What is wrong with ranking high?
This blog will be a different one because I am puzzled.
What ambassadorship means? It shows in the hard work within WA community.
All the ambassadors know this. It is not a gift, it is an accomplishment of their efforts.
What is the compensation for this hard work? It is the increassing in ranking. That's all. I am not aware about anything else. You may correct me if I'm wrong.
How this quest for Ambasadorship contribute to WA. That mean that the support system, so important within WA, is competitive. People get their answers in a timely maner. WA gain and the ones that promote WA, WA affiliate, gain also from this. It is a win win situation.
So why not anybody who actively contribute within WA community shouldn't be allowed to become ambasadors? Why some think that there must be a time treashold within WA to achieve the Ambasadorship level?
I would like to know you opinion on this.
Let suppose that the system will change and that a limit of one year within WA will be imposed. Who will be the active contributors within WA, who will spend hours responding to e-mails or welcoming newbies? The ones that have more than one year with WA? Why there are not all of them already actively contribute to WA community? Because they have other things to do, work on their businesses and spending quality time with their families. This is why I have my depest respect for all that do care and invest a lot of their time helkping others no mather their seniority within WA.
What about you?
What do you think about that?
Recent Comments
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Some of the most valuable contributors i.e those who produce training, tutorials etc and whose blogs convey valuable information, (equivalent in value to those of the more visible higher ranked members) have quite high rankings, some very high indeed.
Conversely there are those with high rankings who have contributed nothing in the way of useful training but seem to indulge, and content themselves, with nothing but multiple vacuous blogs on a regular basis, and climb the rankings quite spectacularly some only having been here a very short time.
In my opinion the whole system needs a review.
When I was Ambassador, I received no rewards or credits. It's not a big deal though. It's just nice to help people and the more you help people and they get to know you, the more they are willing to help YOU when you have an issue. That's what the community is all about. It's not about rank or outdoing each other. Another thing that is invaluable, those that contribute here become genuine friends and that can't be bought.
Having said that, it is a balance because, after all, we're here (most of us) to build our sites. There are only so many hrs in the day.
Just my 2 cents. :-) ~Debbi
Thank you, Debbie, for commenting. You confirm my beliefs.This will not change anything in my commitment.
I am a retired teacher and as such I love to help people. Yes I am developing websites and spending time on those, but I also spend time helping others. That is one of my greatest joys. It gives my life purpose once again. I have been working my way up the rankings simply because I have set it as a personal goal. It is a motivator for me. My last goal was to get in the top 50, not because I wanted to show anyone up, but it gave me a point to work toward. I will continue to help others and comment on blogs and questions regardless of my ranking. Yes, I will admit, my next goal is to have the honor of being an ambassador. I don't want to upset anyone, or compete with anyone, it is just a personal goal and if I achieve it I will feel honored. It will increase my chance to help others each day and give me a wonderful sense of satisfaction.
Great for you. You have your goal, and I wish you the best of luck. I always said that If I'll deserve to be on top I will be there too.
It has no monetary value and no meaning outside of WA. The only way it matters to me is that it's recognition that I am active and helpful - it helps me to stay accountable to myself :)
I believe as an Ambassador you do have some rewards and credits that can be cashed in! However I have not got to that point yet as I am still in the Lessons and Bootcamp but enjoying it all!
I do not focus on the rank, but enjoy chatting with others and getting good hints and tips and sometimes just a laugh! I try to answer questions that I have the knowledge to answer, as I have had so much help from community members when I joined and ongoing! It is a great community and I am grateful that I am part of it all! Regards, Lisa
I've seen a great deal of people rushing to ambassadorship as part of their goal and witnessing their frustration about their website :)
You can not do everything. There is a choice to be made. I find rewarding helping others, and I have to admit that I like to see my rank going up as an award for my contribution to the WA community. I am a goal driven person. The niche I have chosen is a very complex one, and will be impossible for me to rapidly advance it. I also love WA community.
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My thoughts:
This is the exclusive club sales technique. We all want to be/feel special and have that "Ambassador" tag next to our name. Consequently we are willing to perform the required tasks.
I have been researching some of the more successful members, some, as you mention are really active in the community for which we are all really grateful.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, some are basically unranked and have never blogged and will not show their websites for fear of being copied.
Bottom line - people like the idea of belonging to an excusive club, this system is in place for that reason and I'm guessing it will not change.
My guess also. Thank you very much for commenting. Yes, there is an opposite end of the spectrum. My niche is very difficult and sensitive this is why I often switch and invest in helping people. But I also established goals for myself within the community and I know that I will not be able to achieve them if I do not deserve to.
Is it a bad thing to have ambition and work towards a goal, Keith? To me Ambassadorship gives me a bigger chance to help others. Hopefully, if I ever become one, it will help people realize that I can help them or find someone who can. That is something I have dearly missed since I retired from teaching, the opportunity to help others realize their goals.
Excellent philosophy, I am following a similar path. I only comment if I think I'm adding value.
Nice comment....well said.
Hey Liz, that's just my view, I really don't think the title of ambassador adds any weight to your advise or help. You have been a teacher and that shines through in your blogs and advice.
A blog from an ambassador has never affected the way I view the information.
However, if you feel that the title will be helpful for your personal growth, then I support you (and I do).
Never take personal views seriously Liz - sometimes we need to talk nonsense.
No I was just interested in why. I'm not upset, just interested. I'm doing it for my own motivation.
Yes and teaching is a great way of life! Be it a classroom teacher, priest,minister, mentor or helping in a group online. I was once a leader with someone else on a Genealogical group online and it was very satisfying to help others.
Oh good - Ambassadorship will not alter the way I view your blogs!
You always add value Keith!! :)
Keith, why not? For instance if I got a job in a store, office, whatever I would more likely believe the person with the manager title before I would believe someone that has been there a few months that bears the title of a junior clerk
Good point, however, it often the case that a person not interested in climbing the managerial ladder has a deeper understanding of the product than the manager who has focused his efforts on becoming manager.
If I want to know something about a product I look for the subject expert, and 9 times out of 10 it is not the store manger.
Keith
I wouldn't consider myself successful as far as WA is concerned as I do not promote WA. However, I am reasonably successful with my own niches. The reasons I will not reveal my money sites are that I do not want them used as a training ground. I don't want to attract potentially poor quality comments and neither do I want people who are not genuinely interested in my niches joining my email lists as each list member ultimately has a cost to my business.
People will naturally and understandably join email lists to see what people are doing and how they are doing it. If you find someone in the same niche as you then it is something I would recommend you do. You never know what you can learn from the competition and hopefully improve upon for your own site.
I am certainly not afraid of competition and neither should anybody else. Perhaps those successful WA members might have very similar reasons too.
Dave
Hi Dave, I totally understand your point of view.
There are a number of active and helpful senior members who willingly share their knowledge to help us less experienced. They have put a great deal of time and hard work into their websites and feel it is not in their interests to have them available for scrutiny. And I respect that, I would probably do the same.
However, I noticed one member who was regularly getting referrals so I visited his profile page. He has been a member since 2013 and has never blogged and really answers questions. I followed and left a message with a question about 3 weeks ago. No response to date.
Perhaps I'm being overly critical in this instance.
By the way, whilst researching WA websites under certain key words, I came across one of our established members site (Google first page) and just below was another WA website of a three month Member.
The site layout was very similar, and now the established member is likely to be losing revenue.
This where you say - I rest my case Milord.
Keith
In relation to your 1st point that member may not be active on WA , Just because you refer somebody does not mean that you have to provide ongoing support. For example if you were an affiliate for Currys and you promoted a kettle. I am not sure you would want to help the customer out every time they wanted to know how to descale it properly. That member might just retain membership as they can receive double the referral income so it makes financial sense.
As for the 2nd point I am not sure it would make a lot of difference if they were just promoting WA as the 1st site to get visited would logically get the referral. The user would then most likely bookmark the site. It is only in situations where a user would continually keep going to google to look up a site again and again that they might click on the wrong site. If the owner of the 1st site carried out their marketing operation successfully then the user would have booked the site and hopefully signed up to their email list. So if that 1st site owner lost business they I would say it was their fault.
To successfully brand a site for the long term you need to make sure that you stand out copying others would only offer short term gain as users would rapidly note the difference in style and quality of the material.