My First Month. Somewhere under the Rainbow.

byEVitez3528

236 followers

7 years ago

Aloha reader! I’ve recently completed my first month as a member of the Wealthy Affiliates family! I’m not sure where I was first introduced to the platform because I did a lot of research regarding online business options. Once I checked out the WA website and reviews and testimonials about the program, I decided to give it a try.

I joined as a trial member and a week or so later decided to upgrade to a premium membership. The main factors that moved me to join were;

• The community interaction; knowing that there are many other people that I can share the learning experience with and others that could be learning resources, and
• The online classroom instructional format. It was important to move at my own pace (which is sometimes slow and steady and at other times a bit manic). I also value the unlimited access the lessons.

Its been quite a month. I feel like I’ve achieved much and like I’m bumping my head. It just depends on the day and the task.

What Am I Doing Here?

There are a few reasons why I’ve decided to learn the process of making a successful website. First, I am a writer at heart. I started off with personal journals as a child and it never stopped. I still have lots of “active” journals in addition to boxes of older journals.

As a teen I wrote for my school’s newspapers and was editor-in-chief of my high school yearbook. I wrote for my university’s newspaper, was a reporter for a small-town paper and was a “stringer” for the major regional newspaper in my hometown of Detroit, Michigan.

Then I became disenchanted with corporate journalism and stepped back from the industry. I did continue to write as a style columnist for an independent newspaper, and a contributor in many different avenues.

More recently it was back to journaling, not writing anything that anyone else is expected to read. This year I’ve been compelled to get back at it. I decided to merge/combine/partner my drive to write with my other reasons for being here at WA, money and income.

I plan to greatly increase my income to be of financial assistance to the family and community I love. I plan to do this by generating a passive income and by setting up businesses that allow my husband and I mobility.

WTH?! - My Challenges

Patience. Patience. Patience.

I have the patience to know that a steady stream of money to our bank accounts will not likely happen overnight. The challenge is more directly related to the learning process. Specifically, watching the videos. I know that the videos are a big reason that I joined WA, but some days I just want it over already! :-D

Writing posts expediently.

Because of the great training I understand that writing 1,000 words is mostly a Google thing, intended to increase your rate of exposure and increasing your probability of landing on page one of a Google search. It is also suggested though, that we don’t try to be “too perfect” when writing our posts. This makes sense to me because the goal is to produce content quickly, giving my website some weight to score high in the Google algorithms. However, I mentioned that I am a writer and once a writer gets to 1,000 words, there will likely be 1,000 more. Additionally, not aiming for perfect just doesn’t happen. As a result, I end up spending more time than I probably should editing my posts. I’m sure I’ve spent 6 hours writing a 1-hour post. I am aware it though, so I know I’ll get better.

Working with website templates.

Of course, templates are everything! I wouldn’t have joined WA without them. However, I have been challenged in designing my website. This is the first WordPress site that I’ve constructed and I’ve struggled with changing or removing some components of the chosen template. I’ve spent a lot of time on my own with this issue on my first site. Now, I have a new strategy and I’ve decided to come back to this issue and find help later.

I’m a Winner Baby! – My Successes

A Premium Lifestyle

My first success was making the decision to go Premium! By agreeing to a monthly payment for the tools, templates and instruction, I feel more committed to the process.

My Badges Look Cool.

I’m what I describe as passive competitive. I won’t challenge you to a tennis match, but I do like earning recognition for my accomplishments and I like to accomplish things sooner than expected. I don’t know if my completion pace for tasks would be considered fast, but I do love the badges that at-a-glance let you know your accomplishments.

I’ve completed the 1st module of certification training and I’m almost through the 2nd. I have a few posts published and I have 4 more ready and unpublished, pending the set-up of my new website. I’ve also been found by Google!

Great Productivity

I have done something for my sites every day since joining WA. There have been days that I did not work directly on the WA website. On those days I have written blogs offline, edited photos, found graphics, done research on Google and organized my plans for internet success (utilizing Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and affiliate marketing options).

Being a Good Neighbor

I have engaged with the WA community by reading posts, leaving comments, giving likes and following community members – successfully interacting with others and increasing my own comfort levels with communicating via comments and chats.

Onward and Upward!

It’s been a whirlwind month with much to learn and much to do. There are no regrets here! I’ve gained a greater understanding of how Google drives internet traffic, the website back office, and tools I can use to optimize my websites content and exposure.

I look forward to hanging out more with the Wealthy Affiliates community. My WA network is currently about 75 people. As I “get my rhythm” I intend to engage even more with my network. I also want to connect with more high-ranking members and access their insights and training. In fact, this post was inspired by a one-year anniversary post by @yclayton, one of my higher-ranking network members.

Thank you for joining me under the rainbow! I welcome any advice or insights.

Yours in WA Success,

Vinetta