I did the 30 Day Challenge last year. I thought they organized it pretty well, but I didn't earn a cent from it. Funny thing is that while I earned nothing following the 30DC, I did make some money indirectly from it. I realized I had a couple blogs that were still getting traffic even months after the challenge. I threw some Adsense on there for shits and giggles, and because I wanted to hit Google's $100 minimum payment, and I've earned about $20 so far in less than a month from them.
As others have pointed out, there is a catch. When you sign up, you're basically signed up to his list. I think I remember him saying something about not selling anything, but after the 30DC was over, I kept getting occasional emails from him... the standard email marketing bullshit. That reminds me, I have to unsubscribe from a few newsletters since they're worthless and I never read them. :|
Anyway, they also upsell the Immediate Edge. They don't outright say SIGN UP but references to IE can be on the site and podcasts, and many of the forum moderators are from IE. Considering how big the challenge was last year, after a month of seeing and hearing about IE I don't doubt that a few people have been suckered in. Oddly enough, I think a month or a couple months before the 30 Day Challenge, they increased the price of IE to ~$150.
And on top of it all, if you do end up profiting very well, you risk having your niches exposed because either:
1. You show Ed Dale your stats for proof that you've won the challenge and thus he is privy to your niches.
2. You use the 30DC tracking system which could theoretically be looked upon by Ed Dale or the other guy and thus they are privy to your niches.
3. As what happened last year, a ton of blogs are spammed on Digg and other social bookmarking sites, so anyone can sift through the shitload of 1-5 digged blogs and thus anyone can be privy to your niches.
As others have pointed out, there is a catch. When you sign up, you're basically signed up to his list. I think I remember him saying something about not selling anything, but after the 30DC was over, I kept getting occasional emails from him... the standard email marketing bullshit. That reminds me, I have to unsubscribe from a few newsletters since they're worthless and I never read them. :|
Anyway, they also upsell the Immediate Edge. They don't outright say SIGN UP but references to IE can be on the site and podcasts, and many of the forum moderators are from IE. Considering how big the challenge was last year, after a month of seeing and hearing about IE I don't doubt that a few people have been suckered in. Oddly enough, I think a month or a couple months before the 30 Day Challenge, they increased the price of IE to ~$150.
And on top of it all, if you do end up profiting very well, you risk having your niches exposed because either:
1. You show Ed Dale your stats for proof that you've won the challenge and thus he is privy to your niches.
2. You use the 30DC tracking system which could theoretically be looked upon by Ed Dale or the other guy and thus they are privy to your niches.
3. As what happened last year, a ton of blogs are spammed on Digg and other social bookmarking sites, so anyone can sift through the shitload of 1-5 digged blogs and thus anyone can be privy to your niches.