Fat Stacks Review: Niche Site Profits Course Worth It? (2024)

Searching for an honest Fat Stacks review?

If so, you’re in the right place.

BIG UPDATE: Google’s infamous Helpful Content Update essentially crushed blogs using the strategy taught in this course. Jon has since pivoted to this strategy.

If you want to build a successful content site, the Niche Site Profits course is no longer a viable option. Instead, I recommend checking out this new free report where Jon reveals what’s working today.

Jon Dykstra, the creator of the Fat Stacks Blog, bundled together all his mini-blogging courses into one ginormous course — called the Niche Site Profits course.

In it, he reveals how he’s built a large portfolio of niche sites that earn $80,000+ per month (no, that’s not a typo!).

But does Niche Site Profits really provide enough actionable and up-to-date info for someone else to repeat the process?

That’s what we’ll cover today.

In this Fat Stacks Course review I’ll show you…

• A behind-the-scenes video of the Niche Site Profits course (AKA the Fat Stacks Bundle)
• What type of people the course is perfect for
• Who it’ll be a waste of time for
• What I like, and what I DON’T like
• Tips for getting the most out of the course

Ready Set Go!

👀 This is a Level 3 review. Read more about our in-depth course review process.

👀 This is a Level 3 review. Read more about our in-depth course review process.

TL;DR – Is it Worth it?

Note before we start: Jon’s strategies may seem very peculiar depending on your blogging background. To get a better feel for how he does things before you commit to anything, check out his free mini-course that breaks down his approach. This is the best way to determine whether his style is for you or not.

Before Fat Stacks, I bought A LOT of blogging courses. I was super skeptical that this bundle would just repeat stuff I’d already learned, and I couldn’t afford to throw any more money down the drain.

But I bit the bullet (without telling my wife 😈) and am glad I did.

I started by buying just one mini-course to check the quality, but eventually ended up later buying the full bundle (nowadays only the entire bundle is available).

Long story short — Fat Stacks Niche Site Profits is unlike any other course I’ve taken, and it transformed my blogging strategy. It teaches completely new techniques I haven’t seen anywhere else.

In fact, Jon’s techniques are often the opposite of what other blogging gurus teach.

That said, for me personally, some of his mini-courses were definitely more valuable than others. And depending on where you are in your journey, some may not be helpful to you at all.

We’ll get into that later in the review.

The good news is Jon offers a super generous 30-day guarantee. So you can go through all the content and decide if it’s right for you. If not, he’ll happily send you a refund.

If, after reading the review, you decide the course is right for you, scroll to the bottom of this page to get a special sign-up bonus (plus a tip that could save you some money on the course).

Alrighty then! On to the nitty-grittys!

Let’s start with a behind-the-scenes look at the course itself…

Two notes before we start:

1.) Jon’s strategies may seem very peculiar depending on your blogging background. To get a better feel for how he does things before you commit to anything, check out his free mini-course that breaks down his approach. This is the best way to determine whether his style is for you or not.

2.) Recent algorithm changes have prompted Jon to shift strategies, so the course is currently in the process of being updated. That means that the forum is more valuable than ever to get latest info on strategies currently working. But it also means that you should hold off on taking certain SEO-related blueprints until the course updates are finished.

Niche Site Profits Course Review: An Inside Look

In this video, I give a sneak peek of what the course and forums actually look like. I also cover what I like (and don’t like) about the course.

As mentioned in the update at the beginning of this review, I recommend checking out this new strategy instead of the Niche Site Profits course.

What’s Included In The Fat Stacks Blogging Course

The course material is basically broken down into two parts:

1. The Bundle
2. The Bonus (AKA the Forum)

#1.) The Bundle

If you purchase the Niche Site Profits course (previously known as the Fat Stacks Bundle), you’ll get 17 mini-courses. Here’s a screenshot of them all:

Yikes – that’s a lot!

It can be a bit overwhelming when you first log in, but fortunately, Jon added a “Start Here” Module that gives a logical order (and timeline) in which to take the courses.

As I mentioned earlier, depending on where you are in your journey, some of these mini-courses may not be immediately useful to you.

See, growing a blog is a long process with many different milestones. Some courses (like this one) might not be applicable for beginners or those with a tight budget.

But they’ll certainly come in handy down the road.

I remember my eyes glazing over when I first tried to go through the Ads course. But when my traffic started inching up and I finally started using ads, I retook the course and it was super useful. 

Here’s a sneak peek of what each course looks like. This inside the Long-Tail Deep Dive:

The courses follow a simple layout mixed with videos and text, and they get straight to the point. 

You won’t find any cute worksheets or homework assignments to fill out like you do in some other courses (do people actually use those anyway?)

For example, in this course, you’ll just find a bunch of different screenshare videos Jon made showing all his clever tricks for uncovering low-competition keywords.

No flashy designs. But certainly effective.

In fact, I’ve used them to find hundreds of awesome keywords — probably more than I’ll ever be able to write. It only takes a handful of these winning keywords for the course to pay for itself.

So far, I’ve found new ideas in every single course I’ve taken.

I wasn’t quite ready for all of the Content Autopilot Course, which focuses on how to hire a team to set your blog growth on autopilot. But for those who are able to invest more money in their site to speed up growth, this course saves loads of time — especially with all the writer’s guidelines templates. 

#2.) The Forum

When I’ve bought courses in the past with a “Bonus Forum” or “Private Facebook Group”, I’ve always been disappointed.

They always either end up being completely dead, or full of noobies who can’t offer any valuable advice.

The Fat Stacks forum is nothing like this.

In fact, it continues to blow me away each and every day.

It’s full of hundreds of other bloggers ranging from beginner to super successful. But here’s the kicker…

In that forum, I am the noob.

This is the only forum on the internet that I check almost daily.

Every time I log into the forum, I feel like I’ve just entered a room full of people who are way smarter than me.

And you know what they say about the type of people you surround yourself with, right?

Where the forum truly shines

The best part is, these successful content publishers — some with 20+ sites under their belt, decades of experience, and tens of thousands of dollars in monthly income — are all super open, transparent, and weirdly helpful.

You’d think people of that caliber wouldn’t have time to be constantly giving free advice to others. But whenever I post (and I’m sure I’ve asked dumb questions), I almost always get blasted with gold nuggets and wisdom within a couple hours.

I honestly don’t understand it. Sometimes I wonder if Jon pays them to help? Who knows.

All I know is it’s not uncommon for people to leave detailed, 1000+ word responses that spill all their secrets.

Below you’ll find an example of what I’m talking about.

This thread — which currently has 248 responses — was started by a guy named Saint. He was celebrating his milestone of getting 11,000 visitors to his site in one day. Naturally, everyone started asking about his “secrets”, and here’s how detailed one of his responses was.

I’m not sure if it would be frowned upon to share everything he said here, but you can at least see how thorough his response was (with screenshots and everything!).

These gold nugget responses are sprinkled all throughout the forums, and they’re oftentimes like extra mini-courses in and of themselves:

Overall, I’d say the forum itself is worth the cost of the bundle (if you actually use it, that is).

Experienced bloggers have a place to bounce ideas off each other. And beginners basically have a team of experts in their corner for whenever doubts pop up. 

What the Niche Site Profits Course is NOT

As I mentioned earlier, the Fat Stacks course does have its limitations. 

Fat Stacks will teach you:

• How to get your blog off the ground
• Many different puzzle pieces on how to get results as quickly as possible

…but it is NOT necessarily a comprehensive guide on how to do everything from scratch.

It’s more of a “this is exactly how I do the things that move the needle” type of course. It’s NOT a “here’s how to do every single thing related to blogging” course.

If you’re already an experienced blogger, you’ll learn a bunch of new tools to add to your toolbox.

If you’re brand new to blogging, you’ll learn all these clever tools and strategies, but you’ll still probably have to do outside research (or just ask in the forum!). 

For example, there are a million different ways to set things up as a blogger. You’ll learn Jon’s strategy — a strategy he’s used over and over on many successful sites — but sometimes you’ll need to find your own solutions on how to adapt those strategies to your unique business.

Again, most doubts that pop up can be quickly answered in the forums.

Fat Stacks Review: Pros and Cons

What I DIDN’T like

❌ You might not find everything relevant to your situation. As mentioned, the Content Autopilot Course was too advanced for me when I first bought the bundle. Now I’m starting to get there, and revisiting it has saved me tons of time.

❌ Some of his ideas require a certain level of income/success to be able to implement. For example, 90% of strategies taught in the Affiliate Marketing Course require a $500 piece of software. Granted, it looks like an awesome tool and I’m sure you’d recoup the costs.

That said, I’m not sure if this is a fair con, though. Oftentimes solopreneurs (including me) get stuck with the idea that you can do everything for free. But in every other type of business, if you want to grow faster, you need to invest in tools.

That said, there are plenty of free ideas in other Fat Stacks courses. And many of these paid ideas can be made free if you take the time to do the work yourself.

What I DID like

✅ Jon’s obviously not one of those “gurus” who depend on their “How to Make Money Blogging” course to make all their money. Unlike others who sell blogging courses as their main income driver, this is just a small chunk of his earnings. Most come from his actual portfolio of websites, where he is on the front lines using strategies that work today.

✅ Jon is constantly updating the courses with new modules and ideas. He has a bunch of sites he is currently building and the financial flexibility to run tests on different new techniques. Whenever he discovers something new that works, he adds it to the course. This is especially important in today’s blogging environment where strategies are changing fast.

✅ The forum is insanely valuable. Whether you ask questions or just like to lurk in the shadows, you get the opportunity to learn from not just Jon, but tons of other successful bloggers like Jon. This is impressive considering how much a private consultation would cost with these people.

✅ His 30-day guarantee lets you test it out risk-free to see if it’s for you.

✅ Jon is just a cool, down-to-earth guy. Many other course-sellers out there seem unapproachable or don’t have time to chat with poor muggle bloggers like me. But I’ve emailed Jon several times and got almost instant responses from him personally.

One time he even took time to write up a thoughtful response to a question I had about smartwatches, which has nothing to do with the course. You never get the feeling that he’s too busy for you. And that feels cool.

Niche Site Profits Review: Is Fat Stacks worth it?

Fat Stacks will be SUPER helpful to some people, and not so much to others.

This table should help you decide:

How Fat Stacks Could Actually SAVE You Money

I’ve spent A LOT of money on courses over the past three years. 

Some were smart investments. Others not so much.

Nowadays whenever I’m thinking about buying a new course, I ask myself two questions:

#1.) Does this course teach the NEXT STEP for me? If the courses teach something you want to be able to do eventually, I wouldn’t buy it. It’ll either distract you from what you’re doing now, or it’ll collect dust and never get used. 

The Fat Stacks Bundle has courses that span from noobie to advanced, so the question you need to ask yourself is:

Will I actually go through any of these courses (and have time to implement what I learn) in the next 2 weeks?

If yes, it’s all systems go.

If no, maybe it’s better to wait.

#2.) How much time will this save me? After wasting hundreds (maybe thousands) of hours going in the wrong direction, I now appreciate the value of my time.

How much money could I have earned if I hadn’t wasted all those months stubbornly trying to figure things out all by myself?

It’s not fun to think about, but it’s taught me a valuable lesson…

When it comes to investing in my online business, I now focus on time saved over money spent.

If I can spend $500 to shave off 300 hours of trial-and-error (and potentially throwing in the towel altogether), I’m a happy camper…

Especially if I know that I’ll be able to recoup my investment with the skills I learn. Fat Stacks taught me techniques I’ve used to earn tens of thousands of dollars and counting.

These two questions are important things to keep in mind when making any purchase.

Fat Stacks Course Review Summary

Overall, Fat Stacks isn’t a perfect course for everyone…

• It covers a wide range of topics that may not all be immediately applicable.
• It’s not the prettiest-looking course out there (if you care about that sort of thing).
• It teaches one style of blogging that might not fit with your system/brand (although his unique strategies will improve any site).

…but if you want to build a successful niche site or blog in today’s day and age, and you prefer to NOT have to depend on Google and it’s constantly changing algorithms for your survival, and you plan to take advantage of the forum…

I can’t see a scenario where Fat Stacks could disappoint you.

That said, as with any course, you get out what you put in, and nothing happens overnight (building a niche site takes big-time front-loaded effort).

So yeah. People who don’t want to work or think they’ll get rich quick — I suppose they’d be disappointed.

Is there a Fat Stacks Discount Code?

There are no Fat Stacks course discount codes at the time of writing this Niche Site Profits review.

In the past, the bundle was available all the time, and you could get notified of his promotions by signing up for his email newsletter. (I actually recommend signing up even if you’re not interested in the course — his emails are packed with actionable tips!).

Nowadays, enrollment for the course only opens a few times per year. Sometimes he offers a coupon code during these periods, sometimes he doesn’t.

That said, there’s no saying:

• When the next open enrollment will be.
• If there will be a discount when enrollment opens.
• If he’ll end up increasing the price of the bundle as he adds more content.

That’s a lot of unknowns. If you’re interested in building money-making niche sites, I recommend you don’t wait.

If you want to start taking action now, there’s a trick to joining the course when enrollment is technically closed.

Just enter your email on this page, and you’ll get a special offer to join the course now.

Where Can I Sign Up?

I hope you found this review helpful. It took a good chunk of time to put together, so if you found it helpful and want to say, “Thanks, Mitch!”— I’d be thrilled if you purchased using my affiliate link button below (at no extra charge to you). 

Either way, I highly recommend it. The strategies in the course helped me grow ad income on my portfolio of niche sites from $300/month to over $7,000/month.

Best of luck and don’t forget to say hi to me in the forums!

(I recommend checking out this new strategy instead.)

Niche Site Profits alternatives

Fat Stack’s Niche Site Profits isn’t the only blogging course in town (although it is one of my faves).

When I was deciding on what blogging course was best for me, I had to think about how I wanted to monetize my site.

That’s because every blog training is different and they specialize in different monetization methods.

For example, Fat Stacks’ main focus is finding easy-to-rank keywords, publishing in volume to boost traffic, then monetizing with display ads. (A “shotgun” approach).

Sure, he covers other methods like affiliate marketing — and I included it in my list of best affiliate marketing courses — but traffic and display ads are Jon’s bread and butter.

The course most similar to Fat Stacks in terms of technique is Passive Income Geek.

Passive Income Geek focuses on the shotgun approach, like Fat Stacks, but from my experience they are not as in depth as the Fat Stacks course. Their community forum is also not as engaged as Fat Stack’s. 

That said, Passive Income Geek is cheaper than Fat Stacks and can be a better option if you are just starting out. 

You can check out my full Passive Income Geek review if you want to know more about it.

Basically, I would recommend Passive Income Geek if you can’t afford Fat Stacks.

Other popular courses are Authority Hacker TASS (50% off) and The Affiliate Lab ($200 discount).

Both of these courses focus on a strategy that involves harder-to-rank keywords, building backlinks, and affiliate marketing. (A “sniper” approach).

The sniper approach requires more strategy on your part but it can be extremely rewarding. I personally really enjoyed both of those courses and found their content and teaching style really easy to understand and use in my blog. 

If you want to know more about them,  you can check out my full Affiliate Lab Review or my review of the Authority Hacker course.

Or if you wanna get your hands dirty, you can tinker around with Authority Hacker’s free mini-course.