Wealthy Affiliate - The Pros and Cons
When I joined Wealthy Affiliate I had my detective glasses on, I inspected it with a fine toothed comb, humming and hawing about whether I wanted to pay for it, whether it was worth it, or if it was just a scam.
I noticed that the themes and plugins that you only get access to once becoming a premium member are all available for free in Wordpress.org, so to me that was a bit of a red flag.
The reason I found Wealthy Affiliate was because I was looking for reviews on Affilorama's Jetpack. I had thought of purchasing it, but it was gonna cost me $1000 bucks! I needed to know more. I found a website with a review and a link to their "#1 Recommended Training". I read about Wealthy Affiliate and how awesome it was. I joined right after I read that you can build 2 websites for free with hosting included. I was pumped! (I already had a website that I was trying to get off the ground but I was excited to get free hosting).
I was quite disappointed when I joined and found out that I could only comment and ask questions for 7 days, I was also bummed to find out that I could make 2 sites but they would have a siterubix sub-domain. I was kind of angry, but I figured I should give this place a chance.
I asked a question about Affilorama and if anyone had experience. Nathaniel replied and told me that the content wouldn't convert well and that for the same price I could pay for 3 years of membership here. This definitely got me thinking.
I poked around for the full 7 days, trying to utilize everything I could. I really wanted to access the live training videos so I decided to give the $19 introductory month a shot. I used that month to really dig into what was available here. I liked the training and the keyword tool, even though I knew that I could get the same keyword research done for free with Google's keyword planner.
I decided to take the plunge and give myself a year. I paid for the yearly membership and I haven't looked back! I used money that I inherited from my grandmother to pay for it. I figured it was the best way I could use that money, by investing it back into myself.
So what are the Pros and Cons of Wealthy Affiliate?
Pros:
- Hosting: The hosting is top-notch. I started out with cheap hosting and it only caused me headaches. Nothing worked right, and my sites got hacked. I have moved one of my sites to WA hosting and I am MUCH happier.
- Kyle and Carson: They are actually here. They are in chat and are active in the community. I love that the founders are available and they truly love what they do. They want you to succeed!
- Community: At first I didn't think I would use the community much, but boy was I wrong! I love that I have a group of people that are in the same boat as me, they can relate to me, we have the same struggles and successes. This has been a huge motivator for me and keeps me going. You can network with people and really make friends here.
- Live Video Classes: These alone are worth the cost of membership. I have learned SO much from these classes and I love that they never sell anything. They are here for you, they are a service for the members here. These are truly awesome resources for growing your business.
Cons:
- Keyword Tool: It works and does what it is supposed to, but you can do the same thing for free with Google's Keyword planner I wish that a Jaaxy account was included with a membership.
- Wordpress Themes and Plugins: The themes and plugins you get access to are no different than what you get for free at Wordpress.org. But if you go that route, you have to pay for hosting and again, cheap hosting is cheap for a reason. If you are going to pay for good hosting, you might as well be a premium member of this amazing community as well.
I have grown and learned so much since joining WA 5 months ago. I love it here and plan on staying as long as I can. I will keep investing in myself and growing my business. I am happy to have found this place, I am happy that Nathaniel put some things in perspective for me, I am happy that I took the plunge and gave this place a chance, I am happy I had the money to pay for it, and I am happy that this place wasn't a scam!
Thank you Wealthy Affiliate for honestly being one of the best online training resources for building an online business! I LOVE YOU!
Recent Comments
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A very well written product review, but a little over stated on the Cons side. Obviously you are not a newbie to the online business world.
Maybe it's my newbie perspective, but I found Google's Keyword Planner very frustrating to use. The WA Keyword Tool is a walk in the part by comparison ... for me, and by my brief comparison back in the beginning, the GKP does not return the same quality level of results.
Another signal that tells me you are not a newbie is that you make no mention about info overload. My guess is you haven't done the Certificate or Bootcamp Training (because you don't feel you need it) in favor of going straight to Jay's webinars. This is "Advanced Training" in my eyes, but a hidden benefit we all have access to, and it comes with the membership.
I'm told Jaxxy really doesn't provide more Keyword information than the WA-KT ... just does it with one less step. But K&C are on a continuous mission to make the WA platform better, and I'll bet Jaxxy is on the upgrade list to make it even more powerful.
Then there is to fact that our membership includes the ability to host up to 25 websites on arguably the most advanced and secure hosting set-up on the web. If you are proficient at WP website building (and you sound like you are ... or at least quite advanced) there is a NO Cost benefit that could generate a nice profit stream.
I think you made the right choice ... and you will not get bombarded by "upsells".
Great response! I learned a few things from it :) You are right actually, the WA keyword tool is easier to use than Google's. Information overload would definitely be one downfall and many of Jay's wabinars are over my head too :)
Since I'm someone who has never tried anything related to building an online marketing business prior to WA, the cons really don't feel like cons to me. At worst, they seem "sufficient" for the work I need to do.
But, I do appreciate an honest assessment from someone who has been around the block with this stuff more than me. Thanks for a good post!
I read your post because I couldn't figure out what the 'cons' were. Thank you for sharing.☺ ~Marion
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WA always comes out ahead doesn't it.
it really does