Affiliate & Partner Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a performance-only channel: partners promote your product on tracked links and earn commission on what they actually influence. Networks, commission structures, recruiting and vetting, fraud, and the growing overlap with influencer deals.
Start here. No prior knowledge needed.
Affiliate Marketing 101: How the Model Actually Works
How affiliates earn commission on tracked links, why the model is performance-only, and why the channel is projected past $20 billion in 2026.
5 minAffiliate Commission Structures: Flat Fee, Rev Share, Tiered
How flat fee, revenue share, tiered, and hybrid commission models work, what industries typically pay, and how to pick the structure that rewards the behavior you actually want.
5 minLaunching an Affiliate Program From Zero: The Full Checklist
A step-by-step checklist for launching an affiliate program from scratch, covering tracking setup, terms of service, commission structure, and first-affiliate recruitment.
4 minMicro-Influencer Affiliate Programs: Hybrid Gifting and Commission Models
How to recruit small creators (1k-50k followers) into a hybrid affiliate/gifting structure, and why their conversion rates often beat mega-influencers.
6 minBuild on the fundamentals.
Choosing an Affiliate Network: ShareASale, Impact, CJ, and Direct Programs
The tradeoffs between joining an established affiliate network and running your own in-house program, plus how ShareASale, Impact, and CJ actually differ.
5 minRecruiting and Vetting Affiliates
Where to find affiliates worth recruiting, what to check before approving an application, and the red flags that predict a fraudulent or low-quality partner.
4 minInfluencer vs Affiliate: Where the Lines Blur
The real difference between paying for reach and paying for results, and why the smartest creator deals in 2026 do both at once.
4 minAffiliate Program Management: Tracking, Payouts, Relationships
How to run an affiliate program day-to-day: choosing tracking tech, setting payout schedules that build trust, and keeping your top affiliates engaged instead of dormant.
4 minAmazon Associates and Marketplace Affiliate Programs
How Amazon's affiliate program actually pays out, why its cookie window is so short, and what genuinely differs when Walmart, Target, or Etsy run the affiliate relationship instead of a single brand.
5 minAffiliate Content Sites and SEO: How Review Pages Actually Earn
How Wirecutter-style review and comparison sites make money, why Google's Site Reputation Abuse policy reshaped affiliate SEO, and what makes a review page rank and convert in 2025.
5 minCoupon and Deal-Site Affiliates: RetailMeNot, Honey, and Cashback
How coupon and cashback affiliates actually work, why brands complain about 'last-click coupon theft', and how to structure these deals fairly.
5 minSaaS Affiliate Programs: Recurring Commissions and Clawbacks
Why SaaS affiliate economics run on recurring, churn-adjusted commissions instead of one-time payouts, and how clawbacks keep the math honest.
5 minAffiliate Onboarding and Enablement
How to turn a newly approved affiliate into a producing partner fast, before poor onboarding kills the relationship in the first 30 days.
5 minB2B Partner and Referral Programs vs Consumer Affiliate Marketing
Why B2B referral and partner programs need a different structure than consumer affiliate marketing, and how to build one around relationships instead of clicks.
4 minAffiliate Tracking Tech: Cookies, Pixels, and Server-to-Server Postbacks
How affiliate tracking actually works under the hood, and why the industry is racing from cookies to server-to-server postbacks.
5 minRunning an Affiliate Program Internationally
What changes when your affiliate program crosses borders: currency, network choice, and localized compliance.
5 minNegotiating Affiliate Deals: Fees, Guarantees, and Exclusivity
How to negotiate flat fees vs performance-only deals, minimum guarantees, and exclusivity clauses, and how leverage shifts with brand size.
5 minDe-influencing and Affiliate Trust: Why Honest Reviews Convert Better
The 2023-2025 de-influencing backlash against over-promotional content, and how it's reshaping affiliate creative and brand guidelines.
5 minAffiliate Churn and Reactivation: Winning Back Dormant Partners
Why affiliates go dormant, how to spot it early, and the win-back campaigns that actually re-engage lapsed partners.
6 minWriting Affiliate Content Briefs Without Sounding Like a Script
How to give affiliates enough guidance to produce accurate, on-brand coverage without dictating their voice or creating an FTC-disclosure problem.
6 minTesting Affiliate Creative: Banners, Landing Pages, and Offer Copy
How to A/B test affiliate banners, landing pages, and offer copy across a partner network, and why it works differently than testing your own paid ads.
6 minAffiliate Platform Comparison: PartnerStack vs Impact vs Tapfiliate vs Rewardful
How four popular affiliate platforms actually differ by company size, pricing model, and SaaS vs e-commerce focus, and a simple way to pick the right one.
5 minSeasonal Affiliate Promotions: Black Friday, Prime Day, and Holiday Campaigns
How to plan Black Friday/Cyber Monday, Prime Day, and holiday affiliate campaigns with commission boosts and creative refresh timing.
4 minAffiliate Payouts and Tax Compliance: 1099s and W-8BEN Forms
What a US company must collect and file when paying domestic and international affiliates, including 1099-NEC thresholds and W-8BEN forms.
6 minTactics for experienced marketers.
Affiliate Fraud and Compliance: Cookie Stuffing and Coupon Abuse
How affiliates fake credit for sales they never influenced, and the FTC disclosure rules that turn a sloppy program into a legal liability.
4 minAffiliate Attribution: Last-Click vs Multi-Touch Models
Why last-click attribution undervalues most affiliates, how multi-touch models split credit fairly, and how networks are adapting tracking as cross-device and cookie challenges grow.
5 minSub-Affiliate Networks and Tiered Partner Structures
How master affiliates recruit and manage their own sub-affiliates, why this structure invites fraud, and how to set a policy that keeps it accountable.
5 minAffiliate vs Paid Media: Where It Fits in the Mix
How to figure out whether affiliate spend is actually driving new demand or just capturing sales you would have gotten anyway, and where it belongs in your budget.
5 min