- What do NerdWallet,
Healthline, Dog Food Advisor, and PCPartPicker have in common? They're all highly profitable
affiliate marketing websites that make money without selling products or dealing with clients. And the best part is you can do this too. Most people never start because they think it's too
complicated or too late. Meanwhile, others are quietly
building simple websites that generate income every single month. In this video, I'll show you exactly how to build your own affiliate
website from scratch, even if you've never done this before. We'll cover how affiliate marketing works and how you can actually
make money from it, how to choose a profitable niche
that isn't too competitive, how to set up a simple but effective affiliate marketing
website using WordPress, how to optimise your
website for Google Search, how to create and publish content that makes money with affiliate links, and how to effectively
grow your website traffic and income over time. By the end, you'll have a fully
functional affiliate website ready to make money. And if you think you missed
the boat, stick around. I'll show you why there's
more opportunity now than ever before. But first, let's break down how affiliate websites make money and why some rake in seven
figures or more every month. Because once you understand the model, you can start using the
exact same techniques that make top affiliate
sites so successful. So what is affiliate marketing? Affiliate marketing is a
way to earn money online by recommending products or services. You don't handle inventory
or customer support. You just share a special link. If someone clicks that
link and buys something, you get paid a commission. Sites like NerdWallet and
PCPartPicker do this at scale by helping people compare options and choose the right product. Let's look at a few
successful affiliate websites and what you can take from each one when choosing your own niche. NerdWallet is a personal finance site that made over $687 million in 2024 mainly through affiliate links. When users sign up for
credit cards or loans through their guides, NerdWallet earns a commission. What makes it powerful is
the value it gives upfront. Tools like calculators and quizzes that help users make smart decisions backed by deep research. It wins in a high trust, high payout niche by combining transparency with SEO-driven, buyer-focused content. Healthline is one of the top
health sites on the internet linking to supplements, wellness
gear, and fitness products. Every article is reviewed
by a medical professional, which helps them rank in a
space where trust is everything. But what really sets
them apart is structure. Their content follows a clear format. Educate first, recommend later. That builds credibility, improves SEO, and keeps affiliate links
subtle and helpful, not salesy. Dog Food Advisor shows just how effective a narrow niche can be. They focus on one thing, dog food, and review it with transparency and depth. They rank for high intent keywords like best food for senior dogs and use a dog food recall email list to build trust and grow their audience beyond search traffic. And PCPartPicker is a
tool-first affiliate site. It helps users build custom PCs, check part compatibility, track pricing, and browse curated builds for any budget. The trust comes from solving real problems before asking for a click. When users are ready to buy, they're sent to partner sites
through affiliate links. It's a perfect example
of how value, utility, and community features
lead to conversions. So what do these successful
sites have in common? They focus on a clear niche
with strong buyer intent, lead with real value, and build trust before
ever asking for a click. Their content is
well-structured, SEO-friendly, and consistently helpful so it ranks well and drives
conversions over time. And what do the
unsuccessful ones get wrong? They go too broad, publish generic or low-effort content, skip SEO basics, and try to sell too fast
without solving a clear problem or earning trust first. The key is there's a repeatable formula and you can follow it
for your own website. So now you know how
affiliate websites make money and why some pull in millions a month while others struggle to get traffic. If you want your affiliate
website to actually make money, you need to start with the right niche, but most beginners get this wrong. So how do you pick your niche? I'll show you exactly how to
find profitable opportunities using real micro niche examples. You'll learn how to spot low-competition, high-demand products, and by the end, you'll have
your own niche picked out. But first, what actually
makes a niche profitable? A profitable niche usually
checks three boxes. First, buyer intent. You want to create content for people who are already looking to buy. Searches like best camera
for YouTube beginners or quiet portable fan for small rooms show commercial intent. They signal someone is
actively comparing products and ready to purchase. Second, earning potential. Some products pay way more than others. Digital tools like software often offer 20 to 50%
commissions, sometimes recurring. Meanwhile, physical
products might only offer 3 to 15% one-time payouts. That doesn't mean
physical products are bad, but it's something to factor in. Third, enough search volume. You don't need millions of
visitors like NerdWallet, but there should be consistent
interest in your topic. Stick around because later in this video, I'll show you how to quickly find topics with high search volume
and low competition. Let's look at three
types of affiliate niches with real examples so you can see what's possible. First up, digital products. Let's say your niche is something like video
editing for beginners, you could recommend editing
software, thumbnail tools, or even online courses. A lot of these pay really well, especially if they offer
monthly commissions. TechRadar actually has a great guide comparing the top editing
tools for beginners. Next, physical products. Take a niche like camping
gear for solo hikers. You'd be reviewing stuff like
foldable benches, mini stoves, and compact sleeping pads. The commissions might be lower per sale, but there's tonnes of search traffic and people are ready to buy. The Hungry Hiker is an example of a site that does this really well. Last, service-based niches. Here's one, virtual
therapy apps for anxiety. Platforms like BetterHelp
or Talkspace often pay over $100 per signup. And sites like Psych
Central do deep reviews that rank super well in Google because they're helpful and trustworthy. So how do you actually know if people are searching for your niche? Start simple. Type your idea into Google and see what pops up in the auto complete. If you see phrases like best, review, or product versus product, that's a great sign. It means people are comparing options and probably looking to buy something. You can also check Google Trends to see if interest in your topic is steady, growing, or fading away. And if you want more detailed info, a tool like Semrush shows you
exactly how many people search for that topic each month, how competitive it is, and whether the searches are from people ready to buy or not. Just look for signs that
people are actively searching and trying to solve a problem. That's all you need to get started. All right, take a second and jot down a few topics
you're genuinely interested in. Don't stress about getting it perfect. Just think about stuff
you like, things you use, or topics you already know a little about. Now, here's where it gets fun. Instead of guessing which of these ideas could actually make money, I made a free tool called
the Niche Finder Workbook that does the heavy lifting for you. It checks each idea using real data like Google Search Trends, keyword intent, and potential earnings. You just fill it out and it gives you a personalised scorecard that ranks your topics and shows you which niches
have the most potential. It's super beginner friendly,
takes just a few minutes, and helps you skip the guesswork. The link for that workbook
is in the description, and if you want help using it, I also made a full walkthrough video to guide you step by step. So once you've got a profitable
niche idea locked in, one that real people are searching for and that has solid earning potential, that means it's time to
bring your idea to life. So now let's walk through building your actual affiliate
website step by step. You'll get hosting, instal
WordPress, choose a theme, and have your site live
in just a few minutes. And stick around because
I'll show you a simple trick to skip most of the design
work without hiring anyone. We're using Hostinger and WordPress because it's one of the
easiest and affordable ways to build a real website without
needing to know how to code. Hostinger gives you
everything in one place. Your website domain, fast
loading, and reliable support at a price that's great for beginners. WordPress lets you fully control your site and makes it super easy to
write blog posts, add links, and customise the look of your
site with just a few clicks. So if you want something
that's simple, flexible, and built to grow, this combo is one of the best ways to start an affiliate website. Go to Hostinger using the
link in the description below. Using our link will get you an additional 10% off the normal price. When you're there, click Claim deal, then select the plan. I recommend the Business plan because you get daily website backups, a higher visitor cap
than the Premium plan, and a CDN. Click Choose plan. The next page will prompt
you to select a period. I recommend selecting at least 12 months because that will get you a free domain. Longer terms will also give
you much bigger discounts. Select your term and then click Continue. Next, follow the prompts to
enter your payment information. After you make a payment, you'll land on the
Hostinger signup workflow. For Hello, who is this website for, select the relevant option
and then click Next. For Do you want to create
or migrate a website, click Create a website, then click Next. For How do you want to build your website, click WordPress, then click Next. Next, you'll need to create
login details for WordPress. Notice this is a separate
username and login than for your Hostinger credentials. So go ahead and set
your email and password for your WordPress account here. For How would you like
to build your website, click blank site. Then grab your domain name. I recommend using a dot com domain because they're easy to remember. So go ahead and type
a domain name you like to see if it's available, and you see my name is available here, so I'll go ahead and click on it and I get this free
domain for the first year. When you've selected
your domain, click Next. Go ahead and register your
domain following the prompts. For the question, "Where is
your target audience located," if you selected the Business plan, this doesn't matter too much because the CDN will
distribute your website to servers all over the globe, but for the Premium plan,
this does matter more. So pick a data centre closest
to where your audience lives. Then click Instal WordPress. After WordPress instals, you'll land on the WordPress Dashboard. Before continuing and doing anything else, go ahead and open your email. You should have two emails from Hostinger. One is to verify your email address and the other is to
verify your email address for your domain. Open both of those emails, click the verification links, and follow the prompts to
finish the verification process. When you're finished, close the extra tabs and return to your WordPress Dashboard. So believe it or not, your
website is already active. Open a new tab and then go to your domain. I'll admit it's not much to
look at, but it does exist. Here is the website live
and on the internet. Now, before we continue, I should point out there are
two ways to log into WordPress to get to the dashboard. One way is to go to your domain and then at the end of
the dot com add wp-admin for WordPress Admin and you'll be taken to this
page where you can log in with the WordPress username and password that you created earlier during the Hostinger onboarding process. Alternatively, you can go to hostinger.com and log into the dashboard there, and from here you can go to websites and then click on WordPress
Admin next to your website. Now it's time to give your site
a clean, professional look. To do this easily, we'll
instal a free plugin that lets us choose from dozens of professionally designed
website templates. This saves you hours of design work and gives your site a strong
foundation immediately. Go to Plugins on the left side nav bar. WordPress plugins are like
apps for your website. They add new features or tools without needing to code anything. For example, some plugins
help your site load faster, others help with SEO, and some make it easier to
manage your affiliate links. You can add or remove them as needed to customise how your site works. We'll start by adding a plugin that allows us to jumpstart
our website design by using a professional blog template. At the top of the page,
click Add New Plugin. Here, search for starter templates. And we want this one here, Starter Templates, Elementor
and WordPress Templates. Click instal now. It'll take a moment. And then click the Activate button. Back on the Plugins page
under Starter Templates, click Get Started. Now search for a template
style that suits you. Note some of these are free and some require additional payment and those are indicated by a Premium tag. For our demo, we'll go
to the Blog category and then Travel Blog and we'll select this one
here called Travel Blog. Next, you'll be prompted on the left side to make a few design choices,
starting with your site logo. If you don't have a logo
yet, check out logo.com. It's free, easy to use, and gives you dozens of polished designs based on your brand style. Just answer a few questions,
pick your favourite option, and download everything you
need from the brand kit. I've left a link to logo.com
in the video description below. For this website, I've used
logo.com to create my logo, so I'll upload that now. Go ahead and click Upload File
Here and upload your logo. I recommend using the logo in PNG format with a transparent
background like this one. Next, add some alt text. Alt text is what shows up on a device when the image can't load. This is also useful for navigating sites for people who have extra
accessibility needs. I recommend just putting
the name of the site. I'm gonna do the same thing
for the title of the image. Click Select and the logo's been selected. Next, pick a font pairing. I'm gonna use this first one for the demo, but you can toggle through and look at the other font options. Next, pick a colour palette. Toggle through them, see
which one suits your style, and I'm gonna go with Style 9 here. When you're all done making
your initial design choices, click Continue. For the site features, go ahead and just use
the default options here, Page Builder, Contact Form,
and Website Emails & SMTP. We don't need any of these
other features at the moment. Click Continue. For this Okay, just one last step... page under the Tell us a little
bit about yourself section, go ahead and enter your information. Under Advanced Options, for Instal & Activate Astra Theme, leave this toggled on. And for Share Non-Sensitive Data, this is a personal choice
if you wanna leave it on or toggle it off. It just helps the developers build better templates and products by sharing nonsensitive data. But I'm gonna leave this on 'cause I wanna help the developers out. Once you've made all your choices, click the checkbox for
I understand, let's go! And then click Submit & Build My Website. It'll take a moment to build the site, and then when it's finished,
click View Your Website. It'll open up in a new tab and you can see the preview
of the website ready to go. Go ahead and check it out, scroll around, and when you're done, close the tab and return to your dashboard. You can use the Visit
Dashboard button to do that. Next, let's temporarily turn off caching. Caching is a way of storing
website data temporarily to speed up load times, but it should be turned off
while building a WordPress site to ensure that you see real-time changes instead of outdated saved versions. To do this, on the left
side, click Plugins. Then under LiteSpeed
Cache, click Deactivate. And that's all you need to do for now. Now we'll instal Rank Math. Rank Math is a free SEO plugin that helps your website show up on Google. It gives you an easy
checklist on every blog post so you know what to fix
to get better rankings. Even if you've never done SEO before, Rank Math makes it simple
to follow best practises and get more traffic. If you're not already here,
go to the Plugins page, and then at the top, click Add New Plugin. Then search for Rank Math. Select this one, Rank Math SEO, AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings. Click Instal and then click Activate. Next, click the big blue
Connect Your Account button. At the bottom of this login page, click register now. Then use your preferred
account creation method. I'll use my email address. Then click register. Next, click OK, activate now. Rank Math will now walk us
through a short onboarding form. For this getting started tab, click Easy and then scroll
down and hit Start Wizard. Here, if you have a new site, you don't have data from either of these, so you can click Skip, Don't Import Now. Next it'll ask for some
information about your site. So I'll say that this is a Personal Blog. Yeah, that makes the most sense. That is the name, but I'm actually gonna just do this. A website alternate
name could be an acronym if you have one. I'm gonna leave this blank. For Person/Organization Name,
this can be the same thing. It already has my logo
pulled in from the website, but notice that it
recommends a square image, which is preferred by search engines. So here I recommend uploading
a square version of your logo with a solid colour background. To add this click, Add or Upload File, then go to the top left and click Upload files, Select Files, and then pick a square image,
like this one in my case. Give it a title and alt text
just like our logo previously. Then click Use this file. There we go. The last thing we need is a
default social share image. A social share image is what shows up when your blog is shared on social media or in some messaging apps. The recommended image size is
1,200 pixels by 630 pixels. If you don't have an image
like this ready to go, I recommend using canva.com
to create it from your logo. I'll walk you through how
to do this very quickly. First, go to canva.com in a new tab. You can get there quickly by clicking the link in
the description below. Then log in or sign up. I already have an account, so
I'll go ahead and just log in. Then when you land on the Canva dashboard, click Create a design. Then on the left side, select Custom size and then type in the dimensions we need. For a social share image, this should be 1,200 pixels by 630 pixels, and you'll see here Facebook
Post is a suggested option. It's the same thing basically,
so we could click that. Then simply add your logo. On the left side, click Uploads and add your logo with the
transparent background. Drag it in, click Position, and then you can say Middle and Centre to put it right in the middle. You might need to resize
this for your logo. Then let's search for an
image to put behind it. On the left side, click Elements, and this is a travel blog, so let's add an image of a beach. I'll search for beach. And we've got some cool
images here for photos. I'm gonna use this one. I'll resize it to fill this whole frame and then I'll click Position and then click To back to
put it behind the logo. Next, the contrast here isn't very good, so I'll click on the
image and click on Edit, and then on the left side, click Adjust and I'll decrease the brightness so it sits behind the
logo a little better. I also wanna make my logo
pop out a little bit more, so one trick you can
use is under Elements, search for something like
rectangle, add a shape, and then I'm going to drag
this over the whole image. I'm going to click the circle up here to change the colour of the rectangle to a colour from the photo, like this light blue looks nice here. Then up top in the
toolbar, click Transparency and decrease the transparency
to a level that looks nice and then Position, send backward
to put it behind the logo, and then I can adjust the
transparency even more to see exactly where the
contrast looks the best, and I think somewhere around there gives it a nice look overall and makes this logo pop out pretty nicely. The final thing I'll do here
is add a shadow to the logo to make it stand up from
the background even more. Click on the logo, click on Edit, and then scroll down to
Effects and click Shadows, and from here, I'll do drop shadow. From here, scroll down to the left side and you can play with the settings to see exactly what looks best
for your image and your logo. I think a shadow effect like
this is perfect for this logo and gives it a nice
lift off the background. Final adjustment is I
will increase the size of the logo again and then click on
Position and recenter it. Nice. Now we have a social share image. So I'll go to the top right, name it, then click Share in the top right, then Download, PNG, and then click Download. I'll go ahead and drop this in a folder with all my other logo assets so I have it ready for future steps. Great, go ahead and close out Canva and return back to the
Rank Math setup wizard. Here, click Add or Upload File and then upload your social share image. Again, add some alt text and a title. Then click Use this file. Great. At the bottom of the page,
click Save and Continue. Now we need to set up analytics. Click Connect Google Services. Then select your account. Click Continue. Check the box for Select all and scroll down and click Continue. Make sure your site is
selected in the dropdown. If it doesn't show up right away, it might take a second to appear. In the Analytics section below, for Property, click the dropdown and then click Create new GA4 Property. The page will ask if you're sure. Go ahead and click OK. And then toggle on Instal analytics code. Scroll to the bottom and
click Save and Continue. Nice, Rank Math says your site is ready, so scroll down and click
Return to dashboard. We're taken to the Rank Math
SEO dashboard in WordPress. Scroll down to sitemap,
make sure it's toggled on, and then click Settings. Then toggle on Include Featured Images and click Save Changes. Nice work, now Rank Math is
all set up and ready to go. Now, the whole idea
behind affiliate blogging is to create helpful content that shows up when people
search for solutions online. To help search engines like Google recognise your site as trustworthy and recommend it to others, we'll update a few key
settings in WordPress. These small tweaks help your
site appear more professional and search friendly
from the very beginning. So first, let's update the site identity. In the WordPress Dashboard,
go to the left side and click Settings and then General. Set your site title to your blog name. Write a short tagline that
explains what your blog is about. One sentence is enough. Something like this should do. Next, upload a site icon. This is also called a favicon. This is the tiny image that shows up in browser
tabs and bookmark bars. WordPress recommends a square image of at least 512 by 512 pixels. If you created your logo on logo.com, you can download a favicon or
monogram from your brand kit, or if you already have a logo
but don't have a favicon, you can convert it to a
favicon using favicon.io. You can even generate simple
icons using text or emojis. Just make sure that the image is square. I'll upload a monogram. You may be prompted to crop your image, but if it's already square,
you shouldn't need to do this. You can just click Crop image. There we go. Now you can see what the
site icon will look like. Scroll down and click Save Changes at the bottom of the page. Next, let's set up your author profile. In the left sidebar, go
to Users and then Profile. Scroll down, and under
nickname, type the name you want shown on your posts. Then in the dropdown just below, set that nickname as your display name. This will show up as the
author name on your blog post, so choose something you're
comfortable sharing publicly. Next, scroll down to the
Rank Math SEO section of your profile. Add your Twitter, Facebook, and any additional profiles you have. Then write a brief author bio. Three to five sentences is perfect. Some tips for this. Focus on who you are, your
connection to the topic, or how you help readers. Keep it conversational and not too formal. If you need help writing it,
use this prompt with ChatGPT. "I need a three to
five-sentence bio about me for my blog about,"
fill in the blank topic. "Ask me a few questions to clarify, then write a short version I can use." I'll quickly paste in a
bio that I wrote earlier. Next, let's fill out Rank
Math's author SEO fields. Scroll down to the
bottom Rank Math section. Then for your Focus Keyword,
just use your author name. Follow the checklist in Rank Math and fix any items with a red X. My red X says the Focus
Keyword is not found in my SEO meta description, so I'll actually scroll up and add that to my biographical info. And there we go. Now I have a green check mark. Next, click Edit Snippet
to customise the meta title and description that
show up in Google Search for your profile. In the Edit Snippet section, the permalink will default to your email address for the URL. Go ahead and change this to the name you actually want to display for your author page. Next, scroll up to the
profile photo section. WordPress uses Gravatar
to manage profile photos. In a new tab, head to gravatar.com. Sign up with the same email you used for your WordPress account. Follow the prompts to get set up, enter your name, and then upload an image. I'll use this headshot of me. Adjust the image as needed, and when you're done,
click the Done button in the top-right corner. Gravatar will take a second to load and it'll prompt you to claim a domain, which you can do if you want, but I'm gonna click Do it Later. If you'd like to, go through and update all
the details in Gravatar, but for me, I'm gonna skip this for now. I just want the image to show up, so I'll click Not right now,
Not right now, and Done. Close out of your extra
tabs, including Gravatar, and eventually when you refresh, your profile image will show up here. Scroll to the bottom of your profile and click the Update Profile button. I wanna point out that if you ever need
to change your password, you can do it on this page as well. You can find that just
below your profile picture under the Account Management section. So now your website is live with hosting, WordPress installed, and
a professional theme. That's a huge milestone. You've taken the first real step toward building an affiliate website that can actually make you money. Now this is where your site starts to look like a real business,
not just a template, because when it comes
to affiliate marketing, trust and design go hand in hand. That's what turns clicks into commissions. So, next, I'll show you how to update the look and feel of your site, your layout, colours, images, and more, so it feels more like you. But before we start clicking around, let's map out a simple site structure so that you know exactly
what pages you'll need. Every good website starts with
a clear, simple structure, and for affiliate marketing, you really only need a
few key pages to begin. First, your homepage. This is your front door. It introduces your brand and guides people to
your most useful content. Next, your blog. This is where your articles live. Every post you write helps
bring in traffic from Google and build trust. Up next, you have your about page. This tells visitors who you are and why they should listen to you. Keep it simple and real. Last, a contact page. This can just be a basic page so people can get in touch if needed. As you grow, you can also add a resources or a newsletter page, but this is really all you need to start. Think of it like your site's blueprint, so when we start customising
how everything looks, we know exactly what we're working with. Now that you understand
the basic structure of an affiliate marketing website, let's customise the site. Your template already comes styled, but here's where to update your logo, brand colours, or typography. Go to Appearance in the left
side and click Customise. Here you can make changes to various elements on your
site using the left sidebar. For example, we can use the header builder to change the site title and logo and work with the Primary
Menu and update social links. I'm actually going to
hide these social links since I don't want them on my site. I'll go back. You can click on Global to adjust colours, topography,
button styles, and more. And then finally, you can
access the Footer Builder. Here you can update social links, logo, copyright information, and other text. For my site, I'll go ahead and
hide the social links again. To update the text in
the footer, click on it and then update the text
in the left sidebar. Or if you want to remove it, you can click the three
dots to expand the menu and then click Delete. To replace the logo, click
on the logo in the preview, and then on the left sidebar,
click the button to replace it and then upload your own
replacement image or logo. Don't forget to add alt text and a title. Next, you may need to update
your logo size in the footer. In the left sidebar, click Edit Image. Then under Display Settings,
use the size dropdown menu to change the size of the logo. I also recommend setting your footer logo to link to the homepage. Next to Link To, click the dropdown and then select Custom URL. Then enter your domain. That's a common navigation technique for people to be able to
click on the site logo and go back to the homepage. When you're all done editing
the logo, click Update. As you make edits, the changes
appear live in the preview. When you're all done, click
Publish in the top left corner and then click the X
in the top left corner to go back to the WordPress Dashboard. To add or update pages
like About or Contact, from the dashboard, on the
left side, go to Pages, and then in the top, click Add New Page. Give the page a title. This is really important for SEO. We'll call this page contact since we're going to need
a contact page later. To add elements to your page, which we call blocks in WordPress, click the plus button in the top left and then add your blocks
by clicking on them. Save your progress at any time by clicking the Save
draught button in the top and then click Preview to see
what your page looks like. I'll close this tab. Whenever you're done making edits, click Publish in the top
right to make it live. Notice that you don't see your logo or your footer in the editor. That's normal. The editor only shows the part between your header and footer. The header and footer are
considered global elements. To delete a page, you can
do this from the page editor in the right sidebar and click the Move to trash button. We're going to keep this
particular page though, so I'm not going to click that. You can also delete a page
from the main dashboard. We'll go back to the dashboard by clicking the logo in the top left, and then here in the pages manager, hover over the title of the
page you want to delete, in our case, I'll delete
this Destination page, and then click Trash. To permanently delete a page, go to the Trash tab in the top and then click Empty Trash. To manage the pages that
appear in your site's menu, in the left sidebar, go to
Appearance and then Menus. To add a page, check it
under the Pages section, and then click Add to Menu. You'll see it appears in the
menu structure on the right. If your page doesn't appear
in this list on the left, make sure it's published first. To remove a page from the menu, click the dropdown arrow next
to it under menu structure and then click Remove. To reorder items, drag them up or down or use the move links. Click Save Menu to apply your changes. If you want to see
changes as you make them, there's one other way to manage your menu. Click Manage with Live
Preview at the top left to open the visual editor. From there, you can click
Primary Menu to expand and manage the pages here. Now let's update the text, swap images, and tweak buttons using
the WordPress block editor. To edit a page, go to Pages, hover over the page you want to edit, in our case, we'll start
with the Home page, and then click Edit. To edit text, click on
any text you wanna change and simply start typing like
you would in a word processor. Use the floating toolbar
to make formatting changes like bolding text or adding links. Next, let's work with images. There are two kinds. Regular images are easy to change. Simply click it, and in the right sidebar,
click Change Image and then upload or pick a new one. The second kind is background
or embedded images, which are images that
are part of a layout. To replace these, click
on the section or block surrounding the image. In the right sidebar, find
the background image section, this might be under Style, and then click Change Image. Again, you can upload your own or you can search for stock images using the tab at the top
of the Select Image page. You can make additional
adjustments to images using the settings in the right sidebar. For example, I want to add an
overlay gradient to this image so that there's better
contrast with the text. To update buttons, click on a button and then type to update the text. Some buttons you'll set to a
destination by clicking on them and then using the link
button in the toolbar. Other types, like this button
here from this template, you'll click on and then use the right
sidebar to set a link. For links that you set
with the right sidebar, you can link to specific
pages by putting forward slash and then the URL slug for
the page you wanna link to. In my case, I'll link this
button to the blog page. For other types of buttons, when you click the link icon
in the floating toolbar, you can simply type the name
of the page you wanna link to and then select it from the list. To add new content to your page, click on the plus button in the top left. From here, you can add individual blocks, which are things like text
images, buttons, et cetera, or you could add patterns. Patterns are prebuilt layouts, things like about sections
or call to action. Click the section to add it. To delete a section, click
the block or container, then click backspace or delete. Alternatively, you can
click the three dots in the floating toolbar
and then click Delete. Here's a tip. Use the list view at the top left indicated by the three lines for a full outline of your page. It's super helpful for
navigating complex layouts. Now that you know how to make changes to your site structure and page content, here's how to update each
key page from our template for affiliate marketing. Let's start with the homepage. For your headline, make sure
you have a clear one-liner. Here's mine, Explore Europe With Me. For your subheadline, explain who it's for and
what they'll find here. For a call to action button, link to your blog or most useful page. Delete unnecessary buttons. For your background image, swap it to something
relevant to your niche. Experiment with changing the
positioning and alignment of your elements on the page. For example, I wanna
put my text and button in the centre of this page. To do this, first, I'll
select the container, I'll click the elements I want to modify, and then I can go up to this left section and select the parent
block, the container. Next, I'll open the settings by clicking the sidebar button here. You can see the container
has set a custom width of 50% of the view port. I wanna open this up to 100 so this text can expand to the full width. Next, I'll select the element, and then in the general
section on the right side, I'll click content and
change alignment to centre. Next, I'll set the button
to centre by clicking on it, and then in the floating
toolbar, Align Text, Centre. For the recent posts
section of the homepage, update the text to something
relevant and on brand. Then for all the extra
sections on the page, keep what fits your brand
and delete the rest. When you're done, make sure to
click Save in the top right. Next, let's work on the About page. Update the header to match your brand. For example, I wanna say About Me. Just matches my tone better. Then in the body of your content, for your header, say who you
are and what the site is about. In the section below your header, talk about why you started the blog and share a brief personal story. Talk about what the viewer will find here and list the types of post you'll publish. Delete any unnecessary
placeholder elements. Optionally, add a personal touch. Include a photo, a tool you love, or a fun fact about you. For me, I'm just going
to replace these images. I'll also swap out this top image following the same procedure as before. I can change the position of
the image in the container by going to the Position
section of the Style tab and dragging the circle, just like that. Lastly, add a call to action. Link to the blog or a popular blog post. I'll put that at the bottom
of this content here. I'll search for buttons and use the WordPress
default buttons here. Next, I'll link the button to
the blog by clicking the link and searching blog. Again, don't forget to save. Next, we'll create our contact page, building it from scratch. If you haven't already, name the page and then hide the title
with the eye icon as needed. WordPress uses default
styling for this title and you can't really do too
much with it for modification, so most of the time people hide it and then add other headers
which can be styled better. So go ahead and create a heading that says something simple
like, "Say Hello, or "Contact." Next, add a form. We'll use the Spectra form. Click plus and search for form and then here is the Spectra form. We'll click it to add it. Then click Simple Contact Form. Customise the fields to fit your purpose. I don't necessarily need a
first and last name field, so I'll delete the last name field and just change first
name to simply say name. On the right side, change the
autocomplete to Full Name. Set all the fields that
you want to make sure are captured in the
contact form as required using the toggle in the right sidebar. Click on the form as a whole, and then in the right sidebar, experiment with boxed
and underlined styling. I like the underlined styling,
so I'm going to use that. Next, scroll down under general, and under actions, set the email address that should receive the form responses. I'll use the same email that I used to sign up for this site. Set a subject that'll show up in the form response if you want to. Under the Google reCAPTCHA section, toggle on reCAPTCHA to avoid spam. I recommend using V3. Click the here hyperlink and follow the guide for more information on how to set up reCAPTCHA. It's fairly straightforward
to set this up, but for the sake of brevity, I'm gonna skip that for this demo. Just know that you can
click this here link to get all the instructions
to set this up. When you're finished with
the page, click Save. Finally, for the blog page,
keep it clean and simple. Update the title and
image to match your brand. For the recent blog post block, click it, and then on the right sidebar, for posts per page, set it to six so we have a nice even layout
with more posts visible, and then update the text
above the recent blog grid. And, of course, don't
forget to save the page when you're done. So now your site doesn't just exist. It actually looks like your brand. You set up the structure, added your logo, picked your colours, and swapped in your own content. That's the design work done. But design is only half the story. Now that your site's
live and looking legit, it's time to turn it into something that can actually earn money. In this section, I'll show
you how to find keywords people are already searching for and how to connect them
to affiliate products that pay real commissions. We'll keep it beginner friendly and laser focused on profit potential. By the end, you'll know
exactly what to promote and why it's worth it. First, we need a beginner-friendly
keyword to write about and we'll use a tool
called Semrush to find it. Semrush shows you what real
people are searching for online, so you can pick a topic with solid traffic and low competition. That way your first blog
post has a better shot at ranking on Google and
bringing in real visitors. Normally, Semrush offers
a seven-day trial, but if you use the special
link in the description, you'll get an extended 14-day trial. That gives you plenty of
time to explore your niche and start publishing content. Go ahead and sign up and then meet me on the Semrush dashboard. From the Semrush dashboard, head to the Keyword Magic
Tool on the left side. Type in your broad topic. At most, use one to three words. So for my example, I might
say something like road trip. And then click Search. Semrush will generate a big
list of related keyword ideas. Let's quickly break down
the metrics you'll see. Intent shows what the
person is trying to do. Informational means
they're learning something, transactional means they're ready to buy, commercial means they're
comparing options before buying, and navigational means they're looking for a specific website. For affiliate content, focus on commercial and
transactional keywords. Those are your future buyers. Volume is the monthly search traffic. KD percentage is keyword difficulty, a score from zero to 100. Lower scores are easier to rank for. CPC or cost per click shows how much advertisers pay per click. That's not something you'll pay, but it's a good signal of keyword value. You can also see a summary
of total keywords, volume, and average KD percentage right at the top of the keyword list. Next, let's find some low-hanging fruit. Let's set some filters to
dial in our parameters. Set a volume minimum of
100 searches per month. Apply. Then set a KD percentage
filter for the 0 to 50 range. Then apply the intent filter
and select Transactional. This leaves us with 146 keywords and a total search volume of 41,410 and an average keyword difficulty of 27%. If that set of filters
gives you too few results, try adding in the Commercial filter. Now look for keywords with
strong purchase intent, things like best X for Y or how to choose a fill
in the blank product type or X versus Y, top tools for fill in the
blank goal, or X review. I like to hit Command + F on Mac and then search the page for best. That way I can quickly scan through and see which keywords
have best highlighted. If you find a keyword that
you like and want to target, click the plus icon next
to it to save it to a list. The first time you do this, you'll be prompted to name your list. Something simple like road trip keywords would work in our case. Now you can see the road trip
keywords list has been created and we have one keyword added to it out of a list capacity of 2,000 keywords. After adding the first keyword, any additional keywords you
want to add with the plus icon simply go straight to that list. You can also click into
individual keywords to explore variations. Just scroll down on the
keyword overview page and then look at the
keyword ideas section. Back on the Keyword Magic Tool page, let's say, like in my example here, your broad topic is road trip. Here are a few keyword ideas
that pop up right away. Best road trip snacks,
best road trip cars, best road trips, best SUV for road trips, or this one here, best road trip apps. I'm going to add this one to my list. Each one of these could become a blog post and each one points towards products people might be ready to buy. When you're done building your list, on the left side, go to the
Keyword Strategy Builder. Then scroll down and select your list. Next, sort by volume to find your highest
traffic opportunities. Simply click the word Volume
at the top of that column. We'll use this list to figure out which
affiliate programmes to join and which products to recommend
in your first blog post. Now that you've found keyword
ideas with buyer intent, it's time to figure out what to promote and which affiliate
programmes actually pay well. So the first step is to look for products behind your keywords. Go through your keyword
list and ask yourself, is someone looking to buy a product? And what kind of product
would they be interested in? For example, for the keyword
best road trip snacks, you could recommend
travel-friendly snacks, coolers, or reusable containers like Thermoses. Best road trip apps could
be GPS tools, trip planners, or even audio tour apps. Best car for road trips
could be comparison content linking to auto insurance
or rental car sites. Jot down potential product categories tied to your top keywords. The second step is to
Google it like a shopper. Search for your keyword in Google and see what other blogs are promoting. Look for affiliate-heavy content, best of lists, product
reviews, or gear guides. Click a few links and see if they lead to Amazon, brand stores,
or other services. These are usually affiliate links and they give you clues about what's already being
promoted in your niche. Now that you know what products
your niche is searching for, it's time to find affiliate
programmes for them. Try Googling the product or brand name plus the keyword affiliate programme. Here I found an affiliate
programme for Roadtrippers. You can also try using affiliate networks like Impact, ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, and Amazon Associates, which
is good for physical products. Once you've found a few
affiliate programmes that look promising, let's quickly compare them using the Earning Potential Calculator, a custom workbook I built just for you linked in the description below. This spreadsheet helps you estimate which programmes offer the
strongest earning potential. Here's how to use it. Click the link for the
workbook in the description, then when it loads, click use template in
the top-right corner. Enter the name of each
affiliate programme or product in the first column. Then go across the row and
fill out all the dropdowns. For product type, is it a
software, a physical product, or a service? For the typical price range, how much does the product usually cost? For affiliate payout type,
is the payout a flat rate, a one-time percentage, or recurring? For estimated commission, roughly how much would you earn per sale? And then for cookie length, how long would you get credit for the sale after someone clicks your link? Once you've filled in all
five fields for a row, the earnings score will be
calculated automatically. Here's an example of what the Earning Potential
Calculator might look like after you've completely filled it out. You see I've got an
earnings score on the right for all the different products and brands and they're colour coded so I know which ones are
the best opportunities. Green equals high potential, yellow equals decent but
might need better targeting, and red equals low potential. Consider finding stronger alternatives. This is a quick way to prioritise which affiliate programmes to
join based on real numbers, not just gut instinct. Once you've filled out this full sheet and you find a good match, sign up for the affiliate programme, grab your unique link, and save it for when we
start writing your blog post in the next section. So now you know what to promote, but how do you turn that into a blog post that ranks, builds trust, and gets clicks? Next, we'll create your
first affiliate blog post structured to rank, optimised for clicks, and easy to follow, even if you've never
written a blog before. You'll learn how to add
your links the right way, organise your post for SEO, and hit publish with confidence. By the end, you won't just have a blog. You'll have a moneymaking
asset live on the internet. Now that you've built a list of high potential keywords in Semrush, let's export them and use ChatGPT to help write your blog post. If you're not already there, go to the Keyword Strategy
Builder and then open your list. Check the box next to
your primary keyword, the one with the highest search volume that you intend to use, and up to three to five
related variations. For me, I'm going to
use best road trip apps because best road trip snacks I found when I was doing my
research links to products that are pretty low price
and therefore low commission. Best road trip cars has
a good search volume, but not great affiliate programmes. And then I have the next big topic here, which is best road trip apps, so I'm gonna go the software route using this as my primary keyword and then checking the box for
a couple similar keywords. That ought to do it. Next, in the top right, click Export, and then under Export data, use just the selected and download a CSV. Next, let's find competitor
content to reference. Click on your primary keyword to open the Keyword Overview, and then scroll down to
the SERP analysis section. This shows the top Google
results for your keyword, including blogs, product reviews, and other content creators. Pick two to three competitor URLs that you'd like to reference. These will help guide your content and give ChatGPT examples to draw from. Don't worry about linking to the affiliate brands' product page. We're focused on blogs and
third-party content here. So for me, I might use
this Pack Up + Go site, Caroline Rose Travel, and this USA Today article. Pick whichever competitors
make the most sense for you and then save those URLs somewhere. We'll need them in a minute. I've just saved mine in notepad. Next, let's use ChatGPT to
generate your blog draught. You can really use any AI writing tool, but I recommend ChatGPT with the deep research function turned on for the best results. To get started, open chatgpt.com
and sign in or sign up. I have a custom blog writing
prompt template linked in the description below. Go ahead and open that up in a new tab. Once you open that up, click
the use template button in the top-right corner. There's a few different
prompt templates in here. We're going to use this
first one for this task. Go ahead and replace
any of the information that's in brackets with your information. This includes your topic,
keywords, and competitor URLs. You'll want to make sure to grab your primary keyword from Semrush. Next, copy the completed prompt
and paste it into ChatGPT. If you're on the Plus plan,
toggle on deep research. The Plus plan is $20 a month, and in my opinion, it's easily worth it for this feature alone. You can try using this prompt
and method on the free plan, but the output won't be
nearly as detailed or useful. You'll see why in a few moments. Lastly, upload your keyword CSV file. And then go ahead and submit your prompt. After submitting the prompt, ChatGPT may ask follow-up questions. Just answer them clearly and then submit your
response as one message. If it numbers the questions,
I like to answer the questions with numbers that
correspond to the questions. Once you've answered the
questions, hit Submit. ChatGPT's deep research function will take a few minutes to process, so while it's thinking, let's
go prep your WordPress site for publishing your first blog post. Head back to the WordPress Dashboard. Before we publish your first article, let's clean out the sample
content WordPress added when you set up your site. First, from your WordPress Dashboard, click Posts in the left sidebar. Select all default posts by
clicking the top checkbox. In the bulk actions dropdown, choose move to trash and apply. Now your site is ready for
your first real blog post. Next, let's create a new post. At the top left, click Add New Post. Open the Rank Math sidebar using the small icon in the top right. Paste your primary keyword from Semrush into the focus keyword field. This helps Rank Math give you SEO tips specific to your topic. Next, let's paste in
your blog from ChatGPT. By now, ChatGPT should be
done writing your article. Switch back to your ChatGPT tab. Once you're there, scroll
through your new article. As you can see, ChatGPT
looked at 22 different sources across the internet and built a beautiful article that's really fact-driven,
has nice photos, is formatted well, and is ready to use as a
starting point for our blog. Even just looking at it briefly now, I know that it's not perfect, but it'll be a really good starting point for us to launch off of. Click this little copy icon at the bottom, then head back to WordPress and paste the article into
the main editor window. Finally, let's trim the fat. Sometimes the AI adds fluff
at the beginning or end like a greeting or a sign off. Skim through the post and delete anything
that feels unnecessary, like I have this greeting
here where it's saying, "Awesome, Matt. I'll craft a blog post." We don't need that. Next, copy your article's title and paste it into the Add title field at the top of the editor. Then click the eye icon
next to the title block to hide the title on the published page. Your design template will
likely display it elsewhere. Your draught is now in WordPress
and ready for formatting. Before we move on, let's
clean up the draught and make sure it actually sounds like you. Start by fixing any formatting issues. For example, if the phrase
meta description appears in the body of the post, delete it and leave only
the actual description or post summary. Sometimes citations or links
get inserted in weird places or they cut off words. Go through and clean those up. You'll notice there's a caption here for the photo that ChatGPT pulled in. It's possible that
ChatGPT pulled that photo from somebody else's
website and we can't use it, but there's also a possibility that it created that image on its own. AI technology changes really quickly. So it really depends on
where the technology is at at the point that you do this process. Ultimately, the best
practise for this situation is to simply add your own
photos in or find stock photos. So we'll add some photos later. You can delete unnecessary
or broken links, but keep a few high-quality
external sources. Linking to reputable sites like government resources or trusted blogs can actually help your SEO. It shows Google that you're contributing to the broader conversation online. Just be careful, if the
article is citing anything that's not common knowledge, like specific stats or numbers, you'll probably wanna consider keeping those citations
for trustworthiness. Also, regarding links, by default, links are marked as dofollow, which tells Google that
you vouch for that site. So use these links only
for sources that you trust. Never use them for paid
links or sketchy content. We'll cover nofollow links later when we talk about affiliate links. Now, why add a personal touch to this? Google's EEAT guidelines
prioritise content that show real-world experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. That's why purely AI generated
blog posts often fall flat. They don't sound like they
were written by someone who's actually used the product
or understands the topic. To compete, your content needs to feel authentic, real, human. So here's how to do that. Read your draught out loud to catch awkward or robotic phrasing. Rewrite it in your voice. How would you explain this to a friend? And share personal experience. If you've used the product, include your honest thoughts,
tips, or comparisons. Even small details like,
"This fits in my carry-on," or "The battery lasted all weekend," make a big difference. One great example of
this is a product roundup by a blog called Serious Eats where they reviewed 12
different fish spatulas. Instead of just summarising publicly available product specs, they tested each spatula,
took their own photos, and explained why one might be better for certain types of
cooking or different users. That kind of hands-on insight is what Google loves, AI can't copy, and builds trust with readers. So should you use AI? Absolutely. AI is a fantastic tool,
but it's just that: a tool. Use it to draught ideas, improve
grammar, and speed things up, but don't just copy and
paste generic AI content and expect it to do well on Google. Google rewards content that
adds new value to the internet, not just summaries of
what's already out there. So if you want your blog to stand out, combine the efficiency of AI with your own experience,
insights, and voice. That's the winning combo. Now, let's add affiliate
links the right way without hurting your SEO. Before we start adding affiliate links, there are two important
things we need to cover. Legal disclosure and nofollow links. Let's start with the legal side. If you're in the US or your readers are, the FTC requires you to disclose any affiliate relationships. It's not just about compliance. It builds trust with your audience. So here's a simple line that works. This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a commission
at no extra cost to you. Now, where do you put this? I recommend putting it
near the top of the post before your first affiliate link. Make it easy to see and written
in plain, honest language. Some programmes like Amazon
or financial affiliates may require more specific disclosures like placing a disclaimer
right next to the link. So always check the
rules for each programme. Now, what's a nofollow link
and why should you care? A nofollow link is just a regular link with a special tag that
tells search engines not to pass SEO credit or link juice to the site you're linking to. That matters because
Google doesn't want people trying to manipulate rankings
with paid or spammy links. Since affiliate links
fall into that category, you should always mark them as nofollow. If you don't, it could hurt your rankings, or worse, lead to penalties. So as a general rule, if
money's involved, use nofollow. Now instead of worrying
about nofollow settings every time we make a post or add a link, we're going to instal a simple plugin called ThirstyAffiliates
that automates everything. Back in the post editor, click
Save draught into the top bar. Then click your site icon in the top left to go back to your WordPress Dashboard. In the left sidebar, go to
Plugins and Add New Plugin. Search for ThirstyAffiliates. The one we're looking for is
this one, ThirstyAffiliates, Affiliate Links, Link
Branding, Link Tracking, and Marketing Plugin. Instal now and then Activate. Next, let's configure ThirstyAffiliates. You can skip this welcome window, and in the left side, go to
ThirstyAffiliates and Settings. Then in the left side, on
the ThirstyAffiliates menu, click Link Appearance. Scroll down and set the use
nofollow on links to Yes. And then set open links
in new window to Yes. Scroll to the bottom
and click Save Changes. Now all of your affiliate links will automatically open in a new tab and be marked as nofollow. Now let's add your first affiliate link. On the left side, go to ThirstyAffiliates and then Add Affiliate Link. Under title, enter the product
name you intend to promote. Then paste your affiliate
link in the destination URL. Next, add a product image. Ideally, you should use your
own photo or a screenshot or download an official
image from the product site. Definitely avoid using competitor images so you avoid copyright issues. On the right side, under Link Categories, create a category like travel
software or fitness tool, something generic like that. And then at the top
right, click Save Link. Now this affiliate link is ready to use across your entire site, clean, branded, and SEO compliant. Now let's add the link to your blog post. Return to Posts and edit your blog. There are three main ways
to add affiliate links: inline text links, clickable
images, and buttons. I'll show you how to add each of them. Let's start with inline text links. Find the first location where the name of the product
you're recommending shows up. Highlight it, and then
in the floating toolbar, click TA for ThirstyAffiliates. Then search for your newly
created affiliate link and insert it. Now when someone clicks on
the name of the product, they'll be taken to the
affiliate link destination. Now let's add a clickable image. Click the last block before where you want to add your image. Then click the plus icon in the top left and search for ThirstyAffiliates image. Then click on the block
to insert it in your blog. Then in the block that appears, search for your newly
created affiliate link and select it when it appears. It'll show you the product
image that you uploaded earlier. Go ahead and select that. Now when someone clicks the image, the affiliate link opens in a new tab. Finally, let's add a button. Let's go to the bottom of this section. Click the last block of text, and then on the left side, search for button and select buttons. Set the text to a good call to action, something like see current
price or sign up now. Centre align the button by clicking this Change
items justification button and then clicking Justify items centre. And then I wanna point out with buttons, clicking the TA affiliate link button only adds the link to the text. We want to make the button clickable, so we want to add your cloaked
link from ThirstyAffiliates. To find your cloaked link, first, save your draught, exit back to the WordPress Dashboard, go to ThirstyAffiliates, click on your product, and then copy the cloaked URL. Return to your post, find the button, and then click on the button and then add the link using
the regular link tool. Now when someone clicks the button, they'll be taken to your affiliate link. So how many links should
you add to your post? Generally two to three
links per product is plenty. One near the first mention, one after your final discussion, and optionally a third
link if the post is long and it adds real value, or like I did, make the image clickable. Avoid link stuffing. Don't link every time
a product is mentioned. Google sees that as spammy
and it hurts user experience. Be intentional and focus
on clarity, not quantity. Now let's create a featured image. This is the image that shows up at the top of your blog post, and it's also what people see when your post is shared on
social media or messaging apps. A good featured image
should visually explain what your post is about and make people want to click even if they don't read the title. To start, open a new
tab and go to canva.com. Sign in or create a free account, and then in the top left,
click Create design, select Custom size, and then enter 1,200 pixels by 630 pixels. Then click Create new design. This size works well
for both blog previews and social sharing. Next, use a high-quality
photo that matches your topic. To upload your own image, in the left sidebar, click
Uploads and then Upload files or find a stock photo in Canva. In the left side bar, click Elements and then search for something. When you find an image you like, click and drag it into the frame and then resize it to fill the frame. Next, add text. Click text in the left side and then choose a heading style or a pre-made font combination. For the text, use your blog title or a shorter, catchier version of it. Adjust the colours, size, and effects to make sure your text is easy to read. If it helps, you can dim the
background image slightly to boost contrast. Click the image, click
Edit, and then adjust, and then turn down the brightness a hair. When you're done designing your image, click Share in the top right
and then click Download. Then select PNG and click Download. Back in WordPress, open the right sidebar if it's not already open by clicking the icon next
to the Publish button. Then go to the Post tab, scroll down and click Set featured image, and then upload your new image. Use your primary keyword
in the title and alt text. And then click set
featured image to apply it. Now your post has a polished,
clickable featured image that helps attract more visitors and gives your blog a
more professional look. Now, let's optimise your blog
post so it's easy to navigate for both your readers and search engines. Let's start by adding a post category. On the right-hand sidebar, scroll to the Categories section. Open the dropdown and then choose an existing category or click Add New Category. Think ahead as you're
creating new categories. What kind of content
will you publish later? Tutorials, reviews, comparisons? Categorise accordingly. You can assign a post to more
than one category if it fits. Next, let's add tags. Reopen the ChatGPT
prompt template document you used earlier. There's a link to the ChatGPT
prompt document template in the description below. Scroll down to the WordPress
tag generation prompt. Copy everything below the
header that says Prompt Template and then paste it into
your existing ChatGPT chat. Then copy the full text of your blog post and paste it below the prompt. To do this, I recommend
going to the blog post and then clicking Preview. From here, it's easy to
just click into the page and then hit Command +
A to copy everything. It will bring in the
stuff in the top toolbar, but we don't need to worry about that. Go back to ChatGPT and then paste it below
the bracketed line. As a quick sidenote, I should mention you don't need deep research
enabled for this step. Once everything's pasted
in, submit the prompt. ChatGPT will generate relevant tags. Go ahead and copy them. Return to the blog editor. Scroll on the right side
down to the Tags section, and then paste in the results. You may need to hit comma to make sure that your last
result ends up in there. Now your post is better organised and easier for readers to discover. Now, if your blog post is
long or has multiple sections, let's help readers find exactly
what they're looking for by adding a table of contents. Scroll to the top of your article and then select your summary. In the top left, click the plus icon and then search Rank Math. Then select Table of
Contents by Rank Math. The table of contents will autogenerate based on the headers in your post. Here's a quick overview
of how headers work. Blog titles are already set to Heading 1. So within your post, use
Heading 2 for main sections and use Heading 3 for subsections. Clear, structured headers
improve readability and help Google understand your content. If needed, update any
unclear section titles or adjust header levels in your blog post. In the table of contents, you can also hide or show specific headers using the eye icon. Now, let's give your blog post the best possible chance of ranking. Click the Rank Math
button in the top right to open the checklist sidebar. Scroll down and look at the checklist. Green check marks mean you're good to go. Red Xs show areas to improve. As you click each dropdown,
each item is clearly explained. So let's walk through a couple together. If Rank Math flags your keyword density as too high or too low, you'll wanna adjust that. You want your focus keyword to appear in 1 to 1.5%
of the total word count. If it's too low, you're not targeting
your keyword well enough, and if it's too high, it can look spammy. I recommend using ChatGPT
to guide the edits. Here's a prompt you could use. "My keyword density is
around," put your number. "Can you suggest where to
naturally add my focus keyword," in my case, best road trip apps, "to bring it up to around 1%?" Then submit the prompt. Make the changes it proposes manually, then recheck your score. Read your updates out loud. If it sounds unnatural, fix it and ultimately prioritise
clarity and flow of the blog over hitting an exact number. I've included this prompt at the bottom of the ChatGPT
prompt template document if you wanna copy and paste
it for an easy experience. Some checklist items will ask you to edit your SEO title, meta
description, or post URL. To modify these, click Edit Snippet. Then make adjustments based
on Rank Maths recommendations. Aim for a Rank Math score as close to 100 out of 100 as possible, but don't stress over getting it perfect. The goal is to make
meaningful improvements that help readers and improve
your search visibility. If you can even get this Rank
Math button to display green, you're in a good spot. Once your content is
optimised and ready to go, it's time to take your blog post live. Click the blue Publish button in the top-right corner of the editor. In the popup, visibility
should be set to public, and then you can choose
to post immediately or schedule it for later. Once everything looks good,
hit Publish again to confirm. Your post is now live. Click View Post to see
how it looks on your site. Take a moment to check formatting, images, and links one last time. Then share it. Post the link on social media, email it to your list, or drop it in relevant online communities. Now let's quickly turn
site caching back on to optimise the website
load speed for visitors. Back on the WordPress Dashboard, click Plugins in the left nav bar, then find LiteSpeed
Cache and click Activate. Great work. Your first affiliate blog post is live. It's optimised, monetized,
and ready to be found by people searching for
exactly what you wrote about. That's a huge step. At this point, you've done
what most people never do. You've actually built and launched your first affiliate website. You chose a niche, built your site with
WordPress and Hostinger and optimised it with Rank Math, and published a blog post
with real earning potential. So what now? Here's how to keep growing and turn this into something sustainable. Keep publishing helpful,
buyer-focused content. Try to post consistently. Even one quality post per
week can make a difference. Share your posts. Use Reddit, Facebook groups, Pinterest, or forums related to your niche to start driving traffic early. Track what's working. Use Google Search Console
and Google Analytics so you can see which
posts are getting clicks and which ones need improvement. And use Semrush to plan
your next blog posts based on real search demand. Remember, there's a 14-day
trial linked in the description if you wanna try it out. And here's something many
tutorials won't tell you. Ranking on Google takes time. According to Ahrefs, only 5.7% of pages rank in the top 10 search
results within a year, but the pages that do, most start seeing traction
between three to six months, especially if they target
low-competition keywords. So above all else, be
patient, be consistent, and don't expect overnight traffic. This is a long game, but it's one that pays off when you keep showing up, keep publishing, and keep helping people
solve real problems. Your first post is live. Now it's time to scale.
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