This is the guide I wish I'd had in 2019 when I launched my first affiliate site. It covers everything from picking a niche to publishing your first review — using the Elementor + Astra + WP Engine stack, which is the combination this site covers in depth.
What you'll need: A domain name (~$12/yr), WordPress hosting (~$20/mo on WP Engine), Elementor Pro ($59/yr), and Astra Pro ($47/yr). Total first-year cost: approximately $360. Cheaper combinations exist and this guide flags them where they make sense.
Step 1: Pick a Niche
The most common mistake beginners make is picking a niche that's too broad (e.g., "health") or too narrow (e.g., "left-handed scissors for professional chefs"). The right niche has three properties:
- Affiliate products exist. There are products to promote with real commission rates.
- Search volume exists. People are actually searching for information in this niche.
- You can write 50+ articles. You won't run out of things to cover in 6 months.
Good starting points: software tools (SaaS), health and wellness products, home and garden, finance, and pets. Avoid niches where the big players (Amazon, WebMD, NerdWallet) dominate every ranking — you need room to rank.
The four tools this guide uses, and why: hosting on WP Engine (or CloudwaysKnownHost if $20/month is too much this early), the Astra theme, and Elementor Pro as the page builder. Each of those links goes to a full review with pricing, plan limits and the case for the competitor that beats it — read them before you spend anything, not after.
Step 2: Register a Domain
Use any mainstream registrar — Namecheap and Cloudflare are the two most commonly recommended, and the price difference is a few dollars. Keep the name short, brandable and easy to spell out loud, avoid hyphens, and take .com if it is available. Budget $12-15 a year.
Don't overthink this step. A good domain name matters less than good content. Pick something reasonable and move on.
Step 3: Set Up Hosting
For a brand new site, WP Engine's Startup plan is the default recommendation here: it covers zero to 25,000 visits a month comfortably, includes staging and daily backups, and puts WordPress specialists on the other end of a support ticket. The full reasoning, including what its uptime guarantee actually excludes, is in the WP Engine review.
If $20 a month is more than a site with no traffic deserves, that is a fair objection. CloudwaysKnownHost starts at $14 with hourly billing and no contract, which means you can scale it up the month traffic arrives and back down if it does not. The trade-off is that more of the server stays your problem.
After signing up, WordPress is pre-installed. You'll get a temporary domain (yoursite.wpengine.com) to work with until you point your real domain to WP Engine.
Step 4: Install Astra Pro
In WordPress → Appearance → Themes → Add New, search for "Astra" and install the free version first. Then activate your Astra Pro licence from store.brainstormforce.com to unlock the Header Builder, Footer Builder, and Starter Templates.
In Astra → Starter Templates, browse the library and import a template as your starting point. Pick one in a style close to what you want — you'll customise it in Elementor.
Step 5: Install Elementor Pro
Upload the Elementor Pro ZIP file in WordPress → Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin. Activate and connect your licence key. Then go to Elementor → Settings → Performance and enable Improved Asset Loading — this reduces the LCP impact.
Use Elementor's Theme Builder (Templates → Theme Builder) to create a custom Single Post template for your review pages. This template will apply to all reviews automatically — set it up once and you're done.
Step 6: Create Your Site Structure
For an affiliate site, you need at minimum:
- Homepage. Overview of what the site is about, links to key reviews.
- About page. Who you are, your credentials, why you're qualified to review these products.
- Review pages. One per product you're promoting.
- Comparison pages. "Product A vs Product B" pages for commercial queries.
- Legal pages. Privacy Policy, Terms, Affiliate Disclaimer.
- Contact page. Required for Google Ads and E-E-A-T signals.
Step 7: Write Your First Reviews
The most important rule: only review products you've actually used. Google's Reviews System specifically targets thin affiliate content that adds no original value. Your review needs to include something the official product page doesn't — real test results, personal experience, an honest "who it's NOT for" section.
A good affiliate review structure:
- Quick verdict box (score, pros, cons). Readers scan to this first.
- Who it's for and who should skip it
- Personal testing experience with specifics
- Feature breakdown
- Pricing analysis
- Honest alternatives
- FAQ section (target People Also Ask questions)
Step 8: Apply to Affiliate Programs
Before applying, publish at least 5 substantial articles. Most affiliate programs want to see a live, content-rich site before approving you. Applying to Amazon Associates with a blank site will get you rejected.
Start with the affiliate programs for the products you've already reviewed. Then expand to related products in your niche. For WordPress tools: Elementor (be.elementor.com/affiliates), Astra (store.brainstormforce.com/affiliate-area), WP Engine (wpengine.com/affiliate-program).
Step 9: Set Up Tracking
Install Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4 before you publish. You want to track affiliate link clicks from day one. Configure GA4 to track outbound clicks to your affiliate links — this data is invaluable for understanding which reviews drive the most revenue.
Step 10: Be Patient
New sites typically take 6-12 months to start ranking for competitive keywords. This is normal — Google needs time to trust new domains. Keep publishing quality reviews, build a few links through outreach, and don't change your niche or domain in the first year.
The sites that succeed are the ones that keep going after 3 months when traffic is still zero. That's when most people quit. Don't be those people.
Ready to start? Get WP Engine's special offer below and have your site live in under 2 hours. If you get stuck at any step, use the contact form — I read every message.