Review of the Superstar Blogging Course by Matt Kepnes

Overview - Superstar Blogging Course by Matt Kepnes

Do you like traveling, exploring new places, witnessing new cultures and cuisines? Do you like to share your travel stories? Did you know you can make money by documenting your travel escapades? 

Travel blogging is a booming industry that attracts a lot of youngsters and people who are looking for thrill, adventure and an opportunity to explore the world. Travel bloggers document their experiences and share them with an online audience through a personal blog or website. They often share information about destinations, travel tips, and their personal experiences, as well as photographs and videos. Due to the independence of working for anywhere in the world, travel blogging has become increasingly popular, with many bloggers using it as a way to make a living.

However to get started with travel blogging or any blogging for that matter you need to follow a structure, a tried and tested blue print that will ensure your blog gets the right traffic and has the right content to drive conversion. This guidance and help can be easily found through online courses which are created by people who own blogs that generate them 7 figures in revenue every year. 

The Superstar Blogging Course is one such course that teaches students the basics and intricacies of travel blogging. 

The Superstar Blogging course was launched in 2010 and has been revised many times over to accommodate the changing dynamics of the blogging world. The course has been bought and reviewed by hundreds of students, with many providing testimonies on how this course has helped them generate a passive income that has allowed them to travel and see the world. While its true that YouTube has tons of free content around blogging, there is however a significant lack of structured information that can allow you to build a blogging business around it. Taking a blogging course helps you build that structure that can act as a strong foundation on which you can create your blogging business. 

In this Superstar Blogging Course review we will see if the claims are worth the hype, and if the course is worth your money.

What is The Superstar Blogging Course?

Superstar Blogging is one of the better blogging courses available on the internet. It has been in existence for more than a decade and is updated biannually to ensure the course content stays relevant. The course is available on superstarblogging.com, which has two courses under the broader area of travel media. The course is designed for travel blogging, but the information can be also used to create blogs such as how to make money online through non-specific blogging.

You can turn Blogging into a business if you have the right tools and guides. Travel blogging, however, requires a more nuanced approach to make a living out of it. Not only do you need to have a dedicated audience to promote your offerings, but you also need standout travel content to make it attractive and profitable. 

The Superstar blogging course has lessons on how to set up, design and create a brand for your own website, and also provides guidance on the methods that make sure your content stands out and is advertised to grab attention. The course guides you through the below timeline:

• Developing a blogging strategy 
• Mastering the technical aspects of a blog
• Creating a brand that resonates with your audience 
• Writing standout content that people want to read and share
• Rank high in search engines
• Create a magnetic presence on social media
• Get press coverage
• Grow your email list
• Generate Income 

Who Created Superstar Blogging?

Matt Kepnes, known better as Nomadic Matt is the mastermind behind the Superstar blogging course. Matt is a true definition of blogging success. He has been in the industry f from 2008, and currently his website fetches a footprint of a million readers per month. His background and real life experiences are reflected in the superstar blogging course which  increases its credibility. 

Matt is known for unique and standout content that hooks his readers to keep on returning. He has gained the trust of his followers by providing true value add content and hence his conversions of affiliate links and marketing is higher compared to other travel blogs. He grew his follower base by networking, using social media and providing value add content. 

Matt believes that everyone can become a great storyteller- an essential to a successful travel blog. He not only emphasizes the importance of well written content, but also provides guidance on how to structure the blog aesthetically so it looks clean and people can appreciate the minimalist look. 

His trainings have direct inputs from him and he interacts with students via the Facebook group on a weekly basis. Additionally he also provides individual guidance via chat or email, a feature that is rarely available in any other course. His years of blogging experience and his humble work ethics make him a trusted creator of this blogging course.

What Strategies Does the Superstar Blogging Course Use?

Matt and his team provide guidance on how to create a  well-designed WordPress blog, write engaging content and create personal branding to generate traffic to your website. Once the website is setup, the emphasis moves on to strategies like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and the use of social media platforms, particularly Pinterest, to get more clicks. The more traffic your blog gets, the better can it be monetized through ads and affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing works by promoting products that other people own on your blog, and if a reader clicks or purchases that product, you get a commission. 

The course also goes in depth on how to build a network to get different opportunities. For example, Matt scored a book deal that made him a New York Times Bestseller. He also makes focuses on getting featured on other platforms and different travel blogs. Finally, he stresses the importance of having a strong and loyal audience by setting up a newsletter service for your blog.

Structure of the Course 

Superstar Blogging is actually divided into two different courses - The Business of Blogging and How to Become a Travel Writer. 

The Business of Blogging course spans across 8 weeks, with each week covering a specific module. It is different from other travel blogging courses because it does not only include videos and written material, but has homework assignments to test your skills and keep you motivated. The modules cover a branch of blogging each week. The structure of the course is:

• How to set up your website on WordPress
• Choosing a blog name
• Using Google Analytics 
• Some basic coding 

• Picking a niche for your brand
• Creating a strategy for your blog
• Managing your time to be as efficient as you can
• Designing a website to make it attractive

• How to write engaging and memorable blogs
• Writing and promoting your own viral content
• Writing content that readers can easily scan through
• Editing your blogs

• Success in social media posts and features
• How to use Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram to grow your audience
• Pitching for guest posts on social media

• Introducing SEO 
• Importance of getting others to link to your website
• More advanced SEO strategies
• The best options for keywords 

• How to set up a newsletter for your website
• Using ConnectKit and MailChimp
• How to make sure readers sign up
• How to write a newsletter

• How to use Affiliate Marketing to make money
• Creating and marketing your digital products
• How to use Amazon to self-publish

• How to work with touring companies, brands and agencies
• How to book opportunities
• Creating a media kit

The course is paced out to make sure students absorb information and not just overwhelm themselves with materials. The course is also well structured in terms of the topics they cover and is easy to navigate. Among the easy to follow blogging courses for beginners, Superstar Blogging is definitely a good pick because the course is designed to let you assimilate and categorize important techniques and concepts instead of rushing through them in one sitting. Some might feel daunted by a course that is 8 weeks long owing to the itch of just blogging right away, but this provides a solution to the problem. It does not just give you information, but makes you work through the entire duration to have your blog up and running by the end of it.

The other course - How To Become a Travel Writer is offered by Matt and popular travel writer David Farley, author of An Irreverent Curiosity and Nat-Geo host.

This is what the course covers:

• The art of storytelling 
• Descriptive writing
• The creative process
• How to self-edit 
• How to get editors to call you back 
• How to submit winning book proposals 
• How to make money as a writer 
• How to write for the web

This course focuses more on becoming a successful travel writer and not necessarily a travel blogger. It costs 79$ per month or $199 per quarter.

How Much does the Superstar Blogging Course Cost Cost? 

This course for beginners is at a modest price of $99 for instant access to the materials. It also includes free tech support. Furthermore, enrolling will let you join a Facebook group of students of Superstar Blogging that can help clarify any queries as well as boost networking. There is a 14 day trial period once you pay the $99, and you can get a 100% refund if you decide you do not want to continue with the course in those 2 weeks. Overall, for any people out there who want to start making money from traveling, this course is a great investment to get you started.