Affiliate marketing, finally explained end-to-end.
The complete beginner's guide to affiliate marketing — 72 pages of plain-English, no-hype explanation from the team that's been building affiliate program software for enterprise brands since 1999.
72 pages
Complete guide, plain English
~90 min read
Cover-to-cover, or jump to any section
Instant PDF
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Written by the team behind MYAP — the affiliate program platform trusted by B&H Photo Video, MGM Grand, MGM Resorts, and TicketNetwork.
Who this book is for
Whichever side of affiliate marketing you're on.
Merchants considering a program
You've heard affiliate marketing works but want to understand exactly what you're signing up for before you commit budget or launch.
New affiliate marketers
You want to earn commissions promoting products you love — this book explains the mechanics, the players, and how to start.
Marketing and ops teams
You're inheriting or evaluating an affiliate program and need to get up to speed on how the whole system works, fast.
What's inside
Seven sections. The whole affiliate marketing landscape.
Read cover-to-cover in an afternoon, or jump straight to the section you need.
The players — merchants, affiliates, networks, managers
Who does what, why they matter, and how they all get paid. Includes real examples from Amazon, ShareASale top-100 programs, and specialty merchants.
Why affiliate marketing works
The economics from every angle — why merchants love it, why affiliates love it, and why it's still one of the most efficient customer-acquisition channels ever invented.
How everything is tracked
The whole tracking picture: online vs. offline, cookies vs. server-to-server, and why tracking is what makes affiliate marketing actually work.
Merchants uncovered
How merchants attract affiliates, what commissions and cookie life to offer, what management model to pick, and where the good merchants are found.
Basic types of merchants
Big retailers, big brands, specialty stores, software companies, SaaS — the shape of the market and how programs differ by category.
Affiliates uncovered
Who these people actually are, what kinds of sites they build, how they choose merchants, and how they turn traffic into commission checks.
Basic types of affiliates and their sites
Content sites, coupon sites, loyalty, comparison, review — a field guide to the affiliate ecosystem so you can spot the partners worth pursuing.
Why we wrote it — and why it's free.
We've been running affiliate program software since 1999. Every week we get asked the same beginner questions. This book is our answer — the one we hand to new team members, curious clients, and anyone trying to figure out if affiliate marketing is right for them.
- Written by practitioners, not marketers copying blog posts
- Real merchant and affiliate examples throughout — no vague theory
- Covers both sides of the table so you understand the whole picture
- Free forever. No upsell. No paywall. No 'part 2' behind a form.
4 global ratings on Amazon
Also on Amazon since 2012
The same book we've sold on Amazon for over a decade.
We first published this guide on Amazon Kindle back in 2012 and it's helped thousands of beginners get their footing in affiliate marketing since. Same content, same authors — we're just giving away the full PDF free to visitors of our site.
Prefer to read it on your Kindle? Grab the paid edition on Amazon. Everyone else — download the PDF free below.