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Progress thread - Badcourses.com

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LuckyPup

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I see the value in this. Lots of industries have these types of sites.

Lets say you could magically have a completed website tomorrow, that has vetted most of the courses out there and has a lot of reviews posted from the public.

Great, now what's the path to monetize the site? Have you given that any thought?
My question, too.
 

LuckyPup

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Hello everyone!

So I have recently started this project. While browsing the internet, specifically reading blogs and quora posts about Dan Lok's course and whether or not it is a scam, I had a big idea hit me.

Why is it so damn hard to find reviews on these courses that guru's offer?

Honestly. I could not find a single site that reviewed these courses. A lot of these courses didn't even have any reviews for them online.

and I think it is a huge opportunity. Consumers should have a basic idea on what they are buying. Not just 12 "buzz" words of whatever is the hot topic right now, and vague promises to absolutly change their life.

So, I decided to start up badcourses.com as part of my side hustle. Honestly, the site has just started, and I am working on grinding out more and more reviews.

I want to make sure that everyone is informed and educated on these courses before they take them. My goal is to be a successful information hub for consumers to review before enrolling in some of these godly expensive courses.

Please let me know if there are any influencers / bro marketers / guru's and their courses that you want me to cover. Also please feel free to leave some feedback. Anything helps!

**I will be updating the thread weekly as I build out the website
I like the idea, as it's one I've pondered, too. (great minds) However, monetization is a big question, as is content development. Seems that it would take a substantial amount of content to make this resource attractive to readers, and you'd also need a ton of traffic to monetize. Seems like a lot to bite off, which is why I haven't done it but is also why you might want to - high barrier to entry, that is.
 

COSenior

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I have a different question. On what criteria are you going to determine whether the course is 'bad' or not? Because it's expensive? Because it's expensive and there's identical free information if one digs hard enough? Because people don't get the results they want?

I can think of justifications for the first two suggestions I made, and for the last, I've been involved in private Facebook groups where many people complain they're not getting the results - but the question is, are they putting in the work? Type the name of almost any well-known 'guru' into your browser and add the word 'scam', and you'll get plenty of hits. Half are people who thought the course would do the work for them, and the other half are people who are doing reverse psychology and writing articles that review the course well and post their affiliate link. (Pardon the hyperbole - I haven't done any mathematical analysis.)

On the surface, it sounds like a great idea. However, there are some challenges you'll need the answers to, and I'd recommend researching the market before you take any more time or money building websites or buying domain names. And one thing I'd research if I were you is what makes a good course? Any halfway-decent marketer can drum up a name for himself and then trade on it to reveal his 'secrets', but how many are instructional design experts? How many can boast that a majority of their students achieve the results they desire? I'd wager you'll find more 'bad courses' than good ones, and yet some students will get what they need, while the others will just go to another guru, thinking there must be some secret they missed.

Think it through. And then more power to you!
 
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garyfritz

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Very high chances you'll be sued for libel.
Only if he published "false" statements.
Wrong. They have to prove it's false to WIN a libel or slander suit. They can still drag you through court and cost you a fortune. You might win the case and get the judge to award legal costs, but you still had to spend lots of time and energy fighting it.
 
D

Deleted50669

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Wrong. They have to prove it's false to WIN a libel or slander suit. They can still drag you through court and cost you a fortune. You might win the case and get the judge to award legal costs, but you still had to spend lots of time and energy fighting it.
Right, I didn't mean they don't have the stronger case, more that you better be ready for the hellstorm that is attack lawyers.
 

njsinko

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I like this concept. I think encouraging users to submit their own reviews is the next logical step to boost the amount of content.

After all, I don't want one persons opinion - especially someone I have never heard of. I would like to see a number of reviews from a number of different real users.

Make sure you actually take all of the courses you are reviewing, but I do think you're onto something though.
 
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Logan Powell

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Thanks everyone on the feedback. I have a couple key take aways from this.

1) Rebranding in needed. Badcourses seems to be too narrowly focused and there are good courses that can be covered also
2) Work on making the website less "written review" and more crowdsourced. I believe this will be better for me as well as the worst part of the site for me is writing the reviews haha.
3) Figure out the legality of the website. This is interesting for me as well as I am Canadian but I could still be open to potential lawsuits.
 

Logan Powell

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Any updates? I noticed that badcourses.com has been discontinued.
Yeah. The feedback I got off this one post was amazing. I decided that the current wordpress theme and plugins I was using wasn't good enough, and I took to heart the rebranding aspect of it.

I am going for the name of coursevote.com and listing current Guru courses. After hearing the feedback, badcourses had too much of a negative connotation and did not leave myself the opportunity to connect with people who actually deliver high quality courses.

Currently I am rebuilding the website in the background. After that, I plan on reaching out to a couple micro influencers and see if they are willing to have an affiliate deal between us.

Once the new site is live, I will post an update in this thread.

This website was actually the first website I have ever built. After receiving the feedback, I effectively messed around with it to see what I could do with Wordpress. It effectively broke my site, but I learned a great deal about plugins and other web apps that wordpress has to offer. Now I'm moving forward and rebuilding it with the tools that I learned from that will hopefully be cleaner and less clunky.
 
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PetePreneur

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It's a good idea, but I think you'll struggle to monetise it.

When you give an affiliate link for a courses you like, I think most people will just think you're just trying to sell them it and therefore not trust you- Especially if it's the first thing they've read on the site.

Also if you open it up to other people to leave reviews, the gurus might just hire a few people to post fake ones if it ever got big enough.

Just a few potential challenges for you to think about, but you may well prove me wrong.

Good luck anyway!
 

Marigold

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Just my 2 cents. I recall someone who had taken B School (Marie Forleo) saying it was a terrible course.

I typed into google and came across a post on Quora, no idea if it's still there. There was one woman in particular who said that Marie goes to town on any negative publicity on the internet and her legal team are all over it. It could of course be hearsay and gossip but it crossed my mind too that you might invite some of that.

I also agree an impartial review where people who have actually taken the course are giving feedback is useful. For example, you wouldn't want fake reviewers who are recommending their own course as an alternative :)
 

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