You find great sites that you can join to train you to do something specific on making money on the internet. There are sites to teach you about affiliate programs and marketing, blogging for income, blogging just because you love it, developing niche websites and making sales from them, or flipping virtual real estate (much safer than real real estate).
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been able to separate the wheat from the chaff pretty easily. The sites that are worth the money are talked about all over the blogs of the big internet marketers. The ones that aren’t talked about probably aren’t worth your hard-earned cash. That’s not always true, however. Sometimes someone comes up with a new program that’s really great, but it just doesn’t have much of a membership because it’s growing. Those will usually be very inexpensive to join, and being a charter member usually keeps your subscription price at the original level for as long as you remain a member.
Research every program you might consider joining before you join it. Ask around on forums within that niche or on general forums. Read the blogs of the gurus in your niche. Don’t put out your money without knowing what you’re buying.
Start for Free then Choose Paid Programs
You should start out doing as much as you can for free, such as the Thirty Day Challenge, and then you start looking at where you want to go from that point. I do recommend starting out with free training. All it costs is your spare time. If it doesn’t work out you’re not out any money.
The Thirty Day Challenge is free, ongoing and loaded with solid information. You learn so much it’s mind-boggling. You learn how to do all the research to pick “phrases that pay”, marketing for free, setting up free websites, etc. “Free” is the keyword. When you finish the challenge or whatever free stuff you’re doing, you start exploring where you want to go next on your own.
I signed up for the Immediate Edge and Wealthy Affiliate right away. I thought the Edge would be great because it was run by the guys who did the Thirty Day Challenge. I signed up for Wealthy Affiliate because it came highly recommended on big marketers’ blogs and I know I’m not going to produce my own product very soon, if ever.
I also signed up with Yaro Starak and Blog Mastermind. I know it’s the program for me because I carve out time in my very busy schedule to do the lessons on time and complete the weekly tasks before the next lesson arrives.
Dropping Subscriptions
It’s easy to see what you should keep and what you should drop by your level of commitment to each program, measured by the amount of time you’re willing to spend on it and what you’re willing to give up to find that time. If you have tons of time, you can keep more programs. If you have a busy schedule you have to cut out things that aren’t helping you. If you make time for one program and not another, keep the program(s) you make time for and drop the others.
I dropped my membership to the Immediate Edge. I didn’t want to because I can see the long-term value of what the Edge offers. It’s not because the Edge isn’t fantastic. It’s the bomb!
I dropped it for the following reasons:
- I haven’t made time to learn all the great stuff on the site or participate in the projects, which is how you learn and earn.
- It’s above my head.
- I needed to cut expenses, and the Immediate Edge is $97/mo.
- I’m not making enough money from it to justify keeping it.
- Every member takes up a space as a shareholder, and if I’m not participating I may be keeping someone else who will participate on the site from joining.
There is so much content to read, absorb and learn, it’s totally overwhelming. I’m too much of a novice at internet marketing to benefit from this great site. I may go back to the Edge later on when I’m ready and able to work on the projects and participate. Right now, I’m not leaning in that direction. I’m seriously leaning toward writing and blogging.
Continuing Subscriptions
Dropping that membership pays for my Blog Mastermind subscription, monthly web hosting, and part of my Wealthy Affiliate subscription.
I am also evaluating Wealthy Affiliate. It costs $29.99/mo. I’ve spent some time working on learning what they have to offer. It’s on my level and I’ve benefited from what I’ve learned so far. I just haven’t made time to work on it that much lately.
I feel I need to make some time to work on WA and complete the 8 week course. Once I do that I’ll be able to see if it’s a subscription I think I need to keep.
I encourage you to keep evaluating your subscriptions and make sure they are still benefiting you. No programs should be off the chopping block completely. I’m not saying you must start chopping, but when something isn’t helping you, you need to decide if it’s still worth your money.
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my RSS feed!
