glad that you agreed with my observations and found them useful.
I have tossed around the idea of writing a blog but have yet to settle upon (or start with) a single topic. Re-reading my answer above, I will be sure to double-check for missing punctuation the next time I post. Yikes! LOL.
Hi MT, why not give Wealthy Affiliate a shot? You can try them for free and I’ll personally help you settle on a single topic to build your blog with. This is what I’ve helped countless people figure out for years and would be happy to help you with as well 🙂
Try the Wealthy Affiliate program here if you’re interested and if you have questions, let me know!
I honestly think you are very well spoken and write incredibly well, skills that would make you a master blogger (and a success in it too).
Hi Vitaliy,
I just finished reading your opinion about AWAI. For the most part, you are right. I don’t like the fact that with every learning there’s a price. But I will say, it’s still a pretty decent place to be if you’re just starting out.
I’m a member of AWAI. I have only been with them for a very short time. There are things I see that I don’t like either. I just decided that since I paid for it that I would hang in there with it.
It’s not all bad. They do offer different pieces of training that do help you out. Before I joined AWAI, I didn’t know anything about my writing skills or niche. I had no idea that I could get paid to write about anything. Especially, writing about what I love. I’m not knocking your opinion, but AWAI has helped me to understand a lot about writing that I did not know.
You don’t have to join every program that they offer or advertise. I stick only to what I’m interested in. I know I can’t afford to take every program yet. So, the programs that I’m interested in I just Google it and find out the information about it that way. Now, would I recommend this program to anyone?
YES, I would. Because in spite of some of the high prices on their programs it’s still worth the try. Plus, if you don’t like the program they will refund you your money.
Cynthia, hi, thank you for sharing your experience with AWAI and believe me, I am not insulted at all, I value your input on this matter, as long as can have a respectful discussion together, which we are.
I’m glad you’re getting value out of AWAI but I have to be honest, based on everything you said, I honestly think a place like this is slowing down the potential of what you could be doing with what it teaches. Allow me to explain…
As we both know, this places teaches you to be a freelance writer, this is awesome, but at the same time, you can now do a few things with this…
As a good writer, you can now take your skills to freelance sites and market yourself there and make good money (which they teach, I know).
But I would also pitch the idea of starting your own niche site as well, so you can take all that knowledge you now possess and use it to build your own business.
This brings me to the idea of starting your own niche blog, and the Wealthy Affiliate program which teaches that. Yea, they do cost money to be a part of, but there’s immense benefits which outweigh the small price and you can try them for free so you can see this stuff, which I would recommend. They also teach similar things to AWAI, but in greater value in my personal opinion.
I’ve been working on the things they teach for many years and happily and I would say, in the long run, being your own freelance writer is a far better investment than writing for others and being paid a salary.
That’s just my personal opinion but reading your comment, I couldn’t help but see the potential of what could be done with this if you went your own route and became your own boss. Just my personal opinion, I would love to hear what you think.
Cheers!
Vitaliy