I'm still standing - who would have thought?

byNorman3J

518 followers

Updated 7 years ago

Hi Everyone,

I can't believe that it's now been 8 months since I joined Wealthy Affiliate. I literally started at zero with regards to the workings of setting up a website that could be indexed in Google. There has been a lot to learn, and more importantly, put into practice.

And here I am, still far from where I aspire to be, but further along my journey than I could have ever imagined when I signed up in the turbulent summer of 2017. The evidence is clear: the past 8 months have clearly been working FOR me, rather than against me, and my time and effort have been well-invested.

There has been a steep learning and activity curve - this is the first time I have ever done any kind of online ANYTHING - but a few things have actually been accomplished:

1. I'm approaching the end of level 2 certification training
   
2. I have a functioning, indexed website with posts and comments...and images!
3. I continue to refine my niche: fellow members of Generation-X looking for inspiration, ideas and solutions to challenges familiar with our age-bracket
4. I am familiar with some of the key tools and practices necessary to enable my posts to be indexed and rank higher in the search engines
5. I continue to identify topic sources to create a steady flow of ideas for posts that I can mine ad infinitum in order to feed my site
6. I am in the habit of writing 1000 words per day, minimum
7. I actually have a Gravatar and am on Google+
8. I have posted on other members' sites and gotten into the habit of commenting on one site per day, usually during lunchtime at work

I didn't have a clue about any of this when I started, but have benefitted from the formal training, and from the immense range of member-generated training and blog posts. Just learning about finding free images safe from copyright infringement, for example, was an eye-opener, and saved me from countless hours of frustrating research and trial and error. For someone without any experience in the world of online marketing, there are just so many obstacles and things to learn that without a proper support structure, I don't see how they could even stay in the game, let alone make any progress.

If I'm still here and engaged, it's only because of this tremendous Wealthy Affiliate community. It has been my beacon through some pretty challenging times. And for this, I will be forever grateful.

So, what's next?

Well, within the next 3 months, I plan to complete and implement levels 3 and 4 certification training, and, leveraging my 1000 word per day writing habit, post at least one indexed article per week. Getting into a rythm with that, I'll then shoot for 2 articles per week.I will also start adding affiliate links to my posts.

Within the next 6 months, I will complete and implement level 5 certification training, and refine my posts with tools I have seen in training but have not yet implemented such as creating internal links, etc, and relentlessly improve my rankings. As I gain more confidence in my understanding and use of everything I am learning, I will become more and more active in the WA community with little trainings and posts that can perhaps help newbies like myself as they experience the challenges I have been so ably supported in overcoming.

In short, I will continue to apply this wonderful education I am receiving, step by precious step, and try and enjoy every single moment of this adventure, which I certainly have so far.

Thanks to all of you, and see you at the top!