Plan and write one affiliate page that could actually earn

The situation

Hira is a final-year student in Multan who wants to earn from writing. She has a small blog about studying and has read that affiliate marketing is easy money. She has no idea which programme to join, what to write, or how she would be paid in Pakistan.

Build the honest plan and the first page for one subject, so that she can see what the work really is before spending a year on it.

What you'll be able to show

• Choose a subject and a programme on evidence: buying intent, commission, cookie duration and payout route
• Find buying-intent searches and pick one worth a page
• Write a review or comparison that names what the product is bad at
• Set up the tracking and the disclosure a real affiliate page needs

What you need

• A free blog (WordPress.com, Blogger) or a Google Doc laid out as a page
• Google search and its autocomplete; Google Trends
• The affiliate programme's own terms page

Tasks

1. 1Choose the subject and the programme

   Pick one subject you could write about for two years where people buy things. Shortlist three affiliate programmes for it and record, for each: commission type (one-off or recurring), rate, cookie duration, minimum payout, and payout methods that work from Pakistan.
   A correct result: A table of three programmes with all five facts and the source link for each; one chosen, with a sentence saying why.

2. 2Find the buying searches

   Using autocomplete and Trends, list ten searches a person close to buying would type (best X for Y, X vs Z, X review, alternatives to X). Mark each as reading intent or buying intent.
   A correct result: Ten searches, at least six marked buying intent, and the one you will write for circled.

3. 3Outline the page

   Outline one page answering that search: who it is for, how you judged the products, the products in order, what each is bad at, and who should not buy it. No more than one screen.
   A correct result: An outline where every product has at least one honest negative and the page says who it is not for.

4. 4Write it

   Write the page, 900 to 1,400 words, using your own screenshots or photographs where you can. Put the answer to the search in the first paragraph, not the last.
   A correct result: A page whose first paragraph answers the question, with at least three named weaknesses across the products.

5. 5Disclose and track

   Add a plain-language disclosure near the top saying you earn a commission. Use tagged links (the programme's sub-ID or UTM parameters) so you would know which page and which link earned.
   A correct result: A visible disclosure and a list of the links with their tags.

6. 6The honest forecast

   Write half a page: how this page would get its first visitors, the realistic time before any commission (in months), and what you would need to publish in the first ninety days.
   A correct result: A forecast that names a traffic source and gives a time in months, not a promise of income.

What to hand in

The programme table, the ten searches, the published or document page with its disclosure and tagged links, and the half-page forecast.

How it is marked