How I’m Building an Affiliate Website from Scratch (as a Non-Native Beginner)

Hey, Thanks so much for stopping by!

I’m excited to share my real journey of building this affiliate website completely from scratch. And I’m genuinely glad you’re here, if this kind of story interests you, let’s go through it together.

Here is my Affiliate website journey, Ready? Let’s dive in!

Building an affiliate website from scratch in 2025 might sound overwhelming, especially if you're doing it solo, in your second language. But that’s exactly what I, Steven from Vietnam, am doing. No team, limited English, just WordPress, AI tools, and a commitment to share everything along the way.

Hi guys, I’m Steven from 🇻🇳 Vietnam 🇻🇳.

I’ve recently decided to build my very first affiliate website for the international market. It’s called affibest.com and honestly, this is a big step for me.

I’m not an expert.
My English is far from perfect.
And this whole “build in public” thing is kind of scary.

But I’m here, giving it a shot — and sharing my journey with you, from day one.

Building an Affiliate Website from Scratch

Just a Regular Guy, Starting from Zero

If you’re imagining some tech-savvy guy who’s been doing online business for years — that’s not me.

I’m a complete beginner.
No background in marketing.
No team. No funding.
Just one laptop, one domain name, and a lot of curiosity.

The only reason I’ve even come this far is because I found an incredible sidekick: ChatGPT.

🤖 ChatGPT : The Sidekick I Didn’t Know I Needed

Writing in English has always been hard for me. I worried that I’d make too many grammar mistakes. That people wouldn’t take me seriously. That I’d sound robotic.

But ChatGPT changed everything.

It’s like having a patient friend who helps me outline articles, fix sentences, organize my thoughts — and even gives me ideas I wouldn’t have come up with on my own.

With that support, I finally felt ready to stop watching others build… and start building something of my own.

🌍 Why Go Global? Why Not Just Stay in Vietnam?

Most people in my country focus on affiliate marketing for the local market — like promoting products from Shopee, Lazada, etc.

But I wanted to do something different.
Something bigger.
Something that could grow beyond borders.

So I chose to work with digital products — tools and services people around the world actually need:

Web hosting (Vultr, A2 Hosting)
WordPress themes (Rehub, Kadence, etc.)
AI writing tools (Rytr, WordHero)
Affiliate marketing plugins (Pretty Link, ThirstyAffiliates)

These products don’t require shipping. They offer high commissions. And most importantly — they’re useful for people like me: solo creators, bloggers, and hustlers trying to make things work.

🛠️ Building affibest.com here is My Learning-in-Public Experiment

Sure, I could’ve done what many others do:

📄 Copy-paste what’s already out there,
🤖 Fill a website with faceless, generic AI content,
🎭 Or pretend to be a big brand with a fancy team behind me.

But I didn’t want that.

Instead of pretending, I chose to be real.
Instead of faking authority, I chose to document my own messy, honest progress — step by step.
This site isn’t a showcase. It’s a story. And that story is mine. I’ve decided to build my site around my own real affiliate website journey.

Every step I take, I’m documenting it:

How I set up a VPS on Vultr for $6/month
Why I chose the Rehub theme and what plugins I’m using
How I plan and write blog posts using ChatGPT
How I’m organizing content and building internal links
What’s working — and what’s not

It’s not polished. It’s not perfect.
But it’s real — and that’s what I think the internet needs more of.

🧭 What’s the Plan?

Here’s what I’m aiming for in my first 30 days:

Publish 25–30 blog posts (reviews, top lists, tutorials)
Build a central content hub: /best-tools/
Focus on tools that help bloggers, affiliate marketers, and creators
Learn and improve, day by day — and share it all

This isn’t a race. I’m not here to flex.
I’m just trying to build something honest and maybe, help others along the way.

🗓️ My Actual Day-by-Day Journey

Alright, here’s the real, unfiltered journey I’ve taken to build Affibest day by day, step by step. No fluff, no skipping.

Just honest notes of what I actually did: from choosing tools, writing posts, to learning from mistakes. I’m sharing this in the hope that something here might help you in your own affiliate website journey.

Timeline: Building Affibest.com from Zero — A 1-Person Affiliate Website Journey

✍️ This is my step-by-step journey to build an international affiliate site focused on digital tools — done 100% solo with help from ChatGPT and other AI tools.

✅ Phase 0: Strategy & Planning

Day -2: Curated a list of 15+ promising digital products (Vultr, A2 Hosting, Rehub, Rytr, etc.)

Day -1: Mapped out the sitemap with 4 main categories: Hosting, WordPress Tools, AI Tools, Affiliate Tools

Day 0: Chose the domain affibest.com — fully committed to a global-focused affiliate site

⚙️ Phase 1: Setup & Infrastructure (Day 1–4)

Day 1:
– Deployed affibest.com on a $6/month Vultr VPS
– Installed HocVPS, enabled SSL, added www redirect, basic hardening

Day 2:
– Installed Rehub Theme + Rank Math, PrettyLink, WP Rocket
– Optimized speed, removed bloat, and created a custom Child Theme

Day 3:
– Created core pages: About, Contact, Privacy Policy, Disclaimer
– Set up navigation menu and footer layout

Day 4:
– Built the central Hub Page: /best-tools/
– Drafted outline for the first blog post

✍️ Phase 2: Content Creation Begins (Day 5–14)

Day 5: Published the first blog post: Best Hosting for Beginners 2025

Day 6: Wrote the first product review: Hostinger Review

Day 7: Published a tutorial: How to Start an Affiliate Blog with WordPress

Day 8–14:
– Added 7 more Toplist & Review articles
– Connected posts via internal linking
– Installed Content Egg + External Importer to prep affiliate data

🔧 Phase 3: SEO & UX Optimization (Day 15–21)

Day 15:
– Reviewed and optimized all H1–H3 headings + meta titles
– Added FAQ Schema to the first 5 posts

Day 16:
– Set up Google Search Console and Analytics
– Submitted sitemap XML → First 3 posts got indexed

Day 17–21:
– Ran speed tests, compressed images, fine-tuned cache
– Enabled click tracking via PrettyLink
– Published 3 comparison posts: Hostinger vs Bluehost, Rytr vs WordHero, etc.

📈 Phase 4: Wrapping Up Month 1 (Day 22–30)

Day 22–26:
– Published a checklist post: Start an Affiliate Site in 10 Steps
– Created the /deals/ page to collect coupons + track links
– Wrote a guide on using Rehub for affiliate marketing

Day 27–30:
– Reviewed all content and fixed small errors
– Built a new landing page from the Hub
– Backed up the site and mapped out the Month 2 plan

💬 Final Thoughts (For Anyone Like Me)

If you:

Struggle with English
Feel overwhelmed by all the tools
Work alone
Worry that you're too late to start

…then I hope my journey can give you a bit of courage.

Because if I can do this — with limited English, zero budget, and no experience — then maybe, just maybe, you can too.

Thanks for reading. Let’s see where this goes.

🧡
— Steven