When Kevin Meng decided that college wasn’t for him, he threw caution to the wind and set out on an adventure in Europe. From there he moved on to Asia.
After earning extra money writing SEO content, he started to establish himself as an authority in the space. This led him to create his course, Web Copy Masterclass, which is now bringing in $3k/month in passive income.
Keep reading to find out:
- Why he left the US
- What kind of work he did in Europe and Asia
- How he got into SEO writing
- What he teaches in his course
- His main marketing strategies
- The resources and tools he recommends
- His biggest challenge
- His main accomplishment
- His main mistake
- The advice he would give to other entrepreneurs
Meet Kevin Meng
I was born and raised in Milford, Connecticut.
Milford is a beautiful little city full of great people, but like every other creative kid who grows up in suburbia, my mind was always elsewhere. I just wanted to get out. The suburbs are a great place to raise a family, but not to be young and looking for adventure.
Mentally, I was always somewhere else. Physically, I traveled as often as possible. My dad and I – he’s a trucker – would drive across the country every summer and stop in Chicago, Seattle, LA, Las Vegas, or wherever else the road took us. I dreaded driving home and going back to school.
I hated school and got pretty rough grades. College wasn’t much better. I got kicked out quickly.
I tried to make a comeback but at 23 I just said “screw it” and moved to Europe to start a new adventure. College just felt like such a waste of my time. I just always felt I learned more on my own or on different communities online than I ever did in a classroom, and I was making money online or by helping kids with writing, so I just didn’t see the need to get a degree. They’re worth less and less as the years go by.
I never really had a “real job.” I played online poker professionally for a few years, then did some writing tutoring. I even delivered flowers for a while.
Once I got to Europe, I started teaching English part-time and growing a freelance writing business online as a side hustle. I never thought I’d make a full-time income at it, but I started getting a ton of work and eventually moved to Asia. Still doesn’t feel real, to be honest.
Why He Created Web Copy Masterclass
I had been writing, training writers, and consulting for years, and just wanted to level up. I started writing SEO content back in 2014 as a side job. I was teaching English in Prague at this point but not making much money.
I was always a solid writer, and I just Googled “how to make money writing from home,” and found an article on Location Rebel by a guy who said he made a living writing SEO blogs.
I followed his advice and got my first client in about a week or so. I quit my teaching job within a few short months.
After a few years, I started making a name for myself in the SEO community as a good writer, and that led to more work and offers to train writing staff. I learned a lot about what makes good content, how to get conversions, and how to teach writers to get better, so I decided to turn it into a course.
About 99{57b8cc37fd24bce1cf64c8b05d9407ce9171516056c1f5e762677747187a0de4} of web content is pretty bad. They just take whatever is ranking, reword it, and say, “ok, done. Where’s my paycheck?” That’s not helpful.
You need to provide unique, insightful help for the reader and trigger purchasing emotions if you wish to get them engaged enough to buy.
So I decided to make a whole course out of it. I had about 8 years of notes, swipe files, examples, and general experience to work from, so I was confident I had everything I needed.
How He Created His Course
As far as the how…that was tough. It was during Covid, and I was stuck in Vietnam. The silver lining was that I had all the time in the world to get the work done. So I recorded the slides with Camtasia and did all the editing myself, and then uploaded it to Teachable.
When I first started doing $10 SEO articles in 2014, I would never have imagined I’d make a successful copywriting training course. That was the last thing on my mind. I feel blessed.
What His Course Entails
Web Copy Masterclass teaches you how to write highly engaging, high-converting web copy based on real data from real SEO sites.
It covers everything from basic theory like providing value to readers all the way up to the mechanics (writing an intro, writing body copy, making jokes, writing with power, discovering your tone, etc). There’s also an affiliate copywriting training module that shows you how to write high-converting product reviews.
How Much Money Kevin is Making Per Month
I’m taking home about $3k per month, and so far, I’ve made about $60,000 off of Web Copy Masterclass. I’ve done about $50,000 in sales via Teachable:
I’ve also made a lot of private sales via PayPal and even in person at conferences or via my personal network.
That’s been in the span of about two years.
I’ve also got a mini-course version of it available on InternetMarketing.gold which earns me a few hundred dollars per month.
It’s been even more helpful just raising my platform and establishing myself as a content authority.
That’s gotten me opportunities with Matt Diggity, Authority Hacker, and other big SEOs who want me to produce helpful content for their audience. I’m truly thankful for that. Again, I never would have imagined this even just 3-4 years ago.
His Top Marketing Strategy
My main strategy is making authoritative content and raising my profile in the SEO world via podcasts, Facebook groups, and making content for communities like the Affiliate Lab or Authority Hacker.
I get these gigs mostly through referrals and my personal network, but I’ve reached out to a few people via FB Messenger. I try to target SEO pods or outlets run by people with mutual friends to make the intro and convo easier.
When it comes to growing my business, I think organic marketing via Facebook groups is amazing.
I’ve become an “admin” or “certified expert” in many SEO-related groups, and when I help with content questions, people inevitably end up on my FB page and see my course link or someone recommends my course to them.
Kevin’s Thoughts on SEO
I do not actually do SEO for Web Copy Masterclass at all. I don’t make any content. Everything is through Facebook right now and my personal network. I also have a lot of affiliates reviewing my course or recommending it, so that’s a big help too.
Reaching His Current Revenue Level
Sales of WCM have been pretty steady since the beginning at about $3,000 a month. I originally launched it in 2020. However, it took a good 7 years or so to get to the level where I had the skills, experience, and network to make a successful course like this.
Kevin’s Favorite Resources
I think creating a great course is all about mastering one skill and then making a course out of that. I’m sure there are a lot of great books on marketing and selling online, but I’ve never read one.
I learn everything boots on the ground and by talking to people, going to conferences, or even working with clients at their businesses. That’s the best way to do it in my opinion.
His Top Tools
I guess it would have to be course platforms like:
I think all entrepreneurs should be using some sort of tool to build sales funnels like ClickFunnels or the native funnel tool inside Kartra. PayPal is annoying but convenient. I like Revolut for payments.
But the #1 tool for me is Facebook. Join communities related to your business, establish authority, and start offering free value to people. Build your profile and when you become an expert, leverage that to make money. I have my own Facebook group as well.
His Biggest Challenge
My main challenge is staying focused on just one thing. I think we all struggle with that. I have so many course ideas and don’t know what to work on first!
Right now, I’m creating a course on hiring along with docs like templates, an ebook, guidelines, SOPs, and checklists for writers. It’s been a big challenge.
His Main Accomplishment
I feel most proud of having the self-awareness to realize I was underachieving and wasting my creative talents and finally deciding to pursue writing as a career. I was a freelance English teacher making very little money in Prague. I was always broke. It was a fun and pretty wild time for sure, but I never really felt “fulfilled” – whatever that means.
I know plenty of people teaching that do make good money, but I definitely wasn’t one of them.
From there, I’ve gone from writing cheap SEO articles to becoming an authority in the content writing space with a writing course and training videos in some of the biggest-name courses in the SEO world. I’m super thankful for that. So it’s the overall journey that I feel most proud of, not any one particular part of it.
What He Wishes He Knew When He Started
I wish I had known that the way to make money with any skill is not really by using that skill to work but by using that skill to create capital/assets that you can then sell at scale to the industry.
For example, I wish I had spent less time writing and more time creating courses, ebooks, a Patreon, and consulting packages.
His Main Mistake
That’s definitely not staying focused on one thing before moving to the next one. I changed my mind probably ten times while creating Web Copy Masterclass before finally deciding I would cancel everything else out and just focus on making WCM. I’d be way further than where I am now if I had just focused on it from the beginning.
The trick for me was bringing on a partner to do the marketing for me in return for a percentage of revenue.
He’s super motivated to sell more courses since his pay depends on it. He lays out exactly what I have to do that day – maybe something like asking for testimonials from students or creating a new landing page. This helps me stay on track.
His Advice for Other Entrepreneurs
Value. Value. Value. Value. Always give people value for free and never come off as spammy or salesy. I genuinely do like helping others succeed, especially when I know them personally. So I’m always offering help whenever I can, and people definitely take notice.
I think we all focus on “how do I make the most money” when it should be “how can I help this industry the most?” When you do that, the money follows.
