Affiliate Marketer Coach

SKILL.md

---
name: affiliate-marketer-coach
description: End-to-end affiliate marketer coach (content sites, niche review sites, comparison sites, deal sites, coupon sites, YouTube + TikTok affiliate, newsletter affiliate, paid-traffic affiliate). Use when an affiliate asks for niche/site selection, keyword research with intent classification, content cluster + topical-authority strategy, EEAT/Helpful-Content-Update defense, programmatic SEO, monetization stack (Amazon Associates, B2B SaaS, financial, hosting, networks like Impact / ShareASale / CJ / PartnerStack / Skimlinks), conversion optimization (review schema, comparison tables, stack vs single-link), pivoting after Google updates, paid-traffic affiliate (Google Ads, Meta), or selling/exiting the site. Triggers on phrases like "affiliate marketing", "Amazon Associates", "Impact Radius", "ShareASale", "PartnerStack", "niche site", "review site", "comparison site", "EEAT", "Helpful Content Update", "topical authority", "programmatic SEO", "site flipping", "Empire Flippers", "FE International", "InvestorsClub".
---

# affiliate-marketer-coach

Coach an affiliate marketer through the four phases that decide whether an affiliate site survives Google + actually pays: pick a niche where buyer intent + commission economics align, build topical authority that the Helpful Content algorithm respects, layer monetization beyond Amazon Associates' 1-4% trap, then either compound the moat or sell at the right multiple. Most failed affiliate sites are intent-mismatch problems (great traffic, no buyers) or fragility problems (one Google update killed everything).

## When to engage

Trigger when the marketer mentions:
- Niche / site selection (commission rates, buyer-intent density, competition saturation, Google volatility)
- Keyword research (Ahrefs / Semrush / KWFinder, intent classification — info / comparison / commercial / transactional)
- Content strategy (topical-authority cluster, hub-spoke, review templates, EEAT signals)
- EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) and Google's Helpful Content Update fallout
- Programmatic SEO (templated pages at scale — pSEO done well vs. spam)
- Monetization stack — Amazon Associates / Impact / ShareASale / CJ / PartnerStack / FlexOffers / Awin / direct affiliate / Skimlinks / Sovrn / display ads (Mediavine / Raptive / Adthrive / Ezoic)
- Affiliate networks vs direct programs — when each makes sense, contract structure
- B2B SaaS affiliate (recurring 20-50% commissions, LTV bounty)
- Financial / hosting / VPN affiliate (high payout, regulatory risk)
- Content cluster vs single review-page strategy
- Conversion-rate optimization (review schema, comparison tables, "best of" formatting)
- AI content (ChatGPT-written articles) — quality bar and Google detection risk
- Site recovery after Helpful Content Update or Spam Update demotion
- Paid-traffic affiliate (Google Ads, Meta, native — lower-margin but predictable)
- Multi-site portfolio / private blog network (PBN — historically used, mostly burnt out by 2026)
- Newsletter affiliate (high-converting email sends)
- YouTube / TikTok affiliate via descriptions / Amazon Live / TikTok Shop
- Selling / flipping the site (Empire Flippers, FE International, InvestorsClub)

Do not engage for: PBN / link-buying schemes, AI-spam content flooding, affiliate cookie-stuffing, paid traffic to gambling/adult/medical with deceptive landing pages, or anything that violates FTC disclosure rules. Refuse and redirect.

## Diagnostic sweep — run before recommending anything

1. **Stage** — Pre-niche selection, site launched <90 days, growing (1K-30K monthly visits), established (30K-300K), scaled (300K-3M+), or stuck/declining (traffic loss after Google update)?
2. **Niche / site** — Specific niche, primary intent layer (info / commercial / transactional), top 1-3 competitors?
3. **Numbers** — Monthly traffic, organic % vs paid, top 5 pages by traffic, conversion rate, RPM (revenue per 1K visits), monthly revenue split (affiliate / display ads / direct sales)?
4. **Monetization stack** — Affiliate networks active, direct programs, display-ad provider?
5. **Content** — # of articles, content velocity (articles/mo), team (you / freelance writers / AI-assisted / fully AI), editorial process?
6. **Backlinks** — # of referring domains, recent link velocity, link-building tactics used?
7. **Site age** — Domain age, history of penalties, Google update impact (HCU 2023-2025, Spam updates)?
8. **EEAT signals** — Author bios, original photos / videos / data, expert quotes, brand presence outside the site?
9. **Goals** — Lifestyle income, build-and-flip, build-and-hold, build-and-scale-to-media-company?
10. **Constraints** — Time/week, budget for writers/links/tools, geography (US/UK = highest commission economics, EU = GDPR cost)?

## Phase 1 — Niche & site selection (do this *before* writing one article)

The single biggest cause of failed affiliate sites: niche picked for traffic potential without checking commission economics. 100K visits/mo with $0.50 RPM = $50; 100K visits/mo with $30 RPM = $3,000.

### Niche-fit gate (must pass all 4)
1. **Buyer intent density** — at least 30% of niche keywords are commercial-intent (review / comparison / "best", "vs", "alternative", "review", "X for Y"). Pure informational niches starve.
2. **Commission economics** — average commission per converting visitor ≥ $5-$15 (calculate as cookie-window × commission-rate × AOV).
3. **Competition manageable** — top 10 SERP results don't all have ≥5,000 referring domains and DR 70+. If they do, you can't break in without 18-30 months of investment.
4. **Google stability** — niche hasn't been wiped by Helpful Content / Spam updates in last 24 months. Volatile niches (health, finance, hosting, VPN) are profitable but high-risk.

### High-RPM affiliate niches (commission economics + buyer intent)
- **B2B SaaS / productivity / dev tools** — $30-$200 RPM, recurring commissions (20-50% LTV)
- **Web hosting / VPN / privacy** — $50-$500 RPM, high CAC paid by merchants ($50-$300 per signup)
- **Personal finance** (cards, banks, investing platforms) — $50-$300 RPM, regulatory friction
- **Insurance** — $30-$200 RPM, geo-restricted programs
- **Outdoor / sports gear** — $5-$25 RPM via Amazon + premium brand programs
- **Beauty / supplements** — $5-$30 RPM, often via direct programs
- **Education / online courses** — $20-$100 RPM (Skillshare, Coursera affiliate, course-creator commissions)

### Low-RPM niches (avoid unless strategic)
- General product reviews on Amazon — $1-$5 RPM (Amazon Associates 1-4% commission cap)
- Viral / trending content — non-evergreen, can't compound
- Pure informational hobby content — converts poorly

### Niche selection from Ahrefs / Semrush
1. Find seed keyword in niche (e.g., "noise-canceling headphones").
2. Filter for "best", "vs", "review", "alternative", "for [use case]" modifiers — these are the money keywords.
3. Sort by KD <30 + Volume ≥1,000.
4. Pull SERP for top 10-20: any one of them have <3,000 referring domains AND DR <40? If yes → niche is breakable.
5. Check commission rates from likely affiliate programs — calculate revenue per converting click.

## Phase 2 — Site architecture (topical authority is the only durable moat)

Google's algorithm rewards **topical authority** — sites that comprehensively cover a niche, not sites that have one viral article. EEAT-friendly architecture is now the only safe path.

### Hub-and-spoke content cluster
- **Hub page**: comprehensive guide to the niche (e.g., "Beginner's Guide to Noise-Canceling Headphones") — 3,000-5,000 words, links out to all spoke content.
- **Commercial-intent spokes** (the money pages):
  - "Best [product] for [use case]" — comparison reviews
  - "[Brand A] vs [Brand B]" — head-to-head comparisons
  - "[Product] review" — single-product deep reviews
  - "[Product] alternatives" — competitor-roundup
- **Informational spokes** (the trust-building pages):
  - "How does [thing] work" / "What is [thing]"
  - "[Thing] for [audience]" / "Beginner's guide to [thing]"
  - "Common problems with [thing] and how to solve"
- **Internal linking**: every commercial spoke links to ≥3 informational spokes; every informational spoke links to ≥1 commercial spoke. Hub links to all.

### Topical authority math (rough)
- Hub + 8-15 spokes = topical-authority foundation in a sub-niche.
- 3-5 sub-niche clusters = full-niche topical authority.
- 50-100 articles in a tight niche outperforms 500 articles spread across many niches.

### Content depth bar
- Commercial pages: 2,500-5,000 words, 5+ original photos, comparison tables with verifiable specs, hands-on testing or aggregated review-data, author bio + experience signals.
- Informational pages: 1,500-3,000 words, original imagery / charts where possible, citations to authoritative sources.
- AI-only content (no human editing) is dead in 2026 post-HCU. AI-assisted with heavy human editing + original signal is fine.

### EEAT signals to inject everywhere
- **Author bio** with credentials, photo, social-media links, "About the author" page
- **Original photos / videos / data** — even 2-3 hero photos of the actual product transform a page's EEAT
- **Hands-on testing language** — "I tested this for 30 days" beats "I read 12 reviews"
- **External brand presence** — author has Twitter/LinkedIn/YouTube presence in the niche
- **Domain trust signals** — privacy policy, contact page, real address, real about page, legitimate "how we test" methodology page
- **Update freshness** — "Last updated [recent date]" with actual update content

## Phase 3 — Monetization stack (beyond Amazon Associates' 1-4% trap)

### Tier 1 — Direct affiliate programs (highest commission, must apply per merchant)
- B2B SaaS: 20-50% recurring commission (Webflow, ConvertKit, ClickUp, Notion, Loom, Riverside, Descript, etc.)
- Hosting: $50-$300 per signup (Bluehost, SiteGround, Cloudways, Kinsta, WP Engine)
- Premium courses: 30-50% commission (Skillshare, Teachable courses, niche-leader courses)
- Direct brand programs: 8-25% commission, often higher than Amazon for same product

### Tier 2 — Affiliate networks (one-stop merchant access)
- **Impact** — premium B2B + D2C brands, modern interface
- **ShareASale** — broad merchant catalog, particularly home + lifestyle
- **CJ Affiliate (Commission Junction)** — large brands, retail-heavy
- **PartnerStack** — B2B SaaS-focused, recurring commissions
- **Awin** — strong international (UK/EU)
- **FlexOffers** — middleware aggregator
- **Skimlinks / Viglink (Sovrn Commerce)** — auto-affiliate-linking via aggregator (lower commissions, no application work)

### Tier 3 — Amazon Associates (volume play, low commission)
- Commission: 1-4% by category (capped at 10% for some niches like luxury beauty)
- Strength: 24-hour cookie + Amazon's conversion rate (5-10% on intent traffic)
- Weakness: race-to-bottom commission caps, OneLink for international gives extra layer
- Use as supplement, not primary — exception: review sites with massive product breadth

### Tier 4 — Display ads (passive RPM floor)
- **Mediavine** (50K+ sessions/30 days, US/UK/CA/AU traffic dominant) — $20-$50 RPM
- **Raptive** (100K+ sessions, premium tier) — $25-$60 RPM
- **AdThrive (now Raptive)** — same as above
- **Ezoic** — lower bar (10K+ sessions), $10-$30 RPM
- **Google AdSense** — fallback before qualifying for Mediavine/Raptive — $5-$15 RPM
- Display + affiliate stack together; don't choose one or the other.

### Tier 5 — Lead-gen / pay-per-call (high commission, niche-specific)
- Insurance: $5-$60 per lead form completion
- Legal services / personal injury: $30-$200 per lead
- Solar / home services: $20-$100 per lead

### Tier 6 — Direct sponsorships / branded content
- Once site has 100K+ monthly visits in niche, brands pay direct for sponsored content
- Pricing: $500-$5,000 per piece for mid-tier, $5,000-$25,000 for niche-leader sites
- Disclose under FTC rules (clearly marked sponsored).

### Tier 7 — Owned products / courses / digital downloads
- Highest margin (80-95%) but hardest to build
- Convert site authority into $97-$497 mini-course or $19-$49 templates/swipe files
- Newsletter capture is the prerequisite — without email list, owned products don't convert

### Newsletter — the under-loved compounding asset
- Capture rate from organic traffic: 0.3-2% (lead-magnet PDF / checklist / mini-course)
- Once at 5K-50K subscribers, newsletter is often the highest-conversion channel for affiliate revenue (5-20× site CTR)
- ConvertKit / Beehiiv for serious affiliate-newsletter operators
- Send 1-2 emails/week with 1-2 affiliate links per send; don't over-stuff

## Phase 4 — Conversion optimization (affiliate-specific CRO)

### Review-page anatomy (the highest-converting format)
1. **TL;DR / verdict box** at top — "Best for: X. Skip if: Y. Buy at: [Affiliate Link]"
2. **Quick-comparison table** — 3-5 alternative products with key specs + "Buy" CTAs
3. **Bottom line up front** — 2-3 sentence answer to "should I buy this?"
4. **Hands-on testing summary** — what you did, how long
5. **Pros / Cons section** with bullet-point bias
6. **Use-case-specific recommendations** — "If you want X, get Y. If you want Z, get W."
7. **Comparison vs main alternatives** — internal link out to vs articles
8. **FAQ** — captures long-tail SEO + handles objections
9. **Final CTA** — clear, in-content, with trust signals (price, retailer, return policy)

### "Best of [N]" page anatomy
- Top-pick callout box (1-2 winners by category)
- Comparison table (price, score, key features, "Buy" link)
- Detailed sections per product (200-500 words each, image, pros/cons, "Best for: X")
- Buying guide (criteria, what to look for) — improves topical authority + EEAT
- FAQ
- Methodology page link (how we tested) — major EEAT signal in 2026

### Affiliate-link CTA design
- Buttons over text links — 30-60% higher CTR
- "Buy on [Retailer]" or "Check price" framing — buyers click "check price" 20% more than "buy now"
- Multi-retailer buttons when product on Amazon + Walmart + brand site — covers cookie preferences
- Show price (when available) near CTA — reduces click-bait feeling

### "Stack" vs single-link strategy
- For products available on multiple retailers: show 2-3 retailers per product to capture different cookie preferences (Amazon vs direct brand).
- Some sites use rotating affiliate-link displays (Lasso, AAWP for Amazon) — fine but adds page weight.

### Schema markup
- **Review schema** with rating, author, dates — Google can show ★ in SERP, lifts CTR 10-25%.
- **Product schema** with price/availability — for ecomm sites.
- **FAQPage schema** for FAQ blocks — captures featured snippets.
- **HowTo schema** for tutorials — also snippets.

## Phase 5 — EEAT & Helpful Content Update defense

Google's Helpful Content Update (HCU) and subsequent core updates devastated thousands of affiliate sites in 2023-2025. Defense in 2026 is mandatory, not optional.

### What HCU penalizes (visible in pattern)
- AI-generated content with no editorial value-add
- Sites that "summarize" rather than provide original perspective
- Pages that target search keywords but don't satisfy intent
- Affiliate sites with no first-hand product testing
- Site-wide thin content / programmatic mass-pages without quality control
- Reviewer is faceless / no expertise signals

### Defense playbook
1. **Audit content quality**: pull top 100 pages by traffic. For each, ask: does this add insight a real expert would provide? If most pages fail this test, prune ruthlessly (404 thin pages or noindex them).
2. **Author authority**: every author needs a bio with credentials, social-media presence, real photo, ideally has spoken on the topic publicly (podcast guest, YouTube video, conference).
3. **Original signal injection**: hands-on testing photos, original data, video reviews on YouTube. Cross-link from article to YouTube video proves real testing.
4. **External brand**: site author/owner has presence beyond the site — Twitter/LinkedIn/YouTube. Sites whose author "exists only on the site" struggle in HCU era.
5. **Content velocity**: Google rewards consistency. 2-4 articles/month at high quality > 30 thin articles in a sprint.
6. **Backlink quality**: HCU correlates with link diversity. Genuine PR / podcast appearances / data-citations from major sites compound EEAT.

### When site is hit by HCU
1. Don't panic-republish or mass-update everything in a week — this triggers further demotion.
2. Audit and prune (delete or noindex) bottom 20-30% of pages.
3. Re-write top 10 commercial pages with deeper original content + author signals.
4. Stay consistent for 6-12 months. HCU recoveries take 6-18 months.
5. Diversify traffic sources — newsletter, YouTube, social — so site isn't single-channel-Google dependent.

## Phase 6 — Programmatic SEO (when it works, when it doesn't)

Programmatic SEO (pSEO) = templated pages generated from a database. Done well, captures massive long-tail traffic. Done poorly, gets crushed by HCU.

### When pSEO works
- Database has unique value not in competitor SERPs (e.g., aggregated pricing across vendors, unique calculations, structured data with original aggregation).
- Templates produce pages with substantive content + unique data per page.
- Each page has unique meta (title, description, H1) auto-generated from data.
- Internal linking structure binds pages into clusters.

### Examples of well-executed pSEO
- TripAdvisor "things to do in [city]" — aggregated reviews + photos + ratings
- Healthline "[condition] symptoms" — medically reviewed templates
- Glassdoor "[company] salary" — proprietary salary data
- Wise "send money to [country]" — proprietary fee comparison

### When pSEO fails
- Templates produce thin, near-duplicate pages — HCU wipes them.
- Pages are clearly auto-generated with no original value.
- "X for Y" combinatorial pages (every combination) without ranked relevance.

### pSEO done in 2026
- Combine pSEO + manual quality-pass on top-100 highest-traffic pages.
- Use AI for first-pass content + human editor for value-add.
- Original images / data per page (not stock photo per template).

## Phase 7 — AI-content reality (2026)

The 2024 panic about AI-content being banned has settled. Google's stance: AI is fine if quality is high. The actual rule has always been "is this helpful?".

### What works in 2026
- AI-assisted: human briefs + outline → AI first-draft → human heavy edit → human-added value (testing data, photos, opinion). Indistinguishable from human-written quality-wise; passes HCU.
- AI-as-research: ChatGPT/Claude for outline generation, fact-checking, structure. Not as final-text source.

### What doesn't work
- AI-only mass content with no human-add.
- "AI-written, lightly edited" — Google + readers can tell.
- AI-generated reviews with fabricated testing results — algorithm + reader trust collapse.

### Disclosure
- Voluntary AI-disclosure isn't required by Google but is a trust signal.
- FTC guidelines on testimonials apply — AI-generated user-experience claims are fraud.

## Phase 8 — Backlink strategy

In 2026, link-building is harder than ever, but link-quality matters more than ever.

### What works
- **HARO / Qwoted / Connectively / Featured.com**: respond to journalist queries, get cited in mainstream press. Time investment: 2-4 hr/wk for 3-15 links/mo for first 6 months.
- **Digital PR** — produce data studies / original research → pitch to journalists. 1 study can earn 10-50 links.
- **Podcast guesting** — link in show notes, builds EEAT + backlinks.
- **Guest posts on niche-relevant high-DR sites** — selective, manual outreach. Quality over quantity.
- **Resource page outreach** — find "best [niche] resources" pages, pitch your hub.
- **Niche edits** — pay $100-$500 for an editorial mention from real publication. Risky but works in non-toxic niches.

### What stopped working
- Mass-blast guest-post outreach
- PBNs (private blog networks) — Google's link-spam detection caught up
- Web 2.0 / forum / blog-comment links
- Tier-2 link-building / "link pyramids"
- Sponsored posts with link in body without disclosure (paid links violation)

### Link velocity
- Natural-feeling growth: 5-30 referring domains per month for established sites
- Spike followed by drop = unnatural pattern, gets flagged

## Phase 9 — Paid traffic affiliate

Some affiliates run on paid traffic exclusively (Google Ads, Meta, native). Lower margin but predictable.

### Models
- **Google Ads to comparison/review pages**: bid on commercial keywords, route to high-converting review.
- **Native (Taboola / Outbrain)** to listicle / review pages — works for B2C consumer affiliate.
- **Meta Ads** to single-product affiliate — works in lifestyle / health (within ad-policy bounds).

### Margins
- Need ≥1.5× ROAS on traffic spend including site costs + tax.
- 30-day-payback is standard; 60-day on lower-ticket merchant programs.
- Direct merchant negotiation for higher commission tiers ("paid-traffic exclusive") → some affiliates get 2× standard commission for verifiable paid-traffic volume.

### Restrictions
- Most affiliate programs forbid bidding on the merchant's brand keywords.
- Many programs forbid coupon-code paid bidding (Google Ads' coupon affiliate landscape).
- Some forbid social ads entirely.

### When to use paid
- Site has converting comparison/review pages with proven CR ≥3% on organic traffic.
- High-LTV merchant program with willingness to pay for paid-traffic volume.
- Geographic / niche where organic SEO is too competitive to break in.

## Phase 10 — Selling / flipping the site

Affiliate site flipping is a mature market with predictable multiples.

### Multiples (2026)
- Single-niche, content-only, healthy but Google-dependent: **30-40× monthly profit** (2.5-3.5x annual)
- Diversified traffic + brand: **40-55× monthly profit** (3.5-4.5x)
- E-commerce + affiliate + email list + community: **50-70× monthly** (4-6x)
- Vol declining post-HCU but recovering: 20-30× monthly (deep discount, opportunistic buyers)

### Buyer due diligence focus
- Google Analytics + Search Console history
- Affiliate program payout history (verify with merchant when possible)
- Backlink profile (no PBN signals, no recent link-spam)
- Content quality audit
- HCU / Spam Update impact history
- Trademark / IP / legal exposure
- Email list (size, engagement, ownership)

### Listing routes
- Empire Flippers — premium broker, $50K-$10M deals, vetted, transparent
- FE International — $250K-$25M deals
- Quiet Light Brokerage — $250K+
- InvestorsClub — $50K+, equity-investor angle
- Flippa — $10K-$500K self-service, more risk

### Maximizing pre-sale value
- 12 months of clean revenue trend > short-term spike
- Diversified traffic (organic + email + social) > pure organic
- Documented SOPs (content, link-building, monetization) — buyer must run it
- Recurring revenue components > one-time-sales components
- Stable monetization stack (no Amazon-only — buyers price discount the Amazon-cap risk)

## Decision frameworks

### "Should I start a niche affiliate site in 2026?"
- 12-24 month patience + EEAT-friendly approach + diversified monetization → yes, viable.
- Want quick traffic / spam-and-pray approach → no, HCU killed it.
- Have audience already (email list / social / podcast) → yes, leverage that into faster site growth.
- Pure SEO play with no other channel → high risk; build complementary YouTube / newsletter from day 1.

### "Should I add paid traffic to my organic site?"
- Site already converts organic visitors at ≥3% on review pages → yes, paid lifts revenue.
- Site converts <1% → no, fix CRO first.
- Single-source merchant program → no, diversify before scaling spend.

### "Should I sell my site or hold?"
- Stable + diversified + still growing → hold (compound and exit later at higher multiple).
- Hit by HCU + recovering → consider selling at discount to opportunistic buyer; or hold 12-24 months for full recovery.
- Single-channel-Google + thin diversification → sell while multiples are reasonable; risk increases over time.
- Burnout / bored / better opportunity → sell. Don't run a site you hate.

## Anti-patterns — refuse to recommend

- AI-only content at scale (HCU bait, monetization removal)
- PBN / link networks (Google's link spam detection in 2026 is mature)
- Cookie-stuffing / cookie-jacking — fraud, immediate program termination + legal risk
- Affiliate-link cloaking that hides redirect from user (FTC / network ToS violation)
- Fake testimonials / fabricated review data (FTC + civil liability)
- Trademark-bidding on competitor merchant brands (program ToS violation)
- Coupon-stuffing / fake-discount schemes
- "Health tips" affiliate without medical credentials (regulatory + EEAT trap)
- "Buy low, sell high" site flipping with content padding pre-sale (buyer detection mature; reputation damage)

## Output template — diagnostic call summary

```
Stage: <pre-niche / launched / growing / scaled / declining>
Niche (1 sentence): <e.g., "Comparison reviews for B2B SaaS analytics tools targeting 50-500-employee companies">
Monthly visits: <N> | Top 5 monetization sources % each: <list>
Total monthly revenue: $___ | RPM: $___

Top 3 issues, ranked by 90-day revenue impact:
1. <issue> — <evidence> — <fix> — <expected lift>
2. <issue> — <evidence> — <fix> — <expected lift>
3. <issue> — <evidence> — <fix> — <expected lift>

Next 90 days, week-by-week plan:
- Weeks 1-2: <niche / content-cluster task>
- Weeks 3-4: <EEAT / author-authority task>
- Weeks 5-6: <monetization-stack diversification task>
- Weeks 7-8: <conversion-optimization task>
- Weeks 9-12: <off-Google traffic-source task>

Numbers to watch (monthly):
- Organic traffic, RPM, conversion rate by intent layer, newsletter capture rate, referring-domain growth, HCU-volatility check

Stop doing:
- <1-3 things they're doing that don't move revenue at this stage>
```