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Affiliate Marketing Case Studies: 15 Examples for Success

How would you like to read the best affiliate marketing case studies ever published?

More importantly, how would you like to copy the top practices in affiliate marketing that are based on real-world examples and not just theory to earn money online?

Below, you’ll find a list of the top 15 affiliate marketing case studies along with the results and key findings from each example. By studying these affiliate marketing case study examples and applying the lessons learned on your own website, you can hopefully achieve similar results to increase your commissions as an affiliate marketer.

Table of Contents

Affiliate Marketing Case Studies

Going from zero to $10k in monthly revenue – contentellect affiliate marketing case study.

Follow the steps Contentellect is taking to grow an affiliate marketing website from $0 to $10k a month in under 24 months. Includes a breakdown of the monthly costs, income, and traffic.

Helping Choose Wheels Grow 124% – Intergrowth Affiliate Marketing Case Study

This website had been hit with a Google penalty and traffic was down 80%. See how Intergrowth helped the site recover and grow 124% in 6 months. Bounce rate improved by 15% and average session duration increased by 40%all the while goal conversions increased by 526%.

Zero to $20k/month In a Year – Side Hustle Nation Affiliate Marketing Case Study

In this case study, you’ll learn how the owners of Finvsfin.com scaled their affiliate marketing website from $0 to $20,0000 per month in one year. Includes strategies on keyword research, how to structure content, ways to attract backlinks, optimization tactics to grow their traffic, and more.

How I Made $16,433 With One Product – BloggersPassion Affiliate Marketing Case Study

This case study explains how the site owner made $16,433 from a single affiliate product. The information and steps revealed in this guide can be applied to any affiliate marketing niche.

Amazon Niche Site Project 4: Own The Yard – Niche Pursuits Affiliate Marketing Case Study

If you haven’t seen this Amazon affiliate marketing case study yet, then you should set aside some time to dive into it. Spencer Haws from Niche Pursuits documented the entire journey of building an affiliate site called “Own The Yard” that covered topics like yard games, animals, yard tools, gardening, and backyard gear. Check it out to get the entire timeline of the site build and major milestone achievements.

Amazon Site Earns $2,000/month with 100 Articles – Fat Stacks Blog Affiliate Marketing Case Study

Here’s another Amazon affiliate marketing case study worth reading in depth. Dom Wells from Human Proof Designs posted this case study on Fat Stacks Blog with a detailed focus on content types, content timelines, link types, and link timelines to help other affiliate marketers improve their sites to make more money.

How We Sold An 18-Month-Old Site For Mid 6 Figures – Authority Hackers Affiliate Marketing Case Study

Authority Hackers has a popular blog, podcast, and course on affiliate marketing. Many affiliate marketers consider AH to be the best in the business for teaching aspiring entrepreneurs how to create profitable affiliate sites from scratch. In this case study, you’ll learn everything AH did to grow and sell a niche website for 6 figures in 18 months. It’s literally an entire blueprint from concept to final sale.

Amazon Site 10Beasts Grows from $0 to $4500+ In 4 Months – NichePie Affiliate Marketing Case Study

In this case study, you’ll learn how NichePie took the famous website affiliate marketing website 10Beasts.com to $4,500 in monthly earnings in just 4 months. The site then went on to make $40,000 by month 8 and kept growing. Luqman Khan, the owner, eventually sold the affiliate site for over half-a-million dollars. Inside this case study, you’ll get important insights into the keyword research process, site structure, content structure, SEO, and link building. The article also includes lots of screenshots to help you follow along with the journey.

Zero to 21K Visitors and $2000/month In 9 Months – Web Asset Builders Affiliate Marketing Case Study

This case study covers the journey of a client who bought a Done-For-You Amazon affiliate website from Web Asset Builders, and how the site went from zero traffic to reaching 21,000 visitors and $2000 per month in 9 months.

Project Cashflow: How to Build a Niche Site from Day One – Diggity Marketing Affiliate Marketing Case Study

This affiliate marketing case study was published by one of the most respected affiliate marketers in the industry: Matt Diggity. In this first installment of the Project Cashflow case study, you’ll learn about Matt’s approach to choosing a niche, the pros and cons of buying an existing website, finding the right site to purchase, basic affiliate site valuation and negotiation, and more. You can then follow along with the journey as he publishes new blog posts each month with site updates.

How I Took An Affiliate Marketing Website from $0 to $95,134.05 Using SEO – Stupid Simple SEO Case Study

Mike, a six-figure blogger takes you through the entire process of how he created a brand new affiliate marketing website and grew it to $95,134.05 with over 1,000,000 unique pageviews in just its second year. The site pretty much runs on auto-pilot now with no posting to social media, no emails to a mailing list, and the income is 95% passive.

Flipping an Affiliate Website for $136K In 16 Months – Empire Flippers Case Study

Empire Flippers, a curated marketplace for buying and selling established and profitable online businesses, has many affiliate marketing case studies on its blog. However, this case study in particular is quite valuable for you to read because it explains how one client bought a site for $52,256 and flipped it for $136,773. You’ll learn evaluation metrics this seller looked for when buying a website to flip as well as the growth plan he put into place to scale this site to such high profitability.

How I Got 2 Conversions In 48 Hours – H-Educate Affiliate Marketing Case Study

While the title of this affiliate marketing case study may not sound too impressive, the fact is can help a lot of new affiliate marketers get quick results from their websites. Inside, Hasan Aboul Hassan explains the process for how to make more conversions instantly after publishing a new blog post. Hassan is also a master at Quora SEO and Quora link building , so you may want to check out those articles as well and look for his profile on Quora to follow his strategies for getting more referral traffic from that online platform.

How We Generated an Extra $15,048 In Monthly Revenue In 34 Days – Convertica Affiliate Marketing Case Study

Convertica is a done-for-you conversion rate optimization (CRO) specialist that helps you to maximize revenue from every visitor that lands on your website. And there’s really no other service provider like this in the industry for affiliate marketers. In this case study, you’ll learn the exact CRO techniques Convertica used to increase one of its client’s monthly income by over $15,048. There are also more affiliate marketing case studies on the site’s blog. So make sure to check them out for even more CRO strategies.

$3000 Per Month Using AI and Blogger – Adsterra Affiliate Marketing Case Study

In this case study, you’ll learn how Saif Khan used AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney along with a Blogger blog and videos to earn $3,000 per month. Saif explains all aspects of the case study so you can use it for inspiration.

What Is an Affiliate Marketing Case Study?

An affiliate marketing case study is an in-depth study of affiliate marketing in a real-world context. It can focus on one affiliate tactic or a group of affiliate strategies to find out what works in affiliate marketing to improve conversions and traffic.

Are Case Studies Good for Affiliate Marketing?

Case studies are good for affiliate marketing because you can learn about how to do affiliate marketing in an effective way. Instead of just studying the theory of affiliate marketing, you can learn from real examples that applied specific methods to achieve success.

Read More Case Studies

In addition to affiliate marketing case studies, you may also be interested in these other examples of digital marketing success stories.

  • SEO case studies
  • Content marketing case studies
  • Digital marketing case studies
  • Email marketing case studies
  • Social media case studies
  • PPC case studies

Affiliate marketing case study examples

Affiliate Marketing Case Study Examples Summary

I hope you enjoyed this list of the best affiliate marketing case studies that are based on real-world results and not just theory.

As you discovered, the affiliate marketing case study examples above demonstrated many different ways to improve conversions, gain more website traffic, and earn more money as an affiliate marketer. By studying the key findings from these examples, and applying the methods learned to your own site, you can hopefully achieve the same positive outcomes.

New affiliate marketing success case studies are being published every month and I’ll continue to update this list as they become available. So keep checking back to read the current sources of information on affiliate marketing.

affiliate marketing case study

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Affiliate Marketing Case Study: Going From Zero To $10K In Monthly Revenue

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Affiliate Content Site Case Study

Follow the steps we are taking to grow a content site from $0 to $10k a month in under 24 months.

Summary Stats

  • Site Launched: June 2020
  • Investment to date: $10,296.68
  • Income to date: $17,603.39
  • Estimated site value: $35,000
  • ROI to date: 410%

We stopped updating this case study in May 2022 (24 months after we launched). Although we didn't achieve our goal of getting the site to $10k a month, we have managed to average over $1000 a month since June 2021. Google's May 2022 algorithm update also negatively affected the site (we're down 30% in traffic), so it's unlikely we'll see significant growth going forward. We're undecided whether we will sell this website or just keep it for cash flow. I hope you enjoy the case study - you can read more like this one here .

2020 Numbers

affiliate marketing case study numbers 2020

2021 Numbers

affiliate marketing results nov 2021

2022 Numbers

affiliate marketing case study profit and loss

Costs to date

  • Domain: $29.17 (aged domain from Godaddy auctions ) + $18.17 renewal + $20.17 renewal.
  • Hosting: $250 (WPX) + $250 renewal.
  • Content cost: $7,243 (250,000 words. Bought using our content writing service ).
  • Links: $1850 (we’ve bought 15 link insertions and 7 guest posts. Acquired via our link building service ).
  • Citations: $20 + $29 (from SEOButler)
  • Social Profiles: $7 ( Fiverr )
  • VA for posting: $450 (used our virtual assistant service )
  • Web services: $89.99 (keyword research tool)
  • Total Cost: $10,296.68

Income to date

We only added affiliate links in late September 2020.

  • October 2020: $167
  • November 2020: $715.30 (Black Friday went well!)
  • December 2020: $215
  • January 2021: $523.44
  • February 2021: $367.18
  • March 2021: $900.15
  • April 2021: $811.05
  • May 2021: $954.67
  • June 2021: $1,190.40
  • July 2021: $1,031.71
  • August 2021: $701.93
  • September 2021: $916.26
  • October 2021: $1,148.64
  • November 2021: $1,260.74
  • December 2021: $1,077.05
  • January 2022: $1,063.55
  • February 2022: $937.70
  • March 2022: $1,073.17
  • April 2022: $1,402.75
  • May 2022: $1,145.70
  • Total Income: $17,603.39

Traffic to date

  • July 2020: 217 sessions
  • August 2020: 755 sessions
  • September 2020: 2,467 sessions
  • October 2020: 7,034 sessions
  • November 2020: 10,097 sessions
  • December 2020: 10,254 session
  • January 2021: 11,558 sessions
  • February 2021: 12,643 sessions
  • March 2021: 19,458 sessions
  • April 2021: 18,711 sessions
  • May 2021: 19,663 sessions
  • June 2021: 21,137 sessions
  • July 2021: 19,820 sessions
  • August 2021: 20,927 sessions
  • September 2021: 19,212 sessions
  • October 2021: 22,143 sessions
  • November 2021: 21,792 sessions
  • December 2021: 25,804 session
  • January 2022: 25,047 sessions
  • February 2022: 21,093 sessions
  • March 2022: 27,961 sessions
  • April 2022: 32,882 sessions
  • May 2022: 31,546 sessions

affiliate case study traffic numbers

Timeline and Learnings

  • We launched this affiliate marketing website in June 2020.
  • For the first week we researched niches. Niche choice is critical – for us the criteria was not Amazon, average sale price $100+, 30+ day cookie, high converting affiliate partner (checked using Commission Junction stats), and decent commission 8%+
  • Once we decided on a niche we got to work sourcing an aged domain. Many people look for a powerful backlink profile when trying to get an aged domain. These are great, but they can be very hard to find and costly. For us, we focused on relevance to our niche, a clean history and age. We managed to find a super relevant domain that was 15 years old on Godaddy auctions. We checked it's history using archive.org and it was squeaky clean. We managed to secure the domain for under $30. Winning!
  • We then created a detailed content plan for 80-100 articles (100,000 words). This took a solid few days, although KeyClusters (a  keyword grouping tool ), sped this up massively (see how we use keyword clustering ). We knew from the get go that if this site takes off we would need a scalable structure, so we thought long and hard about our content plan and the silos we would use. See how we do keyword research .
  • With the domain bought and launched, we used Fiverr to create social profiles.
  • Our content team got to work writing the 100k words (see our article writing service ).
  • We also bought citations using SEO Butler.
  • About 75% of the content was written and published in July.

August 2020

  • By early August all content was published.
  • To our surprise, Google starting indexing and ranking our content out the gates. This is very unusual for a brand new site, so the aged domain clearly made a huge difference.
  • With the site already starting to rank and pull in organic traffic we decided to invest in some links. We bought 10 high quality link insertions and 5 guest posts from our link building service . 80% of these we pointed to the homepage using branded anchors and naked URLs, and the rest we pointed to internal silo pages.

Key Learning

If your domain is aged and good, your content solid, and your site structure silo’ed and interlinked correctly, you don’t need a lot of links to rank. Although Ahrefs shows 516 referring domains, most of these are citations and coupon sites. Hence our DR is 1.3!!

September 2020

  • We did nothing. Just sat on our hands to see what Google would think. Good news, the G-Dawg likes us!
  • I say nothing, we did get one of our VAs to add affiliate links. We partnered with three eCommerce companies in the niche, two on Commission Junction and one on Rakuten. 

October 2020

  • With positive signs all-round we decided to double down on content and created another content plan for another 50k words of commercial content.

November and December 2020

  • Our content team completed the next batch of articles and our VA published all content.
  • By December it was clear that one affiliate partner was outperforming the other two by a mile. For example, see the screenshot below of Affiliate Partner A vs Affiliate Partner B. As you can see Partner A has driven 14x more commission than B, despite B sending 1/3 as much traffic as A. 

mvp-affiliate

January 2021

  • Due to the poor performance of Affiliate Partner B and C, we've switched them out for Amazon. The switch was completed mid January 2021 and the results are promising.
  • We also added in a new affiliate partner from Commission Junction.

case study affiliate income amazon

February and March 2021

  • We decide to power things up a little with some strategic tier 2 PBN links from IM Powerhouse. These have moved the dial in terms of traffic and revenue, and in March we saw our highest traffic and revenue month.
  • We also decided to invest in more content, another 100k words. But this time we are doing 100% informational content. Up to this point we have only had commercial content on the site (Best of round ups, individual reviews, X vs Y comparisons). We used KeyClusters to create an informational content plan and will be getting our content team to start writing in April / May.
  • We also installed advertising via Setupad . Setupad use a metric called Effective Cost per Mille (eCPM), which similar to RPM. We are currently achieving around $2 per 1000 impressions, which isn't too shabby. I know you can get higher on Mediavine and AdThrive, but our traffic isn't quite there yet. 

setupad-march-2021

April and May 2021

  • Our content team were rammed with client work in April and May so we had to delay the roll-out of the 100k words we planned in March. Work has now begun and we expect to publish most of this content in June and July.

affiliate website case study ahrefs

Here's what the site looked like on Ahrefs as of early 2021

June-September 2021

  • Traffic and income has plateaued so hopefully we will see explosive growth as soon as the new content goes lives.
  • Time to rethink strategy - will keep you updated!

October-May 2022

  • The site has definitely plateaued. Traffic is stable at around 20-30k monthly sessions and so is income at around $1000 a month.
  • We invested in a few more link insertions and guests posts, but have yet to see a significant uptick.

ahrefs stats affiliate marketing

And here's what the site looks like on Ahrefs as of May 2022

Current Valuation 

As we're averaging around $1000 per month, we would estimate this site is worth: $35k (35-40x multiple).

Multiple justification is based on going market multiples for content sites with multiple income streams (Amazon, 3rd party affiliates, advertising), and 6-12 months of stable traffic and income.

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Jason Smit is the CEO of Contentellect and believes that marketing success lies at the intersection of great content and quality links. With 15 years spent in agency environments, including Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis Media and Performics, his experience is distilled into Contentellect's service offering. He holds a B.Com Marketing from the University of Cape Town and a PGDip. in Entrepreneurship.

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5 Success Stories from Affiliate Marketers

Success Story Affiliate Marketing

There’s a lot of skepticism in the affiliate marketing community about how many people are actually successful out there. I can certainly appreciate why that is, too. Anyone would be skeptical if they looked around and noticed the only people making money in affiliate marketing were the people selling tools to help newbie affiliate marketers get into the game.

Combine this with the fact that so many people are stingy with their information and techniques for fear of having their niche stolen and their profits undercut, and you can see why it happens.

Sometimes, you need a good refresher about how successful actual people can be. People who post about their success, people who try to help others become successful, people who don’t care about their niche being undercut because they know they’re the best at what they do. I’ve tracked down case studies from five of these successful marketers , and that’s what I’m bringing to you today.

Don’t feel like you’re being played just because you haven’t gotten a foothold yet. Affiliate marketing takes time, to establish yourself, to build an audience, to create content, and all the rest.

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net

Darren is one of the most prominent affiliate marketers around, precisely because he’s always open with his history, his techniques, and his success. This post is from 2013, so he’s had three more years to rack up his success, but even then it was impressive. In 2013, it was the 10 th year he had been working affiliate marketing with Amazon , and he had racked up nearly half a million dollars.

ProBlogger Case Study

Now, $42,000 a year isn’t all that impressive, all things considered. That’s not quite the whole story, though. His earnings only really started to shoot up in 2008 or so. It’s more accurate to say that he started out making a pittance, and that in recent years he has hovered around $80,000 per year. That’s a respectable haul, and all from running a handful of websites, one of which is geared specifically towards helping bloggers reach their own success with affiliate marketing.

What’s impressive is that Darren isn’t even one of the top tier Amazon Affiliates. His experience is actually rather typical of the people who put a lot of time and effort into getting serious with affiliate marketing. There are, no doubt, much more successful affiliates.

The meat of Darren’s post is about why he chose to use Amazon for his affiliate marketing, despite all of the perfectly valid criticisms out there. Amazon commissions are small, sure, and a lot of Amazon products are cheap, so success often relies on big ticket niches – which are packed – or volume, which takes a long time to build. However, he points out:

  • Amazon is a highly trusted brand, much more than many other affiliate sellers.
  • One referral link works for everything a user buys in that session, whether or not you referred them to that product. If you send someone a referral for a $2 book, and they decide to buy a $900 TV, you get the commission on the TV.
  • Amazon is perhaps the easiest affiliate network of all to get started using. They provide a ton of tools, easy embeds in a half a dozen different ways, and even referral tagged shortlinks.
  • Amazon sells, well, everything. There’s very little that Amazon doesn’t sell, and often those categories are just MLM schemes anyways.

You can read the rest of his post above for a bunch of tips on becoming an Amazon affiliate success. Some of the tips are pretty common, like “get more traffic,” but that doesn’t change how valuable Darren’s site is as a whole. You can also listen to a more recent post about his success – showing he topped the $500K threshold – with this podcast post .

David McSweeny of Top5SEO.co.uk

David is a UK marketer and SEO expert who has been working in the industry for 15 years. He shares his methods and tips for how to create and grow a marketing site, based on his own experiences. The blog he uses for a case study went from freshly created to making just under $4,000 a month, in the span of six months. That’s remarkably fast, and stands as a testament to David’s skill as an affiliate marketer.

The meat of the post is his month by month playbook and recounting of how his site grew. The first month was all about creating and setting up the site, as well as how he chose a product and how he decided to monetize it. This highlights the sheer amount of work he put into research and content to fill his site. He dug deep into reviews for his chosen product and he wrote deep reviews stretching into the 2,500-word range. Month 1, he had just over 800 visitors and made $115.

Month 2, he made a blog to accompany his site, and he talks about how he created content, how he linked things together, and how he worked on link building. Through content and links, he boosted up to 2,200 visitors and $391 in sales. Month 3, he further expanded the blog, and his traffic continued to rise, as did his profits.

Top5SEO

All of this shows how much work goes into running a site. His total time breakdown for the first four months reaches 234 hours of effort, creating content, researching products, building the site, and earning links. Combining this with the holiday season, his affiliate site shot up, where it has stayed since.

David’s study is a case where white hat effort can grow a site very quickly, but it does rely a little on timing, as well as a lot of research in picking the right niche. His post doesn’t go too deep into it, but you can find more about picking a niche in a post we wrote a few days ago. There’s also a ton of information on it out there on other sites, like David’s, Darren’s, and others.

This Is Why I’m Broke

The website named in the subheading there is little more than an odd product aggregator, with a focus towards interesting, often expensive, amusing stuff. I’ve seen everything from drones to pajamas, and let me tell you; it’s always tempting. Looking at their front page right now, I see things like color changing showerheads, the Playboy Mansion that recently went up for sale, a magic wand TV remote, and a dolphin-shaped speedboat. Needless to say, the selection of products on the site runs the entire spectrum of price ranges.

The Ultimate Guide to Getting More Sales on an Amazon Store

The site has grown immensely popular as one of the first of its kind, though its design has been mimicked endlessly in the years since it reached success. It’s estimated that, as of the time of the post I linked above, it was making an estimated $20,000 per month from Amazon affiliate sales alone , along with more from, eBay partner sales and referrals to a whole host of other sites, like ThinkGeek and Wicked Lasers.

This Is Why Im Broke

The post I linked isn’t a direct post from the owner of the site. It’s a case study performed from the outside , so you have a better idea of how objective it is. The founder of TIWIB struggled with failed ventures before he hit upon the formula he used for the site, taking existing product affiliate pages and adding infinite scrolling, better images, and careful product selection.

The case study goes on to tell you what you can learn from the site, and how you might be able to mimic its success with a drilled down niche version of the same concept. Niche affiliate sites are typically less lucrative but easier to start than broad category sites like TIWIB, and that’s okay.

TIWIB receives millions of visitors every year and is still a very lucrative site, so you can learn a lot from watching how it works and mimicking its success.

Chris Guthrie on UpFuel

This post is very much like Darren’s post in the first section. So why do I include it? It proves to you that Darren is not a random outlier, he is – as he says – in the middle of the road. Chris’s websites combined to earn him over $45,000 annually, and would be making him more if he hadn’t sold one of his best sites for six figures.

Make Money on The Internet Case Study

Chris only really uses his success as a framing device for the post itself, which goes into great detail about how to get started with affiliate marketing. You can visit the post for the tips in full, but I’ll summarize them here.

  • Pick a good niche. This has been hammered into any affiliate marketer time and again, so it should be nothing new to you. A good niche is the foundation of all good affiliate marketing. Don’t try to be too broad; you can always expand later.
  • Use content links rather than Amazon boxes or sidebars or tables. Content links are much more commonly clicked. Just make sure you’re not trying to trick or mislead people into clicking links to Amazon that they thought went somewhere else. This includes cloaks and redirects; don’t use them.
  • Make your product images into clickable affiliate links. A lot of people click images, so having them lead to the product page is valuable. I – and many other people – hate clicking an image link just to be brought to the image itself rather than something relevant.
  • Link to Amazon quite frequently , but don’t overdo it so much that you earn a penalty from Google. Chris recommends 5-10 links per post, but his posts are quite lengthy. Keep track of what you’re doing and slowly push boundaries to find what threshold works best.
  • Write review articles that come across as genuine ; they are some of the highest converting content you can produce. You can pay people to write the reviews for you, so long as they’re well written.
  • Make sure to cover the holidays and take advantage of the sales you find in your niche. Aggregate sales posts are insanely highly converting. A “Best Black Friday Deals on [Product]” post is incredibly valuable, and I’m sure you can see why.
  • Gradually expand your niche and sell more and more products , both to increase variety and increase volume. If you start off by selling faucets, you can expand into more plumbing products, more bathroom fixtures, other kinds of valves, or all of them. Just don’t try to take on more than you can handle.
  • Focus on small, cheap products early in the month and expensive products later in the month , so the cheap products boost your variable commission rates. Amazon’s commissions are a monthly performance test, starting at 4% and rising up to 8%. You’d rather get 8% on big purchases, so push those more when your commissions have grown.
  • Make evergreen content as much as possible. Product comparison tables and recurring deals posts are both great for this. Make sure to keep them up to date and, most importantly, make sure people know they’re up to date. Update them monthly if possible, and always update the most recently edited date.
  • Publish retrospective monthly bestseller lists and analysis to accompany it. If nothing else other affiliate marketers love to see what is and isn’t working, but if you’re doing everything right, they shouldn’t be able to undercut and supplant you.
  • Ignore the Amazon AStore functionality completely; it’s not very useful.

Once again, we see that Amazon can be a great, lucrative place to be. However, pretty much all affiliate marketing advice works with other affiliates as well. It doesn’t matter if you’re promoting web hosting, selling products on eBay, or selling digital services for some app company; it’s all the same information.

Hieu Nguyen’s Affiliate Sale

Hieu is a marketer from Vietnam, and while his case isn’t as impressive as the others on this list, it shows the viability of a different sort of affiliate marketing business model. Specifically, what he did was build an affiliate site and then sell it for a sizable profit.

We’ve already seen how much work it is to set up and establish an affiliate site. It’s also a lot of work to maintain, but many newbie affiliate marketers believe that it’s the startup that’s the hardest part. As a consequence, they look out for affiliate marketers selling their sites, and they buy. Oh, do they buy.

Hieu’s business model isn’t designed to set up 1-2 sites and push them until they’re powerhouses he can live off of indefinitely. Rather, he builds sites and makes them moderate successes, something like a proof of concept. The site he sold in this case study took nine months to reach a monthly income level of $1,600, at which point he sold it for about 10x that amount.

Traffic Statistics hieu nguyens

There are two things to take away from this success story. The first is that, if you enjoy building sites, doing the research, and establishing the start of a business, you can still make a profit without having to maintain the site. You can simply sell it for a good chunk of change, then start over and do it all again. The second takeaway is that if you’re on the other side of the coin – perfectly capable and willing to maintain and improve a site, but incapable or unwilling to build it from scratch – you can just buy a site and go from there.

The post is an interview with Hieu, and it goes over the strategies he uses to build and rank his sites. Be aware that he does use some gray and black hat strategies, so your results may vary if you’re trying to follow in his footsteps. The post is over a year old, so some of those techniques may be more heavily penalized now than they used to be.

So there you have it; five successful affiliate marketers and the techniques they used to achieve that success. By following their guides, you too can be one of the people on a list like this someday.

Written by James Parsons

James Parsons

James is a content marketing and SEO professional who enjoys the challenge of driving sales through blogging while creating awesome and useful content.

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Join the Discussion

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Thanks for mentioning me in the blog. I’m actually doing a bit better than that now from my websites but I also run some other companies as well. Currently have about 6 decent sized income streams that all add up pretty well. It’s been a lot of fun over the last several years trying new things 🙂

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Yunus Hassim

Excellent post, I really enjoyed it. Keep it up!

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Affiliate marketing case studies: examples for success

Affiliate Case Study

RateMeUp Team

Affiliate marketing is an area in which you need to constantly develop and learn something new in order to keep up with your competitors. Some people prefer to learn only theory and slowly master new knowledge, while others go straight to practice, risking losing their investments.

In the realm of affiliate marketing, a distinctive form of training emerges, seamlessly blending theoretical understanding with hands-on practice simultaneously, and this distinctive approach is encapsulated in the form of case studies. In this article, we will discuss what case studies are, why they are so good in affiliate marketing, what other types of case studies exist and give some examples of successful marketing cases. 

Affiliate marketing case studies: examples for success

What is an affiliate marketing case study?

A case study involves an in-depth examination of an actual instance of a marketing campaign, encompassing a detailed analysis of each stage and a comprehensive depiction of all the actions undertaken by the webmaster.

A case study can be about one campaign or several, it can be an in-depth study of a specific marketing bundle or several affiliate marketing ideas at once. Usually affiliate marketing examples are studied by webmasters who have conducted a marketing campaign themselves, but sometimes they are made by a whole team of arbitrageurs or third-party people who have seen stories of successful affiliate marketing stories on the forum.

The main task of affiliate marketing examples is to show what actions should be taken to increase the conversion rate of an offer and earn good money on traffic arbitrage. In other words, affiliate marketing examples are a way to share with fellow webmasters working schemes that can be used both in their original form and supplemented with your own affiliate marketing ideas. 

Are case studies useful for affiliate marketing?

With the help of case studies, beginners in this affiliate business model can gain useful knowledge that clearly demonstrates the practice of getting conversions, and professionals in this affiliate business model can learn new effective bundles. Additional case studies help the webmaster community create new effective affiliate marketing ideas by modifying and improving the bundles from the affiliate marketing examples.

More case studies

In addition to affiliate marketing case studies, there are other cases such as SEO optimization cases, PPC cases, content marketing cases, SMM and email marketing cases and so on. Researching cases from these areas of marketing also allows webmasters to learn new ways to effectively attract traffic.

Affiliate marketing case study examples summary

Making a successful marketing case study is not an easy task. You need to do some serious preparation before you start exploring a new marketing bundle. In addition to preparing a budget, accounts, and paying for all the necessary services, it is very important to choose the right affiliate websites examples.

Without an affiliate program with good terms and conditions, any successful affiliate marketing stories study is doomed to failure. So here are a few best affiliate programs to create your own successful case study.

Amazon Associates 

Amazon Associates is considered one of the largest and most well-known best affiliate programs as it holds 50% of the affiliate marketing market share. This affiliate program requires arbitrageurs to promote Amazon products from different categories.

Also, the popularity of these best affiliate programs is ensured by the availability of a large number of tools that help webmasters to get traffic. If the users you refer buy a product, you get 10% commission on the cost of that product. Also, webmasters get paid if the referred user adds the product to their shopping cart.

More Amazon Associates offers special bonuses for Influencers, such as a page to showcase the Influencer’s recommended offers of top affiliate programs. This affiliate program can be an ideal start to a webmaster’s career for beginners. Once a webmaster has mastered attracting client traffic, he can move on to other best affiliate programs.

Affiliate marketing case studies: examples for success

Amazon Associates terms and conditions:

  • Commission — up to 10% of the product price;
  • Cookie expiration date — 24 hours;
  • Minimum withdrawal amount — from $100;
  • Frequency of payout — 60 days.

Amazon Associates Benefits:

  • Anyone can become an Amazon Associates affiliate, as participation in this affiliate program is absolutely free;
  • Registration in the affiliate program is very simple and intuitive;
  • Amazon has a lot of different offers of top affiliate programs to promote, so the affiliate program will not close;
  • Amazon values its reputation, so partnering with such a large company will be very reliable.

Skillshare is an online platform for learning various professions and skills. Here people can learn design, business management, photo processing, programming and much more. This platform has its own affiliate program to attract new students.

Like other similar services with their own affiliate marketing programs, Skillshare pays commissions to webmasters for paid subscriptions and free signups. The Skillshare affiliate program has tools to track traffic, referral link clicks and payout amount.

In addition, Skillshare is considered to be a popular educational platform, so there are a lot of online courses on different topics on the platform and each of them can be promoted. Affiliate marketing programs of other educational platforms do not have such an opportunity. 

Affiliate marketing case studies: examples for success

Skillshare affiliate program terms and conditions:

  • Commission — 40%;
  • Cookie validity period — 30 days;
  • Minimum withdrawal amount — $10;
  • Frequency of payout — monthly.

Benefits of Skillshare:

  • You can earn commissions for free signups and paid subscriptions;
  • Conversion and payout statistics are displayed in real time;
  • Payouts for referred customers are made every month;
  • Exclusive promotional materials are provided to reliable webmasters.

The affiliate program of the freelancer recruitment platform Fiverr offers webmasters to get paid for attracting new employers and clients willing to buy paid online courses and work plans. Affiliates can earn by attracting a large number of new clients or engage in remarketing, receiving a commission for each renewal of a paid subscription to the service.

Depending on the offers of top affiliate programs and services promoted, the webmaster will receive commissions of different amounts. Another positive difference between Fiverr and other affiliate marketing programs is seasonal bonuses, with which a webmaster can earn many times more. Fiverr affiliate program provides webmasters with various creatives, such as banners, GIFs, videos, widgets for their own affiliate websites examples, programs and so on.

If you want to become an affiliate of a technologist in the field of finance, you can take a look at the affiliates of our rating .

Fiverr affiliate program terms and conditions:

  • Commission — $15-$150 CPA or $10 CPA + 10% profit;
  • Minimum withdrawal amount — $100;
  • Frequency of money payments — monthly.

Advantages of Fiverr:

  • There is a choice between promoted offers of top affiliate programs;
  • Webmasters can receive regular payments for subscription renewals;
  • There are seasonal bonuses that increase the income of webmasters;
  • Webmasters can get various creatives for effective promotion;
  • Support service is available 24/7;
  • Management in the personal cabinet is intuitive and simple.

Affiliate marketing case studies: examples for success

Unbounce 

Unbounce, a company that creates push notifications and landing pages, has its own affiliate program that focuses on promoting offers of top affiliate programs and services for marketers. Unbounce’s clients are usually marketing agencies and affiliate marketers, so this company’s offers of the best affiliate marketing programs can be promoted to fellow webmasters and small and medium-sized business clients.

Unbounce offers its affiliates a 20% commission payout for every subscription renewal by a customer. Another bonus of the Unbounce affiliate program, which other affiliate marketing programs in the same field do not have — each webmaster is assigned a personal marketing coach who is ready to answer any question and share effective advertising bundles. In addition, Unbounce has customizable tools for tracking conversions and income, flexible payment options, additional benefits for reliable partners.

Unbounce affiliate program terms and conditions:

  • Commission — 20%;
  • Cookie validity period — 90 days;
  • Frequency of money payments — quarterly.

Benefits of the Unbounce affiliate program:

  • Webmasters can promote offers of the best affiliate marketing programs and services to their fellow marketers;
  • High commission for subscription renewals by referred customers;
  • Flexible options for receiving payments;
  • There are additional promotional materials;
  • Exclusive benefits are available for regular affiliates.

Affiliate marketing case studies: examples for success

Hostinger provides reliable and affordable web hosting solutions. Hostinger also offers an affiliate program with great commissions for successful sales. With the Hostinger affiliate program, webmasters can earn up to 60% commission on every sale made by a referral. Hostinger provides promotional materials including banners, text links and coupons to help you promote their products more effectively. Webmasters can easily track their performance, earnings and payouts through their affiliate dashboard. If you want to become an affiliate of a techie in the IT industry, you can check out FoxOffers , an affiliate promoting cryptocurrency offers.

Hostinger affiliate program terms and conditions:

  • Commission — up to 60%;

Advantages of the Hostinger affiliate program:

  • High commissions;
  • Large selection of promoted products and services;
  • Support service is very responsive and works around the clock;
  • Payments are made steadily every month;
  • The affiliate program has a high average conversion rate.

Affiliate marketing case studies are not just an opportunity to gain new knowledge and skills. With successful affiliate marketing stories, study research or creating your own cases, you will always be the first among your competitors, gaining more profits from utilizing new, effective bundles. Check out the affiliate marketing programs from this article or use our ranking of the best affiliate programs to work only with profitable affiliate marketing programs to create your own successful case studies.

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affiliate marketing case study

5 Super Examples of Successful Affiliate Marketing Campaigns

What are the most representative affiliate marketing examples? Explore top case studies in our guide and draw Inspiration from.

affiliate marketing case study

Running a successful affiliate marketing campaign to earn money by selling someone else’s products or services requires a robust strategy. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to create an effective affiliate marketing strategy and campaigns. Affiliate marketing examples from other successful affiliates can be used to get ideas and identify the best growth techniques that might work for you.

There are a lot of affiliate marketing examples and case studies that are a source of much more than mere motivation for new affiliates. A critical review of their marketing campaigns of affiliate businesses reveals insights that you can apply to your affiliate marketing business.

This comprehensive guide unleashes the most successful affiliate marketing campaign examples for you to get an idea and start affiliate marketing successfully.

Nothing is more important than learning from successful affiliate marketing case studies. The following affiliate marketing examples will give you motivation, help you understand the scope and level of affiliate marketing, and show you the exact steps to affiliate marketing success .

affiliate marketing case study

If you have to talk about affiliate marketing examples, you can’t go without talking about Wirecutter. It is a leading review site for Amazon products. You’ll find reviews for several products across different categories ranging from tech to kitchen to money to health.

Wirecutter excels in publishing quality product reviews that are well-researched. It relies on experts, interviews, and information from around the web to craft exceptionally in-depth and valuable reviews.

It was acquired by The New York Times in 2016 for $30 million. Today, Wirecutter is managed by quite a large team and is a fully grown affiliate site that makes money from two key sources: Subscription and affiliate products.

Wirecutter - trackdesk showcase

What You Can Learn from Wirecutter

Wirecutter is a perfect affiliate marketing example and case study for any affiliate. There are a lot of lessons to learn from it, including:

  • Focus on quality content. The reviews by Wirecutter cover every detail that you'll not find in other reviews.
  • Use the product yourself first, and then talk about it in a review. This makes your review and recommendation credible.
  • Pick a top product and then justify your recommendation. This is what Wirecutter is best at. They don’t write reviews and leave the decision to the reader; instead, they pick a winning product and tell readers why it is the best.

ThisIsWhyImBroke

ThisIsWhyImBroke is an Amazon affiliate site in the novelty items and gifts niche. You'll find unique and weird products that are, otherwise, hard to find on Amazon. For example, you'll find a real working invisibility shield for $65 on ThisIsWhyImBroke:

It gets tough to find this type of product on Amazon. People don’t know the exact search terms to see unique gifts for their loved ones.

ThisIsWhyImBroke is an aggregator that finds unique and weird products on Amazon and lists them for the users. The website receives 1.7 million monthly visitors, and it is estimated to have annual revenue of between $1-5 million:

Thisiswhyimbroke - trackdesk showcase

What You Can Learn from ThisIsWhyImBroke

Here is an overview of the top learnings for affiliate marketers from this simple yet highly profitable affiliate website:

  • Niche is critical for affiliate marketing success. This Is Why I’m Broke picked a unique niche and then converted it into a specialty niche.
  • Try to solve the problem of your target audience. These guys don’t focus on the content; instead, their main focus is on finding new products daily because this is what their audience is interested in
  • Being different pays off. Reinventing the wheel doesn’t always backfire.

Headphones Addict

If you want to learn how to create a top-notch affiliate website that doesn’t look like a leading affiliate site, you need to check out the Headphones Addict.

The problem with most affiliate websites is that they don’t look professional and aren’t well-designed. Headphones Addict is a great affiliate marketing example. It doesn’t look like a traditional affiliate website because it has guides, reviews, and a well-designed footer.

It is a content-rich affiliate website that educates its readers instead of pitching them affiliate products in all the articles.

Headphones addict - trackdesks showcase

What You Can Learn from Headphones Addict

There is a lot that you can learn from this fantastic affiliate website:

  • Focus on website design. Don’t ignore website design, and make sure your affiliate website looks professional, credible, and authoritative.
  • Write quality yet authoritative content that educates your audience. A review website doesn’t mean every single article has to be a review with affiliate links.
  • Create all types of content, including images, videos, tables, etc., and make it easier for readers to scan content and find what they're looking for quickly.

If you want to see how to create a big affiliate company by selling other people’s products, check out Nerdwallet. It is an affiliate website in a highly competitive niche: Consumer finance.

The best thing about Nerdwallet is the authority that it has developed over the years by publishing helpful content for its readers. It has developed calculators such as student loan calculator and savings calculator that are extremely useful for the target audience:

It is a gigantic website with lots of content. It took years for Nerdwallet to reach here, and it is an excellent example for new affiliates who consider affiliate marketing a side business.

NerdWallet addict - trackdesks showcase

What You Can Learn from Nerdwallet

Here is a list of the most significant learnings from one of the leading affiliate websites:

  • Don’t limit yourself by considering affiliate marketing part-time. If you are serious, you can grow a massive company.
  • In a competitive niche, interactive content can help you stand out from the crowd.
  • Consistently publish quality content and try to become an authority in your niche. You don’t have to add affiliate links to every article you publish.

PC Part Picker

PC Part Picker is one of the best affiliate marketing examples that takes a unique approach. It isn’t content or a review affiliate site; rather, these guys have created a tool that helps people create a computer-based on their specific requirements.

They show a complete list of different tools for building a computer, such as CPU, memory, storage, etc., with detailed specifications. And this is where they add their affiliate links.

PCPartPicker isn't focusing on content rather it is solving a big problem of a huge target market. If you want to create a customized computer (say for gaming), you'll need a list of parts for it with details. This is what these guys do.

PCPartPicker addict - trackdesks showcase

What You Can Learn from PC Part Picker

With 5.4 million monthly visitors, here is what affiliates need to learn from PC Part Picker:

  • Understand and solve your target audience’s problem in the best way possible
  • It is a great idea to merge and target related niches and create your own exclusive market within a niche
  • Build a community. PC Part Picker has dedicated forums for hardware and software where people interact and help each other build computers and find the right parts.

Final Words

Affiliate marketing is lucrative when done right. The examples discussed above are more than enough to show how profitable your affiliate business could be. The sky’s the limit.

You need to take ideas from these best affiliate marketing examples and see how you can grow in your niche. Start from the basics by understanding the core problem you want to solve. And then generate ideas to solve the problem of your target audience in a unique yet profitable way. Then figure out how you can best incorporate affiliate products into your solution. Start from the problem and then move from there. Don’t go the other way by picking a set of affiliate products and marketing them to your target audience by linking products to an existing problem.

affiliate marketing case study

I specialise in creating content that resonates with audiences and aligns with marketing objectives. My approach combines persuasive narratives with a keen understanding of brand essence to foster genuine connections and inspire reader engagement. Each piece is designed not just to inform but to captivate and convert readers into customers.

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Affiliate Marketing Case Study

Tanya Alain

  • Posted on July 20, 2023

Influencer Marketing Platform » Glossary » Affiliate Marketing Case Study

  • July 20, 2023
  • 1 minute read

Introduction

Affiliate marketing case studies provide in-depth analyses of successful campaigns, demonstrating the effectiveness of affiliate marketing strategies. These real-world examples offer data-driven insights into how businesses leverage affiliate partnerships.

What are Affiliate Marketing Case Studies?

Affiliate marketing case studies are in-depth analyses of successful affiliate marketing campaigns. They showcase strategies, tactics, results, and ROI from real campaigns.

Where are Affiliate Case Studies Used?

Affiliate marketing case studies are widely used in influencer marketing. Businesses, e-commerce companies, and agencies utilize case studies to understand the potential impact of affiliate marketing.

When to Use Affiliate Case Studies

Businesses should use affiliate case studies when considering implementing or optimizing affiliate marketing programs. Case studies provide insights into benefits, challenges, and best practices to inform strategic decisions.

How to Use Affiliate Case Studies

To leverage affiliate case studies, businesses should carefully examine campaign strategies, analysis, ROI measurement, and affiliate success examples. This provides valuable insights into structuring effective campaigns.

Why Affiliate Case Studies Matter

Affiliate case studies are crucial for understanding the benefits and potential impact of affiliate marketing. They provide tangible evidence of success, demonstrating how businesses have driven revenue through affiliate partnerships.

In summary, affiliate marketing case studies offer inspiration, proven strategies, and evidence-based guidance. By analyzing real-world examples, businesses can gain insights to make informed decisions and drive successful outcomes with their affiliate marketing initiatives.

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Side Hustle Nation

Affiliate Marketing Case Study: Zero to $20k/month in a Year

alex and healy finvsfin

Helping people make decisions is a big business!

In fact, these two Side Hustle Show listeners started a website to do just that, and it’s now bringing in $17k to $20k a month .

Oh, and the project is only a little over a year old.

Alex Goldberg and Healy Jones run a site called FinvsFin.com , which focuses on reviews and comparisons of direct to consumer brands.

They earn money as affiliates — basically earning a commission on sales that are referred through the site.

FinvsFin is an example of what I’ll call the modern comparison shopping site — helping readers make decisions and getting paid for it. And since comparison shopping was my original side hustle over a decade ago, this was especially fun to dive into.

The impressive part is that this is still very much a side hustle. Both Alex and Healy have full-time jobs, and their business falls under the “ passive income ” business model.

Tune in to hear how Alex and Healy prioritize and create their content, what they’re doing to market the site and drive traffic, and how you can borrow some of their same strategies in your own niche.

NOTE: My first interview with Alex and Healy aired in late December 2019. For the 2020 update, please see “Where Are They Now?” below.

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  • Why Alex and Healy decided to start their site.
  • How they come up with unique, low competition content ideas.
  • How they are structuring their content.
  • The various ways they form affiliate relationships with the brands they’re reviewing.
  • What they’re doing to build, and more so attract links.
  • Some interesting on-page optimization tactics they’re using to grow their traffic and land featured snippets.
  • How they’re splitting their time and roles within the business as partners.
  • Alex and Healy’s #1 tips for Side Hustle Nation.

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Where Are They Now?

Since I last spoke with Alex and Healy at the end of 2019, they’ve grown their site FinvsFin.com from $20,000 a month to $50,000 a month!

They’ve also added some more sites to their expanding portfolio.

Here’s what they’ve been up to:

“It’s been quite a ride. I think actually, we’ve benefited a lot in this tumultuous time with more people at home and spending time online,” Alex told me.

Their strategy hasn’t changed, it’s been a case of rinse and repeat with what’s working. Alex and Healy have published a load more content, been finding new partners to work with, and creating direct relationships with sellers.

They aim to publish 3-4 times a week. It’s still a side hustle for them though, so when they’re busy with their day jobs, publishing slows down.

“80-90% is being written by freelancers,” Alex told me.

It’s not hands-off though. Alex and Healy still put a lot of time into uploading, formatting, doing the on-page SEO, generating links, and managing the partnerships.

They’ve been able to outsource and automate a lot of their processes. However, Alex calls that the “tip of the iceberg” looking at the entire process.

As well as continuing to grow FinvsFin, Alex and Healy have also purchased a couple of additional websites.

To help their decision, hey looked at which categories were working the best on FinvsFin.

Not wanting to make a huge investment for their first purchase, they bought a dog care site for $2000. They’ve had some success with dog care on FinvsFin, so they have high hopes for the site.

They also bought a home gym site , which is something Healy is excited about as he’s in the process of building his own home gym.

The home gym space is trending upwards right now as the pandemic has forced more people to workout from home. Plus, Healy already has experience working with a company called Peloton who supplies a lot of the equipment he’ll be recommending.

As the guys discussed in our first call, they build a lot of direct relationships with the brands they recommend on their sites.

They always have the Amazon Affiliate program to “fall back on”, but they’re able to secure much higher %’s working with brands directly.

The two main ways they recommend for finding direct relationships are:

  • Performing a Google search for an existing affiliate program. Not all companies advertise their affiliate program on their site, you’ll have to do a little digging to find it.
  • Reaching out to their marketing managers on LinkedIn. Alex said the key here is not to be put off by “no’s” or radio silence. He’s had to contact some managers in excess of 30 times to start a conversation.

Alex said it’s always worth reaching out, as you never know what they’ll say. Some brands he makes contact with do not have an affiliate program, but are willing to start one when they see the traffic Alex and Healy are sending them.

If a company is plugged into an affiliate network it’s just a matter of using their links and the network provides all of the reporting features.

For the brands that do not use a network, Alex said he works with them to track their conversions using a custom Google Analytics parameter.

It’s a bit of an honor system doing it this way. But if they aren’t part of a network, it’s the best solution. Alex said any form of tracking conversions is better than nothing, it’s starting the relationship and taking some money that’s the important thing.

The guys know that link building moves the needle in affiliate marketing and still spend a lot of time on it. Although Healy admits, “link building is, as you know, really, really, hard”.

A few of their best link building strategies are:

  • HARO (Help A Reporter Out) – They’ve had a lot of success securing links in media articles using this service.
  • Marketing Studies – They have been building publishing articles they call “marketing studies”. These are articles laying out how they see an industry and naming all the influential brands. Some of those brands will link back to the article, which is awesome when it happens. But there are no guarantees, some of their articles do not attract any links.
  • Podcast Appearances – They also credited appearing on the Side Hustle Show the first time around as helping. The guys are open to appearing on more podcasts if any podcast hosts are listening.

In addition to link building, Healy said investing in a site redesign and custom graphics has also helped their SEO.

They’ve seen an increase in dwell time and other important on-site metrics. As well as noticing their custom images are appearing high in the Google search results.

Alex said they’re finding it easy to win images searches just by adding a keyword-friendly alt tag to each image. So, that’s a useful tip if you’re not already doing that.

The guys are also updating older posts several times a week to try and keep up with the competition.

A couple of SEO tools they’re using to do this are:

  • SE Ranking – This allows them to track the keywords they’re ranking for. If they see keywords dropping, they take a look at the article.
  • Surfer SEO – This tool makes on-page optimization suggestions to help improve the SEO “score” of an article.

“Right now, I’m enjoying having it as a side hustle,” Healy told me. Healy has some other side hustles on the go and likes juggling various projects.

He’s aware that Alex handles a lot of the “painful technical” stuff though, so he’s willing to listen to Alex if he thinks they should go full-time with their sites.

Alex said he’s in the same boat as Healy. He’s enjoying his full-time tech job and doesn’t plan to quit anytime soon. He does see a lot of opportunities in what they’re doing with their sites though, so doing this full-time is always a possibility.

“Figure out the first model, then the challenge becomes thinking outside of the box,” Alex told me.

“If you’re showing any glimmer of greatness, you just got to go 100% for it,” Healy added.

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Nick Loper

About the Author

Nick Loper is a side hustle expert who loves helping people earn more money and start businesses they care about. He hosts the award-winning Side Hustle Show, where he's interviewed over 500 successful entrepreneurs, and is the bestselling author of Buy Buttons , The Side Hustle , and $1,000 100 Ways .

His work has been featured in The New York Times, Entrepreneur, Forbes, TIME, Newsweek, Business Insider, MSN, Yahoo Finance, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Financial Times, Bankrate, Hubspot, Ahrefs, Shopify, Investopedia, VICE, Vox, Mashable, ChooseFI, Bigger Pockets, The Penny Hoarder, GoBankingRates, and more.

5 thoughts on “Affiliate Marketing Case Study: Zero to $20k/month in a Year”

Do you verify the revenues of the businesses or is it submitted by the owners.

Great episode.

There were many candid and valuable insights shared by Alex and Healey – the right questions were asked and they were both very generous in providing the details.

I’m seriously considering re-starting my blog (Tech news).

Thanks Val!

Awesome episode Nick! Always bringing the heat in your interviews. Thanks!

Thanks Kelan – these guys are crushing it!

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  • Last updated: October 8, 2023
  • 5 minute read

Affiliate Marketing Case Study: Helping Choose Wheels Grow 124%

Their site had been hit with a Google penalty and traffic was down 80%. See how we helped one affiliate partner to recover [and grow 124% in 6 months].

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Written by Pat Ahern

Pat Ahern is the Managing Partner at Intergrowth®. He breaks down SEO/content marketing concepts & strategies into layman’s terms to show you how to grow your business. Outside of work, Pat spends his time rock climbing, traveling, and enjoying the best IPAs that he can get his hands on.

The team at Choose Wheels came to us with a problem. Their site had been hit with a manual penalty from Google and traffic was on the decline.

For those who aren’t familiar: Choose Wheels is a website that provides comprehensive guides on personal transportation devices (electric scooters, electric bikes, and much more). Their business model focuses on building partnerships with companies that sell these devices and collecting a portion of each sale that they help to generate.

Choose Wheels isn’t like most successful affiliate marketing websites. They don’t have a massive monthly ad spend. They don’t rely on sending people to landing pages through Facebook Ads to make money.

Instead, they rely on great content.

Choose Wheels focuses on educating their target readers through writing informative product reviews and other useful guides. Their affiliate program focuses on partnering with online retailers like Amazon and collect affiliate commissions when they help their customers to make an informed purchase. As a result, search engines have historically made up 70% of their total site traffic.

The previous site owner was involved in a private blog network (“PBN”, for short), which was uncovered by Google’s webspam team several months after the current owner took over.

Over the course of the next 2 months, Choose Wheels lost 80% of their organic traffic.

Affiliate marketing PBN SEO penalty

Choose Wheels came to us shortly after their penalty had been lifted to learn about our content marketing services and see how we could help recover some of their lost organic traffic.

This affiliate marketing case study delves into exactly what we accomplished together.

Marketing Strategy

We started with our Discovery Process to learn about their business goals, primary competitors, and more.

During our initial analysis, we identified 3 primary issues with the Choose Wheels site (in addition to the PBN penalty):

  • We had a much weaker backlink profile than our primary 3 competitors
  • Much of the content on the existing site was becoming outdated
  • On-page metrics like bounce rate and average session duration were underperforming

We knew that we had an uphill battle ahead of us. Given these issues, our content marketing strategy consisted of the following action plan:

Short term:

  • Write monthly blog articles that targeted long-tail search phrases (to drive more qualified visitors as we rebuilt our site authority)
  • Revamp existing posts on the site with the greatest search ROI potential to maximize organic traffic and website conversions
  • Focus on building our site authority through targeted link outreach to relevant publishers
  • Write quarterly premium blog articles that targeted high-value search phrases with a high search volume (to drive significant long-term search ROI as we scaled our site authority)

Related: learn about 9 actionable affiliate marketing SEO tactics that we use every day.

The Implementation Process

Kicking off the seo foundation.

We analyzed the competitive landscape to learn about the search positioning and top-performing content of our largest competitors. Next, we explored Reddit and Quora to see what topics our target customers were most interested in. With this, we built our editorial calendar for the first 6 months of content.

We optimized the 15 pages on the site with the highest potential for organic traffic improvements. We re-wrote title tags and meta descriptions; incorporated term frequency, inverse document frequency (TF-IDF); enhanced site speed , and much more.

Also see: 7 Common Mistakes Every Affiliate Marketer Needs to Avoid

Strategic content creation

Our content creation process started with targeting long-tail search terms that the Choose Wheels website would see immediate traction on.

We analyzed top-performing content for each topic to identify the key success factors for each post. Our team then published long-form articles and promoted them across relevant social communities.

One by one, our articles started to outrank authoritative sites in search results for high-value search terms.

Managing link outreach

We launched our first link building campaign to drive high-quality backlinks and boost our site authority.

This consisted of reaching out to 1,000 industry-leading bloggers who had written about or linked to content that was similar to our own. We started discussions and built relationships. In the process, we encouraged 10 of those bloggers to link to various articles on the site each quarter, and dozens more to share our articles on social media.

Revamping underperforming content

Next was the process of revamping underperforming content.

We used our Click-Through-Rate Calculator to identify the pages on the site that were losing out on the most organic traffic. In other words, our team found the pages that were seeing far fewer clicks than the industry average for their given position in search results.

content marketing revamps for affiliates

We re-optimized title tags and meta descriptions for each of these to maximize the ROI of each of these rankings.

Next, our team looked at pages with a high bounce rate or low average session duration.

We broke up walls of text and revised outdated content to improve readability and usefulness to their target audience.

Related: download our content marketing playbook to see our step-by-step walkthrough of how to scale your online presence.

Organic traffic took a small dip in the first two months of partnering together as we built our SEO foundation and kicked off the first quarterly campaign.

However, everything started coming together in our 3rd month of working together.

We had implemented our SEO foundation, published our first 2 months of blog posts, began to revamp underperforming content, and kicked off our first link building campaign.

The result was that organic traffic climbed 20.2% in April 2018. It was clear that we were headed in the right direction.

The Results

We continued to implement our initial strategy for the next 4 months. Here’s what we’ve seen so far.

Target keyword visibility (how well Choose Wheels ranks for their top-priority keywords) has increased by 459%.

Affiliate marketing keyword ranking growth

As target keyword rankings improved, so too did their monthly organic traffic. Organic traffic, which drives 76% of their total website traffic, is up 121% in 2018.

Affiliate organic traffic growth metrics

As a whole, website traffic has increased by 124% this year, as of August.

Affiliate marketing case study growth

Related: think Choose Wheels is an outlier? See how content marketing helped another partner to grow 487.1% (so far).

One important thing to note is that massive increases in organic traffic often result in lower-quality site visitors. This can often be seen by worse bounce rates, average session durations, and conversion rates.

In the case of Choose Wheels, on-page performance saw massive improvements.

Affiliate marketing case study stats

Bounce rate and average session duration improved by 15% and 40%, respectively. All the while goal conversions increased by 526%!

We couldn’t be more excited about the growth that Choose Wheels has seen since partnering with us.

Looking for a partner to help you scale your online business? Let’s see if we’re the right partner for you .

SCALE YOUR ORGANIC TRAFFIC

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  • October 30, 2023

How JS Dental Achieved +500% YoY Organic Traffic Growth

Every website has a presence, but it’s only successful if it brings in the right traffic. Traffic means people are interested in visiting your site and exploring what your service provides. The more traffic, the better known your business name becomes. But the goal is to do more than spread your name. You want to […]

  • August 11, 2023

How We Helped One Ecommerce Arts & Crafts Client Grow Revenue by 431.9%

Background This ecommerce client came to us in late 2020 with the goal of increasing their online revenue. Their online sales skyrocketed in the first half of 2020. However, sales started to plummet by the end of the summer. The market for art supplies was shrinking, and they needed to win market share over their […]

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How to be a successful affiliate marketer: Growth strategies & tips

By phil norris march 28, 2024.

Did you know the average affiliate marketer makes just over $8,000 a month ?

Not bad for a job that lets you work anywhere, set your own hours, and earn passive income.

But, as always, there’s a catch:

That figure is massively skewed by affiliate marketers with 10+ years of experience, who bring in an average monthly income of $44,000+.

Bar graph showing the monthly affiliate income by experience level with 10+ year experience earning $44,918

Meanwhile, if you’re in your first year of affiliate marketing, you can expect a slightly more humble return of $636 a month. Which probably won’t even cover your bills, let alone fast-track you toward a life of luxury.

Still, if you can get through those tricky first two years, the rewards are there for the taking.

And we can help you get there by sharing our top tips on how to be a successful affiliate marketer…

Where to post affiliate marketing links

Let’s start with the basics of how to promote an affiliate link. There are four main channels you can use, each with its own strengths and weaknesses:

Search engine optimization (SEO) involves building a search-friendly website that targets the types of keywords your audience is looking for. It’s the #1 source of traffic for affiliate marketers.

Line graph showing primary traffic sources by experience level for affiliates

But SEO is tough. If you’re targeting a keyword with decent search volume, you’ll likely be competing with huge, generalist publishers like Forbes and Business Insider, so you’ve got your work cut out getting anywhere near the top #10 search results.

Organic search is also extremely volatile, with a 13-month study of 28,000+ domains finding that <5% of websites maintain their top #10 rankings for a whole year .

👍 SEO pros:

  • Free traffic source
  • Targets qualified shoppers searching for specific information
  • Once you’ve built a well-optimized site, it can keep generating traffic for years

👎 SEO cons:

  • Building an SEO-friendly site takes a lot of time
  • However much work you put in, it’s extremely difficult to outrank massive publishers
  • Search engine algorithms change regularly, so your rankings could tank overnight

Email marketing has the highest return on investment of any marketing channel, yet it’s something of an untapped resource — especially among new affiliates. In fact, experienced affiliate marketers use email marketing 47.8% more than beginners .

Bar graph showing email marketing impact on monthly affiliate earnings with those using email marketing earning $12,007 vs those not at $7,213

Not only are the expenses minimal (just the cost of your email marketing platform), but investing in email also reduces your reliance on search and social algorithms by letting you share affiliate links straight to your audience’s inbox.

👍 Email pros:

  • Superb return on investment
  • Reduces reliance on search and social algorithms

👎 Email cons:

  • You’ll need some sort of external mechanism to grow your email list (like a landing page or website)
  • It could take time to grow your email list

Paid ads on search engines and social media mostly work on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis, which is exactly what it sounds like: you create an ad, set a budget, and only pay when someone clicks through to your landing page.

It’s a quick and convenient way to drive traffic to your affiliate site — you can build an ad campaign in a few minutes, then start generating clicks the moment you set it live. However, it’s not cheap, with an average cross-industry cost-per-click of $4.22 (and no guarantee that the clicker is going to buy anything ).

Showing advertising benchmark data - 6.1% click-through rate, 7.04% conversion rate, $4.22 cost per click, $53.52 cost per lead

Given that you might only be making a few bucks in commission per sale, PPC just isn’t cost-effective in a lot of affiliate niches.

👍 PPC pros:

  • Building ad campaigns is quick and easy
  • Once a campaign goes live, you can start generating traffic instantly

👎 PPC cons:

  • Costs-per-click are prohibitively high in some niches
  • Once you stop paying, your traffic stops too

Organic social

Organic social media involves posting on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok without any PPC ad budget . So it’s kind of like SEO: you’re relying on the quality of your content and your optimization efforts to reach your desired audience.

Unfortunately, organic reach on most social platforms has plummeted in recent years. To make matters worse, the likes of Facebook and TikTok want to keep you on their platform , not click through to an affiliate website (or your affiliate partner’s store) — so it’s becoming increasingly unreliable as a traffic source.

Which explains why affiliate marketing experts use organic social media 26.7% less than beginners .

👍 Organic social pros:

  • Free source of traffic

👎 Organic social cons:

  • Organic reach is declining on most social platforms
  • Hard to turn social views into website traffic

The most effective strategy for affiliate marketing success

Most successful affiliate marketers use a combination of channels to reach their audience and drive traffic toward their affiliate partners’ websites.

It always pays to diversify. That way, your whole business model won’t be ruined by a single algorithm update. Also, the more your audience sees your content, the more likely they are to click through. Which, in turn, means they’ll see more of your affiliate links too.

So leveraging multiple channels is nothing new.

However, there’s one specific multichannel affiliate marketing strategy that’s surprisingly underused.

It works like this:

  • Identify a specific pain point your audience wants to solve
  • Build an online course to help answer that pain point
  • Promote the online course (typically, the course is free, but some affiliates charge a small fee for their course content)
  • Use the course to recommend specific online tools or products that will help resolve your audience’s pain point
  • Whenever you promote a tool or product, add an affiliate link so you get paid when people click through and buy

This tactic is so effective because the people who sign up for your online course are looking for answers — and they trust you to provide them. 

So when you recommend a product, they’ll sit up and take notice.

Let’s take a look at a real affiliate site that’s making bank through this technique…

CASE STUDY: Legendary Marketer

Legendary Marketer is a marketing education company that offers (paid) online courses on topics like selling digital products and building a coaching business.

But that’s not the only way Legendary Marketer makes money. It also employs the strategy we described in the previous section to generate a ton of affiliate commissions.

Despite the variety of courses it sells, Legendary Marketer’s homepage is geared toward promoting one specific product: its 15-Day Online Business Builder Challenge. 

Just look at these two prominent CTAs:

Legendary Marketer's affiliate marketing home page

When you click through, you’re greeted with messaging that speaks to arguably the biggest pain point for anyone trying to build an online business: figuring out how to get started .

Legendary marketer section on website discussing pain point for affiliate marketers

Legendary Marketer promises to help you overcome that challenge — and all for the low, low one-off price of $7.

In fact, the price tag is practically irrelevant. If you try to quit the page, you’ll be hit with an exit intent popup offering exactly the same course for just $1:

Pop up form on Legendary Marketer's website promoting course for $1

Why so cheap?

Because they don’t particularly care how much money they make from actually selling the course . Their real earner involves peppering their course content with product recommendations (and affiliate links) to generate clicks and commissions.

As an added bonus, enrolling in the course requires handing over your email address to Legendary Marketer — which means they can keep sharing recommendations straight to your inbox.

To be clear, none of this means the 15-Day Online Business Builder Challenge isn’t legit .

There’s nothing wrong with earning money from recommending high-quality products, just so long as you’re upfront and honest about it.

Other affiliate marketing course ideas

I think we can all agree that Legendary Marketer has hit on a highly effective affiliate marketing strategy.

But we’re not necessarily suggesting you do exactly the same thing. After all, there are plenty of other niches to target and pain points to solve. For instance:

Pain point: Get your first 500 email subscribers

This is a classic concern for new affiliate marketers (and, indeed, for any business owner or content creator who wants to leverage the benefits of email marketing ), which makes it a fantastic fit for an online course.

Before you start creating the course content, you’d seek out a bunch of affiliate programs for tools to help people build their email list. We’re thinking:

  • A graphic design tool like Canva for designing and creating a lead magnet
  • A landing page builder like AWeber to create a lead capture landing page
  • An email marketing platform to set up automated campaigns (again, they can do this through AWeber)

Pain point: Earn six figures on Etsy

Another common pain point — because every Etsy merchant wants to make more money.

You’d follow the same process when building this online course: consider all the tools Etsy sellers might need to grow their revenue, then sign up for the relevant affiliate programs and add their links to your course content. Tools like:

  • PickFu for optimizing product images, descriptions, videos, ads, and product pricing
  • Ve la for managing Etsy product listings
  • Outfy for automated social media management for online stores
  • LeadDyno for promoting an Etsy store through affiliate marketing

And, of course, AWeber for building an email list and running newsletter campaigns to drive traffic to an Etsy store.

Pain point: Make your first dropshipping sale

Like affiliate marketing, dropshipping is a popular side hustle, helping people build a revenue stream without dealing with many of the biggest challenges of running a “proper” e-commerce business, like:

  • Spending a ton of cash upfront on products
  • Managing store inventory
  • Dealing with product shipping

So it’s not hard to see the appeal of launching a dropshipping store . But, just like with any online business, most wannabe dropshippers don’t know where to begin — making this a perfect online course niche.

Again, there’s no shortage of products (with affiliate programs) you can promote, including:

  • E-commerce platforms like Shopify
  • SEO tools like Semrush
  • Product-sourcing tools like Dropship
  • E-commerce social media management tools like Outfy
  • Shopify theme vendors like ThemeForest  

Plus they’ll need an email marketing tool, which is where AWeber comes in.

4 affiliate marketing best practices to drive more clicks and sales

Building a successful affiliate marketing business isn’t just about having the right strategy. You also need to execute it effectively. Make it happen by following these best practices:

Choose a diverse range of affiliate partners

Your affiliate partners — also known as advertisers — are the people who pay you for promoting their products. So it’s fair to say they’ll play an integral role on your journey to affiliate marketing success.

Naturally, affiliate advertisers want to build robust, mutually beneficial relationships with their best affiliates. 

But it’s important to remember that they’re businesses, not charities, so they might be compelled to change their terms and conditions at a moment’s notice. For instance, Amazon   — one of the world’s biggest affiliate advertisers — famously slashed commissions across multiple categories back in 2020, putting a major dent in many affiliate marketers’ earnings.

News article mentioning that Amazon slashed commission rates for their affiliate program

If you put all your eggs in the metaphorical basket of a single affiliate program, a similar decision from your affiliate partner could decimate your business. 

So it definitely pays to spread the risk around by promoting multiple affiliate programs (e.g. other markets like eBay and Etsy are a good substitute for Amazon).

Promote quality affiliate products

When you’re looking for affiliate partners, it’s easy to be blinded by attractive commission rates.

But the reality is that the highest-paying products aren’t necessarily the best for your audience. Sadly, the exact opposite is often true: they’re only paying big commissions because otherwise no one would recommend them .

While it’s tempting to focus on making as much money as possible in the short term, your affiliate business will be a whole lot more sustainable if you exclusively promote high-quality products. So take the time to check out customer reviews before signing up — and, ideally, recommend products that you actually use .

Build an asset, not a social channel

Sure, there are real affiliate marketers making big money from their followings on platforms like TikTok and YouTube.

But there’s a problem: those folks don’t actually own their audience . TikTok and YouTube do.

You might be thinking: “So what? I don’t care if TikTok holds all the cards as long as I’m still making money.” However, there are some major downsides to this approach.

For starters, tastes in social media change fast. If people suddenly lose interest in your chosen social platform, BAM , there goes your audience — and there’s no guarantee they’ll follow you to a different platform.

It also leaves you overly reliant on social algorithms. If TikTok or YouTube decide they don’t want people to see your content anymore, you’re dead in the water.

That’s why we believe the best route to becoming a successful affiliate marketer is to build your own website . Or, at the very least, a landing page you can use to capture email addresses.

Target high-intent keywords

Earlier in this article, we pointed out that SEO is the top traffic source for affiliate websites.

But not all search traffic is equally valuable.

It’s fine to have one or two pieces of content dedicated to top-of-the-funnel topics (like how to start an online business ). But the bulk of your SEO-focused articles or videos should target commercially focused keywords.

Typically, commercial keywords look like this:

People searching for these sorts of terms are close to making a buying decision. So if they find (and enjoy) your content, there’s a good chance they’ll click through to your affiliate partner’s site and make a purchase.

Supercharge your affiliate marketing success with AWeber

Building a successful affiliate marketing business is hard work. And there are no guarantees — otherwise, every affiliate marketer would be a millionaire.

But we can guarantee that you’ll stand a much better chance if you build an email list, then target your subscribers with regular newsletters recommending all your favorite products.

That’s why you need AWeber.

Our drag-and-drop builder and AI writing assistant make it quick and easy to create beautiful, engaging, high-converting marketing emails, while our landing page builder and signup forms give you all the tools to grow your list.

Sign up for your free AWeber account today .

And, once you’ve done it, why not join our affiliate program and spread the love?

Keep reading:

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Phil Norris

Digital marketing writer

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13 Best Affiliate Marketing Website Examples

Backlinko Team

Written by Backlinko Team In collaboration with Semrush

Affiliate Marketing Websites – Blog post image

An affiliate marketing website promotes another company’s products or services in return for some sort of compensation, usually in the form of a commission.

While it may seem like a pretty simple concept, this form of promotion has grown into a $17+ billion industry that is estimated to reach $28.8 billion by 2027.

But, how do you get in on this action to monetize your website and where do you start?

The best way to start your affiliate journey is by exploring successful affiliate marketing websites.

Once you see what these affiliate websites are doing right, you’ll have a better idea of how to replicate their success for your own site.

Let’s dive right in.

1. Wirecutter

Wirecutter

  • Niche: Product reviews for household items, gadgets, and electronics
  • Estimated monthly visits: 64,800
  • Most active affiliate programs: Amazon Associates; GoPro; The Home Depot; Apple; Best Buy

Wirecutter has proven itself as an expert when it comes to researching, testing, and reviewing products for its audience. In fact, the website’s reviews even go one step further to recommend how you can best use these products in everyday life.

This expert insight is what led Wirecutter to be so successful that it generated $150 million in revenue between 2011 and 2016, before being bought by giant media company The New York Times.

This rapid rise in revenue is all thanks to affiliate marketing done right.

How They Make Money

Wirecutter is probably one of the best examples of an affiliate marketing team making use of the involved affiliate marketing type. This is where an affiliate has a connection to the service or product they’re promoting and enough expertise and influence to generate traffic. In involved affiliate marketing, the marketer has used the service or product they’re promoting and shares their experiences with others.

Wirecutter does a deep dive into every product they review to ensure that they only refer their audience to the best products on the market. This allows them to give expert recommendations, which in turn creates audience trust. And we all know that the more you trust something, the more likely you are to buy what they’re selling. Unlike with some affiliate sites, you won’t find loads of irrelevant reviews on Wirecutter. Instead, you’ll find perfectly curated reviews.

Creating an enhanced user experience by providing valuable content is exactly what they do best. It’s why Wirecutter is one of the best affiliate marketing websites out there (and not to mention one of the most successful).

2. PCPartPicker

PC Part Picker

  • Niche: PC parts for customized desktops
  • Estimated monthly visits: 29.05 million
  • Most active affiliate programs: Amazon Associates; Newegg; SuperBiiz; Outlet PC

If you’re looking for one specific part for your rig, PCPartPicker will give you a review on that part and give you a cost comparison for similar parts. They have everything from CPUs and coolers to operating systems and peripherals. Not sure where to start when building your PC? PCPartPickers will give you a comprehensive guide.

In short, they are in a very specialized niche and they’re experts at giving their audience exactly what they need.

PCPartPicker has incorporated a good mix of advice, examples, and interactive advanced tools on its website to provide all the answers to the questions its audience may have. This is the foundation of its marketing strategy, which has allowed it to build a high level of trust with its audience.

The main reason they are one of the best examples of an affiliate marketing website is the fact that they know their niche inside out and have stuck to it. They have a very specific audience that they do not deviate from just to earn extra cash. Focusing on this niche has certainly paid off, and the website is currently estimated to hold a worth of $77 million.

3. This Is Why I’m Broke

This is why I'm broke

  • Niche: Unusual and quirky products that are funny, creative, and often bizarre
  • Estimated monthly visits: 5.86 million
  • Most active affiliate programs: Amazon Affiliates; Etsy

This Is Why I’m Broke occupies a unique space in the affiliate marketing world. It provides reviews of unusual products and its amusing descriptions of these products make its content highly shareable on social media.

It’s a place where you can find anything that’s a bit weird, from toilet paper with Donald Trump’s face on it and a book with 500 facts about Godzilla to a massager for your cat’s face.

What’s interesting about the marketing strategy for This Is Why I’m Broke is that a lot of the products they promote don’t actually get sold to their direct audience. Their audience is there more for fun than anything else. Instead, the content on This Is Why I’m Broke is specifically designed for social media shares.

The unconventional nature of the products and the content is designed to attract attention on social media platforms and has resulted in a large following. The high level of social media shares results in more clicks on the site’s affiliate links, leading to plenty of revenue. Relying solely on a pay-per-click affiliate model won’t work, but as you can see from This Is Why I’m Broke, it can be great to mix into your strategy if done right.

4. Dog Food Advisor

DogFoodAdvisor

  • Niche: Dog food
  • Estimated monthly visits: 1.25 million
  • Most active affiliate program: Chewy

Dog Food Advisor has positioned itself as a trusted resource for dog owners who want to make informed decisions about the food they feed their pets.

It holds a high authority in the niche of canine nutrition due to its well-researched and comprehensive reviews on dog food, nutrition, and health.

This expert insight has allowed Dog Food Advisor to become a trusted source for its audience.

Dog Food Advisor does not make use of any explicit product endorsements or ads, which means that its affiliate marketing strategy is more subtle.

This has allowed the affiliate site to define itself as an “unbiased dog food reviews and ratings” website.

To monetize this business model, Dog Food Strategy only makes use of affiliate links in a section of a review known as “Buying Tips” or “Exclusive Offers”.

This subtle approach to promoting affiliate products helps to build audience trust, as having numerous affiliate links in a review can be annoying and spammy, which has the opposite effect.

5. Skyscanner

Skyscanner

  • Niche: Travel
  • Estimated monthly visits: 17.96 million
  • Most active affiliate programs: British Airways; Ryanair; AdSense

Founded in 2001, Skyscanner has quickly become a trusted resource for people looking to compare and book flights, hotels, and car rentals.

What largely makes Skyscanner’s site so successful is its search aggregator (or metasearch engine). This advanced tool provides results from other search engines to compile a list of prices from various travel sites and airlines. In turn, users can quickly and easily use these results to compare prices and choose an option that is most suited to their budget. This streamlines the entire process of booking flights, accommodation, and cars.

On top of this, Skyscanner also runs a travel blog, which is where their affiliate marketing comes into play.

Skyscanner’s travel blog is a prime example of how SEO can really drive your affiliate marketing efforts.

The in-depth travel guides and tourism-related articles found on their blog have been specifically optimized to drive organic traffic to the site. Once the reader is on the article, various links within the text then direct the reader to the search aggregator for the specific country, place, hotel, or car hire that is mentioned.

Every time something is booked through the site, Skyscanner earns affiliate revenue from the sale. Despite the website already being as popular as it is, their travel blog provides another source of traffic, which only aids in boosting their success.

Another reason Skyscanner is so successful is that it also offers its own affiliate program via affiliate networks like Commission Junction, Trade Doubler, and Awin.

Now, you don’t necessarily need to create your own affiliate program to be successful in the affiliate marketing game. However, it is handy to keep in mind that you can be a successful affiliate marketer and run various affiliate programs at the same time.

6. Ruled.me

Ruled.me

  • Niche: Keto diet
  • Estimated monthly visits: 269,890
  • Most active affiliate program: Amazon Associates

The ketogenic diet (or keto diet, for short) has revolutionized the multi-billion dollar weight loss industry over the last few years. What originally started out as a treatment for epilepsy in the 1920s has quickly become a solution for people trying to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle.

Ruled.me aims to capitalize on this diet’s popularity by promoting keto-friendly recipes to make the switch over to this diet more of a fun experience rather than a boring regime.

From recipes and diet tips to exercise plans, Ruled.me provides all the necessary information that its keto audience requires.

It also includes an integrated tool for users to accurately calculate the amount of protein and carbohydrates they need to include in their diet to achieve their weight-loss goals. This takes all the guesswork out of meal planning and gives their users an all-in-one solution.

Ruled.me has created the ultimate resource for those on the keto diet, which has allowed it to gain user trust and authority within its niche.

Ruled.me largely makes use of affiliate links in its blog posts under its “Recommended” section. These posts provide information about what cooking and kitchen equipment, supplements, exercises, and special recommendations its reader can use to support their keto journey. They also contain links that direct the user straight to the relevant page where they can purchase these aids.

The affiliate site largely makes use of the Amazon Associates Program, which allows them to earn a direct affiliate income from each purchase made through the respective links.

What makes Ruled.me stand out, though, is its customer retention. Through its subscription service, The Keto Academy, its users can sign up to receive new recipes, keto success stories, and guidance from experts.

This service encourages subscribers to keep coming back to the site, which makes them more likely to spend time on it and potentially purchase the specific products that it recommends. In turn, this can result in more commission from its affiliate site.

7. Minimalist Baker

Minimalist Baker

  • Niche: Quick and easy food recipes
  • Estimated monthly visits: 10.07 million

The Minimalist Baker addresses the pain points of cooking by providing its audience with simple, easy, and quick recipes. When you don’t have hours to spend in the kitchen, the Minimalist Baker steps in to give you recipes that can streamline your entire cooking process.

It’s aimed at busy users who are short on time but still want to make healthy, tasty meals. Its recipes usually require 10 ingredients or less, and they typically take no more than 30 minutes to prepare.

The site also caters to users with various dietary needs by including vegan and gluten-free recipes.

The Minimalist Baker features Amazon affiliate links in almost all of the recipes it has on its site. These links are mainly for food-related products that it mentions in its ingredient lists.

While food items are not the highest-paying items for affiliate marketers, it goes to show that you can still earn an affiliate income from the lower-paying categories. This is partly because food items are usually bought a lot more frequently than some of the higher-paying categories, like tech gadgets and luxury items.

This frequency means there’s a higher chance that returning users to the site will use the affiliate links again and again.

The placement of the affiliate links is also quite fitting considering Minimalist Baker’s brand of simplifying the cooking process. The reader doesn’t need to go out and source the ingredients themselves. Instead, they can save time and just follow the link to purchase the items they need for that particular recipe.

8. SafeWise

SafeWise

  • Niche: Home security
  • Estimated monthly visits: 1.85 million
  • Most active affiliate programs: Amazon Associates; OfferVault; CJ Affiliates

Let’s be honest, when it comes to safety, especially that of your home, nobody wants to cut corners. After all, safety is the second most important need according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

SafeWise knows the pain points of its target market all too well, which is why it provides brand comparisons, safety manuals, and reviews on various safety features.

The best part? All this information is summarized and found right at the top of each blog post. This saves its readers tons of time scrolling through articles that may not actually provide the answers they’re looking for.

SafeWise’s blog posts not only provide all the comparison information that its users need to help make their security choices that much easier but it also has direct links to the purchase page for the various products it mentions.

SmartWise earns its commission through affiliate sites like Amazon and CJ Affiliates. Every time a user makes a purchase that was directed from the link in one of its many guides, SafeWise earns a share of the sale.

However, SafeWise’s marketing team doesn’t just rely on its own website to bring in the revenue stream. The affiliate website also makes use of various video and social media platforms, particularly TikTok and YouTube , to promote its helpful content and link to its various affiliate products.

This allows the affiliate site to increase traffic to its more in-depth guides while also giving its audience other avenues to access its affiliate links.

The result? A wider audience reach and the increased potential to cash in on more commissions.

9. HeadphonesAddict

Headphones Addict

  • Niche: Headphones
  • Estimated monthly visits: 221,530

Since 2015, HeadphonesAddict has strived to be the go-to place for any and everything related to headphones.

The site aims to simplify the process of finding that perfect pair of headphones to suit your unique needs and budget. To do this, the site posts various headphones-related news, user and buyer guides, and reviews.

It covers everything from Google Pixel Buds Pro to the best headphones for toddlers and serves as a comprehensive resource for all topics within the headphones niche.

HeadphonesAddict stands out from its competitors by addressing pain points that its competitors haven’t considered. For example, it has reviews that cover the best headphones for sweaty workouts. This approach means the site has gained particular authority and trust within its relatively small niche.

With this trust comes a higher likelihood that its audience will follow through with the purchases the site recommends.

Once the reader has decided on which headphones they want to purchase, all they need to do is follow the Amazon links embedded in the articles to the product page. Once the purchase is made, HeadphonesAddict receives its commission.

10. RunnerClick

RunnerClick

  • Niche: Running gear
  • Estimated monthly visits: 64,100

RunnerClick is the ultimate site for running enthusiasts. It has everything from tips and expert advice to reviews and recommendations for supplements, running shoes, and fitness-related gadgets.

Whether you’re a newbie runner who wants some advice on how to run a mile without stopping or an experienced runner, RunnerClick has you covered with expert insights.

What we like about RunnerClick’s content is that you can see they’ve taken their time to do their research. Each product that’s recommended has strict criteria that it needs to meet in order for it to be featured on the site.

If you’re looking for the best running shoes, for example, you know that the ones mentioned in the review meet all the necessary support, breathability, flexibility, and stability criteria that make a top-notch running shoe.

While the articles are really in-depth, they’re also easily skimmable, thanks to the summarized comparison information found at the top of each article. This is great for readers who are in a rush to get the answers they’re looking for.

Another thing we appreciate about RunnerClick’s site is its sleek, user-friendly design. The company knows that users shouldn’t struggle to find the information they are looking for, which is why the guides and reviews are simply categorized for easy access.

All this aids in boosting SEO-related traffic while creating audience trust and niche authority.

RunnerClick’s money pieces are mostly their review articles. Each of the 950+ reviews on the site has one or more affiliate links that direct the reader to the relevant product page on Amazon or other affiliate websites.

By providing in-depth, expert reviews, RunnerClick can build trust among its audience by demonstrating that all the products recommended are backed by research and an open analysis of the criteria that went into the selection process.

As an affiliate marketer, RunnerClick then leverages this trust to guide its audience to purchase its recommended products. Arguably, an affiliate marketer will be more successful in converting potential customers when their site is seen as both reputable and trustworthy.

Apart from their reviews, the affiliate website also has a podcast, The Passionate Runner, which aids in spreading brand awareness. This can lead to increased traffic, more readers, and a rise in potential purchases made through its Amazon affiliate links.

11. Fatherly

Fatherly

  • Niche: Parenting for modern fathers
  • Estimated monthly visits: 1.96 million
  • Most active affiliate programs: Amazon Associates; Walmart; ZergNet; Best Buy

Fatherly provides advice, tips, and guides on everything that comes with being a dad in the 21st century.

The site contains a nice mix of magazine-style content (think topics related to style, health and wellness, and entertainment) blended with content specifically geared towards promoting affiliate links (like buyer guides and reviews).

It’s a lot more subtle and actually provides its readers with other information that doesn’t always relate to specific products.

However, that’s not to say that Fatherly doesn’t actively promote its affiliate products.

In fact, before you even start reading one of their articles, there’s a list of products right on the home page, labeled “Fatherly Favorites”. This allows users quick access to various products that they may be in the market for.

Fatherly makes use of both affiliate links and advertising to generate income for its site.

While not every article will necessarily contain affiliate links, the site still makes use of a clever technique to get its readers on to their money pages.

This technique is known as content funneling. This involves internally linking from articles that don’t contain affiliate links to articles that do.

For example, an article about bodyweight exercises may provide helpful content to the reader, but it’s not necessarily promoting any products. However, it could have an internal link that directs the reader to an article that does. Hence, a content funnel is created.

This is an excellent strategy to implement if you have quite a bit of non-paying, albeit still useful, content on your site. By continually linking to your money pieces, you have a higher chance of those pages getting seen, which increases the chance that your affiliate links actually get used and that you can generate commission.

12. The Points Guy

The Points Guy

  • Niche: Travel and credit cards
  • Estimated monthly visits: 11.36 million
  • Most active affiliate programs: Chase Bank; American Express; Citi

The Points Guy has combined two of the highest-paying and most popular affiliate niches out there: travel and finance .

The site produces content that helps solve its audience’s finance-related problems by sharing recommendations on various aviation, cruise, hotel, credit card, and loyalty programs.

The goal? To help its audience travel not only better but smarter too. At the end of the day, being able to get the most out of every dollar in your pocket goes a long way when traveling.

In particular, the affiliate website teaches its readers how to use the elusive benefits offered by travel and credit card companies. The site’s content gives actionable pointers so that its readers are able to travel in the most affordable way possible, and sometimes even for free.

The Points Guy has affiliate relationships with some of the biggest names in banking, like American Express, Citi, and Chase Bank.

Every time someone signs up to get a credit card from one of the banks, The Points Guy earns a commission.

However, the company doesn’t just rely on organic traffic to get those affiliate clicks flowing. Instead, they know the all-important role that social media plays in generating traffic to a site. This is why its marketing team is highly active on social media platforms, specifically Instagram , Facebook , X , and TikTok .

As we know from other affiliate websites like SafeWise and RunnerClick, the more brand awareness you can create, the more traffic can flow to your site, and the more likely your chances are of promoting your affiliate partners and their services or products.

13. DatingAdvice.com

DatingAdvice.com

  • Niche: Dating site reviews and dating advice
  • Estimated monthly visits: 733,440
  • Most active affiliate programs: Zoosk; Match.com; OurTime.com; Harmony; BlackPeopleMeet.com

With the massive rise in the popularity of online dating, the dating niche has become a particularly profitable industry. In fact, according to Statista , the online dating market is projected to bring in a total revenue of $3.12 billion in 2024 alone.

DatingAdvice.com ’s clean, fun, and user-friendly design helps it stand out in an otherwise spammy and chaotic niche. This is also what has helped the site gain so much popularity.

Apart from its great web design, it also provides really useful information to its audience. This includes dating advice from experts, reviews of dating sites, and guides on the best dating sites out there for specific needs and preferences.

These guides include the best dating platforms for absolutely everyone, from seniors and Christians to members of the LGBTQ+ community.

DatingAdvice.com earns an affiliate income when its readers sign up to use one of the dating sites it recommends.

The online dating niche is infamous for flashy, spammy sites that lead to a poor user experience. One of the ways this site has established trust with its audience is by creating a simple, clean, and appealing design that sets it apart from its competitors.

Add to that useful advice from various dating experts and you have an affiliate website that has become authoritative within its niche.

As I’ve mentioned time and time again, trust is key to getting your users to buy what you’re selling (or, in this case, sign up to one of its affiliate online dating platforms).

What Makes a Successful Affiliate Website?

As you can see from the examples above, there are quite a few things that go into creating a successful affiliate marketing website. However, if I had to narrow it down to four key points, they would be:

  • A great website design.
  • Valuable and informative content that is targeted to a specific niche and audience.
  • A drive for both organic and paid traffic.
  • Generating trust among an audience to buy or use the services or products being promoted.

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A Complete Beginner: The Very First Affiliate Marketing Campaign [Case Study]

propellerads-complete-beginner-case-study image

Today we have an amazing case study from our Follow Along contest we organized with our friend Luke Kling, the owner of the affLIFT forum.

What’s special about it? The case study’s author, Ahmed Naser Abdelgaber, had never tried affiliate marketing before our contest. It was his very first campaign ever — and, a little spoiler ahead — we were REALLY impressed with his results.

No more introductions, let’s look at this gem!

About the Campaign

Before running his very first campaign, Ahmed has been reading tons of information about affiliate marketing on the affLIFT forum. Armed with theoretical knowledge, he decided to try running a Sweepstakes offer. Here are the campaign details:

Ahmed shared all details about how he prepared for his first experience. We won’t retell it here in the blog, but you can read the full version of this case study on the forum, in the follow-along thread. Still, we will focus on how he picked an offer.

To make things easier for the first time, Ahmed decided to choose an offer in his native language — Arabic. So, he needed an offer targeting Arabic-speaking countries — to avoid any mistakes in landing pages and creatives.

Another criterion was the average CPM: with the budget of $100, he decided to stop on the GEO with an average CPM of $1-$5.

The choice fell on Tunisia — a GEO with an average traffic volume, Arabic-speaking users, and an average offer CPM of $1-$5. 

So, Ahmed found a Sweepstakes offer for Tunisia in Golden Goose and created a landing page using Purelander:

propellerads-beginner-case-study-prelander

By the way, PropellerAds customers get the juiciest discounts from AffLIFT, PureLander, and Golden Goose — check them o ut!

Setting a Campaign

Ahmed worked like a pro! He added his campaign to the Bemob tracker and adjusted all necessary settings in his PropellerAds account. Here is how he set his campaign (scroll the gallery):

affiliate marketing case study

Besides, Ahmed added a ProPush Smart Tag to his landing page for extra monetization. Great job! Even some experienced affiliate marketers miss this step — while it can really boost your profit.

Campaign Flow

Can you imagine that? The very first campaign ever and 70 conversions/73% ROI just within a single day. We even started doubting he was a newbie!

propellerads-beginner-case-study-stats1

What happened later? Well, we can’t describe it better than Ahmed did it himself:

Does anyone know what red color looks like?

Let’s just look at his daily stats for the first four days, sorted by hours and OS versions: 

affiliate marketing case study

Campaign Results

Numbers speak louder than words in this case study. Well, really, what can we say when Ahmed didn’t change literally anything in his campaigns to optimize them, and his profit only kept growing?

Here are his final results, according to the Golden Goose network — 791 conversions and an overall profit of $213 .

propellerads-beginner-case-study-stats-final

And, without no effort as well, he also got an extra $25 from ProPush! Here is the evidence:

propellerads-beginner-case-study-stats-propush

Comments from  Konstantinos Kafkalias, Senior Account Strategist  at PropellerAds

Great job, Ahmed!

On behalf of the Account Strategists team of Propellerads, let’s have a look at what Ahmed did well, and what more we can all do to keep the green numbers for our campaigns.

Step by Step guide for setting up tracking:

Ahmed, thank you for this. You show in simple steps how anyone can integrate with the Bemob tracker.

It’s worth mentioning here that Propellerads is fully integrated with 13 trackers , plus, we can help you integrate with any other s2s tracker out there.

Choosing offer based on Affiliate’s mother tongue

I need to admit that this is a very smart move, as it helped Ahmed to be confident about the content. 

PropellerAds - How to choose a sweepstake offer

How to choose a Sweepstake offer?

When choosing offers, knowledge of the culture and language of the user is of high importance. Be careful, though, not to fall into the trap of limiting your options based on the above.

Each GEO, vertical and offer have their own specifics, be brave to explore as many as possible!

Setting up the campaign

Wow, man, I wish all first-timers were so efficient! 

Emphasis on the ‘Audience’ collection and ‘Audience’ exclusion – Ahmed, very smartly, decided to be collecting all the converted users under one audience, which he named ‘Tunis’.

Propellerads-Demographic-Targeting-Case-Study

Another awesome case study with PropellerAds Audiences

And right away, excluded this audience from the newly created campaign. I mean, he will never show his campaign again, to all the users that have already converted!

This is money management, my friends.

Adding Propush.me tag

He extra-monetizes his page by collecting push notification subscribers and selling them to Propush.me . 

PropellerAds_Sweepstakes_Offer_Propush

Here is one more great example of extra monetization with Sweepstakes

Ahmed chose a Sweepstakes campaign to run. Sweepstakes are crazy good for extra monetization, for two reasons: 

  • The vertical is universal and the audience is broader. The bigger chance that the user will be more curious to subscribe to a push service, expecting special offers, discounts, etc.
  • Sweeps have relatively lower payouts, so with Propush.me extra monetization, you really feel the difference!

You should do it too — try ProPush.me for your next campaign!

With positive ROI comes the need to scale! What we suggest to Ahmed, from now on:

  • Test offer on all the ad formats . Onclick, Interstitial ads , In-Page Push ads . You know that the offer converts, go get them
  • Optimize the existing campaign by analyzing the following: Operation System (OS), OS Versions, User Activity, Time scheduling
  • Play with ad models , and create a Whitelist campaign with top-performing zones, on a CPC basis, to get as much traffic as possible from the good-performing sources
  • Test new GEOs, new offers , and get to understand the traffic of Propellerads

Thank you, Ahmed, and good luck on your journey.

It was inspiring enough, right? So why wait — we bet you can rock like Ahmed, too!

Want to discuss the case study?

Welcome to our Telegram Chat !”
  • Sweepstakes

How to Run Cricket Campaigns: Ad Formats, GEOs, and Creatives in Focus

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Affiliate Marketing Case Study [How I Made $16,433 With One Product And How Can You Do the Same?]

Recently when Harsh Agrawal wrote about our affiliate partnership with Bluehost that has helped me to make over $16,000 in income, most of the readers were really excited to know how I made it.

So I’ve decided to write an exclusive affiliate marketing case study around it to help affiliate marketing beginners to do the same. Are you curious to know more about it? Let’s get into it.

I know majority of the people create blogs to make money.

There’s nothing wrong in that. Most professional bloggers say that don’t start blogging unless you have passion. But in reality, if you don’t have a clear idea on making money from your blogs, you won’t succeed no matter how passionate you are. That’s the harsh truth about making money online.

When it comes to monetising a blog, there are a gazillion ways to make money .

Out of all of them, there are only a handful of monetization strategies that really work such as selling banner ads, online consulting services, one on one coaching, selling online courses and more importantly affiliate marketing .

If you want to make money from your blogs, without a second thought I’d recommend to consider affiliate marketing. At least give it a try and you will be astonished by the results you get. That’s the good thing about it, affiliate marketing can help you make money even while you are sleeping.

If you are wondering how can you make money with it, don’t search beyond, you have come to the right place. I’ll share you my affiliate marketing case study on how I made $16,433 by selling ONE product!

Quick Note: Grab our premium book “ Affiliate Marketing Blueprint ” today to take your affiliate revenue from $0 to $1000 a month now.

Interested now? Let’s dive into the actual details.

Table of Contents ☰

  • Affiliate partnership with Harsh Agrawal
  • 3 Things You Need to Make a Successful Affiliate Partnership
  • Find long tail keywords for the products you promote
  • 3 Ideas to Educate Your Audience About the Products You Promote
  • Final Thoughts about affiliate partnership case study

Affiliate Marketing Case Study [How I made over $16000 by selling ONE product?]

Affiliate Marketing Case Study

Affiliate partnership with Harsh Agrawal from ShoutMeLoud is one of the reasons that helped me make $16,000+ by promoting one product i.e Bluehost .

Here’s a sample screenshot of my Bluehost affiliate sales ..

Anil-bluehost-tracking

If you want to know more from Harsh Agrawal’s point of view about our affiliate partnership, you can read How Affiliate Partnership Helped Anil Agarwal Earn $16,433 at ShoutMeLoud.

I know most of you guys might wonder is it really possible to make huge sales by promoting a single product. It’s possible and you need the following 3 essential things in order to make successful affiliate partnership with the influential bloggers in your niche.

1. Be honest

When I observe new bloggers who are struggling to make more affiliate sales, I usually notice one thing in common – “lack of honesty”.

Most believe in “Fake it til you make it” policy. So that, they can get more social proof that can help them increase the sales. They share fake income reports, fake sales, fake traffic reports etc just to get more attention on Facebook, twitter or from their blogs.

But in reality, your audience or website visitors easily figure out if you are faking. And the worst part is, if they sense that you are faking it, they simply stop reading what you share, let alone the sales.

So here’s the tip if you want to make more affiliate sales, “BE HONEST”. I know it sounds silly, but it works.

Notice any successful affiliate marketer (Pat Flynn, Darren Rowse, Neil Patel, Harsh Agrawal), everyone is honest with their readers. They don’t fake anything just to increase their sales. They always give highest priority to showing actual proof of making real money. And that’s when they build more momentum and attract more people to trust them.

Once your audience starts trusting you, you are on your way to make more money from affiliate marketing (even while you sleep!).

2. Connect personally

If you are blogging for a while, you know the importance of networking. Without getting to know others (especially the influencers), it’s almost impossible to make a sustainable income from your blogging efforts.

I highly recommend you to spend at least an hour or two in just connecting with others in your niche. Be it leaving comments on their blogs, tweeting their stuff or staying in touch with them via emails.

But one of the best and fastest ways to build strong rapport with the influenctial bloggers is to meet them personally. Take pictures with them. Tell what you feel about them and give feedback about their websites if you have any.

This all counts in building strong relationships with the bloggers. It also helps you build a bond that builds trust.

That’s how I build a good rapport with Harsh Agrawal, we both trust each other and we always believe in the same thing – “help others to make money”.

I hope by now, you understood the importance of interacting with others both online and offline. Always think about how you can help others before seeking help from anyone.

Now that leads me to the third point.

3. Let your work do the talk

From the last couple of years, I’m making sure to spend around 5+ hours on crafting every single post I publish here at BloggersPassion. I know, without content marketing, no one can actually build a loyal readership.

And I was also been able to land on the biggest marketing blogs like Problogger.com, Semrush.com and a lot more with my guest posts. The key here is – “I spend a lot of time from research to finish the posts I write”. If you create posts worth bookmarking, you will naturally attract links, shares and sales. That’s what you need to do – “create great content and add value”.

Okay, those are the 3 major pillars one needs to build to successfully make money from affiliate marketing. Now my question to YOU is..

So do you want to repeat the same?

If I can make $$$$$ from one product, just imagine how much you can make by selling another product or two more products?

The point here is: affiliate marketing is a goldmine, you can dig how much ever you want!

Here’s a simple strategy if you want to repeat the same (and if you are really serious about making money from affiliate marketing).

You can’t make more affiliate sales without getting traffic, especially from search engines. If you are blogging for a while, you already know getting traffic from Google takes time. That’s the reason why you should consider affiliate marketing as a long term journey.

If you are thinking about “getting rich quick schemes”, affiliate marketing is NOT for you.

Affiliate marketing helps you make money even while you sleep, but in order to do that, you need to first work harder and reap the rewards later.

Most beginners fail to make any sales from affiliate marketing is they don’t have patience. They don’t spend time on finding long tail keywords for the products they promote.

If you are serious about making money from affiliate marketing and ready to work hard, I help you how you can find long tail keywords for any product you promote.

Tip: I highly recommend Long Tail Pro or Semrush for finding long tail keywords. I’ve been using them both and they are really worth every penny.

Here I’m going to demonstrate how you can use Long Tail Pro for finding profitable keywords that help you drive more traffic and increase your affiliate sales.

Quick note: For a limited time, you can get Long Tail Pro for just $37/month. It’s a MUST if you want to make more sales from affiliate products.

Let’s say you are into Fitness niche and you want to promote fitness related affiliate products to make more money. Here’s how you can use Long Tail Pro keyword research tool to find better keywords.

Step 1: Firstly, get to know the list of all the affiliate products that are proven to make you more income.

For instance, if you are into fitness niche, you can find out all the products that are being promoted in the top blogs. You can use search terms like “fitness + top blogs”, “fitness + blogs”, “fitness + best blogs” etc to find the good blogs in your niche.

Make a list of all the products they are promoting. It won’t take you more than 10 minutes, so do it now. Replace “fitness” with your topic. Like, “marketing + top blogs” can give you a list of all the links that talk about the best marketing blogs.

Step 2: Once you make a list of 3 to 5 affiliate products, start finding relevant long tail keywords for them.

You can use Long Tail Pro or Semrush to find the best performing long tail keywords. I’ll show you how.

#1) Once you logged on to Long Tail Pro, enter any of the keywords that are related to the products you promote, click on “Find Keywords” to start keyword research.

1

#2) Now, once you click on “Find Keywords” it will allow you to add your seed keywords and pick the search volume with below 1000 monthly searches to rank higher in Google results for any product you want to rank for.

By clicking “Generate keywords & Fetch data” it will give you a list of all the keywords you can choose from.

Keywords research using Long Tail Pro

#3) In the final step, make sure to pick 3 to 5 long tail keywords that you can use on your blog posts naturally. That’s it! Start writing more contents by using those keywords and build backlinks for the pages to rank higher and increase your sales.

Step 3: Create awareness about the products you promote

This is REALLY important and this is where all the money is.

If you fail to do this part, you will fail to make sales. If you successfully create awareness about the products you promote, you are almost done in converting your readers into buyers. It’s as simple as that.

See, you can’t make affiliate sales just by putting too many links all-over your blog or pasting banner ads everywhere. Affiliate marketing simply doesn’t work that way. You have to educate your blog audience about the products you promote to make more sales.

Read: Benefits of Affiliate Marketing: Top 8 Advantages of it

If you are wondering how to do that, here are 3 simple ideas to educate your audience about the products you promote.

1. Write honest product reviews

The best way to teach others about the products you promote is by writing reviews. Not just any random reviews but the genuine reviews. Most beginners write reviews just to increase their sales, they are least bothered about what they promote.

If you are one among them, stop it! Whatever the product you are going to recommend, make sure to first use it. Then once you are completely satisfied with it, write a detailed and unbiased review about it.

Share all the pros and cons so the readers trust you instantly. And buy what you recommend if they really need the products you recommend.

2. Build links for the products you promote

If you want to increase your affiliate sales , you need more search traffic. To get that, you need more backlinks. I recommend you to either use Skyscraper technique or guest posting to build quality backlinks.

3. Show banner ads at the most visible places

This is a no brainer. If your blog audience wants to know about the products you highly recommend, you need to use “banner ads”. See my blog’s sidebar, and you will find at the top “Bluehost” product banner ad. It’s the most visible place and a huge percentage of visitors click on it daily! My income goes up when they buy.

Recommended Reading: List of high paying web hosting affiliate programs Is Affiliate Marketing Legit? Let’s Bust Some Myths!

Of course, yes! There are so many affiliate marketers in the world who are making a hell lot of money from affiliate marketing.

If you follow the right approach affiliate marketing lets you earn huge profits in the long run for sure.

There is no limit. It totally depends on the efforts you put in the right way. Still, for me, you can start earning $1000 per month if done properly (choosing the right niche and products)

There are a lot of reliable networks like ShareASale, ClickBank, Amazon Associates, etc.

Absolutely yes, there is no restriction on using both at the same time.

I’m done with my affiliate case study of making $16000+ by promoting one product. And I also discussed about all the strategies I used to make that happen.

Browse more helpful case studies:

  • How I end up making $13000 within a week time?
  • How Semrush helped in improving my SEO traffic by 15% within 30 days?
  • SEO case study: How long does it take to rank in Google?

Now, I want YOU to repeat the same. If I can do it, you too can do it. Just believe in yourself and be honest with yourself. Consider affiliate marketing as a “work harder now and reap the benefits later” thing instead of “get rich quick scheme”.

If you found this post useful or inspirational, please share it with your friends on Facebook and other networks so they can also benefit.

Let me know what you think about my affiliate marketing journey in the comments below, I’d be glad to listen to you.

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Reader Comments (12)

Hey anil bro, Such an awesome post. This really help me find my mistake which is preventing me to make more affiliate sales. However, i will love to know, How to write a better review posts. Like what should the structure of the post?

Thanks you so much

I am new to the blogging. I wanted to learn more about it works. I have never blogged so all this was some what confusing. Date I ask how to get start. In a simple way. Thanks for your information .

I’ve just found that Harsh Agrawal has deleted the case study from his blog. That post is no more online.

My question is, is it wrong to disclose this kind of partnership?

Very inspiring post. Thanks Again

Please let me know which keyword tool is better ? SEMRUSH or long tail Pro.

I have written a detailed post which will actually answer your question here https://bloggerspassion.com/semrush-vs-longtailpro/ . In case you have any additional questions, please let me know.

Hey, First of all congratulations! (Y)

I agree with you “Network” is the key to get success! Make sure you make “Honesty” you priority!

I Love this article – LTP (Longtail Pro.) is really a good KW-Researching tool to promote! I have made 2 sales overnight, I know it’s not a massive sales or something but that’s my first affiliated income so it’s quite a good experience for me!

Anyways, Thanks for the case study! Regards Jagdish Kashyap 🙂

This was a very informative post. As a blogger I really enjoyed it.

Firstly many congratulations for your success and many thanks for sharing this inspiring article with us. I impressed with your words “if i can make $$$ than you can make too” Thanks for motivating us.

Thanks for sharing this case study, it was insightful.

I’ll take a cue

I like the part of your article about connecting personally to your visitors. It’s good to be able to talk to them directly and write in that form, including forms like “me” and “you”. As it were a conversation.

I’m using bluehost affiliation for last 6-8 months, No $ eran yet! Suggest some more useful affiliate products.

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SirLinksalot

Affiliate SEO Case Study – From 0 to 40,000 Traffic

Header image for Nicholas Altimore.

by Nicholas Altimore

Join the 1,000+ brands that trust us for their link building.

In this case study, we’ll be covering the success of our ground-up project in a competitive niche.

Yes, that means starting with a site with absolutely no traffic or keywords and taking you through the process all the way until it had 40,000 unique visitors per month (according to Ahrefs – much higher in Google Analytics!).

We’ll begin with an overview of the project as a whole, and then cover things chronologically for the first 10 months which translated to just over $32k in monthly revenue at its peak.

Let’s get into it.

What’s Covered In This Case Study

  • Keyword Research
  • On-Page SEO
  • Off-Page SEO
  • Monetization
  • Link Building Strategy
  • Using Partial Match Domains
  • 301 Redirects

This online version will only cover the off-page SEO aspect of our work (link building, 301 redirects, etc).

To get the full 50-page case study including all of the advanced tactics used including content, plugins, site structure, and much more, subscribe to our newsletter below (we usually send two emails per month).

Subscribe For FULL 50-Page Case Study

Thank you. please see your email for the next step, project foundations and overview, competition in the serps.

The competition in the SERPs for this niche is stiff. It’s a sub-niche within the “outdoors” niche.

You can see in the image below that for a broad keyword term that the homepage of the site was to be based on, the competition metrics are high according to Ahrefs.

The competition for the niche in Ahrefs.

It has a keyword difficulty score of 86 (super hard) for a little over 200k monthly traffic.

According to Ahrefs, I was going to need over 500RD to get onto the first page of a SERP.

The majority of sites that were (and still are) in top positions for the keyword are massive authority sites with a lot of history in the industry.

Below is an image of Ahrefs metrics for a handful of the sites ranking for that term:

More on the niches' top rankers via Ahrefs.

In order to be able to rank for keywords this competitive within a decent time frame, some unconventional techniques would need to be used.

Though the site would mainly be geared towards targeting national-based SERPs, 2 local areas would also be focused on in order to promote foot traffic to physical locations.

Domain Background

A quality aged domain was used as they can give you a massive shortcut and really shave off some time in the ranking process.

You can find aged domains for your projects through a trusted provider or by using tools like Register Compass or Spamzilla to hunt them (be aware this takes some know-how).

We found this domain while hunting ourselves.

At the tail end of 2016, domain hunting hadn’t yet become as competitive as it is now and this site was purchased for a little over $500 on Godaddy Auctions.

Some things to note about the domain when it was found:

Partial Match Domain

This means that some (but not all) of the site’s main keyword was in the domain name.

It was related to a sub-category of the outdoors niche and was very brandable.

It had been registered since 2001 according to Whois .

Archive.org history showed it was a massive outdoors-niched e-com site for over a decade that generated a lot of press (and backlinks).

It used to compete with the massive sites that controlled the SERPs in the niche, and it still had a lot of indexed pages on Google (over 100).

It had 500+ referring domains from high-authority, very targeted domains in a very specific niche

The homepage received the majority of the links, but plenty of inner pages had great exposure too. This gave us a great place to start strategizing content (over 100 historical pages with some juice).

The backlink profile was made up of authority links from a bunch of major US news sites, .gov sites , and .edu sites.

It had a natural-looking anchor profile: lots of branded, naked, and generic anchors that would serve as proper pillowing. A good ratio of money anchors (15% or so) would help with the initial content strategy.

A Few More Things

It had a solid social media and brand search presence that could be traced back over a long period of time.

Given the current landscape of purchasing domains at auction, it wouldn’t be outlandish to consider paying upwards of five times the original price paid in 2016 in today’s market.

Ongoing Link Building

This section will cover the ongoing link building that was done throughout the process.

Month 1 (September)

The idea was to go extreme with link building in the first month.

Over 700 new referring domains to the money site would be built alongside an immense amount of content!

A small number of tiered links would also be built on top of that.

And remember that this is on top of the 500+ historical referring domains the original aged domain already had.

This may sound somewhat risky to the average SEO, but rest assured this money site was built with longevity in mind.

The startup plan would be to emulate a massive amount of press upfront and let that momentum push a large amount of content up in the SERPs.

Did we get the desired result? Absolutely.

By the end of this move, we were already beginning to gain the traction we were looking for, and that would set us up for optimal growth in the months after.

Backlinks Ordered

About 500 of the 700 links built in the first month came from another aged domain we 301 redirected to the site.

Looking at it from what naturally occurs in the SERPs, it made perfect sense for us to have over 1000 backlinks from the merger of two sites accompanied by around 200 links to emulate press about this merger.

Though we went incredibly aggressive with the number of links ordered, it’s important to note that nearly all of them went to the homepage with naked, branded, or generic anchors.

We were not attacking specific money keywords at this time, but rather building up the overall authority of the site.

We always recommend blending the authority values of the backlinks when doing a blast this large as that’s what typically occurs naturally when a site like this gets press.

A small group of authority or news sites begins to talk about something, and then countless smaller sites begin to piggyback off of that press.

A diverse link profile is one of the hardest things to properly mimic in SEO, but our intention was to do just that.

About The 301 Redirect

We decided to start everything off by 301 redirecting another aged domain to the site.

Some stats for the 301 redirect that was used.

Some quick stats:

  • Partial match domain (PMD)
  • About 500RD
  • Links were high-quality and niche-relevant
  • Registered since 1999
  • Over 50 pages still indexed on Google
  • Former e-com site in a sub-category of the niche
  • Cost: $1,200 at auction
  • Most of the inner pages with links became supporting content hub pages due to them not fitting any parent categories.

The 301 would provide us with a huge amount of niche-relevant referring domains and backlinks.

It would also give us the narrative needed to give Google for our first backlinks order:

“Powerful Company A purchases Powerful Company B and decides to 301 their domain to their main site. At the same time, more content is posted on the site, there is a lot of press about the merger, and the whole industry is talking about it on their blogs and social media.”

Conceptualizing this narrative made it much easier to decide on what links to build for the month.

The additional links built for the first month were as follows:

Guest Posts

  • 12 Guest Posts (mix of authority levels)
  • Lower Quality Guest Posts from other vendors (For Tiered Links)
  • All to homepage/hub pages
  • Naked, branded, generic anchors

Niche Edits

  • 2 Blade Packs (14 mid authority links)
  • 1 level 4 Pack (3 mid to high authority links)
  • 1 level 5 Pack (3 mid to high authority links)
  • 1 Barrage 15 Pack (15-20 low authority links)
  • 1 Barrage 30 Pack (For Tiered Links) (30-38 low authority links)
  • 5 PBN Links
  • All to homepage

Pillow Links

  • Main Social Profiles (with IFTTT)
  • Press Release (related to the company buyout)
  • Blog Comments
  • Web 2.0 (unique content, no spammy stuff here)
  • Social Signals
  • A good amount of lower-quality backlinking I didn’t even catalog (yes, spammier stuff)

Again, please note that this is a very aggressive approach concerning the number of links coming to the site at once. But at the same time, it’s conservative considering the anchors used and where the links were pointed.

You can still be aggressive up front all while mitigating risk and setting yourself up for long-term success by targeting the homepage with natural anchors rather than building links to inner pages with money anchors.

We even consider it safe enough to use high-quality PBN links at the very beginning if used sparingly and in this manner.

Also note that we diversified the anchors, link types, and power of the links we ordered.

Usually when a site gets press, many smaller blogs comment on the press released by larger sites. This is what we attempted to emulate.

Also, remember that this site was an aged domain with over 500 RD that had been sitting in the SERPs with content on it for around 3 years before doing any of this.

This compounded with the fact that we 301 redirected another very niched down and comparable site to it helped us start off on the right foot.

The barrage 30 and some lower-quality guest posts were used as tiered links to historic referring domains going to the original website and the 301 domain. The reason for this was to get more crawlability to powerful links that were many years old – sort of a refresher.

Note that we still like to diversify our tiered links as well as tier 1 links.

Something else worth mentioning is that we did not force-index any links! Natural indexation of these links makes the timeline stretch a bit further as it takes time for crawlers to crawl everything.

Some of these links may not index until months two or three, and some may not index at all ( pillow links ).

And that’s perfectly fine!

Using Low-Quality Links Strategically

A lot of SEOs shudder at the thought of tailoring what they consider “spammy” links into the mix.

Unfortunately for these folks, they’re thinking more like a human and less like a crawler.

Low-quality links have their place on the internet and can help diversify a well-rounded backlink profile. From a data standpoint, it just makes sense.

No, don’t go blasting your sites with these links expecting awesome results, but you can inject a little bit here and there. This seems to help with crawlability and diversification.

The way to do this is by emulating what massive amounts of press looks like naturally in the SERPs.

When analyzing content that’s gone viral, specifically the backlinks to that content, you’ll come to find that time and time again there is a diverse mix of links that hit that site all at once.

Inner page links, homepage links, contextual links, social media chatter, web 2.0’s , the list goes on.

The anchors from these links will also be incredibly diversified, and the majority are typically branded, naked, or somewhat random.

What you won’t typically see is a large percentage of money anchors coming from one type of link.

The quality of the links will also vary, as real press creates big waves that get picked up by random bots, etc. Learning what this looks like allows you to strategically inject some lower-quality stuff into the mix.

If you look at the backlinks of any major site in Ahrefs and sort by the lowest DR links, they all have some pretty low-quality stuff attached.

Example of a normal backlink profile.

Rapid growth from a diverse set of backlinks is hard to emulate, but if you study how it happens naturally, you can get away with high link velocities over short periods.

This is the exact reason we added some lower-quality links into the mix in month number one.

Traffic Results

We didn’t expect much growth in the first month, but a small boost in traffic was enough to feel secure with our movement.

Traffic results during the first month of building.

By being more conservative with our anchors, piggy-backing on 1,000+ RD from the original domain and the 301, adding a lot of pillow links, and ordering 30-40 authority links ( guest posts and niche edits ), we were able to create a very well-blended set of links without a footprint.

Using generic anchors to the homepage in an attempt to emulate some serious buzz was giving us the desired results and momentum for what was now a large site on its way to becoming an authority in the niche.

Months 2-3 (October through November) 800 to 4000+ traffic

For the next few months, the plan was to focus more heavily on authority backlinks alongside content.

We would still send most of the links to the homepage with branded, URL, and generic anchors as this is a practice we like to use to help insulate the site from a penalty while building overall authority.

Where a lot of newer SEOs want to get to using money anchors targeting inner pages quickly, we would stay the course and be patient with our tactics as the goal for this site would be long-term growth.

We wouldn’t send as many links as we did in month one, but we wouldn’t stop linking abruptly either (a mistake we see a lot of newer SEOs make).

The idea is to be continual with building links… and of course content, too!

The narrative for Google is that we already had our big news (the merger), and now we are getting some trailing press.

Consider it a “cool-off” phase from month one. Though it may still look pretty aggressive, it will look tame compared to the earlier orders.

By the end of this period, the site would grow exponentially, monetization would be achieved through affiliate partnerships, and a dropshipping partnership would be discussed.

Though the project would still not be profitable yet, it would be in great standing considering it was only 3 months old.

Again, for this period we were still going pretty hard, but compared to the first month would be substantially tapered.

Same as month number one, since this was still essentially the beginning of the project, we were still going to focus on links to the homepage with naked, branded, or random anchors.

Overall authority was still going to be the goal set for this project until we saw a hard spike in rankings, though we did send a small number of links to inner pages in month 3.

Also the same as before, a mix of authority levels would be used in order to diversify the information search bots would be crawling.

Note that one thing you’ll see us order every month is social signals . It’s rare to see a site get a lot of press while not getting any traction on social media, and it’s not something we think you can really overdo.

  • 16 Guest Posts
  • 2 Level 4 Pack (6 mid to high authority links)
  • Level 6 Pack (3 high authority links)
  • Barrage 30 Pack (Tiered Links – 30-38 low authority links)
  • Barrage 15 pack (15-20 low authority links)
  • 7 added through this period
  • Diversity Links (pack of 20 white hat pillow links)

Like we said above, it wasn’t until month 3 that we started linking to inner pages. Even then, we linked to them sparingly and used URL, branded, and generic anchors for the most part.

A couple of long tail anchors snuck through on pages that were historically heavy with referring domains and gaining traction in the SERPs.

Still no direct money keywords.

One blast of “Barrage” niche edits would be used as tier-2 links for some of the previously built links and social profiles.

These would all be naked, branded, or include some long tail anchors.

This would be the last period we ordered pillow links to this site as we felt we had covered our bases on that end.

Here is what growth looked like at the end of this period:

Traffic was on a big uptrend considering we had only been actively building links and working on the site for a total of 3 months.

Traffic results after the 3rd month of link building.

By the end of November, the website had gone from around 400 monthly visits to about 4,300 visitors according to Ahrefs, which resulted in a little more money in our pockets from Amazon Affiliate earnings.

Months 4-6 (December through February) 4000 to 6000+ Traffic

From month four onward, we would shift our budget towards content more than backlinks.

We didn’t stop building links or “generating press,” but we began a more steady-looking stream of links with higher authority values rather than a constant blast of random links.

Not to say the link profile was not going to be diversified, but that we’d mainly be using guest posts and niche edits rather than a huge mix of links.

The buzz (links) we created early on would help us push content up in the SERPs much easier now.

Since we had this advantage we also ended up trying out some new tricks with content that we honestly weren’t sure would work at first.

For this period, we would actually be starting to target some money anchors.

However, links would still predominantly go to the homepage with naked, branded, and generic anchors. While we were getting traction in the SERPs and were ready to use money anchors, we would do so sparingly.

Overall, the split would be roughly about 20% money anchors mixed into 80% generic anchors.

Thanks to the authority level of this site, content for some of the lower to medium competition terms would begin auto-ranking during this period.

This got us to stay the course and build the overall authority to this site versus getting aggressive to inner pages.

Again, as stated above, we wouldn’t really be doing any more pillowing to the site (unless you count social signals) and would be focused on higher authority links from here on out.

  • 12 Guest Posts
  • Mainly higher authority values – DR 36 and up
  • The majority to the homepage with naked, branded, generic anchors – 10% money anchors to inner pages
  • Level 3 Pack (3 mid authority links)
  • Level 4 Pack (3 mid to high authority links)

Even though we started using exact match anchors, we did obviously use them sparingly, and the majority of the links went to the homepage with naked, branded, generic anchors.

The way we would decide which inner pages we would target with money anchors was pretty simple: If they had traction in the SERPs and had no money anchors going to them, then that’s where we added them.

If a historical inner page already had a good amount of money anchors from historical referring domains, then we would diversify links to those pages using long-tail or generic anchors.

Though this was still a good amount of authority hitting the site in the form of backlinks, compared to the first few months things had definitely gotten tamer.

Again, we don’t ever just abruptly stop building links to a site, which is a good way to signal to search crawlers that press has essentially fallen off and no one is discussing your business anymore.

A big no-no.

Remember too, that we were not force-indexing any links to this site. This means that some of the previous orders may not have even been indexed yet, and would get crawled at a later time.

We opted out of using PBN links and tiered links for these months. This was most likely due to oversight as we most certainly would have felt comfortable adding a small number of them throughout the period.

The plan definitely started coming together perfectly during this period.

Though not quite as significant a gain as the last period, this period still kept shooting us up in the SERPs.

Traffic results after 6 months of building links.

From December through February, we were able to 2x traffic, which also increased sales.

Months 7-8 (March through May) 6500 to 27000+ Traffic

At this point in time, it would appear our attempt to build an authority site had worked.

We were ripping through the SERPs; articles would rank quickly after posting, featured snippets were awarded to us, and traffic was turning into a return on investment.

Had this been exclusively an affiliate/e-commerce venture, I think it would have been in an excellent spot to be in given the traffic values to the website by the end of this period.

Nothing went wrong with the physical partnerships during this period, but we did begin spreading our focus thin here, which would eventually lead to issues down the line.

During this period we even began to manufacture a small set of products in our larger shop!

Regardless, as far as the website was concerned, the orders for it would be similar to the previous period.

We’d be focused on pumping a lot of content through the site while maintaining higher authority backlinks.

By doing so, we would hit exponential growth this period and do over 4x our previous monthly traffic according to Ahrefs.

As stated in the previous section, this would be a similar period in regards to what we ordered and how we did our link building.

The only thing that would be a little bit different is we would be ordering a set of links specifically for these new product pages we were planning on manufacturing goods for.

Due to this, about 40% of our link orders during this period ended up going to inner pages, and the order was slightly larger than the previous one.

Links to these new pages would be naked, branded, and generic since they were brand new pages with no historical links going to them.

As for the remainder of the pages, higher authority links would be used with a similar mix of money to natural anchors; about 20/80.

Though we were essentially trying to hit the ground running with this new campaign, we were still going to be pretty conservative with our link building tactics.

  • 10 Guest Posts
  • Majority to the homepage with naked, branded, generic anchors – 10% money anchors to inner pages
  • 3 Level 4 Packs (9 mid to high authority links)
  • 1 Barrage 15 (Tiered Links – 15-20 low authority links)
  • 2 Pro Level PBN Links
  • To the homepage
  • Branded and generic anchors

Pretty much the same concept as the last period, no fancy stuff, but we did remember to add some tiered links and a couple of PBNs here.

Once the initial period of growth is over, sustaining seems kinda mundane, but it’s the job.

Similar to the last period we were focused on maintaining our link building more than doing a large amount. Higher authority values were used during this period, similar to the last.

Note that almost anytime we use a PBN, it’s with naked, branded, and generic anchors to the homepage.

To us, this is the most logical way to use a PBN in terms of what looks natural. Though there are many ways to use this tool, in our opinion it seems like the best way to boost authority without seeming like we’re trying to game the system.

It also helps insulate the PBN itself since there is a wider diversification of anchors to homepages vs. a heavier amount of money anchors linking out to inner pages.

After all, most homepage links come in the form of advertising space unless you’re fortunate enough to get news sites resonating about your brand in the form of homepage links (which is rare).

Once you’ve built out an authority site that gets some favor in the SERPs, it’s beautiful to watch it continually push upward.

Add content and reap the rewards.

Traffic results after 8 months of link building.

This was the rip we’d been waiting for.

By the end of this period, this site was getting almost 30k monthly visits which was over 2x in traffic, but this time into exponential territory for the financial side of the business itself.

Months 9-10 (June through July) 27000 to 40000+ Traffic

As stated, the website itself was doing spectacularly when looking at the traffic increase. And also as stated, had it been a purely affiliate-style site with no real-world ties, this would have been a really great spot to be in.

We kept pushing with the site through this period even though the real-world side of the business was definitely struggling.

The plan for the website during this period was still to add a good amount of content tailored to specific SERPs using keyword research while maintaining a good amount of high-authority backlinks.

Similar to the budgeting for content, backlinks budgets were stripped down substantially during this period.

We tapered things down by focusing on the overall authority of the site. During this period we mainly built homepage links with branded, generic, or naked anchors.

  • 6 Guest Posts
  • Homepage Links
  • Generic, naked, branded anchors
  • 2 Level 3 Packs (6 low to mid authority links)

It was unfortunate that we had to bring budgets down at a time the site was doing so incredibly well, but we hoped it would be enough to keep things moving forward in the SERPs.

Since we had less budget for linking this time around, the direction we took was to just go to the homepage with natural anchors using mid to high-authority value backlinks.

We really weren’t sure what the future would hold for the overall project but knew that the website had enough momentum to keep it moving along.

Due to this, the concept shifted from wanting to get more traction to inner pages to just keeping overall authority as the main focus.

Another amazing traffic growth period had occurred. By the end of this period, the website had hit over 40,000 monthly visits according to Ahrefs.

Traffic results after 10 months of building backlinks.

Final Thoughts

Some of the main takeaways from this case study:

  • Try to conceptualize a narrative that makes sense in terms of building a website and it gaining traction in the SERPs
  • To try and keep things looking as natural as you can by analyzing what occurs to sites that rank in the SERPs and emulating that
  • Diversify your link profile using the “Holy Trinity” of link building
  • Work both on-page and off-page factors together consistently
  • Be cautious and rational with the moves you make and make sure to keep your budget allocated over a long period of time

But also…

Remember that this is a much-shortened version of the case study. Be sure to grab the full version by subscribing below!

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Affiliate Marketing Case Studies

Successful affiliate marketing stories.

Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate's own marketing efforts.  

In other words, affiliates are paid based on the results they achieve for the business. This can include earning a commission for every sale made or every lead generated through the affiliate's marketing efforts.

One of the key benefits of affiliate marketing is that it can be a cost-effective way for merchants to reach new customers. Rather than spending money on traditional forms of advertising, such as print or television ads, merchants can pay affiliates based on the results they achieve. This means that merchants only pay affiliates when they generate a sale or lead, which can help to minimize their marketing expenses. 

To better understand how affiliate marketing works and its potential benefits, let's take a look at these 7 case studies:

Case Study #1: The Wirecutter

The Wirecutter is a product review website that was founded in 2011 by Brian Lam. The website offers reviews and recommendations for a wide range of consumer electronics, home goods, and other products.

In 2013, The New York Times acquired The Wirecutter for a reported $30 million. One of the key factors in The Wirecutter's success was its use of affiliate marketing. The website earns a commission for every product it recommends and every sale it generates through its affiliate links.

By offering unbiased reviews and recommendations, The Wirecutter has built a loyal following of readers who trust its recommendations and are more likely to make a purchase through its affiliate links.

Case Study #2: Amazon Associates

Amazon Associates is one of the first online affiliate marketing programs and was launched in 1996. The program allows website owners and bloggers to earn a commission by promoting Amazon products and linking to Amazon.com. As one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world, Amazon has a well-established affiliate program that has helped it grow its brand and reach new customers. 

In fact, many affiliates have made a significant income from the Amazon Associates program. By promoting a wide range of products and offering a convenient shopping experience, Amazon has been able to attract affiliates who can help it reach new customers and drive sales. 

The Amazon Associates program has proven to be a successful way for Amazon to expand its customer base and increase its sales through affiliates.

Case Study #3: Pat Flynn's Smart Passive Income

Pat Flynn is a well-known blogger and podcast host in the online business and entrepreneurship space. In 2008, he started a blog called "Smart Passive Income" where he shares his experiences and insights on building an online business. 

One of the ways Flynn monetizes his blog is through affiliate marketing. He promotes products and services that he uses and trusts, and earns a commission for every sale he generates through his affiliate links. Flynn's blog has become a go-to resource for online entrepreneurs looking for practical advice on how to build and grow their businesses. 

By offering valuable content and recommending products that he personally uses and trusts, Flynn has been able to build a loyal following of readers who are more likely to make a purchase through his affiliate links.

Case Study #4: Zappos

Zappos is an online retailer of shoes, clothing, and other fashion items. The company was founded in 1999 and was acquired by Amazon in 2009. 

In addition to its own website, Zappos also has an affiliate program that allows other websites and bloggers to promote its products and earn a commission for every sale they generate. By partnering with affiliates, Zappos can reach a wider audience and drive sales through their marketing efforts. 

According to data from Affiliate Summit, Zappos' affiliate program has over 50,000 active affiliates. Zappos is a subsidiary of Amazon, which is one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world.

Case Study #5: Target

Target is a well-known retail chain that sells a wide range of products, including clothing, home goods, and electronics. In addition to its own website, Target also has an affiliate program that allows other websites and bloggers to promote its products and earn a commission for every sale they generate. 

By partnering with affiliates, Target can reach a wider audience and drive sales through their marketing efforts. 

According to data from Affiliate Summit, Target's affiliate program has over 100,000 active affiliates. Target is a well-known retail chain with over 1,800 stores in the United States.

Case Study #6: eBay Partner Network

eBay is an online marketplace that allows users to buy and sell a variety of items. The eBay Partner Network is the company's affiliate program, which allows other websites and bloggers to promote eBay products and earn a commission for every sale they generate. 

By partnering with affiliates, eBay can reach a wider audience and drive sales through their marketing efforts. 

According to data from Affiliate Summit, eBay's affiliate program has over 100,000 active affiliates. eBay is an online marketplace that receives over 1 billion visitors per month.

Case Study #7: Commission Junction

Commission Junction is an affiliate marketing network that connects merchants with affiliates. The company offers a variety of tools and resources to help merchants and affiliates succeed in their affiliate marketing efforts. 

This can include training materials, tracking tools, and access to a wide range of merchants. Commission Junction works with over 3,000 merchants and has over 100,000 active affiliates. 

According to data from the Performance Marketing Association, affiliate marketing accounted for 15% of all digital marketing spend in the United States in 2020. 

By connecting affiliates with merchants and providing the resources they need to succeed, Commission Junction has become a valuable resource for both merchants and affiliates in the affiliate marketing industry.

Key Data And Statistics

According to The New York Times, The Wirecutter generates "millions of dollars" in revenue each year through its affiliate program.

As of 2021, Amazon's affiliate program (known as Amazon Associates) had over 1.5 million active affiliates.

According to data from Rakuten Marketing, Amazon's affiliate program accounted for 16% of all e-commerce referrals in the United States in 2020.

According to Flynn's own reports, his affiliate income has ranged from $30,000 to $150,000 per month.

Flynn's blog, Smart Passive Income, receives over 2 million visitors per month.

According to data from Affiliate Summit, Zappos' affiliate program has over 50,000 active affiliates.

Zappos is a subsidiary of Amazon, which is one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world.

According to data from Affiliate Summit, Target's affiliate program has over 100,000 active affiliates.

Target is a well-known retail chain with over 1,800 stores in the United States.

According to data from Affiliate Summit, eBay's affiliate program has over 100,000 active affiliates.

eBay is an online marketplace that receives over 1 billion visitors per month.

Commission Junction works with over 3,000 merchants and has over 100,000 active affiliates.

According to data from the Performance Marketing Association, affiliate marketing accounted for 15% of all digital marketing spend in the United States in 2020.

In conclusion, these case studies demonstrate the potential of affiliate marketing to reach new customers and generate income for both merchants and affiliates. 

By finding the right affiliates and offering a good product or service, businesses can effectively use affiliate marketing to grow and succeed. 

Whether you are a small blogger like Pat Flynn or a large retailer like Target, affiliate marketing business can be a powerful tool for reaching new customers and driving sales.

Take Your Digital Marketing Skills To The Next Level

Affiliate Marketing Case Study (How I Made $900 in 30 Days)

  • February 6, 2023
  • Hasan Aboul Hasan

Table of Contents

Affiliate marketing is one of the most profitable ways to make passive income online.

It’s also one of the most challenging since there is no one-size-fits-all approach to succeeding as an affiliate marketer.

affiliate marketing case study

But if you follow the strategy I used  in this affiliate marketing case study, you can make it.

Let’s start!

Important before we start!

Affiliate marketing is easy. But you must put in some effort and use the right strategy to make money online.

I’ll help you make it possible by only  using free services . Sounds exciting?

Step 1: Signup for an affiliate program.

If you are a beginner and don’t have any online presence, the best way to start is by picking a pre-approved affiliate program.

We have many programs like that; in my case, I’ve chosen  Vultr , a web hosting platform specializing in cloud computing services.

So Sign up for a free Vultr account and get the affiliate referral link.

Head over to the Vultr website and  create a free Vultr account  there. Once your account is ready, search for  “Referral Program ”  Look for a section labeled “Give $100, Get $35”.

Copy the referral link and save it somewhere, like on Notepad.

affiliate marketing case study

But why have I chosen the  Vultr  affiliate program?

The reason is simple.  It’s free to sign up , and you  don’t need any technical skills  to promote their products online.  Plus, they offer something to you and your referred customer as well . Everyone wins!

Step 2: Brand and Track Your Link!

After choosing a product or service and signing up for its affiliate program, you must  sign up for a link management system . What do I mean by that?

Well, most affiliate programs offer you a unique affiliate link you can use to promote their products online. But the link is usually long and ugly, making it difficult for your customers to remember.

And that’s where   L-ink.me   comes in.

url shortening

It’s an online link management tool that helps you shorten, brand, and track your links on the go.

It also offers analytical insight into the performance of your digital marketing campaigns.

affiliate marketing case study

Getting started is easy. Create your free account, log in, and you’ll see an empty dashboard ready to be populated with your link tracking data.

Verify your domain and brand your affiliate link.

Here’s how to do it:

  • Log into your  L-ink.me  account.
  • Go to the “Branded Domains” section.
  • Click on “Add Domain” to add your domain name there.
  • Copy the Cname records given there.
  • Go to your DNS records.
  • Click “Add” to add Cname records to your subdomain or primary domain that you wanna use for tracking.

Note: Don’t use your website domain; use a custom domain for tracking links or a subdomain.

Your DNS record should look like this:

affiliate marketing case study

Go to your dashboard to make your link brandable. Paste your Vultr referral link in the box, hit the settings icon, and select your custom domain name.

short lin

Add your custom alias, such as  Vultr , in this case, and that’s it!

You have successfully made a branded link and added it to your  L-ink.me  dashboard.

Now, you can use this link to promote  Vultr  online and make passive income online.

Step 3: Promote your referral link online

There are many ways to do it. But if you want to follow my strategy in this affiliate marketing case study, start with the methods I’ve used.

  • Sell your skills.
  • Make tutorials about Vultr.
  • Target relevant keywords.
  • Advanced Method!

Let’s dive into the details now.

1. Sell your skills.

Freelance gigs and online jobs are a great way to make money online, and you can use your affiliate link to create leads for yourself so if you are an expert in web design, digital marketing, programming, or any other skill that could help Vultr clients, start pitching your services online.

These are some examples of such freelance gigs that will help you promote hosting services like Vultr.

  • Set up PHP script.
  • Build a mailing server.
  • Set up WordPress on a VPS.
  • Migrate the site to VPS.
  • Create an affiliate marketing website.
  • Make a website like_______ (YouTube).

And the list goes on! But I hope you get the idea. You can also make money with affiliate marketing and freelancing when doing these services for your clients.

2. Make tutorials about Vultr.

Make online tutorials and other content that promotes Vultr. For example, create videos showing people how to set up Vultr on their site or WordPress install.

And then, include your affiliate link in the video description, and all the views will be redirected to your link. I do this on my channel.  Here is an example.

You can also make tutorials based on the freelance gigs as well. You can make a tutorial on setting up a PHP script, building a mailing server, migrating the site to VPS, and more. You can create these tutorials on YouTube, your blog, LinkedIn, and Medium.

I explained this in more detail in this guide:

  • How To Do Affiliate Marketing Without Money ($1000/Month)

3. Target relevant keywords.

Another way to promote Vultr online is by targeting relevant keywords in your marketing campaigns. For example, if you are a web designer, you could use targeted keywords like “how to set up Vultr on a WordPress site” or “how to migrate your site to Vultr.”

While these are just informational keywords, they are easy to rank for. But ultimately, you want to rank for commercial keywords about the product or service you are promoting.

For example, you could write about the “Main keyword + modifiers such as best, cheap, alternative, compare, improve, and so on.

After you come up with these topic ideas, start creating high-quality content that is engaging and informative. This will help you attract more readers and potential customers to your affiliate link.

4. Use Quora.

Finally, you can use online communities like  Quora  to promote your affiliate link. Create a profile for yourself and answer questions about Vultr and online marketing in general, including how you use the service to make passive online income.

Let me share the secrets to getting traction on  Quora . These secrets helped reach 1M content views on  Quora  last month

affiliate marketing case study

  • Go to Quora.
  • Search for your topic
  • Follow the “Most viewed writers.”
  • See what questions they are answering.
  • Answer those questions.

So the trick is to answer questions that the successful Quora users are responding to. You’ll surely get viewership and attract leads for your affiliate link.

Another Quora hack is to use Quora Ads Manager to get into the important metrics based on which you can answer. Here’s how to do it:

  • Click on your profile.
  • Go to Ads Manager.
  • Choose the “New Campaign” option.
  • Make the “Conversion Event” “Generic.”
  • Set your daily maximum budget (e.g., $10) —  we will not use it
  • Go to “Questions” under “Choose primary targeting.”
  • Click “Bulk add” and search for a relevant topic like “VPS.”
  • Analyze weekly views.

And answer the questions with the most weekly views and boom! You have chosen highly targeted questions to answer that also get substantial traffic.

affiliate marketing case study

One last Quora hack is to go to a relevant question and jump over to “Question stats” to see if it’s worth your answer.

The key is to:

  • Find high-volume questions
  • Answer 1–2 questions daily.
  • Start adding links after 10 days.

Why add your links after a few days?

Because you want to build credibility on Quora and establish yourself as a thought leader in your niche, once you have done that, your links will be more likely to get clicks from readers and leads for your business.

Important: Don’t share direct affiliate links on quora. You will be banned! Use a landing page or a bridge page.

So start by taking these simple steps to promote a great product like Vultr and make passive online income today!

Learn more about how I get 100K Views/ Month on Quora, Working 2 Hours a week in this post:

  • How I Get 100,000 Views /Month on Quora Working 2 Hours a Week!

5. Advanced Method to Promote Your Affiliate Offer

Very few people are doing this, but it can be effective. If you want to take your online marketing game to the next level, consider making a  simple advisor tool  that helps users decide on the right product or service.

For example, you can build a VPS hosting advisor tool. Use questions to determine which VPS hosting service is the best customer and recommend it!

The best example I can share with you is  Hosting Adviser,  which helps users select the best hosting based on their needs.

How To Create an Affiliate Product Advisor Tool?

There are plenty of free and paid product advisor software options. I’ve tried several, including Thrive’s quiz plugin, My Theme Shop’s quiz plugin, and Opinionstage. I currently use  Opinionstage . You can test it for free!

Create Tools

Another approach is to build a simple tool where people search for something, and the tool will recommend results linked with affiliate products.

For example, I created a tool called  Fast Domainer , where people can search for available domain names, and  all suggestions will be affiliate links.

Must Reads:

  • 5 Smart Ways To Promote Affiliate Links No One Is Taking About 🤫
  • How I Will Get 5,000,000 Views Per Month on My Website in 2023 📈
  • Make Money on Autopilot With High Attachment Products!
  • Make Money Online Without Any Skill! (Real Test & Results)

Today’s Quote:

If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.

Disclosure:  Some external links in this post are affiliate links.

4 thoughts on “Affiliate Marketing Case Study (How I Made $900 in 30 Days)”

' src=

Thank you so Hassan. So much value here and in your YouTube channel. But the quote here got me. I’m just a beginner and something’s sound a bit complex. But I’m definitely going to start now. Thank you

' src=

Great! thank you

' src=

Which type of digital marketing is best in terms of ROI Affiliate or Email…..?

And aslo in terms of Revenue…… 😅

' src=

I appreciate your wordpress design, wherever did you obtain it from?

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COMMENTS

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    Step 3: Promote your referral link online. There are many ways to do it. But if you want to follow my strategy in this affiliate marketing case study, start with the methods I've used. Sell your skills. Make tutorials about Vultr. Target relevant keywords. Use Quora. Advanced Method! Let's dive into the details now.