A very versatile way to create a quality blog: A full review of Wealthy affiliate
"To do anything well you need to learn and apply your knowledge, finding the RIGHT place to learn can make all the difference."
Starting a blog can be challenging, especially if you want to make a part time income or even more for your effort.
Let's face it, there's a lot that goes into learning how to create a quality blog.
You need to learn the ropes.
This takes time and a lot of dedication.
I'll be 100% honest here ... Most people give up after they realize building a website and creating a quality blog is hard work!
In this post I would like to review a platform that promises to teach you what you need to know to create a quality blog and online business that can pay you a part or even full time income!
The Platform: Wealthy Affiliate
In a hurry? Here's quick rundown! Plus a walkthrough video!
Pricing: 3 Plans available
Free starter
Premium $49 monthly
Premium plus $99 monthly
Full website hosting and building capability = YES
Keyword research tools included = YES
Access to affiliate programs = YES
My readers (YOU :) deserve the best information available about blogging and online business!
Let's blow the doors off this thing and tear down whether this platform will help or hurt you on your journey!
In this post we will cover Wealthy Affiliate and what it's all about.
Let's dive into the platform and take a look around so you can decide if wealthy affiliate will work for YOU!
Wealthy affiliate - The real lowdown review
Scam or Glam?
What is Wealthy Affiliate?
Simply put WA is an online community that offers everything you need to learn the art of online business, more in the lines of affiliate marketing.
More over WA offers everything you need to get your website up and running. This is a definite advantage for anyone that wants to start their online business.
- Web hosting
- Word Press install
- Training
- Community
- Ask questions anytime
- Professional e mail
- Keyword research and more
Wealthy affiliate definitely has a lot to offer on their platform, it must be good right?
Just because they have it doesn't mean it's all GOOD!
That's what we need to pinpoint in this article ...
- Is it worth your time and money to become a WA member?
- What should you expect after joining?
- Is wealthy affiliate a scam?
- What's the real lowdown on wealthy affiliate!
If you are looking for a place that has everything you need to get started online WA is a definite option.
We need to get started off on the right foot however, we need to ask WA some serious questions and break down all of these features.
Let's put em' in the hot seat, shall we?
How much does wealthy affiliate cost ?
What's the price and is it worth it?
Wealthy affiliate has a couple different tiers of pricing as follows ...
- Free starter account
- Premium account $49 Dollars a month
- Premium plus account $99 Dollars a month
The obvious place to start would be the free account, there is no need to spend any money where it's not needed. Let's take a look at what they offer in the free starter account.
As you can see the starter account is pretty generous, one cool thing to note is you can use a free site rubix domain and get your site up and running for free.
An example would be ... wornbee.siterubix.com
This is good to get started but you definitely want to transfer over to a domain you own if you are going to commit to building out your business.
What about premium ?
Premium status blows the doors open to EVERYTHING you need to grow your business into a FULL TIME income or more!
You only get the first 10 lessons in "online training" with a starter account.
This, no doubt is to entice you into going premium.
Let's face it ... It's sales, however it is done in a very classy way.
"Honestly by the time I was at lesson 10 I was ready to sign up, the starter account gives you more than enough to decide if wealthy affiliate is right for you."
Hows the training?
Does wealthy affiliate deliver the training you need to actually build a real business online?
Ah this is the part when I tell you how super awesome every single thing is right? Not so fast, one gripe I have with wealthy affiliate's training is that some of the "getting started" training and "boot camp" training can be a little outdated.
With that said, the foundations are still 100% true and VERY important to learn and know well.
Here's the good news, when you go premium the doors open up to TONS of fresh and relevant classes and content that is very up to date and helpful.
Every week there are fresh classes to attend, and you always get a reminder on your WA dashboard!
Pretty cool if you ask me.
When you start your free account the first step after settling in is to start the "online entrepreneur training" this is where you will meet Kyle, one of the founders of WA.
What are the ten modules of training do you get as a starter member?
Anyone can tout "10 Free lessons" .... What I want to know is are they worth an damn?
With a starter account you will have access to the first ten, after that you will get all 5 Modules and 50 lessons, let's break them down ...
Lesson #1 Getting started
Here is where you learn how blogging and online marketing works. Kyle takes you from the absolute bottom and slowly shows you how online business works.
In this module you will learn how to build a website on WordPress using the hosting and a free domain (with a site rubix extension.)
You will get your account set up and learn how to select your niche, or direction you want to go with your website.
Lesson #2 Building your own traffic producing website:
This is where things get really exciting, especially if you have never built a website before. You will have a fully functioning WordPress website by the end of these lessons.
Kyle walks you through the key pages and groundwork you need to get started right.
That is one great thing about Wealthy affiliate, everything you need is in one place all under one roof.
- Domains
- Hosting
- WordPress install
- Professional E mail
This is why I really like Wealthy affiliate for beginners, it takes a LOT of guesswork out of the equation.
Lesson #3 Making money!
This module of lessons is where you learn the fundamentals of how money is actually made online.
This is a very cool set of lessons that clarifies online business and affiliate marketing .
(click the picture below to check out this lesson right now!)
Lesson #4 Mastering social engagement
Learning how to promote your website via social media can be a task that many people dread (myself included.)
Kyle breaks down how to get started on this in a simple straight forward way.
Some of this is outdated, that's really my only gripe about these lessons.
The only good take away is that they teach fundamentals that never get old.
Lesson #5 Achieve maximum success through content creation
This is the last of the "getting started" module lessons. Here Kyle explains how to "write with intent" you will also set up a few more tools on your website to really start to see what traffic is coming in and much more important data.
Are there success stories?
Has WA really helped people make money online?
I took a look around the platform and found a few of the success stories that members have posted.
We might as well check out a couple ....
These are REAL members that have followed the training and have found great success.
Making money online is a real and true possibility, I need to tell you this however, it will take work and serious dedication.
These are just 2 Of the success stories you can read, make no mistake, these guys put in the hours and followed the training!
Is the training outdated?
Having the training and support of WA and it's many members is KEY to success in my humble opinion.
The training is a little dated, especially the starter courses. With that said, all of the fundamentals are still VERY relevant.
I wonder if this is by design to keep people from "trying too much all at once" when they get started.
The community (The secret to WA's success)
Awesome people and awesome support!
One place where WA shines is the members themselves.
EVERYONE is there to help each other along.
ANY question you have can be asked inside of the platform, and EVERY question gets an answer FAST!
Just having like minded people that have the same goals you do to ask anything is gold!
This is where I find WA really shines
The people are helpful and genuine, some other awesome features include ...
Site feedback: This is where you give and receive helpful feedback on your websites from fellow members.
Site comments: This is where you can leave comments and get comments on your website, this is not only great for getting attention to your posts, it's also great for SEO!
WA Bootcamp
MLM or legit??
Wealthy affiliate has one of the best affiliate offers out there as far as the potential to make money.
In the premium training you can join "boot camp."
This is where you learn how to promote WA and make commissions off of the sales.
Many people have gripes about the boot camp being a MLM or some other scam. I can tell you that there are no scams at WA.
Here's the deal, many of these "experts" that knock WA are also trying to promote "another" program or course by bashing another.
It's all the same in the dog eat dog world, just a different product.
A final look at Wealthy affiliate
What's the final verdict?
All in all I enjoy Wealthy affiliate, there are some things to be desired in the initial training. The foundation it lays are truly evergreen however.
Add the fact that you can sign up today for a completely free starter account this speaks volumes.
Many companies would never give you as much as WA does for free.
Online business sounds great but it's definitely not for everyone, as a platform that offers everything you need to get started wealthy affiliate is definitely worth a look (especially for the beginner.)
Wrapping up
All in all Wealthy affiliate is a great place to get started with online business, check out my video walk through of the platform below and see what works best for YOUR situation.
Thanks for reading, I hope to see you inside WA soon!
Learn how to start your own affiliate marketing business today !
Start a forever free account today, I'll see you around the platform!
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