Wealthy Affiliate 20th Yr Anniversary - A Look Back

On September 10th, 2025, Wealthy Affiliate will celebrate its 20th Year in business, still thriving and helping to create more and more successful affiliate marketers from all over the world. This WAAniversary post will give all of you a look back at what the platform used to look like and you will see some familiar faces too!

ONLINE SCAMS HAVE COME & GONE - WA REMAINS LEGITIMATE

Just prior to joining Wealthy Affiliate back in August 2013, I had briefly joined a couple of scams because a family member referred me. I knew they were a bit shady but because it was my sister and she was my upline I joined. It didn't last long and I eventually found WA and joined. I took the Online Entrepreneur Certification and pressed on.

After making the mistake of starting two niche websites about the same time and not seeing a great deal of income from either, I decided to take the Bootcamp course and start promoting WA. As you can see in the above image, I didn't do so bad. Between 2015 and 2017, the most I made per month in the WA Affiliate Program was $955.

This was a result of getting a lot of exposure by doing scam reviews of some of the big name online scams of the time. I reviewed Empower Network, My Online Business Empire, DS Domination, Affiliate Institute (previously known as GAZ), OnPassive and others. These really helped me to get traffic by ranking on Google Page One!

Even though I was quite happy to be making that amount of money every month, I still wanted to earn my money by promoting one of my many niche ideas. So I took the Online Entrepreneur Certification again and maintained the third spot in the Ambassador Rankings, even though that didn't contribute to me earning any income from WA.

A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

Are any of these images, reminding you of what WA used to look like? If you have been here at least 10 years you probably remember these screenshots. I'm pretty sure the User Interface (UI) has changed at least five times. When it came to going through the training, either Bootcamp or OEC, how many remember choosing your lessons here?

OR THIS WAY?

Though the Wealthy Affiliate platform has changed many times over the years, I really like this latest update! Now members can earn Cash Credits for being more active within the community and from Kyle's Weekly Challenge. I feel it's a great way to keep members motivated and I know it's something Kyle & Carson have been considering.

Even some of the banner images have changed. Do any of you remember this image? I think it may have been created by one of our past members. I know I've used it a few times on my website and in social media promotions. Other than being a great community here at WA, sharing images and ideas, we are always so helpful.

Who remembers Live Chat looking like this? I bet you recognize a couple of faces here. There are so many past WA members I still remember, though I may not remember their names. Who remembers Jewel Carrol, Loes, I've Tried That, Beverly, and many other helpful members? Do you remember any? How about this flaming red head, Marion?

None of these great memories could have been possible without the vision and dedication of Kyle and Carson. They had a dream and they saw it through to fruition, and for that and so many other things about this community, we thank them both as well as Jay, the other super affiliates and all the people behind the scenes that keep it going.

HAPPY 20th ANNIVERSARY TO YOU BOTH! May you continue to keep Wealthy Affiliate the best affiliate marketing educational and website business building/hosting platform in the world! I think I remember Kyle saying that he & Carson started by providing high quality Keyword Lists to its members. Could this be what it looked like?

If any of you would like to share your experiences while being here as a member, comment below with the year you started and share your progress and/or memories. Or just leave your questions and comments below. Thank you for joining me as I took us all down memory lane with this wonderful community on its 20th WAAnniversary!