What Is Affiliate Marketing? How to Get Started and What to Study to Apply It

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing model in which a person, media outlet or platform promotes a company's products or services and earns a commission when they generate a previously agreed action, such as a sale, registration or lead.

The idea sounds simple, but an effective affiliate strategy involves much more than adding links to a website. It requires choosing the right products, attracting traffic, creating genuinely useful content, understanding how conversions are attributed and analysing which actions actually generate results.

Four main players usually take part in the model:

• Advertiser: the company that wants to sell a product or generate a particular conversion.
• Affiliate or publisher: the person or organisation promoting that product to an audience.
• Affiliate platform or network: an intermediary that can track conversions, connect advertisers with publishers and manage commissions.
• Consumer: the person who reaches the advertiser through the affiliate and completes the desired action.

Awin describes affiliate marketing as a form of performance marketing in which partners help bring customers to a brand and receive a commission when they generate a valid sale or other agreed outcome (Awin, 2026).

It is not an isolated channel. In practice, digital affiliate marketing overlaps with SEO, paid search, content, social media, e-commerce, analytics and conversion optimisation. In Spain, digital advertising investment reached €6.21 billion in 2025, an increase of 11.2% compared with the previous year (IAB Spain, 2026).

Understanding affiliate marketing also makes it easier to explore other digital business models and see how different strategies can monetise an audience, acquire customers or generate online sales.

What is affiliate marketing?

When someone asks what is affiliate marketing, the most direct answer is that it is a partnership in which payment is linked to a measurable result.

Imagine a travel website publishes a guide to luggage and includes a link to an online retailer. A reader clicks the link, buys a suitcase and the tracking system attributes that purchase to the website. The publisher then earns a commission.

The process usually works like this:

1. A company launches an affiliate program and decides which action it wants to generate and how it will be rewarded.
2. An affiliate joins the program and receives an identifiable tracking link.
3. The affiliate adds the link to content, a newsletter, website, video or campaign.
4. A user clicks on it and reaches the advertiser's website.
5. Tracking technology records the journey and, when the conditions are met, attributes the conversion to the affiliate.
6. The advertiser validates the action and the commission is generated.

Awin explains that affiliate links contain information that identifies the publisher, making it possible to attribute transactions and calculate the corresponding commission (Awin, 2026).

For advertisers, one of the advantages of this model is that a significant part of the cost is linked to performance. For affiliates, however, the challenge is different: building an audience, earning its trust and turning a recommendation into an action.

That combination of strategy, acquisition and conversion is why affiliate marketing is usually studied as part of a broader digital discipline. A Master's in Digital Marketing & eCommerce can help connect affiliate marketing with SEO, paid advertising, e-commerce strategy, content and analytics.

Those same skills also appear across many career opportunities in digital fields, particularly in performance marketing, acquisition, e-commerce, SEO, analytics and growth.

Types of affiliate marketing and commission models

Affiliate marketing is not limited to blogs reviewing products and linking to online stores. Different publishers use different channels and business models to generate conversions.

Some of the most common include:

• Media outlets and content creators, using links in articles, comparisons, guides, videos and recommendations.
• Influencers and social media creators, using identifiable links or campaign-specific codes.
• Comparison websites, helping users compare prices, features or providers.
• Cashback platforms, which return part of the affiliate commission to the consumer.
• Voucher and discount websites, focused on promotions and offers.
• Email marketing, where newsletters or subscriber databases generate traffic.
• Search engines and paid advertising, when the affiliate program allows those promotional methods.

Awin groups its partners into broad categories including content, display, email and search, although many different affiliate models can exist within them (Awin, 2026).

The way affiliates are paid also varies. The main commission models include:

• CPA or cost per acquisition. A commission is generated when the affiliate produces a sale. It may be a fixed amount or a percentage of the transaction.
• CPL or cost per lead. Payment is triggered when the user becomes a potential customer, for example by completing a form.
• CPC or cost per click. Remuneration depends on the traffic sent to the advertiser.
• Payment per registration or other action. The desired conversion could also be a sign-up, request, download or another predefined action.

Awin supports CPA, CPL and CPC commission structures within its platform (Awin, 2026).

This is why the commission percentage alone is not enough to decide whether a program is profitable. Conversion rate, average order value, margin, attribution model and traffic quality all influence the final result.

This is where it becomes particularly useful to understand how data is used in business and marketing. A campaign may generate thousands of clicks and very little revenue, while another attracts far fewer visitors but converts at a much higher rate.

Data-driven strategies are also incorporating artificial intelligence into segmentation, personalisation, content generation and behavioural analysis. A Master in Digital Marketing and Business Transformation can help place these technologies within a broader commercial strategy rather than treating affiliate marketing as an isolated channel.

How to start affiliate marketing step by step

Anyone wondering how to start affiliate marketing should probably forget, at least initially, about filling a website with links. Before monetising an audience, there needs to be something worth visiting.

1. Choose a specific niche

The more clearly defined the audience is, the easier it becomes to identify relevant products and create content around genuine needs.

“Technology” is extremely broad. “Tools for small businesses”, “equipment for remote workers” or “mobile photography accessories” provide a much clearer idea of the user and what they might be searching for.

2. Understand what the audience needs

Before choosing an affiliate program, ask what problem the content is helping someone solve.

The answer does not always need to be a direct product recommendation. Comparisons, buying guides, tutorials and detailed explanations can often provide more value and build more trust.

3. Choose affiliate programs

The next step is to find advertisers or networks related to the niche and compare their conditions.

Useful criteria include:

• commission
• type of conversion rewarded
• available products or services
• participation requirements
• payment methods and schedules
• countries or markets covered
• permitted promotional channels
• tracking and reporting capabilities

When comparing the best affiliate marketing programs, the highest commission is not automatically the best option. A product with a poor conversion rate, a high return rate or a very narrow audience may generate less revenue even if its headline percentage looks attractive.

4. Create original, useful content

This is one of the most important parts of the strategy.

Google's spam policies warn against affiliate pages that simply reproduce product descriptions or other information without adding substantial value. By contrast, useful affiliate content can include original reviews, comparisons, testing, ratings and additional information that helps users make a decision (Google Search Central, 2026).

Copying a manufacturer's product page and adding a tracking link is therefore not a strong content strategy.

5. Generate traffic

An affiliate link can only generate a result if someone reaches it.

Traffic may come from:

• SEO, through content appearing in search results.
• Social media.
• Video.
• Newsletters.
• Online communities.
• SEM and other paid campaigns, when permitted by the affiliate program.
• Direct traffic from an established brand or audience.

Several channels can be used at the same time, but the important part is knowing which one is actually generating conversions.

6. Measure conversions

Once traffic starts arriving, looking only at clicks is not enough.

Useful metrics include:

• Click-through rate (CTR).
• Conversion rate.
• Sales or leads generated.
• Revenue.
• Average commission per conversion.
• Performance by content piece.
• Products with the highest conversion rate.
• Revenue by traffic source.

This is where marketing and analytics begin to work together. Running campaigns professionally means understanding the user journey, comparing channels and identifying which activities are actually producing profitable outcomes.

7. Optimise

Measurement is useful because it allows decisions to be made.

If an article gets plenty of traffic but almost no sales, perhaps the product does not match the user's intent, the call to action is poorly positioned or the content attracts people who are not yet ready to buy.

If another page receives fewer visitors but converts much better, there may be an opportunity to update it, expand it or direct more traffic towards it.

This combination of marketing, business, technology and data is also increasingly important across digital specialisations with strong employability.

Privacy also matters. Where tracking relies on cookies or other technologies requiring consent, organisations need to comply with the applicable rules. The Spanish Data Protection Agency, for example, requires the options to accept and reject non-essential cookies to be presented at the same time and with equivalent visibility (AEPD, 2024).

Affiliate marketing platforms and networks

A company can manage an affiliate program itself or use an affiliate network to connect with publishers.

These platforms commonly provide services such as:

• tracking-link creation
• conversion attribution
• partner management
• performance reports
• transaction validation
• commission calculation
• payments

Awin, for example, describes itself as a platform connecting advertisers and publishers while providing the infrastructure needed to track conversions and manage commissions (Awin, 2026).

There are also programs operated directly by brands, retailers and online platforms. So when comparing where to do affiliate marketing, the most important question is not necessarily which network is the largest. It is which one offers advertisers, products and conditions that genuinely fit the project's audience.

Before joining a platform, it is useful to check:

• Which brands are available.
• Whether the products genuinely fit the audience.
• How much each conversion pays.
• How attribution works.
• Which promotional channels are permitted.
• When transactions are validated.
• Which analytics and reports are available.
• Payment conditions.
• What circumstances can cause a commission to be cancelled.

The tools for affiliate marketing offered by a platform can make a substantial difference too. Tracking dashboards, deep-link generators, reporting systems, APIs and campaign-management tools make it easier to understand what is working and where results are coming from.

Professionals who want to understand affiliate activity from a broader commercial perspective can also benefit from studying customer acquisition, sales strategy and conversion. A Master in Marketing and Sales can help connect digital acquisition with the wider customer journey and commercial strategy.

It is also sensible not to become completely dependent on a single network or advertiser. Commission levels, policies and individual programs can change, potentially affecting a project whose entire income depends on one partner.

What should you study to work in affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is not usually a standalone profession. It is better understood as a channel or specialisation within the wider digital marketing ecosystem.

That means someone searching where to study affiliate marketing may benefit more from education covering the full range of skills involved in acquisition and conversion than from learning only how affiliate links work.

Relevant areas of knowledge include:

• Digital marketing and strategy, to understand where affiliate marketing fits within a broader plan.
• E-commerce, because many affiliate strategies are designed to generate online sales.
• SEO and organic acquisition.
• SEM and digital advertising.
• Performance marketing.
• Analytics and attribution.
• Content marketing.
• CRM and email marketing.
• Social media and influencer marketing.
• Automation and artificial intelligence.
• Growth marketing.
• Privacy and digital regulation.

The difference between knowing how to place an affiliate link and being able to manage an affiliate strategy professionally lies in these wider skills.

A specialist needs to answer questions such as which partner brings the highest-quality customers, how much each acquisition costs, which content generates the most conversions and which channel deserves more investment. They also need to understand how that information connects with the rest of the company's commercial strategy.

The continuing growth of digital marketing reinforces the value of that broader profile. Digital advertising investment in Spain exceeded €6.2 billion in 2025 and continued to grow at a double-digit rate, reflecting the increasing role of digital channels in corporate marketing strategies (IAB Spain, 2026).

Affiliate marketing is just one part of that ecosystem. Getting started may be as simple as choosing a niche, joining a program and learning how its links work, but turning affiliate marketing into a professional strategy requires understanding traffic, content, conversion, data and profitability.

If we want to build a career in this area, the goal should not simply be learning how affiliate marketing works. The most useful education will help us understand what to promote, who to promote it to, which channel to use and how to determine whether the strategy is actually producing results.