31 Days To Build A Better Blog Review

How does 31 Days To Build A Better Blog help you make money?

31 Days To Build A Better Blog aims to help you build and grow a blog that gets tons of traffic from Google and other search engines.

Throughout the training, Darren Rowse covers many ways of monetizing and promoting a blog, such as guest posting, SEO, and (personal) branding. He also recommends using an autoresponder and talks about setting up drip campaigns.

However, it’s best to consider the training as more of a broad overview of how to monetize and promote a blog. As we’ll get into below, there isn’t much detailed instruction provided.

Who is 31 Days To Build A Better Blog for?

The training sells itself as a place where people who already have a blog can learn about improving it. 

⚠️ Important to note: the course DOES NOT teach you how to create a blog and get it online; it’s assumed you’ll have already done that part.

ProBlogger talks about two use cases for the training on the sales page…

In my opinion, that’s mostly a fair assessment of the training, though I’d hesitate to consider it a “lifesaver,” given all that’s lacking (more on that below).

But if you are a brand new or struggling blogger, you will likely find something of value in the 31 Days training. Especially given that it’s so inexpensive compared to most other blogging courses.

• 70+ ways how to make money online (including easy options)

Does Darren Rowse have a good reputation?

For the most part, yes.

Darren is one of the first famous full-time bloggers. He started way back in 2002, and worked on more than 30 blogs. He made the transition to earning a living from blogging in 2005.

Darren mostly focuses – and is still active – on his two main sites, ProBlogger and Digital Photography School.

However, it seems to me that Darren isn’t in the habit of starting new blogs from scratch. While going through the 31 Days training, I got the distinct impression that he was teaching blog growth strategies and tactics that worked well ~10 years ago, but perhaps not so much today.

Another thing that’s giving me pause is that Darren doesn’t seem to be paying much attention to his own course nowadays. At the time of this writing, it looks like he hadn’t been active in the training for nearly two years!

And it looks like the other people behind the training haven’t been active lately either…

Adding to my impression that the course is somewhat outdated and abandoned, is that a YouTube video from 10+ years ago is included in the materials.

Here it is… 

On the bright side, Darren is still clearly a successful blogger in his own right.

We know this because the stats for ProBlogger still look pretty impressive…

And they keep getting better for DPS…

In short, even though Darren Rowse is something of a superstar in the blogging world, I’m not convinced he’s had much experience starting a successful blog from scratch in the last decade or so. 

Which may explain why I found his 31 Days training to be quite disappointing.

Are 31 Days To Build A Better Blog students getting results?

It’s hard to tell.

Although I believe that 31 Days To Build A Better Blog is an okay course – especially for the price – I didn’t find many testimonials during my research.

Even worse, only two testimonials on the sales page talk about specific results achieved from following the training…

For such a highly-praised course from a popular blogger, I would have expected to see far more recent testimonials. 

But such reports seem to be rare for students of 31 Days.

How much does 31 Days To Build A Better Blog cost?

31 Days To Build A Better Blog has a one-time fee of $99. 

With that, you get lifetime access to the training.

There’s also a $49 upsell called ProBlogger’s Create Content Course. Even though it appears right after you pay for 31 Days, I didn’t find it to be overly aggressive.

The sales page does not mention this, but keep in mind that you’ll probably need some extra money for an autoresponder and some other tools recommended within the training. 

And if you don’t have a blog yet, you will also need to pay for a domain and hosting.

31 Days To Build A Better Blog Discount?

After looking everywhere, I still haven’t found a discount or coupon code.

However, there is a place to enter a discount code on the 31 Days To Build A Better Blog checkout.

So it seems you’ll have to pay the whole amount if you want in.

Refund Policy

The sales page for 31 Days To Build A Better Blog specifies a 60-day money-back guarantee…

If you are not satisfied with the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog course after 60 Days just let me know and I’ll refund your money – that’s how confident I am that this is a resource that will help you build a dramatically better blog.

I haven’t seen anyone reporting issues getting a refund on their purchase, so you can rest easy with this guarantee.

How is 31 Days To Build A Better Blog structured?

Here’s what the course looks like once you’re logged in…

Just like its name suggests, the main training is broken up into 31 modules. It’s designed to be taken one module per day, but it does not limit you in any way.

You can go through the training at your own pace, totally up to you. But because the training covers so many different topics, I’d recommend going through it small doses.

Each day has a main lesson and side activities. Most of the main lessons are in video format, although there are some that are only presented through text. Each side lesson seems to only have text.

I found most of the modules to be fairly short, so completing one per day shouldn’t be much of a challenge. They’re also easy to navigate, as the sidebar with the full list of lessons is available to you at all times.

One thing that I found irritating was the search function. It’s great that it exists – not every course has a search function – but at the same time, it’ll often refer you to a lesson from another Problogger course you don’t have access to. You don’t know until you click through from the search results page if the resource is available to you or not 😡

But here’s the bigger issue with the training…

Not only does most of the content seem quite basic, it doesn’t appear to have been updated much in recent years. The sales page claims the course has received a “recent” facelift, but I still found the majority of the lessons to be thin and outdated.

They really don’t go deep on any topic. It’s mostly theory or instructions for you to brainstorm ideas, and they often simply link out to further info on their blog or YouTube channel from several years ago (i.e free content you can find without paying for the training).

Plus, there are some big holes in the training. For example, there is barely any mention of keyword research as a way to generate article ideas. I’d argue that this is a crucial and fundamental part of blogging nowadays, but you’d never know that from 31 Days To Build A Better Blog.

Sadly, the Facebook group for the training also looks completely deserted. I expected to see both more members and much more activity in it. 

Even worse, almost 2 weeks after requesting access to the Facebook group as a paying customer, I was still waiting to get approved!

Green Lights 🟢 

A few things to like about 31 Days To Build A Better Blog…

• Low price to access the training.
• 60-day money-back guarantee.
• Lessons taught by a superstar blogger (Darren Rowse).
• No shady marketing tactics.

Red Flags 🚩 

A few things about 31 Days To Build A Better Blog that might give you pause…

• Lack of significant success stories from students.
• Doesn’t go deep on any topic; mostly high-level theory.
• Lack of practical step-by-step instruction. 
• Seems much of the core training hasn’t been updated for several years.
• No mention on sales page of expenses beyond the price of the training.
• Private Facebook group appears to be abandoned.

Other things you should know

• Valuable downloads are available throughout the training, including worksheets, video slides, audio versions of some lessons, etc.

Should you join 31 Days To Build A Better Blog?

I’m hesitant to recommend anyone sign up for this ProBlogger training.

IMO, there are some big holes in it, they don’t go deep on any topic, much of the content is outdated, and the private community has been abandoned.

The saving grace of the course is that it’s relatively inexpensive and it has that 60-day refund policy. So if you’re on a tight budget and want some kind of structured training to guide you as a brand new blogger, 31 Days might indeed help you build a better blog.

Just don’t expect this training to solve all your blogging woes or turn you into a pro blogger.

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