The product which had been speculated to run into the thousands during the product’s pre-launch phase, has finally been revealed to cost only $77 (accurate at the time of this blog post, but might be revised…).

What do you get from that?

A comprehensive 9-module course spanning topics like:

• Marketing research, including finding and screening affiliate offers
• Keyword research
• Direct linking vs creating landing pages
• Setting up your Google AdWords campaign
• Designing landing pages optimized for high conversions
• Understanding and enhancing your Google quality score (QS)
• Launching your PPC campaign
• Introducing split testing into your campaign (to further increase conversions)
• PPC bid optimization strategies

Having worked with Amit on a PPC coaching program for a select group of clients previously, I have seen firsthand how he goes through in a detailed, step-by-step manner the system which he has developed and follows.

Granted about 60% of the course material might be found on Amit’s SuperAffiliateMindset blog or in Google AdWords documentation or during his presentations at events like the first PPC Classroom live event in Vegas last year or in his Affiliate Summit presentations.

What makes Amit different from other affiliate marketers is how he goes about giving you a system with step-by-step detailed instructions on setting up your PPC affiliate campaigns.

I say “first hand” because as a PPC newbie, I was the “guinea pig” during our coaching process, and I got direct instructions from Amit as I was setting up the campaign (and got feedback and pointers when I messed up).

By the second week of his guided coaching, I was able to break even on my PPC spend, and turn a small profit.

Where I think Amit is relentless is in optimizing his campaigns, especially in going “a mile deep” to extract the maximum profit from each niche he’s involved in.

[If you’ve listened to his recent PPC Classroom interviews, you’d know that the bulk of his income comes from just THREE niches].

If you’re looking for great value, you can’t go wrong with his PPC Classroom course.

Where I think PPC Classroom stands out from the pack of similar products in the market is the business management elements he’s added to the course.

In particular, it’s how your structure your business that will ultimately create the lifestyle and the income you desire.

If you look at the PPC Classroom’s sales page, I’m refering to bonus #9, #10 and #11 – which deal with:

• The super affiliate mindset (also the name of his blog)
• Time management and productivity secrets
• How to build a super affiliate dream team

The “Super Affiliate Millionaire Code” covers the mental skills that successful affiliates need to possess. Having the technical and theoretical knowledge is one thing, but having the “inner game” skills or mental mindset is another.

A new season of “The Pickup Artist” has recently debuted on VH1 and not suprisingly, successful pickup artists and successful affiliates have a lot in common. In this report, Amit covers the strategies he uses to get himself “in the zone” to suceeded.

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The second guide “Time management and productivity secrets” might as well be entitled “the lazy affiliate’s guide to success”. In it, he talks about his lifestyle, sleeping 8-9 hours a day and working 4-6 hours a day.

Here’s a hint. I’ve often written that quality overrides quantity in most cases. Amit likewise similarly shows through what he does in his own business, how you can accomplish more in your business (and personal life) with less time.

Amit reveals that taking time out to plan your tasks and projects is responsible for a big chunk of his success.

If you’ve been to affiliate conferences, you’ll notice that the trend seems to be for successful affiliates to be over their ideal weight. In this guide, Amit reveals several methods he uses to manage his physiology or physical states, including his diet, health and nutrition, and maximizing his energy and concentration levels.

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The third report on building a Super Affiliate Dream Team will be an important reference for experienced affiliates who’re building their businesses and bringing them to a new level.

Almost every business owner will know that the key to scaling and growing your business will usually lie in either:

• Automating your business systems through computers and software (as top affiliate John Hasson has done)
• Building a team and/or outsourcing tasks to specialists

Regardless of your choice, it’s important to focus on your role as a project manager or overseer, rather than to go down the solopreneur or do-it-yourself route.

Amit provides specific examples of how he conceptualized, planned, outsourced and launched a project from start-to-finish, and smart marketers will be able to piece together their own team building or outsourcing framework from the steps laid out.

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Aside from the core materials which will give a strong foundation to new PPC marketers, and give an insight into Amit’s marketing techniques, in my opinion, experienced internet marketers will probably gain the most from the 3 additional reports dealing with the business management and business growth elements of your internet business.

Be sure to check out Amit Mehta and Anik Singal’s PPC Classroom 2.0.

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A major grouse I have with “shopping comparison sites” is that there’s often no “comparison” involved. They’re usually just a bunch of scraped data from affiliate datafeeds. There’s no “opinion” or comparison of the pros and cons of the product. Just a pile of digital trash on the information highway in my opinion.

It’s frequently the same case with Internet Marketing product “reviews” too…You know those ads that go:

“Is Product XYZ A Scam? Check here to find the facts!”
OR
“Don’t Buy Product XYZ Till You Read This Review”
OR my favorite
“An Honest Review of Product XYZ” (yeah right…)

If you head over to the page, you usually see a regurgitation of the marketing material, or just a listing of the product’s specifications, the price and maybe some bogus “bonus”…whoopee…

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In my past vocation as a tech journalist, I used to evaluate product and service offerings from the likes of Microsoft, Iomega, Diamond Multimedia, Creative Technology among others. The product reviews were subsequently syndicated on the newswires and online tech portals, so I’ll use the same methodology here as well.

What’s good and bad about PPC Classroom?

First off, the product is pretty comprehensive.
From the product graphic, it looks like:

• 4 manuals
• 7 discs (probably a combination of CDs or DVDs)
• At least 8 handouts
• Super Affiliate Jeremy Palmer’s “top secret” software tool for tracking ad campaigns across various pay-per-click search engines (a necessity once you are spending large amounts on PPC on a daily basis).

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Regarding the course structure, it’s geared towards newer affiliate marketers with topics on:

• An introduction to PPC and affiliate marketing
• Keyword matching
• Understanding PPC stats
• Finding niches and identifying hot demand
• Evaluating your competition and building your USP (unique selling proposition)

And the bread and butter of the PPC-affiliate marketing trade, affiliate marketing monetization strategies including:

• Direct linking
• Arbitrage/direct merchange linking
• Landing pages
• Opt-in (a hybrid PPC->email marketing approach)
• and evaluating the different categories of offers.

Intermediate level affiliate marketers will likely benefit from more advanced topics like:

• Complementary keyword strategies
• The keyword buying cycle
• Long end of the tail
• How to find emerging/undiscovered products
• Geo-targeting/time-based campaigning/day parting
• Keyword trigger/content trigger/hybrid strategies
• And a dissection of landing pages

Jeremy also chips in with his advanced tips and techniques, and emphasizes topics like ROI and bidding and positioning strategies.

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Although there’s lots of material to go through, it’s laid out in an easy-to-understand manner.

Is PPC Classroom a complete product?

Not likely. If anything, things change so quickly in the Internet Marketing arena that no single product will be able to contain “everything”.

Which is why Anik and Jeremy have set up a series of webinars and have a forum in the works.

If it’s anything like Anik’s previous Affiliate Classroom program, you can expect to have a flood of content and continuing updates.

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What I liked about the course content is that they’ve got a crack technical writing team to put the written materials together.

The concepts are explained in an easy-to-understand and sequential manner and are a stark contrast to the barely comprehensible manner in which most “make money online” books are written.

If you’re looking for a few quick and dirty tips to make a few quick bucks from your typical $47 or $97 ebook, PPC Classroom will not be your cup of tea. In fact, you’d probably find that there’s way too much reading involved…

If instead, you’re looking for a great resource to start building an online business, PPC Classroom is certainly worth a second look.

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I’m not directly promoting PPC Classroom.
If you’re interested, you might like to check out this bonus package that my buddy, Super Affiliate Amit Mehta has put together.

Note: The “bonus package” promo was for the last PPC Classroom promo. You can visit the newest review.