Why I Joined the Wealthy Affiliate and Then Left

By Noorazimah Taharim

My Introduction To Internet Marketing

Let me start from the beginning. Last year, around the middle of the year, I was introduced to internet marketing by an acquaintance. As I remembered, we went for lunch at a fast food outlet that afternoon. Throughout lunch he talked about the internet and how people are earning income through internet marketing.

I guessed he sensed my disinterest. He then took out his wallet and pulled out two checks. They were Clickbank and Amazon.com checks for a total of almost $1500. When he told me that he was earning about $3000 a month from the internet, I looked at him with disbelieve. I even held up the checks against the light to see if they were genuine.

We stayed on to talk for over an hour. By then I was hooked. Hey, I want to earn thousands of dollars, too. Unfortunately, I knew nothing about internet marketing. This person did not have the time to teach me. Anyway, he suggested that I have a look at the Wealthy Affiliate (WA) homepage. He asked me to go through his affiliate link so that he could get a commission.

Why I joined the Wealthy Affiliate?

So now you know how I got to be a member of the WA. However, I did not join immediately. The monthly fee was $30 and because of that I held back. For a full fortnight I scoured the internet for information about the WA. I checked for any negative comments. I did not find any. After going through and reviewing a few other internet marketing programs, I said a small prayer, took out my credit card and subscribed to the WA.

Upon subscribing, I received a friendly welcoming email from Kyle and Carson, the two founders of the WA. I joined the forum immediately and introduced myself. I was welcomed by some members. Thus began my adventure with the internet marketing community.

My very first hurdle was that I could not be a member of Clickbank because my country was not on the list of member countries. But I stayed on doing the 6-week action plan for newbies. The action plan was later changed to 8 weeks. I celebrated my first ten dollar sale. I toiled through the 8-week action plan. Unfortunately, due to my inadequate knowledge of HTML, search engine optimization and the likes, I got disheartened and started to stray. That was the onset of disaster.

Why I left the Wealthy Affiliate?

I read in one of the local papers about a free seminar in town on how to earn extra income through internet marketing. I attended the one-hour seminar. At the end of the seminar I whipped out my credit card and paid over a thousand dollars for a series of classes. I was very certain I was doing the right thing.

Since I was already attending the internet marketing classes in town, and money was tight, I left the WA after four months. I thought I was definitely going to make a lot of money going on my own.

Another three months went by with very little earnings to show. I was always dropping in on one forum and then off to another. I watched youtube videos. I bought countless numbers of ebooks and such, costing me lots of money. I tried my hands at being an eBay ebook seller. Then eBay stopped the auctions of digitally downloaded ebooks, and I was at a lost again.

For months I was in a limbo. I kept jumping from one thing to another. I made some money from my Squidoo lenses. I even received a check from Amazon.com for $128 and from ShareASale.com for $54. After some time, even the checks stopped coming. I was at crossroads once again.

An email stood waiting for me

Even though I spent so much of my hard-earned money on trying to harness this internet marketing beast, I got nowhere with it. One evening, while I was deleting all the emails from the countless internet gurus offering fifty-percent off their internet marketing products, I stumbled upon the friendly welcoming email to WA University sent by Kyle and Carson when I first joined them.

Remembering the good rapport I had with the community in the WA forum, I decided to check the WA homepage one more time. Wow! I was a real dunce to leave the WA. The new resources offered are outstandingly practical for a newbie or someone who has had some internet marketing experience. There are countless ways one can earn money right from within the WA itself, and lots of resources towards making more money online.

Yes. You guessed it right. I rejoined the WA six weeks ago. This time I promised myself I will be focussed and not get distracted. Using the resources found within the WA community, I am again making money with my Squidoo lenses and blogs. Not thousands yet, but I know I will be there. You'll never believe the tips shared among the members of the WA. The tips shared are priceless, yet free for the Wealthy Affiliate members.