We've been blogging for over a decade, and in that time, we’ve learned countless valuable lessons, tools, and strategies that have transformed our blog into a successful business.
Blogging successfully isn’t something I learned in school; sure, I took a course here and there early on, which always gave a few great takeaways. But it's through trial and error, frustrating moments, and constant algorithm and technical updates that you have to weather and adapt as you go. There are a lot of moving parts, maintenance, and upkeep—including affiliates.
Let’s just say I have trust issues with affiliate programs. This is something I shared with Stay22 when I was initially approached before deciding to onboard www.boboandchichi.com. Managing affiliates is like herding multiple colonies of stray cats at once.
I can’t tell you how many times we implemented affiliate links into our site, only for the program to be discontinued without any notification. The affiliate partner switched platforms, changed their link structure, or made other changes that made small, independent publishers like us scramble to correct or change things with little consideration from these affiliate partners.
It’s hard doing everything on your own. Some bloggers hire affiliate managers, and for some time I was on the fence about hiring one. Then Stay22 came along, and I want to share why this was a game-changer for our website and my workflow.
The best part? Our affiliate revenue increased by 300% when I used Stay22, comparing 2022 to 2023.
As someone without a team of people helping me maintain our websites, here’s what my affiliate workflow looked like when writing and publishing individual blog posts:
Now repeat these steps for each affiliate link you’re implementing. Individually, this can take a minute or two, but it quickly becomes cumbersome and time-consuming. This is why I only implemented hotel and tour affiliate links with occasional related products.
Even after all this effort, the work wasn’t over. Anytime an affiliate partner changed their link structure, I had tons of broken links that needed fixing. This is a nightmare for SEO and requires immediate attention—without a team, the workload becomes overwhelming.
For instance, a popular vacation rental company once discontinued its affiliate program, leaving me with hundreds of broken links to fix. This kind of event still stings.
I was seriously considering hiring an affiliate manager until Stay22 offered a service that sounded almost too good to be true.
The Let Me Allez (LMA) script was a game-changer. When I realized I didn’t need to change anything on my site except insert a piece of code that would override all my existing affiliate links, I was intrigued. I could also remove the code at any time, and my original links would remain unaffected.
LMA also let me earn commissions on hotels that I hadn’t even featured on my site before, increasing my earnings immediately.
Stay22’s script truly felt like a dream solution. And unlike most things that sound too good to be true, it worked.
Since implementing Stay22, the maintenance of my affiliate links has drastically decreased. I have far fewer broken links than I did before.
I still create individual affiliate links for hotel properties, but Stay22’s script automatically overrides them, making my workflow seamless. With Stay22’s new Spark feature, I’m even considering changing how I currently manage affiliate links.
I no longer need to log into multiple affiliate platforms to check reports and earnings—it’s all in one dashboard. Additionally, I’m earning commissions on products I never previously featured, such as rental cars and flights, which has brought in consistent daily bookings.
One feature I love about Stay22 is its AI-powered ability to direct readers to booking pages tailored to their region. I primarily cater to a US-based audience, but now readers from other regions are presented with appropriate options, increasing the likelihood of bookings.
Stay22 has transformed how I manage my affiliate marketing. Here’s what I love the most about it:
Stay22 has been a true game-changer for bloggers like me. Affiliates were always a pain point, but now it's easier than ever to earn commissions from content while managing the business with peace of mind.
I can now focus my energy elsewhere, knowing that I don’t have to worry about broken links or choosing the "right" affiliates. Stay22’s technology handles it all, while allowing me to earn more from all the content I work so hard to produce.