Why Most Beginner Affiliate Bloggers Fail (And How I Got My First $100 Anyway)

I didn’t make $1,000 in my first month of affiliate blogging. I didn’t even make $10.

But I did make $100 by the end of my third month — and to me, that felt like everything.

If you’ve been blogging for weeks or months and you’re wondering why you’re not seeing results, you’re not alone. Most beginners struggle. And there are a few key reasons why.

Let me share why I almost quit — and how a few small shifts helped me finally earn real money online through affiliate marketing.

💡 The Mistake I Made (That You Might Be Making Too)

I started my affiliate blog with excitement. I picked a domain, installed WordPress, bought a theme, and published 5 posts in a week. All about “top 10 tools” and “best ways to make money online.”

Guess what? Zero clicks. Zero commissions. No traffic.

Why? Because my content was generic, rushed, and written more for Google than for real people.

I didn’t even know who I was writing for. I just wanted to make money.

🚫 Why Most Affiliate Blogs Fail (My Honest List)

• ❌ Writing content with no clear audience
• ❌ Promoting products they’ve never used
• ❌ Stuffing keywords instead of telling stories
• ❌ Quitting too early (like after 10 posts)
• ❌ Not building trust before pushing links

I was guilty of all of the above.

🧭 The Shift That Changed Everything

In my third month, I stopped trying to sound like an “authority” and started sounding like... me.

I rewrote one of my blog posts as a story: “How I use Canva and ConvertKit to run my freelance workflow.” I included screenshots, my real routine, and exactly how I used each tool.

That one post got shared by a small email newsletter, and brought in 87 visitors.

From that, 6 people signed up for ConvertKit through my affiliate link. Two upgraded to paid.

I earned $102 in affiliate commissions.

🛠️ Tools That Helped Me Get There

• ConvertKit – the email tool I genuinely used (and still use)
• Canva – helped me create images that made my blog posts more personal
• AnswerThePublic – for finding real questions people ask (instead of guesswork)
• Quora – I repurposed my blog answers there for organic traffic

📈 What Worked Better Than SEO

For beginners, SEO takes time. You won’t rank tomorrow. What helped me early on was distribution:

• 💬 Sharing my post in a Canva Facebook group (since I was solving a Canva-related issue)
• 📨 Emailing the ConvertKit affiliate manager, who included my post in a roundup
• 🔁 Posting a shorter version on LinkedIn with a link to my blog

You don’t need 100,000 visits to make your first $100. You need the right 100 visitors.

🎯 What I’d Do Differently If I Started Over

1. Start with ONE product I actually use and love
2. Write one real, helpful story around it — not a listicle
3. Share it in communities where people already need it
4. Focus on getting feedback, not traffic

Affiliate marketing isn’t dead. It’s just bloated with bad advice. But if you build slowly and write like a human? You’ll stand out — even with 3 posts.

📚 Final Tip: Build Trust Before You Sell

Every commission I earned came from trust. Not fancy blog design. Not keyword tricks.

People bought because I showed them how I used the product — and why it worked for me.

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🔥 Want to try affiliate blogging the right way? Read: Start an Affiliate Blog That Earns (Without Selling Out)

Or check out: Best Affiliate Programs for New Bloggers in 2025