Affiliate Marketing is Like Craft Beer: Here’s Why Your Strategy Might Be Flat

byJDenesovych

838 followers

9 months ago

If there’s one thing I know as well as website building, it’s beer.

I’m not talkin’ about whatever was on sale in a 24-pack. I’m a beer guy. Pale ales, pilsners, a good red ale..... and don’t even get me started on a crisp Saison (even though I have NO idea what it actually is, besides Beer)! That little number sneaks up on you like an affiliate sale notification at 2:03 p.m. on a Tuesday.

Over the past five months, I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy the pura vida life in Costa Rica, where a small local brewery has been fuelling more than just my afternoons — it’s been fuelling content ideas too. I even got the VIP tour. There was a tiny back room with formulas written on a whiteboard, symbols for customer favourites, and a vibe that screamed "passion project gone pro."

And that got me thinking…

Affiliate marketing is exactly like craft beer.

So pour yourself a cold one (yes, even if it’s 10 a.m.), and let’s get into the suds and strategy.

1. Brewing Takes Time — So Does a Profitable Niche

Craft beer doesn’t rush. You can’t fake the ferment.

The guy at the brewery here told me his Saison takes 21 days to hit peak flavor. Affiliate marketing? Try 90 days minimum just to see a flicker of traffic! And that's if your keywords are tighter than a freshly capped bottle.

I see it every day on WA. People want results by Friday after launching on Monday. But just like my Costa Rican brewer buddy, you’ve got to trust the process, let it sit, and let the magic bubble underneath.

2. Feedback Is Everything

Back in the brewery, he pointed to that whiteboard and said,
"This one, the Honey Wheat? Not my favourite. But my customers? They love it. So I brew it again."

(I gotta say, it wasn't bad!)

That’s feedback-driven creation.

Same in affiliate marketing. You don’t write for yourself — you write for your audience. If your readers love “10 Camping Coffee Makers That Don’t Suck,” don’t pivot to solar panels for igloos.

Check your analytics. Watch your bounce rate. Brew what your readers want, not what you think tastes better.

3. Not Every Batch Sells Out

I’ve had beers that made me question my life choices. Some that tasted like carbonated regret.

That’s how I feel about my very first affiliate article on RV tire chocks.
It was... fine.
Until it got 3 clicks in 8 months and a comment that read:
"Who still uses chocks? Get hydraulic."

Point is, you’ll have duds. Some articles will flop. Some beers go down the drain. Move on. Brew better next time.

4. The Best Brewers Start Small and Scale

Nobody wakes up owning a brewery. They start in their garage, ordering malt online and hoping their cat doesn’t drink the hops water.

You don’t need five websites or 20 plugins.
Start with one site, one niche, one post.
Get that first click. That first sale. That first email sign-up.

Savor the sip before chugging the keg.

5. Some Days You’re Brewing... Other Days You’re Cleaning

Every brewer I’ve talked to (and I’ve met a few now) says the same thing: “It’s not all pouring beers and making hops jokes. It’s cleaning.”

Affiliate marketing’s got that too. Broken links. Boring admin tasks. Updating plugins. Fighting with themes. Swapping out expired affiliate links. Ain’t sexy, but it’s necessary.

This is the unfiltered part of the biz.

6. Too Many Ingredients Ruin the Batch

You ever had a beer with mango, mint, coffee, turmeric, cinnamon, AND sea salt?

Yeah... me neither. Because that sounds like a smoothie that lost its identity.

Same with affiliate content. Stop throwing in every trend you find. Your blog post doesn’t need a TikTok embed, 3 affiliate links, 7 headers, and a motivational quote from Napoleon Hill.

Simplify. Focus. Let it breathe.

Final Thoughts: From Brewer’s Back Room to Your Blog’s Back End

That little brewery in Costa Rica with the scribbled formulas on the wall?

That’s you. Right now. Testing, tweaking, trying.
Watching which “flavors” (content) your audience likes.
Reworking your formula. Dumping the bad batches. And smiling wide when someone says, “Hey, this one’s good.”

Affiliate marketing doesn’t need to be stiff, robotic, or soulless.

It can be crafted. Flavored. Adjusted.

And if done right, it gets people talking, sharing, and coming back for another round.

So tell me: what's your current brew?
Got a post you’re aging in the barrel? A site you’ve just tapped?
Drop it below, I’ll be your taste tester.

And Kyle… if you’re reading this... save me a spot at “Beer with Kyle Fridays.”

I’ll bring the Saison. Or at least the Pura Vida cup from Blue River Brewery in Costa Rica!

CHEERS!