SidelinePlay is one of the free resources for WordPress, affiliate marketing, and freelancing beginners. One question we are often asked is: How do you make money?
Therefore, we created this page to answer how SidelinePlay is funded and why it matters to you!
Why is SidelinePlay free?
As a startup or individual, you often don’t have the budget to invest in tools and training. Yet, these two things are critical to success.
We founded SidelinePlay in 2018 with one goal in mind: to create easy-to-follow, free onboarding tutorials.
Unlike other websites, our team consists of programmers, writers, video creators, and editors who have extensive experience in WordPress, web hosting, e-commerce, SEO, and affiliate marketing.
Our goal is to create a free community where everyone can help each other and achieve common progress.
In short, we created SidelinePlay to give users what we wish we had when we first started.
How is SidelinePlay funded?
We believe in being honest and transparent with our audience. We believe this is the only way to build community.
Running a site like SidelinePlay requires an investment of time and money. This includes both the server infrastructure part and the content creation part.
So yes, we have to make money or we’ll have to shut down the site. Here are SidelinePlay’s two main sources of funding.
Our Products
Over the years, we have created several advanced WordPress courses and eBooks.
When you buy any of our courses or eBooks, it helps us fund the courses and eBooks.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the people in the SidelinePlay community who use and support our plugin. Thank you!
For more details on our courses and eBooks, please visit the Courses and eBooks page.
Referral Fee
When you purchase services from a company we recommend, we earn a referral fee.
We only recommend products that we believe will provide value to our readers. All products we recommend are thoroughly tested and used. All opinions are our own and we do not accept any paid reviews.
This method of earning money is called affiliate marketing. The biggest brands on the Internet offer affiliate marketing programs, such as Amazon, eBay, Google, etc. Many of your favorite websites earn money through affiliate marketing.
The only difference is that not everyone tells users how they make money.
Sometimes you’ll see banner ads that look like this:
Other times, you'll see special links unique to each site that track referrals, such as:
https://www.sidelineplay.com/visit/hostgator/
When you click on these links you will be tagged with a special cookie which is used to track the referral. If you end up purchasing the product they will pay us a referral fee.
Referral fees vary for each product. If you buy a WordPress book on Amazon, we might earn $1. If you buy a premium WordPress theme, we might earn $10.
Question 1 – Will this cost me more money?
Absolutely not. In most cases, our offers will actually save you money.
Since SidelinePlay uses and tests quite a bit more products, we have access to exclusive discounts from many suppliers for our readers.
For example, if you buy managed WordPress hosting from SidelinePlay , you’ll normally pay $29 per month. But if you purchase using our referral link, you’ll get 50% off your first three months.
Question 2 – Can you see my personal information?
No. We do not see any personal information such as name, email, address, credit card, etc.
The only thing we see is that the anonymous user made a purchase at a date/time and which product was purchased.
How can you help us?
Running a website like WPBeginner requires a significant investment, which in many parts of the United States is enough to buy a nice house.
We have a dedicated team of paid programmers, writers, and editors.
That’s why we need your help. Here are a few ways you can help us:
- Buy our courses and eBooks.
- If you would like to purchase the product, please use the SidelinePlay referral link to purchase it.
- If you are using a product we recommended, please leave your review in the comments to help others.
- Spread the word by sharing SidelinePlay tutorials with your friends and family on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more.
Why are you helping us?
Some so-called “experts” sell WordPress training for hundreds of dollars - something you can find for free at SidelinePlay.
There are also a large number of bloggers who write fake positive reviews without ever even testing the product/service, simply because they want to earn a quick referral fee.
At SidelinePlay, we are a people-first company. We treat our team like family, and our readers’ best interests are our top priority.
If you find SidelinePlay helpful, then we hope you will help support us so that we can continue working towards our mission.
Thank you for your support.
Forrest Pykes
Founder, SidelinePlay
Disclosure: Some of the links in this article contain affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you click through to visit us, at no extra cost to you. See how SidelinePlay is funded, why it’s important, and how you can support us.
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