How I filter an affiliate offer before I write about it (sample)

This is a sample post. I am not publishing a performance report here, and I am not attaching invented EPC or cookie-window stats.

The job is trust, not a link

Affiliate pages die when the writer is obviously paid to be uncritical. Readers notice. So do search engines, eventually. Before I agree to write, I want to know whether I would still recommend the product if the commission disappeared.

Questions I ask

The product

• Have I used it, or can I use it long enough to be specific?
• Who is it actually for? “Everyone with a website” is not an audience.
• What happens after the trial — pricing, support, cancellation?

The program

• Is the disclosure going to be obvious on the page, not a footnote after the pitch?
• Are there exclusives that would force me to hide better options?
• Can I link to a page I would send a friend to, or only to a squeeze page?

How this will read when it is real

A finished piece should name the product, say how I used it, and list the tradeoffs. It should not lean on screenshots of dashboards I cannot show, or on “I made six figures” lines that cannot be checked.

If you are reading this on the staging layout: the surrounding page (title, reading time, table of contents, related posts, newsletter box) is what needs review. The offer filter above is the tone I want to keep.