Is Affiliate Marketing Legit?
- Melchior Antoine
- Apr 10
- 8 min read
The viability of affiliate marketing has come into question because of Google’s recent updates. Before, it could be that you made a blog and wrote massive articles, where you could just naturally include affiliate links.
If site visitors clicked on these links and purchased the product, then you would be able to gain a commission from the purchase. Entire sites and businesses were built and based on this model. It seems like such a good arrangement, right?
You don’t have to set up a real business with warehousing and production and shipping, and all the rest of that jazz. However, the model appears to have collapsed for many, and there are now questions as to whether it even makes sense to go into affiliate marketing.
In this article, I define what affiliate marketing is and explore whether it’s a good idea to start an affiliate site and how to make one successful.
What Is “Affiliate Marketing”?
Affiliate marketing describes an advertising arrangement where a merchant or affiliate gets paid for each sale they generate. It does not necessarily have to be a sale. It could be a signup or even a visit. The merchant or affiliate in this arrangement would be the person doing the selling on behalf of the company.
The way it works is that the merchant or affiliate is given a “unique referral link”. When customers sign up or make a sale by clicking on this link then you the merchant will receive a small commission (or depending on the product or service a large commission) for the sale.
Affiliate marketing is closely related to content sites. What does that mean? It means that they exist primarily for content. They don’t sell their own products or provide their own services.
Many of these sites were and are review sites. The set up was ideal. Just think about it. These sites would review and compare a range of products and recommend the best one to their readers. The more famous of these sites were review sites. A good example of this would be HouseFresh.
They focused on reviewing air purifiers. They have a massive blog that focuses on issues that relate directly to air purifiers. This would include:
“Guides on the best purifier”
How much electricity does an air purifier use
What size air purifier do I need?
How to choose an air purifier: 10 things you need to know
In short, their blog follows what is called the content funnel. They suck customers in by providing top of the funnel or TOFU content that educates customers looking for information. They also provide middle of the Funnel or MOFU content for customers who are educated and who may be looking for the best brand or options, and bottom of the funnel content is for customers who are ready to buy.
However, as mentioned earlier, this model has collapsed. Sites whose revenue relied solely on revenue from content and affiliates have collapsed. HouseFresh which I mentioned earlier even authored an article with the title: HouseFresh has virtually disappeared from Google Search results. Now what?
This was the result of content sites and affiliate sites being demoted by Google wasn’t even trying. Google recently has shown favor for sites that are actually businesses that own or sell their own product or service instead of simply being an affiliate site.
My own personal experience with affiliates
I now have signed up for a number of affiliate programs, related to my industry — content writing and editing. This includes:
SemRush
QuillBot
WordviceAI
Magai
Ampifire
The list is longer than that, mostly related to content writing and editing and AI. However, my start was in a totally different industry. I signed up for a teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) course online with World Tesol Academy. You can check out the TEFL article inspired by my $8.00 here:TEFL As an Effective WFH Strategy: Starting Out.
For the first time, I made a commission from an affiliate program. I signed up for the course without even knowing they had their own affiliate program. I was simply taken to that page after completing the course. It was a welcome surprise. For a long time now, I have been wondering about a career as a content writer, and seemingly, this encouragement to go into content writing simply fell into my lap.
However, my first sale had nothing to do with content writing. It was a sale made from posting my unique referral link to Twitter. Here is a pic of how my unique link is being tracked by World TESOL Academy’s website:
Fig. 1. A list of URL visits provided by World TESOL Academy for my unique link. Sourced from the author.
As you can see, the only sale I made through my unique referral link was through a Twitter link. The other links that I used included FB and LinkedIn, which received zero successful referrals.
How to sign up to affiliates
The most famous affiliate program is the Amazon Associate program. It is one of the easiest to sign up for. You could sign up directly to the site by providing things like taxing and banking information. Even Medium has its own affiliate program, where you get a small commission for anyone who signs up for the Medium Partner Program.
There are two ways to become an affiliate:
1. Direct recruitment by the seller. You could buy a product or service and be recruited directly by a seller. This is how I made my first $8.00. After signing up for the TEFL course, I was simply carried to a page with my unique referral link. Amazon Associates is another example.
2. Third-party platforms. Third-party platforms provide you with a range of partners to affiliate with. In fact, some of these sellers will not allow you to sell on their behalf unless you have an account with one of these third parties. These platforms include ShareASale, PartnerStack, and CJ Affiliate, among others.
Affiliate Marketing Through content writing
There are various ways to deliver sales through affiliate marketing. The easiest and most direct way is through social media, especially if you have a large following. Simply posting the link on your Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, while encouraging your followers to check it out would be enough.
However, for bloggers, the most intuitive strategy would be content writing and marketing. So, what exactly would this look like? Well, it is simply text or copy that sells. For example, Nike’s logoJust Do It!is an example of content writing and a good one at that.
Blog content writing would mean writing blogs and articles specifically to drive sales for the product you're selling. You can do so through a combination of persuasive copy and banner Ads for the product you are trying to sell.
The advantages of affiliate-based content writing
There are several advantages to content-based writing and affiliates. Let's go through them:
1. It’s a source of passive income. There is nothing passive about content writing when you first begin. However, after that initial effort, you can just sit back and allow Google’s SEO to do the work of ranking your article and driving views to your page. Your affiliate links make money as you sleep.
2. Make money writing about what you like. There is such a wide range of affiliate programs and goods and services to sell. Inevitably, you’ll find something you like. This means you can write without it feeling like a chore.
3. Remote work options. content writing offers you the opportunity to work anywhere. It is simply blogging but getting paid for it.
You can start anytime. Affiliate marketing does not require a four-year degree or even a three-month writing course. It also doesn't need high amounts of capital. All you need is the ability to write.
Flexibility. It’s a remote work option that does not require you to be in meetings either online or in person. Whether you choose to write for three hours a week or eight hours a week, you decide.
Never run out of work. In an economy based on a free market, there will always be the need to sell stuff. If you develop the skill and the ability to sell by writing, you will always be in high demand.
Affiliate marketing is an excellent WFH and content marketing option. It offers flexibility, freedom, and income-earning potential. And the wonderful thing about it is that you can begin now. Find a third-party affiliate to sign up with and arrange to start writing.
In fact, it would be best to start writing now and then arrange to acquire these affiliate links. You should begin by thinking about something that you like or about something that interests you and start writing about that. You might even end up making more than eight bucks.
Your affiliate site should be more than content
But wait a minute. I just talked about how the affiliate model has collapsed. Why should I be encouraging anyone to create a website based on affiliate marketing?
Well, while affiliate sites have suffered as a result of the Google changes, commercial sites have seen a boom. Sites that have their own product or services are not being penalized by Google.
We mentioned HouseFresh and their content model. However, their content model wasn’t exactly complete. In a previous blog, we discussed how a blog should be complete in catering to customers at every stage of the journey. You can check it out here: Business Blogging: A Strategy for Success
In the eyes of Google, it is not enough for you to simply provide an affiliate link as a BOFU technique. You should be the business. This means exactly what:
You should have service and product pages
You should have blog articles written by humans
Your site should be more than just content
You should have About pages for yourself and authors
In short, affiliate marketing should only be part of a wider content marketing strategy. In my case, I run a site offering content writing and editing services, while offering affiliate links in my blog articles. The core of the business is providing a service.
Affiliate marketing cannot exist as it did before on purely content sites. Success would mean thinking about a business or service you can provide through a legit content site and business.
EminentEdit's business blogging services
EminentEdit provides content writing services aimed at optimizing your SEO blog or affiliate site for the Google search engine while ensuring that your content appeals to readers.
At EminentEdit, we understand well enough how important a blog is to your content marketing strategy. And we know exactly what it takes to rank a blog to drive traffic and sales.
EminentEdit provides editing and blog writing services that are:
More importantly, we are adaptable to your specific needs. | Get in touch with one of our representatives for help in editing your blog We know what you want to say. We help you say it better. |
Our business blogging services don't just start with individual blog articles. We help with keyword research and in creating an effective overall strategy for your website and business. Our blog writing services include the following:
Help in building topical authority
Substantive editing to improve the quality of your writing on a sentence level
Editing existing blogs to improve SEO performance
Proofreading to make sure your writing is grammatically correct with proper spelling and punctuation
Get in touch: CONTACT US AT EMINENT EDIT. Good luck with your content writing!
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2025, April 10). Is Affiliate Marketing Legit? EminentEdit. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/is-affiliate-marketing-legit |
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