In today’s internet age, more and more people are finding success online. And that’s because more and more people are searching online for everything and anything.
They do their shopping. They find answers to their questions. They look for solutions to their problems. My goodness, there’s nothing you can’t find online these days.
And because of all this online activity, there are huge opportunities to build a successful, profitable business with online marketing. In fact, there’s no better time to start!
Did you know that affiliate marketing is the easiest way to make money online?
Would you like to learn who has the best online education for affiliate marketing? Let me show you below.
If you can’t wait, this is where I learned all I needed to know!
Contents
Can You Trust Me?
Now, I bet you’re wondering “Why should I trust her”. Well… I have been working online and have been creating an income for myself for many years now.
In the beginning, I had no knowledge of online marketing. I knew it was something I wanted to start, so began doing my own research.
Wow, that was overwhelming! There is so much available, but much of it was contradicting each other, was incomplete, or had outdated techniques.
That’s when I tried various products and programs that were promising me success.
Ya, right! I quickly learned not to believe everything I heard and read, lol!
The main reason for writing this blog is to help you decide what’s best for you. I want to share with you where I learned all about affiliate marketing so that you can find the same success I have.
Because I’m passionate about helping people, I truly want to help you bypass all the “junk” that’s out there, and start off on the best footing possible.
If there’s one thing you’ll see online today, is thousands of “gurus” promising you that their system is the best.
Nine times out of ten, it’s all lies. Their sales videos are over the top, and the product doesn’t deliver. It’s just a means for them to make money off of the nieve and uninformed.
Many “experts” will offer you just enough training to convince you to buy their products, but it’s never enough to succeed.
The additional training always comes in the form of an expensive upsell or two. This is where they make the most money off of you. Please don’t fall for that!
If you’ve come across something you’re not sure of, check out my reviews. I’ve most likely written about them…
Personally, I came upon the perfect platform for me. I was able to learn, step by step, the foundation for setting up my business and growing from there.
It wasn’t hard. It wasn’t scary. It was fun! And now I make a passive income to help us in retirement.
But I’ll get into that further down when I show you where, OK?
Let’s start by exploring what this industry is about…
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Wikipedia says:
“Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts.”
The simplest way I can put it is “Selling other people’s stuff”. LOL
Affiliate marketing is the process of promoting a particular product or service and sending your customers to the merchant to buy their product.
In turn, this merchant rewards your efforts by paying you a commission.
Let’s say you decide to promote weight training equipment for your “weight loss” business (website):
- First, you would find a product that helps and benefits your reader.
- Second, check out the manufacturer or merchant who sells that product.
- Third, look to see if they provide an affiliate program.
- Fourth, apply to the program, get accepted, and receive your affiliate link information.
- Fifth, write review articles about what they are, describing the benefits, and price comparisons, etc.
People who are looking for this information can find your article online because you’ve used the proper keywords in your title and article.
If they like what they see, and click on the link you provide. They are then directed to the merchant’s site to make their purchase.
The link the merchant provided you has a “cookie” attached to it, meaning that’s how they see who sent them the customer. They can then pay you your commission.
And that’s how you make money!
Now I know this is all simplified for the sake of this article. Please read my article on affiliate marketing, so you can get a better idea of what it is, along with definitions of other key elements.
The most important thing you need to do is get the proper education, to learn from the ground up.
Once you understand the foundation of building an online business, you have the ability to scale up and use many other techniques to grow your income with multiple income streams. Then you can “rinse & repeat”.
What Do I Need To Learn?
The first thing to consider is what level you are at.
- Are you a beginner who’s just starting out with no knowledge of online marketing?
- Have you already started your online business but can’t seem to attract traffic?
- Is your business making money but you’d like to learn how to scale it larger?
- What is your budget?
- What is your learning style? Text, videos, webinars?
These are all important questions and will make your choices for online training easier to narrow down.
The basic training you’ll want to learn with any platform starts with:
- Finding your niche
- Picking your domain name
- Building your website
- Understanding keywords
- How to create your content
- SEO and Traffic
- And support via a community if you get stuck…
This is what you’ll need to build any successful online business. Some platforms may only offer training for email marketing or Youtube marketing without a website, but…
I highly recommend you always have your own website as the face of your business!
Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can scale your business even larger with email marketing, video marketing, creating your own courses and membership sites, etc.
There’s also e-commerce and software creation. The sky’s the limit at this point!
What Should The Platform Have?
After all my initial research, and talking to many other affiliate marketers, these are the common things newbies look for…
First Requirement
If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to start off with little investment because you’re not sure it’s something you’ll want to continue with.
I need to tell you, though, it’s so worth the hard work and patience!
I looked for a training program that didn’t cost me a lot of money upfront. In fact, I looked for somewhere that offered a free trial so I could check them out first.
These aren’t readily available, but there are some out there. If they wanted a high upfront payment with vague rules about refunds, I immediately moved on.
Second Requirement
You’ll want a training platform that is continually updated. In this industry, methods and strategies change very quickly.
What worked last year, even 6 months ago, may not work today. You’ll get nowhere quickly if you use outdated methods.
Third Requirement
Is the owner invested in his platform? Do you even know who the owner is?
Any reputable program or system will have an owner who’s transparent and well known. When Googled, they will appear often in your search results.
The reviews about them are positive and they often have their own blogs offering free online advice.
Fourth Requirement
Does this program have not only the basic training but additional training to help you scale and grow your business?
I found that many platforms offered just enough training to get you hooked, but then some of the crucial training was only offered as pricey upsells and add-ons.
Is it wrong to think that when they promise something, that they should deliver it inside? So frustrating!
Fifth Requirement
Did the platform have the necessary tools to build my business? Or would I have to go elsewhere online to find, and inevitably pay additional fees for, the tools required to succeed?
For someone with experience, this may not be a stumbling block. But for newbies, it’s definitely an asset to have all you need on one platform.
Sixth Requirement
Is there support? When you’re new, you have lots of questions. Personally, I also needed the encouragement from other members to keep going when I got frustrated, lol.
Are the owners available for questions? The owner or creator of the platform should be accessible to their members, as well as provide a way for the members to talk to one another.
Seventh Requirement
How was the training presented? Everyone has a different learning style, such as needing text, or video presentations, etc.
So it was important that the training courses were available in different mediums for these different styles.
This Is My Honest Recommendation
Your education is only as good as the training you use. I have spent many hours looking for the program I needed.
I checked out many, only to be disappointed with the lack of current information, large up-sell gimmicks, and income promises that were unrealistic.
Many didn’t provide all the tools I needed, which caused some major stumbling blocks. They would assume I already knew how to create a website. They would say to sign up with a certain service but didn’t show me how.
And most didn’t have the support I needed as a beginner. I would have to email support and often didn’t get any reply.
Then everything turned around for me!
I finally found a platform that provided everything I needed. And it’s called Wealthy Affiliate.
Built by two amazing Canadian guys, Kyle & Carson, they started out 13 years ago with the idea to sell Keyword Lists. As this is one of the most important aspects of online marketing at the time, they wanted to help people succeed in finding great keywords.
They provided this service for $359.88 per year. It proved successful for them. People loved Wealthy Affiliate and started recommending their service.
Yet all it was, was a keyword membership site. No training, or websites, or hosting, or support…. nothing. And people were happy to pay for it.
Now, the niche keyword tool is only a small fraction of what their membership provides. And they still only charge $359 per year for the premium membership. Isn’t that crazy?!
That’s because they care about you and your success.
If you click on Kyle’s picture, below, he’s blogged about his beginnings and how they’ve gotten to where they are today.
Kyle takes you on the training journey, while Carson takes care of all the “techy” stuff integrated on the platform.
Wealthy Affiliate is an all-inclusive platform that has everything you need under one roof. No need to hop around from site to site trying to figure out what to do. It’s all there for you.
Here’s a quick video explaining what they offer…
So, in summary, these are a few of the main advantages:
- Training – Step by step courses, classrooms, tutorials, and live weekly webinars.
- A domain registry – An easy way to find the perfect name for your business.
- A website builder – With over 4,000 WordPress themes to choose from.
- Website hosting – With powerful servers, security, backups, and emails, and more.
- A keyword research tool – Find low-competition keywords for the best ranking.
- A large and active LIVE community – They always have your back!
- And much more…
And the owners, who you meet and interact with whenever you wish, are so confident in their platform, that they allow you to start with a FREE starter membership. No credit cards necessary.
There’s really no other place like this online today!
Did you know that they have over 1.5 million members worldwide? That alone speaks loudly!
Why not start your new future, today. Build your own business, be your own boss, earn supplemental (or full time) income, become debt-free, and live a life of freedom. It all starts with the best online education for affiliate marketing.
If you click on the image below, you can read all about it. And when you join, I’ll be there to greet you and help you as long as you need me. See you soon!
Have you been wondering how to start your own online income? It’s easy with the proper training and tools.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below and I’ll get right back to you.
Cheers,
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne
Affiliate Marketing is by far the easiest way to make a full-time income online in my opinion.
I have been a member of numerous training programs and while some of them had great content, there was one thing always missing and that was fresh updated training.
I love a lot of things about Wealthy Affiliate but probably the most important to me is updated fresh training that works.
With Wealthy Affiliate, you get what works today and you get it at least weekly. And if you include the community training, you get it daily! And that does not even mention the awesome additional courses we have at our fingertips.
Great review and a very honest one. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful resource.
Thanks, Nate, for you for your kind words.
Updated training is the only way anyone could possibly succeed online. I’ve reviewed a few other training platforms and found their training to be old and outdated.
So not only will it not work for you with today’s strategies but if you apply them, they could really hurt your business.
There are constant Google algorithm changes that will penalize you if you use outdated strategies.
Wealthy Affiliate is constantly updating any training that’s outdated, and help you to stay up on the most current methods to become successful.
Cheers,
Suzanne
Thank you for this wonderful read! Is Wealthy Affiliate really worth this time and the cost? I mean that is $49.00 a month for membership. How does someone justify that?
Hi Eden, and thanks for your questions.
To answer, if you looked for this quality of training elsewhere, and paid fees for domain names, hosting, keyword research tools, etc., would come to about $251 (minimum) per month for anything comparable. See my breakdown here. At Wealthy Affiliate, you get everything you need under one roof for $49/month. If you choose to pay the annual fee of $359, that breaks down to $29/month. That’s a 40% savings right there. You won’t find anywhere online that can match this price. It’s incredible!!
If you have any more questions, please contact me. I’d love to help.
Cheers,
Suzanne
Your walk through and graphics spell this out nicely!
I too came across Wealthy Affiliate. I was just about to give up completely on affiliate marketing and go get a second job.
I persisted through the training and I love it that I can review it, as the site owners constantly update the information, as needed.
Thumbs up!
Thanks, Dianne, for your comment.
The updating of the training is definitely a plus. This industry changes very quickly, and if you don’t keep up with these changes, it can really affect your business. The owners, Kyle, and Carson are constantly adding new and updated training for all their members. It’s great!
Cheers,
Suzanne
Excellent Article Suzanne, it is so helpful to have this information on Wealthy Affiliate, and know it is a trust worthy program.
Hi Tara,
Yes, Wealthy Affiliate is completely trustworthy. I have been with them for years now, and I can attest to their effectiveness. And there’s always more to learn as the industry changes. That’s why I like them so much. They are always on top of any changes, to give you the best training and advantages.
Cheers,
Suzanne
What a great post on affiliate marketing. It was so easy to follow all the steps. Very well presented.
Such a great way to begin learning all you need to know about affiliate marketing.
Just foĺlow all the steps.
Thank you for all this amazing information.
Hi Jill, and thank you. Affiliate marketing has become such a great way to make money. As easy as it seems, you still need a proper education to learn the process step by step. That’s proven to be the difference between success and failure. Without the training, most people become frustrated and just quit. That’s why I recommend Wealthy Affiliate. Their step by step training is designed for people with absolutely no previous experience. It’s easy to follow and interactive. I hope you give it a try. The starter membership is free!
Cheers,
Suzanne
Thank you very much for sharing this very USEFUL information. There are lots of affiliate program learning websites, but lots of them are a scam, and it is hard for a beginner to find good and systematic courses. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Peter.
Yes, it’s true. There are a lot of programs out there promising the impossible. And many charge so much, then don’t provide what they offer. I’ve found Wealthy Affiliate to be honest and upfront about everything. They don’t promise you’ll make money overnight. They tell you in the beginning, that you need commitment and hard work to be successful. And it works!!
Cheers,
Suzanne
What a great post. Its feels very welcoming and you have described the process very well, it certainly is one of the best online educational marketing site I have come across, I have done quite a lot of research too and you are quite right there really are a lot of false promises out there. Thanks for reconfirming that there are some good guys out there.
Hi Ali,
It’s hard to find a legitimate training platform. There are so many scams out there. I want to help save beginners the time and expense of falling for something that doesn’t work. Because I’ve tried other platforms, and am now a member of Wealthy Affiliate, I can attest to it being everything they say they are. Are you a member? Do you enjoy Wealthy Affiliate? If you have any questions, please let me know.
Cheers,
Suzanne
Thank you for this article! I found you on Google when I was looking for more info on affiliate marketing. That visual you have with the affiliate marketing cycle is a great one. Nice video too! Thanks for this!
Hi Eric,
I’m glad you enjoyed my article. I try to explain what affiliate marketing is, in the simplest way I know how, to make it easier for beginners to understand. This is such a great way to make additional income, and Wealthy Affiliate is the easiest platform to learn how.
Cheers,
Suzanne