My view on WA Ambassadors
I actually wrote this as a response on someone elses blog but i felt that it could probably be a post of my own so here goes.
This post gives you MY POV on what it means to be an Ambassador of this great program. To me, holding that rank is one to be proud of because you have EARNED it.
Wealthy Affiliate Ambassadorship 2016 - 2017
Personally I feel that to be an Ambassador you need to walk the walk and talk the talk. How can you guide others when you don't practice what you preach?
I have said this before and I'll say it again, this is like taking financial advice from a broke person. You will just end up broke!
If you don't run a successful online business that is generating enough income to at the BARE MINIMUM pay all of your expenses, especially WA membership, how can you give advice on how to run an online business?
If you can't rank anything how can you give SEO advice? And by rank I mean at least position 3 on page 1 for a mid comp term... not some obscure longtail with no search volume..
How can you give web design advice when your own sites are hideous? Left aligned.. Mismatched colors... Bad formatting.. Glittery graphic animations etc..
I also feel Ambassadors should be chosen based on their skill set and value they can bring to the community. There is zero point in having 90% of ambassadors having no technical knowledge and just posting mindset stuff.
Imagine having the following Ambassadors in the community:
- PPC Specialist
- SEO Specialist
- Video Marketing Specialist
- Local Marketing Specialist
- Social Media Specialist
- Email Marketing Specialist
I know that personally, I will go to the person who is specialized in the field I need knowledge in over the person who does it all.
Its at this point I do believe WA could possibly give something towards their expertise. Perhaps their own membership is paid for in exchange for their services. This way we could have different Ambassadors running wabbinars..
I personally feel that this specialized approach would add more longevity to this course / community and perhaps the success rate of members would increase.
I would also expect ambassadors to produce training. Out of the 25 ambassadors, we exclude Kyle, Carson and Jay, just because they're awesome (and they own it lol) and we have 22 left..
When we look at this list we have some pretty awesome numbers by a small handful of ambassadors who are providing training, and also some new WAA's creating training:
- Loes 66
- Nathaniel 70
- MarianBlack 66
- onmyownterms 4
- JewelCarol 1
- ChrisScott 14
- StephHill 63
- Jim-Bo 18
- Boomergp08 53
- Jvranjes 23
- JudeP 1
Only 50% of Ambassadors are creating value based training??????
Surely providing substantial training is better than posting a picture with a sentence. I see a lot of WAA's doing this to maintain rank and i see little to no value from it.
If you looked through the training videos provided by members you would probably find members who are not Ambassadors who have contributed far more in terms of actual instruction and training.
Discuss:
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I think I am in your camp on this one Beau. You stated it very well.
New members need help to navigate within the community when they first join. There are many of us that have the knowledge to help in that area.
As we begin to build our site and our business, we need the help of those that have the technical skills and the writing skills. I, like many others, have learned who those people are in the community and will look for their training and blogs to help me learn and grow my website.
There are also times when members are frustrated and need a place to vent or get some support.
In my opinion, the ambassador label here at WA should be for those individuals that have achieved what Wealthy Affiliate is about, building a successful online business. They should possess the knowledge and skills to help the community in building their successful website and business.
Hey Janice,
Thank you for sharing your insights. I agree, there has to be a level of success obtained before you become a WAA and offer advice..
If you are spending all your time farming WA rank, like a lot of the current WAA's do, then how can you possibly run a successful online business?
You have to have a pretty strong outsourcing skill to do this.
Hi,
I would add at least a content specialist into that list. I have noticed that the training is just concentrating very hard on the SEO part and there is very little training available in how to create good content, as a result some people will fail to ever make money on their websites even with good Google rankings.
This weekend I wanted to get some feedback on couple of articles I wrote on my new website, so been providing site comments to others articles. After reading so much bad content that was barely worth spending couple of seconds on, I wrote my last blog post How to Ensure Quality Content I have done extensive amount of freelance writing and guest blogging the last 10 years, so I am hoping to be able to create some training about content creation to help others as soon as my 3 months on this site are full.
Yes, some people are naturally good writers who don't need this coaching, but often new people who come to this site seem to have an idea that they can just join an Amazon affiliate program, write few lines with pictures, find the right keywords and create an amazing passive income.
Greetings,
ArtByHeart
Hey Hanna,
Totally agree, I for one need writing help LOL and benefit from this kind of instruction so yes there is value here and I hope you stick around because I know i can learn from you :)
Interesting point on the SEO focus. TBH I found it the other way round.. So much emphasis on "just create content" and not enough on SEO, which is why I paid for SEO training elsewhere..
You're right on the point about newbies just thinking they can create a page with 100 words, slap some pictures on there and boom in the money.. Doesnt work like that!
Thanks for sharing my friend :)
Welcome. I think discussions like this are important for the development of the community.
How about a mix?
The so-called left-hand fields such as writing and presenting
Plus
The so-called right-hand fields of all SEO and technical aspects
In my experience of this platform, a mix and balance is something that generates more interchange, and gets more cooperations and great working friendships....
It's what I find to be one of the truly special things here.....
But quality should always be in it, of course....
What do you think?
Fantastic idea, the balance is crucial. I was looking forward to you engaging Therese as I know you have a very level headed approach.
Thanks for sharing :)
Thank you so much!!
Level-headed approach, well, I hope so.
Lacking experience, yes.
Lacking time management yes.
But:
I've taken steps to insure that my sword WILL be sharpened.
If you look, you won't see them yet.
The niche needs narrowing down. I'll be working with someone together. I've chosen a person whom I'll be able to provide value to in return....
I want to make sure that my work will be Gold and not Straw.....
Thank you so much for your reply!
Blessings,
Therese
Yep. Ambassadorship needs an overhaul as it just rewards those with most time on their hands.
That's all anyone needs to become a WA Ambassador.
No skill or knowledge of Internet marketing. Just post random garbage a few times a day.
Unfortunately, it's not spelled out clearly enough to newbies that being an Ambassador isn't a guarantee that you know what you're talking about.
So it's often a case of the blind leading the blind. And their followers lapping up either obviously wrong, simply pointless or years outdated advice & tips.
Hey Ian,
I was hoping you would chime in too as I seen you on another post regarding the recent activities of a WAA.
Agreed, WAA overhaul is needed.. I do know that K&C are looking at doing this..
"No skill or knowledge of Internet marketing. Just post random garbage a few times a day."
- I actually loathe this carry on.. I see this all the time and it makes me livid..
"Unfortunately, it's not spelled out clearly enough to newbies that being an Ambassador isn't a guarantee that you know what you're talking about.
So it's often a case of the blind leading the blind. And their followers lapping up either obviously wrong, simply pointless or years outdated advice & tips."
- you really hit the nail on the head mate... Always qualify the person giving you the advice.. I am sure the offenders had good intentions but if they were actually successful in their own business they would know that their advice is out of date..
We want advice based on experience.. the facts... not some outdated theory which you have not tested... Im not a fan of guessing.. If I want to play that game I'll play GUESS WHO
Great point Beau and couldn't agree more. I have a hand full of members here that I follow with intent because they provide good advice and training on topics that are relevant.
In my opinion, some members are ranking highly because of writing irrelevant topics and so-called motivational topics, for me, I really can't be bothered with that BS.
I agree on an Ambassador should be someone with proven skills and knowledge and this is one area where WA falsely rewards members.
Thanks for that Shane, there is a stage where the motivational posts can benefit, but once you cross that threshold and need specialist advice to move your business forward, the last thing you want is fluffy filler, feel good, smell the roses content.
Hey Beau, I agree with a lot of what you say and can underline that through my own experience.
When I joined WA in June 2015, I only had very limited online experience but I was ultra enthusiastic and saw rising up through the ranks here as a worthy ambition.
To that end I spent many hours every day in the community doing a variety of things that saw me rise accordingly, so much so that I became an Ambassador within 9 weeks.
But here's the thing, the only thing I was able to do of any "value" was to encourage some members when they were feeling a bit down, point some newbies in the right direction and do a little grammatical critiquing for some others. I had virtually zero technical expertise and as I had only just built my first site ever at WA, no webmaster experience or SEO knowledge etc. to pass on.
So, what were my "qualifications" for being a Wealthy Affiliate Ambassador?
Well, none really-I had just put in the hours, but on reflection I think your ideas on being an Ambassador are better.
It's up to K and C of course but I'm thinking they wish to reward members who constantly rack up new content because that's what the ubiquitous Mr G looks for in the search rankings.
Good blog Beau,
Mark
Thanks for that reply Mark. What you did as a WAA had value mate, and I thank you for sharing that..
Newbies are coming in every day and need that guidance. Do we need 50% of our WAA's solely focusing on that?
No we don't... If each of the WAA's pitched in towards that, alongside the helpful community, I'm pretty sure that would be covered.
At least now you can focus on building your business my friend. Results speak volumes and once you are in the position to, Im sure you will contribute again..
I'm in the same boat pal.. I had big plans to do lots of training but real life projects, my businesses have to take priority. Its in these trenches I learn new things that I can share with this community..
Not coming from a place of theory but from real time experience..
Hi there, Beau or is it Nik? ;)
I've had similar thoughts, though I tend not to discuss such topics.
If I had wanted to I could have played the rank game and become an Ambassador but I really didn't feel it was right to do so.
My personal take on Ambassadorship is that when I feel I'm ready to commit and be able to contribute valuable help to the community, I would like to serve as an Ambassador.
That's what I would do for WA and it's community. Meantime, I will just naturally help others along the way as a part of my own learning process.
Hey Sue,
Its Beau :) Nik is the love of my life for 23+ years now. At the young age of 37, I consider myself the luckiest man alive!
I love your point of view. I too would like to become an ambassador at some point of time, but like you, the timing has to suit me. For the meantime, like you, I answer questions when I can and post training on topics I feel need to be addressed.
Thanks for sharing :)
totally agree - maybe what we need is an area on the profile to add expertise - searchable so we can go to the 'experts'. there are a lot of people who stay away from the top 200 who are very knowedgable, successful site know how to make it and are never asked how they do it, like yourself.
phil
it would be nice to be able to opt out of that system to prevent overload of emails.
i thought kyle had said that this was 'under review' - mabe with the changes currently happening this will change - sort of wa's own panda!!! :-)
That is a fantastic idea Phil. With so many diverse backgrounds and industries, it would be great to filter out what is not relevant to you and your business.
haha in my first week here my email suffered a WA atomic email bomb.. I quickly opted out of all emails except the most important for me.. Training updates and my personal referrals...
This is totally in line with the post I wrote the other day titled, I am a Fake. I have skills (not tech related), and have managed to create a decent income through coaching online, have had fantastic success with my blog, etc. However, a lot of the questions people ask me, I cannot answer.
I am ranked 28 as of today. I have been trying to decide what value I can bring to the community. I have decided that I will focus on writing and creating valuable content to attract organic traffic. That is what I am good at (in relation to the skills needed to be successful online).
I am curious to hear your feedback on this, as it has been on my mind a lot recently. Do you think that creating trainings and providing advice and encouragement specific to this skill set would add value to the WA community? Please feel free to be 100% honest, as I know that you are truly in touch with the pulse of this community and therefore understand the needs of WA members more than I do.
Thanks again for your wonderful contribution to this community. I have yet to watch one of your trainings but it is definitely on my to-do-list.
In community,
Joy
I for one think so. A lot of us are creating content for blogs that are not just sales websites. Hence, we need to be able to develop writing skills that target certain audiences, all the while keeps their attention, and keeps them coming back for more.
If you've found a way to do that and hold a substantial income for a period of time, this with the training will aid you in being a great coach and teacher for the rest of the community.
After my brief encounters with you, Joy, I knew early on that you have some major value to offer the group.
There is nothing wrong with not being a techy. This handicap (I use that word lightly, because its not at all) actually has a silver lining in the sense that you have to become more resourceful.. this can spark a new skill set in outsourcing, which is something a lot of people are asking about..
You're coming from a different background and you have that ingredient I feel is necessary, which is success in your industry.
You clearly have a skill in writing, creating engagement with your audience and conversion. Would just be a matter of writing the steps you take in linear form which transfers into task based training.
I would bet on the fact that you actually possess more skills than you give yourself credit for..
There is a place for mindset posts, in fact I feel it is necessary because the challenges we face as entrepreneurs can knock you down. This why being an entrepreneur is not for everybody. On this topic, I do feel that there needs to be a balance between mindset and instruction.
i think one of the problems is that you have no choice - i am now ranked just outside 200 and am trying to keep it that way. but if you are very helpful you will rise to the top - whether you want it or not!!
phil
Thank you for your thoughtful response not just to my comment but to each and every comment on this thought-provoking post! You rock! - Joy
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Couldn't agree more. I think you have broken it down pretty well. I remember when I was new and just how frustrating it was to find info on particular topics. A more organised and comprehensive training would go a long way to assist newcomers especially.
Motivational quotes, which am a big fan of as well:) are all over the place.
Hey Leonard,
Thanks for sharing your experience. The IM industry is constantly changing.. what worked last year, 6 months ago, doesnt necessarily mean it will work today. This is why we need WAA's to be on top of their game, so they can effectively lead the community.
I dont mind motivational quotes.. I spend at least 30 mins of my day, every day working on mindset. But we need the balance between technical and motivational content