If you’ve ever wondered whether you could make a bit of extra money from recommending things you already use, you’ve basically already asked the question that gets you started with affiliate marketing.
I assumed for a long time that it needed a big following, a proper strategy, or some course I’d have to buy before I understood it well enough to try. None of that turned out to be true, and if you’re the kind of person who’s already looked into other side hustles — reselling on Vinted, a bit of freelancing on the side, that sort of thing — this is a genuinely low-effort one to add to the list.
Here’s the honest version, not the oversold one.
What it actually is
You already understand the concept, even if you’ve never put a name to it. When a friend says “use my code and we both get money off” — that’s affiliate marketing. When someone online links to a product they actually use — same thing, just slightly more official.
The company selling the thing wants more customers. You help them find one. They give you a small cut. The person buying often gets something too, like a discount or bonus credit. Nobody loses out.
That’s genuinely the whole model.
You don’t need a strategy — a link is enough
This is the bit I think most people overcomplicate. Affiliate marketing isn’t one fixed thing you either commit to fully or ignore. It’s a spectrum.
At the simple end: a referral link you’ve shared once, somewhere relevant, that quietly earns you something now and then when someone clicks and signs up. Little to no ongoing effort.
At the more involved end: dedicated content built entirely around recommending products, the kind that needs an existing audience and a fair bit of time to be worth it.
Most people starting out sit at the simple end, and that’s completely fine. A link that earns you the odd few pounds from something you’ve already written or shared is genuinely worth having, even if it’s never going to replace anything.
Where to actually look
Start with things you already use and would recommend anyway — that’s the whole trick.
- Apps and tools you use regularly often have a “refer a friend” or affiliate option buried in their settings or website
- Platforms you already use for selling or publishing sometimes have their own built-in referral schemes
- Affiliate networks like Awin, ShareASale or Amazon Associates connect you to hundreds of brands in one place if you want to browse more widely
- Individual brands in your niche sometimes run their own programmes independently of any network
Relevance matters more than commission rate. A link to something you’d genuinely recommend anyway will always do better than one you’ve added purely because the payout looked good.
What it realistically earns
I want to be straightforward here, because this gets oversold constantly.
In the early stages it’s small. Often very small — a few pounds here and there, with the odd better month when something performs unexpectedly well. It builds slowly, especially with content that has some longevity to it rather than stuff that disappears after a day or two. It’s rarely dramatic to begin with.
What makes it worth doing anyway is that it’s passive once it’s set up. A link in something you shared months ago can still earn today without you touching it again. Think of it as an extra layer alongside other things you’re already doing, not something to build your whole plan around.
Two real examples
The first is Honeygain — an app that runs quietly in the background of your device, sharing unused internet bandwidth, and pays you for it. I’ve got a referral code for it. When someone signs up through it, I get a small bonus and they get a starting credit too. I didn’t build anything around it — I just share the link when it comes up naturally, and it earns occasionally without any further effort from me. The link is here.
The second is Amazon Associates, which most people have heard of. If you already mention products in what you write or share, this is often the easiest one to set up, since it covers almost anything sold on Amazon rather than one specific brand.
Neither of these took a dedicated plan. They’re just the simple end of the spectrum, quietly doing their thing.
The one thing that actually makes a difference
Before you go adding links everywhere: context is what makes people click.
A link dropped somewhere it doesn’t naturally fit gets ignored. A mention that appears naturally within something the reader’s already interested in does considerably better. You don’t need a strategy for this — just a bit of thought about whether what surrounds the link actually earns the recommendation.
Where to start
Pick one thing you already use and would happily recommend. Check if it has a referral option. Get your link. Share it once, somewhere it genuinely fits.
That’s the entire starting point. No strategy document, no course, no dedicated setup — just one relevant link in one relevant place, and a bit of patience while it does its quiet work in the background.
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-mug-beside-a-laptop-8424478/