REVIEW “A True Beginner’s Guide to Making Money Online“

Do the Results Pay Off?

“A1 True Beginner’s Guide to Making Money Online“ is part of the A1 Resource Network Portfolio. The A1 Resource Network Portfolio is an UNOFFICIAL site created by a student to demonstrate Udemy course results.  (08/07/2016)

Course Title Change

A True Beginner’s Guide to Making Money Online is an excellent UDEMY course.

My main disappointment came when the title changed* from “A True Beginner’s Guide to Making Money Online” to “A True Beginner’s Guide to Setup an Online Business”. I am not sure what to make of the title change. Does the new title attract more students? Or, have the anticipated course results “make money online”, as inferred from the original title– promise changed? Perhaps, the title no longer raises student’s hopes to make money online prior to the course completion?

*Regarding the course title change, see UPDATED REVIEW AS POSTED AT UDEMY AUG 9 2016

Udemy Course Certificate Attained But Does This Mean The Course Is Finished?

Yes, I completed the course in that I viewed all of the lectures. But there are so many more resources yet to try. So many resources included! This Udemy course is packed full of wonderful ideas pointing students in a fathom of possible directions.

Udemy Certificate: A True Beginners Guide to Setup an Online Business

SUPER COURSE?

Over six weeks ago, I began this course hoping to Make Money Online by following the steps and the instructor’s guidance.

So much was covered in the 9.5 hours! Yet, I think the course should have additional parts to take us step-by-step through actually making money online.

As the instructor pointed out, the WordPress site created under his guidance “has good bones”. For example, learning to use Contact Form 7, a Word Press plugin, and walking us through registering and setting up MailChimp are so beneficial in creating an email list. It actually worked! (The text over the input boxes in the form are not centered but that is probably fixable with some simple CSS).

SEO

A big focus of the course was SEO and setting up the All-in-One SEO Pack plugin.  I continue to replay parts of the course video as I implement it in other sites. (No traffic so far, however. Maybe six visitors in the last six months and lots of robots. To be fair I just configured All-In-One SEO recently and have content still to come).

WORDPRESS MULTISITE INSTALLATION

Setting up the WordPress site was awesome (although some plugins did not work correctly with a multisite installation. For example, see review and portfolio example of “WP Landing Pages” plugin. However, WordPress multisite use was not part of the course promise. The instructor demonstrated using a single site WordPress installation. No multisite mentioned in this, nor in most other Udemy WordPress courses).

COURSE CAVEAT

However, as a beginner, I did not want the hands-on steps to stop with just two test posts (Test 1 , Test 2) and tons of back-end plugins ‘ready to go’.

Although so many resources are discussed from Carlton Bryant’s  “A True Beginner’s Guide for How to Make Money Online” (http://www.pideals.com/beginners-guide-on-how-to-make-money-online/ ) web page and the course was 9.5 hours, it wasn’t enough to get me to the point of actually making money online! I encourage the instructor to add future courses – demonstrating what is discussed, especially providing additional step-by-step videos after the WordPress site is created. Yes, demonstrate – utilizing the many resources discussed, with students following along in actual doing – as was presented in the first lectures of the course.

In the first hours of the course, the instructor demonstrated the use of free online image editing sources, created a logo, and demonstrated using the logo and using pictures in our WordPress site. He excellently recommended and  demonstrated finding, activating, and using a long list of super plugins. Hopefully, he will add future courses covering the many other suggested resources, walking us through the steps – as we work with him under his video guidance.  Perhaps, the next course could include actual content creation – actual product inclusion and additional step-by-step demonstrations for us, true beginners, who are not able to absorb all the valuable content and additional links on our own.

Super Caring Udemy Instructor, Carlton Bryant

The instructor was so helpful and quick at answering questions in the Udemy discussion area.  He thoroughly commented and pointed out useful take-aways – augmenting his replies with additional ideas. He offered to guide students beyond the course – even offering to be a Stickk referee. However, at the time, of the over 1,000 students taking the course, only one other student and myself posted questions/comments. Thus I hated to monopolize the discussion area by asking so many questions without feedback from other students and learning from their questions.

Carlton eagerly provided clear links to share so many valuable resources with students as we followed along in the course. The course material and his website is something students can refer to again and again as they continue on their own.

He encouraged students to join “Onlumni: An Online Education Community” which seems to have 7 members at this time. Hopefully, more of the 1,136 students currently enrolled today, will consider joining this online community.  Personally, I did not join as there were so few members.

In Summary:

I loved the course and am proud of the basic bones of this, my WordPress site, “A1 True Beginner’s Guide to Making Money Online, (part of my A1 Resource WP Network Profile Site).

My disappointment – is that I have yet to make money online!

I believed this course would take me to that point – the point of making money online. However, changing the title during the middle of the course rattled me – as I then realized the course was not really promising we would “Make Money Online” during the course.  What is bad, I believed the original title and now am getting desperate to make money online as our mortgage payment is due and I have not a cent to put towards it after six weeks.  We are not sure if we will ever make money online and unfortunately, unless something changes soon, we may lose our house in the process of trying.

Highly Recommend Udemy Course:  A True Beginner’s Guide to Making Money Online

However, I highly recommend the course – especially for those beginners who can continue on their own with a great WordPress site set up. Plus, learning about StickK and HassleMe is something I will continue to use to set up commitments and pursue goals. Plus, the online editing sites are free resources I will use when other tools are not handy.  I learned so much in this course – too much to discuss in this post. To learn more, I strongly recommend registering. Carlton’s course is worth the time! Just don’t expect step-by-step hand holding to the end – until you make your first $1 online – though the instructor offers to add further guidance.

I hope Carlton creates additional courses to take folks through making their first dollar! Thank you Carlton Bryant  (https://www.udemy.com/user/carltonbryant/) for steering me in the right direction!

ABOUT ME

For more information about this student and beginning WordPress creator, see “About A1 Resource WP Network Writer“ – although Carlton did not recommend including an “About” page – it is a effort to show off using Shortcodes Ultimate plugin – with left tabbing as a separator.

LINKS

WordPress Site Created from Course:

A1 True Beginner’s Guide to Making Money Online (Portfolio):

https://a1sites.a1resources.net/trueguidemakemoney/

A1 Resource WP Network WordPress Multisite site:  

https://a1sites.a1resources.net/

STICKK

Note: For more information on StickK goal setting and commitments go to http://www.stickk.com/tour/1 explained at Carlton Bryant’s “A True Beginner’s Guide for How to Make Money Online” (http://www.pideals.com/beginners-guide-on-how-to-make-money-online/ – Section “Commit, Join Community & Support“.

This is an edited version of my online post at StickK* (a commitment site) after happily succeeding in my goal to receive the Udemy Certificate of Completion. In the future, I hope to create a full review of the Udemy course, “A True Beginner’s Guide to Making Money Online”.

StickK 6-week commitment:

Start by completing Carlton Bryant’s, 9.5 hour Udemy Course: A True Beginner’s Guide to Making Money Online (https://www.udemy.com/beginners-guide-on-how-to-make-money-online/). Hoping to finally produce results! Can’t wait to accomplish this goal!

Contract Start:       June 19

Contract End:        July 31

Contract Length:   6 week(s)

Update:  Please see the attached certificate showing completion of the course. Enjoyed using StickK to track my progress

*My StickK commitment comments regarding the Udemy course – “A True Beginner’s Guide to Making Money Online” (https://www.udemy.com/beginners-guide-on-how-to-set-up-online-business/learn/v4/overview) from Carlton Bryant  (https://www.udemy.com/user/carltonbryant/)!