Is Wealthy Affiliate A Scam?
So, is Wealthy Affiliate a Scam or is it legit?
The whole “is Wealthy Affiliate a scam?” question is often asked by visitors here.
Let’s dive into it and break it down to see if it’s worth your time or if it’s just a waste of your money.
What is Wealthy Affiliate?
Wealthy Affiliate is an online platform that helps people build successful online businesses. They offer training, tools, a website builder, hosting, and a community of fellow marketers.
The Good Stuff
- Training and Resources: Wealthy Affiliate offers a ton of training materials to get an online business started. This includes video tutorials, live webinars, and step-by-step guides. For beginners, it’s a decent place to learn the ropes of marketing online.
- Community Support: One of the standout features is their community. There’s a forum where you can ask questions, get support, and network with other members. This can be really helpful when you’re just starting out and need some guidance or motivation to move forward.
- Web Hosting and Website Builder: They provide web hosting and a website builder (WordPress-based). This is handy because it’s an all-in-one solution. You don’t have to go hunting for separate hosting and site-building services. Getting a website online is as simple as picking a domain, installing WordPress and picking a theme.
- Starter Membership: Wealthy Affiliate offers a free starter membership. You get access to some basic training and a couple of websites to test the waters. This can help you decide if the platform is right for you before committing any money. You can see what’s available and if you think you can learn from it.
The Not-So-Good Stuff
- Upselling: This is really minor and completely transparent. While Wealthy Affiliate do offer a free starter membership, you’ll quickly find that to get the most value, you need to upgrade to the Premium membership to get all the training. It’s not outrageously priced, but it’s something to be aware of. Plus, there’s a higher-tier Premium Plus option, but yearly subs make things nearly 50% cheaper. Great value!
- A bit overwhelming for Beginners: Despite the structured training, some beginners find the sheer amount of information overwhelming at first. There’s a lot to learn, and it can be easy to get lost if you don’t stay focused. It’s therefore important to follow things through in a logical manner (it’s well laid out though) and not to operate a scattergun approach, but the training ensures that.
- Questionable Success Rates: While some people have found success with Wealthy Affiliate, it’s not a guaranteed path to riches, although it doesn’t claim to be. Affiliate and other marketing itself can be hit or miss, and a lot depends on your effort, your niche selection, and the market conditions. The niche is very important and if you pick a business with no market, you will most likely fail, but do that anywhere else and you’ll fail there too. The training helps you identify a good niche.
- Mixed Reviews: There are some mixed reviews about the platform online. Some users rave about it, while others claim it didn’t live up to their expectations. It’s important to take these reviews objectively and understand that individual results will vary. The whole platform is regularly refreshed these days, and the introduction of AI gives it a more modern feel and increases its scope.
Is Wealthy Affiliate a Scam or Legit?
I would definitely say No, Wealthy Affiliate is not a scam. For me, it’s a legitimate platform which has been around since 2005, that offers real training, tools, and support for people interested in online marketing. It got me started in 2018.
However, it’s not a magic bullet that will make you rich overnight, you’ll need to graft a bit!
Success in online marketing requires hard work, persistence, and sometimes a bit of luck. That is common to all business start-ups though.
If you’re a beginner looking for a structured way to learn about building an online business, Wealthy Affiliate could be a very good starting point for you.
Just be prepared to put in the work and understand that there are no guarantees of success.
My Opinion
Personally, I think Wealthy Affiliate is not a scam and is in fact a decent option if you’re new to the world of online business and want to get started in online marketing.
That is how I found it in 2018 when I wanted to start learning, and it’s improved a lot since then. The training is comprehensive, and the community can be a very valuable resource.
Use the platform as a learning tool and be ready to adapt and refine your approach as you gain more experience.
Also, realise that what you learn is transferable outside Wealthy Affiliate. Don’t limit yourself, take what you learn and transfer the skills to diversify.
If you’re more advanced or looking for cutting-edge tactics, the introduction of Hubs makes the whole thing far more sophisticated and functional.
In the end, it’s all about finding what works best for you and being ready to put in the effort to make your online business dreams a reality. Hope that helps.
Dave
Try it out free and you’ll find it’s not a scam at all. Just click the picture below to create your account.
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Been a member of WA since 2015. Definitely not a scam. Plenty to learn from if you’re into affiliate marketing. Don’t get your hope high if you’re after get-rich-quick stuff though. It’s all about learning and doing at WA.
Great review! I totally agree with your take on Wealthy Affiliate. It’s definitely not a scam. There’s solid training, useful tools, and a supportive community. I’ve found the free starter membership is a great way to test the waters without diving in headfirst.
The upselling aspect is something to be aware of, but like you said, it’s not hidden or deceptive. The Premium membership offers a lot more value, and I think the yearly subscription makes it quite affordable in the long run.
I also resonate with your point about the overwhelming amount of information for beginners. It can definitely feel like a lot at first, but sticking with the structured approach helps a lot. And, of course, success in affiliate marketing is all about persistence and effort. There’s no magic formula, but the skills you gain are transferable and valuable.
Thanks for sharing such a balanced view! For anyone new to affiliate marketing, Wealthy Affiliate seems like a great place to start, with a clear understanding that success comes from hard work and dedication.
Thank you, Dave, for this balanced view of Wealthy Affiliate. I particularly like the idea of you pointing out that you get out what you put in. In my general experience of life, I think you generally get out what you put in. If you do nothing, you get nothing. I would love you to answer one question for me. How, in your personal opinion, has the platform improved in recent years? I have done my due diligence, and a lot of the reviews say the training is outdated.
Hi Catherine,
Thanks for your comment. I think that it’s true in life in general that you get out what you put in. Wealthy Affiliate is no exception.
In my opinion, the platform has improved exponentially since I joined in 2018. The improvement has accelerated recently, with the development of the Business Hubs system and the incorporation of AI technology, making writing articles a lot easier than it ever used to be. There should be no ‘writers block’ now.
The new homepage will soon be upon us, with prospective members able to research their niche viability before joining Wealthy Affiliate. It will be possible to preload niches as part of the page, preventing all homepage illustrations looking the same.
As for the reviews saying the training is outdated, well, they themselves are now outdated!
The training at Wealthy Affiliate is refreshed every week and Kyle and the team are super-active in producing new content and ways of making life easier for us.
The value of the platform increases every day for me 🙂
Dave
Wealthy Affiliate is an amazing platform that has proven to help persons to have online success. I have been with this community for some time now and have seen what can happen when you take the tools and follow the training. I would encourage anyone who wants online success to give Wealthy Affiliate a try. The training here at this community is worth our money and our time.