The Wealthy Affiliate Review for 2018 – Scam or Legit?

The Wealthy Affiliate Review for 2018

I first joined Wealthy Affiliate in December 2013 when I first began searching for ways to make money online, and I wrote my first WA review back in 2014, but seeing as there have been so many improvements to the WA platform over the last 4 years I thought it was time to update my Wealthy Affiliate review for 2018!

Introduction

So is Wealthy Affiliate a scam or legit?

Well as I said before, I first joined Wealthy Affiliate back in 2013 and I was immediately impressed with their platform and felt that I had found what I had been searching for… and I must say that over the last 4 years I haven’t been disappointed!

Over that time, I have learned to build websites, make money through various affiliate programs (including WA) and have really begun to build a sustainable online business for the long-term!

So definitely not a scam!

In fact, WA emphasises that only time and hard work will lead you to success online, and if you have “the get rich quick” mentality, then you are destined to be chasing after one shiny object to another and just spinning your wheels!

Essentially, Wealthy Affiliate will teach you how to make money online through a process call affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is where you promote and market other people’s products (affiliate offers) and when a sale is made, you make money, and the product owner makes money as well… a win-win for both parties!

Here’s how the process works in four simple steps:

How it works

 

Step one – Choose an Interest

So what are your passions?

What interests you?

What are your hobbies?

What are you good at?

What are you interested in learning about?

There are millions of potential topics (or niches as we call them online) that you can tap into to earn a healthy income and build a successful business around.

If you build an online business around your passions or at least something that you are interested in learning about, then the chance of you sticking to it and making your business a success is so much greater… and WA will show you how you can turn that passion into a thriving online business!

Step two – Build a Website

Having your own website is like having your own storefront, only one that is open all over the world 24/7, 365 days of the year!

Wealthy Affiliate has the most advanced website and hosting platform in the world, as well as being very simple to use.

Having your website as the centrepiece of your online business is essential to your success!

Maybe, you are thinking that you don’t have the technical skills or knowledge to build your own website, right?

Well with WA’s sophisticated website builder, you can actually build a website in about 30 seconds just with a few clicks of a mouse, and WA will provide all of the training to continue building out your site!

It’s really not that difficult.

I hardly knew anything about computers when I first started my business but by following their step-by-step training I have now built out several websites, as well as written eBooks, put together online courses, and even built out complex sales funnels with comprehensive email campaigns!

Honestly, if I can do it, anyone can!

You just have to follow the training step-by-step!

Step three – Attracting Visitors

Now you may have built a beautiful website and added some great content, but the bad news is that if no one visits your site, then you can’t make any money.

The good news is that there are close to 4 billion Internet users in the world and WA will teach you how you can get your website ranked on the first page of the search engines such as Google and Bing so that these users can then find and visit your site!

Attracting “traffic” to your site will be the lifeblood of your business and WA will teach you the most up to date methods from search engine optimisation (SEO), to Pay Per Click, and using social media!

Also, WA has just recently incorporated the best “keyword research tool” on the market as part of the membership area to help you skyrocket traffic to your site!

Step four – Earning revenue

Once you have traffic to your site then you can start to add different affiliate offers in your content.

Affiliate programs allow you promote and sell just about anything you can imagine without having to own or create the product yourself.

No inventory.

No shipping.

No product support!

And you can be located and operate your business from anywhere in the world at any time of the day and night, all year round!

There are thousands of affiliate programs with millions of products you can promote, earning up to 75% in some cases.

Amazon is probably one of the most well-known affiliate programs you can join, but there are many, many, more in just about any niche you could possibly think of!

Who is behind Wealthy Affiliate?

Wealthy Affiliate first began back in 2005 with two guys name Kyle Louden and Carson Lim, more commonly known just as Kyle and Carson.

Initially, I believe WA started as a Pay Per Click platform but has evolved over time to what it is today!

One thing you can say is that Kyle and Carson never rest on their laurels, and they are always looking to update the training and tools so that the WA platform remains the industry standout and leader.

Jay is another guy behind the scenes and he does the weekly webinar for premium members of WA, that is pure marketing gold!

I am sure there are more people behind the scenes, but these three guys do most of the core training.

What’s bad about Wealthy Affiliate?

Okay, I am not going to lie to you, WA is not perfect… pretty close, but not quite, so I will outline the few ugly truths about WA!

• It can be overwhelming for newbies – There really is a lot of information, training and working pieces in the member area.

I can’t count the number of times that people ask what to do and miss really simple things because they are jumping around all over the place! (PRO-TIP – Click on the big green getting started button certification button at the top left-hand corner of the member area and go through each training tutorial one by one, step by step, and take action as you go)

• The community interaction can be a trap – While one of WA’s greatest benefits is that it is made up of a community of hundreds of thousands of helpful, supportive, and interactive members of both experienced and newbie online marketers… but this can also be a big trap.

Many people get caught up in the community aspect and as a result, often neglect their own websites – I’ve also been guilty of this in the past, and have found myself getting involved in discussions, live chat and doing tutorials and blogs in the member area, when the time could have been much better spent actually working on my business.

You have to remain focused on the core things that will give you the biggest results… and number one is working on your site!

• THIS IS NOT A GET RICH QUICK SCHEME – I wish I had a dollar for how many times I hear the question asked, “How long before I make money, or a full-time income, or some similar term… Sorry, but this takes actual time and effort!

There is an emphasis on blogging and building out content for your website and this actually takes time! It’s all a numbers game, the more content you can produce, the better your results you will be!

It really is a snowball effect, it starts out very slowly, like it’s not even moving, then slowly gains momentum until finally, your business takes off with the force of a freight train!

The reality is that sadly, most people are unwilling, for whatever reason, to either put in the work, or give themselves the time to succeed!

They would prefer to keep chasing that shiny object, rather than working hard following a proven formula… unfortunately that’s human nature, we want what’s easy… but what’s easier in the long run? The pain of putting in some work at the moment… or the pain of regret and missed opportunity?

• It can be hard to build momentum on the starter membership – While the starter membership is great and will get you up and running with an online business (and I recommend everyone start with the free membership) if you really want to be successful, you will definitely need to eventually invest in yourself and upgrade to premium.

There really is so much more benefit to Premium, that personally, I find it as a no-brainer, but in reality, many people struggle to find the $49 per month cost of Premium. (But what other business can you run for under $100 a month?)

I like to look at as not as a cost, but an investment in yourself, your life, and financial future!

• If you do decide to go Premium, you can’t go back – You can’t go back to the free version once you upgrade, so seriously consider that before you take the plunge.

Who is Wealthy Affiliate for?

Obviously, WA is for people that not only want to make some money online but also people that actually want to build a sustainable, long-term business online!

It is great for newbies to online marketing, but will also benefit very experienced online marketers! (Why else would I still be there after 4 years, and there are marketers that have been there a lot longer)

The website hosting, domain and support service alone, is industry leading and very cost effective!

Here are some other people that will benefit from WA:

• Someone that wants to earn some extra income
• Someone that wants to leave their full-time job
• Students after some extra income
• Retirees that want to supplement their pension (or soon to retire to top up their nest egg)
• People looking for legit ways to make money online after being ripped off or disillusioned by the many scams
• People sick of chasing after another “shiny object” and not getting anywhere
• People looking to escape the debt trap
• People wanting to work from home
• People between jobs
• Stay at home or single parents
• Struggling online marketers
• Affiliate marketers wanting to learn the right way
• Bloggers
• Experienced marketers looking to upgrade their skills and find a supportive peer group
• People struggling that want to improve their lives
• People with money worries keeping them awake at night
• People looking for a vehicle to create wealth and become rich ( It is possible with work and time)
• And so many more…

So what’s in the member area? Let’s talk about Wealthy Affiliate’s training

As I mentioned earlier, the first step is to click the green button and start with the Online Entrepreneur Certification – Getting Started Module 1

This 10 lesson course will walk you through the steps of creating a successful, revenue-producing online business and will help you realise your potential as an online business owner!

There are a further 4 modules after module 1, but you will have to upgrade to Premium to access the further modules.

Here is a sneak peek of what’s included in the training.

Module 1:

Module 2:

Here’s the outline of all of the modules:

Now you may have noticed that it tells me that I am up to level 3 of the training, and the reason for that is that at this point in the training it gives you two options: You can either continue the training with your own niche following your own passions and interests (For example cooking, video games, fitness, sports, guitar playing or a million others) or you can choose a pre-chosen niche for you, the “make money online niche” promoting Wealthy Affiliate itself.

I chose this niche as it was my interest and passion, and I continue to promote Wealthy Affiliate today as well as other relevant affiliate offers in the “make money online, financial freedom, online marketing, and personal development” niches that I use and believe add value, as well as creating my own information products and coaching services.

Anyway, back to the Affiliate Bootcamp training, here’s the outline:

There is also another two phases that teach you how to scale your business with paid advertising, specifically Pay Per Click advertising. (PPC)

So what else?

Weekly, Live Webinars

As mentioned earlier, Jay provides weekly live webinars on a variety of current and evergreen topics.

This is also a Premium feature, but I believe they are worth the price of upgrading alone, and replays are always available.

Here are some of the recent topics that rounded out 2017:

Online Marketing Classrooms

There are even whole classrooms on a variety of different elements that make up a successful online business, such as SEO, email marketing, social media marketing and others.

Many of the members of WA also create their own training tutorials to help out their fellow members and you can locate those tutorials in the “activity dashboard”.

What tools do Wealthy Affiliate have?

Not only do WA have world-class training for you to learn how to build an online business, they also offer some of the best tools in the marketplace, so read on:

Websites and Hosting

WA uses the Site-Rubix website building platform and it is simply the most powerful website building platform in the world.

It is also the easiest to use.

All it takes is four easy steps to build your site taking an average of 34 seconds, with people ranging from 8 to 97 years of age building a site on the platform.

There are over 3000 different themes you can choose from, so there is a theme that will suit anybody and any niche.

WA also take the security of your site very seriously, with first-class security monitoring, they also offer free SSL certificates with your site, and if there are ever any problems at all, support is on hand 24 hours a day with an average 1 minute response time.

 

Whether you are just getting started online or looking to grow an existing business to a new level, WA’s hosting platform (called “SiteRubix”) will remain robust and powerful every step of the way.

WA will provide you with 2 free websites on the starter plan and up to 50 websites on the premium level!

People are running million dollar businesses on WA’s platforms and can support your business from startup to any level you can think of in the future!

WA sites are simply quicker, (using SiteSpeed) and more secure. ( Site SSL & Site Protect Spam blocker)

Domains

WA also offer a premium domain service at probably the most reasonable price seen in the industry.

At a $13.99 flat fee with no upsells, and everything included, you can see why I have moved all of my domains over to the WA platform.

Keyword Tool

WA have long had their own keyword tool for their members to use, but just recently that have added, what is in my opinion, the best keyword tool on the market, Jaaxy, directly into the membership area for you to use.

Jaaxy was also developed by Kyle and Carson, but until recently was a separate “upsell” if you like, but now in what I believe is a big win for WA members, it is included for everyone.

What support is there?

As I mentioned earlier, site support is on hand 24 hours a day, and I know first hand, that any minor issues I have had, they have been sorted out very quickly.

WA has also put into place some systems to get support from the community of Wealthy Affiliate itself to help you succeed.

Site Comments

Site comments is a feature that allows you to get “credits” by commenting on other members blog posts which you can then use to receive comments on blog posts of your own.

Getting engagement on your sites with comments is an important factor for ranking in the search engines, and using this feature really helps with that process.

Site Feedback

Site feedback works in the same way, but it is more intended to get other members ideas, opinions, and feedback on your site as a whole.

Benefitting from other members ideas and experience online can help you succeed much faster.

Site Content

Site Content is another recent feature of WA’s platform and can be used to write out all of your blog content for your site.

While I haven’t really used this feature myself yet, other members are really loving it and I plan to check it out further in 2018.

The Wealthy Affiliate Community

One of the greatest elements of WA is the amount of help and support you get from the member base itself, and I believe this is what really sets WA apart from anything else in this industry.

Not only do Kyle and Carson appear regularly to answer questions and provide further training and blog updates, but there are always people in the community member base to help you out as well.

In fact, WA actively encourages this type of help and engagement.

There is a live chat feature, a platform where you can ask questions and you can even write your own blogs and create training tutorials for the community.

There is also an “Ambassador” incentive program that rewards the most active and helpful members.

One thing you will discover is that as you begin to change your life and learn new things by building an online business, often your friends and family won’t understand your journey, and sadly, often discourage and ridicule you for doing so.

This is where having such a supportive and helpful community such as Wealthy Affiliate in your corner is pure gold.

What else? How about earning while you’re learning, with the Affiliate Program

That’s right!

WA practices what it preaches and has its own affiliate program.

So for each person that you refer to WA that goes Premium, you earn ongoing, recurring income, month after month!

Here’s a breakdown of the process:

By following the Affiliate Bootcamp training, you will soon be earning while you’re learning, and you only need a couple of Premium referrals to have your tuition fully covered!

There is also the added incentive of a trip to Vegas if you get 300 referrals in a year!

That’s right, if you get 300 Premium referrals in a calendar year then Kyle and Carson will fly you to Las Vegas for the Wealthy Affiliate super conference at their expense.

Every year you have the chance to mastermind with some of the most successful online marketers on the planet!

Are you going to be on the plane?

MUST READ: Vegas 2017, Epic. Vegas 2018 Will Be Next Level

Okay, Wealthy Affiliate sounds great, but what’s the price?

Free!

Free to start with no credit card required!

There is a Premium membership that is $49 per month, but there is no obligation to upgrade and you can remain a Starter member forever if you wish!

See the chart below:

There is also a yearly option that will save you even more money and if can you wait until November, you can grab the “Black Friday Special” on yearly membership for only $299 – That’s what I did, and it equates to less than $25 a month! (An absolute steal for what value you receive in return!)

Don’t just take my word for it, here’s what the members are saying!

So does Wealthy Affiliate work?

Absolutely!

WA has provided a PROVEN formula for you to follow to build a business and succeed online – BUT you must be willing to work for it!

If you are willing to learn, ask questions if you get stuck, and keep working hard then you will have success!

It’s inevitable!

It’s only a matter of time!

But sadly, most people won’t give themselves that time!

Most people will give up!

That’s just the reality!

BUT, if you are sick of the status quo and are willing to put in the time and effort, then Wealthy Affiliate has provided you with the blueprint to follow for success!

It has worked for others, and it will work for you if are willing!

MUST READ: 7 Years Of Success Stories 2010 – 2017

Your Next Steps:

So in summary, If you want to build a business online in 2018, whether it’s full-time or as a side-hustle to your day job, then Wealthy Affiliate is the place to do so.

Over the last 4 years that I have been a member of WA, it has proven to be the best decision that I ever made!

VERDICT: The Wealthy Affiliate Review for 2018 – Scam or Legit? – LEGIT! – 5 Stars!

*BONUS*

If you decide to join Wealthy Affiliate as a FREE starter member TODAY, I want to offer you my services as an online business mentor, so if you ever want to run some ideas by me, or you need a hand with anything, feel free to reach out.

Take advantage of my over 4 years of experience as a WA member!

So what are you waiting for?

Wealthy Affiliate can make a difference in your life in ways you can only imagine!

Click Here To Join WA for FREE Today and I will see you in the member area:

 

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below.

To your freedom,

John W. Newman

Helping you create TIME AND FINANCIAL FREEDOM by building a PROFITABLE Business Online!

Dream It… Believe It… Then Achieve It!

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