Want to succeed as an affiliate marketer in 2026? Guess what? You don’t need an audience. You don’t need to "go viral" or to be an AI wizard.

Before I dive in, let me give you a quick background:

Last year, we paid out well over $100k to our affiliates at VideoGen, an AI video editing platform, with many top affiliates making thousands per month in recurring income. We've also worked with many affiliate marketers for other products who use our AI video editor to create promo videos.

AI has made it super easy for anyone to create content. However, most affiliate marketers still struggle to find success. Why, you ask? Because they are missing strategy. In this post, I'll go over 4 proven strategies to help affiliate marketers succeed.

Before you start: Choose the right affiliate program

You'll need to find a product with a good affiliate program.

Find a product that is easy to use, easy to explain, high quality, and competitively priced. Ideally, it's a product that you understand and enjoy using! This will keep you motivated and make it easier to create high-quality, relevant content.

Success won't happen overnight. In fact, the #1 reason affiliates fail is giving up (based on our internal surveys). So, if you just stick with it for several months, you're already in the top 10%!

Finally, make sure the product has an affiliate program with high commissions (20% or more).

For true passive income, you need lifetime recurring commissions. At VideoGen, we offer a 30% lifetime commission for every new customer you refer. If you're not already registered, you can join the VideoGen affiliate program here.

Why does this matter?

That means 1 customer who stays for years will earn you more than 10 who try the product once and cancel in their first month. It takes effort to get that first customer. However, if it’s a high-quality customer, you’ll get paid forever!

That’s why:

• Quality > quantity
• Helpful tutorials > viral shorts
• Effort up front > chasing trends

A few key terms before we start:

Evergreen content

Content that stays relevant over time and continues to get views, clicks, and conversions months (or years) after it’s published.

Examples: tutorials, reviews, comparisons, alternatives.

High intent user

Someone who is ready to act. They’re not browsing — they’re searching with the goal of fixing a problem, choosing a tool, or making a decision.

They’re searching things like:

• “How to ___”
• “Best ___ tool”
• “X alternatives”
• “X review”

High-intent traffic converts far better than casual views. These people are willing to sit through a tutorial, buy a new product, or learn something new.

How to Succeed as an Affiliate Marketer in 2026

What you need is content that targets what people are already searching for. But not just on Google – In 2026, people search on many platforms, from ChatGPT to YouTube to Reddit.

But how do you actually create this content? Keep reading to find out.

Strategy 1: Create YouTube tutorials with searchable, high-intent titles

Some of our top affiliates are big creators — but that’s not why they win. A helpful, 100-subscriber tutorial with a great title and thumbnail can outperform a video from a large creator.

Here's an example from one of our affiliates, Simon Crowe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFbqcEuS1aY

This video has over 7,000 views, making it one of Simon's top 10 most viewed videos on his channel. Where did the views come from? YouTube search.

YouTube is the world's 2nd most popular search engine, but it's much easier to rank near the top because creating video content is more difficult!

Here are 4 things that Simon got right:

1. Video length: YouTube rewards long-form tutorials. 10+ minutes is ideal.
2. 30s hook: The first 30 seconds of the video clearly hook the user in. Here, Simon introduces the product and clearly explains what the viewer will learn and why they should keep watching.
3. Clear, instructional tone: Tutorials should guide the user through a step-by-step process. Don't rush each step, and don't insert overly promotional or unrelated content!
4. High intent title: Simon's title targets users searching for queries like "VideoGen tutorials", "How to create videos in seconds", or "How to create videos with AI". These types of queries tend to have high conversion rates (sometimes upwards of 1%), so you can start getting customers with only a few hundred views!

Strategy 2: Create blog posts with searchable titles

Blog posts work for the same reason YouTube tutorials work: people are actively searching for answers.

The key is what you write about.

Don’t write opinion pieces, trend posts, or generic “AI is changing everything” content. Write posts that match exact search intent, like:

• “VideoGen review”
• “Best AI video editor for YouTube”
• “VideoGen vs Pictory”
• "Top 10 AI video editors"
• “Top [X] alternatives”

These posts convert extremely well because the reader is already in decision mode.

I recommend Ghost, https://ghost.org/. I find it has the perfect balance of being easy to get started, yet having powerful tools for growing your blog. That’s why we use it for our own blog.

Multiple SEO studies show that evergreen, high-intent content consistently outperforms trend-based content for long-term traffic and conversions.
(Source: Search Engine Land, Similarweb).

Strategy 3: Write helpful, detailed responses to QnA forums

Ever wondered who actually answers questions on Quora or Reddit?

Often, it’s affiliate marketers who understand one thing: people asking questions are high-intent users.

These users are literally telling you:

“I have a problem and I’m looking for a solution.”

Your job is not to sell — it’s to help.

Studies of affiliate traffic show Q&A platforms like Quora and Reddit attract intent-driven audiences actively seeking answers and solutions, making them powerful sources of targeted, conversion-ready traffic when used strategically.

How to do this properly (and not get banned):

• Only answer questions you genuinely understand
• Write responses that could stand alone without your link
• Explain the reasoning behind your recommendation
• Mention tools naturally, like a human would
• Link only when it genuinely adds value

Example:
Instead of
❌ “Use VideoGen, it’s the best AI video editor. Link.”

Do this:
✅ “I tried a few tools for this, and what worked best for me was X because of Y. If you want, I wrote a full walkthrough here.”

Rather than link to the product landing page, link to a help article or tutorial. This builds trust, sends highly qualified traffic, and works shockingly well over time.

Also, you can easily combine this strategy with blog writing and YouTube tutorial making!

Strategy 4: Create a newsletter or Discord channel

This is the long-term moat strategy.

While harder to start, it’s one of the most powerful ways to build compounding affiliate income.

Why?
Because you’re no longer dependent on algorithms.

Email lists and communities let you:

• Educate over time
• Recommend tools repeatedly without sounding spammy
• Promote updates, launches, and new features
• Build trust that converts far better than cold traffic

How to start simply:

• Pick one niche (e.g. creators, AI tools, video marketing)
• Send 1–2 valuable emails per week
• Teach, explain, and share what’s working
• Soft-recommend tools you already use

You don’t need thousands of subscribers.
A small, engaged list beats a massive, passive audience every time.

Strategy 5 (Bonus): Create short-form content to bring channel awareness

"But wait! I thought you said viral shorts aren't effective."

Let's clear this up.

Chasing viral shorts to make affiliate sales = ❌ Bad strategy
Using shorts to funnel people to high-intent content = ✅ Smart strategy

Short-form content works best as a top-of-funnel amplifier.

Use it to:

• Answer one specific question
• Highlight one pain point
• Show a quick before/after
• Tease a longer tutorial or post

Then send viewers to:

• A YouTube tutorial
• A blog post
• A newsletter
• A Discord community

Think of shorts as signposts, not destinations.

Only do this after you’ve created long-form content worth sending people to. Otherwise, you’re just generating noise.

Affiliate marketing in 2026 rewards people who focus on high-intent users, evergreen content, and long-term consistency — not virality or hype.

If you want to create tutorials, reviews, and walkthrough videos faster, VideoGen is the tool many of our top affiliates use. It includes a built-in screen recorder, AI voiceovers for narration, smooth transitions and animations, and AI tools for creating engaging hooks.