For affiliates
How to Become an Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate marketing is earning a commission for sending sales to a merchant. Here is what it actually takes to start.
What an affiliate marketer does
An affiliate promotes a merchant's product using a unique tracking link. When someone clicks that link and buys within the attribution window, the affiliate earns a commission on the sale. No inventory, no customer service, no shipping, the affiliate's job is sending genuine buyers to the merchant.
What you need to start
- An audience or channel to share links through: a blog, a social account, a newsletter, a YouTube channel, or a community you are part of.
- Honesty about the relationship. Regulators in most countries require disclosing that a link is an affiliate link.
- A product worth recommending. Promoting something you would not personally vouch for converts poorly and damages trust.
Getting started on Decolinker
- Apply for an affiliate account and get approved.
- Browse the marketplace for products, filtered by category or commission rate.
- Generate a tracking link for a product in one click and share it wherever your audience is.
- Track clicks, conversions, and earnings in your affiliate dashboard as they come in.
- Get paid on the monthly payout cycle once a sale clears its refund window.
How commission is calculated
Every product shows the commission rate the merchant set. That rate is what the affiliate actually earns, Decolinker's own fee is already taken out of the merchant's side before the rate is shown, it is never subtracted from what the affiliate sees or gets paid.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Spamming links without context, which gets flagged and hurts conversion rather than helping it.
- Not disclosing the affiliate relationship, which is a legal requirement in most markets.
- Promoting products outside your actual audience's interest, which converts poorly regardless of the commission rate.