What does great affiliate marketing actually look like in practice? In this transcript from Episode 079, Mark breaks down a real-world affiliate marketing example from a listener, tackles the uncomfortable question of how much money you can really make online, and shares his thoughts on keyword research tools.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
- A concrete example of affiliate marketing done right
- The honest truth about how many people succeed at making money online
- Why creating genuinely valuable content is the real secret sauce of affiliate marketing
- Mark's current recommendation for keyword research tools
The Perfect Affiliate Marketing Example
After Mark mentioned using Beachbody's Shakeology product in a previous episode, listener Joe Canon from Supplement-Geek.com sent him a link to his comprehensive Shakeology review. This exchange illustrates the ideal approach to affiliate marketing and social media promotion.
Joe's approach was textbook: “I noticed you were talking about this, I happen to have expertise in this area (he is an exercise physiologist), here is some helpful content I created. Have a nice day.” No aggressive pitch, no hidden agenda. Just genuine value offered to someone discussing a relevant topic.
What makes Joe's review exceptional: The article runs approximately 2,000 words and covers Shakeology from every angle. He examines the main ingredients, the super-fruit blend, potential medication interactions (including ginkgo), clinical trials and their limitations, side effects, taste comparisons, weight loss claims, and the Beachbody coaching phenomenon. He identifies ingredients that have documented interactions with medications, which is genuinely helpful and potentially important information.
The site itself is not fancy. It is a straightforward blog packed with useful information, monetized with affiliate links and some AdSense ads. The content is what drives everything. Because the article is so thorough and helpful, people link to it, it ranks well in search engines, and it attracts comments and engagement.
The flywheel effect: Mark talked about it on the podcast, which drove traffic. Regular users bookmark it and share it on social media, which builds links. Those links improve search rankings, which brings more traffic. The cycle feeds itself because the underlying content genuinely helps people make buying decisions.
This is the secret sauce of affiliate marketing: create incredibly valuable content that helps people make informed decisions, and let the rest take care of itself.
How Much Money Can You Really Make Online?
Listener Dave Tudor asks Mark to disclose his online income, specifically the amount earned outside of promoting internet marketing courses. Mark maintains his policy of not disclosing specific numbers, but he offers an unusually candid assessment of the reality.
The hard truth: The vast majority of people who try to make money online fail. Mark conducted a survey of his audience and found that most respondents had tried and were not yet successful. He also followed up with approximately 60 people who went through Andrew Hansen's Forever Affiliate course, and the majority did not profit from it.
Why people fail: They do not know what building an online business actually means. They buy the wrong products or follow the wrong advice. They underestimate the time required and give up too soon. They underestimate the effort required. They pick the wrong niche or traffic strategy. They quit to save their marriage because the time investment causes friction at home. When you add all these reasons together, they account for most people.
What success looks like: Normal people can build websites that make hundreds to thousands of dollars per month. The Corn Sheller site made about 1,000 dollars over two years with almost no work. Pat Flynn built a Security Guard Training site that generates thousands per month. There are certainly hundreds of thousands of people making six-figure incomes online. Mark knows some personally, including a few seven-figure earners.
Mark's honest assessment of his own situation: He is not making six figures per year from his non-internet-marketing sites. He believes he could if he were doing it full time instead of maintaining a demanding day job while also producing the podcast.
Is Market Samurai Still a Good Keyword Tool?
Mark confirms that Market Samurai remains a decent tool but he no longer uses it personally. His main criticism is that it is slow and not good at analyzing many keywords at once. It excels at deep-diving into a single keyword but struggles with the broader analysis of identifying which keywords are worth investigating.
Mark prefers Keyword Canine for its ability to handle larger keyword sets more efficiently, with Long Tail Pro as a secondary option.
Key Takeaways
- The best affiliate marketing creates genuinely helpful content that aids buying decisions
- Approach social media promotion by offering value first with no strings attached
- Most people who try to make money online fail, primarily because they quit too soon
- Success is absolutely possible but requires persistence, focus, and following proven strategies
- The risk of affiliate marketing is low, making it an attractive starting point despite the odds
What's Changed Since This Episode
Mark recorded this in August 2014. The core lesson about creating valuable content for affiliate marketing is more relevant than ever.
Google's helpful content updates reinforced this exact approach. The kind of comprehensive, expert-driven product review that Joe created is precisely what Google now rewards. Thin affiliate content with minimal original analysis faces significant ranking challenges in 2026.
Product review guidelines became explicit. Google released specific guidance for product reviews, emphasizing first-hand experience, quantitative data, and expert analysis. Joe's approach as an exercise physiologist providing ingredient-level analysis is exactly what these guidelines reward.
Market Samurai and Keyword Canine are no longer widely used. The keyword research tool landscape shifted toward platforms like Ahrefs, Semrush, and specialized tools. The underlying principle of analyzing keyword difficulty and search intent remains the same.
Resources Mentioned
Related Episodes
If you found this episode helpful, you might also enjoy:
- LNIM079 Show Notes — An Excellent Affiliate Marketing Example
- LNIM078 — Beachbody Marketing Lessons
- LNIM082 Transcript — Affiliate Marketing Success Stories
Listen and Subscribe
Listen to Late Night Internet Marketing on Apple Podcasts or subscribe at latenightim.com/internet-marketing-podcast/. Have a question for Mark? Call the digital recorder at 214-444-8655 or drop a comment below.
