Edit/Update 5th June 2018
I have since
started to recommend again Wealthy Affiliate as a fairly-ok-to-good platform to learn and build passive income internet businesses; they have
very strong support, robust discussion/forums, strong fundamental online
business training programs, and best of all, there is a free-for-life
basic membership program where you can learn the basics of online
business, get 2 free websites and webhosting too (sign up for the free for life Wealthy Affiliate account here)
Yes, one of their strong points is that you can stay as a free basic member for life if you want to, or once you've learnt as much as you can from the basic level and want to level up, you can opt to upgrade to be a premium member at $49 per month or $359 per year (the yearly option is much cheaper).
The reason why I decided to not promote Wealthy Affiliate then was because they do not provide a refund if you pre-paid for their yearly membership; instead you have to wait out your membership – I disagree with this approach.
Another thing I disagreed on was that they also call themselves "the only online business platform you ever need", which isn't true.
However, I realize that though it wouldn't be the same commercial decision I would ever make for my businesses, but I will respect theirs. Wealthy Affiliate is good because it is an affordable way to learn how to build profitable affiliate marketing and Amazon associate businesses in a very smooth and friendly environment.
Wealthy Affiliate monthly membership is USD 49 or yearly USD 360 per premium account, and the magic is that you can have up to 50 websites/domains (additional USD 12-14/year per domain), which allows you to try many different businesses and topics "to find which one click and stick".
Note that I will still use Solo Build It for authority sites, especially once I've found "the money making sites" from testing and time. Eg I can have multiple websites in Wealthy Affiliate, but for those strong money making and proven sites, I will port them to Solo Build It, because of my experience with them since 2009.
Basically use Wealthy Affiliate to learn and explore, then port the winners to Solo Build It =D
I shared in an earlier series of posts called
In summary, I had too many websites/providers on my hand (about 30+ websites across 3 providers) and with a new baby coming on board, I need to realistically streamline the amount websites and providers I had and I decided to cut down my Wealthy Affiliate membership and the WP sites I have on them.
It's not because they're bad; if anything, the level of support, the love and strength of the community/forum, and Kyle and Carson are great (easy to connect with and you can just message them directly).
It's just that realistically, I've limited time/energy, and I'd like to focus, and WA to me was the optional one. So I dropped them a note that I'd like to cancel my membership, and they dropped me an email to say that they're sorry to see me go.
I know I had prepaid for my membership there, so I asked for a membership refund, and I got this email:
Basically I've prepaid up to 597 days in advance for Wealthy Affiliate, and what Wealthy Affiliate is saying that I will not get any refunds, instead, my account will expire in 597 days.
newbies can be overwhelmed with the sheer amount of things to learn (but that happens anywhere in any courses)
This time I disagree with the rationale that Wealthy Affiliate has an option to enjoy around 40% discount by paying for the annual membership BUT note that it's not refundable at this point in writing.
It was mentioned that the affiliate commissions had already been paid out, so they cannot refund the amount (I hope that this isn't the ONLY reason, because if it is, then it's a slippery slope).
I know for any businesses, paying good and timely sales commission is important to keep getting new customers in, which keeps the business robust and strong, but on the other hand, to me Wealthy Affiliate is similar to a gym: we go there to strengthen our understanding, experience and outcomes in internet marketing.
(And yes maybe they say that it's not refundable also because it's written in the agreement and that they don't want us to give up half way, fine.)
This is my only gripe about Wealthy Affiliate, and their community, support and training is still highly rated.
I've been writing and comparing between Site Build It (now known as Solo Build It) and Wealthy Affiliate for some time now, and here is a stark difference: Site Build It REFUNDS pro-rated, and sucks up any affiliate fees.
Their idea is, if you don't use it, then don't pay for it.
Which I agree philosophically and commercially.
Moving forward, I will recommend Solo Build It in higher priority, and share with you some ideas why I've struggled between these two, and how I ended up deciding with Solo Build It again. Read my Solo Build It review here.
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