People keep asking whether a blog can still earn affiliate commissions in 2023 and beyond. It’s a fair question. The internet is crowded, competition feels brutal, and every guru is telling you to chase TikTok followers instead. But what if the answer was sitting in plain sight, in six real websites you can look up right now?
That’s exactly what we’re doing here. These are six actual blogs, small to medium-sized, covering niches from German Shepherds to mattresses, that are generating real traffic and real affiliate income. We’re going to look at each one, pull the traffic numbers, and reverse-engineer what they’re doing right, so you can model it yourself.
What You’ll Walk Out With
- Real traffic numbers for six actual affiliate blogs (not hypothetical case studies)
- How Tom’s Guide grew to 13 million monthly visitors starting from simple tech reviews
- Why TheGermanShepherd.com earns $3,000 to $4,000/month on a $7 product
- The “best X for Y” keyword formula BabyGearLab uses to pull 188,000 visitors per month
- How The Appliance Analyst built traffic from zero since February 2017 with boring, low-competition topics
- Why Sleepopolis chose mattresses, one of the dullest niches imaginable, and why it prints money
- The one decision every successful blog in this list made first (and why most beginners skip it)
- Not sure which niche fits your skills? Take the free quiz at finder.platformproof.com to find your match.
Site 1: Tom’s Guide, 13 Million Visitors Per Month
Tom’s Guide sits on the larger end of this list, but it started exactly where you’re starting: a single person writing tech reviews. Over time it niched up, expanding from focused product coverage into broader tech news, PlayStation 5 comparisons, TV buying guides, and more. Today it generates roughly 13 million visitors per month with a traffic value estimated at $9.8 million.
That traffic value is not the same as affiliate income. Conservatively, Alston estimates about 10 percent of that figure flows through as actual affiliate commissions, which is still a significant number. The lesson here isn’t scale, because most of us aren’t building a 13-million-visitor machine in year one. The lesson is the pattern: start with a tight, specific niche, build an audience there, and then expand outward once the traffic gives you permission to do so.
Tom’s Guide also proves that consistency over years, not viral posts over weeks, is what compounds into serious income. It kept publishing, kept ranking, and the traffic grew alongside the catalog. That model is fully available to anyone willing to stay in the game.
Site 2: TheGermanShepherd.com, $3,000 to $4,000 Per Month on a $7 Product
This one is the most instructive example in the entire video. TheGermanShepherd.com started writing about one specific dog breed, a sub-niche inside the dog niche, which is itself a sub-niche inside the pet niche. It didn’t try to cover all dogs, all pets, all animals. It picked German Shepherds and went deep.
Alston stumbled onto this site after searching “how much does a German Shepherd weigh.” The answer that came up was this blog. That’s exactly how content SEO works: you write the answer, Google serves it to the searcher, and the searcher lands on a page where your affiliate links live.
The site earns commissions through Amazon Associates and also promotes ClickBank products like Brain Training for Dogs. Across their content, affiliate links appear in articles about the best dog toys, nutrition, and pet care, commissions sprinkled throughout every relevant post. The site gets roughly 6,600 visitors per month, which might sound modest.
Here’s where the math gets interesting. One of their most recommended products costs $7. The Amazon commission on $7 is around 25 cents. But 25 cents multiplied across 600 purchases in a month is $150 from a single product. Scale that across dozens of recommended products and an estimated $3,000 to $4,000 per month becomes completely believable. Volume matters more than commission percentage when you’re consistent with content.
Site 3: BabyGearLab, 188,000 Visitors and Over $10,000 Per Month
BabyGearLab operates in the baby niche, which Alston rightly calls evergreen: there are always new parents searching for the same products. The front page is almost entirely “best X for Y” content: best baby gifts, best strollers, best high chairs, best travel cribs, best bike trailers for kids.
That keyword formula is not an accident. “Best [product] for [situation]” captures buyers who already have a problem and are looking for a specific solution. They’re not browsing. They’re ready to act. Affiliate links placed in those posts convert at significantly higher rates than informational content.
BabyGearLab pulls 188,000 visitors per month. The traffic value, meaning what it would cost to buy that same traffic through ads, sits at $118,000 per month. Alston’s estimate is that they’re earning well over $10,000 every month from affiliate commissions, with individual product prices ranging from a few dollars to premium baby gear.
The keyword research behind this site is worth studying. “Best overnight diapers” gets 2,500 searches per month with a competition score of just 11. “Baby walker” pulls 66,000 monthly searches at a keyword difficulty of 9. Low competition, high volume. That combination is exactly what beginners should be hunting, not the high-difficulty head terms that established brands dominate.
Site 4: ThisIsWhyImBroke.com, 365,000 Visitors on Pure Simplicity
Alston couldn’t show much of the actual content from ThisIsWhyImBroke.com in the video due to YouTube’s content guidelines, but the keyword data tells the whole story. This site writes about everyday things, gag gifts, quirky toys, things people share with their friends. All of the keywords it ranks for are low competition with high search volume.
One example: “90s toys” gets 13,000 monthly searches at a keyword difficulty of 14. That is not a hard keyword to target. The site generates 365,000 visitors per month on that kind of writing, with a traffic value of $150,000. Every article stays basic and simple, not overengineered, not stuffed with technical analysis. Just straightforward answers to things people are actually searching for.
The bigger point Alston draws from this site applies to every aspiring blogger: the people who struggle online are the ones overcomplicating it. They try to write comprehensive 10,000-word authoritative guides on competitive topics when the opportunity is actually in the plain, simple, everyday searches nobody else is bothering to answer well. Simple beats clever. Consistent beats viral.
Not sure which niche to write about?
Take the free quiz at finder.platformproof.com to find the income path that fits the skills you already have.
Site 5: The Appliance Analyst, 36,000 Visitors Starting From February 2017
The Appliance Analyst is the most useful example for anyone who worries about starting late. Alston includes it specifically to counter the objection that all the big affiliate sites are “old” and impossible to compete with. The Appliance Analyst first appeared in organic search data in February 2017. It is not an ancient authority site. It is a normal blog that started writing about home appliances and kept going.
The content model is clever in its simplicity. Instead of only writing product comparisons, they write troubleshooting articles. “Electric grill not heating up: four possible fixes.” “Grow keep clicking: here’s why and how to fix it.” When a person has a broken appliance, they search for help. When the article explains the fix, it naturally recommends the tools or replacement parts needed, each linked through an affiliate program. Problem-solving content drives affiliate revenue without ever feeling like a sales pitch.
The numbers: 95,000 keywords ranked, 36,000 visitors per month, traffic value of $21,000. Some of the keywords they rank for are accidental, ancillary terms they weren’t even targeting. “Oven smells like burning plastic” gets 350 searches per month at a keyword difficulty of just 1. “Lowe’s appliances” pulls 26,000 monthly searches at a difficulty of 19. Neither is impossible for a brand-new blog to target. The Ahrefs domain rank isn’t impressive, Alston notes, but it doesn’t need to be. Traffic from low-competition keywords converts to affiliate revenue regardless of domain authority.
Site 6: Sleepopolis, High-Ticket Commissions on the World’s Most Boring Product
Sleepopolis chose mattresses. Not the most exciting category. Nobody wakes up thinking “I can’t wait to read mattress reviews today.” But that’s exactly the point. Boring equals low competition. Low competition equals easier rankings. Easier rankings equal consistent traffic. Consistent traffic on a high-ticket product equals serious commissions.
Here’s the math Alston walks through in the video. A mattress on Sleepopolis’s affiliate pages runs between $699 and $2,000. The affiliate commission rate is around 10 percent. On a $699 mattress that’s almost $70 from a single click-through. On a $2,000 mattress, that’s $200. Compare that to the $0.25 you’d earn from a $7 dog toy on Amazon.
High-ticket affiliate niches change the economics of blogging entirely. You don’t need 365,000 visitors per month to earn meaningful income when your average commission is $70 to $200. Sleepopolis also embeds YouTube videos in its posts, which increases time-on-page and builds trust before the reader clicks through to purchase. Alston calls out this site as a brand-new example, proof that you don’t need years of history to enter a niche and start ranking.
The Patterns Every Winning Blog Shares
Six different niches. Six different traffic levels. Six different commission structures. But every single site on this list follows the same underlying playbook. Here’s what they have in common:
- They started niched down. Not “fitness,” but “German Shepherds.” Not “home,” but “mattresses.” The narrower the starting point, the faster the initial rankings come. You expand later after the traffic gives you permission.
- They targeted low-competition keywords. Baby walker at a difficulty of 9. Oven smells like burning plastic at a difficulty of 1. 90s toys at a difficulty of 14. None of these require authority or backlinks. They just require a well-written article.
- They published consistently, for years. Tom’s Guide, BabyGearLab, The Appliance Analyst, all of them built their traffic by showing up repeatedly over a long timeline, not by publishing one great article and waiting.
- They matched product type to traffic volume. Low-ticket products like $7 dog toys require high volume to be profitable. High-ticket products like $2,000 mattresses require far fewer conversions. Pick a commission model that fits the realistic traffic you can build.
- They kept it simple. No gimmicks, no viral strategies. Just search-optimized answers to questions real people are typing into Google.
Real Numbers at a Glance
Here’s the side-by-side view of all six sites pulled directly from the video:
- Tom’s Guide: Tech niche, 13,000,000 visitors/month, traffic value $9.8M, est. 10% in affiliate commissions
- TheGermanShepherd.com: Dog sub-niche, 6,600 visitors/month, estimated $3,000 to $4,000/month (Amazon + ClickBank)
- BabyGearLab.com: Baby niche, 188,000 visitors/month, traffic value $118,000/month, estimated $10,000+/month
- ThisIsWhyImBroke.com: Gag gifts/everyday niche, 365,000 visitors/month, traffic value $150,000/month
- The Appliance Analyst: Home appliances, 36,000 visitors/month, traffic value $21,000/month, started February 2017
- Sleepopolis: Mattress niche, brand new, $70 to $200 per commission at 10% on $699 to $2,000 mattresses
How to Choose Your Starting Niche
The most common mistake beginners make is picking a niche based on what they think will make the most money, without checking whether they can actually compete in it. The sites in this video didn’t start at the top. They picked entry points where the competition was thin and the questions were real.
Alston’s framework for picking your niche comes down to a few questions. First, is there something you already know, do, or buy regularly that other people also do? Everybody sleeps, so mattresses work. Plenty of people own German Shepherds, so that dog niche works. Second, can you find keywords in that space with search volume above 500 and a difficulty score below 20? If yes, you have an entry point. Third, is there at least one affiliate program, Amazon, ClickBank, ShareASale, or a direct brand program, that covers that niche? If all three are yes, you have a viable starting point.
You don’t need a perfect niche. You need a specific enough niche that you can rank for something within the first six months. Once traffic starts arriving, you’ll know whether to double down or pivot. The blogs in this video all did exactly that: they started specific, watched what ranked, kept publishing what worked, and grew from there.
Find Your X
The six sites in this video cover tech, dogs, baby gear, gag gifts, appliances, and mattresses. What they don’t cover is you. The niche that fits your life, the things you already know, the audience you’re already a part of, might be something none of them has touched. Finding that specific match is the first real work of building an affiliate blog that lasts. Take the free quiz at finder.platformproof.com to figure out which online income model fits the skills and knowledge you already have, before you spend months writing in the wrong direction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a brand new blog still make affiliate commissions in 2023?
Yes. Sleepopolis is described in the video as a “really really brand new website” that was already ranking and generating affiliate income on mattresses. The key is targeting low-competition keywords from day one rather than competing head-to-head with established sites on high-difficulty terms.
How long does it take to see traffic from a new affiliate blog?
Most SEO professionals expect a new site to start showing meaningful organic traffic between 6 and 12 months after publishing consistently. The Appliance Analyst first appeared in organic search data in February 2017 and grew gradually from there. Consistency over time, not any single post, is what drives the compound effect.
Do you need a large audience to make money with affiliate marketing through a blog?
No. TheGermanShepherd.com earns an estimated $3,000 to $4,000 per month with only 6,600 visitors per month. The math works because of volume: 25 cents in commission multiplied across 600 clicks in a month on a single product adds up. Targeted traffic from people searching for exactly what you’re recommending converts better than large but untargeted audiences.
What affiliate programs do these websites use?
From the video: TheGermanShepherd.com uses Amazon Associates and ClickBank (specifically for Brain Training for Dogs). BabyGearLab uses Amazon Associates. Sleepopolis uses direct mattress brand affiliate programs. Most niches have both Amazon Associates as a baseline plus one or more direct brand or ClickBank programs with higher commission rates.
What does “traffic value” mean and is it the same as affiliate income?
No, traffic value is different from affiliate income. Traffic value is what it would cost to buy the same volume of visitors through paid advertising. Alston specifically calls this out in the video: BabyGearLab has a traffic value of $118,000 per month, but that’s not what they’re earning. Their actual affiliate commissions are estimated at over $10,000 per month, which is still substantial but not the same figure.
What keyword difficulty should a beginner target?
Based on the examples in the video, below 20 is a reasonable starting target. “Baby walker” ranks at keyword difficulty 9 with 66,000 monthly searches. “Oven smells like burning plastic” ranks at keyword difficulty 1 with 350 monthly searches. “90s toys” sits at difficulty 14 with 13,000 monthly searches. Even low-traffic, ultra-low-difficulty keywords accumulate into meaningful traffic when you publish dozens of them.
Should I pick a niche I’m passionate about or one that’s profitable?
Alston’s framing in the video is “think about things that you do all day.” That’s the bridge between passion and profit. Everybody sleeps. Plenty of people own German Shepherds. Parents always need baby gear. The best starting point is something you already engage with, not something you’re faking interest in and not something so obscure no one else searches for it. Profitability comes from search volume and affiliate availability. Sustainability comes from genuine familiarity with the subject.
How do I know if my niche has enough affiliate opportunities?
Search Amazon for products in your niche. If Amazon sells them, there’s an Associates opportunity. Then check ClickBank’s marketplace for digital products in the same space. Finally, search “[niche] affiliate program” to find direct brand programs. If you can find at least two of those three, the niche has enough affiliate infrastructure to support a blog. BabyGearLab, TheGermanShepherd.com, and Sleepopolis all use this kind of mixed approach: one primary platform plus brand-specific programs.
Read Next
If affiliate marketing blogging interests you, the next step is understanding exactly how to set up that blog, choose a hosting provider, and write your first posts. Alston covers the full setup process in another post on this site.
For a related deep dive on using AI tools to speed up affiliate content production, read ChatGPT Affiliate Marketing Prompts on this site.
Sources
- Tom’s Guide: tomsguide.com
- The German Shepherd: thegermanshepherd.com
- BabyGearLab: babygearlab.com
- This Is Why I’m Broke: thisiswhyimbroke.com
- The Appliance Analyst: applianceanalyst.com
- Sleepopolis: sleepopolis.com
- Traffic and keyword data sourced from Ahrefs at time of video recording (2023)
Helping 1 million working adults make their first $3,000 online with the skills they already have. Alston Godbolt, Platform Proof.