If You Aren't Certain that the Advice You're Giving is Correct

I apologize in advance if what I'm about to say ruffles some feathers. I love this community, what it represents, and what it means to all of us, so please understand that this criticism comes from a place of love and because I believe it's very important to protect the quality and integrity of this community. And none of this is meant as scolding, only meant to improve Wealthy Affiliate as a whole.

I just received a very disturbing email from one of my followers. She was given some absolutely atrocious advice (she was told to limit all content on her website to 400-500 words maximum, and trim some of her currently above-and-beyond high quality content to meet this arbitrary rule), which fired me up so much that I had to write this blog post.

If you don't know 100% without a doubt that the advice you're giving to another member is completely accurate and will help their business, please either:

• Don't submit it, or at the very least...
• Clearly disclose that you're not 100% certain whether or not it's correct

Thank you all so, so much for being a loving community that wants to help others succeed. Really, it's what makes Wealthy Affiliate one of the strongest communities on the internet.

But if you're spreading poor advice that you haven't tested by producing real results and income within your business, WITHOUT disclosing it as an unexperienced or untested opinion, someone could spend hours making corrections on their site that severely damages their chances of succeeding in internet marketing.

By all means, continue being a helpful, loving, and likeminded community, but please don't limit someone else's chances by spreading poor training that you've picked up from another program. And if you feel like someone has given you questionable advice, ask yourself three things before following it:

1. How successful is this person with their own personal online business?
2. Do I know without a doubt that this person knows what they're talking about?
3. What is the potential impact or damage if this advice isn't 100% accurate?

Always err on the side of caution. If the answer to the above questions are any of the following:

1. "It doesn't look like they're very successful in their own online business."
2. "No."
3. "It could really hurt my site."

Just post another question within the community or ask someone you trust and know is successful. Let them or the rest of the community give you a little direction before you spend hours making changes based on one, potentially, untested opinion.

Best of luck to all of you, and I hope you crush your 2016 goals.