The AI Marketing Stack for Niche Sites

By AIStacked · Published January 2026 · 10 min read

Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, I earn a commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I've actually tested.

This is the exact tool stack I use to run a niche affiliate site end-to-end with AI. From keyword research to published, optimized, internally-linked article — here's what I use, what it costs, and the workflow that ties it all together.

If you want the detailed version with copy-paste prompts, step-by-step screenshots, and a 30-day action plan, that's the AI Marketing Stack Playbook. This article is the free overview.

The Stack at a Glance

Step	Tool	Cost	What It Does
1. Keyword Research	Semrush (free tier)	$0	Find keywords with volume + difficulty data
2. Content Brief	Frase	$15/mo	Generate brief from SERP analysis
3. First Draft	Writesonic	$13/mo	Generate article draft from brief
4. Optimization	Frase	(included)	Score article against SERP, add missing terms
5. Internal Linking	Link Whisper	$6.25/mo	Automate internal link suggestions
6. Publishing	WordPress or plain HTML	$0-$5/mo	Publish and deploy

Total monthly cost: ~$34/mo (or $0 if you use free tiers only). That's enough to produce 4-8 optimized articles per month.

The Workflow: Keyword to Published Article

Step 1: Keyword Research (Semrush — 15 minutes)

I start in Semrush's Keyword Overview tool. I type in a broad keyword idea and check the difficulty score and search volume. I'm looking for keywords with:

Difficulty under 30 (manageable for a new-ish site)
Monthly search volume above 200
Commercial or informational intent (not transactional — those are hard to rank for)

Once I find a viable keyword, I check the keyword gap analysis to see if competitors rank for related terms I should target too. I export my top 5-10 keyword ideas and move to step 2.

Step 2: Content Brief (Frase — 5 minutes)

I paste my target keyword into Frase. It analyzes the top 20 ranking pages and generates a content brief in under 10 seconds: suggested headings, questions to answer, statistics to include, and related topics. I review the brief, remove anything irrelevant, and add my own angle. The brief becomes my outline.

Step 3: First Draft (Writesonic — 10 minutes)

I paste the outline into Writesonic's SEO Article Writer. It generates a full draft — 1,500-2,000 words — in about 2 minutes. The quality is rough. It needs editing. But starting from a draft and editing it is 3x faster than writing from scratch. I edit for flow, cut redundancy, add my own experience and opinions, and fact-check any claims.

Step 4: Optimization (Frase — 20 minutes)

I paste the edited draft into Frase's optimization editor. It scores the article against the SERP and shows me what's missing: terms I haven't used enough, headings I'm missing, questions I haven't answered. I revise until the score hits 70+ (good enough — chasing 90+ leads to keyword stuffing).

Step 5: Internal Linking (Link Whisper — 5 minutes)

If I'm publishing on WordPress, Link Whisper suggests 5-10 internal links from existing articles to the new one, and from the new article to existing ones. I accept the relevant ones, reject the irrelevant ones, and I'm done. Internal linking takes 5 minutes instead of 30.

Step 6: Publish and Submit (5 minutes)

I publish the article, check the URL in Google Search Console's URL Inspection tool, and click "Request Indexing." Google usually indexes within 24-48 hours.

Total time per article: ~60 minutes. Without AI tools, the same article would take 3-4 hours. That's a 3x productivity multiplier — which means I can publish 3x more content in the same time, or spend the saved time on link building and promotion.

The Budget Stack vs The Pro Stack

Here's how the stack evolves as your site grows:

Stage	Stack	Monthly Cost	When to Use
Day 1 (Budget)	Semrush Free + Frase + Writesonic	$28/mo	Just starting, no revenue yet
Growing	Semrush Pro + Frase + Jasper + Link Whisper	$188/mo	20+ articles, first commissions coming in
Scaling	Semrush Pro + Surfer SEO + Jasper + Link Whisper + Ahrefs	$317/mo	50+ articles, $1K+/mo in commissions

The key insight: don't buy tools before you need them. Start with the $28/mo budget stack. Upgrade one tool at a time as revenue justifies it. Every dollar you spend on tools you don't use yet is a dollar you can't spend on content or links.

Cost Breakdown: What to Pay For vs What's Free

Pay for (immediately):

Frase ($15/mo) — content briefs and optimization. Worth every penny from day one.
Writesonic ($13/mo) — if you'd rather edit than write. If you enjoy writing, skip this and write your own drafts.

Use free for as long as possible:

Semrush free tier — 10 searches/day is enough for 1-2 articles/week
Google Search Console — free, essential, always

Add when revenue justifies:

Link Whisper ($6.25/mo) — add when you have 10+ articles (internal linking becomes painful manually)
Semrush Pro ($129.95/mo) — add when you need keyword gap analysis and position tracking (usually at 20+ articles)
Surfer SEO ($49/mo) — add when you want precise optimization and can afford it
Jasper ($39/mo) — add when you're publishing 4+ articles/week and need faster drafting

Get the Full Playbook

This article covers the overview. The AI Marketing Stack Playbook is a 30+ page PDF with the exact workflows, 15+ copy-paste AI prompts, cost breakdowns, and a day-by-day 30-day action plan.

Exact prompt templates for keyword research, briefs, and drafts
Step-by-step workflow with screenshots
30-day action plan: what to do every day for the first month
Cost optimization: exactly which tools to pay for and when

Launch price: $27 (first 50 copies) — then $37

Get the Playbook →

The Bottom Line

You can build a competitive niche affiliate site with AI tools for $28-34/month. The stack is: Semrush (free) for keywords, Frase ($15) for briefs and optimization, Writesonic ($13) for drafts, Link Whisper ($6.25) for internal linking. Upgrade tools one at a time as your site earns — never before.