Who This Is For and What I Actually Built
I work in B2B marketing at a manufacturing company — running HubSpot, WordPress, Unbounce and Semrush daily as part of our company stack. I built Industry AI Hub on the side as an affiliate content site: honest reviews of B2B tools I actually use, monetised through affiliate programs from the tools I write about.
The site went from idea to first published article in two days, and hit its first affiliate conversion inside four weeks. I'm writing this to document exactly what I built with — not a theoretical "here's what you could use" but the actual tools and decisions that produced a working result fast.
Quick numbers: Domain cost ~€12/year. Hosting started free. First month total spend under €20. 21 articles published in the first month. First affiliate commission earned at week four. All content written with Claude as a co-author, keyword strategy from Semrush.
The Full Tech Stack — Every Tool Explained
The stack is deliberately minimal. Every tool has one job and doesn't overlap with the others.
Namecheap — Domain Registration
Domain registration at around €10-12 per year. Straightforward, reliable, and significantly cheaper than registering through your hosting provider. The domain name matters for your niche — I used "industryaihub.com" to signal B2B + AI + content hub clearly.
Cost: ~€12/yearNetlify — Hosting
Static file hosting with a free tier that's genuinely sufficient for an early-stage site. No server to manage, no database, no plugin updates. You upload HTML files and the site goes live instantly. Fast by default, secure by default, zero ongoing maintenance. I upgraded to the paid personal plan after a few weeks as the site grew, but the free tier handles everything at the start.
Try Netlify Free →Cost: Free to start
Static HTML — No CMS
Every page is a standalone HTML file. No WordPress, no CMS, no template engine. This requires some technical comfort but gives complete control over structure, performance and schema markup — all of which matter for SEO. The tradeoff is that you manage files directly rather than through a visual editor.
Cost: FreeClaude — Content Co-Author
I use Claude to build article HTML, add schema markup, manage internal linking across pages, and edit structure. Claude doesn't write the content independently — the ideas, experience and editorial judgment are mine. Claude handles execution speed: turning a brief into a properly structured HTML article in minutes rather than hours. This is the biggest productivity multiplier in the stack.
Cost: Claude Pro ~€18/monthSemrush — Keyword Strategy
Keyword research before every article. This is the step most people skip when building content sites, and it's the reason most content sites fail to get traffic. Semrush tells you what people are actually searching, how competitive each query is, and which of your existing pages are closest to ranking on page one. I access it through our agency partner at work rather than a personal licence — a legitimate cost reduction if you're in the same situation.
Try Semrush Free → Cost: From €99/month (free trial available)Google Analytics + Search Console — Tracking
Google Analytics for visitor behaviour, Google Search Console for search performance. Both free, both essential. Search Console is particularly important — it shows which queries your pages are appearing for, which positions you're ranking at, and which pages have the most room to improve. I check it weekly and use the data to prioritise which articles to update.
Cost: FreeCookieYes — Cookie Consent
GDPR compliance for EU visitors. Required if you're running Google Analytics or any tracking. CookieYes has a free plan that covers the basics — the consent banner, cookie categorisation, and the policy pages it generates. Non-negotiable if you have EU traffic, which as a B2B site you almost certainly will.
Cost: Free tier availableWhy I Didn't Use WordPress
This is the most common question and the honest answer is: WordPress would have worked, but it would have added complexity I didn't need. For a solo project where one person manages all content and the priority is moving fast with low maintenance, WordPress brings plugin management, hosting setup, update cycles and security monitoring that don't add value when you're trying to get the first ten articles published.
The performance case is also real. Static Netlify sites load faster than a typical WordPress setup out of the box, without the caching plugins and image optimisation work that WordPress usually requires to compete on Core Web Vitals. Page speed matters for SEO, and on Netlify you get it without effort.
That said — WordPress is the right choice if you need a CMS for non-technical contributors, e-commerce functionality, or complex plugin integrations. For a company site like the one I manage at work, we use WordPress precisely because the whole team needs to publish content. The choice depends entirely on the project. I covered our full company stack in the WordPress + HubSpot + Unbounce + Semrush article.
The Actual Publishing Workflow
Here's how an article goes from idea to live in practice:
Keyword research in Semrush
Find a query with realistic ranking potential — specific enough to win at low domain authority, commercial enough to drive affiliate clicks. For B2B tools this usually means "tool name + hubspot integration" or "tool A vs tool B" queries.
Brief and outline
Define the article's main question, the key sections, and what affiliate links fit naturally. I write this myself — it's the editorial judgment that shapes the whole piece.
Build with Claude
Claude builds the full HTML article including sidebar, schema markup, FAQ section, internal links, and CTAs. I review, edit for accuracy, and add real operational detail that only comes from actual experience with the tool.
Update supporting files
Index.html articles array, articles.html, sitemap.xml, netlify.toml redirects. Claude handles all of these systematically so nothing gets missed.
Deploy to Netlify
Upload the ZIP. Site is live in under a minute. Request re-indexing in Google Search Console for new and updated pages.
How the Affiliate Side Works
The monetisation model is straightforward: write honest reviews of tools I actually use, apply for their affiliate programs, and place links in articles where they fit naturally. No sponsored content, no paid placements, no writing about tools I haven't tested.
Active affiliate programs at the time of writing: ElevenLabs (PartnerStack), Descript, Lusha (PartnerStack), Leadfeeder, Unbounce, Semrush, SaneBox, and Apollo. The first conversion came through ElevenLabs at week four — someone who read the ElevenLabs voiceover review and signed up via the affiliate link.
The key to affiliate income on a content site is matching the affiliate product to articles where it fits genuinely rather than forcing links into every page. Readers who feel pushed toward a product they didn't ask about don't convert. Readers who find a specific answer to their question and see a relevant affiliate link at the right moment do.
For the SEO side of the affiliate strategy — which keywords to target, which existing articles to update, which positions to chase — the ChatGPT vs Claude vs Semrush article covers the full workflow.
What I'd Do Differently
Honestly, not much on the tech side — the stack is genuinely the right fit for this kind of project. The mistakes were strategic rather than technical.
I published too many articles in the first few weeks without spacing them properly. Google can treat rapid publishing as a spam signal on a new domain. A more measured pace of two to three articles per week would have been smarter than five or six.
I also should have applied for affiliate programs earlier. A few programs I write about still don't have affiliate agreements in place — those articles generate traffic and trust without converting. If you're building a similar site, apply for affiliate programs before or at the point of publishing, not after.
The tech stack is genuinely not the hard part of building an affiliate content site. Netlify + static HTML is fast to set up, free to start, and stays out of your way. The hard part is publishing consistently, targeting the right keywords, and writing from real experience rather than rewording existing content. Get the stack right in day one and then ignore it — the work is in the content, not the infrastructure.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best tech stack for a B2B affiliate site?
Namecheap for domain, Netlify for hosting, static HTML for pages, Claude for content assistance, Semrush for keyword research. This covers everything you need at minimal cost and lets you focus on content rather than infrastructure.
Should I use Netlify or WordPress for an affiliate site?
For a solo affiliate site where you're comfortable with HTML, Netlify is faster, cheaper and easier to maintain. WordPress is better if you need a visual editor or a team of non-technical contributors. The main tradeoff with Netlify is managing files directly — but for performance, security and simplicity it has a clear advantage.
How much does it cost to start a B2B affiliate site?
Very little. Domain on Namecheap is ~€12/year. Netlify's free plan covers hosting at the start. Semrush has a free trial. Claude and ChatGPT both have free tiers. Total first-month cost can be under €20 if you use free tiers and only upgrade when growth justifies it.
How long does it take to build a B2B affiliate site?
Technical setup takes a day. Building enough content to get organic traffic takes 2-3 months of consistent publishing. First affiliate conversions can come earlier if you drive traffic from LinkedIn or Reddit while Google builds trust in the new domain.
Is Netlify good for SEO on an affiliate site?
Yes. Static Netlify sites load fast, score well on Core Web Vitals, and have clean HTML — all positive SEO signals. What determines SEO performance is keyword strategy and content quality, not the hosting platform.