What Is Wealthy Affiliate – Everything You Need To Know


🛈This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through those links at no extra cost to you. Also, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. You can read my full disclosure here.

So let’s get right into the nitty gritty here. What is Wealthy Affiliate and what exactly do they do? You’re trying to find a way to make money online and you’ve stumbled upon them in the process.

Now you’re reading as many Wealthy Affiliate reviews as you can possibly find to find out if they’re a legit business or some kind of scam.

How do I know that? Because I did exactly the same thing many years ago when I first stumbled upon them myself.

I’ll cut straight to the chase and tell you that Wealthy Affiliate is a legitimate training platform and it has a 4.9 rating out of 546 reviews on Trustpilot to prove it.


trustpilot wa reviews

It does offer a lot more than just training with its plethora of built-in tools but at its core, it’s a very effective training platform, so much so that I still am and have been a member for almost 8 years.

There’s a lot to cover here including what Wealthy Affiliate is, what you’ll learn and what you can expect from the platform so I’ll try to make this Wealthy Affiliate review as thorough as possible.   

So grab a cup of tea or coffee and make yourself comfortable because it’s going to be a long one!

What Is Wealthy Affiliate?

Well, if I had to put it into one (longish) sentence, then essentially (deep breath), here it goes.

Wealthy Affiliate (WA) is a training platform that teaches people (especially complete beginners) how to start and grow their own online business in affiliate marketing by creating a website about something they’re interested in and monetising it with affiliate links. Phew!

So, essentially they teach you how to take your passion, hobby or interest and turn it into an income. 

There are 2 main types of core training available, both containing 20+ lessons each and although they’re similar, they will vary slightly depending on your niche direction. The first is the niche core training which is if you choose your own passion/hobby.

The second is the bootcamp core training which is if you choose the make money online (MMO) niche. There are also 100s of hours of training videos, tutorials, numerous classrooms, 24/7 live chat and a huge community that you can get support and help from.

If you’d like to have a sneak peek of the platform, you can create a free starter membership and complete the first 8 lessons for free here (no credit card needed – just your email to create your account)

If you’re not completely sure what affiliate marketing is then I do have a full post explaining it in more detail here. Now, there is a lot more to them than just a training platform because they do provide all of the tools that are essential for creating and growing an online business.

affiliate marketing diagram

An All-In-One Platform

The platform is predominantly all about training but over the years, more and more tools have been added. This essentially means that everything you need to grow and build an online business is already right there within the platform.

Usually, you’d need to purchase many of these services separately but because of the all-inclusive nature of the platform, this isn’t necessary.

These tools include things such as a website builder, their own hosting service, built-in research tools, writing tools, AI tools, and more. All of these are essential for running an online business and they’re all included with the paid membership levels.

The Basic Idea Of Affiliate Marketing

Although there are several ways to make money online with a website, the main focus within the platform is affiliate marketing.

Other ways such as using ad networks like Adsense are also taught but affiliate marketing pretty much takes centre stage. With that in mind, the basic core of what you’ll learn looks something like this.

  • Choosing a niche for your website – Ideally, something you have an interest in. 
  • Building a website about that niche – A blank canvas site is set up for you in seconds so don’t worry, no coding or technical expertise is needed here. You’ll then learn how to customise your website with themes, layouts, images, menus, widgets and more.
  • Building out your website with content and getting traffic – You’ll learn how to build out your website with content such as informational posts, how-to posts, review posts, etc. You’ll also learn how to rank in Google’s search engine and grow your traffic.
  • Joining affiliate programs – You’ll learn how to join affiliate networks/programs, so brand companies such as Amazon, Nike, etc, who will pay you a commission if you add links to their products on your site and someone clicks on them and makes a purchase on their site.
  • Adding your affiliate links – You’ll learn how affiliate links work and how to add them to products that you mention on your website which can earn you a commission when readers click on them and make a purchase.

And that is essentially how affiliate marketing works and the main essence of what you’ll learn on the WA platform.

A Real Life Example

So let’s say, for example, you’re a keen gardener. You could create a website all about gardening and share all the tips, tricks and knowledge you’ve attained over the years.

You could then also write reviews or make recommendations on tools, equipment or anything else you mention that you think your readers might find useful for their gardening needs.

Then you can add affiliate links to the products you recommend from the affiliate programs you’ve joined (let’s use Amazon as an example) that will take your reader straight to the product page on Amazon where they can then buy it. If they do buy it, you’ll get a commission for that sale in the process.


It’s More Than Just Writing Content

Now, that does sound relatively easy and straightforward when you look at it like that but there is a lot more involved. Things like keyword research, competitor research and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) just to mention a few.

There are several steps involved for every piece of content that you write in order to help your posts get ranked in Google, but the entire process is covered step by step in the training.

what is wealthy affiliate

Really quickly before I go any further, if you’re looking for some get-rich-quick scheme then I’m sorry to tell you that Wealthy Affiliate is not it.

Building your own business online or otherwise takes time, effort, patience, and a lot of work but if you’re willing to put that time and work in then I encourage you to keep reading.

Who Are The People Behind Wealthy Affiliate

Wealthy Affiliate has actually been around for quite some time, since 2005 to be precise. It was created by Kyle Loudon and Carson Lim who were college friends from Canada who had both been successful with their own affiliate marketing businesses.

They decided to create the WA (Wealthy Affiliate) website back in 2005 so that they could help other people learn and get started in the online affiliate marketing world. Since then, the platform and community have grown exponentially from there.

kyle and carson

Whilst Carson is more the technical backend guy so you won’t see him as much, Kyle is very much active within the community and is the main contributor to the core training.

He also uploads regular new weekly (sometimes more frequently) training videos and informational blogs/vlogs on different topics as well as being very active with Q&As around the platform.

You’ll also see him popping into the live chat on an almost daily basis so you will see him floating around if you ever want to drop him a question and he’s always extremely helpful.

Another Name To Look Out For

The other main name on the platform is Jay (AKA Magistudios) who is the live webinar training video host and once you’re through the initial core training then these are a definite must-watch.

He’ll take a topic that you may have only learned the very basics of and go much further into detail with step-by-step training. So, by the end of the hour or so video, you’ll be much more knowledgeable than you were at the start.

These videos are also very handy if you ever get stuck somewhere in the core training because chances are that Jay has a recording covering the topic in much more detail. He’s also very entertaining to watch too so that’s a bonus.

What Does The Wealthy Affiliate Platform Offer

As well as the core training and Jay’s webinars, there are lots of other training videos added by Kyle and other experienced members to the expert classes section of the platform (several each week).

wealthy affiliate weekly training

There are also several topic-related classrooms filled with tutorials and videos as well as Q&As and how-tos submitted by other members that are all searchable from the main platform menu. So if you ever get stuck, you can use the search feature to look for answers.

You also have the live chat which is always busy with Q&As so whether you love it or avoid it (I’ll explain that one further down), it’s a good way to get quick instant answers from multiple members at one time.

The Huge Community At Wealthy Affiliate

The community at Wealthy Affiliate is huge and currently stands somewhere over the 2 million mark and is still growing. It’s a super-active community with many experienced members who are on the platform throughout the day to help anyone who needs it.

Members are more than happy to share their knowledge and experience with the rest of the community and they do so daily.

So, if you ever need a hand with anything, just jump in the live chat or post a question on the main dashboard and other members will be more than happy to help you out.

wealthy affiliate platform

They even share their own mistakes too so that other members don’t make them. The platform really does have much to offer both for complete beginners and experienced marketers alike.

What Tools Are Available

As I mentioned earlier, several tools are included on the platform and they’re all a must for creating and growing a website. There are also several AI (artificial intelligence) powered tools that can help speed up many of your content creation and research chores. These tools include:

  • Website Builder – You can build and grow your website within the platform.
  • Website Hosting – You can host your websites directly on the platform (a certain number of sites included depending on membership level).
  • Domain Purchasing – You can buy your site domains directly through the platform (roughly $15 for 1 domain for 1 year).
  • Keyword Research Tool – For all your keyword research.
  • Site Rank Tool – Discover where your posts rank in search engines.
  • Keyword Lists Tool – For saving all your keyword lists.
  • Search Engine Analysis – For researching your website’s competition in SERPs (search engine results pages).
  • Niche Trends – Find and track trending niches.
  • Affiliate Program Search Tool – For finding affiliate programs within your niche.
  • Site Content – Writing tool for writing your content. This tool also includes the AI-powered Article Designer and AI Author tool as well as free-to-use images for your site.
  • Site Feedback – Submit your site for design and layout feedback from other members.
  • Site Support – For any technical issues you’re having with your website.
wealthy affiliate platform tools

There’s also an AI (artificial intelligence) Niche finder tool that can help you come up with niche ideas based on your interests or hobbies. It will also give you brand/domain name ideas too so it’s a very handy tool.

But, one of the most important areas in the entire platform is the Hubs and this is a centralised area where you’ll manage your website, find all your core training and find 100s of content ideas and niche research to help you build out the content on your website.  

Wealthy Affiliate Hubs

When you first join Wealthy Affiliate, you’ll immediately be prompted to create a hub and this will also create a free SiteRubix website for you to practice on.

These hubs are AI (artificial intelligence) powered and one of their most impressive features is the fact that they’ll automatically be prepopulated with content ideas relating to the niche you’ve chosen.

wealthy affiliate hubs

Here you’ll find 100’s of topic ideas, category and article ideas as well as a writing tasks area which is where you can add all the articles you plan to write to keep your content strategy organised.

This area also contains prewritten templates of important pages required on your website such as a privacy policy and affiliate disclosure so you don’t need to write them yourself.

wealthy affiliate hubs writing tasks

You’ll even find article ideas for certain styles of posts such as how-to’s, pain points, top 10, beginners guides, etc so as I mentioned, 100’s of content ideas.

wealthy affiliate hubs content ideas

You can also add your own categories to the hub to generate even more article ideas on top of the 100s that are already there (one category generates 10 article ideas).

Wealthy Affiliate AI Article Designer And AI Author

This is also where you’ll find the Article Designer which is an AI-powered tool that will generate article outlines for you based on your preferences. Once these outlines are generated, you can then either write the remainder of the article yourself or use the built-in AI Author tool to finish writing it for you. 

wealthy affiliate ai article designer

Starter members get a one-time 1500 AI Word Credits which they can use to try out both tools. Paid members on the other hand get 7000 or 15000 AI Word Credits depending on their membership level which are replenished every month.


What Can You Expect To Learn

Initially, when you first start out, you’ll work your way through the core training which will cover the fundamentals of getting started but the training will be a little different depending on the niche of your website. However, regardless of your niche, the training will cover the following:

  • The fundamentals of Affiliate Marketing and making money online.
  • The basic website set-up.
  • Adding content, plugins, menus, widgets, images and links.
  • Fundamentals of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
  • Basic keyword research.
  • Affiliate programs and adding affiliate links.
  • Tracking your website traffic with Google Analytics and Search Console.
  • Basic Social Media Marketing.

The initial core training is essentially geared towards complete beginners and as such covers the fundamentals to get you up and running as an affiliate marketer. There is, however, a whole lot more to learn within the platform once you’ve completed it.

wealthy affiliate classrooms

You can get through the core training relatively quickly and by the end of it, you should have the beginnings of a nicely laid-out website. You should also have a good bit of content on your site too but at that point, you’ll want to move on to the more in-depth training.

The Next Step After The Core Training

You’ll want to keep an eye on the training within your hub as more videos will be added as you move forward but there’s tons of further training on the topics above as well as training in many other areas in the main classroom area including:

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • On-Page and Off-Page SEO
  • YouTube Videos and YouTube SEO
  • Email Marketing
  • Social Media Marketing
  • WordPress
  • Website Development & Design
  • PPC (pay-per-click)
  • Copywriting
  • Outsourcing

There’s also a Q&A at the bottom of every single tutorial, video, and core training level so if you get stuck on anything, you can simply ask the community. They’ll be more than happy to help if they know the solution and there usually is somebody somewhere that does.

wa new videos

After you’ve finished the initial core training, you’ll already have a sense of what to move on to next because you’ll find things that you want to do with your website as you build it out.

You’ll probably have a whole list of things that you want to find training on within the platform as you move forward and the classes area is the best place to find them.

There’s Always Something New To Learn

Realistically, the training never really ends because the online world is constantly evolving so there are always new tutorials being added to reflect that. So, a great way to keep updated is to check the new training each week by clicking on “New Classes” on the dashboard’s menu.

This will give you all the new upcoming classes for the current week and this is also a great way to spot any gaps in your knowledge. It’s also a great way to stay up to date with anything new that’s happening in the online world.

And because there’s always new stuff being added, not just the new classes but in numerous places on the dashboard, you’ll always find something new to learn.

Membership Price Breakdown

Now for the most important part which is how much does it cost to join Wealthy Affiliate?

Well, there are technically 3 membership levels within Wealthy Affiliate although one of those is the free starter membership which is essentially a free test drive (as Kyle likes to call it) that will allow you to have a sneak peek of the platform.

wa sneak peek

The other 2 are full-access paid memberships and here is a brief breakdown of what you can expect with each one.


Starter Membership: Free

Before you pay anything, you can create a free Starter membership. This will allow you to have a look around the platform and even complete the first few training lessons.

You’ll also get 1 limited hub and a free blank SiteRubix subdomain site to practice on so essentially it’s a try before you buy.

There’s also no time limit to the Starter membership. It’s not the usual try for free for 7 days then pay to continue access, so you could remain on the Starter membership for as long as you like.

wealthy affiliate starter lessons

However, the access is very limited and you won’t be able to proceed past the first few lessons (it is just a test drive after all) but it should be enough for you to see whether or not you like WA and want to join fully to unlock the full platform.

As a Starter member, you’ll get:

  • One Time 1500 AI Word Credits.
  • The Ability To Try Out The AI Article Designer And The AI Author.
  • 1 SiteRubix Subdomain Practice Website.
  • 1 Limited Hub.
  • Jaaxy Starter Keyword Research Tool.
  • Limited Help & Support.
  • First 8 Classes In The Niche Core Training.

Create a Free Starter Membership Here >>>>>


Premium Membership: $49 per month

The Premium membership gives you full access to the platform including all the tools and training mentioned earlier.

These include hosting for up to 3 websites, 3 full hubs, website builder, research and analysis tools, writing tools, all new weekly premium level classes (several added weekly) and full access to the community including live chat, blogs, and much more.

This also includes full access to all the core training classes which are 40+ classes combined as well as everything else you’ll need to start building and growing your online business.

As a Premium member, you’ll get:

  • 7000 AI Word Credits Replenished Monthly.
  • AI Article Designer & AI Author. 
  • Weekly Expert Classes.
  • Full Core Niche Training (20+ classes). 
  • Full Core Bootcamp Training (20+ classes).
  • Managed Hosting For Up To 3 Websites.
  • 3 Full Access Hubs.
  • Jaaxy Lite Keyword Resource Tool.
  • Unlimited Help & Support.
  • 24/7 Website Tech Support.

Note: As a starter member, if you upgrade to premium in the first 7 days, you’ll get a free one-year .com domain included and a one-off bonus of 5000 AI Word Credits.

Get Started First With The Free Starter Membership Here >>>>>


Premium Plus+ Membership: $99 per month

The Premium Plus+ membership includes everything from the Premium membership as well as some added extras. These include higher-level website hosting, higher-level research tools, 10 full hubs and hosting for up to 10 websites

The Premium Plus+ membership also includes several extra weekly expert classes which add up to 250+ additional expert classes per year and first access to all new beta tools added to the platform.

As a Premium Plus+ member, you’ll get:

  • 15000 AI Word Credits Replenished Monthly.
  • AI Article Designer & AI Author.
  • Daily Expert Classes.
  • Full Core Niche Training (20+ classes). 
  • Full Core Bootcamp Training (20+ classes).
  • Managed Hosting For Up To 10 Websites.
  • 10 Full Access Hubs.
  • Jaaxy Enterprise Keyword Resource Tool.
  • Unlimited Help & Support.
  • 24/7 Website Tech Support.

Note: As a starter member, if you upgrade to premium plus+ in the first 7 days, you’ll get 2 free one-year .com domains included and a one-off bonus of 10000 AI Word Credits.

Get Started First With The Free Starter Membership Here >>>>>


I would always recommend that you start with the free starter membership first before you move on to a full-access paid membership. This gives you the opportunity to get a feel of the platform first and to have a look around to see what WA is all about.

You’ll get a chance to sample the training, experience the community and get an idea of what else WA has to offer. This lets you decide if the platform is for you before paying a penny.

Some Advice For Newcomers

If you do decide to give it a go and join the WA platform, you’ll find that it’s a very active place with lots of different things going on. You’ll also have numerous options with the direction you wish to take.

So with that in mind, here are a few little nuggets of advice that I think are worth mentioning to help any newcomers who are navigating the platform for the first time.

Advice 1 – Start With Your Own Hobby/Passion Niche

Earlier on, I mentioned that you can choose between two different paths which are either the niche core training which is your own passion/hobby niche or the bootcamp core training which is the make money online (MMO) niche. 

However, as much as you can choose between these two different paths, I honestly think that as a newbie, it’s better to start with your own passion/hobby niche website first and there’s a really good reason why. Unless you already have experience in the MMO niche then it’s probably not the best niche idea for complete beginners.

I’m not saying that you can’t or shouldn’t do it because some have and they’ve become very successful with it. I personally just don’t think it’s a good place to start for most.

make money online niche

Sure, maybe later on when you’ve got some experience and success with your own passion/hobby niche site, you could start a second site in the MMO niche but at the very beginning, not so much.

Advising people how to make money online when you know little to nothing about it and haven’t actually made any money online yourself just doesn’t make any sense.

It’s like starting a parenting blog before you’ve even become a parent and as all of us parents will know, it’s infuriating when someone who isn’t a parent tries to give you parenting advice (you know it’s true).

It’s Harder And Slower To Move Forward

It’s also much harder and takes longer to produce content on a topic that you have little to no experience in. Especially compared to choosing your own niche based on a hobby you already have and you probably already know a good bit about.

For example, if you’re an avid golfer and you choose something in the golfing niche, you’ll naturally have tons of stuff to write about because you probably already know a whole lot about it.

When my husband and I first started out, I chose a niche for my first site that I had an interest in but not necessarily any experience in (not the MMO niche, btw).

pick the right niche

My husband, on the other hand, chose his hobby as his niche and he could literally outwrite me 4 or 5 posts to my 1. In fact, sometimes he’d have those 4 or 5 posts already published on his website while I was still researching my first one, let alone even writing the thing.

I did eventually get better but it took much longer to get there compared to him. He had little to no research to do because he already knew what he was talking about so bear that in mind when you’re choosing a direction.

It also meant that he made his first affiliate commission way before I did. He made his at around the 3-month mark whereas it took me more than 9 months to make mine.

If you’re really stuck trying to decide on a niche then check out my, “How To Choose A Niche” post. There are some simple things you can do to see if your niche is already staring right at you.

Advise 2 – To Live Chat or Not Live Chat

As much as the live chat is a very handy feature on the platform especially if you’re stuck and need quick answers, it’s also a very easy distraction. The main reason why I’m including it here is so that you’ll know you’re not the only one when you lose an entire day of productivity because of it.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that you can literally lose hours in this one thing alone especially if something really juicy is going on. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Whether you’re chatting with other members or just watching what’s happening, it can get very addictive. The time that you should be spending working your way through the training and working on your website ends up getting consumed very quickly.

wa live chat

It’s even worse if someone like Kyle (the co-founder) or Jay (the webinar host) jumps on because then you find yourself just “hanging around” waiting to see if they drop any useful titbits of info. Trust me, I know, I’ve done it. I still do it!

It’s Not Just The Live Chat

In fact, the entire dashboard can be a little bit like that. It’s such a big community with so much content being added continuously that you can very easily get sidetracked.

It’s so easy to get caught up scrolling down the dashboard or perusing other people’s posts. It’s literally like social media on steroids.

Even the training videos and tutorials can take you down a never-ending rabbit hole of training because you’ll search for one thing and end up seeing or hearing 10 other things that have now piqued your interest.

Then you find yourself wanting to learn more and before you know it, you’ve got 20 tabs of tutorials open in your browser and you realise, that’s the next week out the window.

It’s a bit like when you’re perusing TikTok. One minute it’s lunchtime, then you start watching cat videos and the next thing you know, It’s midnight and you forgot to feed the kids 😮!

pet peeves

Not that it’s a bad thing that it’s such an active platform but you certainly need to have some kind of time management in place otherwise you’ll spend all your time watching tutorials, reading blogs or watching/chatting in the live chat and very little time working on your actual website. Believe me, it happens very easily to all of us!

Advice 3 – Don’t Get Too Consumed By The Internal Ranking System

Something you’ll notice very quickly when you join WA is how active and helpful people are within the community and this is very much encouraged within the training. 

You’ll also notice that all members are allocated a rank too and this rank is determined by how active they are within the platform. Now, if they’re super active, they may even get themselves right up there with the top members.

For this, they’ll get a little badge next to their name that says something like “Top 200”, “Top 100”, “Top 50” or even better still “Ambassador” if they reach the top 25. Cool, right? Not necessary.

wa ranking system

The problem with this is that you can get very easily consumed by the internal ranking system, so much so that you end up spending all your time on the WA platform pointlessly commenting and posting anything and everything just to improve your WA rank rather than working on your actual website.

WA Rank Vs Your Actual Business

There are no monetary rewards for being higher up in the ranks. It’s seen as more of a status thing but some feel that if they make it to the top 200, this somehow reflects their expertise and success with their online business (or at least other people’s perception). 

Unfortunately, that isn’t necessarily the case, especially if you’re spending less time on your site because you’re too busy on the WA platform trying to grow your rank and for some, it becomes more important than their actual business. 

It’s very easy to become so consumed by the internal ranking system that you end up neglecting your actual website and the online business you’re trying to create and grow which let’s be honest was the whole point in joining the platform in the first place.

wa ambassador

Your WA rank will rise and fall naturally depending on your activity on the platform but in the grand scheme of things, it really isn’t that important especially as it has no correlation with the success of your business. 

Having a high rank in WA won’t make you an income or have any effect on your online success but working on and growing your website will. So if you find yourself becoming too focused on it, just remember that this rank on the platform only represents how active you are and nothing more. Your website and the business you’re trying to grow is far more important.

Advise 4 – Be Careful How Many People You Follow

When you join WA, you instantly have the ability to follow other members of the community and most people will get a little follow happy and end up following hundreds if not thousands of other members.

The thing is though, that every time one of those followed members posts anything on the platform, you’ll get an email notification about it. Now, think about that for a few seconds and imagine what your email inbox would look like if you followed several thousand members (trust me, I learned this lesson the hard way).

how many follows

There are notification settings that you can check or uncheck in your account settings but unfortunately, it’s either all or nothing when it comes to new posts/tutorials/questions by people you follow.

Yes, you could turn them off but that would also include important ones from people like Kyle for example. So it’s just some food for thought to bear in mind when you’re deciding who or who not to follow.

Frequently Asked Questions And Answers

Are there any upsells?

No, not when it comes to Wealthy Affiliate. You have a choice as to which membership level you want to have but after that, no. The only other thing you’ll need to invest in is a domain (around $15 a year).

domain

You might decide later on as you move forward to invest in things such as premium themes, premium plugins, premium design tools (Canva Pro, Adobe, etc) or premium research/analysis tools like Ahrefs or Semrush for example but these are all totally separate products/companies from WA.

Can you rank with the free SiteRubix subdomain website you get as a starter?

Some say you can but I don’t agree with that at all. I’ve never seen a SiteRubix subdomain website on any page in Google let alone on page 1 so I don’t think so. I see them more as practice sites and I use them as testers whenever I want to try out a new plugin or a new theme before putting it on my “real” website.

Can you make money with a Starter membership?

Realistically, it’s highly unlikely because you’re only on the try before you buy membership. All you’ve really learned with that is a taster of what the platform fully offers.

You also can’t host your own domains on a Starter membership which means you’re working with a free SiteRubix subdomain website which doesn’t really rank in Google (see point above).

You also can’t apply for AdSense either (an ad network to display ads on your site). In fact, most affiliate programs won’t accept subdomains either so it’ll be very difficult to monetise a SiteRubix subdomain website.

Can you ever revert back to a Starter membership after going Premium or Premium Plus+?

Unfortunately no. Once you’re on a paid membership, you can’t go back to a starter. It’s like a free trial with a streaming service like Netflix for example. You can’t be on the free trial, move on to the paid subscription, and then go back to the free trial again afterwards.

wa test drive

It’s a one-off for first-time users only so they can have a sneak peek around the platform to see if they like it. You’d have to sign up with a different email address to be a starter again but it would be a brand-new account so it wouldn’t have any of your progress or saved content.

Can you still access the platform and your website if you cancel your membership?

After a certain period of time, no. Like any paid platform, if you cancel your membership, you will no longer be able to access the platform once your paid subscription period ends. This also includes your website if it’s hosted there.

The hosting is included with your membership so when you cancel your membership, you’re also cancelling your hosting.

Like all other hosting services, if you cancel your subscription, you will be locked out once your current subscription period ends. Then, after a short period of time, your website will be removed from the servers and will be gone forever.

If you decide to cancel your membership, it’s really important to organise new hosting for your site first if you wish to keep it. WA can help you with the site move but you need to do this before you cancel your membership.

Move Your Site First Before Cancelling

If you cancel without moving your site, when your subscription ends, you won’t be able to access it anymore, not even to move it.

Here’s a screenshot of a quick Google search on other hosting platforms.

cancel hosting

You would have to renew your membership for another month to regain access but even with that, you only have so long to do it before the site is removed and it becomes unretrievable.

Can you get a refund if you cancel midway through a billing period?

Unfortunately no. WA is a prepaid service so again, much like a streaming service, when you cancel your membership, your access to the platform will continue up until your current paid subscription period ends.

You can cancel your membership at any time but it will only come into effect at the end of your current prepaid billing period.

On a side note, Wealthy Affiliate is an auto-renew subscription service so your membership fee will automatically be renewed every month or year depending on the payment option you’ve chosen.

If you wish to cancel your membership, which you can do at any time, you need to click the “cancel billing” button in the subscription area of your account settings to stop all future payments otherwise your payments will automatically continue.

You also have the option to permanently remove/delete your account at the bottom of the same page.

If you’re just temporarily cancelling your subscription with the plan to return, as long as you don’t click the “delete account” button, your account will remain saved indefinitely until you come back (minus your website after a short time period so be sure you move it first).

How long does it take to make money?

The answer is different for everybody because it depends on so many different things like how competitive or broad is the niche you’ve chosen. Have you researched your keywords correctly? Have you researched your competitors? How much time and work are you putting in?

How much content have you published? Are you producing high-quality, helpful content? The list goes on and on. While some make their first dollar in a few months, some might take an entire year.  

Because there are so many variables at play here, it’s an impossible question to answer. The amount of work you’ve put in and how much quality content you’ve produced does play a huge role in this though.

Do I Recommend Wealthy Affiliate?

I do, I really do. I didn’t have a clue about affiliate marketing when I first joined and I certainly didn’t know anything about building and growing websites either.

wealthy affiliate

I now have several websites to my name and have WA to thank for that so yes, I genuinely recommend them, especially for beginners who don’t know where to start.

Even to this day, after almost eight years of being a member, I’m still frequently learning new things as the online world changes and evolves. I also love doing what I do and I love sharing that with people too so why not share the platform that taught me how to do it all in the first place?

One last final thought here. I actually did an offline course last year in digital marketing (to complement what I already knew) and I flew through it. This was because I already knew 95% of the course material because I’d already learnt it through WA.

Still Not Sure?

If you’re still not sure, have a look around with the free starter membership and see what you think. It is limited but it’s certainly enough to see if the platform is what you’re looking for.

Create a Free Starter Membership Here >>>>>

I’ve tried to be as thorough as I possibly can so hopefully, I haven’t missed anything important (I’m nearly 6500 words in and I’m knackered 🙂) but if I have, please let me know and I’ll do my best to add it.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or just want to share your own thoughts or experiences, please feel free to do so in the comments below.


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