This website contains affiliate links. Some products are gifted by the brand. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. The content on this website was created with the help of AI.
While I share money-making strategies, nothing is "typical", and outcomes are based on each individual. There are no guarantees.
I’ve been blogging since before AI was a thing anyone talked about.
I knew how to write. I knew how to do keyword research. I knew what a content strategy was supposed to look like.
And I still wasted years publishing posts that barely got traffic.
Then I started using one prompt. One. And it changed how I build content.
Here’s exactly what it is and how I use it.
The Problem With Most Affiliate Blogs
Most people build affiliate blogs backwards.
They pick a product they like. They write a review. They wait for traffic that never comes.
The issue isn’t the writing. It’s the strategy — or the total absence of one.
Without a content architecture underneath your posts, you’re just publishing into a void. Google doesn’t know where to send people. Readers don’t know what to click next. And your affiliate links sit there doing nothing.
I did this for longer than I’ll admit. Then I started using ChatGPT — not to write my posts, but to build the skeleton that holds everything together.
The Prompt That Changed Everything
Here it is, word for word:
“Act as an SEO content strategist for an affiliate blog in [your niche]. My target reader is [describe her — income level, problem she’s trying to solve, what she’s already tried]. My main monetization is affiliate commissions from [list 2-3 programs or product types]. Give me: 1) a hub-and-spoke content map with one pillar post and 5 supporting posts, 2) the primary keyword for each post, 3) the search intent behind each keyword, 4) an internal linking plan that connects all 6 posts, and 5) one affiliate product that fits naturally into each post.”
That’s the whole thing.
Run it once and you don’t have a post idea. You have a content system.
How to Fill It In for Your Blog
The prompt only works if you’re specific. Generic inputs get generic outputs.
Here’s what I put in each bracket when I run it for loriballen.com:
[your niche]: Pinterest affiliate marketing and online income for bloggers
[describe her]: She’s a woman in her 30s or 40s who’s tried blogging before, made almost nothing, and wants proof that someone actually makes real money this way — and a system she can copy
[list 2-3 programs]: Amazon Associates, software affiliate programs, digital product platforms
The more specific you are, the more useful the output becomes.
Vague niche + vague reader = content that ranks for nothing and converts no one.
What ChatGPT Gave Me (A Real Example)
When I ran this prompt for a Pinterest affiliate marketing angle, here’s the kind of output I got:
Pillar Post: How to Make Money on Pinterest With Affiliate Links — targeting “how to make money on Pinterest”
Supporting Posts:
- Best Affiliate Programs for Pinterest Marketers — targeting “best affiliate programs for Pinterest”
- How to Write Pinterest Pin Descriptions That Convert — targeting “Pinterest pin descriptions for affiliate marketing”
- Pinterest Board Strategy for Affiliate Blogs — targeting “Pinterest board strategy”
- How to Use Tailwind for Affiliate Marketing — targeting “Tailwind affiliate marketing”
- Amazon Affiliate Income From Pinterest — targeting “Amazon affiliate Pinterest”
Each post had a clear keyword. Each one had a linking path back to the pillar. And each one had a natural place to drop an affiliate link.
That’s a six-post cluster I could build out over a month — not six random posts, but six posts that work together.
That’s the difference.
The Internal Linking Plan It Creates
This is the part most bloggers skip completely.
Internal linking isn’t just good SEO. It keeps people on your site longer and pushes them deeper into your content — closer to your affiliate links.
ChatGPT’s output from this prompt gives you a linking map. It tells you:
- Which posts link to the pillar
- Which posts link to each other
- Which posts are the entry points from Pinterest or search
For my Pinterest content cluster, the flow looked like this:
Someone lands on the Amazon affiliate + Pinterest post from a pin. That post links to the pillar (How to Make Money on Pinterest With Affiliate Links). The pillar links to the Tailwind post. The Tailwind post has my affiliate link for Tailwind.
One reader, three posts, one commission.
That doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because the architecture was planned before a single word was written.
How I Use This for Pinterest Traffic Specifically
Pinterest is a search engine.
People are typing keywords into the search bar looking for answers. If your post matches what they’re searching for — and your pin title matches the keyword they typed — you get the click.
The prompt helps me find posts that are worth pinning because they have actual search intent behind them.
I’m not guessing at what to write. I know the keyword. I know the intent. I know which affiliate product fits the post. And I know exactly which boards to pin it to based on the topic.
That’s why this matters beyond just SEO. It connects to every part of the content system — from writing to pinning to earning.
What to Do With the Output
Once you have the hub-and-spoke map from ChatGPT, here’s how I move it into execution:
Step 1: Write the pillar post first. It’s the longest, most comprehensive post in the cluster. Every other post links back to it.
Step 2: Publish the supporting posts one at a time, each with internal links to the pillar and to at least one other post in the cluster.
Step 3: Generate Pinterest pins for every post in the cluster — three pins per post, different angles, different keywords in the titles.
Step 4: Schedule pins in Tailwind spaced 2 to 3 days apart. Never pin the same URL more than twice in the same week.
Step 5: Add your affiliate links into each post where the product is mentioned naturally. Not forced. Not at the end as an afterthought. Inside the content where it makes sense.
Done. That’s the whole system.
The Part People Always Get Wrong
They use this prompt once and treat it like a task completed.
It’s not a one-time thing.
I run a version of this prompt every time I want to build a new content cluster — a new niche angle, a new affiliate program, a new audience segment.
Each cluster becomes its own little traffic engine. Over time, you’re not running one blog. You’re running several interlocking systems on the same domain.
That’s how a blog starts making real money — not from one great post, but from dozens of posts that all push traffic toward the same affiliate links.
Tools I Use Alongside This Prompt
These are the tools that sit inside my workflow when I run this system:
ChatGPT — for the content map, the keyword angles, the internal linking plan
Pinclicks — for validating that Pinterest users are actually searching those keywords before I write anything
Tailwind — for scheduling pins across boards with spacing that doesn’t trip the spam filter
Lasso — for managing and displaying affiliate links inside posts cleanly
Ideogram — for generating pin images that match my brand without spending hours in Canva
None of these are optional in my opinion. You can skip them. But if you skip the right ones, you’ll wonder why the system isn’t working.
FAQ
Does this work for any niche?
Yes, as long as there are affiliate products that fit your niche. Fill in the prompt with your specific niche and your specific reader and the output shifts completely.
Do I need to use the output word for word?
No. The output is a blueprint, not a script. Use the keywords. Use the linking map. Write the actual posts yourself in your own voice.
How long does it take to build a full cluster?
A six-post cluster takes me about three to four weeks to publish if I’m writing one or two posts a week. The pinning starts as soon as the first post is live.
What if I don’t have any affiliate programs yet?
Use the prompt to figure out which programs make sense for your niche before you apply. The output will tell you which product categories belong in each post — then go find programs that match.
Start Here
Run the prompt today.
Fill in your niche, your reader, your affiliate programs.
See what comes back.
Then write the pillar post first. Build one cluster. Pin it.
That’s the system. It’s not complicated. It just has to be done in order.
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