Create content that you are proud of first and monetize later. For example, you could set a policy that you will only add affiliate links to posts that are 1 week, 1 month or 1 year old. That way it's written purely for your built in audience, but you make money off of the long term search traffic that comes in.

That's an approach that I took to a post of mine that ended up doing well. The product I recommended has an affiliate program and after I saw the page ranking highly I went through and added an affiliate link and a disclaimer to the post about 3 months later. Still ranks well, still helps people solve the problem and I get a little bonus when people sign up.

Read more from Jeff @ //www.jeffalytics.com/