What Is Affiliate Marketing? An Explanation for Beginners, with Funnel Examples

Blog » What Is Affiliate Marketing? An Explanation for Beginners, with Funnel Examples

Luxury cars, piles of cash, and flashy parties at conferences — that’s how “affiliate marketing/traffic arbitrage” is often portrayed by self-proclaimed gurus, success coaches, and sellers of “super-effective courses”. Let’s break down what affiliate marketing really is and how diverse it can be.

What is traffic arbitrage in simple terms? 😎

The affiliate marketing scheme works like this:

• An advertiser sells a product or service and needs customers;
• An affiliate (also called an arbitrageur or webmaster) brings potential customers to the advertiser through a special tracking link;
• The advertiser pays the affiliate a commission for the agreed-upon actions completed by those potential customers.

The General Scheme of Affiliate Marketing

The advertiser here can be anyone — a hosting service, a marketplace, an infoproduct seller, an online store, an ad platform, etc.

Affiliate marketing includes a specific model often referred to as media buying (or paid traffic arbitrage). In other words, it’s still affiliate marketing, but in this case, traffic is acquired:

• For offers from CPA networks (which aggregate offers from many advertisers);
• Most often through paid methods (although conditionally free schemes are also possible). Let’s take a look at how this model works and how affiliates earn money from it;
• The affiliate (media buyer) knows how to work with a particular traffic source — contextual, native, targeted ads, push notifications, or conditionally free traffic sources;
• They select an offer (advertiser) whose payout terms seem profitable to them.

❗ The affiliate’s task is to spend less on advertising than they earn from the advertiser for the target actions performed by the traffic they drive.

Key Terms in Affiliate Marketing

A beginner in affiliate marketing should first get familiar with the basic terminology:

• Offer — the product, i.e., a good or service for which the traffic will be directed (potential customers sent);
• Vertical — a category (niche) of offers. For example, dating platforms belong to the dating vertical, casino offers belong to gambling, etc.;
• Lead — the most common type of paid action. A lead is usually an action that precedes a sale — e.g., placing and confirming a product order, making a deposit, etc.;
• Affiliate network / CPA network — a collection of offers. In addition to providing access to affiliate programs, it also offers tools for tracking ad performance, creatives, landing pages, apps, and other monetization tools;
• Team — a group of affiliates working together. It can operate with a division of labor (one creates creatives, another launches campaigns, the third selects offers), or with each affiliate running their own funnel;
• Solo affiliate — an affiliate who works alone. They may outsource some routine work (e.g., to a designer or copywriter), but they handle the key tasks (offer selection, testing, scaling) themselves;
• Approval rate (approval) — the percentage of leads that the affiliate network has approved and paid for. This is relevant when a lead is defined as a submitted product order, but only confirmed orders (via phone, for example) are actually paid;
• First deposit (FD) — commonly used in gambling and betting verticals. It refers to the first deposit made into a trading or gaming account;
• Cap — the limit on the number of conversions set by the advertiser. Once the cap is reached, the affiliate must pause traffic while the offer rep reviews lead quality;
• KPI (Key Performance Indicators) — metrics that define the effectiveness of a campaign;
• Tier — country categorization. Tier 1: most developed GEOs — USA, Australia, Western/Northern Europe, Japan, Canada, New Zealand. Tier 2: Eastern/Southern Europe, most of Latin America, Arab countries, South Korea, most of the CIS, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia. Tier 3: most of Africa, the poorest countries in Latin America and Southeast Asia;
• Case study — an example of running traffic to an offer with campaign details and results (including revenue and profit);
• Funnel — the combination of offer, traffic source, and ad approach;
• Offer test — launching a campaign to see whether the funnel is profitable or has potential;
• Approach — how the offer is positioned within the traffic source, including ad angles and marketing strategy;
• Conversion rate — the percentage of users who completed the desired action out of the total number who clicked. Sometimes “conversion” is used interchangeably with “lead”;
• Profit — positive difference between ad spend and revenue;
• Ad optimization — gradual adjustment of targeting, creatives, etc., to increase conversion and reduce costs;
• ROI (Return on Investment) — the ratio of profit to expenses. If revenue is twice the cost (i.e., equals profit), ROI is 100%. If revenue equals expenses (no profit), ROI is 0%. If you ran at a loss, ROI is negative. For example, if you spent money but earned nothing, ROI = -100%;
• Creative / Creatives — ad visuals: image, animation, or video. Used standalone or with ad copy;
• Spy tools — tools to see what ads affiliates are currently running on popular platforms. Most common for FB, TikTok, and push networks. Spy tools for contextual ads or VK are less common;
• Mislead — a misleading promise in the ad that doesn’t match the landing page. Example: the ad promises delivery across Poland, but the product is available only in selected regions;
• Landing page (landing) — the page where users complete the target action (order, register, etc.). Pre-landing — a page before the landing that warms up the user for conversion. Sometimes referred to as a bridge page;
• Incentivized traffic — users are offered something in return for performing a desired action. For example, being paid to register on a dating site;
• Smartlink — a dynamic link that shows different landing pages depending on the user’s parameters (e.g., Polish users see a page in Polish with prices in PLN);
• Ad optimization — adjusting targeting settings and selecting creatives to improve conversion and reduce cost;
• Pixel — in performance advertising, a script that sends conversion data back to the ad platform for optimization;
• Account farming — “training” ad accounts to increase resistance to bans and scrutiny;
• Flow — the path the user takes from the ad to the conversion.

Depending on the complexity, flows are divided into:

• Simple flows — include registrations, app/plugin installs, submitting applications (for purchase, deposit, credit, job interview). Easy to track and optimize, require a minimal test budget, but payouts are small (a few cents to $5–6);
• Moderately complex flows — include phone confirmation, first deposit, buying a trial version, or showing up to an interview. These often require warming up the user and giving instructions. Testing requires more budget, but the potential earnings are higher;

Complex flows — include player loss qualification, delivery payment, loan approval, job probation completion. These are the most rewarding actions (up to $1,000 per conversion), but also involve the longest user journey.

Examples of Payouts in the Crypto Vertical.

To get even a single lead like this (and a $1,000 payout for it), you often have to ☝️ test a lot of ads and collect a large volume of data on users’ intermediate actions (app install → registration → account opening → deposit → trading operation). Only after that can you decide whether it makes sense to keep running this offer. Testing, optimization, and scaling can cost tens of thousands of dollars before receiving the first payout from the affiliate network.

✅ A universal formula for calculating a test budget: You’ll spend 3 to 10 times the payout per lead to test an offer in an ad network. For example, if a dating network pays you $1 per registered user, expect to spend $3 to $10 to test this offer in a traffic source. You’ll spend $3 if you get zero leads and quickly realize the funnel doesn’t work. You’ll spend $10 if you see some target actions coming in, but need to evaluate whether further optimization leads to profitability.

Here are 🤓 a few more things you should know before starting affiliate marketing from scratch.

White, Grey and Black Verticals

White — These are offers that are allowed in advertising platforms and generally provide real value to end users. Examples include e-commerce products, banking services, insurance, etc. Technically, antivirus software and ad blockers also fall here, but large ad platforms often restrict such products, so they are usually treated as grey.

Grey — These offers are not allowed everywhere or are restricted by region or user category. This includes anti-aging treatments, weight loss products, male enhancement supplements, online casinos, betting, dating, trading (including crypto), and sweepstakes. The actual benefit of these services is highly questionable. Microloans, job offers (e.g., in banks, taxis, or offices), and essay writing services may offer some real value, but many ad networks still prohibit them — hence they are also considered grey.

Black — These are offers that are clearly harmful or dangerous to the end user. This includes fake cancer treatments, escort services, access to child pornography, drugs, or selling counterfeit goods under the guise of real brands. Running traffic to such offers usually means making a deal with your conscience. However, black-hat affiliate offers are rarely available through public affiliate programs.

Traffic Sources for Affiliate Marketing

📌 Targeted advertising — This usually refers to social media targeting, which allows ads to be shown based on users’ socio-demographic characteristics. Main platforms: Facebook (FB), TikTok (TT), MyTarget. Recently, Twitter and LinkedIn have also been gaining popularity. This category of traffic sources is considered quite complex, as it requires bypassing moderation, using anti-detect browsers, purchasing multiple accounts, proxies, payment cards, and having a starting budget of $1,500–2,000. At the same time, targeted advertising is the most popular type of traffic in affiliate marketing.

An example of a targeted ad on X (formerly Twitter).

📌 Push ads — These are ads in the form of pop-up notifications from news websites. The platforms that run them usually also offer in-page push (notifications that appear on website pages), native banners, as well as pop-up (windows that appear over a site) and pop-under (windows that appear behind a site) ads. This type of advertising is provided by networks such as PropellerAds, Galaksion, ClickAdilla, Tacolo.co, HilltopAds, RichAds, and Evadav. This traffic source category is much simpler than the previous one, as it works on the principle: “open an account — deposit funds — launch your ad”. Moreover, ad moderation in these networks is much more lenient.

An example of a push ad on a desktop and mobile screen.

📌 In-app advertising — This is advertising inside mobile applications. It comes in various formats: ad text lines, banners, full-screen ads, and videos that must be watched before they can be closed. The most popular in-app ad networks are Unity Ads, Applovin, AdMob, and Mobio. You can also run in-app ads through Yandex. In-app is considered a complex traffic source due to strict moderation policies and high minimum deposit amounts (for example, Unity Ads requires a deposit of at least $1,000 to start running ads).

In-app ads examples.

📌 Contextual advertising (context) — These are ads shown based on thematic keyword queries. They usually appear in Google and Yandex search results, as well as on partner sites in their display networks. In contextual advertising, you define the keywords that will trigger your creatives. These ads will be shown not only in direct response to search queries but also to users who have previously searched for those terms or shown interest in related topics. You can run contextual ads through Google Ads, Yandex Ads, or Bing Ads. This is considered the most difficult category of traffic sources in affiliate marketing — not only due to strict moderation but also because ad accounts are blocked much more frequently and quickly than in targeting networks.

📌 Conditionally Free Traffic (CFT) — This is a user acquisition method that requires significantly less money than traditional paid advertising methods mentioned above. The process works as follows: you post engaging content on high-traffic platforms to attract users’ attention. These users then click on links within the post or visit your profile, from where they are redirected to the advertiser’s landing page. The main challenge is scaling and posting consistently, since one post usually brings no more than 100–150 clicks. This affiliate marketing method is considered relatively simple, but labor-intensive, because content must be produced regularly to drive traffic. In addition, accounts often get banned, so you have to constantly create new ones. CFT is most commonly sourced from YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, and less frequently from VK, Zen, and other similar platforms.

A movie clip with a traffic link from Kinohub.

Affiliate Marketer’s Toolkit

To work with any type of traffic source, affiliate marketers need specialized tools.

🥷 Antidetect browsers — These are services that allow you to create multiple digital profiles, each with a unique browser fingerprint. Ad platforms use fingerprints to detect when a user creates multiple accounts or registers a new account after a previous one has been banned. Each profile in an antidetect browser operates as a separate browser environment with its own ecosystem. Advertising platforms recognize these profiles as independent users, so even if one account gets banned in one profile, it won’t affect the others.

Browser Profiles in Dolphin Anty.

🔗 Proxies — These allow you, for example, to appear as if you’re located in Poland while physically being in Ukraine. They are essential when used alongside anti-detect browsers, since ad networks also identify users based on their location.

💳 Mass virtual card issuance — This is another tool for creating multiple accounts within a single ad network. If you link all accounts to the same payment method, anti-fraud systems will detect that they belong to the same person. That’s why affiliates use services that issue multiple cards, simulating different users.

☁️ Cloaking — A service that swaps the real landing page (black page) for a decoy page (white page). This technique is used to bypass moderation: the moderator sees content that complies with platform rules, while the potential customer is redirected to the actual sales or registration page, which may violate advertising policies.

Anti-detect browsers, proxies, mass card issuance, and cloaking are used when working with targeted and contextual advertising, as well as for sourcing conditionally free traffic (CFT).

🔎 Tracker — A tool for monitoring user flows and the target actions they perform. Tracking is used to optimize ad performance in native, in-app, and push networks, because running traffic without optimization is essentially gambling.

A traffic flow report from a tracker:Red bars indicate unprofitable traffic streams, green bars indicate profitable ones.

📱 App Rental — For certain offers, it’s most convenient to drive traffic through mobile applications. This is most often the case with online casinos, sports betting, and trading, and somewhat less frequently with dating. However, not every affiliate can develop an app on their own — and they already have plenty of other tasks to handle.

That’s why, if the funnel requires acquiring leads through an app, webmasters often rent ready-made app solutions via special services or directly from affiliate networks.

An example of a storefront through which you can rent applications.

Most Popular Affiliate Marketing Schemes with Case Studies

There are several standardized and widely used traffic monetization schemes.

Push/Native + Utilities/Nutra/Adult/Dating — This is a classic example of affiliate marketing, where all that’s required from the affiliate is:

• Select an offer;
• Run tests to determine whether the funnel generates leads;
• If leads are coming in and the funnel can be optimized, proceed further;
• Create ads and launch the campaign;
• Set up tracking to monitor the performance of ad traffic;
• Optimize the campaign by turning off unprofitable creatives and targeting settings.

This is the simplest and most beginner-friendly scheme, usually manageable as a solo affiliate, without needing to join a team. Let’s look at a real-world example based on the scheme above.

How to Run Gambling Campaigns with Push Traffic: A Step-by-Step Guide Based on a Case Study

In this case, the affiliate prepared 5 ad creatives for the push traffic platform Rich Ads and selected an offer with a $4 payout per lead. He then launched the campaign and set up tracking via postback (meaning he didn’t use a tracking service, but instead sent lead data directly from the affiliate network to the ad network). CPC (cost per click) — $0.045 (4.5 cents). Daily ad budget: $25 Traffic destination — a casino landing page (not an app). Below are the creative, pre-landing, and landing page used in the campaign.

Although the affiliate did not disclose the final revenue or profit, we recommend studying this example in more detail. It’s an excellent guide if, after considering how to make money in affiliate marketing, you decide to start solo with push, pop, or native traffic.

Social Media Targeting + Nutra/Crypto/Gambling/Betting

Currently, this is one of the most common schemes, and it typically looks like this:

• Purchase an anti-detect browser and proxies to authorize advertising accounts;
• Buy ad accounts or create them yourself and farm them (gradually warm them up);
• Warm up ad accounts by running ads on allowed topics. This helps test how resistant the ad account is to bans and freezes;
• Prepare landing pages, white pages, and set up cloaking to pass moderation;
• Launch a small-volume ad campaign to test if the offer converts;
• After a successful test, optimize and scale the campaign. Optimization is usually done automatically using a pixel.

If you’re running traffic to apps listed in stores, app rental may be necessary. In this case, cloaking isn’t needed, as links to the App Store or Google Play typically pass moderation automatically. Ads are most commonly purchased on Facebook, somewhat less often on TikTok, and more rarely on Google, Twitter, etc.

$2707 Profit on a Joint Pain Offer in Lebanon via Facebook in 2 Weeks: FB Targeting Case Study

An affiliate shared a case study on promoting a joint relief offer in Lebanon through Facebook. Over two weeks, he earned $2707 net profit, working solo.

• Affiliate Network: AdCombo
• Offer: Flekosteel
• GEO: Lebanon
• Revenue: $4830
• Expenses: $2122
• Profit: $2707
• ROI: 127.6%
• Dates: February 3–18, 2025
• Approval Rate: 26%
• Traffic Source: Facebook

In this case, the affiliate ran Facebook traffic using prepared ad accounts, proxies, an anti-detect browser, and cloaking.

Although the offer was considered overused, it performed well during the initial tests, delivering strong results.

Translated from arabic: “Look at the original packaging”.

Overall, this funnel is not ideal for beginners in affiliate marketing, as launching ads on Facebook requires substantial effort and skill — especially in working with anti-detect browsers, cloaking, payment cards, and the Facebook Pixel. However, all of this can be learned gradually, and for that reason, we recommend reviewing this case study.

In-App Networks and Advertising in Mobile Applications

This is a more complex and therefore less common affiliate marketing scheme. Here’s how it typically works:

• A mobile app is used for the offer (either created, purchased, or rented);
• An account is opened in an ad network;
• Tracking is configured for future campaign optimization;
• Cloaking is set up inside the app — this is necessary because many In-App networks don’t allow affiliate offers, so the app must display compliant content to the network during moderation.

In some cases, anti-detect tools may be needed as well, since stricter In-App networks may ban accounts during the review process.

Case Study: $17,792 Net Profit in a Month and 90% ROI Running In-App Gambling Traffic via WebView in Bangladesh

This case describes a successful campaign using In-App traffic sources to promote the gambling offer Glory Casino in Bangladesh via WebView apps.

• Offer: Glory Casino (CPA model)
• GEO: Bangladesh
• Traffic source: In-App networks
• Apps used: WebView apps from Appie.Tech Apps
• Ad spend: $19,833
• Revenue: $37,625
• Net profit: $17,792
• ROI: 89.7%

This campaign was run by a team of affiliates who tested several creatives. In the end, only two creatives performed well.

They had to go through many apps. The team used not only rental services but also full app purchases, which required a significant investment. Eventually, after selecting the best creatives and applications and optimizing the ads, the team turned a profit. Here is a more detailed case description.

Keep in mind that this is not a scheme for beginners in affiliate marketing. First, you need a large budget for testing (expect to invest $10,000–12,000 to start). Second, you’ll need advanced skills in working with trackers, apps, and creative production. If you want to work with In-App platforms and run gambling offers, start instead with push or native ads, like in the previous example. That way, you’ll learn how to optimize campaigns using tracking tools, as well as how to choose and test offers. Once you’ve built some expertise, earned some money, and gained testing experience, you can gradually move to In-App campaigns — especially since optimization there is similarly done via trackers.

Case Study: Over $3,000 in a Month Using CFT and OnlyFans

This example shows how a beginner can earn in affiliate marketing without spending thousands of dollars upfront. In this case, the webmaster posted provocative images right on the edge of TikTok’s content guidelines.

He did not include the affiliate link directly in the post (since TikTok may ban content with links to OnlyFans). Instead, traffic was redirected to Instagram, and from there, users followed links to OnlyFans. You can read the full case study here.

Step-by-Step: How to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing

To get started in affiliate marketing, the first thing you need to do is choose an offer. This choice will determine:

• Your starting budget;
• The traffic sources you’ll be working with;
• The tools and platforms you’ll gradually need to master.

It’s best to choose an offer with the intention of developing long-term in that particular vertical and GEO, rather than constantly jumping between niches and traffic types. Of course, if you later realize that the category doesn’t suit you, you can always switch to another.

It’s recommended to not pick an offer blindly, but instead use spy tools. By reviewing ads that are both current and long-running, you can get a clear idea of which offers are actually delivering good results in a specific traffic source.

Examples of Ads That Have Been Running Steadily in Push Networks Throughout April 2025.

Keep in mind that affiliates 🥷 hide landing pages using cloaking, so if you click on the ads, you won’t see what’s actually being promoted. To discover which offer your competitors are running, you’ll need to bypass the cloaking, for example, using an anti-detect browser and proxies. Once you’ve identified 3–4 promising offers, you can begin testing them in the relevant ad network.

Previously, we outlined general strategies for affiliate marketing and which traffic sources match certain offer types. ❗ But here’s one more critical point! Always read and follow the advertiser’s rules. If you violate their requirements regarding targeting, traffic type, or allowed sources, they may refuse to pay for the leads, citing terms of service violations. 

Everything above describes what’s needed to do affiliate marketing solo. But if you’re wondering how to become an affiliate marketer from scratch as part of a team, keep in mind that many people are currently trying to join teams, so getting in can be difficult. Your chances increase if you have skills in design, copywriting, video editing, or anything else that would be useful to the team — such as setting up targeting campaigns. Most teams typically work with social media ads or contextual advertising, so your skills should be relevant to those formats.

Should You Buy Affiliate Marketing Courses?

There are plenty of paid training programs circulating online, often promising — for a hefty price — to teach you CPA marketing or “reveal secret case studies”.

In reality, there is no universal step-by-step system for affiliate marketing. Different affiliates can get completely different results, even when promoting the same offer, in the same ad network, and targeting the same GEO — because the segments of the target audience they reach may vary.

That’s why you shouldn’t waste money on expensive training programs. The information in this article is already enough to help you choose your first offers and invest your budget into testing them. The experience you’ll gain from testing will be far more valuable than any theory.

How Much Can You Earn in Affiliate Marketing? Final Thoughts 💲

Before getting into affiliate marketing from scratch, almost everyone asks: 🤔 “How much can I earn?” The earnings vary widely: Some people make $100 on a case, others make tens of thousands. It all depends on:

• Whether the funnel was a hit or miss;
• The amount of initial investment;
• The payout rate per lead;
• The size of the offer’s target audience within the chosen ad platform.

But if you have $1,500–2,000 to start and consistently test, identify good offers, and optimize your campaigns — your earnings can be significantly higher than a regular day job.