326: How To Make 7 Figures Affiliate Marketing With Deacon Hayes

Podcast: Download (Duration: 47:49 — 55.0MB)

Making real money blogging comes down to treating each post as an investment with a break-even target rather than as writing. Deacon Hayes pays $300 for an article and expects it to earn that back within three to six months, which turns content into a repeatable financial decision rather than a hopeful one.

In this episode I spoke with Deacon Hayes, founder of Well Kept Wallet. He and his wife paid off $52,000 of debt in 18 months, and the blog he started documenting that has grown into a business he now runs mostly through outsourced writers.

Below is the full picture: how he got out of debt, how the blog started making money, his current content strategy, the affiliate model, and why he removed his email opt-in.

Key takeaways

• Each post has a break-even target. A $300 article should earn $300 within three to six months.
• He does none of the writing. Writers cost 10 to 15 cents a word on his main site.
• An ad network paid multiples of AdSense, which was the first real revenue.
• Affiliates are now the bulk of revenue, sourced through networks and direct outreach.
• Press produced $1,000 a day for three days and then dried up completely.
• He removed his email opt-in because search traffic converts far better for his audience.
• Content volume dropped from 30 posts a month to six as the strategy became deliberate.
• Expect two to three years to six figures, with nothing for the first six to twelve months.

How Deacon Hayes paid off $52,000 in 18 months

The first step was putting his budget and net worth on a single sheet of paper.

He built a one-page spreadsheet specifically so he could see his entire financial position at a glance.

That view produced the biggest win immediately. Seeing a $17,000 car loan against a net worth line showing his wife’s car was worth $5,000 led to selling both and buying two cheaper used cars.

The second step was line-by-line cost cutting. Cable, a gym membership he never used, and anything else that could shrink.

The third was the debt snowball, listing debts smallest to largest and rolling each payment into the next once one cleared.

His defense of paying smallest first rather than highest interest is psychological. Mathematically the interest-first approach wins, and humans are not robots, so early wins are what sustain the effort.

How the blog actually started making money

The blog earned nothing for roughly three years and existed purely as documentation.

He started it on a free platform while still paying off debt, delivering pizzas at night and selling on eBay to accelerate the payoff.

The first real money came from press. US News and World Report reached out, he then pitched local reporters with the line “newlyweds pay off $52,000 in debt in 18 months,” and a Fox station segment got syndicated nationally.

The reporter filmed his budget spreadsheet on camera and mentioned it was downloadable, which sent enormous traffic to the site.

He made roughly $1,000 a day for three days from display ads, which was more than he had made in a month to that point.

The lesson was the limitation rather than the win. Press revenue dries up almost immediately, which sent him looking for something consistent.

Why SEO became the whole strategy

Search traffic is the only channel Deacon found consistent enough to build a business on.

His approach to Google’s documented ranking factors was pragmatic. Rather than trying to address 200 signals, he identified the top 10 to 15 and wrote accordingly.

His definition of quality content is simply an article that answers what the searcher was looking for.

The other channels have all been unreliable. A single Pinterest pin once drove 100,000 visitors a month and now drives nothing, and Facebook went from a thousand clicks a day to being happy with 50.

Google is the exception. Algorithm updates have real impact, and the traffic has stayed significant throughout.

How to make a post stand out in a crowded search result

Look at the top ten results and identify what they are missing.

Title treatment is where he starts. Power words like easy, amazing, or surprising affect click-through rate, which matters to Google.

FAQ blocks are the other tactic. Yoast can surface those questions in the search results, and they can carry links, which lets a searcher get their answer and then move to the next logical step.

His honest assessment of FAQ blocks is that he has not seen search benefit from them directly. He adds them to make the page more useful and increase dwell time.

The content model that turns posts into investments

Deacon assigns each article a break-even target and tracks it on a spreadsheet.

The metric is simple. If a post costs $300 to produce, he wants that $300 back within six months.

Higher domain authority is what makes the timeline realistic. His sites can reach the second page of Google within 48 hours, at which point it becomes a question of internal links and outside links to climb higher.

The structure he aims for is a three-way win. The affiliate gets a good customer, the searcher gets an answer to their problem, and the site earns revenue.

How his content strategy changed over ten years

Volume went from 30 posts a month to roughly six, and he describes the shift as almost schizophrenic.

The daily publishing phase came from Google appearing to reward fresh content consistently, and being rewarded for it.

Then the rewards stopped. Publishing every day stopped producing rankings, which prompted him to stop writing content simply to write content.

The current approach starts with gaps. He examines what competitors rank for and identifies missing pieces in a vertical, like a post explaining a specific retirement account type they have never covered.

Affiliate relationships now factor into the decision too, which means each post serves readers, fills a content gap, and supports a revenue relationship simultaneously.

How he monetizes the traffic

Display advertising came first and affiliates now carry the business.

The AdSense to ad network switch was the first meaningful jump, producing somewhere between two and five times the revenue for the same traffic.

Affiliates are now the bulk of revenue. The categories match his audience, covering brands that help people earn money like rideshare, delivery, and rental platforms.

Sponsored posts were part of the mix earlier and no longer are.

Finding affiliate programs runs two ways. Some content is written with an affiliate already in mind, and some prompts a search for whether brands mentioned in the post have programs.

His assistant checks the major networks first, since signing up through an existing network relationship is far easier than a direct arrangement.

The friction with direct relationships is administrative. A handful of affiliates require him to log into their platform, read their own numbers, generate an invoice, and send it back, which he finds absurd and does anyway for a relationship paying five to seven thousand a month.

Why he removed his email opt-in

Deacon took the email popup off his site despite having 20,000 subscribers.

His reasoning was focus. His route to success is high-quality content earning Google traffic, and the list added maintenance, tracking, and administration cost against that.

The conversion data supported it. He hired someone to survey the list and craft affiliate-intent emails with tracking, and it works a little, and nothing approaches search traffic on ROI.

His explanation is about intent. A search query is extremely specific, and someone on a list has to be warmed up through a much longer funnel before they act.

Audience composition matters too. A personal finance audience largely trying to get out of debt behaves differently from an audience focused on one commercial topic.

He also holds himself to the standard he would want as a reader. He subscribes to two personal newsletters and reads every issue, and does not want to send anything less useful than that.

How to outsource blog writing

Deacon writes nothing and pays for quality rather than cheapness.

His rate on the main site is 10 to 15 cents a word, and roughly five to eight cents on his other properties.

The cheap end is a false economy. Fifty-dollar articles exist and require so much editing that they cost more overall.

Seasoned writers who already know what good content looks like are what make the model work.

Sourcing came from the industry conference community for his main site, and from job postings for his other sites, where two overseas writers with major publication credits turned out to be the strongest applicants.

Bylines go to the actual writers rather than being ghostwritten.

What running a blog looks like once it is outsourced

Deacon got the workload down to under five hours a week and then chose to work more.

The automation went far enough that he took a month off entirely and revenue held.

His reaction to that was unexpected. Removing himself from the work produced a sense of purposelessness, and questioning what he was supposed to do with his time.

He now works 25 to 35 hours a week on higher-level work. Table of contents improvements, plugin decisions weighed against page speed, and user experience rather than content.

How to get press coverage

Reporter request services are the volume approach and relationships are the reliable one.

He subscribes to a service that emails reporter requests three times daily across every vertical, and his assistant handles the pitching.

The hit rate is roughly one in twenty, which makes it a volume game rather than a targeted one.

Local relationships produce better results. He maintains a spreadsheet of contacts, what they covered, and when he last worked with them, then reconnects with new story ideas.

His advice for anyone starting is to lead with press. Getting a story into high domain authority publications is the fastest route to the authority that makes everything else work.

The story has to exist though. His was paying off $52,000 in 18 months, and the equivalent for someone else might be leaving a conventional career path to build something.

What to expect when starting from scratch

Two to three years to six figures, with nothing expected in the first six to twelve months.

That timeline is why the nest egg matters. Deacon had six months to a year of living expenses saved before quitting, explicitly to cover bills while the business built.

He also worked traditional jobs throughout the first three years of the blog, moving from flooring sales into financial planning before going full time.

His view on what determines whether people finish is interest rather than opportunity. A friend’s mattress site did acceptably and he was not interested in the topic, and people generally quit when the only motivation is money.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to make money blogging?

Deacon Hayes estimates two to three years to six figures, expecting nothing for the first six to twelve months. His own blog earned nothing for roughly three years before the first meaningful revenue arrived.

How much should you pay a blog writer?

Deacon pays 10 to 15 cents a word on his main site and five to eight cents on others. Fifty-dollar articles require so much editing that they cost more overall than hiring seasoned writers.

How do you know if a blog post was worth writing?

Set a break-even target. If a post costs $300 to produce, expect it to earn $300 back within three to six months, tracked on a spreadsheet alongside every other post.

Is AdSense worth using on a blog?

Only until you qualify for a proper ad network. Deacon saw somewhere between two and five times the revenue from the same traffic after switching, which made it the first change worth making.

Should you build an email list for a blog?

It depends on your audience and monetization. Deacon removed his opt-in despite 20,000 subscribers, because search traffic converted far better and the list added maintenance cost without matching ROI.

How do you find affiliate programs?

Check the major networks first, since signing up through an existing relationship is easier than a direct arrangement. Otherwise search the brand name plus affiliate program, and expect some direct partners to require invoicing.

How do you get press coverage for a blog?

Reporter request services work at roughly a one in twenty hit rate, so treat it as volume. Local media relationships are more reliable, kept in a spreadsheet with contacts and last contact dates.

Should you pay off the highest interest debt first?

Mathematically yes, and Deacon recommends smallest balance first anyway. Early wins produce the motivation that sustains the effort, and a large high-interest debt can feel like getting nowhere for months.