How to Make Money With Affiliate Marketing: The Things-To-Do YouTube Strategy

There are 3.5 million monthly searches across 51,000 keywords all pointing at one thing: people want to know what to do in the place they are visiting. Fort Smith, Arkansas. Some small town in Utah. A suburb you have never heard of. And the dominant travel sites are not covering any of them deeply. That gap is an affiliate marketing opportunity that requires no product, no warehouse, no ad budget, and — if you want — no face on camera.

This post walks through the exact strategy: how to find the keywords, how to build faceless YouTube videos around them using Google Maps screenshots, how to qualify for the YouTube Partner Program, and how to layer in Booking.com affiliate commissions on top. It is a full-time income path if you commit to the volume. Here is everything you need to start today.

What You’ll Walk Out With

A clear picture of the “things to do” keyword opportunity and why small cities are the sweet spot
The exact faceless YouTube format that is already pulling views with 418 subscribers
How to use Google Maps as your primary content tool — no expensive camera gear needed
The YouTube Partner Program path: 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours explained
How Booking.com’s affiliate program pays up to 40% commission on every referred booking
Why TripAdvisor’s coverage gaps are your opening — and which cities to target first
A step-by-step production plan you can start this weekend with free tools
Not sure what online income model fits your life right now? Take the two-minute quiz at finder.platformproof.com to find out.

The Keyword Opportunity: 3.5 Million Searches and Counting

Open Ahrefs and type in “things to do.” The data that comes back is startling: 3.5 million monthly searches spread across 51,000 keyword variations. This is not a niche — it is a category. People search “things to do in Fort Smith Arkansas,” “things to do in Murfreesboro Tennessee,” “things to do near St. George Utah,” thousands of times every month, and most of those searches land on thin listicles, outdated travel blogs, or TripAdvisor pages that only cover the most popular 20 percent of American cities.

The top result for “things to do in Fort Smith Arkansas” pulls around 5,000 monthly searches on its own. That is not a viral number, but it is consistent, predictable, and local-intent traffic. Local-intent traffic converts. Someone searching that phrase is planning a trip. They are already in buyer mode. They will click an affiliate link to book a hotel, a tour, or a flight if you give them a reason to trust your recommendation.

Big players like TripAdvisor dominate the major metros. They are not going to lose the “things to do in New York” battle anytime soon. But Fort Smith? Paducah, Kentucky? Wichita Falls, Texas? Those are open. A channel with 418 subscribers and a basic faceless video is already sitting in those results pulling real views. The opportunity is not gone — it is just waiting for someone willing to do the work in the cities that have not been claimed yet.

The Faceless YouTube Format That Is Already Working

Here is the part that surprises most people when they first see it: the videos that are ranking in this niche do not show anyone’s face. Some of them do not include a human voice at all. A channel with 25,000 subscribers has a video sitting at 6,800 views in this exact format. Another channel — 418 subscribers — has a video sitting at 761 views. Neither of them required a studio, a camera operator, or someone willing to be on screen.

The format is simpler than you think. Pull up Google Maps. Search for “things to do” in your target city. Screenshot the map. Use video editing software to slowly zoom in and out over each pin on the map, highlighting one attraction at a time. Add text overlays naming each location. Add background music. That is it. You are creating a visual guide to a city using publicly available map data and free or low-cost editing tools.

If you want to go a step further, record a voiceover describing each location — what it is, how long to spend there, who it is good for. That layer of commentary helps watch time and signals to YouTube’s algorithm that people are getting real value. But it is optional. The channels already in this space have proven that even a silent slideshow format can hold an audience long enough to monetize.

The key insight is that the viewer’s intent does the heavy lifting. Someone searching “things to do in Fort Smith Arkansas” wants exactly what you are delivering. You do not need to entertain them the way a lifestyle vlogger does. You need to inform them. That is a much lower production bar, and it is why this model is accessible to people who have never made a video before.

How to Build a Video Around a Single City

Pick a small city that has real search volume but thin competition. Use Ahrefs, Google Keyword Planner, or even free tools like Ubersuggest to check the keyword “things to do in [city name].” You are looking for 500 to 5,000 monthly searches with weak existing YouTube coverage — channels with under 10,000 subscribers ranking for that exact phrase are a green light.

Open Google Maps and search that city. Look at what comes up under “things to do” and “attractions.” Note the top 10 to 15 results. These become your video segments. For each attraction, capture a screenshot of its location on the map, find a few publicly available images (check the attraction’s official website or Google’s own photos), and write a two-to-three sentence description of what it is and why someone would want to visit.

Use video editing software — DaVinci Resolve is free, CapCut works on mobile, iMovie comes with every Mac — to stitch the screenshots together with slow pans and zooms. This Ken Burns effect on a static image is exactly what the existing successful videos in this niche use. Add royalty-free background music from YouTube Audio Library, also free. Export and upload.

Your title should match the search phrase exactly: “Things To Do In Fort Smith Arkansas.” Your description should include the same phrase naturally, list the attractions you covered, and include your Booking.com affiliate link with a call to action like “Book your stay here.” Chapters in the description help too — one chapter per attraction keeps watch time high as people jump to the section they care about most.

The YouTube Partner Program Path: What 1,000 and 4,000 Actually Mean

Before YouTube pays you through ad revenue, you have to qualify for the YouTube Partner Program. The thresholds are 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours within the past 12 months. Those numbers sound abstract at first, but when you map them to this niche they become manageable.

Watch hours are the faster path. A 10-minute video watched all the way through counts as 10 minutes toward your 4,000-hour requirement. 4,000 hours is 240,000 minutes. If your videos average 5 minutes of watch time per view and you get 48,000 total views, you are there. Spread across 50 city videos, that is under 1,000 views per video on average. With consistent keyword targeting in the format described above, that is a realistic 6-to-12-month goal for someone posting two to three videos per week.

Subscribers come slower. The channels already in this niche show that. A video at 6,800 views on a 25,000-subscriber channel means a lot of those subscribers came from volume — many videos adding up over time. The good news is that you do not need Partner Program status to earn affiliate commissions. Booking.com’s affiliate link works in your video description the moment you sign up. The YouTube Partner Program is additive income on top of what you are already building.

The Booking.com Affiliate Program: How the Commission Works

Booking.com operates one of the larger travel affiliate programs available to individual creators. You sign up through their affiliate partner program page, get approved, and receive a unique tracking link. When someone clicks your link and completes a booking — hotel, flight, rental car, or other travel product — you earn a commission.

The commission rate scales with volume. At the entry level, commissions come in at a lower percentage. At 501 or more confirmed bookings per month, the rate climbs to up to 40 percent of Booking.com’s net revenue from those bookings. Forty percent sounds like a headline number, but it is worth understanding what it is forty percent of: Booking.com’s commission from the property, which is typically 15 to 25 percent of the room rate. So a $150 hotel night where Booking.com earns $30 means you earn up to $12 at the 40% tier.

That math only makes sense at scale, which is the whole point of the small-city volume strategy. If you cover 100 cities and each video drives a modest 5 bookings per month, you are at 500 bookings — right at the threshold for the highest commission tier. The model rewards breadth. More cities, more searches, more affiliate clicks, higher tier.

Importantly, Booking.com covers a huge inventory. It is not just hotels — it includes apartments, guest houses, resorts, hostels, and unique stays. In small cities where major hotel chains are sparse, Booking.com often has listings that TripAdvisor or Hotels.com do not feature. That makes your recommendation useful even in the less-traveled cities you are targeting.

Not sure which online income model is right for your skills and schedule?

Take the two-minute quiz at finder.platformproof.com to find the approach that fits your actual situation — not a generic blueprint.

Why Small Cities Beat Big Cities for This Strategy

The video is explicit about this: big cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles are mentioned — but identified as places with too much competition. TripAdvisor, Lonely Planet, local tourism boards, and hundreds of YouTube channels already own those searches. You cannot out-SEO TripAdvisor for “things to do in Chicago” without a serious budget and years of authority building.

Small cities are different. Fort Smith, Arkansas sits at 5,000 monthly searches for its “things to do” keyword. The YouTube results for that city show channels with 418 subscribers ranking with 761 views. That tells you the competition is thin. A consistent new channel targeting that same keyword can rank within months, not years.

The strategy is to repeat this across dozens of underserved cities. Pick a state. Work through its mid-size and small cities systematically. Cover them all. The individual search volumes are modest, but when you have 80 videos each pulling 200 to 500 monthly views, the aggregate traffic adds up to something real — and each of those views is from someone with travel intent, the highest-converting intent you can target in affiliate marketing.

There is also a compounding effect over time. Travel search demand is tied to seasons but does not disappear. A video about Fort Smith, Arkansas published today will still be getting views in three years. It is not a trending topic that fades. People plan trips to small cities every weekend, every holiday, every family visit. Your videos become a passive search asset that earns while you sleep — or while you are making the next video.

A Step-by-Step Production Plan

Here is a practical workflow for taking one city from keyword to published video:

Find the city. Use a keyword tool to identify a city with 500 to 5,000 monthly searches for “things to do in [city].” Look for YouTube results dominated by channels under 10,000 subscribers.
Research the attractions. Open Google Maps, search the city, and note the top 10 to 15 attractions under “things to do.” Check each attraction’s official website for basic facts: hours, admission, what to expect.
Capture your assets. Screenshot the Google Maps view for each attraction location. Grab 1 to 2 publicly available photos per attraction from official tourism sites (confirm usage rights or use Google Maps street view captures).
Edit the video. In DaVinci Resolve, CapCut, or iMovie: sequence your screenshots, apply slow zooms, add text overlays with attraction names, layer royalty-free background music from YouTube Audio Library.
Write a voiceover (optional but recommended). A 30-to-60 second script per attraction, read naturally, adds real value and improves watch time. Record with your phone in a quiet room — audio quality matters more than video quality for this format.
Upload with an optimized title and description. Title: exact match keyword (“Things To Do In [City] [State]”). Description: keyword-rich, lists all attractions with chapter timestamps, includes Booking.com affiliate link with a natural call to action.
Repeat. Move to the next city. Aim for two to three uploads per week. Momentum compounds faster than any individual viral video.

Honest Drawbacks of This Model

It takes time. The YouTube Partner Program threshold is not a weekend project. For most people starting from zero, hitting 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours takes 6 to 18 months of consistent posting. During that window you are earning affiliate commissions only — no ad revenue. That is meaningful but unlikely to replace a full income on its own for the first year.

The Booking.com 40% commission tier requires 501 bookings per month. That is a meaningful scale. Early on, at lower volumes, your commission rate will be lower. The math still works over time, but be honest with yourself: this is a medium-term build, not a quick-flip income source.

The faceless format also has a ceiling on parasocial connection. Channels that build audiences around a personality grow faster than channels that are purely informational. If you ever want to accelerate subscriber growth, adding a face or a consistent host voice — even just audio — tends to help retention and subscription rates significantly.

Finally, travel affiliate income is seasonal. Summer and holiday periods drive more bookings. January in a non-winter-destination city is quiet. Plan your content calendar around when people actually travel to the cities you are covering, and build up a backlog of videos during slow seasons so you have inventory ready when search traffic spikes.

Find Your X

The “things to do” affiliate strategy is one model. It works. But it requires consistent video production volume and patience through the Partner Program ramp. That combination is right for some people and wrong for others. Before you commit weeks of effort to a model that does not fit your schedule, skills, or goals, spend two minutes finding a better match.

Take the quiz at finder.platformproof.com. Answer a few honest questions about your time, your existing skills, and what you are trying to earn — and get a recommendation built around your actual situation rather than what is trending on YouTube this week.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to visit the cities I make videos about?

No. The strategy uses publicly available Google Maps data, screenshots, and information from official city tourism websites. The existing channels in this niche are doing exactly that — you can see in the video that the content is Google Maps screenshots and publicly sourced images. That said, if you do visit a city, the authentic footage and personal knowledge will make a stronger video than the pure screenshot format.

How much does Booking.com actually pay at the entry level?

Booking.com’s affiliate program pays a percentage of their commission, which varies by property. At entry-level volumes (under 500 bookings per month), the rate is lower than the 40% maximum. Most affiliates starting out should expect somewhere in the 25% to 35% range of Booking.com’s own commission — meaning your actual cut of a room booking is a few dollars per confirmed stay. Volume is required to make this meaningful.

Can I use this strategy on platforms other than YouTube?

Yes. The same city-focused content works on a blog (target the same keywords through written posts), Pinterest (static maps and attraction images get significant travel-planning traffic), and TikTok or Instagram Reels (short clips of each attraction with a link in bio). YouTube has the advantage of search-driven, long-shelf-life traffic and the Partner Program ad revenue layer. But multi-platform distribution amplifies the same content investment.

What video editing software is best for a beginner with no budget?

DaVinci Resolve is free, professional-grade, and handles the simple pan-and-zoom on screenshots that this format requires. CapCut is free and works on both mobile and desktop — it has templates that make this type of content faster to produce. If you are on a Mac, iMovie is already installed and perfectly capable for this format. Start with what you have and upgrade only when you have outgrown it.

Is there a risk of running out of cities to cover?

Not in any practical sense. The US alone has thousands of cities and towns. The international market — “things to do in [city] France,” “things to do in [city] Canada” — multiplies that several times over. The challenge is not supply of topics; it is the consistent discipline to keep producing content across all of them. Most channels in this niche stop long before running out of cities to cover.

How long does it typically take to get the first Booking.com affiliate commission?

That depends on when you start getting traffic to your affiliate link. If your first video ranks within its first 90 days and gets 200 to 300 views from people with genuine travel intent, you can see a first commission within the first month. Booking.com typically pays out about 30 to 60 days after a confirmed stay. A realistic expectation for the first commission is 60 to 90 days from posting your first optimized video, assuming you are targeting low-competition city keywords.

What if my city keyword has almost no search volume?

Skip it and find a city with at least 500 monthly searches for the exact phrase. Below that threshold, the traffic is too thin to build meaningful affiliate income even with a top ranking. Use your keyword tool to build a list of 50 to 100 cities sorted by search volume, and work through them highest to lowest. Once you have covered the higher-volume cities, the lower-volume ones become worth doing as filler to round out your content library.

Does YouTube penalize faceless channels or limit their growth?

YouTube does not penalize faceless channels. The platform’s algorithm cares about watch time, click-through rate, and viewer satisfaction — all of which a well-made informational video can achieve regardless of whether a face appears on camera. The 25,000-subscriber channel and the 418-subscriber channel referenced in the video are both faceless and both appear in YouTube search results. The format is valid; the question is always execution quality and consistency.

Sources

Ahrefs keyword data shown in the video: “things to do” keyword cluster, 3.5 million monthly searches, 51,000 keywords
YouTube search results referenced in video: “things to do in fort smith arkansas” — top result 6,800 views, 25,000 subscribers; second result 761 views, 418 subscribers
YouTube Partner Program requirements: 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours (youtube.com/creators)
Booking.com Affiliate Partner Program — up to 40% commission at 501+ confirmed bookings per month (partner.booking.com)
Google Maps as a public data source for location and attraction research (maps.google.com)
DaVinci Resolve (free video editor): blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve