Two Years at Wealthy Affiliate!
Hello My Fellow Members of Wealthy Affiliate!
Today I received my 2 year badge!
When I joined WA 2 years ago I decided that I would always post my status as I reach the 'year' milstones - partly because I think it's great for newcomers to be able to read about other members' progress. I remember when I was a newbie and I was soooo excited, i thought I would make it big time in a few months, but I couldn't find any reference to what people were doing after they finished the training.
So here is my update of where I am after 2 years. . .
I love being a member of Wealthy Affilitate becuase it has taught me what I know about owning and building my own websites. I'm a long long way off being an expert, but when I joined here I knew absolutely nothing. I think I will always be a member of Wealthy Affilitate.
WA gives us such a great education with positive support, and all at an amazing value price. I love it here.
In the Beginning:
Initially I tried to write 2 blogs - one following the bootcamp training and another following the 'normal' training. I soon realised that the bootcamp site wasn't for me because I didn't feel that I knew enough about web building or making money online to be able to help others achieve that dream. So I stopped writing on that blog and just left it alone incase one day in the future I decide to revive it. I still own it and it's still live.
After 6 months I did the same with my second blog, I left it dormant while I started my third blog, a recipe and lifestyle site. For another year I built up my recipe blog and then decided to do 2 blogs alongside each other. I posted regularly (2 or 3 x per week) and set up a mailing list as well as a facebook page. But despite my best efforts I haven't managed to get much readership to my sites. I eventually stopped posting the Amazon links becuase I wasn't getting any clicks or sales.
And so I am at a crossroads. If I spend the day boosting and posting on facebook groups, I get a peak in traffic, but left to Google traffic, I get under 10 visits per day. I now have 2 blogs but have just recently stopped posting twice a week because it feeles like a false pressure - to perform for an absent audience.
Now:
Right now I'm taking a deep breath and wondering what I should do to proceed. It no longer seems realistic to think that if I post religiously, I'll get traffic. I think I have to do somthing differently if I want to get a different result. All my keywords fit the criteria of over 90 SEO score, under 100 competition and over 100 traffic. Yet Google hasn't ranked any of my pages on the first page.
But it isn't all bad news. I love my blogs and I'm sure I will find the next stepping stone. And in the meantime, I've crossed a boundry from being someone with no online presence, two years ago, to being someone who has 2 blogs, an elementary understanding of building websites, and a detirmination to grow!
The path is exciting and the journey is unfolding. And it's thanks to Wealthy Affiliate; Kyle and Carson; the technical team; and all the wonderful co-members who form this supportive, positive and friendly online family.
Wishing you all the best with your online endevours!
Soraya x
Recent Comments
42
Hi Soraya,
Congratulations on your 2nd Anniversary!
When Sue an I joined WA a while back, We went through the Certified Training and Bootcamp Courses and we decided to devote one website to WA affiliate niche and one to aviation niche.
I ran into the same problem as you on the WA affiliate site, it became harder and harder to write an article without duplicating context.
I am currently going back to Bootcamp and restudy the training for new ideas and refreshing myself in this area.
The aviation site is easy because I know a lot more about airplanes and aviation and with Wikipedia, I can research a lot of material.
What I am saying in all this is, sometimes we have to stop and regroup and learn something new or relearn it and then press on with what we have learned. I am strongly convinced that this system at Wealthy Affiliate will work and is working.
Best wishes for a successful decision that will lead to your business growth.
Bill
Absolutely Bill,
I agree that this system works and will work. I haven't been doing this exactly the way it's laid out and I'm aware of that - and it's all cool and fine and a wonderful journey! I'd call it a great ongoing success story!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting and wishing you all the best for your two sites!
Best wishes,
Soraya
Happy Anniversary! I think many of us can relate to your progress. You have accomplished a lot and since there is so much left to learn, I bet you'll be here another 2 years. I know I will....and of course WA will! Enjoy.
Debbie
Hi Debbie Rose,
Thank you! And for sure I'll be here for another 2 years - I'll be here forever!! Wishing you all the best and thank you for your wishes!
Soraya
Congratulations on your 2 years anniversary and receive your badge. You have made another milestone and that is great. Just keep on going and maybe one day sooner then later you will make some money.
Mary
Congratulations on your 2 years! It can sometimes be tough with your websites and I definitely understand where you're coming from. I have 2 websites myself, one where I get to promote Wealthy Affiliate and another where I target a segment of the video game niche. My game site is my first website and I have 250+ posts on there, but not very many of them rank on the first page of Google (I have a few that do) and I have earned some revenue from my first site, but it doesn't amount to much. I've earned some from Google AdSense, but still a long ways to go before I reach the payout threshold and I just have a few small affiliate sales through Amazon, but that is all.
I don't get tons of traffic either, but once in awhile I'll get some spikes sometimes like upwards of 50 to 100 on some days and then it'll quickly drop back down to 5-25 per day. I think a lot of my problem is that I don't do enough reviews and I don't link some of my posts to the few reviews I have where my affiliate links are as well. That's something I plan on changing in the future.
Right now though, my focus has actually shifted back to my second website where I get to promote Wealthy Affiliate as I have come up with some great ideas for a brand new article series. I really want to promote WA and earn money that way and so I'm also currently going through the Affiliate Bootcamp. Best of luck to you and keep us updated on your progress!
Hi Brian,
Thank you for your visit and your comment!
It resonates with me when you say that you believe the low traffic could be related to not doing many reviews. I personally haven't actually applied the real system in all its integrity (no reviews) as I've focussed more on blogging than on internet marketing - and I must say I also think that the reviews are an important factor (although I'm still not planning on doing them lol ;) ).
I think it's a matter of finding what 'sits right' with each person. I'm just glad of all the skills I'm learning (and have learnt) and I am keeping on going forward.
Thank you so much, and wishing you all the best of luck with your two sites and your new series of posts for promoting WA!
Best wishes,
Soraya
Congrats on your 2-year anniversary, Soraya and continuing to make good progress. You can do this just don't give up. You never know when success will appear just around the next corner.
It hasn't happened for me yet either but I know that it will if I just keep moving forward.
All the best and always,
Keep Moving Forward,
Wayne
Hi Wayne!
Thank you for the congratulations!
Don't worry, I'm not going to give up! And regarding success, although most people are reading this as a non-success story, I feel extremely successful! There's a long way to go but that's the characteristics of any journey, and I've come such a long way!
Maybe I didn't express myself clearly enough in my post . . . I'm not yet 'financially' successful - but that's just one aspect and it's my belief that that side will come in its own good time. I just need to consider all aspects of things and keep putting one foot in front of another. And maybe tweak a few things . . .
I appreciate your visit and your words, thank you!
Best wishes,
Soraya
Hi Soraya!
Thanks for sharing your experience here.
It is sometimes hard to realize that things haven’t gone the way we hoped, but I’m glad you haven’t quit.
I hope you find the answers that you can apply to your site and begin to see some success, and I hope you continue to share what you are doing.
Wishing you all the best.
KyleAnn
Hy KyleAnn!
Thank you for your message! I will most certainly keep going and I will share as the road unfolds! :)
Best wishes,
Soraya
Congratulations, not everyone will stick to WA for 2 years which is a real shame. Okay so you haven’t yet gotten a hugely profitable website but that is the reality for most.
Any business you start with zero knowledge is going to take time... online or otherwise.
I wish you every success in the future
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
Hi Karen,
Thanks for your comment and for the wishes for success!
I think it's sad to read: 'Ok so you haven't gotten a hugely profitable website but that is the reality for most.'
1. Do you mean that most people have their websites as a hobby? I feel that the training here isn't meant as training to start a hobby.
2. My sites are not just 'not hugely profitable' they are Non-profitable, i.e. zero income, zero sales. (But hey, that's ok.)
I mean this all in a friendly tone! I'm not complaining to you and I wasn't posting my two year mark to complain either, but I am perplexed by your answer...? Are you saying that it's a matter of more time?
Best wishes!
Soraya
I am sorry if my comment sounded negative, it wasn’t meant to be.
What I meant was that there is a lot to learn and to implement and most people cannot go full time until the money starts coming in. This means that it will take time to build up a regular income.
Not everyone will stick at and continue to build their website.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
Hi Karen! Oh I see! Yes, good point! It's true about the cycle of needing to have an income before going full time and needing to be full time in order to get the income!
I will keep on keeping on!
All the best,
Soraya
best of luck soraya, i'm very surprised though that after 2 years you have have not seen any results.
I wonder. Have you made any money at all from this?
Additionally, as long as you are going to remain here, you may as well write.
I hadn't considered the concept of a vacant audience. Instead, I'm learning stuff. Even though I know quite a bit within my niche, I have to stay from writing to find a statistic and BAM!! I not only learn something new, I find subject matter for use in a future article.
Your articles are yours and can always be used by you. Write out of your own interest but style it for the masses.
Thanks John,
No, I haven't made any money at this. And I do intend to keep writing, but at the moment, I'm just writing when the moment grabs me as opposed to treating it like an obligation that the new post has to be out on the same day twice a week. I don't say this is the 'right' move, it just happened. I think I will keep growing and writing and let thing happen organically. I'm a believer in everything happening for a reason and everything happening at the right moment. So we'll see! Thanks for your comment! :)
All the best!
Soraya
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Congratulations, and Happy Anniversary.
Thank you spirit wolf! :)