He cut his blog from 900+ posts to about 400, and his traffic went up roughly 30%. 📈
On my Inside A Hustler’s Brain podcast during the lockdown, I talked with Anil Agarwal of BloggersPassion about making six figures from a single affiliate program. 🎙️
📊 In this episode, we unpacked:
- 🔁 From paid reviews to affiliate marketing
- 🔑 Long-tail keywords that sell
- 💰 Six figures from SEMrush
- ✂️ Content pruning and on-page SEO
- 🛡️ Reinvesting and diversifying
🎥 Watch the full episode:
🔁 From Paid Reviews to Affiliate Marketing
Anil had been blogging on BloggersPassion for about ten years. Early on, he earned from paid reviews, text links and banners. In the four or five years before this interview, he shifted to affiliate marketing. 🔁
His reason: more income from the same traffic. “With affiliate marketing, you can make good money even if you have just a hundred people coming.” You need targeted traffic, not lots of it. His niches are web hosting, themes and plugins, plus a hosting-focused site started in January 2019 that was already profitable. For his newer views, read Anil Agarwal on AI and SEO. 🔗
🔑 Long-Tail Keywords That Sell
Hosting is very competitive, so he goes after long-tail, low-competition keywords, especially ones where ranking pages have no backlinks. He writes great content, then adds quality backlinks. 🔑
To build trust in a new niche, research deeply and make your content better than the current top ten. He wrote a keyword research ebook to answer readers’ constant questions about finding profitable keywords. For more keyword strategy, read Gael Breton on building authority websites. 🔗
💰 Six Figures From SEMrush
Anil said he was among SEMrush’s top ten affiliates in a competition they ran. He doesn’t rank first for big terms like “SEMrush review”. The sales come from long-tail terms like “SEMrush 30 days free trial”. 💰
When I asked how much he’d made from SEMrush, he confirmed it was six figures. He also noted that commissions are rising: Bluehost went from $100 to $150 per sale for him. For more on affiliate income, read how I earn six figures in affiliate marketing. 🔗
✂️ Content Pruning and On-Page SEO
About a year before, BloggersPassion had 900+ posts. He removed and redirected many, cutting it to about 400, and saw around 30% more traffic from existing content. ✂️
On-page SEO today is about making sure people and bots understand the page. Use your keyword a couple of times, not more, and focus on user experience, page speed and heatmaps. Adding FAQ schema helped him win more space in search results. ⚡
🛡️ Reinvesting and Diversifying
He started by putting part of his salary into the blog. Once it made money, he reinvested all of it into content and design for a couple of years, then about 50–60%. With a team of four or five, recurring income helped him keep them when Google updates cut 30–40% of his traffic. 🛡️
To depend less on Google, he planned four or five ebooks that year and possibly courses next. His number-one tip: cover every angle of a product with reviews, comparisons, how-tos and listicles. Do something every day, and start with free resources before paying for courses. 🚀
📝 Key Takeaways From the Anil Agarwal Interview
- 🎯 Targeted traffic beats big traffic for affiliates
- 🔑 Target long-tail, low-competition keywords
- ✂️ Pruning thin content can lift traffic
- ♻️ Reinvest early income into content
- 🧩 Cover a product with reviews, comparisons, how-tos and lists
❓ FAQs About Anil Agarwal
How much has Anil Agarwal made from SEMrush?
He confirmed in the interview that it was six figures in commissions.
How does Anil Agarwal rank for affiliate keywords?
He targets long-tail, low-competition keywords, writes better content than the top ten and adds quality backlinks.
What happened when Anil pruned his blog?
He cut about 900 posts to about 400 with redirects and saw roughly 30% more traffic.
🎙️ More Inside A Hustler’s Brain Interviews You’ll Love
- How Darrel Wilson Makes 6-Figures With WordPress + Affiliate Marketing
- Matthew Woodward Live Interview At AWA Asia Bangkok About SEO
- Niels Zee On Building a 7-Figure Affiliate Business with Google Ads 🤑
- From Rags to Riches: Kulwant Nagi Shares his Success Mantra
Which long-tail keyword is making you money? Tell me in the comments. 💬
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Jitendra Vaswani is a well-known expert in SEO and AI-driven digital marketing. He has spoken at international events and founded Digiexe, a digital marketing agency, and AffiliateBooster, WordPress plugin designed specifically for affiliate marketers. With over 10 years of experience, Jitendra has helped many businesses succeed online. His bestselling book, Inside A Hustler’s Brain: In Pursuit of Financial Freedom, with over 20,000 copies sold globally, underscores his influence and commitment to empowering digital marketers.