Paying - the Quickest Way to Learn Affiliate Marketing

byLTidswell

257 followers

Updated 5 years ago

So, some of you know that I'm an analyst. By this I mean both that I'm an extremely analytically person and that I've spent most of my career working in roles where my job has focused on making numbers mean something. While I was furloughed I spent a lot of time researching for my corporate escape, and I keep coming back to the conclusion that paying for training and support really is the quickest way to learn affiliate marketing.

Why Pay, you ask?

Well, just log into Pinterest or Instagram and search for "Make Money Online", "Home based Jobs" or "Affiliate Marketing". It's a full time job just to determine whether the results have any value (or if they just look pretty or are click bait), and after that you have to see how current they are, and then they usually lead to a paywall. Before you get to this point you are the target of multiple email marketing campaigns with occasionally well written copy. Who really has the time?

I've had a look at the number of "hard sell" programs, both via reviews and by going straight to JVZoo, Warrior+, etc. I've even bought a couple to better understand both their models and the information that they were selling. I kept finding myself a little bit disappointed with what I was being provided.

Already being a member of Wealthy Affiliate (I've paid for my membership monthly three times and now two annual memberships since the 12th of January 2020, and its now only the 2nd of May 2020 - more on why this is a good thing later!), this was mostly research for my site which is tracking my Escape from the Rat Race. Now that I'm back at work and having to re-adjust my time between content creation and working at my corporate job I can see even more clearly the value generated by paying the right price for the right information.

Value generation is one of the key concepts at Wealthy Affiliate - indeed it is a theme that reoccurs regularly. We are taught to generate content that creates value for our target audience, and to attract traffic through the use of value generation as well. This is one of the themes that also appears in the offer that Kyle and Carson present with the Wealthy Affiliate Platform.

But first, it is important to understand what value means to you personally. For me, value is the worth that I personally grant to something (be it tangible or intangible) - I value people and skills higher than things, but that is only because I'm warm, dry, well-fed and safe. If my circumstances were different I'm sure I'd place more value on the things that provided for these needs (since the outbreak of Covid-19 I'm more inclined to consider Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to understand personal motivations).

• I'm valuing the skills that I'm developing via the Wealthy Affiliate training and the weekly webinars
• I'm valuing the people of the community who are available and eager to help with queries, nip apathy and bad days in the bud and answer questions 24/7
• Finally, and this bit surprised me, the lowest on the list of value generating items is the hosting and general infrastructure that is included in the value package.

The final item surprises me because the value of the hosting coupled with the training was what originally convinced me that Wealthy Affiliate was good value for my money.

What's the cost benefit?

So, as mentioned I'm an analyst - so I'm always looking at the cost / benefit relationship of any transaction. With my plan to leave the corporate world behind, blogging and it's various associated income streams (including affiliate marketing) form one of the pillars of my future income strategy, therefore I know I will be needing hosting.

I know the Wealthy Affiliate hosting is not everyone's preferred solution; however, it has worked brilliantly for me and I don't see the point in paying twice for the same thing... so bonus! This was one of the reasons why, on the 4th month of my blogging journey I switched from paying for Wealthy Affiliate monthly, to paying annually (the fact that at the time the cost of annual payment was 61% of the cost of paying monthly - excluding cash discounting for simplicity :-P).

The added bonus of making the annual payment is that I'm now also going to feel obligated to generate personal value from having made that cash outlay - I'm committed to following through on the blogging effort to at least the 9th of April 2021!

Now, Kyle has thrown a spanner (a wrench in North America) into my carefully analysed plans with the last ever $299 annual membership offer... Grandfathering my annual membership in at $299 per year forever is a big carrot - that is just over half price of the pay monthly price! However, that extends my commitment to this blogging adventure with Wealthy Affiliate to 2 years...

So, is it really worth it?

The last sunset beach picnic that I had with my boyfriend before social distancing came into effect in the UK - this was the beginning of March and my feet were freezing. Neither of us had the proper kit with us for dinghy sailing but we'd taken advantage of a beautiful Friday afternoon to get the laser out for the first time this year. We didn't really evaluate the decision - it felt right so we went. I'm happy to report that all appendages remained intact and we had a fantastic time, even though all the numbers would have said it's not the right time to go sailing barefoot! (You can't see my bare feet wrapped in gloves trying to get warm inside the dry bag).

So, I leapt this morning and extended my Wealthy Affiliate membership to 2 years, both because the numbers make sense (especially with the benefits of grandfathering the $299 annual membership fee), and because taking this leap felt right.

My notice is in, I'm leaving the corporate world and blogging is part of my long term strategy - the one that will allow me to spend more time having sunset picnics and less time sitting in the office crunching numbers. I will, however; always be an analyst - and this means I'm extra contented when both the numbers and the gut feel align!

Who else is leaping or not leaping? What drove your decisions?