Learn Affiliate Marketing
The Real Playbook
No guru BS. No $997 courses. Just what actually works, from someone building it in public — with real numbers, real programs, and honest timelines.
Read the framework →The Curriculum
Read these in order. Each article builds on the last. By the end you'll have a working plan, real programs to apply for, and a realistic timeline to your first commission.
The 7 Criteria to Evaluate Any Affiliate Program
Commission rates are a trap. Use this 7-criteria filter before you apply — written from running programs in the wild, including the ones that look great and pay pennies.
How Affiliate Cookies Actually Work — 30 vs 90 Day
Cookie duration defines how long your work persists. Here's the real attribution math from Amazon (24h), Shopify (30d), and WunderTools (90d) — and why your consideration window dictates which programs you should run.
Commission Structures Compared — Recurring vs One-Time, % vs Flat, Cookie vs Payout
Recurring vs one-time payouts, percentage vs flat CPA, and cookie window vs payout-speed tradeoffs — across SaaS, crypto, email, e-commerce, and online courses. Concrete numbers from live programs.
Easy vs Hard Affiliate Programs: How to Evaluate Approval Difficulty Before You Apply
Some programs approve in five minutes. Others reject you after a six-week manual review. Here's the approval-difficulty framework — traffic thresholds, niche restrictions, manual review, and network gatekeeping — so you apply where you'll actually get in.
How Affiliate Links Work — Click, Disclosure, Cookie, Redirect
How merchants and networks actually issue your tracking link, what FTC + network ToS require you to disclose, what the cookie/attribution window is doing in the background, and the redirect best practices that keep you clear of affiliate-abuse teams.
Recurring-Revenue Affiliate Programs — A Beginner's Guide to Compounding Commissions
What recurring and RevShare commissions actually are, why they compound better than one-time payouts, how to find programs that offer them, and 5 real recurring programs we run ourselves (CEX.IO, Kit MCP, WunderTools, Hostinger, SEMrush).
How Affiliate Marketing Actually Works
Kill the myths. Understand the real mechanics — from click to cookie to commission — and why most affiliates fail before they start.
How to Pick Your First Affiliate Programs
Commission rates are a lie. Learn what actually matters: EPC, cookie duration, payout terms — and the programs we use ourselves.
Your First $1,000 in Affiliate Commissions — A Realistic Timeline
CommissionStack hit 421 clicks in 16 days with 9.22% CTR. Here's the exact week-by-week plan we'd follow if starting from zero.
Crypto Affiliate Programs & RevShare — A Beginner's Guide to How They Work
How crypto exchange affiliate programs diverge from SaaS (trading-fee RevShare vs. subscription %), what RevShare means in crypto specifically, three reference programs walked through (CEX.IO, Coinbase, Binance), the FTC disclosure load crypto affiliates carry, and the five things to verify before joining.