Your First 10 - New Training for Newcomers to WA
Last Update: June 28, 2012
Hey everyone. I have spent all week heads down getting this training out for the new folks to WA. We acknowledged the fact that the Getting Started (30 day success club) didn't really cater to the folks that were in their first 10 days here at WA.
It was too difficult, too vast, and took people through tasks that would take several hours each day to accomplish. We understand that people have a busy schedule, they are often times facing technical hurdles learning this stuff, and sometimes this seems like a foreign language.
That is why we created a brand new training program for new comers, it is basically a "lite" versions of the getting started. It allows people to learn and accomplish many things within their first 10 days, but in a manner that is more achievable and far less overwhelming.
So what is the point of this post? I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK.
===> Your First "10" - Getting Rolling With Wealthy Affiliate
Whether you are in your first 10 days here at WA or you have been a long time member, I want to hear what you think. Your insights and feedback are very important to us and I want to hear exactly that you think of the new training...put yourself in the shoes of someone brand new!
Thanks again everyone and I hope you enjoy it.
Join the Discussion
IveTriedThat
Premium
This is a GREAT addition to the site and I really think it's going to help beginners feel less overwhelmed when they join. However, there are a couple holes in the training.
This biggest thing that sticks out to me is the website section. The training walks them through how to set one up, but it's never explained what you'll be doing with the site. No mention of adding content or how often to update (maybe mention setting up a posting schedule, Google loves fresh/unique content etc.) As it stands, they user will likely have their SA article rejected because there's no content on their blog. I'd add a day in-between the keyword research day and the SA Article day that focuses specifically on getting content written for your site.
It's just missing the big picture, "A-ha!" moment. There needs to be an overall summary that shows the reader the entire process and explains WHY they're doing this work and HOW it's going to make them money in the end. Day 2 briefly touches on this with general statements, but a recap using specific examples from the training will really tie everything together eg. write articles for SA to gain traffic, raise your rankings in search engines. This will get more people to your site and clicking on your ads and making you money. Something along those lines.
Just a few day specific notes I have...
Day 6: Needs a link to a training that expands on WordPress. This is more than likely the first time a new user has even heard of WordPress and they're just getting thrown into the admin panel.
Possibly: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/share_zone/view/1173
I'd also talk a little bit about themes and the overall look of a site. I know most people get hung up on what theme to pick. I'd also let them know themes aren't permanent, you can change the look of the site at any time instantly, and you will not lose any of your work.
Day 7: Add something saying you'll be using these keywords for Day 8's work. Right now, you're kind of left with a "I have these keywords, so what now?" feeling at the end. Let them know that they will be needing them tomorrow.
Day 9: Add another segment/task encouraging the user to catch up on any missed work, start work on another article, or write more content for the blog. Will make it feel less salesy and will have them working still.
I'd use this day to really drive the point home that this is a business they're starting and they're only nine days in. It's a process that takes time and hard-work (despite what the "3 clicks!" scammers say.) Day 10 kind of touches on this, but I think it could be expanded.
Okay! I think that's it. This is going to be an absolutely invaluable resource once it's perfected. Let me know if you need me to clarify anything!
This biggest thing that sticks out to me is the website section. The training walks them through how to set one up, but it's never explained what you'll be doing with the site. No mention of adding content or how often to update (maybe mention setting up a posting schedule, Google loves fresh/unique content etc.) As it stands, they user will likely have their SA article rejected because there's no content on their blog. I'd add a day in-between the keyword research day and the SA Article day that focuses specifically on getting content written for your site.
It's just missing the big picture, "A-ha!" moment. There needs to be an overall summary that shows the reader the entire process and explains WHY they're doing this work and HOW it's going to make them money in the end. Day 2 briefly touches on this with general statements, but a recap using specific examples from the training will really tie everything together eg. write articles for SA to gain traffic, raise your rankings in search engines. This will get more people to your site and clicking on your ads and making you money. Something along those lines.
Just a few day specific notes I have...
Day 6: Needs a link to a training that expands on WordPress. This is more than likely the first time a new user has even heard of WordPress and they're just getting thrown into the admin panel.
Possibly: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/share_zone/view/1173
I'd also talk a little bit about themes and the overall look of a site. I know most people get hung up on what theme to pick. I'd also let them know themes aren't permanent, you can change the look of the site at any time instantly, and you will not lose any of your work.
Day 7: Add something saying you'll be using these keywords for Day 8's work. Right now, you're kind of left with a "I have these keywords, so what now?" feeling at the end. Let them know that they will be needing them tomorrow.
Day 9: Add another segment/task encouraging the user to catch up on any missed work, start work on another article, or write more content for the blog. Will make it feel less salesy and will have them working still.
I'd use this day to really drive the point home that this is a business they're starting and they're only nine days in. It's a process that takes time and hard-work (despite what the "3 clicks!" scammers say.) Day 10 kind of touches on this, but I think it could be expanded.
Okay! I think that's it. This is going to be an absolutely invaluable resource once it's perfected. Let me know if you need me to clarify anything!
Hudson
Premium
Hi Kyle,
Just been through the training and it has a lot of good points but I would like to suggest that it can be improved.
Taking a step back for a moment, we need to define what it is we want accomplished in these first 10 days. For example:
By day three we haven't really done anything, yet we are being asked to share something we know very little about. I agree with other comments that this is too early and I am not sure it should be in the first ten days at all
The WA walkthrough is too long to introduce at this stage and I would suggest that a shortened version is available as we are entering info overload if not.
How about a glossary of terms used - niche, content, etc because some of these terms I still have to think about and I have been in WA for three months now.
The overall process chart is good but not used enough. Newbies need to know where they are at all times. The overall process chart could be a good tool for that and referenced back to every day.
The Domain day is far too heavy, it only needs to be - find a domain
But why buy a domain - let WAU offer something free and then move on.
It's Day 6 and we are only just doing a website. This was the thing that took me the most time to complete in the 30 day club, and we only have 4 days left?
Day 7 we spend entirely on finding keywords but what do we do with them?
Day 8 write an article - this took me 30 days to get right so is it realistic to expect someone to do this - could be a big offput, especially as we trumpet this in the process, and we are getting towards the end of the ten day freeby. We need to be grabbing peoples attention at this stage..
Day 9 is sales only, nothing achieved for myself.
Day 10 is not much either.
So net net we don't get very far till day 4 and we don't do much on days 9 and 10. This means that 50% of the ten days is not too productive FROM the NEWBIE point of view.
As with all comments please take this as constructive thoughts. I have just done the 30 day article course and the 30 day success club, and that is a total of 60 days. I think each of the ten days should make me the newbie feel I am part of something big (the process chart), and that I (me), as opposed to WA is gaining something. Before I joined WA I did a lot of digging and a consistent comment was that all these type of deals only want you to sell them. Let's beware of this shall we?
Looking forward to seeing the next version,
Hudson
Just been through the training and it has a lot of good points but I would like to suggest that it can be improved.
Taking a step back for a moment, we need to define what it is we want accomplished in these first 10 days. For example:
By day three we haven't really done anything, yet we are being asked to share something we know very little about. I agree with other comments that this is too early and I am not sure it should be in the first ten days at all
The WA walkthrough is too long to introduce at this stage and I would suggest that a shortened version is available as we are entering info overload if not.
How about a glossary of terms used - niche, content, etc because some of these terms I still have to think about and I have been in WA for three months now.
The overall process chart is good but not used enough. Newbies need to know where they are at all times. The overall process chart could be a good tool for that and referenced back to every day.
The Domain day is far too heavy, it only needs to be - find a domain
But why buy a domain - let WAU offer something free and then move on.
It's Day 6 and we are only just doing a website. This was the thing that took me the most time to complete in the 30 day club, and we only have 4 days left?
Day 7 we spend entirely on finding keywords but what do we do with them?
Day 8 write an article - this took me 30 days to get right so is it realistic to expect someone to do this - could be a big offput, especially as we trumpet this in the process, and we are getting towards the end of the ten day freeby. We need to be grabbing peoples attention at this stage..
Day 9 is sales only, nothing achieved for myself.
Day 10 is not much either.
So net net we don't get very far till day 4 and we don't do much on days 9 and 10. This means that 50% of the ten days is not too productive FROM the NEWBIE point of view.
As with all comments please take this as constructive thoughts. I have just done the 30 day article course and the 30 day success club, and that is a total of 60 days. I think each of the ten days should make me the newbie feel I am part of something big (the process chart), and that I (me), as opposed to WA is gaining something. Before I joined WA I did a lot of digging and a consistent comment was that all these type of deals only want you to sell them. Let's beware of this shall we?
Looking forward to seeing the next version,
Hudson
kyle
Premium Plus
Hudson, awesome feedback! I appreciate you taking the time to walk through the training like this and I have definitely taken note of all of these recommendations. I will be making some changes to the flow of the course because as you mention not a heck of a lot is accomplished by day 4 and sharing will be sent to the end of the course.
@RICH.
Premium
Hey Kyle.
I've been keeping some notes whilst working my way through the 30 Day Success Club and having read Your First 10, here's a few of my thoughts which I've combined with those of a mate who didn't sign-up after his 10-day trial.
SIGN-UP: There were so many red flags surrounding WA that I'd already passed on joining. I only did so after my mate had explored WA via the FB trial and told me it was worth a look. I certainly wasn't going to give you access via my FB account so it was a gamble on my part whether or not I was paying upfront for a scam. I'd recommend either a $1 pending transaction or $1-for-10-days as an alternative option. If the latter, WA benefits from 0% commission costs in real terms and the "too lazy to cancel" factor, maybe?!
LOG-IN: WA needs the option à la Jaaxy to keep a member logged in. There's nothing worse for a noob to be beavering away, getting logged out and losing their work. I switched from Rapid Writer to Scrivener for this reason alone.
JAAXY: I'd recommend offering a 10-day membership to Jaaxy at Day #8 rather than the current limited 30 search, I probably went through hundreds of searches before I'd even got a basic idea of what I was doing but once I'd worked it all out, I signed up to a Jaaxy subscription. It might also encourage prospective members to come back and sign-up to WA after their 10-day trial expires as they will still be within the WA universe via Jaaxy for another 8 days.
SHARE: I'm in agreement with Beverley (@BIS) about the positioning of share WA in Day #3, for me it smacks immediately of a pyramid selling scheme. I think it fits better with Day #9, as an acceptable MLM incentive to signing up to a premium account.
EXAMPLES: I believe it would be really helpful if there was a consistent example running through both 10 and 30, that anyone can follow and understand, not the current switches between dog training, water aerobics, surfing, etc. which my mate found totally confusing.
UPDATE: It's also difficult for a noob to be presented with training that isn't consistent with what they're undertaking. For example, there are mentions in associated materials of limits of 10 websites, the old version of Platinum, giving gold, a WAbinar that uses a previous incarnation of Street Articles, etc.
I'm wondering with the latter if your generous gift to Jay was entirely altruistic?! :P
I won't bore you with a War & Peace dissection by including everything I've thought about, but I hope the few examples above are of some use and that you accept them in the spirit they're given, the honest thoughts of a recent noob to WA.
Let me know if any or all don't make sense!
Best.
Rich.
I've been keeping some notes whilst working my way through the 30 Day Success Club and having read Your First 10, here's a few of my thoughts which I've combined with those of a mate who didn't sign-up after his 10-day trial.
SIGN-UP: There were so many red flags surrounding WA that I'd already passed on joining. I only did so after my mate had explored WA via the FB trial and told me it was worth a look. I certainly wasn't going to give you access via my FB account so it was a gamble on my part whether or not I was paying upfront for a scam. I'd recommend either a $1 pending transaction or $1-for-10-days as an alternative option. If the latter, WA benefits from 0% commission costs in real terms and the "too lazy to cancel" factor, maybe?!
LOG-IN: WA needs the option à la Jaaxy to keep a member logged in. There's nothing worse for a noob to be beavering away, getting logged out and losing their work. I switched from Rapid Writer to Scrivener for this reason alone.
JAAXY: I'd recommend offering a 10-day membership to Jaaxy at Day #8 rather than the current limited 30 search, I probably went through hundreds of searches before I'd even got a basic idea of what I was doing but once I'd worked it all out, I signed up to a Jaaxy subscription. It might also encourage prospective members to come back and sign-up to WA after their 10-day trial expires as they will still be within the WA universe via Jaaxy for another 8 days.
SHARE: I'm in agreement with Beverley (@BIS) about the positioning of share WA in Day #3, for me it smacks immediately of a pyramid selling scheme. I think it fits better with Day #9, as an acceptable MLM incentive to signing up to a premium account.
EXAMPLES: I believe it would be really helpful if there was a consistent example running through both 10 and 30, that anyone can follow and understand, not the current switches between dog training, water aerobics, surfing, etc. which my mate found totally confusing.
UPDATE: It's also difficult for a noob to be presented with training that isn't consistent with what they're undertaking. For example, there are mentions in associated materials of limits of 10 websites, the old version of Platinum, giving gold, a WAbinar that uses a previous incarnation of Street Articles, etc.
I'm wondering with the latter if your generous gift to Jay was entirely altruistic?! :P
I won't bore you with a War & Peace dissection by including everything I've thought about, but I hope the few examples above are of some use and that you accept them in the spirit they're given, the honest thoughts of a recent noob to WA.
Let me know if any or all don't make sense!
Best.
Rich.
Marcus
Premium
I agree with Beverley - it's a great addition, and goes a long way to simplifying the initial process for the more broader group of people that are starting a WA trial nowadays.
Like Beverley, I also had a read through so that I can get a good understanding of what new members will learn during their first 10 days, and one thing did stand out for me, and I think it might have an impact on IF people stay beyond the trial...
I've actually read the course a couple of times now, and unless I've missed it...I can't see anything explaining how to create content for their website, or at least their homepage.
As i understand it, one of the most important factors when creating articles for SA is the landing page must be of a certain standard, yet I would imagine that anyone reading the first 10 day course will end up getting their article rejected by SA because they have no content on their website!
This for me is a crucial step.
I've just read through again in case there's a link out to another tutorial on this topic, but I can't see anything...maybe I need another coffee...lol
Regardless of if it exists or not, I think greater emphasis on initial website content would be helpful. I appreciate there's a lot to cram into this tutorial, but even if there was a link to a tutorial on "Your first website page" (for example), it would at least remove any confusion.
The more I think about it, I actually think the first 10 days tutorial should cover getting the website up with initial content ONLY. Then maybe re-structure the 30 day Success Club so that it picks up from the end of the first 10 days tutorial, with submitting to SA being the first task (because they will already have their initial content in place).
Not complaining at all because this is a GREAT addition! I'm just trying to analyze this from the point of view of someone completely new to IM, and working out what might prevent them from sticking around and building their online businesses at WA.
Oh and Beverley...you think you go on and on? ;-)
Cheers,
Marcus
Like Beverley, I also had a read through so that I can get a good understanding of what new members will learn during their first 10 days, and one thing did stand out for me, and I think it might have an impact on IF people stay beyond the trial...
I've actually read the course a couple of times now, and unless I've missed it...I can't see anything explaining how to create content for their website, or at least their homepage.
As i understand it, one of the most important factors when creating articles for SA is the landing page must be of a certain standard, yet I would imagine that anyone reading the first 10 day course will end up getting their article rejected by SA because they have no content on their website!
This for me is a crucial step.
I've just read through again in case there's a link out to another tutorial on this topic, but I can't see anything...maybe I need another coffee...lol
Regardless of if it exists or not, I think greater emphasis on initial website content would be helpful. I appreciate there's a lot to cram into this tutorial, but even if there was a link to a tutorial on "Your first website page" (for example), it would at least remove any confusion.
The more I think about it, I actually think the first 10 days tutorial should cover getting the website up with initial content ONLY. Then maybe re-structure the 30 day Success Club so that it picks up from the end of the first 10 days tutorial, with submitting to SA being the first task (because they will already have their initial content in place).
Not complaining at all because this is a GREAT addition! I'm just trying to analyze this from the point of view of someone completely new to IM, and working out what might prevent them from sticking around and building their online businesses at WA.
Oh and Beverley...you think you go on and on? ;-)
Cheers,
Marcus
kyle
Premium Plus
Agree with everything that has been said here Marcus. We are also going to be making the transition a smooth one between the 10 day and the 30 day programs so they are seamless. This could then be turned into another course that is a take off of the 30 days, we will see.
Great feedback buddy, appreciate it! :)
Great feedback buddy, appreciate it! :)
BIS
Premium
Hi Kyle
I think this is much clearer for newcomers. These are a few things that I thought as I read through.
Day 1 - Task 1 - I would add a sentence to saying hello in the live chat that they should be worried about interrupting a conversation. (I know that stops some people)
Day 3 (all tasks) I am uncomfotable with the share model being so early in the process
1) I don't think that after 2 days newbies have the knowledge or expertise to share.
2) I think this is potentially damaging because either the newbies feel pressurised to do it and it feels a bit too salesy when they are trying to get to grips with whether internet marketing is for them or they promote to friends and families but can't really put they're own spin of why this is a really good opportunity. There will always be those ready to criticise WA but I think it's not good to encourage people to promote when they can't do it well. I understand why it is there - but I think I would move it to about day 7 because at least then they will have formed more of an opinion on what WA has to offer.
Day 4 - Choosing a Niche - I would put in a sentence reminding people what niche is - it doesn't currently say - so that can be slightly confusing.(even if they've read through the OEP materials)
Day 5 - Buying domain - Again I would just put in a single sentence of what a domain is.
Day 8 - Where it says that your article normally gets accepted under an hour - I woud add something like "this may be longer depending on your time zone" .
I only say that because I know that actually I often have to wait 10 hours or more. It doesn't matter because I'm accustomed to it - but I know it can be annoying to see that type of sentence when you find that's not the case for you.
Day 9 - Access to Premium Only Training - (I've been a premium member for 2 years - no idea what this is?
No particular day: - You might encourage people to say hello to the person they signed through. This would give them an extra contact.
Apologies as ever for the long reply
Beverley
I think this is much clearer for newcomers. These are a few things that I thought as I read through.
Day 1 - Task 1 - I would add a sentence to saying hello in the live chat that they should be worried about interrupting a conversation. (I know that stops some people)
Day 3 (all tasks) I am uncomfotable with the share model being so early in the process
1) I don't think that after 2 days newbies have the knowledge or expertise to share.
2) I think this is potentially damaging because either the newbies feel pressurised to do it and it feels a bit too salesy when they are trying to get to grips with whether internet marketing is for them or they promote to friends and families but can't really put they're own spin of why this is a really good opportunity. There will always be those ready to criticise WA but I think it's not good to encourage people to promote when they can't do it well. I understand why it is there - but I think I would move it to about day 7 because at least then they will have formed more of an opinion on what WA has to offer.
Day 4 - Choosing a Niche - I would put in a sentence reminding people what niche is - it doesn't currently say - so that can be slightly confusing.(even if they've read through the OEP materials)
Day 5 - Buying domain - Again I would just put in a single sentence of what a domain is.
Day 8 - Where it says that your article normally gets accepted under an hour - I woud add something like "this may be longer depending on your time zone" .
I only say that because I know that actually I often have to wait 10 hours or more. It doesn't matter because I'm accustomed to it - but I know it can be annoying to see that type of sentence when you find that's not the case for you.
Day 9 - Access to Premium Only Training - (I've been a premium member for 2 years - no idea what this is?
No particular day: - You might encourage people to say hello to the person they signed through. This would give them an extra contact.
Apologies as ever for the long reply
Beverley
kyle
Premium Plus
Great feedback as always Beverley! It is greatly appreciated. Regarding the Premium training, that is a bit ahead of ourselves but is something that is going to be this week. We are going to be allowing people another setting (premium only) within their training so they can allow only paying members to see their training. We are also going to be creating premium training only courses here, so this will be added incentive to join as a committed member. Sorry for any confusion there, but it will all make much more sense this week.
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