Is Wealthy Affiliate a Pyramid scheme? (4 FACTS!)
If you are a member of Wealthy Affiliate, you already know that the answer is no.
But if anyone ever claims you that "WA is a pyramid scheme", here are a few arguments that you can go through with him/her. You can also link this post to anyone who claims you something like that.
Obviously, anyone who claims that Wealthy Affiliate would be a pyramid scheme doesn't either know what he is talking about and he's just very ignorant.
Let's go through 4 criteria quickly.
4 Pyramid Scheme Criteria - One By One
1. There must be multiple downlines.
You know how the pyramid schemes are built:
You invite a member (let's call him Jack) and get paid for that..
Then Jack invites a new member (let's call him John) and you get paid for that too...
Then John invites a new member and you get paid for that too...
You get paid by "building a team" and always when your downline invites new members, you earn commissions.
Does this apply to Wealthy Affiliate? No.
2. The main purpose of the program is to invite more people to the system.
I don't know exact numbers but my personal guess is that 90-99% of the Wealthy Affiliate members make the most of their income from other sources than by promoting Wealthy Affiliate.
You learn here skills such as:
- How to build a website
- How to get traffic to your website
- How to build a YouTube channel
- How to make money with your website and a YouTube channel
- How to do email marketing
- Basics of paid advertising
- How to do local marketing online
- Etc. Etc.
Those are all REAL-LIFE SKILLS that you can use to get employed by almost any company as long as you can provide them value.
3. Pyramid Schemes sell products to their members that have High prices
First of all, Wealthy Affiliate is like 10 times cheaper than other similar products in the industry. Let's take just 2 examples
STM vs Wealthy Affiliate
- Popular affiliate marketing forum STM costs $99/month just for the forum!
- Wealthy Affiliate provides forum, domain hosting, step-by-step online business training, keyword tool, live support, weekly webinar training, etc. for $49/month.
Long Tail Pro vs Wealthy Affiliate
- Popular keyword tool Long Tail pro costs $537/year just for the keyword tool!
- Wealthy Affiliate provides forum, domain hosting, step-by-step online business training, keyword tool, live support, weekly webinar training, etc. for $495/year.
Conclusion:
Wealthy Affiliate is providing their services for much cheaper than other similar products in the market.
Wealthy Affiliate would still be CHEAP if they would 2x their prices!
And the last but not least...
4. Pyramid Schemes are built on "Hype", not on Real, Tangible Things
In order to succeed in anything, you'll need to have 2 things right:
- Mindset
- Tactics
You need to know the steps to do to succceed (=tactics) and then you'll need to do them (=mindset).
Pyramid schemes never tell you the real tactics because the only thing they teach you is how to recruit more members.
Wealthy Affiliate training is very unique because the main focus is on real steps. Immediately from the lesson 2, you'll start learning steps that will make you money over time.
Then each lessons builds on top of each other and you sharpen your SKILLS.
I could continue the list but let this be enough for now... :)
Have a great day!
- Roope "Meeting lots of ignorant people online" Kiuttu
PS. I'd like to hear from you.
What specific SKILLS have you learned in Wealthy Affiliate?
Let us know in the comments below! :)
Recent Comments
69
Great post Roope,
You give a good explanation of a Pyramid program.
Over the years I have dabbled in other programs & only once on a Pyramid scheme - I did not stay long at all.
" Once bitten twice shy"
Although I have progressed very slowly here at WA,
The excellent training & the assistance available, if you just ask is incredible.
I treat WA as family.
Denis
Some nice comparisons there STM I used to be a member of - to be honest it was a great forum with a lot of well know experts taking part and sharing really hot stuff. But not so active as it used to be.
It is was perfect for guys like you - the travel info part was outstanding. You'd be able to verify the detail on our beloved Chiang Mai as being so detailed and accurate (even where and who to hire as a cleaner if you are too busy!, best local foods and attractions, apartments available - a lot not related to online business).
Comparing longtail pro to Jaaxy - really good comparison but so unfair on Longtail pro as when to dig deep and really use jaxxy it's a full on SEO suit without the backlink data.
You can do some really good competition research on teh SERPS with jaaxy
One thing missing from Wealthy affiliate is short course on fully using Jaaxy.
Good post Roope. Everything you say is true. WA is no pyramid scheme. There is no downline group feeding payments up to someone at the top of the pyramid.
The only thing I saw that was not clear is when you refer someone to WA and you get a commission from them, but that is all. If they refer someone - the money goes to them only.
You did say "No" WA does not work like that. But while that is clear to me and everyone else who is already at WA. It might not be clear to someone who is not familiar with WA.
Anyone who joins through a WA member that is the only commission that they get from that member.
This is one of the main reasons WA is such great value for money. There is nobody else to pay out of the monthly fee. WA can keep their prices low and offer the value they do because there is no one else to pay.
Alex
First off, I learned that I knew absolutely nothing, and then the real learning started. So much of the tech end of site building has become a little more clear to me. Secondly, I've learned a lot about writing, and have honed my skills. There are so many things learned, and yet to learn. One thing is certain, WA is not a pyramid scheme. I did pyramid way back in the day before anyone even heard of the internet. That was when it popular to sell soap or other products.
Good one Roope
Greg
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It's always good to get positive perspectives on activities that I participate in. It seems like naysaying always finds its way to the forefront when you are trying to succeed at something. I firmly believe that you can do anything you put your mind to. Even with pyramid schemes, if you work hard at them, you can succeed in that also.