My Three Years at Wealthy Affiliate

I joined Wealthy Affiliate in 2008. I'm just starting my fourth year. I retired from the real world when I was 62 years-of-age in 1994. Before I retired, my company allowed me to take the position of editor of an international engineering magazine. I continued at this after I retired for several years.
I was raised in the western part of the country and graduated in engineering in 1957. I worked in Colorado for just over 5 years doing research on industrial ceramics. We made nose cones for missiles, the envelopes for the klystron tubes used on the Ready-Alert Radar System on the dew line. We made the substrates for the solar cells for the Tel-Star Satellite, nuclear fuel elements for Project Pluto, and many other secret at the time projects for the United States Government.
I returned to the University of Utah in 1962 receiving the Ph.D. in Ceramic Engineering and Metallurgy in 1965. I worked in the refractory industry in Pittsburgh doing research on materials for the hot metal operations in the metallurgical industry.
As part of my education, I had agreed to do some teaching as specified in my fellowship. I taught engineering in Iowa for 8 years. When my kids got to be college age, I returned to industry to increases my salary three times over night. I worked in California, Pennsylvania and in New Jersey where I retired as vice president from a Fortune 500 company. After 20 years in New Jersey I retired to Arizona. Arizona is where I first became interested in Internet marketing.
I left Arizona for medical reasons (specified by my doctor sons), to be close to members of my family. I moved to Idaho in 2003.
I started article writing in 2005 just because I like to write. I tried to write on every subject listed at EzineArticles. Many of my articles have been picked up by webmasters and my articles on various article sites have been viewed by well over seven hundred thousand readers. I took a deeper interested in Internet marketing and I purchased what I called "The Nine Pound Wonder," written by Corey Rudl. Later, I purchased the next edition.
Corey sold a book he wrote on purchasing a car on the Internet (The book, "Car Secrets Revealed," is still sold on the Internet). He also sold auto parts. Others wanted to know how to sell on the Internet and he prepared training materials which he sold on the Internet. He became wealthy and sadly after his marriage, he died in an automobile crash on a California race track. It was a big loss to Internet marketing when this young man died. His marketing site is still active but the bright light has gone.
Wealthy Affiliate was my way to replace Corey. The two young men who created the premier training site impressed me. They had worked their ways through college by learning how to profitably market on the Internet. They were on top of things just as Cory was. Their site was the Place to Learn to Earn.
I went though the usual training and then the advanced training at Wealthy Affiliate. However, it has never been a do or die thing for me. I had a good retirement income, money in the bank, and no financial worries. This important driving force is absent in my case.
Corey Rudl use to say, learn one money-making technique, perfect it until it is a reliable source of income, and then try something else. Soon you will have multiple sources of income. My weakness is that I have far too many interest to spend all of my time trying to make money on the Internet. I have not become a very successful affiliate marketer. I prefer to sell products to real customers, not to a passerby that wants to grab an affiliate product.
To be a successful Internet marketer you need a mailing list for each niche you are working. I have tried this at times and in fact, I'm doing it now. I use the Wealthy Affiliate site-building tools and the WA auto responder messages. I am collecting names and making a few affiliate sales.
One member of Wealthy Affiliate with whom I correspond with had a large mailing list. I get pulled in by his emails and sometimes buy the products he offers. He worked his way through college selling on the Internet. He promotes a lot of sites and is a top affiliate in many. He said that when he became well-known as competent promoter of new launches, the gurus came to him with many offers and he was on the rode to riches. Knowing WA members has been a joy to me and I have learned a lot from them, some are very close and dear friends.
WA has changed over the years. Some who have not stayed around long enough to become successful or have become successful and no longer think they need the use of the site (or don't have time), have not seen these changes. When WA added free hosting, I knew that I would not leave. I could give up my dedicated server and enjoy WA at no additional cost. They put money into my pocket. Also affiliate sales at WA have helped me pay the rent.
Another change at WA is the increased activity and contributions of members. Member input is now referenced wherever it is relevant. Members can earn money by writing for WA. One of the owners told me that I should be doing that, having the members drop gold coins into my hands as they read my stuff. Well, I was doing that but I've left that to younger abler hands.
The tools at WA have improved over time. I use the Keyword Tool about everyday. I like the Article Power feature. I put in a keyword or keyword phrase and then click on Article Power to get the keywords into descending order. I take one of the keywords at the top and use that for my article title.
I mess around with some PPC but not much, but again, the Keyword Tool brings home the bacon.
I use the website templates at WA at times. I also use the forums. I stay in contact with the owners who are giving me more attention now that I've been around so long and since I'm so old and senile, I need help.
I also stay in contact with the affiliate manager who is very helpful in improving member activities.
When the current recession hit, my product sales dropped dramatically. Now they have picked up again I am increasing my activities in the product areas. I'm not only selling flagpoles, my old standby, I'm selling gifts.
I've shied away from products with low profit margins. Now I have learned that is not discouraging some other affiliate marketers who are making good money selling at Amazon and other such sites. I have made some money this way in the past and have resumed marketing in those areas.
Well, I am pushing some digital products but the recession hurt most in this area.
The bottom line is that if you can choose a product you know something about, prepare a web page with relevant information, drive traffic to that page by article writing, PPC, social marketing, forums, etc., and link to a pitch page where you are the vendor does the selling for you, you will win at this game. But you should have a way to get that all important name and email address. You do this by giving a gift of value (or at least of perceived value) perhaps using a squeeze page.
As you can see, I'm still learning.
Fly Old Glory!