2019 Review: My First Four Months at Wealthy Affiliate

Hello, my dear friends,

We're in the final days of the year. This year has gone by quick, and a lot has happened (at least on my end). What better time than now to reflect on my progress at Wealthy Affiliate? Whenever we can, all of us should set time aside to look at our growth over the past year. Though I've been in the WA community for four months, it feels like more than half of the year based on the work I've done lately.

After My First Week: I Signed up for WA Yearly Premium

I'm always wary about trying out new things (or starting subscriptions), simply because I doubt myself sometimes. I do like free trial periods to test things out, and I was happy to go through level 1of the Online Entrepreneurship Certification training. As I went through level 1, I loved every single component of the lessons laid out. The ways it was structured, easy to understand, and the support available were all helpful. So I knew from that point on, I was ready to sign up for a premium membership. I took the step further to opt-in for a yearly membership because I knew this decision would be an excellent investment in myself. Today, I don't regret it or doubt myself about going premium.

Build My First Niche Website (Still a work in progress)

As I continue to build out my website, I've worked my way through OEC and stuck with each part of the training. It's incredible to see a before and after of what my website looked like two months and today. I was not sure if my website would look the best. But now that I look back, I love how the layout of my website looks. I give credit to those who provided feedback on some of my content in the past few months. Even some of the smallest things can make a difference, and I'm glad those who gave me feedback on those points.

Before

.

After

Revenue: What?! Really, I got commissions?

Going into the last few months, I've kept low expectations about earning revenue through my niche website. My goal was to make at least one commission by the end of the year. Well, I ended up getting the following:

There's nothing wrong getting those messages. We all love them. I ended up getting two referrals (one on a monthly membership, one pending on a yearly membership- from the Black Friday sale last month). Also, in my previous post, I mentioned my first Amazon commission from a couple of weeks ago. So I ended doing better than I expected. My motto is to keep low expectations of personal and financial goals. If I'm too optimistic about my intended outcomes, and they don't happen as planned, I end up disappointed. But if I keep my expectations, I like to be surprised. Well, the revenue part was a little bit of a surprise, and that's nothing to be disappointed.

Halfway Through Level 5 of OEC- Getting Close

As of today, I'm halfway through level 5 of the OEC training. I'm aiming to get it done before New Year's, but if not, I'll have finished all of the levels for OEC by the start of the year. I have learned so much about deciding on niches and affiliate marketing by taking the OEC training, and there is still more to learn in the next year ahead. I have a better understanding of using keywords when creating content and knowing who my audience is while building out my niche site. My current focus is keep creating content, learning SEO, and getting conversions on my website. I've been getting traffic through referrals, and social media directs, but conversions are challenging right now. At some point, I'll get more conversions and, ultimately, more commissions. So I'm getting there, and I'm going to put in the time and effort to make it happen.


Wrap-Up

Though it wasn't a full year review, the last four months almost felt like a year to me. As I mentioned earlier, I've had some surprises here and there, and have a better understanding of affiliate marketing. I'm not where I want to be now, but I'll work my way through to get to the point of massive success. For those of us who have been around WA for some time, success doesn't happen overnight. If it were that easy, everyone would be doing what we're doing today. It takes time and effort to build a long-lasting, successful online business. So a friendly reminder for all the newbies starting on our platform.

I'm so ready for the new year to start. 2020 will be a year of transition for me, new challenges, and stepping out of my comfort zone. I'll discuss more of that in another post next week.

Cheers to a durable finish for 2019!

Happy New Year!

All the best,

-Eric