Wealthy Affiliate is a hub for online entrepreneurs to learn how to run an online business through websites that focus on a very targeted passion or interest of their choice.
The company was started in 2005 by Kyle Loudon and Carson Lim who discovered the affiliate marketing model in their college days before creating the platform to teach others.
The company has grown from a couple thousand members to millions who have at least given their free starter membership a try.
This is not your typical “make $10k by tomorrow” or “join me here to make money” type program but rather a full blown education/website creation platform that can be used for any business like you see with the services that Godaddy and Hostgator provide with a whole lot more support and of course their education.
So before I proceed with this review, do understand that this is not like a network marketing business or any other recruiting based program if that’s what you’re thinking.
There are two memberships that come with the site and that is it.
You can either be a free member and test drive the overall platform or you can become a premium member and get complete access to the site that includes everything I am about to dig into in this review.
Either way, that is all you can expect if you do decide to join.
Table of Contents
Free VS Premium Membership
The free membership is more like a free trial as it will limit your access after your first 7 days, so don’t go thinking you are going to be making thousands of dollars just by becoming a free member of WA.
I have seen it too many times when people come in for free and then complain when they aren’t making any money.
WA teaches you how to run YOUR business and they do not teach you how to promote them to make money although there is their bootcamp that will teach you how to do just that.
Being apart of many “make money from home” type programs in the past, I can assure you that you will not get a free trial simply because those other programs will not benefit anyone unless you get someone to pay.
With WA, you get a 100% free trial and you do not need to put in any credit card info so that they can take your money from you later like every other company does.
Again, most members get confused with the free membership as they lose access for certain features after 7 days, so do understand that this is more of a trial and will require an investment on your part.
Not to say that you can’t make money without going premium but without the training and support, your chances are really slim.
Get Your 100% FREE WA Trial Here
What You Get
By taking advantage of their free trial, you can expect to gain access to 7 free courses, access to a community of thousands of members, the live chat feature, and all the other tools that WA provides to build and grow your business, minus the private messaging and access to the owners.
Once your 7 days are up you can either take them up on their $19 first month offer but to continue the following month you will need to pay $49 every single month moving forward.
There is also a yearly membership that you will be able to utilize once you become a premium member and that can get you to have your membership go as low as $29/month.
Sweet deal but I only recommend it to those who are ready to commit to their business as this is not a get rich quick type of thing that will make you money by tomorrow.
The premium membership gives you complete access to the site and you get…
- Affiliate marketing training
- Live weekly classes
- Community of online entrepreneurs
- Live chat
- Domain platform
- Website hosting
- Site support
- Keyword research tool
- Coaching
If you plan on creating a business online it is going to be like any other business, minus the high overhead costs it takes to start, run, and maintain one.
With WA, you will only be spending $49/month, which is insanely affordable and in my opinion is an absolute steal for what you get.
I once ran a bar and I spent over $5k just to operate, so being able to actually switch those figures around is a no-brainer decision on my part.
Spend $49 and make $10k rather than the other way around.
Now the other investment needed is going to be your time.
By going over the lessons you will still need to put in the work and have the patience needed to actually succeed.
If you can understand that much then WA might just be your way out of the rat race as I too have been able to accomplish that thanks to what they have to offer.
You can also see more on the memberships and what they have to offer below if you want to learn more, but let me just cover more on what WA has to offer if you are still in need of more info.
What in the World is Affiliate Marketing?
The affiliate marketing business model is one truly unique opportunity that is kind of hidden, thanks to all the scammers and gurus trying to tell you that they have a better way, when all they are trying to do is take your hard earned money.
Within my four years in the industry, this is the one that has been around and will not go anywhere simply because it is legit.
Affiliate marketing is nothing more than selling other people’s products (through your unique affiliate link), while earning a commission in the process.
By becoming a partner with Amazon, Ebay, or even WA for that matter, you will be able to make money by simply promoting their products.
Almost every single store online has an affiliate program that you can signup for and make money.
The same stores you are buying from online has an affiliate program as well and most of the time an affiliate marketer is making money.
And if you don’t know how many people shop online, let’s just say that it is well over a billion.
Can you imagine getting 0.0001% of that pie?
The earning potential is through the roof and with what you will learn within WA, you will have a business that can and will make you money if you simply follow what they teach.
Pretty simple, right?
Well, there’s more to it than just that and that is what WA is for.
Ready to Get Started? Create Your Free WA Account Here!
How Wealthy Affiliate Works
You will start off by picking an interest or hobby that you already have.
So let’s say you are into remote controlled cars, that is what you will build your website around.
You will need to pick a topic and then narrow it down into something very specific, from which you will then learn how to monetize using the affiliate marketing model.
You see how this very site you are on (askdads.com)?
Well it is very much designed to help parents and most especially dads find the right products all while saving time and money.
Now there are several links on this site that will allow me to make money if you even just click on them.
Yup, I make money just from having ads on my site.
Now the main goal with my site is of course to have my visitors click on a link that will lead to Amazon.com or something and that is also another way I will get paid.
Super simple and very much profitable if you can understand what a billion people looks like.
Top Notch Training
What you will learn within WA is a skill that will have you up to date with the latest techniques and strategies on getting traffic/customers to your website, that you will also be creating inside of WA.
The training is mostly conducted by Kyle but there are other affiliates on there that have created training on other topics as well, which will all be available to you as a member.
Every week there is also a live training conducted by Jay Neil that covers various issues related to today’s market.
It consists of a live Q&A that follows the training, which will all be done through the live chat feature inside of WA.
The training is really easy to follow and you will be able to pick right up where you left off from and it is a work at your own pace type of deal that allows you to do things whenever it is convenient for you.
24/7 Help and Support
This is the part of WA that I think is worth a lot more than the $49 price tag.
There are people out there trying to charge thousands of dollars for coaching but with WA, you get it as part of your membership.
Forget about a 1 hour coaching session that will not help you in any way and get help and support 24/7 within the WA platform.
If you have any questions, you can expect to get an answer from a huge community of online entrepreneurs through the many forums and threads as well as their live chat feature for quick answers.
Every now and then you will have one of the owners pop into the live chat, ready to help and give guidance to anyone who may need it.
You will not find a better support system on top of the great training anywhere else and this is part of why so many people succeed with the WA platform.
If of course you apply what is taught.
All Your Website Needs in One Place
When I first started my online career I had to have my domain in one place, hosting in another, and then I had to get it built somewhere else.
With WA, you get to do it all.
WA Domains
I used to work with Godaddy but after they started their own domain platform, I had all my sites transferred over to WA.
You will have to purchase them but it is very much cheaper than you would pay if you were to buy them with any of the top domain providers.
You pay one flat rate for a domain unlike the many up-sells that other providers tack on and that is why they are really the best.
None of the other providers offer 24/7 support either, so keep that in mind.
Hosting
Not all hosting services are created equal.
Most hosting providers start you off at like $3 but you will then find out that it is not the greatest and it will have you either looking to upgrade or find someone else to do it for you.
WA offers their in house hosting and it is available to you as a member.
Host up to 25 sites just for being a premium member as that alone with any hosting provider is very much going to cost you hundreds of dollars a month.
Site Builder
There are many site building platforms out there and again, WA has theirs.
You can literally have your very own website up and running in less than 30 seconds with their 4 simple steps.
I remember when building a website required a lot of waiting just for any changes that were made.
These days, WA has fixed all of that.
Once your site is live, you will be able start customizing it the way you want it to look.
And with thousands of free website themes to choose from, you can have a site ready to go without doing much changing.
Site Health
This is another awesome feature that WA has to offer.
If you take a look at the screenshot above, you can see one of my sites that I created and how it needs improvement.
Not because I’m slacking but because it is a site that I plan on using in the future.
It shows you how many posts/pages you have and what needs work.
Nice little way to keep you on track with your business and can only be found at WA.
Site Content
As a newbie to the online marketing world you will find it hard to get things organized.
Site content is a feature inside of WA that allows you to keep tabs on what you are writing as well as give you the option to customize templates for future posts within WA.
From there you are able to add your content and publish it directly to your site
Not to mention the free images that you will normally have to pay for if you were to get them outside of WA.
Site Support
This is a big deal for anyone who owns a website.
If you’ve ever been with any hosting provider out there you will know that there is no such thing as 24/7 support.
If your site goes down, you will need to submit a request that will only be attended to the following day, if they even get around to it.
With WA, you will have your site up and running within minutes.
As a businessman in the online world, you can not afford to have your site down at all and with their site support, you can expect it to be running 24/7.
Are There Any Hidden Fees?
There are absolutely no up-sells within WA.
Unlike almost every other program out there that claim to make you money that comes with a “do you want fries with that” pitch, WA is one price and one price only.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with up-sells in any other niche but when it comes to the make money from home world, you have to be straight forward and not throw in any added costs.
If you claim you are going to make me X amount of dollars with your program for X dollars, then that should be it.
Period.
Again, WA doesn’t claim to make you any money but still only one of a handful of opportunities on the net.
Create Your 100% Free WA Account Here!
Who Can Join Wealthy Affiliate?
WA used to be available to everyone but due to a high amount of fraud, the free trial is not available to people in these countries.
- Nigeria
- Philippines
- Vietnam
- Pakistan
- Bangladesh
- Egypt
- India
Thanks to those trying to game the system, you can not get a free membership within WA.
However, if you are interested in joining, you can actually get in but only as a premium member.
Now if you are a stay at home mom or dad or anyone looking to supplement your income and/or quit your job, then this will definitely work for you.
Being that it is done online and can be done at anytime of the day, you are able to work on your business whenever the time is right for you.
So if you feel that you need to quit your job to focus on this, then rest assured that you can very much do this completely part-time.
Once you start making enough money to make you live comfortably then you can quit your job or continue to do both.
But it is definitely for anyone who is looking to build a legitimate online business.
Will Wealthy Affiliate Work?
WA has worked for me and many others but of course that does not mean it will work for everyone.
If kids in high school are making money using the training in side of WA, then what does that tell you?
I say this because some people are driven and determined while others just think it is going to happen within a week of joining the program.
If you are patient and you can understand how everything works, then I can guarantee you that you will make money online.
If you are flat out lazy and not willing to put in the work, I can promise you that you will not make a single penny.
Making money through affiliate marketing requires a lot of time and patience as you will not be rewarded for your efforts immediately, so if you can’t understand that much, you are just wasting your time.
WA Complaints?
Every single company/opportunity has many complaints.
Some like it, some love it, and others flat out hate it.
At least that’s how it is when it comes to MLM or any other recruiting based program.
When it comes to WA, it’s really hard to find any type of complaints as it is really just a platform for affiliate marketing and no one promises anything.
The only complaints you will ever see from WA are from those members that get in trying to spam the site with their “opportunities”.
The platform is so strict that once you try to do some kind of spamming, you will get blocked.
Other than that, you won’t find many unhappy members as even just the community is that amazing.
I like to look at WA as the Facebook for online entrepreneurs.
Final Verdict: Legit
Wealthy Affiliate is as legit as they come and one of the handful of legitimate ways to make money online.
Although it might not work for everyone, the overall platform is legit and in no way, shape, or form a recruiting ponzi or get rich quick scheme.
If building an online business is what you are looking to do, then this is for you.
If you are looking to make money as soon as tomorrow, then I’m sorry to say but none of that is going to happen.
Final Thoughts
I used to think that multilevel marketing was the only way for me to get out of the rat race until I came across Wealthy Affiliate.
With the fact that every member is working on their own specific niche, you can expect to get real help and support unlike you would with MLM where you would only get help if you were benefitting that person.
At the very least, give the free membership a try so you can see if it is the right fit for you.
Now the ultimate reason to join WA is the fact that I am currently a member and you will get help and support from me!
The knowledge you will gain from what is taught inside of WA will allow you to not just work from home but you will know exactly how to generate money form the internet without even thinking.
Join for free today and you will see exactly how I was able to work from home full-time and how you can too.
Click Here to Create Your Free WA Account
Wealthy Affiliate - Conclusion
Summary
Through all my experience and “trying” of many ways to make money online, WA is the only one that I can truly say is the real deal. You are building a real business that offers real products and you are not getting others to “join you” in your latest and greatest business venture. I have to give these guys 5/5 stars and I definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking to start a legitimate online business.