A Dozen Years Later, The Future Has Never Looked So Good!

byKyle

2.4M followers

Updated 7 years ago

A few days late here, but we have a lot going on behind the scenes. We are busier than ever, in a good way!

A few days back, on September 10th, it marked Wealthy Affiliate's 12th birthday! Although this day felt like any other day of the week or month, this particular marks a significant point in our history here WA.

12 years ago, when Carson and I launched Wealthy Affiliate we were not sure what to think. We had a goal and mission, and that goal and mission was to help people succeed within the pay-per-click (PPC) world. Wealthy Affiliate started out as a keyword list site.

We decided we would charge $29.99 per month or $359.88 per year for our service. We simply offered one keyword list in a new niche, to our members each and every week. People absolutely loved the service and felt that it was under priced at $359.88 per year. Literally.

Lots of people were seeing results from what we were offering, but there were constant requests for "additions" that we could add to the platform. Hence the start of the EVOLUTION here at Wealthy Affiliate.

We have changed, A LOT.

Anyone who has been with us for any amount of time will truly realize how much we have changed over the years. We have changed and improved the platform here A LOT in the last year alone, let alone the past 12 years! Wealthy Affiliate has gone from a keyword list site, to the most comprehensive platform in affiliate marketing industry for creating, growing, and managing a business online.

We continue to push the envelope, we continue to lean on new ideas and new technology to improve "efficiency" for aspiring and successful entrepreneurs, and we continue to think outside of the box and do things that simply are not be done elsewhere.

Our goal over the years has been to evolve our services, and to do so faster than the industry. I feel that we have done a really good job of that, but Carson and I also feel that we are just getting started. In every respect, from the tools, the platform, the training, and the support....our best is yet to come.

Although we have changed a lot and we will continue to do so, something that I have found fascinating is that with all the technological advances, how you operate a successful business online has not really changed that much.

Things Haven't Really Changed Online.

Let's have a look back in 2005 and how some key affiliate marketing concepts were then, and how they are now.

Back in 2005, keywords were just as important then as they are now. They were important to PPC and they were important to SEO. That is why I cringe at the very idea that you have to be doing something NEW, in order to be successful online these days. The fundamental CORE of all success within the search marketing world is the idea of a keyword. That has not changed.

Back in 2005, websites were just important as they are now. Without a website, you have no platform to build your business upon or to sustain a long-term brand. Surely people are trying to get away without a site these days by running "lead page" or "funnel" style campaigns, but you are putting your entire business and brand in someone elses hands. At a snap of a fingers by Facebook or Google, your business could be gone (and it is happening en masse).

Back in 2005, customer relationships were just as important then as they are now. If you're not helping people within your given niche, it is difficult to turn a potential customer into an actual customer. This has gone unchanged in the last 12 years that we have been in business at Wealthy Affiliate.

Back in 2005, search engines looked for the most relevant, and highest quality content. That has not changed and will not change in the foreseeable future. The way we create content and the way we display and distribute information may change slightly, but search engines are focused on delivering the best results to their users. That has not changed. Those that treated SEO as a process of creating quality content for search engines back in 2005 are still ranking today with their sites. Those that chased things like article directories, spinning or curating content, and backlinks likely don't exist at all.

Back in 2005, relevant PPC campaigns are what lead to conversions. This meant a relevant keyword, going to a relevant ad, going to the relevant landing page, going to a relevant offer. This is still what converts in the PPC world.

Sure, there are some things have changed. The inception of social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Snapchat. The types of websites that we can bill as a dynamic aspect of the internet world as a whole. The speed in which we can access information and how often we are accessing it. The proliferation of the Internet and how many users there are (3.7 billion now versus 1.0 billion in 2007).

Some things will change, many things will not. For the most part, the principles we taught then still are very accurate and still work to today's date. That is amazing when you think that 12 years have gone by, and 12 years of evolution in affiliate marketing and Internet marketing space.

A KEY Goal of Ours. Simplification Through Design.

Building a business online was once a very complex process. Back in 2002 when I started out, a simple task today like building a website then took close to a month to build (and they were ugly lol). I am not even talking about content, I'm talking about just the design aspect of a website. Building it from scratch. Laying down some code. Creating some graphics and images for the menu. It was a pain in the rear.

Because of this, I would say that the amount of people building online businesses probably was not as high as now, but they're certainly wasn't nearly the opportunity that there is today. There isn't the pool of customers there is today, there wasn't the confidence in online spending (and it was awkward to do), and there certainly wasn't as diverse a set of products/services you could promote as an affiliate.

As time has progressed so has technology. We think of ourselves as a technology company and that is at the core what we focus on and the basis of all of our improvements...innovation and evolution here is to promote and advance the technologies to make your life easier in EVERY respect to running your business.

In other words, we don't want you focusing on technology, we want things to just work for you so you can focus on other, more important tasks within your business. As we progress through the year next year, you're going to see much more integration between our platforms. The beautiful thing about Wealthy Affiliate is that there is the segment of the many technologies all in one place.

This includes:

• Content
• Keywords
• Research
• Websites
• Hosting
• Training
• Help
• Community

Having all of these within one all-inclusive environment is going allow us to do some really incredible things. For example, you should be able to master SEO without being a master at SEO (understanding the relationship between keywords and content through technology). You should be able to research keywords and have them integrated into your SiteContent platform immediately and either build content out, or get someone to build it out for you.

Many, MANY things that we can do and what we will be doing.

I don't want to divulge too much where we are heading, I just want you to know that there is an incredible opportunity for us to continue to simplify your life as an online business person and as an online marketer.

Our Future is Bright and So is Yours

One thing will always remain a constant with us that Wealthy Affiliate. We have YOU in our best interest and every step forward we take will re-emphasize this very point.

There's a reason we haven't raised our price in 12 years.

There is a reason we continue to amp up the technology here behind the scenes.

There is a reason we continue to hire more employees and more senior programmers.

There is a reason we release brand new platforms throughout the year, no extra cost.

There is a reason people continue to love the service here (and will hopefully love it more with every day that passes)

We care. Plain and simple. We will continue to care.

Will every update we make be perfect out of the gate? No. Is every single platform here to our liking? No. But this excites us and this will always give us room to improve and to make our platform better. We will remain progressive in every aspect and remain the industry leaders in this space.

Some things that we are doing behind the scenes already, simply are not being done in industry and this includes the website, content, education, and hosting platforms in particular.

We want to push the idea of an all-inclusive environment, but we don't want to lack in terms of the product quality or the service quality in any way. If we create anything, our focus is making it BETTER than what exists and do so in a way that is much more integrated into your business.

You can expect the utmost quality from us moving forward from a design perspective, from an efficiency perspective, as well as a "make your life easier" perspective.

Here are some things that you can expect from us in the next year.

• More help. Quicker.
• Entirely new, never seen before platforms.
• New & More Advanced training.
• Improved UX and Perhaps a Complete Redesign.
• A Beautiful Mobile Design.
• Improvement on our existing platforms.
• Fun and exciting challenges and offers.
• Integration of all the platforms here to communication with one another.
• And much more...

Our 12th year is going to be another fun ride. Hold on tight, the future of affiliate marketing training, technology, and integration is about to arrive . Expect brilliance from us. We will not disappoint.