Wealthy Affiliate is not a pyramid scheme. The members of pyramid schemes have to promote the scheme to others, according to Wikipedia. This is not the case with Wealthy Affiliate. You can use the platform and training to build your own website.
I am a member of Wealthy Affiliate since 2016. I can tell you that Wealthy Affiliate is a legit website with a great affiliate program but not a pyramid scheme. It is not easy to spot a pyramid scheme because of the misleading tactics, so I will explain why Wealthy Affiliate is not a pyramid scheme below.
7 Reasons Why Wealthy Affiliate Is Not A Pyramid Scheme
1. You Don’t Have To Promote Wealthy Affiliate
If you join a pyramid scheme, you must promote the system. Usually, they sell the opportunity to make money. You can earn money only when other people buy the same product you have already bought. This is not a legit business model and can’t be profitable in the long-term.
There are no other options. If you don’t promote the system, you will lose your initial investment. Many people feel the obligation to continue with a pyramid scheme’s suggestions even if they think that something goes wrong. For this reason, pyramid schemes are illegal.
If you join Wealthy Affiliate, you don’t have to promote the program or get into the same niche. While there is an affiliate program, it is optional. When you have a choice, it is possible to get different paths and test different things.
Many experienced members of Wealthy Affiliate do not recommend promoting the program and get into the affiliate marketing niche. Many low-competition niches are perfect for beginners. For example, the first video on the training for niche selection is on unrelated topics like football and fitness niches.
The first rule of a pyramid scheme does not apply to Wealthy Affiliate. It offers you training and tool to build any type of website you want on the internet without limitations.
2. Wealthy Affiliate Has An Affiliate Program
Most pyramid schemes try to mislead their members. They create confusion about the business and the way you can earn money. Affiliate marketing is not relevant to pyramid schemes. Affiliate marketers promote products. Pyramid schemes promote the opportunity of making money.
For example, you can join the affiliate program of Amazon and promote any product from the marketplace. When you make a sale, you earn a commission. It is clear and straightforward. A pyramid scheme has not any products, so they sell you access to the next level and bigger commissions.
The affiliate program of Wealthy Affiliate has nice recurring commissions, so many members promote it. The same applies to many other quality affiliate programs. Many affiliate marketers promote products from Amazon, ClickBank, ClickFunnels, etc. These websites are not pyramid schemes but offer good commissions.
If you become an affiliate marketer of Wealthy Affiliate, you earn a 40% commission from your referrals for life. It is $23.50 per month, and some referrals remain on Wealthy Affiliate for many years. If you get 50 premium referrals, you make over $1000 in passive income every month.
3. Wealthy Affiliate Has Two Memberships
Pyramid schemes have multiple membership levels. These levels are a big part of their marketing strategy. If you have joined a scheme at a low level, they tell you about losing commissions of referrals that have upgraded.
In many cases, they create scarcity about offers with limited time to upgrade. They always promise that you will make bigger commissions by moving up to the levels. Of course, the truth is that you are the customer. They get your money and then invite you to do the same thing with your referrals.
Most pyramid schemes keep taking your money as you are willing to get higher on their pyramids. The last levels can cost thousands of dollars.
Wealthy Affiliate has one free membership and two premium memberships. The free membership is an introduction to the platform. You can get two free websites with a subdomain to apply what you learn in training.
Then, there are two premium memberships for everyone. It starts from $49 per month, and there are offers with discounts. For example, there is a discount if you upgrade to premium in the first week as a free member and a big discount for those who are willing to pay in advance for a year. However, there are no upsells. It is a business model opposite of the pyramid schemes.
4. Wealthy Affiliate Has Quality Products
I have mentioned that pyramid schemes don’t have a product. In some cases, they create some low-quality guides or some content to explain their fees and high prices. However, their members don’t pay for the content but for the claims of making tons of money.
Wealthy Affiliate has many quality products. Many members remain on the platform after checking the training because of these products.
Website Hosting: You can build your websites on Wealthy Affiliate. They are real WordPress websites that have all the features of a third-party hosting provider. Wealthy Affiliate has optimized the websites of the members for speed and provides amazing customer service as well. In my opinion, it wins many popular hosting providers.
Domain Registrar: You can register your domain names on Wealthy Affiliate and get whois privacy for free. It is a paid service on the big domain registrars like GoDaddy.
Keyword Tool: Jaaxy is the keyword tool of Wealthy Affiliate. It shows you the exact traffic metrics and competition of each keyword that you search for. You have access to the tool as a premium member of Wealthy Affiliate.
Content Creation Tool: SiteContect helps you write articles, add images, put links, and publish your content without logging into your website.
5. You Can Make Money In Different Niches
Every pyramid scheme has a limitation that the members can’t overcome. They allow you to promote only the system. They may use different words to describe their scheme. Once you buy them, you get a referral link that you must promote to make money. If they allow you to promote different membership levels, you may have more than one referral link.
All the available resources, training, and tool are only for one product. Most new members on pyramid schemes are beginners, so they need some instructions to begin.
Wealthy Affiliate is not about a product. You can use the training to get into any niche you want. The process is the same whether you build a website on business-related topics, fitness, self-development, websites about your hobbies, or any other interest you have. It is obvious that you don’t have to promote Wealthy Affiliate. You can actually get 3000+ niche ideas here.
Building a website is a legit way to start your business. You can promote other people’s products or create your own products. You have full control over your business without limitations. The keyword tool, website hosting, and the other tools you can read above can work in every niche. You get website hosting for ten WordPress websites and unlimited keyword searches. It’s up to you how you will use them.
6. Wealthy Affiliate Is On The Business Over A Decade
The reputation of Wealthy Affiliate is amazing over the years. Many people say good things about the platform and the level of training. It does not mean that everyone is happy because this would be weird as well. However, most members have something good to say. Even people that didn’t achieve what they planed love the community and don’t blame Wealthy Affiliate.
Pyramid schemes tend to have many negative reviews. If a pyramid scheme does not have negative reviews, it is a new one. People are not happy with the fact that they have to give thousands of dollars just to recruit others. It is a ridiculous business model that cannot work in the long-term.
Wealthy Affiliate is in the business for over a decade. It has updated the training many times in the past and does everything possible to offer the best training. They do a great job based on the results of their members.
Pyramid schemes don’t last so many years. Sooner or later, they will collapse. A great example is MOBE. It was an online pyramid scheme with passionate followers. When people published negative reviews about MOBE, they were attacking them and blaming them for fake reviews. FTC closed this scheme after a while.
They tried to manipulate reviews by attacking the people who wrote them. These things can happen today with other schemes. However, no pyramid scheme can last over a few years. Also, it is no possible to manipulate reviews and people’s opinions in the long-term. It is ok to find both positive and negative opinions for a legit program. However, if the negative reviews are much more than the positive ones, something goes wrong.
7. Wealthy Affiliate Has No High Ticket Upsells
I will continue the example of MOBE above. Many members of MOBE that got inside early earned a lot of money. They made the standard unrealistic claims and learned to sell the opportunity. They actually scammed people whether they knew it or not.
When MOBE collapsed, most members understood that they had lost a lot of money and time in a bad business model. However, these members of MOBE that made money did not quit or disappear. They are still online selling other pyramid schemes and high-ticket products. The problem is that today fewer people can spot a scheme because of their manipulative tactics.
So, they have changed their strategy and create high-ticket products or products that include high-ticket upsells. All these review sites that promote get-rich-quick schemes do the same thing with pyramid schemes. If you read a claim about making tons of money in a few days or weeks, you can expect a high-ticket product.
Many of these marketers look legit, but it is only a facade. Any high-ticket digital product is a sign of a scheme or a scam. You can easily get the same information at lower prices. In some cases, their content is low-quality too.
If someone wants to scam you, he will try to get as much money as possible for you. They will never stop selling you more things for extra money. For this reason, high-ticket products are their best strategy.
Wealthy Affiliate has a normal price that is affordable for most people, and there are no upsells. The membership includes tools like website hosting and keyword tool. It is not only for training. Wealthy Affiliate does not try to get all your money like a pyramid scheme.
How To Use Wealthy Affiliate
Once you create a free account from the link above, I will leave a comment to your profile with more instructions. My suggestion is to get started with the training right away.
You can join Wealthy Affiliate here!
Wealthy Affiliate teaches a real business model and not a shortcut or a recruiting scheme. There are examples, tasks, feedback, and other people that build their businesses like you.
Your job is to go back everyday day and move forward. The free training has ten lessons, and then there is the premium one. As a free member, you will learn the basics and get two free websites with a subdomain to apply the training.
The premium training has more advanced stuff, website hosting, access to the keyword tool, and allows you to become a member of the community. You can make money with Wealthy Affiliate if you follow the training and apply what you learn.
Conclusion
If you search for a legit way to make money or websites that pay, you will find many options online. This is a good thing. However, some people and programs are not honest and create many problems for everyone.
Wealthy Affiliate has proved that it is a legit training platform and an online community for affiliate marketers. If someone says the opposite, he may try to get some attention for his products. In rare cases, you may hear some negative opinions from ex-members.
No program works for everyone. It is normal for a member that can’t get results to be unhappy. However, pyramid schemes are something completely different. They are companies that try to get your money without giving something in return. They will try to get all your money until the last penny.
Wealthy Affiliate has a free membership to test it and a premium membership at a low price. If you don’t like it, you can stop your membership without any problems.
You will avoid most schemes and scams out there if you avoid high-ticket products or upsells and read reviews. If you have something to add to this post or ask any questions, you can leave your comment below.