[Journey] From Content Writer to Amazon Affiliate Earner - $1.1K/Month and Growing

Hello everybody,

Finally decided to document my journey as an Amazon Associates affiliate and share everything openly: the wins, the struggles, the numbers, the strategy, and the mindset behind building consistent monthly passive income.

I’ve been quietly working on this for a while, and the results are finally taking shape. So this will be my official journey thread. Hopefully it adds value for anyone trying to make real money with affiliate websites, especially in 2025.

I come from a content writing background with over 12 years of experience in digital marketing. I’ve written and managed content for dozens of niches: outdoors, tools, camping, pets, equestrian, automotive, gardening, home DIY, kitchen, and more.

During this time, I noticed one pattern:

• Good content drives traffic. Excellent content drives commissions.

After years of writing for clients, I finally decided to build my own online assets specifically, Amazon Associates affiliate websites. That’s what this journey is all about.

What Am I Doing?

I outsource the creation of Amazon affiliate sites targeting low-competition, long-tail buyer intent keywords.

My process:

• Keyword Research

I target keywords like “best ___ for ___” that have low competition but clear purchase intent.

• Content Production

I outsource structured buyer guides. Most sites end up with 60 to 100 AI-assisted articles. Sometimes I even outsource complete websites for affordable prices.

• SEO

I just let the articles index naturally.

• Ranking Phase

Let Google do its thing. Then I update articles based on Search Console impressions and CTR.

• Monetization

Amazon Associates, guest posts, sponsored listings, and eventually site flipping

I’m currently running multiple sites. Outsourcing the websites and letting them index naturally.

I then keep the ones performing well and sell the underperforming sites to clean my portfolio.

Here are the real numbers from my Amazon Associates dashboard:​

Month 1 (June 2025):​

$46.62

Month 2 (July 2025):​

$181.27 + $200 Creator Rewards Bonus = $381.27

Month 3 (August 2025)​

$249.41 + $160 Creator Rewards Bonus = $409.41

Month 4 (September 2025)​

$390.84 + $160 Creator Rewards Bonus = $550.84

Month 5 (October 2025)​

$602.36 + $560 Creator Rewards Bonus = $1162.36

Month 6 (November 2025 so far)​

$163.16 (Creator Rewards Bonus comes at the end of the month)



I will keep updating the stats every month inside this thread with screenshots, breakdowns, and notes.

Most traffic is coming organically from Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo.

• Low competition articles rank fastest
• Buyer guides bring the money
• Info articles support topical authority

I didn’t build backlinks yet, the growth is 100% white hat and content-driven.

Short-Term Goals (Next 60 Days)​

• Hit $1500/month from Amazon
• Publish a lot of article
• Improve site speed + Core Web Vitals
• Add comparison tables to all buyer guides

Medium-Term Goals (Next 6 Months)​

• Hit $3,000/month affiliate earnings
• Add Ads (Ezoic / Mediavine later)
• Start social media support (Pinterest & Facebook)

Long-Term Goal (12 Months+)​

• Flip the sites for $100k+
  OR
• Keep it and push toward $5k/month consistently

I haven’t decided yet, depends how fast the growth compounds.

This is the start of my Amazon Associates growth journey.
I’m going to push this site as far as I can and document every step for the next year.

Feel free to ask questions. I’ll try to answer everything.

Thanks for following along, let’s make this a good one.
Journey officially started.

what about the Domains?

how much do you spend?

javadth said:

what about the Domains?

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I buy expired domains.

DropVS said:

how much do you spend?

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Around $150-$200 per site.

How many domains do you own? I just have 1 right now. I got it in 2020 and within 5 months it was making $200 per month. A Google update took away my traffic, and I haven't really paid much attention to it. I have been trying to restore it though.

SlippinJimmy said:

How many domains do you own? I just have 1 right now. I got it in 2020 and within 5 months it was making $200 per month. A Google update took away my traffic, and I haven't really paid much attention to it. I have been trying to restore it though.

Click to expand...

I have 8 at the moment. That's why I don't focus on just 1 website. I buy a lot and sell the ones that crash and keep the ones that perform well.

Yesterday has 1 big return but it's part of the business.

How are you actually getting SEO traffic? Everyone I know who was doing amazon aff sites got smashed by google and never recovered. Even now, if I search for "best x for y" on google I get AI answer, facebook, reddit, and forums. Sorry for the dumb question but I thought this ship had sailed years ago.

Good to see Amazon affiliate sites doin good...

GL

Good luck on your journey, nice to see amazon affiliate is still working.
Do you publish only AI-assisted content, or do you mix it up with some 100% manually written?

ai_wrote_this_btw said:

How are you actually getting SEO traffic? Everyone I know who was doing amazon aff sites got smashed by google and never recovered. Even now, if I search for "best x for y" on google I get AI answer, facebook, reddit, and forums. Sorry for the dumb question but I thought this ship had sailed years ago.

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Sites get traffic from other search engines such as Bing and DuckDuckGo as well besides Google.

aristocratic said:

Good to see Amazon affiliate sites doin good...

GL

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Yep, they still work. Especially now that Amazon is matching earnings with a bonus.

nSnoopy said:

Good luck on your journey, nice to see amazon affiliate is still working.
Do you publish only AI-assisted content, or do you mix it up with some 100% manually written?

Click to expand...

Everything is AI-assisted and done through Fiverr gigs to keep costs low.

I haven't ran Amazon affiliate sites in a couple of years now but just started implementing links on my current journey website.

What is creator rewards? Is it something you get invited to once you reach a certain level of earnings? Do you get the flat fee every month or do you have to reach new highs every month to keep getting it? Couldn't find much on Google but sounds interesting.

Do you keep publish new posts regularly or do you treat them more as micro niche sites with say 20 articles before you start your next website?

Where do you sell your websites? Good luck with your journey and hope you reach your goals!

Keep going, your start is very promising, I hope you can keep scaling it up

Carolus Rex said:

I haven't ran Amazon affiliate sites in a couple of years now but just started implementing links on my current journey website.

What is creator rewards? Is it something you get invited to once you reach a certain level of earnings? Do you get the flat fee every month or do you have to reach new highs every month to keep getting it? Couldn't find much on Google but sounds interesting.

Do you keep publish new posts regularly or do you treat them more as micro niche sites with say 20 articles before you start your next website?

Where do you sell your websites? Good luck with your journey and hope you reach your goals!

Click to expand...

Amazon Associates gives Creator Rewards according to monthly shipped revenue targets.

I build sites with more than 50 articles at once and schedule a few to publish every week. I sell the underperforming sites on Facebook groups.

Spicy Chromosomes said:

Keep going, your start is very promising, I hope you can keep scaling it up

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Thank you so much for your support!

Nice journey

How many images per post? How long is the content?

Good luck

When you started posting on your site?

Nice journey and congrats for the earnings!

What are your criteria to buy an expired domain, and how many do you usually buy in a month (more or less)?

bottingisfine said:

Nice journey

How many images per post? How long is the content?

Good luck

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Each buyer guide is around 2,000 words and they have images for every product.

ancuabos88 said:

When you started posting on your site?

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The Fiverr gig I buy the custom websites from schedules all articles for me.

FrancoSosa said:

Nice journey and congrats for the earnings!

What are your criteria to buy an expired domain, and how many do you usually buy in a month (more or less)?

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The Fiverr freelancer helps me with the expired domains and I usually order 5-7 custom affiliate websites every month at the moment.

ZionIce said:

The Fiverr gig I buy the custom websites from schedules all articles for me.

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Interesting. What is the success rate for your affiliate websites? If you order 10 how many do good and how many do bad? Do you sell the bad ones on Facebook for more than you bought them for?

All the best for the journey.

Carolus Rex said:

Interesting. What is the success rate for your affiliate websites? If you order 10 how many do good and how many do bad? Do you sell the bad ones on Facebook for more than you bought them for?

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In the long term, usually 2-3. I sell them on Facebook usually for more than I bought them for or in the worse case for same price. Then I reinvest in new sites.

kalpana007 said:

All the best for the journey.

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Appreciate it.