program types
Affiliate
Anyone who earns a commission by promoting another company's product through a tracked link.
What is Affiliate?
An affiliate is a publisher — a blogger, content creator, newsletter operator, influencer, comparison site owner, or any individual or entity — who earns a commission by promoting a merchant's products or services through unique tracking links and referring qualifying conversions.
Affiliate In Practice
The term 'affiliate' describes a role, not a channel or business model. A solopreneur running a review blog is an affiliate. So is a media company operating a large comparison site, a newsletter with 50,000 subscribers, or an influencer posting product reviews on YouTube. What they share is the same commercial arrangement: they promote products they did not create, using tracked links, and earn a commission on results they deliver. As of 2026, approximately 77% of affiliate marketers operate as solopreneurs with no team. The average affiliate site attracts around 56,000 monthly visitors. But the range is enormous — beginner affiliates average 13,700 monthly visitors while those with ten or more years of experience average over 216,000. In formal affiliate network contexts, affiliates are called publishers; the companies they promote are called advertisers or merchants. In affiliate program agreements and tax documentation, you will encounter 'publisher' or 'partner' where community discussions use 'affiliate.'
Example of Affiliate
A content creator publishes in-depth reviews of email marketing software, builds organic search traffic to those reviews, and includes affiliate links to the programs reviewed. When a reader clicks a link and subscribes to Moosend, the creator earns a recurring commission. This person is an affiliate — they created no product, took no inventory risk, and pay nothing to promote the programs. Their contribution is audience trust and qualified traffic; their reward is a commission on every conversion they drive.
Related Terms
Related Tools & Services
- Moosend Affiliate Program — Example of a program an affiliate would promote through content and tracked links