Wealthy Affiliate Rank 203 - Oh the humanity!

byPaulWatson

3.8K followers

4 years ago

Good morning WA'ers... Today I come to you with a bit of sad news... I have dropped out of the top 200... I mean, what is to come of me? I woke this morning in my little hotel room (we have a business 4 hrs from home so travel a little bit) and, as I do, I checked my WA emails to see what the community has been up to over the past 12 hours. And as I was reading the great news about another member here making the top 100, I glanced over to my rank and there is was... 203!! Birds stopped singing, the sky went grey and dementors flowed from the shower drain to wreak their havoc on my affiliate marketing journey...

But what does this really mean? Well, I have to admit, it didn't sit well with me. Why? I don't know. Does ranking in WA directly affect my online endeavours? Some say yes, some say no... All I know is that the first time someone responded to a follow message about how great it was to connect with the top 200 member, I did feel a little pride inside my now-broken heart. So I decided to go for a walk and let my analytical, "can overthink some things" brain off its leash and see where I ended up.

Oh, and just because I can, this is where I went for my walk - I mean if this can't cheer someone up, then nothing will (and maybe I was exaggerating slightly about the grey sky)..

Why did it bother me?

Well that was the kicker... I didn't know. I mean I know why I was no longer in the top 200. I have not been as active in WA recently due to pressures of running two businesses as well as spending every spare second I have adding more content and working on the SEO for my site. That is fine right? I mean, at the end of the day we are here for affiliate marketing success and not to measure ourselves against other right?

Now before you reach for your keyboards to tell me off for the last sentence, I honestly don't believe that either, but as I said.. Mind... Off... Leash. We have to analyse things from every angle to understand them... Anyway, I got to the turn around point of my walk (at the other end of the photo above) and conveniently there is a coffee shop there... So I ordered and picked up my phone. "I am going to get my ranking back right now!" I said. now where are those questions and blog posts...?

What did getting involved show me?

So here I was, ignoring the whales and dolphins swimming literally metres from me (yep, for once I am not exaggerating here), feverishly reading and responding to posts and questions within the Wealthy Affiliate site. My fingers gliding over my phone screen like a Torvill and/or Dean ice-skate - unleashing my knowledge, congratulations and comments on the world.

Then I needed to bookmark a post - one about SEO and what you can rework - so that I could go back later and revisit. And there it was! There was the answer... I was missing out on the great help that this platform has. I was not learning from my peers.

What do rankings mean to me?

As I walked back to my car, I realised that the ranking alone does not signify success, but for many of us, a higher ranking means success because we are learning. Sure, there is a little competitive voice in our heads for some of us, and for others, the learning outcomes are there without the need to rank - I have seen some members here who I know qualify for Vegas with rankings in the 10000s.

But for me, they are a sign that I am learning and contributing. I am a person who believes that if I am going to be involved in something I am going to be totally involved (ooohhhh... that is how I ended up coaching my son's soccer team having no experience playing soccer). So when my ranking dropped, I was annoyed as I was not as involved as I personally like to be. Don't get me wrong, I am not about to comment on every single post just to get a better ranking, but I am going to be more involved for the following reasons:

1. I learn so much from reading posts
2. I research answers to questions asked here - which makes me learn
3. Being more involved does help my site - I have had quite a few comments from people saying that they saw my comment, looked at my profile and liked my website - that is greater traffic - This is not a comment on getting WA members to purchase from me, but an extra click or two on my site has to help SEO right?
4. It is great to get to know people - there are so many great minds here that the more we know, the greater assistance we can ask for and give.

Final thoughts

So I now have to go and run a Pilates class (oh yeah, that is what we do) so time to cage the mind a little or I will have them standing on their heads and one foot twister style but my final thoughts on rankings are this:

Follow them or not follow them is an individual choice and preference, for me, it signifies my involvement within the community and my learning which in turn makes me a better affiliate marketer.

Anyway

Have fun

Paul