My Personal Wealthy Affiliate Review in 2017: A View from Inside

byjosephthl

1.7K followers

Updated 8 years ago

Well it’s been 7 years since I started my online journey here and I figured it was about time to offer my personal Wealthy Affiliate review in 2017 for any of you just getting started in the crazy world of online marketing. This post is particularly geared towards anyone who has just signed up here (or thinking about the premium membership), and is not yet sure how affiliate marketing works or how Wealthy Affiliate can help you earn a full-time income.

It’s interesting, because I’ve been here so long that I actually remember the old Wealthy Affiliate University website, when forums used to be the primary means of getting help and the online courses were just getting started up. I had no idea what I was doing, and was honestly overwhelmed by the amount of information here (and that was 7 years ago!).

This site has come a long way, and I’m happy to see that that there are now powerful certification courses to take you step-by-step through the online marketing process, tons of user generated courses, and of course immediate help through the WA Live chat if you need it. Things are more streamlined now, more useful, and more powerful.

But will all this information help you succeed? After following all the training and taking action towards your goals, will you actually be able to generate good money?

The purpose of this Wealthy Affiliate University review is to relate my personal experiences with this program so that you can make an educated decision as to whether being here is the right choice for you.

My Personal Internet Marketing Journey

First, a little about me.

I started my online marketing journey back in 2010 when I was still a university student and looking for ways to earn money that didn’t require working some boring retail job. I can’t remember exactly how I came across Wealthy Affiliate, but I remember I didn’t sign up right away. I was short of cash, very skeptical, and wary of online scams.

But eventually I took the plunge and signed up for a full membership (there was no free option back then). And when I did, I committed to spending a full 6 months learning everything I could to start making money through affiliate marketing.

But where would I start?

Well I was super passionate about coffee. Not only did I love how it tasted (and how it kept me awake for all those early morning classes!), I was endlessly fascinated by how to make the best coffee and espresso-based drinks.

So I started a website about coffee.

My affiliate model was to write reviews about coffee and espresso machines and link back to amazon to get an affiliate commission.

Randomly, I also wrote a short article about cleaning espresso machines and even had a link to a $10 espresso machine cleaner. Now if you know anything about Amazon’s affiliate program, you will know that the commission on that would be tiny. I think it was about 40 cents.

What were my Wealthy Affiliate Results?

After several months of writing articles I did not see any results. I was starting to get frustrated. Was I doing something wrong. Does Wealthy Affiliate actually work?

I stopped working on my website for several months, feeling totally defeated. Then randomly around Christmas I checked my Amazon account. I saw a commission for $0.40! I guess someone had bought an espresso machine cleaner!

Now this may seem tiny to most of you. But to me, this was everything.

It was a sign that making money through this program could be possible. It just needed a bit more work, a bit more strategy, and a “not giving up” attitude.

I dedicated myself fully to my coffee website, more determined than ever. I wrote articles on other websites that linked back to mine (which by the way is not nearly as effective anymore, and possibly ill-advised). I wrote more reviews. And most of all, gave things a bit of time (or marinate, as Jay would say :)) to let the results begin to pour in.

My website was earning several hundred dollars a month after a year, and by Christmas the following year was up to around $1000. I began branching out to other niches, built more websites, and kept up with the latest training here.

Anyways, I won’t bore you with the details, but I was eventually earning about $5000 per month from affiliate marketing within about two years. I haven’t looked back since and have been working full-time since about 2012. Last year I sold one of my affiliate sites for $30,000.

How did Wealthy Affiliate Contribute to my Success?

After seven years, I can honestly say that the biggest key to my success was the community here at Wealthy Affiliate. Kyle and Carson are dedicated online marketers who have built an unbelievable resource here.

As many of you know, there are lots of scammy internet marketing products out there. Having gotten sucked into a few of them myself, I can honestly say that the owners of Wealthy Affiliate are some of the most genuine and dedicated people in the business. They are quick to advise us of things to watch out for in the internet marketing world and keep us up-to-speed on the latest methods for generating money online.

Just have a look at the 5 certification courses that they created. Where else can you find such a methodological and powerful process for getting your online campaigns up and generating money? They are here to personally assist you through your IM journey through the Live Chat. Just the other day I saw Kyle helping someone generate ideas for their affiliate marketing campaign. He has even been quick to respond to me whenever I have had questions – and yes even to this day I find I am still learning!

And that is something to keep in mind as well: no matter how successful you get using Wealthy Affiliate methods, it is always important to keep learning and adapting to the online landscape. Things change quickly and you have to keep pace with all the changes. Thankfully, Wealthy Affiliate always seems to be ahead of the curve.

Remember when all those websites got hit by Google penalties for using all those scammy backlinks? Well I also remember Kyle being the one warning everyone about these black-hat tactics even before the alarm bells were being sounded in the IM world. The methods being promoted here are Google safe and will help you generate long-lasting revenue, if you follow the training properly.

How Does Wealthy Affiliate Work? Key Resources and Training

I’m not necessarily going to go through this in detail, because there are already resources on getting started here at Wealthy Affiliate. However, I will highlight the resources that I think are the most important.

Certification Courses

The courses go through every step of the process from developing an online niche, to finding the right low-competition keywords, to monetizing your site, and also marketing it. These courses are the king of all IM training resources and the cornerstone of your training if you’re just starting out. If you haven’t gone through them yet, I highly recommend you do and take action on what you read.

(And further to that, don’t just keep reading everything. You have to TAKE ACTION! You can’t generate a full-time income from just reading training resources).

Thankfully, there are actionable steps to go with each of the courses.

Webinars

Every Friday, Jay hosts a webinar on a new topic related to online marketing. These are some of the best resources for the latest information on generating money through IM. For example some of the webinars have covered:

• The latest on mobile optimization for your website
• Ranking youtube videos
• The importance of using SLL certificates (i.e. using https://)
• Social Media Marketing
• Remarketing Strategies

And the list goes on. I’m not sure exactly how many of these webinars there are (perhaps Jay can tell me?). But my guess would be at least 100+.

Not only that, but Jay has actually built several niche sites LIVE in front of everyone so you can actually see in real time how to build a profitable affiliate site. Talk about in-depth training!

Member Generated Courses

There isn’t just one way of making money online. And thankfully there is an opportunity for members to share their strategies and tips for developing successful affiliate marketing campaigns. For example, a few years ago, I developed an in-depth training resource on how to write a killer product review https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/how-to-write-a-killer-product-review-that-generates-affiliate-sales. In it, I share all my tips for writing a powerful product review that delivers high quality information to the reader and generates affiliate sales.

But check out some of the other training here, as you never know what little bit of information you pick up from others that makes a serious difference in your affiliate marketing campaigns.

Site Rubix – The Easiest Site Builder Out There

If you don’t use site rubix for your wordpress affiliate sites, you are seriously missing out. Using a step-by-step process, it will guide you through the whole process of installing wordpress, setting up your site, and getting things optimized to start generating affiliate revenue. It even comes with free SLL certification, web monitoring, and the servers are super fast. And as we know (or should know) Google accounts for site speed a lot in its rankings algorithm.

My Final Thoughts: Is Wealthy Affiliate Legit?

Hopefully this review has been helpful for some of you. If you’re on the fence about this training or how to go about affiliate marketing, then I can’t recommend enough the need to stick with it. It takes time, hard-work, and perseverance. But if you follow the training here, ask questions when you have them, and (most importantly) take ACTION, then eventually you will be able to see the results from all your work.

There are lot of Wealthy Affiliate Success stories here. So this program does work. But it is not an overnight money making system - those don't exist.

The free membership is a good first step on your IM journey. It will help you get a feel for Wealthy Affiliate and determine whether running your own online business is right for you (and please note, it's not for everyone!). If you're considering the premium membership (which by the way, is an absolute STEAL for everything you get here) then I highly recommend it. You get access to the most powerful training resources, top-notch hosting for your affiliate websites, and help anytime you need it.

So is Wealthy Affiliate worth it? I would say yes, if you're willing to put in the time required.

After a long hiatus from Wealthy Affiliate, I’m happy to report that I’ll be back to engage more with the community here. This program has been so helpful to me over the years, that I thought it was time to give back. I don’t promise to have all the answers, but if I can help in some way just drop me a line and I’ll do my best.

Over the coming weeks, I'll be putting together some training here at Wealthy Affiliate on how I build affiliate websites in 2017, how to optimize your productivity, and a range of other topics (some of which I haven't seen covered here yet). So stay tuned!

Do you have any Wealthy Affiliate reviews of your own? Feel free to leave them in the comments below. I'd be also be interested in hearing about your experiences here.