Affiliate Site Not Making Sales Yet? 6 Signs You're Still on the Right Track

byrobert2704

708 followers

6 months ago

Lately I’ve been spending more time building out my affiliate site, which means I’ve taken on less freelance work — and yeah, income’s taken a hit because of it. So I found myself asking that classic question: am I spending time on the right thing? Should I double down and see it through, or pivot back to what I know and pitch more?

I turned to my (getting) trusty sidekick (GPT) and asked:
"What are the signs this site is actually growing — even if sales are still slow?"

Here’s what came back. Thought it might help someone else here who's in a similar phase:

1. 🚦 Impressions Are Rising in Google Search Console

If you check your Performance tab and see impressions trending upward (even slowly), that’s a great sign. It means Google is starting to test your content. Rankings and traffic often follow this phase — especially for newer sites.

2. 🧲 Affiliate Clicks Are Happening (Even Without Conversions)

If people are clicking from your content to your affiliate links, your funnel is working.

(I use Google Tag Manager to track internal links to affiliate posts).

Conversion can be fixed later with better calls to action or better-matched products. But if nobody clicks at all, it means the pre-sell needs work.

3. 🔍 Posts Are Ranking for Long-Tail Keywords

Use GSC or tools like Ahrefs (even the free one) to check for keyword rankings. If your posts show up in the top 100 for any keyword (even at position 80), that’s something you can build on. Ranking starts low and climbs.

4. 🔗 You’re Getting (Even One or Two) Natural Backlinks

If another site links to you — even once — that’s huge. Google takes that as a trust signal, and it can help lift all your content. Not seeing any? Consider outreach or guest posting to speed things up.

(I wouldn't on a new site because it's unnatural - I wonder if nofollow would guard against potential penalties)

5. ⏱ People Spend Time on the Page

Even if it’s just 50 visits/month, if people are staying on your page, reading, and maybe clicking around, your content is doing its job. Compare bounce rate, time on page, or click-throughs to internal links to gauge this.

6. ⚡️ New Posts Are Getting Indexed Faster

When your site is brand new, Google might take weeks to index posts. But once trust builds, you’ll see them index in 1–3 days. That’s a great behind-the-scenes signal that your domain is getting healthier.

Final Thoughts: Sales Come Last
Affiliate sites grow like compounding interest. You do the work now, and the payoff comes later — but only if you keep going. These signs are like early sprouts. No fruit yet, but you’re not planting into dry dirt.

Keep an eye on these indicators, and you’ll have a much clearer signal than just “did I make a sale today?”

If you’ve been in this phase — wondering whether it’s working, feeling the drag between effort and income — I’d love to hear what signals you’ve seen (or haven’t seen) that helped you decide to stick with it.

If you’re further along and have seen it work — your perspective can really help the rest of us.

Drop a note below — success, struggle, lessons learned — it all helps. 👇