I’ve Tried That - We lose money so you don’t have to!

This review will be focusing on one thing and one thing only: an in-depth and behind the scenes look at Wealthy Affiliate. For the past month, I have been following one of the methods taught at Wealthy Affiliate and now I plan to share with you, in full detail, my results with the program.

Like previous reviews, I took a beginner’s stance and worked through the program as if I had no experience doing any form of marketing online. It was a challenge not to use any previous knowledge, but I wanted to mirror the experience that a beginner, with no experience, would have if he or she were to join Wealthy Affiliate today.

Background Information on Wealthy Affiliate

The Wealthy Affiliate presell page boasts that it has turned tens of thousands of no-experience-beginners into successful Internet business owners by teaching them the methods of some of the best affiliate marketers in the world.

But wait, let's back up for a minute.

What is Affiliate Marketing?

It’s very simple: you own a web site where you sell other people’s or companies’ products and make a commission on each sale.It’s not exactly like an online store, though you could set up something like that. It’s more like you telling a friend about something, and then, if she buys it, you get a little bonus.

How Does It Work?

The selling is done through affiliate links—little bits of Web language that contain a code linking the sale to you. When someone clicks on your link and then makes a purchase, the original seller or clearing house gives you credit for the sale and you receive money.

Benefits of Being an Affiliate Marketer.

• You have no inventory to manage.
• You don’t have to deal with customer service or handle refunds or exchanges.
• You have an unlimited supply of products to promote.
• Your web sites (containing your affiliate links) work 24×7.

Wealthy Affiliate claims that it can take you, the most inexperienced newbie with no knowledge of making money online, and turn you into a successful Internet marketer. These are some pretty hefty claims, but we love nothing more than a good challenge.

I'll be focusing on Article Marketing

Wealthy Affiliate is filled with thousands of pages providing the best content on how to build your career as an affiliate marketer. However, for this week, I'll be focusing on one aspect of their training: article marketing which focuses on how to write targeted articles to attract highly qualified visitors to your affiliate links without having to shell out any money for advertising. This ultimately means:

Free Traffic. Free Advertising. No Additional Costs.

I chose article marketing because I found it to be the best path for beginners to take. There are no additional costs to perform article marketing making your entire operation rather low risk. Instead, what you'll find is hard work that translates over directly to earnings. Earnings that you get to keep.

Article marketing serves as a introductory crash course to affiliate marketing. You'll learn in-depth the methods and details behind Wealthy Affiliate without having to deal with any risk. Article marketing is perfect for the beginner looking to take the plunge into an affiliate marketing career.

What to Expect by the End of this Review

I set out to test how much money I could make in one month's time. By the end of this review, you'll have read:

• Insider Information - I'll reveal as much as I can about the Wealthy Affiliate training program. I can't reveal it all naturally or the owners would be knocking on my door.
• Full Earnings Statistics - You'll get a behind the scenes look at my affiliate stats which will show exactly how much money I spent.
• My Overall Opinion - What I liked, what I didn't like, and was it worth it in the end?

Week 1: Introduction to Article Marketing

The first few chapters of the article marketing training give you background information on how to conduct research and find profitable, interesting niches to write articles on and promote affiliate products.

The articles you write will be submitted to various article directories with high rankings in search engines. This works to your advantage because by submitting the article to these sites you are adopting their search engine ranking, meaning that you can get listed on the first page of the results in a matter of days. You leverage the power of large sites to get top natural listings for your articles in a fraction of the time.

What this ultimately means is that Wealthy Affiliate will teach you how to write articles, get them listed high in search engine rankings, and make money off of your hard work.

What I Accomplished in Week 1

The first week of my review has been mostly training. I needed to learn the ins-and-outs of article marketing. I didn't expect to dive right into work from the beginning. The sheer amount of information and training available is remarkable to say the least.

The quantity of information may be high, but they, by no means, skip over quality of information. I am thoroughly impressed, more than I've ever been with any other program so far. It's easy to see how a beginner would be overwhelmed with information; however, Wealthy Affiliate does an amazing job breaking down information into easy to follow steps and advice.

So far, I've learned how to:

• Pick a niche market that ultimately needs my help.
• Find an audience and how to conduct market research. Wealthy Affiliate helped me figure out: Who is my audience? What are they looking for? Where can they get this (online)? Why do they need this? How can my offer help or benefit them?
• Conduct keyword research which will help me connect with my audience. I needed to know what they will be searching for and how they will be searching.
• Find a product to sell because without something to sell, article marketing wouldn't exist.
• Properly write and article and have it show up in search engine results ultimately driving traffic to my article, but more importantly, my affiliate links.

This week was all about training. You need to learn the basics if you plan to make it anywhere as an affiliate marketer. I took this week slow, focused on learning as much as I could on article marketing, and spent a good amount of time reading articles on the topic and spending time within the forums.

Weeks 2/3: My First Commissions!

Wow, Weeks 2 and 3 have been a lot more interesting. I've repeatedly found myself excited to do work during this week. I've learned the ins-and-outs of popular article marketing techniques, including keyword research, how to discover niche markets, and how to find a proper audience.

I spent last week learning and understanding how to do niche research. Basically, you learn how and where to find ideas that will ultimately make you money. I landed on a topic I know quite a bit about, computer products, and decided I'd write a few articles and see how they would perform for me.

While I chose the niche of computer products, you can find your very own niche that best suits your interests. There are literally no limitations here. Wealthy Affiliate will help you find your niche, then will teach you how you can profit from it.

I spent the next couple of days following the Wealthy Affiliate guide. I was taught how to conduct article marketing. Mind you, I had no experience in article marketing prior to joining Wealthy Affiliate, but within a few hours I learned how to properly write an article, how to include affiliate links in my article, how to drive traffic to my article, and how to make money off of my hard work.

My first sale!

It didn't take long to see some results either! I had submitted my first handful of articles to various article directories and began to see a little bit of traffic. Not that much was happening, but finally I saw this fantastic email:

I quickly logged into my affiliate account to check my stats and was greeted with this magnificent image:

It's been only a few days, but I've already made back half of the membership fee to join Wealthy Affiliate! This alone has answered two of my biggest questions regarding Wealthy Affiliate.

1. Can you make money with Wealthy Affiliate? 100% Absolutely yes. In just a few days time, I've gone from knowing nothing about article marketing and have managed to make my first ever commission through it for $19.22!
2. How long will it take to break even? I paid $40 to join Wealthy Affiliate, and I haven't had to put out any extra money. I've already made back half of my investment and I expect it won't be long until I break even. In fact, it won't be long until I'm actually making money.

Closing Out Weeks 2/3

Like I said before, these past two weeks have been a lot more interesting. In addition to the email above, I managed to close out this week with:

And my affiliate account is currently sitting at:

I made $75.26 within a few days of working with Wealthy Affiliate. And it was all thanks to the article marketing method they teach. I wasn't even home at the time the sales were made. In fact, I didn't do anything other than write a few 600-word articles and I'm already making money.

Let me recap these last two weeks exactly for you:

• Week 2 taught me the ins-and-outs of article marketing.
• Week 3 proved that it is really possible to make money with Wealthy Affiliate.
• I found a niche, wrote a few articles, and submitted them to various article directories around the web.
• I might have spent 8-10 hours learning and writing.
• I now have $75.26 in commissions sitting in one of my affiliate accounts!
• The articles I wrote in the past will continue to work 24/7/365 for me.

Week 4: Wrapping Up with Wealthy Affiliate

I spent the better half of this week reading the forums, getting involved, and learning from new resources more-so than writing articles and working on building my earnings.

In addition to the article marketing training offered by Wealthy Affiliate, the members of the program have contributed 19 eBooks, 52 Tutorials, and 5 Training Videos on how to succeed in article marketing. That's right, the members of the program have taken the time to write up and record what has successfully worked for them in the past in order to share their secrets with other members. Needless to say, I spent most of this week reading user-content and deciding on what would be the best way to continue and expand my article marketing career.

Total Made in One Month: $135.78

I ended my month long review with 9 affiliate sales and $135.78 in commissions. My review has been a moderate success since I was able to make back the cost to join the program and then top it off with additional income. Is $135.78 life changing? Of course not, but there are two key points here I want you to take away from this review.

1. An extra $100-$200 a month is a big help.
2. My previous articles will continue to earn for me.

If I decided not to write another article ever again, the articles I wrote in the past will still be active and working for me. Traffic will continue to visit these articles and I'd still make commissions.

This brings us to the ultimate question...

Is Wealthy Affiliate Worth Joining?

Absolutely 100% YES!

It is among the few programs out there that I can honestly say is perfect for beginner's looking to learn how to make money online from home. The training and support is top-notch, but none of that compares to the community behind Wealthy Affiliate. It's members make the monthly membership worthwhile. The forums include some of the most helpful people I've come across online. Everyone is interested in helping others succeed. It's unreal.

Aside from the forums, members can contribute lessons and training programs directly to Wealthy Affiliate. When I say the members of Wealthy Affiliate are interested in helping other members become successful, I truly do mean it.

Why do I have to pay to join?

By now, I'm sure you know to never pay for a job. You're probably wondering why I'm recommending Wealthy Affiliate if you need to pay to join. The answer is simple: you're paying for some of the best training available online, not to start a job. Think of Wealthy Affiliate as college. You pay to go to college to learn and come out with a job. This is exactly what Wealthy Affiliate is all about.

Join Wealthy Affiliate Today!

If you want to learn how to make money online, the Wealthy Affiliate program is the answer. It’s the most comprehensive program I’ve reviewed thus far that has proven its ability to help you make money month after month as evidenced by the review above.

Click here to read more about Wealthy Affiliate.