Affiliate marketing is the promotion of goods or services on online platforms. Earnings in this field are based on the difference between the cost of acquiring a lead and the payout from the advertiser who needed that customer. To put it simply, it is traffic resale. Affiliate marketers bring in traffic from a variety of sources: Facebook, TikTok, Google UAC (App Campaigns) and others. In affiliate marketing, beginners can work solo or as part of a team, with any traffic volume. Below, we explain how traffic sales work and what affiliate marketing is.
How does this profession differ from others?
It may seem that the profession of an affiliate marketer (media buyer) is similar to that of a targeting specialist. However, there are significant differences between the two.
| Media buyer | Targeting specialist |
|---|---|
| Manages their own budget: can allocate any amount of funds to advertising | Works with the client’s limited budget |
| Receives a fixed payout for each customer brought in | Salary — a fixed rate |
| Works with offers, affiliate programs and direct advertisers | Works with companies and brands |
| Low to medium competition, professionals are “headhunted” | High competition in the market, rate dumping |
Thus, the differences lie mainly in payment terms and opportunities for financial growth. We wrote in more detail about how much buyers earn here. Affiliate marketers take on offers (proposals from advertisers), test them, build a funnel (creatives, landing pages, apps, such as PWA) and bring in customers from all over the world. A media buyer is a marketer who deeply understands the specifics of the market in the niche they work in.
Niches (verticals) in affiliate marketing: what types exist and who they suit
Affiliate marketers can advertise a huge range of things — from garden and vegetable-patch products to dietary supplements. Each product belongs to a certain “niche.” We will go through 4 verticals that are popular in affiliate marketing and bring buyers high income.
| Nutra | iGaming | Dating | Physical goods | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What is it? | Advertising of health, beauty and personal care products: supplements, creams, weight-loss products, etc. | Advertising of online casinos, slots, betting platforms and other gambling products | Attracting users to dating and chat websites and apps | Advertising of any physical products: gadgets, clothing, home goods, accessories, etc. |
| Who is it for? | For those looking for a stable, high-income niche. Health products are needed by everyone, so there will always be something to promote | For those looking for a promising niche that can bring high income in a short time. This niche is considered riskier than nutra, but it is where the biggest budgets and the toughest competition are | For those ready to dive into the psychology of people in different countries and earn a stable income from it | For those who value comfort and safety above all — risks are minimal, but ROI is the lowest of all the niches listed |
| Features | A wide choice of offers and many sub-niches (weight loss, rejuvenation, joints, blood pressure, etc.), fast creative rotation, a broad range of geos — from Czechia to Kenya, traffic delivery via landing pages | High payouts under CPA or RevShare models (reaching several hundred dollars per player), competitive offers, the need to account for ad restrictions in specific geos | A wide range of offers, AI’s influence on the field — apps are appearing that let users date AI girlfriends, the opportunity to work with wealthy European geos | Product price, demand, margins, logistics and purchase conversion matter. You need to account for returns and order-processing costs. Traffic volumes can be scaled quickly here |
Most affiliate marketers work in iGaming and Nutra. Earnings in these verticals are almost the same, but they differ in dynamics — nutra offers average but stable ROI (return on investment), whereas in iGaming trends change faster, competition is higher, and ROI can be significantly greater.
As we mentioned, affiliate marketers get traffic from social networks and advertising platforms: Meta, Google, TikTok, SEO, In-App, Reddit, Telegram, etc. These platforms let you run paid advertising. Media buyers set it up by defining the goal and campaign metrics in the interface, launch it and collect data. Based on the data, they adjust strategies and hypotheses, rework creatives and other ad materials, and then, if the source delivers target traffic, they scale up.
My first steps: where to start in affiliate marketing?
An affiliate marketer’s workflow usually looks like this:
- The specialist picks several offers in an affiliate program or directly from an advertiser
- To test the offers, it is worth launching ads and preparing a creative, landing page or pre-landing page, app, etc. for them
- The ads run for a day — on the second day the affiliate marketer studies the test results and chooses which offers are suitable for optimization and scaling
Before you start driving traffic, you need to decide on a niche and a traffic source. The One Partners affiliate program actively works with beginners: you can write to us, and an affiliate manager will help you pick a converting iGaming offer for your needs. To understand what an affiliate manager’s duties include, we recommend reading this interview. You can also get a basic education — for example, at Arbitrage Up, the international affiliate marketing academy.
F.A.Q.
Can you learn affiliate marketing on your own?
Yes, you can. Although we recommend taking courses at an academy, you can learn affiliate marketing on your own, for example, using YouTube videos. The main thing is to constantly check the information for relevance and reliability.
How much money do you need to start in affiliate marketing?
There is no exact figure. Funds are indeed needed for tests and launches — a few hundred dollars will be enough.
Can you do affiliate marketing without experience?
Yes. All affiliate marketers came into the field from scratch. At Arbitrage Up, students launch with the support of an experienced coach, so their first campaigns are successful. But even if you taught yourself, your launches can also deliver great results with the right approach.
Where can you find a job in affiliate marketing?
On job sites such as robota.ua or work.ua, as well as in dedicated chats and communities, particularly on Telegram. For example, in the One Media holding’s channel.
Affiliate marketing is a promising digital profession with no income ceiling. A media buyer is free to choose where and how to work. The activities of affiliate marketing specialists in Ukraine are completely legal. Affiliate marketing will exist as long as people buy goods and services online. Learn and become part of the buying community.
