I’ve been a member of the IM Advantage for a long time, in fact so long that it wasn’t even called the IM Advantage when I’ve joined and was known as Steve & Tim’s membership program, which was offered in addition to their Blueprint products.
I didn’t join right away, I was actually reluctant, but what pushed me over the fence was the number of tools available in this membership. Tools that cost much more than the membership fee elsewhere. Since then it has actually grown even larger and now even includes Steve & Tim’s most popular products Commission Blueprint 2.0 and Niche Blueprint 2.0.
Overview
The IM Advantage consists of 10 complete IM courses, besides the two I’ve mentioned above it also includes:
- The original Commission Blueprint
- 2 courses by Ben Shaffer – Project Archimedes and Automated Traffic Blueprints
- SEM Business Blueprint
- Mining Money Online – a course for the very beginners
- Domain Flipping course
- List Building course
- Facebook Marketing course
In addition to that there’s also extra training in form of articles and videos. Then there are the tools, 14 of them:
- SERPY – Google rank tracking
- Site Blueprint – site building tool
- Automated Social Bookmarking Tool
- Blog Blueprint – a high PR blog network
- Link Blueprint – backlink cooperation tool where members exchange non-reciprocal links
- Authority Hub Finder – finds authority sites to get links from
- Keyword Blueprint
- Offer Evaluator
- Article Blueprint – article directory network and submission tool
- Ad Optimizer
- Peel Away ad software
- Free Hosting
- Hippojaw – PPC campaign tracking
- 3-Way Link Blueprint
While I don’t use them all, I would emphasize the Keyword Blueprint which is a pretty good keyword discovery and analysis tool, and the link building tools including my favorite Blog Blueprint which I use every day and it alone makes up for the membership for me.
Other resources in the IM Advantage include keyword databases for SEO and PPC, backlinks database, PPV resources, etc.
All of these courses, tools and resources are updated every month and every month you can expet something new to be added.
Pros & Cons
First of all, the main advantage (pun intended) is that it’s the most comprehensive resource I’ve seen anywhere in one place – free or paid. I don’t think you will find many memberships where there are complete commercial courses included, and here you have several.
The next big benefit are the tools. Specifically the SEO link building tools which usually have a membership fee on their own. You get all of them as part of the membership and as I already mentioned, for me they make up for the monthly fee alone.
And last but not least is the support. I’ve noticed a common problem with most IM products out there – it’s the lack of customer support. Many a product has failed miserably, even though they showed a promise, simply because the customer support just wasn’t there. This is where the IM Advantage excels – their support is fast and helpful. I’ve only used the helpdesk a couple of times but each time they responded in a matter of minutes. And on top of that there are the forums (which are public and you can see them even without being a member at http://www.blueprintcentral.com/forum/) where Steven Clayton, the co-author is spending his days away like he has no life.
As far as the drawbacks, it’s a very subjective matter and I can only address any possible concerns you may have. Obviously I don’t think there are any serious drawbacks, otherwise I wouldn’t be paying a fee every month. But the fee, I think, will be of the biggest concern to many. So is it worth paying every month? The answer lies in the benefits above, as I said, the tools alone make up for it.
The very least you can do is stay with it for a month or two and see how you do. Maybe you’ll find that it is not for you at all, that’s totally understandable. But I think it’s worth a shot, otherwise I wouldn’t be paying the membership every month myself. And if you do stick to it, the tools will make it worth it alone. These are the kind of tools that you will need to get somewhere sooner than later, and you will pay much more in membership fees anyway.
What to Expect?
I want to set it straight, there’s no such thing as the holy grail, and you’ll never make any substantial money online without hard work. So I’m not trying to imply that the IM Advantage is the be all and end all. There are too many get rich quick products out there and they’re all pushing this idea of fast money with no effort which is just a naive dream. To make it work, you have to work. But first of all you have to learn how to do it, focus on it and be persistent enough to succeed sooner than later.
So be prepared to spend some time learning and for lots of trial and error. If you stick to it, you will get there. I believe there’s all the training and tools necessary to get started and be well off in the IM Advantage, that’s why it gets my recommendation.
I got the 7 day trial to Market Samurai.
Market Samurai, among others such as niche inspector, I came across through my membership with Traffic Geyser.
I am on video 2 of their 4 freebies. (Samurai)
Good teaser information.
From what I can see so far, for 97.00 bucks, seems like a good program,if nothing else, for some quality key word research.
Secondly, IMEYE.
I watched the intro which is a bit long and it is informative.
The guy doing the intro video, I assume, is part of the company or the owner.
I like having someone personally interacting with me even if it is just by video.
Having someone friendly, and knowledgeable explaining the caveats of a program in a laid back way and having bulleted text and some html is like having a talking GPS and a map at the same time.
Market Samurai also has one of their people introducing himself via video and continuing with voice over explaining how 4 basic parts of the program work.
Friendly, normal guys, explaining without too much hype what the benefits are followed by a call to action..
To finalize, Both programs strike me as beneficial and for straight SEO keyword research, I would probably go with Market Samurai.
It is a one time cost and of course, they offer a deal.
IMEYE seems to be a much more comprehensive program and at 147.00 dollars a month with other monies I have out of pocket, it is not something I am ready to delve into yet.
For 97.00 dollars, I can swing that and if the Samurai helps me with some keyword research, it will be money well spent.
Thanks for informative reviews.
I realize you are probably an affiliate for these companies and if you truly use the products or have tried them, I have no problem with that.
As we know, its part of the Internet Marketing Game.