How To Use ChatGPT For Affiliate Marketing

Finding affiliate programs used to eat up an entire afternoon. You would open fifteen browser tabs, skim dozens of blog posts, and still walk away unsure whether Nike actually has an affiliate program or whether the Peloton one is still active. ChatGPT cuts that research time down from hours to minutes, and in this video walkthrough, Alston shows exactly how he did it for a basketball and home fitness niche he was building out.

This post breaks down every step from the video so you can repeat it for any niche you are in right now. By the end you will know how to pull affiliate program lists, how to keep the model generating more results when the first batch runs dry, and how to write the affiliate application business plan that actually gets you approved. These are not theoretical tactics. Alston demonstrated every single one of these live on screen in under an hour.

What You’ll Walk Out With

A repeatable ChatGPT prompt structure for finding niche-specific affiliate programs in under five minutes
The exact “keep going” command that gets ChatGPT to surface more programs when the list stalls
Real program names uncovered live in the video: Nike, Under Armour, Adidas, Sports Authority, Amazon, Beachbody, MyProtein, Perform Better, NordicTrack, Bowflex, Peloton, and more
A ChatGPT prompt for writing an affiliate marketing business plan that increases your approval odds
An understanding of why ChatGPT pulls from your conversation history and how to use that to your advantage
The honest limits of this workflow and what you still have to verify yourself
A free tool at finder.platformproof.com that matches your existing skills to the right online income path so you know which niche to research first

Why ChatGPT Changes Affiliate Research

Before ChatGPT, finding affiliate programs in a specific niche meant typing queries like “basketball affiliate program” into Google and then reading through blog post after blog post, many of which were outdated or designed to rank rather than actually help. You might spend two or three hours and still not have a clean list of five programs you could confidently apply to.

ChatGPT changes that because it can process a conversational request, return a formatted list, and then continue building on that list when you ask it to. Alston described it this way in the video: things that would have taken days to figure out are now taking maybe an hour or two hours. That compression in research time is the actual opportunity here.

There is also something more subtle happening. ChatGPT remembers your conversation history within a session. So when Alston had already told it he was focused on basketball and fitness, and then asked it to write a Nike affiliate program business plan, it already knew the context. It referenced the basketball and fitness focus automatically. That is not magic, it is just the model doing what it is designed to do, but it means your prompts compound on each other instead of starting from zero every time.

Step 1: Lock In Your Niche Before You Open ChatGPT

Alston makes a point in the video that is easy to skip past. He had already done niche research in a previous session before using ChatGPT to find programs. He had landed on basketball and fitness as his niche, and then narrowed it further to basketball nutrition and home fitness as two sub-angles to work with.

The reason that matters is that ChatGPT returns better results when your prompt is specific. “Basketball fitness affiliate programs” produces a more useful list than “fitness affiliate programs,” which produces a more useful list than just “affiliate programs.” The model mirrors the specificity you give it. If you walk in with a vague niche, you walk out with a vague list.

If you have not landed on a niche yet, that is the real first step. Alston’s recommendation throughout his content is to match your niche to skills you already have rather than chasing whatever trend seems hot. A niche built on existing knowledge is one you can write about, talk about, and promote honestly without burning out in three months.

Step 2: Ask ChatGPT to Find Affiliate Programs for Your Niche

Once you have your niche, the prompt is straightforward. In the video, Alston typed: basketball fitness affiliate programs. That is the full prompt. No preamble, no lengthy instructions. ChatGPT returned a list that included:

Nike (shoes, apparel, gear)
Under Armour
Adidas
Sports Authority
Amazon (broad fitness equipment)
eBay
Athletic Gear
Beachbody

Alston noted that True Socks came up too, a company that makes socks specifically designed to improve traction and stability. That is the kind of niche product you might not have found in a typical Google search, but it sits perfectly inside the basketball fitness niche.

He then ran the same process for home fitness, typing: find home fitness affiliate programs. That batch returned Beachbody again (which appeared in both niches), Amazon for treadmills and exercise equipment, Peloton, NordicTrack, and Bowflex. Alston flagged that you would want to verify Peloton’s affiliate program is still active before applying, since affiliate programs do go inactive, but the point is that ChatGPT got him to a full list of candidates in minutes rather than hours.

Step 3: Use “Keep Going” When the List Runs Out

This is the practical trick that separates people who get five programs from people who get fifteen. When ChatGPT’s first batch of results starts repeating itself or runs short, you type two words: keep going.

Alston demonstrated this live in the video. After the initial basketball fitness list, he typed “keep going” and ChatGPT surfaced a second wave that included MyProtein, Perform Better, Fitness Blender, FlexFit, and Power Dot. Those are real programs with real affiliate structures, and none of them showed up in the first batch.

He did this twice in the video and noted that you can repeat it until the results truly start looping. At that point you probably have enough programs to work with. The goal from the video is to find at least five affiliate programs because that variety is what makes the email marketing strategy viable. When you have multiple programs in the same niche, you can rotate offers in your broadcast emails and dramatically increase the revenue per subscriber.

Why You Need at Least Five Programs

Alston is specific about this number and he explains why in the video. The monetization model he teaches is email marketing to a list of subscribers in your niche. When you promote affiliate products through email, you are not relying on one program to carry all your revenue. You have five programs you can rotate through, match to different subscriber segments, and test against each other over time.

More programs in your email sequence also mean more chances to match the right product to the right reader. One subscriber might respond to a Nike shoe email. Another might respond to a NordicTrack equipment email. With only one or two programs, you leave a lot of potential revenue on the table because you are only showing people one option. With five or more, you are covering more of the niche’s buying patterns.

The email marketing piece comes after the affiliate programs are secured. Alston mentions at the end of the video that the next step in his course covers landing pages, lead magnets, autoresponders, and broadcast emails. The program research done in this video is the foundation all of that sits on.

Step 4: Write Your Affiliate Application Business Plan With ChatGPT

Finding programs is only half of the work. Many affiliate programs, especially the larger ones like Nike, require you to submit a business plan or promotional strategy when you apply. This is where most beginners either give up or submit something so thin it gets rejected automatically.

ChatGPT handles this step too. Alston typed: write an affiliate marketing business plan to join the Nike affiliate program. What ChatGPT returned was a full sample plan that referenced the basketball fitness niche he had been building throughout the conversation. It mentioned his social media following, his website focus on basketball fitness and training, and how he planned to promote Nike’s line of basketball shoes, apparel, and gear.

The part Alston highlighted as “incredibly sick” is worth understanding. ChatGPT did not ask him to re-explain his niche or re-describe his audience. It already knew from the previous prompts in the session. That context retention is the reason it returned a coherent plan that actually matched his situation instead of a generic template that could apply to anyone.

He also made a critical point about honesty in that plan. You cannot inflate your audience numbers or claim a platform following you do not have. Affiliate programs verify this information. If you say you have a million followers and your Instagram has three hundred, the application gets rejected and you burn the relationship. The right move is to read through the ChatGPT draft, edit it to match your actual numbers and actual plan, and then submit it as a document that represents what you can genuinely deliver.

Not sure which niche or income model fits your current skills?

Answer a few questions and get a clear recommendation at finder.platformproof.com.

How to Actually Submit the Business Plan

Once you have the ChatGPT draft, the process is straightforward. Read it fully and replace any details that do not match your situation. Adjust the follower counts, platform names, and promotional approach to reflect what you actually do or plan to do. Then copy the edited plan and paste it into the affiliate application where it asks how you plan to promote the product.

Most major affiliate programs run through networks like ShareASale, Impact, CJ Affiliate, or their own in-house portals. The Nike affiliate program, for example, runs through one of these networks. When you find the program on the network, look for the application form and the field that asks about promotional strategy. That is where the business plan goes.

You do not need to write a ten-page document. The ChatGPT output Alston showed in the video was a few paragraphs. It covered who he is, what his audience looks like, what platforms he uses, and how he plans to promote the product ethically. That is the structure. Keep it honest and specific to your situation and your approval rate will go up significantly.

The Time Savings Are Real, But the Work Still Exists

Alston ran through all of this in about half an hour of screen time. He found programs for two sub-niches, ran the “keep going” command multiple times, and wrote a Nike business plan, all in a single ChatGPT session. He described it as “cooking.”

But it is worth being clear about what ChatGPT did not do. It did not apply to any programs for him. It did not verify that every program it listed is still active or has competitive commission rates. It did not build the email list or write the promotional emails. Those are still on you. ChatGPT accelerated the research and documentation phase. The execution phase is still manual.

The honest picture is that this workflow takes an afternoon of setup to get right. You need a niche, a ChatGPT account, a plan for how you will promote the products, and time to actually go apply to each program. What you do not need anymore is three days of Google searches just to figure out which programs exist.

Honest Drawbacks of This Approach

ChatGPT’s information can be outdated. Affiliate programs go inactive, change their commission structures, or close their doors entirely. Peloton is a good example. Alston mentioned it in the video but noted you would need to verify whether the program is still running. Always check the current status before investing time in an application.
The business plan still needs your real numbers. ChatGPT writes a template. If your actual audience is small, acknowledge that honestly and emphasize the quality of your content and the engagement rate instead of fabricating scale you do not have yet.
Getting approved is not guaranteed. Some programs are selective regardless of how well-written your application is. If you get rejected, revise the plan, build more of an audience, and apply again in three to six months.
This is step two, not step one. None of this works without a niche already defined. If you skip the niche research phase, ChatGPT returns generic lists and your application business plan reads like it was written for someone else’s business.

The Full Workflow in Order

Here is the complete sequence Alston walks through in this video series, so you can see where this step fits in the larger picture:

Step 1: Use ChatGPT to brainstorm niche ideas and narrow down to a specific sub-niche (covered in the previous video)
Step 2: Use ChatGPT to find at least five affiliate programs in that niche (this video)
Step 3: Use ChatGPT to write business plans for the programs you want to apply to (this video)
Step 4: Apply to each program and wait for approval
Step 5: Set up a landing page and lead magnet to start building an email list in your niche (next video in the series)
Step 6: Build an autoresponder sequence and start sending broadcast emails to promote your affiliate programs

Alston covers all of this inside his House of Affiliates program, which includes a dedicated one-hour training module on using ChatGPT across the entire affiliate marketing process. The program was priced at seven dollars per month at the time of the video.

Find Your X

The fastest way to find the right affiliate niche is to start with what you already know. If you have a background in fitness, basketball, nutrition, home improvement, personal finance, or anything else, that knowledge is a head start on your competition. The question is which specific skill translates best into an online income model right now. The Platform Proof Finder at finder.platformproof.com helps you answer that in a few minutes by matching your current skills to the income paths most likely to pay off quickly. Free to use, no email required.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use ChatGPT to find affiliate programs in any niche?

Yes. The prompt structure in the video works for any niche. Just replace “basketball fitness” with your niche and ask ChatGPT for affiliate programs. Use the “keep going” command to surface more results. More specific niches tend to return more useful lists because the model can match programs to the exact topic instead of returning generic options.

Do I need to pay for ChatGPT to use this method?

The free version of ChatGPT (GPT-3.5 or the current free tier) can handle these prompts. Alston used ChatGPT in this video without specifying a paid plan. If you are doing heavy research across long sessions, the paid version is faster and handles longer context windows, but you do not need it to get started with affiliate program research.

How many affiliate programs should I actually apply to?

Alston recommends finding at least five. The reason is email marketing math: more programs mean more offers to rotate through your list, which gives more subscribers a reason to buy. In practice, you may only get approved for two or three initially. Apply to five or more so that if some reject you, you still have enough approved programs to start building your email campaign.

What if I do not have a large social media following when I apply?

Be honest in the application. Affiliate programs verify follower counts and website traffic. If you inflate numbers and get caught, you lose the relationship permanently. Instead, focus the business plan on the quality and specificity of your content, your commitment to honest promotion, and any early engagement metrics you have. Some programs are willing to approve smaller creators who show genuine focus on the niche.

Are all the programs ChatGPT lists still active?

Not necessarily. ChatGPT’s training data has a cutoff date and affiliate programs change. Peloton’s affiliate program, for example, has had gaps in availability. Always visit the affiliate network the program uses (ShareASale, Impact, CJ Affiliate, or the brand’s own affiliate portal) and confirm the program is currently accepting applications before investing time in a business plan.

What does “keeping context” in ChatGPT actually mean for this workflow?

Within a single ChatGPT conversation, the model remembers everything you have discussed. So if you spent the first ten minutes telling it about your basketball fitness niche and then asked it to write a Nike business plan, it already knows your niche without you repeating it. That is what Alston meant when he said ChatGPT “looks backwards.” It incorporated previous answers into the business plan automatically. This only works within one session. If you start a new conversation, you need to re-establish context.

What comes after getting approved for affiliate programs?

Alston outlines the next step at the end of the video: building a landing page, creating a lead magnet to attract subscribers, setting up an autoresponder email sequence, and then sending broadcast emails to promote the affiliate products. The goal is an email list in your niche that you can monetize repeatedly. He covers all of this in the House of Affiliates program.

Is the House of Affiliates program still available?

At the time of this video, Alston’s House of Affiliates program was priced at seven dollars per month and included a dedicated one-hour ChatGPT training. For current pricing and availability, check alstongodbolt.com directly since program offerings and prices change over time.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “How To Use ChatGPT For Affiliate Marketing | Make Money Online in 2023” at youtu.be/FgpYtJW4YNA
Nike affiliate program, available through affiliate networks including Impact
Under Armour, Adidas, Beachbody, MyProtein, Perform Better, NordicTrack, Bowflex, Peloton: verify current affiliate program status on each brand’s website or on ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, or Impact
House of Affiliates program at alstongodbolt.com/start (pricing subject to change)

Helping 1 million working adults make their first $3,000 online with the skills they already have. Alston Godbolt, Platform Proof.