What Is Affiliate Marketing and How Do You Start in 2026?
How the money actually works, how to recommend honestly, and the mistakes that get accounts closed.
About this build
I've earned a living from affiliate income for years, so this is the version with the numbers and the awkward parts left in.
How the money works, how to recommend things without losing people's trust, and the mistakes that get accounts closed.
What you'll be able to do afterwards
- Understand how affiliate income actually works
- Find programmes worth joining
- Recommend honestly and still earn
- Disclose properly, everywhere it's required
- Track what converts without drowning in analytics
Before you start
- A site or channel with an audience, however small
- Products you genuinely use
WordPressGoogle AnalyticsOmnisend
Only link to things you'd recommend for free
It's not just ethics — it's the business model. One bad recommendation costs more trust than a year of commissions is worth, and trust is the only reason anyone clicks your link.
Chapters
- 0:00
How the money works
Cookies, attribution and payout terms.
- 11:30
Finding programmes
Where to look, and what to avoid.
- 26:00
Recommending honestly
The rule I don't break.
- 42:20
Disclosure
What's required, and where it goes.
- 56:00
Tracking
Links, UTMs and the numbers worth reading.
- 1:18:40
Getting banned
The behaviours that end accounts.
Terms explained in the Knowledge Base
Watch next
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One email a week. The thing I'd tell you over coffee.
What changed in WordPress and AI that week, what I'd actually use, and what I'd ignore. Written by me, not summarised by a tool.
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- Honest verdicts on tools — including the ones I dropped
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