When I first browsed the page, I was interested. I start blogs and websites all day every day, so I am always interested in learning more about digital marketing.

The parts that caught my eye were specifically how to use AI tools to fast-track content creation, the framework for building links, and how to build topical authority within content.

I didn’t really know what an “80-Minute Masterclass” was, or what I’d learn in detail.

I was sort of expecting to see a course outline or more about what Blog Growth Engine actually offers, but instead, immediately saw a disclaimer….

…followed by a bunch of different testimonials:

So I went back and re-read the disclaimer. The text is a bit small to read in this image, so I’ll add it again so you can read it clearly:

*The results you see on this page are not typical, Adam Enfroy and his students below are skilled marketers. Their experiences do not guarantee similar results. Individual results may vary based on your skills, experience, motivation, work ethic, as well as other unforeseen factors. The Company has yet to perform studies of the results of its typical clients. Your results may vary.

https://bloggrowthengine.com/

We see that “The Company has yet to perform studies of the results of its typical clients. Your results may vary.”

What confuses me is that this page advertises results, including income figures, but preface those testimonials and income figures by saying that they have not verified them.

While I do understand that this is probably just some legal text to protect the company, it does make me think about the results in a bit deeper detail.

But I have a very open mind and figured that I wouldn’t let my skepticism get in the way. The URLs were publicly available on the site, so why not try to uncover a bit more data about the results these people are clearly seeing.

I opened up Ahrefs, my favorite SEO tool, and started analyzing the traffic patterns of the websites listed in the testimonials. To my surprise, the vast majority of the graphs did not show continued, steady growth.

To be fair, these are just a random sampling of the URLs. Of all the examples, 2 of them actually have seen flat trends that weren’t declining.

I’ll let you make your own conclusions from these traffic patterns, but this initially stood out to me that these sites were being used as testimonials for a system that promotes blog growth.

Despite all of this, I was still curious, so I entered my email to see what would happen.

The Blog Growth Engine Masterclass

After entering my email address, I was immediately taken to another page that included the masterclass. This was a simple landing page that included a video roughly 80 minutes long, just as promised.

I also received an email that included an introduction to the masterclass and a link to the landing page that I was redirected to above.

What was interesting about the landing page is that when I tried to close it, it encouraged me to stay on the page.

Typically when a course promotes a landing page, they just let you read or watch the material at your own pace. They’ve got your email and might reach out every now and then with a sale or something like that.

Like the testimonials I mentioned previously, this also made me think. Why did I have to enter my email, and why am I now being discouraged from watching this 80 minute masterclass on my own time?

Then I saw the countdown clock at the bottom of the page encouraging me to save 50%. This is when I immediately began to realize there was more to this whole thing than watching a simple video.

I had a feeling that the video wouldn’t actually give me all the information I needed to start a blog, but I really wanted to be proven otherwise. So I kept watching it all.

I have to say, the video is well-done. It’s filmed with a nice camera and Adam does a nice job of explaining topics.

There was a lot of high-level information that helped to understand his background, how he’s seen success by starting his own blog, and some conceptual stuff that helps how a successful blog operates.

There were also a few helpful tutorials on basic digital marketing tactics like how to find low-competition keywords to write about, how to optimize a post using Surfer SEO, and basic ways to monetize a blog.

However….

…the video in this masterclass didn’t actually show me how to start a blog. To get that, I would need to sign up for the official Blog Growth Engine course.

The Trojan Horse – A Paid Course

I studied marketing in college, so I was well aware of what was going on from the start, but I kept going because I was truly curious how all of this was going to play out.

The paid course had been promoted on the page, but that was easy to dismiss by closing the popup bar at the bottom. And I kept watching because I thought I would be shown how to start a blog.

But there was a reason that the content creator didn’t want me to click away, instead continuing to watch the whole video – they wanted to sell me a paid program:

Having already given my email and then invested around 80 minutes of my time trying to learn how to start a blog, I felt compelled to buy the course because I had already invested so much time and effort into trying to learn how.

You see, the feeling I got is referred to as the “Sunk Cost Fallacy“. It’s a common marketing trick that people, especially digital marketers trying to get you to buy a product, will employ to drive more sales.

The sunk cost fallacy is a common psychological phenomenon where a person continues a behavior or endeavor as a result of previously invested resources (time, money, or effort), even if the future costs outweigh the benefits.

This fallacy leads individuals to make irrational decisions based on what they’ve already “sunk” into a project, rather than on what would lead to the best outcome going forward.

In my case, after watching the 80-minute video, I feel compelled to buy the course because I’ve already invested a significant amount of time.

My mind may rationalize that by spending more (in this case, buying the course), I can justify the initial investment of time and make it worthwhile.

The feeling is that abandoning the effort now would mean wasting the initial time investment, even though logically, this time cannot be recovered regardless of future actions.

In these cases, recognizing this fallacy can help you make decisions based on potential future benefits rather than past costs.

It’s useful to evaluate whether the course itself offers enough value and aligns with your goals independently of the time you’ve already spent watching the video.

Want to Skip the Hassle? Learn How to Start a Blog for Free

If you want to learn the basics, I’ve put together a comprehensive guide on how to start a blog – which I believe to be equivalent of the Blog Growth Engine course – but I’m giving it away completely free.

It covers the process from start to finish, and includes a mix of 10 different lessons, with 49 topics nested within the lessons.

I’ve structured the format to be completely free, open, and browsable just like you would a normal blog post. You can check it out and click around to any lesson or topic without having to enter an email or sign up for an account.

Understanding The REAL Blog Growth Engine

What was being offered, and what could I learn from this course that I didn’t already know? Once again, I decided to remain engaged and check it out.

One thing that immediately stood out to me though was the number “$10,000”. It’s literally all over the top of the sales page:

It is not hard to see how the average person taking this course would likely believe that they can actually make this amount of monthly income by starting a blog based on the verbiage in and around the marketing materials.

I’ve been in the blogging game for over 10 years now, so this REALLY caught my eye. I’ve seen my fair share of “experts” selling courses, but very few make income claims like this.

Let me be very clear – it’s VERY easy to start a blog nowadays. However, scaling it and then implementing monetization strategies that allow you to consistently make $10,000 or more per month is VERY hard.

I’ve taken pretty much all of the well-known SEO and digital marketing courses currently available online. Even some of the most well-known courses like Authority Hacker Pro don’t make claims with how much you can earn.

Instead of making these claims, they could advertise types of blogs that make money, discuss how much bloggers can make if they work hard, or even show examples of successful blogs who have achieved results.

But in my opinion, to advertise that this system is “The Fastest, Foolproof Way to Make Your First $10,000/Month Online” is a very, very bold claim.

In the world of SEO and digital marketing, there’s not one method or framework that can lead to those types of results – other than years of dedication, sweat, tears, and hard work.

Overall, I did not get the value I wanted from the course. I ended up reaching out and requesting a refund, which the team understood and very quickly granted me.

First, when I started watching the course, I was a bit disappointed to learn that Adam had already covered most of the information in the course in his YouTube videos.

I had watched quite a few of the videos before I signed up for the course, so I was pretty familiar with Adam’s material already.

But I figured at that price point, the course would offer a ton of exclusive information since he was charging so much. But no, it was fairly standard across the board.

Where I was really disappointed, however, was with the lack of systems and automation.

The main thing I was hoping to get out of the course was how to build the actual systems, workflows, and automations that would allow me to scale my content business.

I figured with the content assembly line that he talks about in his videos, there would be some ironclad systems and templates that I could leverage to make content production easier.

Again, I was let down. He talks a lot about the systems, but doesn’t really show you how to build them.

I had to go seeking other alternatives that were a bit more actionable, which ended up leading to me finding that in Workello’s Content Ops Framework instead.

I’m also an Authority Hacker Pro member, which provides access to a huge amount of templates, workflows, and videos. So my bar was set pretty high in what I expected in exchange for $1,000.

If I could summarize my experience, it would be that the large majority of this course, seems to be conceptual.

There’s not a lot of detailed substance that I didn’t know already, nor is there a lot of information that you can’t find online for free.

While this course is decent for beginners, there’s a whole level of digital courses out there that offer everything Blog Growth Engine does, and much, much more.

If you’re thinking about paying for the course, that is totally fine, and I think you’ll have a great experience.

Over to You

But, for those on the fence, I would consider asking yourself if now is the best time to buy.

First, what type of content are you buying?

Are you buying access to a wide-scale system that has proven itself to work time and time again? Can you verify those results?

Or, are you being sold fairly basic content that is wrapped within the dream that advertises a fast, six-figure income?

Next, ask yourself if paid advice is really that much better than free advice.

A more practical and universally endorsed approach includes starting simply with a domain and hosting, learning SEO and content creation organically, and avoiding costly shortcuts.

I firmly believe in training and upskilling, but only after you’ve built a solid foundation and have gained experience in the field.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – there’s no such thing as a “quick fix” strategy in blogging. It may take years to achieve significant income.

Paid courses are great, but it’s the dedication and grit that will make your blog successful and there’s a high chance of failure – the part that many of the well-known blogging influencers fail to discuss in detail.