The Reward Program Made Something Clear (Sept 01 to Dec 01, 2025)

byJohnMaluth

448 followers

3 hrs ago

From September 01, 2025 to December 01, 2025, Wealthy Affiliate’s Reward Program reminded me of something I already knew but needed to see again with my own eyes. The system can reward honest contribution. Not only with reputation. Also with AI credits, community credits, and cash credits. That combination matters, because it proves the platform is not just talk. It has a working engine behind it.

And yes, I am talking about pennies too. Some members laugh at pennies. I do not. In South Sudan, pennies have dignity. Pennies can buy data. Pennies can keep the lights on for a moment. Pennies can add up into rent. So when WA sends me money for showing up, helping, writing, and engaging, I take it seriously. Not because it makes me rich today. But because it proves a simple truth: good work can still be seen.

My referrals are also proof of effort. I now have dozens of referrals, but many are still Starter members. Most are from my country, South Sudan. And I understand why they do not upgrade yet. It is not laziness. It is reality. Many do not have credit cards in US dollars. Internet can be weak. Electricity can disappear like a visitor who promised to stay. Mobile data is expensive on phones, PCs, and tablets. So my referrals often want to move forward, but their environment argues with them every day. That is not a small issue. It is the daily math of survival.

Still, I am not discouraged. In fact, the Reward Program encouraged me more. Why? Because it showed me that even before the big commissions, WA can still pay for meaningful engagement. It is like WA saying, “Keep building. We see you.” That is why I believe I will eventually get upgrading referrals too. Not by begging people to upgrade. Not by shouting. But by building traffic, trust, and results.

Because traffic is the key. No success without traffic. You can have a clean website. You can have great content. You can even have deep wisdom. But without targeted, active traffic, that becomes noise. I learned this lesson the hard way, more than once, since 2015.

2025 Stats for the Rewards Program Commissions - WA

I joined WA in 2015 with big dreams and small skills. I did some things right, and many things wrong. I wrote posts that nobody read. I built pages that felt important to me, but were invisible to Google. I would publish and then stare at the screen like traffic would arrive out of pity. Nothing happened. Later, life happened too. I stepped away. I returned. I restarted. I rebuilt. And by 2024 and 2025, I came back with a calmer mind and a stronger work ethic.

Here is what changed for me in 2025. I stopped treating SEO like a theory and started treating it like plumbing. If the pipes are not connected, no water flows. Before I fixed my on-page SEO and AEO elements, I had no real traffic. When I started adding relevant keywords, writing proper alt text, captions, and descriptions for featured images and inserted images, things changed. When I added TL;DR, FAQs, and now schema code, things changed even more. It was not magic. It was order. It was doing the right things, the right way, again and again.

Now to the money, because numbers tell the truth faster than motivation does.

In August, I earned $24, paid on September 1st.
Then I earned $81.
Then $130.
Then $92.

Is it paying every bill? Not yet. But I will say this plainly. It can pay my rent each month now. That is not a joke to me. That is progress with a receipt.

So here is my plan, and it is simple.

1. Drive real traffic to my main website.
2. Earn from Google AdSense when the time is right.
3. Sell my books through the website.
4. Drive people to WA.
5. Build my email list.
6. Use the email list to drive more traffic back to the website.
7. Keep the cycle going until the “pennies” become serious money, and the referrals start upgrading steadily in 2026 and beyond.

Everything connects back to traffic. Books need readers. Ads need visitors. Referrals need trust. Trust grows when people see your work and experience value.

Now, if you are reading this and you feel tired, here is my encouragement. Engage anyway, if you truly love to write and help people. Post what you learned. Post what failed. Post what you did wrong. Write the lesson. Some of my best progress came from admitting, “I did this badly,” then fixing it, then teaching it. People do not only learn from our wins. They learn from our honest mistakes.

And for those who think they have nothing to say, you do. You can write one short post about one small lesson. Maybe you chose the wrong keyword. Say it. Maybe your article had no headings. Say it. Maybe you ignored image alt text for months. Say it. I did too. Then I fixed it. That is the kind of truth that helps a new member more than any polished speech.

As long as the Reward Program is alive and well, I will keep earning each month through meaningful engagement. While I wait for bigger commissions through upgrading referrals, book sales, and AdSense-level traffic. I am not waiting with folded arms. I am waiting while working.

If you want a simple action step today, do this: write one honest post about one thing you learned this week. Even if it came from a mistake. Especially if it came from a mistake.