More and more people are solidifying their business and career paths to this digital world we live in today. In this post,  “A Beginners Guide on Affiliate Marketing,”  I am going to go over some of the relevant researches I have conducted to come to the level of understanding of how affiliate marketing works and how I make money from it.

 

If you are looking to explore a new way on how to incorporate an online income stream, then this beginner’s guide to affiliate marketing posts will add value to your search.

 

It is not unknown that affiliate marketing, when done correctly, can bring you online success. And a lot of money. Now, if you just started your research on affiliate marketing, then you will quickly discover that there are so many online resources to choose from. Here I will be discussing the beginning stages of being an affiliate marketing, including tips on how you can extend your digital footprint.

 

A Beginners Guide on Affiliate Marketing 101

I don’t want to state the obvious on how you should have already decided on your topic of discussion. I want this post to be as valuable and unique as possible. All those other questions you can easily research them. I want to get into the meat and potatoes right from the beginning.

Find the perfect social platform

What I mean by this is depending on what kind of category of affiliate marketing you are looking to get into, then there should be a clear path on what social channel you will be using. Your best bet is extending your reach to as many social channels as possible, but since we are at the beginning stages, lets us start with two.

Website

Yes, most definitely, having a website is going to allow you to share your URL links amongst other social platforms. Typically links never expire unless you cancel your hosting provider or the link is broken.  If you are not familiar with creating a website or a blog post, then check out my article on “How to create a blog website for free.” 

This would surely give you a better understanding on how to post. Or at least I hope so 🙂

 

 

 

Find the right company to partner with

 

 

Yes, seriously do your research, especially if you aren’t familiar with the companies you want to partner with. Not all payouts are worth investing in. Take it from me. I had to learn the hard by making bad choices. Well, I look at it like this if it wasn’t for those bad choices I probably wouldn’t have been able to write you a good post about my experience.

 

Recommended affiliate programs with high payouts

• Wealthy Affiliate  – Multi-purpose platform more on the technical side
• Amazon – Also a multi-purpose platform
• CJ Affiliate Several different categories from different companies

I use the Wealthy Affiliate platform, to learn more on this platform check out my other related post

 

How I use Wealthy Affiliate to promote my business

Is the Wealthy Affiliate a scam?

 

 

Master one niche

As a beginner in affiliate marketing, I strongly recommend that you stay with one subject matter. Or at least the same industry category. This will help you in posting more credible content as you would be considered the mastery of this subject. Now don’t get me wrong if you have several passions that you want to write about then, by all means, do so it would just be better structured sticking to one subject.

 

 

How to incorporate affiliate links into your website- Using WordPress

It is straightforward how to integrate affiliate links to your site. Once you have your blog post running and the subject matter you decided to write about, then you would incorporate links as so.

Now because I use WordPress, I would be demonstrating that in this post. I will later state why ultimately you want to go with WordPress for your blog post in the long run.

 

If you aren’t familiar with WordPress, then check out this post on

How To Create A Website On WordPress [Part 1] & How To Create A Website On WordPress [Part 2]

 

 

Step 1

Assuming you already set up a post and started writing some content. Go ahead and highlight the word with your mouse until you see it greyed out.

 

Step 2

On the menu above your dashboard, go ahead and click the chain to incorporate the link on your post.

 

 

 

 

Step 3

Go ahead and incorporate the link into the post and update your content page. Now your link is included.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Create quality content

So now that you already laid out the foundation of having a product to promote, it goes without saying that great content has to follow. I know how challenging it can be with creating daily content, but let’s face it; we have to do it if we want to be successful at affiliate marketing. However, being new to affiliate marketing is not only going to take great content and products but also understanding your buyer.

Keep in mind that you are writing for real people who want to read relevant facts on the products or services that interest them.

 

 

Understanding what kind of questions your audience is asking.

This topic right here is crucial to your business. Understanding what kind of questions people are searching for online will help you create better content and understand some of the real pains your potential customers may have.

Using keyword optimization

Implementing keywords will allow your content to become highlighted to people searching for that specific word or phrase to their questions or recommendations.  Check out this post on

“What is keyword search.”

 

As a writer, I have my own interpretation and style of reading, writing, and evaluating information. Most of my writing skills come from creating Technical Case Studies in college. As I started becoming more intrigued on ways how I can incorporate my writing style and make money from it, I became an Affiliate GURU!

 

The image below there shows specific metrics that makeup how good a keyword can become highlighted to searches. Understanding how the common keyword phrases on a monthly basis, along with how many people you will be competing against these keywords. This will make all the differences in the world.

 

 

Build trust

Part of the beginning stages of getting into affiliate marketing is building trust with your potential audiences/ clients. Please do not misinform people on how great a product is if you have never tried it. Be honest with your customers, even if it hurts. Trust me; people will respect you more for that than to be misinformed.

 

My recommendation on Affiliate Marketing platforms

There are a ton of marketing platforms that you can get into. Such as WordPress, Social media marketing like IG, Linkedin, etc. However, what I like about this platform is the step by step process and the guidance that you receive within the community.

 

 

 

Wealthy Affiliate

I have been a member of the WA platform since I discovered it about two years ago. I love everything this platform has to offer. As a Technical Writer, I can create different web content for myself and for clients to help them better brand themselves in the online space.

My first initial visit to this platform was for the 50 websites I can create and manage all in one place. I love that you can see when Google has indexed your site and understand your site’s health for better conversions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While exploring the different options within the platform, I decided to not only create content related to my business but also to monetize it. I have a few friends that decided to explore WA and have been a member ever since. What I have done for them is added value to their search as well as earned commissions through their memberships. So basically, my membership comes out to be FREE. 🙂

 

>>FIND OUT WHAT YOU GET WITH THE FREE VS NON-FREE MEMBERSHIP<<

Even if you aren’t ready to become a member, at least you get to enjoy all the free perks that come with it like two free websites and the lessons.

 

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my newsletter to stay tuned on my latest articles.

 

 

Many of us are establishing real-life virtual connections with one another. Whether those connections are business or personal related we now have a better chance of extending our reach and pursuing our goals.

In this post, I will be discussing how I use LinkedIn to find my ideal clients and how you too can find your ideal client using this powerful platform.

If you look at my overall web content I talk about ways on how I was able to scale my business using the internet as my main source. In this post, I will be talking about how I use LinkedIn to find clients and how you can benefit from this as well.

 

How we solidify our foundation in the online space

Linkedin is a way for many industry leaders to come together such as entrepreneurs, freelancers, recruiters marketers, or people looking to scale a new business venture. If you are looking network and connect with likeminded people this is the platform that is going to allow you to do that.

What I really like about Linkedin is that it’s a two-way street. You can search for jobs and or clients. With proper keyword optimization, recruiters can find you. Freelancing has been on the rise and entrepreneurs are creating businesses all over the world. The internet has allowed us to that and more.

 

Engagement is important to gain client trust

Part of finding your ideal client on Linkedin is through social engagement. In order to gain clients then you have to engage with them on a regular basis.

Have you heard of the term out of sight out of mind? Well, that is exactly how it will be when it comes to your network.

Learn a bit about your ideal client by checking out their profile. Are they into books? Do they love animals? Are they connected to any social groups that you participate in?

Becoming more involved helps with building and maintaining relationships in this digital world we live in.

That doesn’t mean go creeping and finding out every bit of information but enough to pique their interest if you do end up engaging in conversation with them. You’d be surprised how much people love to talk about themselves and their passions.

 

How long does it take to have a long term sales funnel

Another great technique on how I use LinkedIn to find my ideal clients is by understanding their buying stage.

This is why I call it a long term sales funnel. This process can typically take you anywhere from 0 to 24 months to win a client over. The more you are consistent with your content an engagement the more exposure you gain.

Try to discover your clients purchasing stages. Are they actively looking for a writer? passively? or is it something that just came into mind. For some people there can be a thought process that goes into every purchase they do. For others, it really depends on referrals and recommendations.

Have a well-written profile

I am not going to lie sometimes even the highest executive leaders have an unfinished profile.

I mean it’s pretty easy to become complacent at a job that you love and that’s cool but I am a big believer in nothing last forever.

It’s great to build connections with others and network with like-minded people. Having an unfinished profile can hurt your chances of getting connected because it doesn’t show you value professional presence.

 

Identify your clients

There are going to be clients that prefer not to work with this is because sometimes people may not see the monetary value in your product or services. I have had clients boldface ask me if I can create a professional document for them or any writing services and they give me a price they want to pay.

When that happens I simply decline their offer and move on to the next project.  Now there have been circumstances where I have wiggled on pricing but every situation is different.  When you do what clients tell you to do you become a commodity and people start pocking at you for more discounts.

 

 

Move relationships offline

I absolutely vouch for this 110%.  Part of my engagement on how I use LinkedIn to find my ideal clients is by maintaining a relationship with them. Referrals are going to play a key role in moving your clients offline.

There have been instances where I network with people offline and we end up staying connected. See when you start creating your own vision for your business you start slowly removing yourself from people that don’t share the same goals as you.

AT that point your time becomes limited to those that don’t add much value to your life. I mean it’s sad to say but its the truth. There is nothing wrong with moving your circle around so you can accomplish big things in life.

Be in the market to help not sell.

I mean, of course, we want to make money I am not saying don’t sell but also be in the market to help as well. People buy from people and as I am growing as a businesswoman I am also learning a lot about how clients like to feel secure that they are making the right purchasing decisions.

Even for me as a buyer, I want to make sure that I am getting the best products or services for my money. We all have different expectations of how we want certain things. It’s good to have high standards it says a lot about your character.

Consistency is key

I have managed to write 7 days a week as part of my daily routine. It was challenging in the beginning because the lazy girl kicks in every once in a while but when you are consistent positive things start happening.

You gain more clients, you increase your reputation and add value to your network. Now, this is not an overnight success it takes months most even years to master this. But the more consistent you are the faster and better you will become.

What once took me a full 2 days to write a blog post now can take me anywhere from an hour to three.

 

“It always seems impossible until it’s done”  -Nelson Mandela

Related post

1. How I find clients with little or no money
2. How to use Craigslist for your business
3. How I use Wealthy Affiliate to promote my business

 

 

About me

my name is Viviana Munoz, and I am an executive resume and Technical writer with a diverse background in recruiting, sales, marketing, and law enforcement.

I specialize in Technical Building, such as Web Designs and Technical Writing.

It all started with the love and the passion I have for learning. I hold a strong academic background having ownership of a Masters in Information Technology, Bachelors in Programming, and an Associates in Accounting.

Not to mention the other learning platforms that I attended, which contributed to my skills set. I am currently in pursuit of a full stacking certificate so I can enhance my coding skills and take it to the next level.

Check out my other websites and professional profiles

• Thewritingmaster.com
• Facebook
• LinkedIn

Want to download this content to your connectible device? Click on the below.

Social Media Technology Presentation

Whether you are looking to start an online business or you want to sell products or service Wealthy Affiliate has everything you need to get you started. Wealthy Affiliate is an online marketing academy that teaches you how to market your business from start to finish. Here I will be going over how I use Wealthy Affiliate to promote my business and how you can use it too.

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Where can I sell my ideas?

It’s apparent that the internet has given us all the capabilities that allow us to take our business anywhere. The internet will enable us to extend our reach to hundreds if not thousands of people all over the world.

Because of the flexibility many of us, are pursuing our passions online and influencers are becoming more mainstream. As entrepreneurs, we have solidified our career paths and created our own versions of success.

 

Having a website is going to allow you to sell your ideas and earn money online. Realistically you don’t need a website to sell your products or services. However, you do need a platform to sell it on, and you usually end up using their website anyway.

 

 

 

 

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Wealthy Affiliate website capabilities

With Wealthy Affiliate, you have all the website capabilities you need, such as hosting, website builder, sub-domain, domains for purchase, and more. With the online learning platform, you have access to hundreds of tutorials targeted at creating an online presence.

You can discover topics such as SEO, how to market your business, creating your niche, PPC, Google indexing, and more.

Once you familiarize yourself with the platform, you will notice several menus listed below that relates to your website.

• Site Manager: Allows you to check the health of your site such as speed, publishing Frequency, the content of your quality and more. 
• Site Builder: Here, you have the option to choose if you want to start a website with a FREE sub-domain, one you already own, or a new domain name.
• Site Domain: Displays what kinds of domains are registered within the site.
• Site Content: This is where you can create your content and monitor Google indexing. 
• Site Comments: In this section, you can request site comments as well as comment on other sites. 
• Site Feedback: You can request site-feedback from the community.
• Site Support: There is a 24/7 round the clock site support for those experiencing any technical difficulties.The importance of having an active website.

 

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Having an active website increases your rankings and builds your clientele

Having an active website will show your audience that you are fully committed and that you are producing up to date content. You also receive higher Google rankings by showing that you are constantly engaged.

Part of using Wealthy to promote my business is learning how to achieve maximum success through content creation. I am able to create content geared towards my freelancing services. Also, I provide recommendations to my readers on some of the products and services that I used to get started.

This allows people to make a self-conscious decision and research the company that is best suited for their business.

In return of going over the recommended products or services, I can build long-term sales funnel for my business as well as earn commissions out of every purchase.

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How do I earn commissions?

You earn a commission by using affiliate links to promote the recommended products or services. With Wealthy Affiliate, you have the option to create a business through content blogging. Or by developing your own business just like the one I have here.

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Explore other business ventures

What I love about the Wealthy Affiliate platform is that you can be creative with your ideas and carry out other passions. For example, I am a Technical Writer with a background in programming. I design my own sites and create my content. Being a creative web designer allows me as a freelancer to pick up projects that are within my scope.

Occasionally I will get a client needing some cosmetic changes to their website. So with the Wealthy Affiliate platform, I have access to build 50 websites where I can use as testing sites.

 

This will allow me to make the necessary coding changes on a dummy site without compromising my client’s website.

 

 

 

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About Wealthy Affiliate Hosting

Hosting companies out there can range between $0 to over $200 a month. With the Wealthy Affiliate, you have two options you can either do the FREE lifetime membership or upgrade to premium.

Here is where it gets interesting! With Wealthy Affiliates hosting it cost you less than $1 a day and you have access to hundreds of tutorials, 50 websites, weekly LIVE interactive classes, online entrepreneur certification (50 Lessons), affiliate boot camp training (70 Lessons) and more…

Check out everything that you get with the Wealthy Affiliate PREMIUM.

WordPress offers its premium hosting for $225 a  month. Now, this doesn’t include the perks that Wealthy Affiliate has to offer. Forget WordPress what about Bluehost? Their business hosting packages range between $15-25 a month.

 

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How Wealthy Affiliate can help your business

For clients to know you exist in the online space, you have to extend your reach. What platform do your clients live in? Is it Facebook? Instagram, Tweeter? Check out my latest post on how I gained clients with little or no money. 

But not only do you need to create that online presence, but you also want to show constant engagement to your site. This is where people within the Wealthy Affiliate community can help.

You are networking with like-minded people that are also looking to start an online business. Most had already started their successful journey years before we even dreamed about utilizing the internet.

See we help each other out this is what makes this platform so unique. There are hundreds of thousands of members online who can help share your content. As long it isn’t within the same industry. Again the community can help with site comments and feedback this also improves your rankings.

 

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Hundreds of lessons and tutorials at your disposal

When people surf the net, we surf for recommendations, information, relevant facts. Subject matters that are going to be beneficial to our professional and personal growth.

 

Within the Wealthy Affiliate program, not only would you have access to these teachings, but there are weekly live classes as well.

So there is no excuse as to why you cannot be successful in this business.

 

 

 

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Final thoughts

So if you have been in the market for an excellent marketing platform, then consider this before you do anything. If you can find a better platform that offers all the perks and much more than Wealthy Affiliate has to offer, then please share.

Wealthy Affiliate has done wonders for me and my growing business. I have learned so much within the past year that I was able to create two money-making websites.

Remember this when it comes to Wealthy Affiliate you are not alone. Sign up for your FREE and join me along with other successful marketers out there.

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More about me

Hi, guys, I am a Master Resume / Technical Writer with a background in computer programming and a combined 20+ years’ experience in supporting careers in finance, law enforcement sales, marketing, recruitment; and other leadership areas.

I am a forward thinker who brings a broad perspective to personal-branding and development to others.

If you are interested in learning more about you can find me here on one of these platforms

• Linkedin

• Wealthy Affiliate

 

Related post: How to create a blog post for FREE

Looking for ways to build your sales funnel without the high expenses? Let me show you how I gained clients with little or no money. But seriously wouldn’t it be nice if we can start a business with the funds already on hand? That would be ideal, but it doesn’t always turn out that way. In fact, some people that have an idea or want to pursue something never really follow through because money is an issue. I use to think that way where I felt hindered on ideas or afraid that no one was going to like my services.

One size doesn’t fit all

You can be the most excellent designer, dancer, project manager, writer, whatever you are passionate about, but the fact is that not everyone is going to like your work. I will give you an example I consider myself a Technical Builder / Writer. I write my own post I create professional documents for people such as resumes, Linkedin profiles, etc. However, sometimes, when I do any creative writing, some people may not understand the interpretation that is behind the literature.

Now I rarely get clients that feel that way this is because I pick the type of clients I want to work with, and I will explain what that is in a bit.

When you start getting into the flow of things, you will see who you will need to align yourself with.

If you have other commitments, this method might not work for you

Ok so I don’t want to sound like a negative Nancy, but I have been on this rodeo for a few years now to know what works and what doesn’t. If you are in the market and you are looking for ways to start a business, then you will see that its apparent work needs to go into it. Treat this as your 2nd full-time job and be but consistent.

Not only will you need to be consistent you will be working for hours upon hours at a time. So let me piggyback on that statement and say that I have worked probably close to 100 hours a week on my freelancing career. I researched ways on how I can extend my reach online as well as ways on how I can extend my network.

And yes you guessed it I had no or little money at the time to invest in my business. The investments and contributions that I have made were well worth every penny. I purchased things that I felt were essential like a website, a domain books, etc.

Become the MASTER you are

So before I go into the whole spill of how I gained clients with little or no money, I want to go over some of the resources I used to that helped me get started.

The first thing was to find a niche to write about and or a skill and master it. If you work on something consistently for six months to a year and what I mean by consistent is putting in those hours that I talked about you eventually will be able to execute it. Let me share a bit of my background so I have a high academic background in a few focuses. I originally went to school for programming. I have a Masters in IT and my BA in C++.

I knew that if I went to school, I can have a good job and make some decent money and a nice living. At the time I was committed to my full-time corporate job, but as time went on, I was still not happy.

What I used to start my freelancing business

After I knew what I wanted to do, I decided to create a website. A website was essential for what I needed for my business. I can extend my reach to clients as well as offer a payment gateway for people to pay me.

I started with a free website I paid $15 for the domain. Eventually, I upgraded because the paid version benefitted me more. I needed the customization and the bandwidth space to support my content.

I started my site using the Wealthy Affiliate platform.

Wealthy Affiliate is designed for anyone that is wanting to start a business, create a website, generate money through affiliate marketing, and extend your reach to thousands of community members. To learn more about Wealthy Affiliate check out my latest post.

Wealthy Affiliate has done wonders for me and my business, and I am confident that it will do the same for you.

I also did a few other things like purchase a planner, books, exercise membership, because when the mind feels good the body feels better ooh and of course ads.

 

How much I invest and what is my ROI

As I stated before I don’t spend much, approximately I invest between $25 to $100 a month, and my return between affiliate marketing and my freelancing my ROI is over 20xs more. Lately, I have been investing a little over $100 because I get a more significant profit. Now I am even getting referrals, so my money is tripling because of it. I do all this even with having a job. Trust me, I am nowhere near where I want to be, but there has to be a start.

So here is my concept. I create a website monetize it like I did with this one and promote my business all in the same platform. For instance, this website is dedicated to how to create a website, start a small business/ freelancing career, how to do affiliate marketing, and more.

Promote

I generate money by promoting a product or service to readers that can benefit from it like this one. I talk about the different domain, hosting web site builders anything that I am familiar with and passionate about. As an affiliate marketer, I get special rates on services that may not be accessible to others or new clients.

Once the reader checks out the product or service and decides to purchase it, I then get commissions. It’s a great way to generate an extra income. Pretty much like blogging, but I talk about relevant information that will benefit you. For my affiliate marketing, I use Wealthy Affiliate. It has been the best thing for me to get started on the online space.

The other way I generate income is through Google Adsense, and my Technical Writing career. People search for me, and there I am they reach out to me and request either a quote or they purchase my service.

Check out my Linkedin to learn more about me  

Have at least three social media accounts

Yes, social media is the sources of all good and evil. I even find myself on it sometimes 2 hours at a time, and I do nothing. But there is a way where you will be able to find clients while engaging in your social platforms.

Whichever social media you are into doesn’t matter but start with at least three. This is because not everyone lives in the same social media space. Most people do have at least two social media accounts now, so the odds of them being on the one you have generated for your business is pretty good.

I have a ton of social media out there that I don’t even use, not because I don’t want to but because it’s hard to keep up on all these social channels.

Comment on other peoples post

Another way on how I gained clients when I had no or little money. was to comment on other peoples post. Yes, you get to go on social media and do some lurking in return, you get some lurking back. Now this will work if you have your profile set to public. In fact, create a brand new page solely dedicated to your business.  When you comment on someone else’s post, people will see who you are. AND if you comment enough eventually, they will go to your page and start lurking. Ultimately this leads to a like or follow, and a potential sales funnel later in the future.

So basically what you did here is you got some attention of a few people that are wanting to learn more about you or at least look at your profile. I did this for hours on my Linkedin profile, which eventually led me to a few hundred followers. I know is not much right now, but I have gotten clients that way.

Cold message

Yes do some cold messaging or incorporate an email list so you can share content. If you can’t grow a large enough emailing funnel or don’t have a lot of site traffic then message people. Whether you send a message through Instagram or a message through Linkedin, let people know what you do and why you are different at what you do.

Start by dedicating 2-3 hours a few days a week just sharing some love and people will eventually refer you or have you in the back of their mind.

I have gained clients after months of sending emails asking if they knew anyone that can benefit from my service. I know it works, so be ready to get exposed.

Attend networking events

Maybe this is a given, but networking events are a great way to extend your reach to other professionals. People that you would never expect to be in the same room in will be at your disposal. You’d be surprised how many people reach out to you after the event is over. I met some cool friends and gained some clients this way.

Ready set sweat

So if you are looking to start a business and want to find clients for free or with little money, then I suggest you get cracking and start planning. Write a lot seriously write until your fingers fall off. Eventually, with enough practice, you will be able to right in a matter of minutes. Starting anything takes time and effort to do. The reason why people fail is that they give it when it starts becoming challenging.

But remember your reasoning and why you are doing what you do; don’t give up and you will see positive changes.

 

Related post

• How to use Craigslist for your business
• Is Wealthy Affiliate a Scam?
• How I made $250 on my round-up post

 

What is Wealthy Affiliate?

Wealthy Affiliate is the #1 online affiliate marketing training program out there. The program delivers proven results on helping people generate income in the online space. Now the more time you spend into contributing to any business, the more positive results you will see. So how does Wealthy Affiliate become categorized as a scam?

There are so many platforms out there that claim to produce money-making results, but at the end of it all, it’s just a big old scam. Not only have you wasted your time but also your money. SAD 🙁

In this post, I will be going over some insight as to why Wealthy Affiliate is the best online marketing training out there.

Learn the platform

If you take the time to learn the platform and go through the training, your success rate will be much higher. Most of the time, people that are getting into blogging have the misconception of money streaming to their bank accounts.

In the real world, you can’t get thousands of dollars for anything. The reason being is that it takes time for your website to become well established within the search engines. Besides, Google primarily allows sites to be displayed that are rich in content, and that is user-friendly.

So for many, because there isn’t money being produced right away, then there goes the rumors of Wealthy Affiliate being a scam.

What do you get for free?

If it’s free its for me! Right? Yea I guess to a certain extent. Wealthy Affiliate offers a lifetime membership, which includes 20 Lessons, 10 focused on building a website around your niche that inspires you and the other 10 on their boot camp course.

You also receive two free websites you can use to get started. The best part is there is no hosting or domain payment required or even credit card for that matter.

The platform also offers a 7-day trial that gives you full access to the programs, 24/7 community support, so you can ask all the questions that you desire.

If you aren’t satisfied with what the platform has to offer, don’t sign up. Here is a chart of what you get with the free trial vs. paid membership. CHECK OUT THE TRIAL CHART

This is not just an affiliate marketing platform

So what I mean is this website is not predominantly focused on affiliate marketing. I am a professional Career Focused Writer and Web Builder, and I use this platform for my business.

Example because I am a Web Designer I need access to many websites so I can practice different coding languages on. Not only that but if a client asks me to implement something to their sites I use my other sites almost like a ginny pig. In addition, I create different designs to inspire my clients the importance of creating a name for yourself in the online space.

DID YOU KNOW?  That by 2020 there will be over 50 billion connectible devices out there?

I can monitor my website’s performance

The platform offers 50 sites within the paid version, which allows me to build my portfolio. Now here is where it becomes interesting, the website shows you ways on how to improve your site speed and monitor your site’s performance.

Without proper site analysis, how would you know if your website is successful in the online space?

As demonstrated below, Wealthy Affiliate has several menus to improve your website’s health and performance. Now the cool thing about these analytics is that you know exactly what you need to focus on for your website to receive better rankings.

More ways on how to test the speed of your website,

Learning algorithms

If you aren’t familiar with this by now, let me educate you, part of your site’s ranking is optimization. How so? With keywords and site engagement. So keywords allow your website to become highlighted to people that are searching a particular subject.

To properly apply rich keywords, you have to understand what is being searched more frequently on the internet. Not only that, but you should know how many people you are competing with for that particular word.

Wealthy Affiliate also offers a free platform called Jaaxy to help you with your keyword optimization. I wrote an in-depth post on what is keywords using Jaaxy here, so check it out.

Website engagement is important

Yes, this is so true! Website engagement and comments are exceptionally crucial in creating web content. Google and people want to see that you are fully committed to your website and that you are up to date with the trends.

If you have a website that doesn’t get any comments than how do you know if your post is being read? Google likes to promote sites that serve a purpose in the online space. If you barely engage on your website or don’t post as frequent than chances are no one is going to visit you.

Its all about consistency that will help you reach your goals. If you aren’t consistent or don’t find the time from your busy schedule, then this probably isn’t for you.

The Wealthy Affiliate community loves you

Ok maybe love is a strong word, but we do help each other out as a team. You can request the community to help you evaluate your websites cosmetic look. You can also invite people to engage in your website, so you all share each others content.

The beauty of it all is that you find people with different passions and that share different ways of generating money. I once stumbled upon someone requesting for site comments, and it was all about food. God knows I love to eat 🙂 in any event, the blogger was very passionate about healthy eating.

The blogger talked about the air fryer and its benefits, I always wanted to get one of those. So I decided to purchase it through their site helping them earn commissions and me receiving an air fryer that I was going to buy anyway. Again you’d be surprised by what people blog about.

Online Tutorials

Well, this is probably the second most favorite thing that Wealthy Affiliate offers is the opportunity for people within the community to post online tutorials. This helps you learn different ways of extending your reach in the online space as well as promoting their content with YOUR AFFILIATE LINK!

Isn’t that amazing? At times when I need to post, I go ahead and share a video within my social channels and if people love it, they click on the video for more information and boom, I received a referral.

What Wealthy Affiliate does for my business

As stated previously, I am a professional Career Focused Writer and Web Builder. I utilize this platform to write about various topics to promote my business. This is how I get found by my clients, In addition, I create websites to inspire people on extending their reach in the online space.

Here are some of my projects, which has helped me build my portfolio all under this platform.

• https://icomputernerd.com
• http://www.irievybez.com
• https://myresumehotspot.com
• https://wineinspired.siterubix.com
• https://codepen.io/vivistars

 

Also if you want to learn more about me and what I do connect with me on Linkedin.

Pricing

If you are considering purchasing a website builder, then check this out. The average website with hosting can cost you between $5 to hundreds of dollars a month.

Pricing is based on different factors such as the type of hosting, company you are purchasing it from and the kind of builder you want to use.

Wealthy Affiliate offers the first month at $19 then every month after that at $49 a month. But I wouldn’t purchase it that way. If you are looking to commit to the platform then I would take advantage of the yearly subscription of $349. This saves you hundreds of dollars.

Last thoughts

So is the Wealthy Affiliate a scam? I am going to confidently answer no to that question. So let’s go over some important factors of creating a name for yourself in the online space. The key is to be consistent and be positive.

Make sure you post frequently, and you engage with your audience.

This will allow for a better relationship in trust and longtime fans. If you have any other platforms or know of any that makes you money then share with us we would love to hear from you.

 

For over 25 years Craigslist has been functioning as a platform that advertises ads, jobs, housing, display of services and more. This platform just like many social media platforms out there have millions of active users daily. In this post, I will be discussing a variety of topics related to Craigslist as well as how I use Craigslist for your business. Hopefully, this will add some value to your research for those looking to extend their reach and continue creating that digital footprint.

Understanding the fundamentals of Craigslist

If you aren’t familiar with Craigslist, it is an online platform that displays local classifieds from over 450 cities. Craigslist advertises local housing, jobs, services, particularly any category you can think of.

So how does this help your business? Well for starters let’s talk about the 50 “billion” users that are on Craigslist every month. I mean if that isn’t some motivation to extend your reach then I don’t know what else is.

Using Craigslist to help you gain potential or future customers can be extremely beneficial to your next business goals. Although not everyone is in the market to buy a specific product or service at that particular moment, they will always have you in the back of their minds. So you almost create like a future pipeline this is a great way to get have continuous clients.

When people are on Craigslist, they are either looking for something specific, or they stumble upon your post. Having a professional social appearance will help transfer your Craigslist viewers to your social channels which can lead to longtime clients. So don’t forget to add your social channels on your post.

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How do you advertise on Craigslist?

If you are providing a product or service and looking to extend your reach in the online space, then definitely take the time to learn the CL platform. To advertise on CL can range depending on the service you are providing. It’s very affordable and also helps you generate leads.

On the platform, you have several categories that you can choose from to advertise your business. You can even offer free services as well to build up your portfolio if you are starting out of course.

The categories are broken up into sub-categories depending on the type of service you are providing. In my case, I am a Technical Writer. So the way I advertise is under the “services” category write / edit.

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Know what cities to post

When advertising your business on CL, make sure you post within the designated cities that have the most traffic. This link will help you determine what cities you can post that would get you the most views. Craigslist GEO 

Understanding where to post is crucial to gaining present and future clients. The cities that are bolded are the most visited cities.

If you end up posting an ad in a city that doesn’t have a lot of traffic, then chances are you will be wasting your money. Trust me; it has happened to me in the past. But on the other hand, you might generate a lead from just one posting.

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Have a catchy title

The average person has 6 seconds to scan your content to see if this is something they want to take the time out to read. So having a catchy title is going to help you drive your audience in.

I offer Technical Writing services, and my title starts with a simple star emoji. Yes, I know those emojis are the death of me :). I love them. But it works. As your scrolling down the content, the first thing that will catch your eye is the star emoji.

It may not be significant for some, but I have interviewed clients in the past and asked what was it about my ad that stands out. 9xs out of 10 it was the star emoji I have implemented within my text.

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Add pictures to your ads

Please don’t be the one that has no images in your post. People are very visual creatures, and we like to see what we are getting ourselves in to.  I have a photo of myself to make it more personable for people.

Images can help people see that I am a real human and not just some scammer that is going to take their money, the more pictures you add, the better it will help you out.

If you need more clarification on how to post on Craigslist try this Wiki post.

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Use keywords

Using keywords will help people find your post online. Make sure that you use keywords related to your advertising and that you are using it the right way.

There are many keyword tools that you can use for free like Jaaxy. So do some research and determine which one works best for you. I created a post to help you better understand all about keywords and how you can add it to your content.

Understanding keywords

This will give you better clarity on how to use the Jaaxy platform and add it to your content. Anything that you post on Craigslist has a link associated with it so that you can share it on different social platforms.

This will also help people find you and share your links. Remember whatever you post is searchable online.

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Write a read to action description

When creating your very first Craigslist post for your business make sure that you are as descriptive as possible, You want to catch the reader’s attention and try to answer all of their questions within the post so that they understand what you are offering.

Direct them to your social channels

Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin all the social channels that you can share with your prospective clients.  If you have a reader that started following you on Instagram and they are not ready to buy chances are they will become future clients.

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Final Thoughts on how to use Craigslist for your business

So now that you are familiar with some of the different ways on how to use Craigslist for your business, you can start applying it. Whether you are a new business owner or a freelancer, its always good to extend your reach to others within the community. Even if you have a large corporation, it’s still good to extend your reach and familiarize yourself with people all over.

This will help you stay memorable and relevant. If you have any business ideas you want to share, please go ahead and let us know how do you extend your reach to others.

 

Follow me on Linkedin 

 

Let me be realistic, making money online for some people may be a dream come true. And it is! Why? Because you have the flexibility of leaving your full-time job, spending more time with your family and enjoy more flexibility for a better quality of life. Maybe you may want to hit the gym more than twice a week or have more time to travel. Whatever your reasons are I can tell you that it’s not impossible.

In this post, I will be going over some of the steps I took to get started to generate money by using the internet.

Create a website

I have always been fascinated by what we can do online. How we can extend our reach to different people all over the world. It is incredible how innovative the culture of technology has become and how we communicate with one another. I also know that many of us depend on technology daily to help us with different types of personal development.

There are approximately 300 billion people online every day; that’s just about half of the world’s population.

With that being said a website is so important to have because it is going to extend your offerings to people all over the world. I mean technically you don’t need a website to make money online. You can primarily monetize your IG account or Facebook, or any other social channels you currently use. But a website is going to help you deliver a much different marketing message.

Start a blog

Yes, start a blog! Blogging is going to help you reach people that share similar interest with you. Blogging also helps people learn more about your business as well as the products and services that you offer. NO, you don’t need to have a product or service to sell to make money online. You can write about the products that you recommend and earn some money that way. This is called affiliate marketing.

Check out my latest post on “How to create a blog website for free.”

Now when you are scaling an online business, it can take some time and effort from you to generate money. The way I make money online is by representing a service I provide. I also make money by doing affiliate marketing. This is when you sell someone else’s products or services and earn a commission out of the sale.  I use the internet to my full potential by extending my freelancing career to clients across different states. I do a lot of research, read a lot of books and listen to tons of podcast to provide you the best information possible.

 

To learn more about me check out my Linkedin profile

Focus on one platform

I know that having a website may not be the only thing that will help you generate money online; there are other social channels like youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and more that you can use to leverage this. However, whichever one you choose make sure you focus on one technique to master. I focused too much on trying to monetize or gain an audience on my other channels that it wasn’t benefiting my website at all.

Blog daily

Yes, I know it may suck for some trust me it sucked for me too in the beginning, especially if you aren’t accustomed to daily blogging. I can tell you one thing it does get easier and easier over time, so don’t get discouraged. For me, it started with one sale, time, and dedication.  Next thing I knew I was making a few hundred bucks a month just blogging. That is not counting my freelancing career, which is where I make the most money, and it currently pays my bills with.

It took me over a year to create an active online presence. The more I keep growing my portfolio, the more referrals I generated.

The internet is the future

I want to go over the platform that I used when I first started, and I continue using to scale my business. This truly is the REASON why I was able to scale not only my freelancing business but… I was able also to generate money online.

 

Wealthy Affiliate

Computers, websites, web design, technology, building professional profiles educating people. These are the subjects I am very fluent in. I worked for a telecommunications company for over seven years and have an advanced degree in IT. I knew that by going to school, I could have an excellent job and become successful in my field. The problem with that was I wasn’t satisfied, or I was often overlooked since I had no real experience. I wanted to find ways to work for myself and be more independent, and I did.

The best platform to start your blog

Wealthy Affiliate made me a believer to the internet and creating a name for myself in the online space.  I was able to gain the exposure that I needed for my freelancing career as well as generated money through my sites.  I have two active websites; one of them is dedicated to my freelancing business and the one you are looking at now.

Below is my resume building website. This is how people find me to help out with their professional documents.

www.myresomehotspot.com

Why Wealthy Affiliate [Two free starter websites]

On the Wealthy Affiliate platform, you have access to start two FREE starter websites to get your blog going. On the platform, you have various options you can choose from in terms of membership. The price starts from $0 to $349 per year. I am confident you will find value on what you get for the price. Besides, you can try it for free and see if this is something that might benefit you.

 

Check out the perks here

If you are just interested in doing your FREE lifetime membership, you can do that too.

 

Monitor your website’s performance

To have a successful website, you must monitor your site’s performance. How else will you know if you are receiving any traffic? You need customers to visit your website for you to generate some money. Wealthy Affiliate offers within its platform a way where you can monitor your site’s performance. This will help maximize your site’s potential for traffic and earning money online.

 

 

Earn money for comments

Within the Wealthy Affiliate platform, you can manage, build, purchase domains, create site content, request site comments and feedback, and more. There is so much you can do to build up your business and earn money online. The hardest part for most is getting started and being consistent.

 

Affiliate programs you can join

Affiliate programs are a great way to generate some money online. It’s probably the best way to make money online. You have the option to provide feedback on just about anything that interests you. People are just looking for real honest feedback on products and or services before they decide to purchase.

Check out this read to better understand the fundamentals of making money online.

Understanding How to Make Money Online

 

Your best bet is to research the affiliate programs that might benefit you and pique your interest.

Below is your earning potential if you used Wealthy Affiliate as your affiliate program. I make a few hundred a month just through affiliate links using this platform.

Wealthy Affiliate is not my primary source of the program. I also use CJ Affiliate to choose programs that I am interested in and blog about. My intentions are to scale it to thousands a month. I know that with consistency this can happen.

 

Another great way on how to make money online is through your mobile device. Here is a post I wrote that talks about the top 30 apps that make you money as well as how to create a blog website for free.

Google Adsense

Google Adsense is not going to make you rich much but it’s a good way to generate some money on your website.  With Google Adsense, you can post ads related to your content and when someone clicks on the ad then you receive a small commission out of it. You can make some good money from it if you have a high traffic site.

Last Thoughts

I hope that I was able to provide some valuable information on how to get your online journey started. If you have any questions please leave them on the comments below. If you already started your online journey then share what you do to generate income online? What steps have you taken to achieve this and how has it impacted your life?

 

Related post

How to make money by freelance writing

If you are reading this chances are you are in the preliminary stages of creating your website, or you may just need some information on hosting. Whatever your visit is related to thanks for stopping by!

After years of web creation and finding the best hosting companies for my clients I decided it was time to blog about it and share some knowledge. In this post, I will be discussing the best website hosting companies that worked for my clients and me.

One size does not fit all

What I mean by this is that there are a variety of companies that offer different types of hosting services from shared hosting, VPS, cloud, managed, etc. Let’s go over some of the specifics of hosting options, so you can have a better understanding of how this all works.

 Shared hosting [is the most common]

Shared hosting is exactly what it sounds like “shared”. Your website will be shared amongst multiple sites on a single server. Almost every hosting company provides shared hosting because of the low cost associated with it.

What I like about shared hosting is that you don’t have to manage your website, I will go over that as well. Shared hosting is recommended for sites that are just starting to gain some traffic.

Below are my preferred hosting companies.

Bluehost [shared hosting]

Website platform used: WordPress

Bluehost offers shared hosting at an affordable price. Their hosting cost can range between $3.95 to over $25 a month. They also provide different types of hosting options which I will be discussing in this post as well. The company also offers WordPress as their main site builder.

Bluehost is one to the top most significant web hosting providers with well over 2 million domains and counting.

Claim your 33% off Bluehost here

 

Wealthy Affiliate [shared hosting]

[All-in-one hosting, domain, managed and shared]

Website platform used: WordPress

Another shared hosting that I recommend and I use will be within the Wealthy Affiliate platform. Wealthy Affiliate hosting is a shared hosting environment which can range from FREE to $349 a year. I use this platform because of the number of websites I can create which is between 1 to 50.

Claim your FREE website

What I also like about Wealthy Affiliate is there committed to having good relationships with their customers. The service is great, and if I need help with my website, I receive a response literally within minutes. To me is much more valuable, because when I need help, I need it fast.  I also receive notifications when my site has been indexed by Google, along with site performance and more.

Over 1.5 million active and nonactive members here on the Wealthy Affiliate platform.

See what you can get for FREE within the Wealthy Affiliate platform 

VPS Hosting [shared and dedicated hosting]

Website builder used: WordPress

VPS hosting also is known as “Virtual Private Server” which has some similarities to shared hosting. Let me put it to you like this. It’s a dedicated and shared hosting in one. When you are managing your hosting, it can be costly and challenging if you aren’t familiar with the platform. You would also need to know how to upload your website files to your hosting. But that’s not the most challenging part.

Check out Domain.coms VPS hosting 

This type of hosting is ideal for websites with high-traffic that need to set up their host in a specific way. So if you aren’t receiving about, 6000–7000 monthly visitors you don’t need a VPS hosting right now.

Host Gator [cloud hosting]

Website builder used: WordPress

Cloud hosting is a do it yourself platform, so you will be configuring your hosting on your own using a C-Panel just like a VPS. Sounds confusing enough? Right so if you aren’t particularly tech savvy then you may want to stick with a more managed hosting provider.

Cloud hosting, unlike other hosting companies, doesn’t particualr have any physical servers since everything is cloud-based, almost like your mobile photos that are being saved on an Apple icloud if you have Apple of course.

10 Hosting

Website builder used: WordPress

10 hosting provides unlimited bandwidth space also with cloud-based hosting solutions. It’s very inexpensive since you manage it yourself but what’s also interesting is the price decreases over time the longer you are with the company.

check out 10 Hosting services here

 

These hostings options are ideal for websites that receive high traffic as well as someone that can configure their own cloud hosting.

 

Liquid Web [managed hosting]

Website builder used: WordPress

Managed hosting allows you to rent your very own server that is managed for you. This is also ideal for websites with high traffic. Managed hosting is not shared with anyone else and can be a little more expensive than shared hosting.

I have used Liquid Web for some of my clients since they were planning to scale much more significant amounts of traffic to their site.

Check out Liquid Web Services

About WordPress your website builder

It’s apparent that WordPress is the preferred website builder for the majority of the hosting companies. WordPress dominates over 33% of the website due to the customization features it has to offer.

A little WordPress history here:

I use WordPress with all of my clients since that is the website builder I am most proficient in. Now if you are a beginner using WordPress it may be challenging unless you have the right resources. Once you familiarize yourself with the builder, you will be able to customize your website in no time.

If you want more detailed information on starting your first blog post, then go to my most recent post. “How to create a blog website for free.”

Conclusion

There are so many FREE resources out there to help you better educate yourself on what kind of hosting services you need. What I personally look for is what makes sense for my clients. That’s not all considering other factors like budget, traffic, the purpose for your website and more.

To best way to completely understand what you need is to research relevant facts on your overall goals. I was able to extend my freelancing career by having a full understanding of how to create a name for myself in the online space.

A website is going to allow you to do the same. if you have been in the game for a while and or just starting out take my advice on one thing to be consistent.

Being consistent will enable you to master your personal or business goals. You will be able to gain the necessary knowledge you need to keep growing.
Thank you for reading and as always leave me your comments and share with me what hosting and web providers you use and why?