The Fish Are There. But Where? — Starting the 2026 Free-Traffic Experiment

I’m starting with a simple question: can an ordinary person still build a genuine affiliate marketing business in 2026 using free traffic rather than spending a fortune on advertising?

I don’t know the answer. That is the point of this experiment.

Rather than begin by choosing products and then trying to find people to sell them to, I’m starting at the other end. I want to find the people first — particularly beginners and people who have already tried to make money online but are struggling to make progress.

I call them the fish.

The first question, therefore, is:

The fish are there. But where?

What I’ve Found So Far

I started looking in the obvious places: X, Quora, Reddit, Facebook and YouTube.

The results have been surprisingly different.

X has plenty of affiliate marketers, but so far I’ve found relatively little conversation from beginners asking for help. The fishermen seem much easier to find than the fish.

Quora looks more promising. People ask specific questions and actively look for answers. Even my first answer received views without me having an established following.

Reddit has also produced genuine beginners discussing what they have tried, what has failed and where they are stuck.

Facebook is mixed. There are plenty of potential beginners, but they are surrounded by an enormous amount of promotion. Genuine questions exist, but finding them takes some digging.

YouTube has produced the strongest evidence so far. In the comments beneath relevant videos I found beginners openly asking how to start, whether they need followers, which platforms they should use, and why they are making no progress.

What Happens Next?

Finding the fish is only the beginning.

The next stage is to take the questions and problems I’m finding and create useful content around them. Then I can put that content where the right people might actually see it and measure what happens.

That means this experiment now moves from research into action.

I’ll document the results here — including what works, what doesn’t, what surprises me and what I change along the way.

There is no predetermined success story to tell. If free traffic works, we should be able to see the evidence. If it doesn’t, that is worth knowing too.

The experiment has begun.