Launch guide
How to Start an Affiliate Program
A practical guide for brands launching an affiliate program: choosing a network, setting commissions, tracking, terms, recruiting your first publishers, and measuring results.
Topic guides
Affiliate Marketing Topics for Brands and Affiliate Managers
Start with the guide that matches your problem. Each topic hub explains the fundamentals for brand-side operators, answers the common questions, and collects every CostPerNews report on the subject.
Operations
Affiliate Program Management
How brands manage and grow affiliate programs: partner activation, commission optimization, compliance, reporting, and the metrics that separate productive programs from idle ones.
Agencies
Affiliate Program Management Agencies (OPMs)
What an outsourced affiliate program manager (OPM) does, when a brand should hire one, how agencies charge, and the questions to ask before signing with an affiliate management agency.
Affiliate recruiting
How to Find Affiliates and Publishers
Affiliate discovery and recruiting for brands: where the best affiliates are, how to build a prospect list, outreach that gets replies, and tools that speed up publisher discovery.
Networks
Affiliate Networks and Partnership Platforms
How affiliate networks and partnership platforms work, how CJ Affiliate, Impact, Awin, ShareASale, Rakuten, Everflow, TUNE, and PartnerStack differ, and how brands should choose.
Economics
Affiliate Commission Structures and Rates
How brands design affiliate commissions: CPA versus revenue share, tiered and new-customer rates, cookie windows, bonuses, paid placements, and how to keep commissions incremental.
Measurement
Affiliate Tracking, Attribution and Incrementality
How affiliate tracking works, why cookies and browser privacy changes break it, first-party and server-side tracking, multi-touch attribution, and measuring affiliate incrementality.
Risk
Affiliate Fraud, Compliance and FTC Disclosure
How brands detect and prevent affiliate fraud (cookie stuffing, coupon leaks, trademark bidding, fake leads), enforce program terms, and stay compliant with FTC disclosure rules.
Creators
Creator and Influencer Affiliate Programs
How brands recruit and manage creators, influencers, YouTubers, TikTok and Substack publishers as affiliates: compensation models, platform programs, tracking, and disclosure.
B2B
B2B and SaaS Affiliate Programs
How B2B and SaaS brands build affiliate, referral, and partner programs: recurring commissions, partner types, PartnerStack and other platforms, lead quality, and long sales cycles.
Deal publishers
Coupon, Cashback and Loyalty Affiliates
How brands manage coupon sites, cashback and loyalty publishers, and browser extensions in an affiliate program: incrementality, commission rules, code control, and leakage prevention.
Regulated verticals
iGaming, Finance and Crypto Affiliate Programs
How regulated-vertical advertisers run affiliate programs: iGaming and sports betting, banking and fintech, and crypto. Commission models, compliance, partner vetting, and conversion optimization.
AI
AI in Affiliate Marketing
How artificial intelligence is changing affiliate programs: AI agents that manage partners, LLM-driven product discovery, attribution challenges, automation for recruiting, and what to keep human.
Industry
Partnership and Performance Marketing
How affiliate marketing fits into partnership marketing and performance marketing: channel economics, industry trends, events, network consolidation, and what brands should watch.
Looking for a definition? Browse the affiliate marketing glossary or the networks and industry resources directory.
From our publisher · Sponsored · Disclosure
Grow your affiliate program
CostPerNews is published by the team behind two affiliate-industry businesses built for brands, advertisers, and affiliate managers.
Affiliate Program Management Agency
Experience Advertising
Experience Advertising is a full-service affiliate program management (OPM) agency founded by Evan Weber in 2007. The team launches, manages, and grows affiliate programs on CJ Affiliate, Impact, Awin, ShareASale, Rakuten, Everflow, TUNE, and PartnerStack — with hands-on publisher recruiting as the core of every engagement.
- Program launches, migrations, and full-service management
- Proactive affiliate and publisher recruiting, not just network directory listings
- Commission strategy, compliance monitoring, and reporting for brand teams
Talk to Experience Advertising → experienceadvertising.com
Affiliate Discovery Software
AffiliateFinders
AffiliateFinders is a searchable directory and discovery platform for affiliate managers. It surfaces active content affiliates, review sites, coupon and loyalty publishers, newsletters, and creators across hundreds of verticals so brand teams can build a recruiting pipeline in minutes instead of weeks.
- Search affiliates by niche, traffic type, and network participation
- Export prospect lists straight into your outreach workflow
- Built by an affiliate manager, for affiliate managers
Search AffiliateFinders → affiliatefinders.com