Official Wealthy Affiliate Update - Advancing Your Education!

byKyle

2.4M followers

3 years ago

Today I want to speak to the idea of "education", and how it can dictate your success within Wealthy Affiliate. I also want to speak to the focus that we have had over the years on the quality of the education, and how we approach keeping the community here at Wealthy Affiliate far ahead of the curve (and ahead of the competition).

Ultimately, the Internet is a fast moving world. There have been consistent evolutions, innovations and advancements over the years and these are something that we actively are conscious of as a company, but also as a broader community and family here at Wealthy Affiliate.

So today I want to give an update as to the training principles taught here, the overall direction of the training, and how we will be effectively handling for the future of the online business world evolution with our education here.

First topic, the fundamentals of the training and HOW successful businesses are built...

The Principles Don't Change, The Platforms Do

If you look at the key and "root" principles of building a business online and the ones we focus on here within the training at Wealthy Affiliate, they have remained very stable since 2005, the inception date of Wealthy Affiliate. In fact, many of the principles from them are "exactly" the same as they were 15 years ago and there is a reason for this.

While platforms change and evolve, core marketing strategies and techniques rarely do. When we started out, Facebook wasn't popular nor was social media (think MySpace lol). Now of course social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Tik Tok are driving all sorts of traffic and revenue to online business owners.

These are industry evolutions, and new platforms. These are leveraged in your marketing, but the principles for success in business and with affiliate marketing have NOT changed. Let's look at a few examples here.

• Search Engine Optimization Principles. Back in 2005, Yahoo was the most popular search engine. The process of getting ranked was. But the fundamentals of WHAT search engines are after has not changed one bit.
  
  They are after the highest quality content, the best user experience, and the changes within SEO over the past 16 years have been focused on that. So if you were focusing on quality content from day 1, and not some slight of hand blackhat techniques, then you are likely in a great position.
  
  Moving forward, that will be the focus and every Google Core update has been focused on user experience, and quality information.
  
• Pay Per Click Marketing Principles. One the PPC side of the online business, not as much has changed as people think. Even dating back to 2005 when we started Wealthy Affiliate, the same strategies that worked within PPC then, work now. A relevant keyword, to a relevant ad, to a relevant landing page, to a relevant promotion. If you can accomplish that flow of relevance, you can convert at a very high rate.
  
  What has changed is the platforms you can leverage for PPC, the popularity of various platforms, and the interface designs and features available to PPC marketers. We now have not just Yahoo (which was the most popular in 2005), we have Google Ads (which is the most popular now), we have Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Twitter Ads, and Pinterest Ads to name a few. The opportunity has only grown, along with the technology. The fundamentals of a successful campaign however have not changed.
  
  
• Customer Purchasing Habits. At the end of the day, you have a customer and you have a product. If you can align a relevant product that a customer wants/needs, then you are going to generate revenue. If you establish trust, you are going to convert at a higher level.
  
  Trust is established through helping people through quality, informative, and relevant content. Solve problems within your niche, and work to actively help folks, and you can easily tie in relevant items and convert well. This worked 19 years ago when I started out, and it works EXACTLY the same now. This is also the fundamental customer purchase lifecycle building blocks that we have always taught here at WA.
  

So while there have been many changes to the "vehicles" we can use to drive our business online, the fundamentals of driving have not changed. We continue to see more and more people purchasing online, more ways to attract traffic to your website, more tools you can leverage to be successful as an affiliate marketer and polish conversions, and more opportunity.

That leads me to the training elements here at WA and the conundrum that is often times presented between offering training on the fundamentals, and training on the platforms that help you implement those marketing fundamentals.

The Conundrum of Training in a Digital World.

There have been many people (over the past year in particular), indicating there are some elements of the core training that are outdated. The reality is that this is ALWAYS going to be the case to some degree, and I want to explain in detail why there is a bit of a conundrum when it comes to training updates, and the timing thereof. I also want to speak to the reality of the situation and how companies like Wealthy Affiliate, handle for it.

First off, when you establish training that involves various systems, technology, and platforms, it is going to immediately going to be subject to "interface change" issues. For example, when Google updates their Analytics or Console platforms, it immediately requires MANY training resources to be updated.

Perhaps they add a new menu item, perhaps they change the location of a button, perhaps they change the way their charts look, perhaps they change their entire user design...these all create training complications for someone that is providing training on those platforms (including Google).

Then there are sometimes multiple versions of a training environment, Google sometimes allows you to use an "old" version, or you can test out a new "beta". This further confuses the issue, in particular if you are creating training on that environment.

If you have ever gone to Google and found that their own help docs are outdated, you will realize how this is a situation that is tough to manage even with a company that has 1,000's of employees.

That brings me to the training here at Wealthy Affiliate.

When we have 1,000's of video resources here at Wealthy Affiliate, surely there are platform updates involved Wealthy Affiliate that will require updates. We make a change to the SiteContent platform, we have lots of updates to make. We refresh our entire interface and platform, we have to make many updates. When we update something as nominal as a menu item, we have to make lots of updates.

Then add Google, Bing, Yahoo, Twitter, Wordpress, Pinterest, and any related platforms we reference within the training, you get an entirely new series of updates that are required to keep videos updated. This is the conundrum, and one we have lots of experience dealing with, and I want to speak to TWO of them.

The "Core" OEC Training Refresh

As we move through the coming months, the core OEC training is going to be completely refreshed. This is going to come with brand new videos, new content, and new insights. These will be "slid" directly into the existing training, so there is nothing that you have to worry about on your end, you can continue through the training as you are now (if you currently in the OEC training).

In coordination with these updates, I am going to be running 5 Live Classes that will coordinate each Level of the training as well. These have not been added to the schedule, but will be done within the very near future and these are going to offer a ton of insight and value that will be full complimentary to the core OEC training.

Stay tuned in respect to the updates and refresh, but these are currently being address and will start to be rolled out as early as next week.

There are some lessons in the current training that are fundamentally CORRECT, but the platforms that are referenced in them (including WA) have changed slightly. Because of this, and because of our constant efforts to keep the training ahead of the curve, these will be updated in the near future.

The content is actively being updated to remain current throughout the year, and there have been MANY evolutions to the OEC training in the last year. A big one lies ahead!

Estimated Completion Date: Fall 2021 (Mid-Late October)

Project Vegas: The Bootcamp Ramp to Success.

There are currently 7 Levels to the Affiliate Bootcamp training, and ALL of these are going to be completely refreshed and made current for 2022 and far beyond. Wealthy Affiliate has undergone significant UX changes in the past year, and some training doesn't reflect these changes. There are also new methods in which you can promote WA, and new platforms here that you can leverage within your promotions to get people to join Wealthy Affiliate.

Wealthy Affiliate has never been a more attractive to aspiring and successful Internet Entrepreneurs, and our platform has never been an easier "sell" than it is today. The new training is going to reflect the many changes, evolutions and innovations that have taken place here in recent years and it is going to really show you how to harness the 2021/2022 edition of WA to convert at a higher rate than ever.

We are constantly rolling out updates here at Wealthy Affiliate that of course benefit members of the community, but also represent new marketing angles. These are going to be incorporated into the new refresh of Bootcamp and this is something that you can anticipate to be rolled out as we move through the remainder of 2022.

Like the OEC training, there are going to be Classes available to Premium and Premium Plus+ members. These are going to be ongoing and are going to help you with you bootcamp website, and will be complimentary to bootcamp.

The question is, are you ready for Vegas?

The ultimate goal being to help you get to Vegas and create a full-time business through the promotion of WA. I hope to see many new faces there next year, with MANY more in the following year as we ramp up conversions here and affiliate training

We have already booked Vegas for 2022, and we are excited to be back after a year off because of pandemic! We anticipate an amazing group of folks there next year (hopefull you), and fully anticipate 2023 to be our largest group ever!

Estimated Completion Date: Winter 2021 (Mid-late December)

Keeping Ahead of the Curve With Classes

Our mission is, and will always be, to keep you ahead of the curve with the training here. This means "education" and providing you with an environment where you can continually advance your skill sets, advance your prowess as a business owner, and advance your ability to build and scale businesses online.

This can be accomplish many ways within Wealthy Affiliate, from the core training, your the ability to network with other aspiring and very successful entrepreneurs, to the ongoing classes by experts each and every week. There are close to 600 hours of classes available to Premium Plus+ members, with 200 new classes per year. If you are Premium, there is a minimum of 52 classes per year...with many additional series on their way!

These classes are design to help you be a "student of the game" and to stay on top of the latest and greatest strategies that you can utilize to grow your business. There is no other platform in the world that offers this level of training, for less than a few $ per day, let alone the rest of the services, support systems, and platforms you have available here.

Offering you THE BEST education in the industry is our ongoing goal, and will be an ongoing focus moving forward. Lots to look forward to!

Of course, as with any discussion like this, we would love to hear your feedback and comments. Please take a minute to chime in below, I will be sure to get back to you!