Douglas James is a former Navy man turned successful online marketing entrepreneur. He reached 8-figures in revenue with digital marketing. His expertise is in running paid ads on platforms like Facebook and YouTube.. His agency, Amped Local Inc, has helped many companies increase their revenue.
Douglas James reviews are positive, with a rating of 4.7/5 on Trustpilot and 5/5 on BBB. Students mostly praise the training programs. There is plenty of positive feedback with the lessons and instructors. Negative reviews are mostly directed at the done-for-you service. Common complaints are with high costs and poor performance.
In this Douglas James training review, we'll cover what his story is, what products & services his platform offers. You'll also learn about student reviews and testimonials. I will also compare and contrast paid traffic versus free organic traffic.
Douglas James Pros and Cons
Pros
He is an expert with Facebook and YouTube ads.
Douglas has mentored some very successful marketers. This includes John Crestani and Nicholas Bayerle.
Douglas James marketing courses have many student testimonials proving his legitimacy.
Cons
Paid traffic can get expensive fast. Douglas doesn't mention this in his sales videos.
The effectiveness of Douglas' DIY programs is questionable.
Digital marketing is a highly competitive niche. Douglas also fails to set this expectation.
Price
Douglas James' programs costs around $4,000 to $25,000.
Refund Policy
There are no refunds listed on Douglas James' programs.
Origin
Douglas James started teaching in 2018
Reputation
Douglas James has a mixed reputation.
Great training program! Douglas is very informative and helpful. They also have a very supportive community.
Who Is Douglas James’ Mentor?
Dan Klein taught Douglas James the local lead generation business model in 2014. Although Douglas now focuses on paid traffic, Dan taught him organic lead generation. Dan has a net worth of $30 million and still runs one of the most successful coaching programs. It has over 7400 students who are ranking and renting digital properties every day. I was one of those students.
Who Is Douglas James?
Douglas James is an 8-figure entrepreneur, and Navy Corpsman from San Diego, California. He is considered a Facebook ads guru. He is nicknamed "The High-Ticket Client Guy" for his mastery in generating high-ticket leads for other companies. His agency, Amped Local Inc., offers internet marketing services for the San Diego County.
Douglas James' net worth is estimated between at $5 million. Considering he's made over 7-figures from all the sales of his training program. This also includes the 7-figures he's generated with his lead generation business.
Douglas served 10 years in the Navy. In 2015, after being deployed on a humanitarian mission to Papua New Guinea, Douglas realized he wanted to continue helping others. Upon returning home from active duty, Douglas found digital marketing. He saw how those particular skills could help local businesses of all sizes. His mission to continue helping others was possible.
In 2015, Douglas learned the local lead generation business model from Dan Klein. Dan is the OG who has taught many other rank and rent coaches. Here you can see Douglas with Dan at a live Job Killing (previous name of the coaching program) event in Las Vegas.
Here can see Douglas seated next to Abdul Samad from the Modern Millionaires program. They all got their start in lead generation because of Dan Klein's program. They used the skills they learned to create their own programs.
What Does Douglas James Do?
Today, Douglas continues providing value and support through his digital products and services. He's trained over 5,000 entrepreneurs. He's active on his YouTube channel with over 12.3K subscribers. On Instagram, he has over 108K followers. Douglas has also been featured in Inc. 5000, FOX, Entrepreneur, and more.
What Is Amped Local Inc Services?
Amped Local Inc is Douglas James' marketing agency. The agency offers 6 services in San Diego County. They help local businesses get traffic and increase their sales. The services are offered in these areas:
The programs offered are:
Customized service plan that covers content keyword and market research. Also comes with an in-depth evaluation of competitors. Organic SEO tactics paired up with paid ads for best results. Content writing and backlink building are also included.
Comes with a complete audit of your business to detect and correct any discrepancies. Optimization of the client's site for Google+ Local and Bing local. The client's business will also be added to local business directories like Foursquare, Angie’s List, Yelp, and Mojo Pages. The agency will also create business citations and help get online reviews.
The agency creates a complete, optimized, mobile-friendly custom website. Includes calls to action, password protected content, online purchasing, forums, event registrations, and more. The package also includes content marketing. These are well-written blogging for more inbound links and social media shares.
This service includes:
In-depth keyword research - ensure that the business is able to rank on searches.
Ads creation - creation of eye-catching and trending ads optimized for Facebook.
Landing page optimization - dedicated sales page for clicks from PPC ads.
Split testing and ads comparison - monitored ad testing to find the most efficient ads.
PPC mini-campaigns - specific area targeted ads with campaign. These are designed to promote one specific product or service.
Detailed reporting of ROI - customized detailed pdf reports of ROI from ads. Includes other important information.
The agency does a comprehensive assessment of the location. This includes population density, market size, geographical boundaries, and surrounding city divisions. The information is used to create a new website designed for local consumers. These sites will be optimized for Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Client's business will also be included in local top business listings.
Reformatting of the online contact request form that converts any contact request into an immediate call. The entire process will take about 45 seconds in order to avoid loss sales due to lack of email follow-up.
Douglas James’ Programs
The High-Ticket Experience
Douglas' system to help you book sales calls for your high ticket coaching programs. He goes over how to use behavioral data to generate the perfect lead for your program. You're also shown a proven value funnel that will make your leads want to do business with you. It's all about providing value upfront to entice your potential customers. He also shares his phone script that has already generated over 7-figures online. Finally, you learn how to charge over $10K or more for your online program/service.
Local Business Funnels & Ads
This digital product is an automated lead generation system for local businesses. You'll be given access to custom ads that are proven to convert. Included are marketing funnels that are great for capturing essential lead information.
Industry Marketing Academy
The Industry Marketing Academy course is your guide to dominating Facebook ads. Douglas included over 50 ready-to-use funnels, ads, targeting, updated training, and automated systems using Facebook, ClickFunnels, Active Campaign, and more. They claim members make money within weeks of implementing everything that's learned in this academy.
The High-Ticket Expert
The High-Ticket Expert is a DIY (Do-it-Yourself) coaching program. They teach how to generate more applications and how to book the right calls. The goal is to help you focus your time on the right people to keep your sales call calendar full.
Online Training Course Development
This program is for those who want to create their own courses. The program will help you house your training content and media.
Outsourced Traffic
You can have Douglas James and his team manage your paid traffic and scale your business for you. The goal is to help you focus on servicing your new clients. The investment needed is determined case by case.
Virtual Property Cash Flow Blueprint
The blueprint is a training that teaches you how to use AI in digital marketing. You can use the blueprint to improve the performance of your marketing agency.
The VIP Agency
The VIP Agency is a DFY (Done-for-You) program where Douglas and his team build and run a high-ticket local marketing agency for you. It all starts with filling out an application to see if you have the funds to pay them to set it all up for you. Expect to pay $20K+ for your agency to be profitable.
The VIP Agency Douglas James Review
The VIP Agency Douglas James review on the BBB site is of an unhappy student. She said the VIP Agency was not worth the $25,000 for several reasons. Apparently, Douglas James and his team did not execute on any of their promises. They also did not communicate well with her. It appears she didn't make her money back. Douglas James and his team responded with what appears to be a detailed breakdown of a legal letter refuting her allegations.
Other Services Douglas Offers
Douglas James BBB Reviews
Douglas James has a 5/5 score on BBB. He is BBB accredited and an A+ rating. There are also a handful of answered complaints from clients who were unsatisfied with the done-for-you service.
Nabeel signed up in June 2021 and said their experience was a good one. After implementing what Douglas taught, they reached over $10K in revenue.
Ashton is another student to take action with Douglas' training. He matched his full-time income within 4 months of joining the program. After 8 months, he started making over $10K in revenue.
Douglas James Trustpilot Reviews
Douglas James has a 4.7/5 rating on Trustpilot. Out of over 200 reviews, only 2 are verified and are both positive. The positive reviews mostly just praise the training and the value they received. I have seen none that have real-world success stories. There are a handful of very detailed negative reviews.
William was a VIP Ultra student. He paid for the done-for-you service and even hired a VA to get clients. William mentions that no one in the group has done well. He explains how the market is saturated. Competing with established agencies is just extremely difficult. He gave up after a year and has lost over $70,000
Douglas James Testimonials
Nicholas Bayerle is the CEO of The Billion Dollar Body. Douglas James consulted for Nicholas' company and helped them achieve a massive ROI. After working together for one month, Douglas helped Nicholas increase his monthly revenue by $30K. The Billion Dollar Body generated thousands of fitness leads by leveraging the Facebook ads platform.
Cody is the CEO of the Lovely Nights transportation company. He couldn't push past the 6-figure threshold in sales. Cody signed up and let Douglas take over his marketing and paid traffic strategies. After this, Cody's transportation business grew to over $1 million in revenue.
John Crestani is the coach of the affiliate marketing course Super Affiliate System 3.0. They have featured him in Forbes, Yahoo Finance, and more. John says that Douglas increased his monthly spend to over $300K. As a result, John earned over 7-figures in sales. Douglas James is a huge reason John Crestani has had so much success.
Ashton Wilson - Case Study Student of Douglas James
Ashton's Background Story & Current Business Status:
Background:
Ashton was a cardiac physiologist in a hospital in Chicago. He has a master's degree and experience in cardiology. Disillusioned with his role in healthcare, Ashton ventured into digital marketing. Ashton's agency caters specifically to gym owners and personal training studios. His focus is on optimizing group training programs. This is more profitable for gym owners than one-on-one sessions.
Currently, Ashton's agency earns around $10,900 a month. This success was achieved within months of joining Douglas James' marketing program in July 2022.
Ashton's Top Business Tips & Lessons:
Ashton's deliberate chose to serve gym owners exclusively. This showcases the power of niche targeting in digital marketing. He pivoted his agency's offerings to emphasize group training. This helped maximize profit margins for gym owners. Ashton recognized a sales bottleneck. He enhanced his sales skills by working temporarily as a sales closer.
Ashton had to learn digital marketing from the ground up. This highlighted the need for adaptability in career shifts. To gain experience, Ashton initially provided services for free. He built his portfolio in the digital marketing sector.
Ashton's Biggest Challenges in the Business:
Ashton moved from a structured healthcare career to the dynamic world of digital marketing. This required a significant change in skill set and mindset. Ashton's initial client outreach involved sending about 5,000 emails. This demonstrates the challenge in building a clientele. He faced mental barriers of the uncertainties and risks of entrepreneurship. Ashton educated himself in digital marketing and sales. This is a significant challenge given his background in healthcare.
Ashton started his business journey by offering free services. Ashton navigated through early financial uncertainties. As his agency grew, he had to learn how to keep the quality. Maintaining service quality while scaling operations became a crucial challenge.
What's not mentioned in the interview: Ashton Wilson's revenue number of $10,900 per month is not all profit. In paid ads agency, the profit margin is around 15-20%. His take home income is significantly less than the reported number.
It's also difficult to keep a paid client long-term. A follow up interview would be necessary to see if Ashton was able to retain this client past 6 months.
Is Starting a Digital Marketing Agency Worth It?
Starting a digital marketing agency is worth it if you will invest significant time and money. A survey by Clutch found that 45% of small businesses use digital marketing services. This means there's a strong demand for these services. You need to put a lot of effort into your business and learning technical skills like SEO and PPC.
The industry is highly competitive, so specializing in a niche can help you stand out. According to HubSpot, agencies that specialize in a niche see a 20% higher client retention rate. Experience is crucial; without it, gaining clients will be challenging. Be ready for ongoing learning and long hours, especially in the beginning. Statista shows that 60% of digital marketers work more than 40 hours a week. This is especially true during the initial stages of their business. Expect failure and be ready to accept and adapt to setbacks.
Ways to Make Money Generating Leads for Small Businesses
There are many ways to make money generating leads for small businesses. There are paid and free lead generation methods. You can create and rank your own website and then rent it out to local businesses. A case study by Lead Generation SEO Services found that renting out a well-ranked local website can generate an average of $500 to $1,000 per month.
There are traditional outbound sales techniques, such as cold calling and direct mail. According to the Direct Marketing Association, direct mail has a response rate of 4.9%. Optimizing client websites enhances user experience and increases lead generation. A study by Forrester Research found that optimized websites increases conversion rates by up to 200%. The combination of different methods can improve effectiveness and decrease risks.
Why I Recommend Local Lead Generation Over a Digital Marketing Agency
I recommend local lead generation because it creates passive income with less risks. By using the rank and rent method, you earn practically hands-free. As long as your site is ranked on Google, it will generate organic leads. As long as leads are flowing, local businesses will be willing to pay rent. Since you do not run any paid ads, the operating costs are lower and profit margin is higher. You also have complete control of your business and keep all the profits.
In a digital marketing agency business, you will compete against older and more established agencies. With local lead generation, you only need to outrank a handful of sites. As long as your site is ranked, it will generate leads and your client will be happy. If your ads don't work as a marketing agency, your client will leave. Client retention and repeat business is higher with local lead generation.
Scaling a digital marketing agency means investing more money to expand your operations. You will need to outsource the work which can hurt quality. Scaling a local lead generation business is as simple as repeating the rank and rent process. There is no limit as to how many sites you can have. This makes local lead generation the best business to create financial freedom.
