Edit/Update 5th June 2018
I have since started to recommend again Wealthy Affiliate as a fairly-ok-to-good platform to learn and build passive income internet businesses; they have very strong support, robust discussion/forums, strong fundamental online business training programs, and best of all, there is a free-for-life basic membership program where you can learn the basics of online business, get 2 free websites and webhosting too (sign up for the free for life Wealthy Affiliate account here)
Yes, one of their strong points is that you can stay as a free basic member for life if you want to, or once you’ve learnt as much as you can from the basic level and want to level up, you can opt to upgrade to be a premium member at $49 per month or $359 per year (the yearly option is much cheaper).
The reason why I decided to not promote Wealthy Affiliate then was because they do not provide a refund if you pre-paid for their yearly membership; instead you have to wait out your membership – I disagree with this approach.
Another thing I disagreed on was that they also call themselves “the only online business platform you ever need”, which isn’t true.
However, I realize that though it wouldn’t be the same commercial decision I would ever make for my businesses, but I will respect theirs. Wealthy Affiliate is good because it is an affordable way to learn how to build profitable affiliate marketing and Amazon associate businesses in a very smooth and friendly environment.
Wealthy Affiliate monthly membership is USD 49 or yearly USD 360 per premium account, and the magic is that you can have up to 50 websites/domains (additional USD 12-14/year per domain), which allows you to try many different businesses and topics “to find which one click and stick”.
Recently I shared on how I was disappointed that Wealthy Affiliate doesn’t offer refunds to any prepaid amounts paid for annual membership, instead, you have to wait out your membership in terms how how many days/weeks/months/years you had prepaid (read about that here)…
…and that all started because at the end of 2016/early 2017, I had been deliberating on my habits and practices, and I think and feel that having 30+ websites across 3 providers and with a son coming in March 2017, I have to anticipate and be realistic about the level of energy and time that I will have, so I decided to cull my WA membership.
In the link above, you’d find that I was told that my pre-paid amount wont be refunded because it’s mentioned in the Terms and Conditions when I purchase the annual membership and one of the founders told me that they also can’t refund because they had already paid the affiliate commission.
Interesting.
I told him that I understand the importance of new sales, but at that point in writing, I had prepaid up to 597 days in advance (1.64 years in advance), so that was a long waiting period.
No reply since then.
Also interesting, most other companies that allow prepayment either:
- allow refunds (subject to pro-rata)
- caps the renewal to one year (365 days)
But I hadn’t heard back since, and maybe this is an isolated case, plus he’s the co-founder, so he’d be pretty busy too.
Regardless, I disagree with the philosophy of no refunds (eventhough it’s been mentioned to me at the beginning, so I can’t fault that part of it) and I have pulled off recommending it.
Wealthy Affiliate still has multiple strong points, including:
- strong and up to date training
- very active and supportive forum/chat
- providing bonuses such as SSL security (https) and other benefits at no added cost
I thank Kyle and Carson for building such a good platform and forum, and Steve for introducing it to me. But right now, at this point in writing, I cannot agree with the no-refund philosophy.
What I recommend using now is:
Solo Build It
Previously known as Site Build It (SBI), it was rebranded/renamed to Solo Build It (SBI) in January 2017. They have a very useful and powerful Action Guide (AG) that taught me step by step; and a supportive forum.
I’ve been using SBI since 2008, and I’ve been very happy with my SBI-powered physiotherapy site generating 6-figures of revenue attracting clients online.
BlueHost WebHosting For Self-Hosted WordPress Sites
Since 2008, all my WordPress websites are hosted on BlueHost. Why? They make it so easy to get a new site up and running with their one-click automatic WordPress Blog installation. Even NigelChua.com is on Bluehost’s easy-to-use and extremely affordable hosting platform.
You can use your Bluehost account to host multiple domains so there’s no need to pay more for hosting when you’re ready to start another website. Also, they provide outstanding customer service!
I highly recommend using Bluehost for your first website, and you can get started now as low as $2.75/month for the Basic Plan for a single site, but I recommend that you get the medium (Plus) plan, so you can host unlimited sites on it =)
Visit BlueHost official page here.
Solo Build It Versus Self Hosted WordPress
If you’re comparing between SBI and WordPress, read my article with my conclusions between these two. I’ve been using both since 2008/2009.
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Hang around here for some time, you’d see that I don’t well with hype or bullshit. I can smell that typically a mile away, and I hate that shit too.
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