Crafty Content

What is Wealthy Affiliate University?

Wealthy Affiliate University is a training facility geared to teach people about creating or growing their online business.  If you have tried to create a business online and failed, you are not alone.  It happens and more often than not, business fail in general because they have been misinformed  or simply lack information.

WAU bridges the gaps that people have between online business and technology as well as online business and understand how the worldwide marketplace can be leveraged for profit potential.

The online-only University provides people with a place to hang out, learn about Internet marketing and online business, utilize tools and productivity suites, and like a real offline course, you have access to many successful people and teachers within the community, starting with the CEO’s themselves, Kyle & Carson.

How can it help you with your Online Business?

I know first hand that earning a consistent income online is not a cake walk, however, having the right knowledge, the right tools and the right support at your disposal can make the difference between winning and losing.

Like the famous speech in the movie “Any Given Sunday”, Internet marketing is also a game of inches.  If you add up all those inches (all those little successes, and tid-bits of knowledge), it will make the difference between winning and losing…a successful campaign and one that fails.

Wealthy Affiliate provides an environment where you can build a business from the ground up.  You have access to tools that will help you build a website, tools that will help you research keywords and niches, training on just about any online business topic imagineable and access to a community of like-minded individuals and support from the owners themselves.

Affiliate/Marketing Training Offered at WA

Many people are thrown off when they hear the term “affiliate marketing”.  What the heck is it?

I have been explaining this for years and my definition has changed slightly since I originally tried explaining it.  Affiliate marketing is the act of recommending a product through offering someone help.

Let’s say you come to my site on ” building birdhouses”.  It just so happens that I have spent some time to build a WordPress blog on how to build a birdhouse, researched some tips on how to attract birds, but THEN I offer you a “building birdhouse for success” guide if you are interested in expanding your skills.  I mean you want the best birdhouse on the block right?

If you go onto buy that guide from me (which I am affiliated with), I will get a commission.  Sometimes this is 5%, but most of the time it is much higher.  Digital products like e-books typically pay 75%, so if it was selling for $100, you as the affiliate would get a $75.  See how this could add up (IT DOES!).

Wealthy Affiliate originally started as a school for educating people online in how to profit from Affiliate Marketing and it is still their expertise.  However their training over the years has evolved and know they offer training in respect to an online business…so whether you are an individual looking to start a business, an affiliate, a merchant, an offline company looking for a presence, or just interested in learning about online business, WAU’s affiliate marketing/internet marketing training is top notch.

The Importance of a Website

Gone are the days you can throw an ad up in Google, direct link,  and expect to become an Internet superstar.  The Internet has gone through some major changes over the last couple of years and if you want to be a successful marketer, you need to really understand the importance of having a website.

For one, YOU NEED ONE.  A website gives you the opportunity to leverage your own ideas, opinions and implement testing and tracking into your campaigns.  This is very powerful, but that is not the only reason.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing are cracking down on people without sites now.  In fact, you can no longer set up and ad campaign in Google without having your website.  Article marketing directories have followed suit as well.  Getting traffic by writing articles is not longer as easy as it once was.  Now you need to have a site that is relevant to the article or you won’t be approved.

So, if you are going in this business without a site, good luck…your opportunities are going to be very grim.  However, I do have some good news for you, in fact, some very exciting news.

Within Wealthy Affiliate U, you have access to two different website builders.  Their latest addition is a WordPress site creator (WP Express) that allows you to build a WordPress blog in a less than 3 clicks, and a minute later.  In fact, my site (craftycontent.com) was created using WordPress express.  The good thing about WordPress sites these days are that Google loves them, they are easy to use and easy to update.

They also have a tool called Site Rubix that builds static HTML websites using a drag and drop interface.  This is also easy to use, however I cannot attest to using it too much as I prefer WordPress sites.  Both are good and will take the frustration out of building sites…and both are included within the WAU membership area.

Finding Keywords & Profitable Niches

What do I promote?  Where do I find profitable keywords?  What is a hot niche?

These are all very common questions that I hear every day and questions that if left unanswered, lead to people failing.  The thing that most people understand is that keyword and niche research does not have to be overly difficult  and can be simplified thorugh keyword tools and niche reports, both of which are offered within Wealthy Affiliate.

OK, niches first. What determines a good niche and whether or not it will be profitable for you?

Something you are interested in.  It is a known fact that you will become much more successful if you choose a career you are interested in and passionate about expanding your knowledge in.  If you start a restaurant business, you sure as heck better like eating out and love everything about the food business.   Same goes for the Internet.

Say you love cats?  What should your first site be about? CATS!  Same goes for any interest you have.  I happen to love everything about Internet marketing and writing online, hence the reason I created my Crafty Content site.   Think of something that interests you…your passion, something you enjoy learning about, and start there.

Wealthy Affiliate provides you with a new “Niche Q Package” each month which provides you with content, a 60 page report, website templates and some hot affiliate programs every month you are a member of WA.  There are also tools that you can use to research hot Clickbank products and training on how to find information about your niche, so you will learn everything you need to know about niches.

Remember the key though: START WITH AN INTEREST!

What is the best way to find keywords for your marketing campaigns?

Keyword research is a little trickier to explain to you right here, however I can tell you that there are different types of keyword research required for different types of marketing.

For example, if you are article marketing/SEO marketing, your research will differ slightly from your Pay-per-click keyword research.  This is because for SEO, you want a keyword that meets a specific criteria within the natural search results and the overall competition.

For PPC, you focus is on other competition ads, bid prices, and overall traffic.   There is a different formula required with both.

I am all about taking shortcuts though.

I use the Keyword tool within Wealthy Affiliate that spits out an Article Power and a PPC Power score for all the keywords that I research making the research process a breeze.  This is one of the luxuries of being a member I guess…and it does save a lot of time from doing manual keyword searches in free tools like the External Google Keyword Tool.

Here is an example search I did for “kites” (an odd niche, but still a niche).  If you see in the image below, I sorted the keywords by “Article Power”.  When using the Wealthy Affiliate keyword tool, you can determine whether or not it is a good keyword for SEO or for article marketing if the Article Power is over a 7.0.  In this case all of these keywords are SEO friendly and good to go.

There is also a “PPC Power” score within WAU that determine how effective a keyword is for your Google Adwords, Yahoo and Bing paid advertising campaigns.  I usually promote anything that is higher than a 6.0 after I sort it.   You can see an example of this below.

As you can see, finding niches and keywords is important, but if you have the right tools at your disposal, it can simplify things and save you a lot of time and increase your campaign quality.

Starting Your Own Successful Online Business

Starting an online business or expanding upon your existing business is more than possible.  It requires the right combination of proper training, education, the right tools, and access to support.

Unlike some things, online business can be taught and then “acted” upon.  Those that work hard and persist within the online business world, are those that succeed.  You have never seen a restaurant owner succeed without putting in tireless hours.  Sure online is quite a bit easier, but it will still require some dedication and willingness to take action on your part.

If you can take action, the training and tools are taken care of for you at Wealthy Affiliate.  You do not have to enter this crazy world of online business alone…and in fact, I do not recommend it.  Instead, you should speed up your path to online success by acquiring the “right knowledge” within an afforadable system, WAU.

Hope this has helped you out.

Crafty Content