James Bonadies is a lead generation and local advertising specialist that has created several courses under his agency, the Visibility Cloud LLC. His expertise in lead generation, copywriting, and business allowed him to achieve a 7-figure income and also coach thousands of students through his program. In this review, I’ll be going over who James Bonadies is and if his paid traffic methods of lead generation are the best way to make money online, or if there is a better way with free traffic and the local lead generation business model.
James Bonadies Pros & Cons
Pros
James has over 8 years of experience in the industry. His career started in 2014.
He has an active online presence and can easily be contacted through any of his social handles for inquiries.
James teaches methods and techniques that he and his business partner, Jason McKim, used when they were building their businesses.
He has free and informative videos available on his YouTube channel.
He suggests specific tools and software to help clients through the process.
Cons
James' courses are quite expensive.
Local Marketing Vault and other courses may come off too salesy.
The courses include a lot of templates and pre-made content, which may become outdated as the market changes.
James upsells his own paid tools and resources, which can be expensive and unnecessary.
Local advertising can be highly competitive.
Who is James Bonadies?
James Bonadies is an SEO, lead generation, and local advertising expert from Wayne, New Jersey. He attended Rutgers University for a Bachelor in Economics. James also got a Master's degree in Administration in Education and Business from Caldwell University. He is the co-owner and president of Visibility Cloud LLC and also the creator of the Local Marketing Vault, Two Page Sites, and Course at Scale courses. Before dedicating himself to digital marketing, James was a teacher.
In time, James didn't want to work a 9-5 job anymore, and he began looking for side jobs online. He and his wife tried to make money doing SEO for other businesses after taking several online courses, but nothing worked. After coming across lead generation, James and his business partner, Jason McKim, began learning how to make effective two-page PPC websites until they were mastering the skills.
In 2014, they established their agency and, 3 years later, received a check of almost $75,000 from one client. James knew he would make lead generation his full-time career.
Teacher salary (annual): $63,902.00
Single bonus check (worth more than entire year of work as a teacher): $74,217.17
What is Local Marketing Vault?
Local Marketing Vault is a course by James Bonadies and Jason McKim that helps you create a lead generation business. LMV teaches you everything you need to know about how to funnel highly qualified traffic to a client’s website through paid Facebook ads and YouTube ads. The course includes detailed training sessions about how to study and work within a specific niche. It comes with resources like ClickFunnels templates students can use and live coaching calls each week for support and Q&A.
Price: Local Marketing Vault costs $5,000.
More Info: Local Marketing Vault Review
What is Visibility Cloud LLC?
Visibility Cloud LLC is a marketing agency owned by James Bonadies and Jason McKim and hosts all of James’ courses like the Local Marketing Vault. Aside from LMV, James and his partners have published a free online training video. They also currently have a software called The Coaching Toolbox and another brand-new training course on the way.
What is Two Page Sites?
Two Page Sites is a series of free online coaching sessions by James Bonadies. This free training course teaches students how they can bridge the gap between businesses and their leads. James goes into detail about how students can generate thousands of dollars per month simply by creating a website with two pages. He also teaches students how to use what he calls the exclusive ‘Pin Method’, which helps you get businesses to work with you.
What is Course at Scale?
Course at Scale is a course created by James Bonadies to help consultants, coaches, and instructors build their own online programs. The course covers everything from where to start, how to structure the program, how to create an effective payment scheme, and more. This is a 9-week course that comes with access to a private Facebook group. They hold 2 live coaching sessions per week for support and you get access to The Coach's Toolbox software that will help you build your coaching program with a website builder, membership hosting tools, and more. It was created to help minimize the costs of starting and managing a digital course.
What is Agency Toolbox?
The Agency Toolbox is an exclusive software created by James Bonadies and his partners for students under his course to help you manage your agency. It has a variety of features and tools that improve your functionality and productivity. Users can connect their domains, contacts, and social media handles to the platform. It also allows users to oversee any schedules or tasks they have lined up.
Positive James Bonadies Reviews
Tim M left a review on Trustpilot about the Local Marketing Vault program. He talks about how starting his own marketing agency allowed him to leave his 6-figure job and start earning more through James’ program. After implementing everything he learned from James, he grew his agency to over $60,000 per month in revenue.
Kris did a case study with James, which is currently posted on LMV’s testimonials page. Kris is one of the featured students that generates up to $10,000 in revenue per month. He mentions that although he has previously worked in related fields like SEO, Kris prefers the business model taught under LMV because it can generate great results in a short amount of time.
Negative James Bonadies Reviews
A review by Bobby Gordon on Trustpilot describes LMV as more of a sales pitch than a helpful course. In the same review, Bobby acknowledged how LMV’s modules are presented nicely and even stated that their Facebook group was valuable. However, he expressed his disappointment in how he had to deal with certain fees that caused him to pay over $5,000, which is higher than the course’s initial selling price.
Below, Sean shares the same sentiments. He states in his review that he also had to pay $5k for the course and also mentioned that the coaches exert more time into pitching other people’s affiliate programs rather than focusing on their own business model. Sean felt that the course was overpriced and not worth the $5k price tag.
Top James Bonadies Complaints
The top James Bonadies complaints are:
- His program is overpriced.
- There is excessive upselling.
- Customer support is mediocre because trying to contact James and someone from his team for help is difficult.
Is James Bonadies a Scam?
James Bonadies is not a scam, even though there are several negative reviews and complaints about him and his program. While there are negative reviews and complaints, most of James’ audience see him as a good coach and a helpful instructor. You learn more about lead generation with paid traffic in this course than you do in many other online programs. On the Local Marketing Vault testimonials page, there are many case studies and screenshots of students who have had success with James' training.
Is Paid Traffic Worth it in 2024
Paid traffic is worth it in 2024 if you are looking for a fast way to generate more sales and have the capital to invest in split testing and running ads. If you are prepared to make the investment and have a solid game plan for how to make your ads work, then you can create profitable ad campaigns.
The problem with paid traffic is that even if you have the budget to pay for ads, the cost of advertising on social media platforms and Google is rising each year. As a result, you will end up spending more on ads for fewer results if you keep the same budget. Paying for ads also takes time to find an ad that profitably generates more leads and sales.
As with other online business models, you can make money and see positive results with paid traffic, but you won't have the benefits that come with generating leads organically for local small business owners.
Local Lead Generation with Free Traffic Beats Lead Gen with Paid Traffic
Local lead generation with free organic traffic offers you more control over your business because you choose the niche to generate leads for, who you work with and how much you'll rent your digital properties for. Your income is also something you can count on each month as long as your sites are ranked at the top of the SERPs. There's no need to worry about ad campaigns or even clients leaving you at a moment's notice.
To learn how to reach long-term financial freedom with free organic traffic without dealing with spending money on ads, check out the local lead generation training program.
Not great with computers but not bad. I’m purchasing a new Lenovo lap top computer. Will 16 GBs be enough?
I when I first heard of James Bonadies’ business offering I understood it was no cost to sign -up and that after generating business and getting paid then sign-up expenses begin. Is that still the case? My wife learned that from me. Hope it hasn’t changed.
What is ‘upselling’? Is it like at McDonalds when they ask, “would you like fries or an apple turnover with your burger”?
I was looking at reviews for your business operations and in a complaint section it indicated that trying to get through to “contact James and someone from his team for help is difficult”. Is that still a problem at times? I study hard to learn and have 18+ years of sales experience. So, if I have a question during studying or in the learning curve, I’d certainly want to get through to some help in a timely manner.
I’ll want to set appointment to learn soon. I’ve got several things on my plate for the next week or two. It’ll be a piece meal spread for training and starting up. I hope you can be patient with me over the next few weeks.
Sincerely,
Jonathan E Hill
How do I get more information about your program?
Hey, Chuck. You can check out more about my local lead gen program here: https://ippei.com/best/