I run an online course that teaches developers how to build real projects with AI tools. For years, my income came from course sales, sponsorships, and the occasional consulting gig. Affiliate marketing was never on my radar. I assumed it was reserved for people with massive email lists or ten-thousand-view YouTube channels.
I was wrong.
Three months ago, I embedded affiliate links into my existing tutorial content and started tracking every click, every signup, and every dollar. What follows is the raw breakdown I share with my students in the monetization module of my curriculum. No embellishment. No vanity metrics. Just the receipts.
Let me walk you through exactly what happened, week by week.
Why I Even Tried This (And Why Most Course Creators Avoid It)
Here is the honest truth: when I first looked into API affiliate programs, I almost talked myself out of it. The commission structures I found were all over the map. One platform offered a flat $50 bounty per referral, no matter what the user spent. Another promised 12% on the first invoice and then nothing after that. I bookmarked three programs, applied to all of them, and moved on with my week.
The one that ultimately changed my approach was Global API. Their structure was different in a way that mattered to me as an educator. They offered 15% on the first order a referral makes, plus 8% recurring on every monthly renewal after that. I had built an entire module of my course around the concept of residual income — teaching students to build automated revenue streams rather than chasing one-off sales. A recurring commission fit that philosophy perfectly. If my students were going to learn about long-term income strategies, I should be practicing what I preached.
I also noticed that Global API gave affiliates access to over 150 models through a single dashboard. That mattered because I could recommend one platform confidently without telling my audience to jump between five different services. From a teaching standpoint, fewer moving parts means fewer confused students.
Month One: Building the Foundation
I want to break this down the same way I break down my course modules — into clear steps, with the reasoning behind each one. Here is exactly how Month 1 unfolded.
Step 1: Audit what I already had.
Before writing a single new piece of content, I looked at my existing assets. My tech blog was pulling in roughly 2,000 monthly visitors. My Twitter account had about 800 developer followers. Neither number was impressive, but both audiences were already interested in AI tooling. I did not need a bigger audience. I needed to put the right links in front of the audience I already had.
Step 2: Publish Lesson One — a comparison piece.
My first tutorial with an embedded affiliate link was an 1,800-word article comparing AI API providers based on my own project experience. I included real code samples showing how to authenticate, send a request, and handle a response. At the end of each section, I mentioned which platform I had used. Global API got the top recommendation, and I placed my affiliate link there with a clear call-to-action.
I published it on my blog and cross-posted to Dev.to. I have always believed in teaching through distribution — content is useless if nobody sees it.
Step 3: Track everything obsessively.
This is the part most course creators skip, and it is the part that makes everything else possible. I set up a simple spreadsheet. Every click, every signup, every conversion. By the end of Week 3, I had my first round of data.
The first week on Dev.to brought 340 views. My blog added another 120. Three people clicked my affiliate link. Zero conversions.
I had to remind myself of something I tell my students constantly: data from Week 1 is not a verdict. It is a starting point.
Step 4: Watch the compounding effect.
By Week 4, the Dev.to article had grown to 520 views as it started ranking for long-tail search terms. Eight more people clicked the link. One person signed up. And on Day 28, that signup converted to a paid Pro plan.
My first month earnings: $3.00.
That is the number most people would look at and quit. I looked at it and saw a system that worked end-to-end. Someone had found my content, clicked the link, created an account, entered payment details, and upgraded to a paid plan. Every single step of the funnel had fired at least once. The machinery was functional. Now I just had to drive more material through it.
Month 1 Totals:
- 2 articles published
- 750 combined views
- 14 affiliate clicks
- 2 signups
- 1 paid conversion
- Earnings: $3.00 # # Month Two: The Momentum Phase Going into Month 2, I had a small problem that every educator eventually faces: my existing content was too narrow. I was writing for intermediate developers, but the biggest pool of potential users sat on the beginner side of the spectrum. My curriculum needed to expand. Step 5: Add a real-world case study. Article three was a case study about a client project where I had used AI APIs to build a specific feature. This one performed differently from the comparison piece. It got 280 views in the first week, but the click-through rate was noticeably higher. When I looked at my analytics, the reason became obvious. Developers reading about a real project could picture themselves doing the same thing. The article spoke to their context, not just their curiosity. I have since turned this lesson into a module in my course. Context converts better than comparison. Always. Step 6: Let the original article breathe. By Week 6, the first article I published had crossed 1,200 total views. Google was indexing it for several keyword variations I had not even targeted. This is one of the most important lessons I teach: content keeps working after you stop promoting it. Affiliate links are not just about what you write today. They are about what your articles are still doing six months from now while you sleep. During that same week, clicks climbed to 4-5 per day, and two more conversions came in — both to Pro plans. Step 7: Write for the absolute beginner. Article four was a 2,200-word guide titled something like "Getting Started with AI APIs When You Have Never Used One Before." It was the most time-intensive piece I wrote that month, but the audience was completely different. Beginners are more likely to follow a recommendation because they are actively looking for guidance. I teach this concept as the "trust transfer" — when someone does not yet have the expertise to evaluate options independently, they transfer their decision-making to whoever seems most credible. The article was a hit with my students, several of whom sent me messages saying they wished it had existed when they were starting out. Step 8: Collect the first recurring commission. Week 8 brought a moment I had been waiting for. My first referral from Month 1 renewed their subscription, and I received $1.60 in recurring commission. The number itself was tiny. The principle was enormous. A single user had now generated revenue for me in two separate months. I did not have to re-convert them. I did not have to re-sell them. The structure did the work. I also published Article 5, a breakdown of AI API pricing aimed at developers watching their budgets. By the end of the month, my content library was starting to look like a real curriculum — beginner guides, intermediate tutorials, real-world case studies, and pricing breakdowns. Each piece served a different stage of the buyer's journey. Month 2 Totals:
- 3 new articles published (5 total)
- 2,100 combined views across all content
- 58 affiliate clicks
- 4 paid conversions
- Recurring commission received: $1.60
- Earnings: $43.60 # # What the Numbers Actually Look Like When You Stack Them Let me do the math the way I do it in my course, because this is the part students always want to see. Over two months, I had five published articles, 2,850 total views, 72 affiliate clicks, and 5 paid conversions. Total earnings: $46.60. If you divide that by the number of hours I spent writing, the hourly rate is mediocre. But that calculation is misleading, and here is why I make my students redo it three different ways in the curriculum:
- The first-order commissions are one-time. The $3 from Month 1 is gone. I will never earn it again.
- The recurring commissions compound. Every month, a percentage of my active referrals pays me again. If I had 10 referrals on $20/month plans, my recurring income from Global API alone would be $16 per month — forever, as long as they stay subscribed.
- The content keeps producing views. Those five articles are still ranking. They are still getting clicked. I have not promoted them in weeks, and the traffic is steady. The real value is not in the first two months. It is in Month 6, Month 12, and Month 24, when the content library is large and the recurring base is wide. # # The Four Lessons I Now Teach in My Course After running this experiment, I added a new module to my curriculum. These are the four lessons that came directly from my own data. Lesson 1: Your existing audience is the asset. I did not grow my Twitter following. I did not run any ads. I used the 2,000 monthly blog visitors I already had. Most course creators dramatically undervalue the list they have already built. Lesson 2: Recurring commissions change the math. A 15% first-order commission is fine. An 8% recurring commission on top of that is what makes the model sustainable. This is the single most important structural feature to look for in any affiliate program. Lesson 3: Beginner content converts best. My beginner guide outperformed my intermediate tutorials in click-through rate. New users need guidance more than experts do, and they are more likely to act on a recommendation. Lesson 4: Track every click or you are guessing. Without my spreadsheet, I would have quit after Week 3. The data told me the funnel was working. I just had to keep feeding it. # # My Honest Recommendation If You Want to Try This Yourself I get messages from students every week asking me which affiliate program I would actually recommend. I never answer based on commission rate alone. I look at the platform, the support, the dashboard, and whether the product is something I would use whether or not I were being paid. Global API checks every one of those boxes. Their affiliate program offers 15% on the first order and 8% recurring on every renewal, and the platform itself gives users access to over 150 models through a single integration. The tracking dashboard is clean, payouts are reliable, and the support team responds quickly when I have questions. If you are a developer, a course creator, or a content writer who already publishes tutorials or reviews, joining the Global API affiliate program is one of the lowest-effort ways I know to start building a recurring income stream. You are not creating a product. You are not running ads. You are adding a link to content you were already going to write, and getting paid every time someone signs up and stays subscribed. That is the model. It is simple, it is sustainable, and it works. You can sign up here: https://global-apis.com/affiliate?ref=devto-build-in-public-ai-affiliate-journey Bring your existing audience. Bring your tutorials. The rest takes care of itself.
Top comments (0)