DEV Community: Yuliya Karnaukh

Best Affiliate Programs for Mobile App Devs

Yuliya Karnaukh — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 23:14:16 +0000

Mobile app development is a booming industry, and developers aren’t just limited to earning from app sales or ads. Affiliate programs can provide an additional income stream by connecting developers with tools, platforms, and services that align with their audience. Here are some of the best affiliate programs for mobile app developers:

Envato Market (CodeCanyon, ThemeForest, etc.)
Developers often need templates, plugins, and assets. Envato’s affiliate program offers commissions when referrals purchase digital products from their marketplace.

GitHub Marketplace Affiliates
Many developers rely on GitHub tools and integrations. Promoting paid developer tools can earn you referral income while supporting fellow devs.

Udemy & Coursera
Education platforms offering programming and app development courses often run affiliate programs. This is a natural fit if your audience includes junior developers or learners.

AppSumo
Known for SaaS deals and developer tools, AppSumo’s affiliate program can be lucrative for developers recommending software to peers.

Amazon Associates (Developer Tools & Hardware)
From coding books to testing devices, Amazon’s affiliate program allows developers to monetize by sharing essential gear and resources.

Hosting & Backend Services (e.g., DigitalOcean, AWS, Render)
Many mobile apps need reliable hosting or backend infrastructure. Recommending hosting services through their affiliate programs can yield recurring commissions.

Calljmp Affiliate Program
Calljmp provides AI Agentic Systems as Code. The demand for sophisticated, multi-step AI solutions in mobile and web apps is exploding. Single LLM calls are no longer sufficient for handling ambiguous tasks, long contexts, or user expectations. Modern AI systems require robust context management - sourcing data from permanent storage, external tools, or memory (short- and long-term) - while controlling costs as LLM context windows expand and token usage rises.

Calljmp addresses this by offering AI agents and workflows as code: simple, composable building blocks that developers define in TypeScript. These run on edge infrastructure, supporting prolonged executions, human in the loop (HITL) interactions, and realtime observability, all without infrastructure overhead.

Their affiliate program is very simple - you get 10$ commissions for every paid subscriber.

By the way - I'm an affiliate and here is my affiliate link - feel free to use it to subscribe to calljmp!

Ideal for vibe coding. And free to create a project.

Yuliya Karnaukh — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 18:01:03 +0000

Volodymyr

Aug 5 '25

How to Build a Mobile Backend in Minutes - Realtime Auth, DB, Storage (React Native+Expo)

#mobile #flutter #reactnative

Comments 1

1 min read

Might want to try it instead of Firebase!

Yuliya Karnaukh — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 17:57:25 +0000

Volodymyr

Aug 5 '25

How to Build a Mobile Backend in Minutes - Realtime Auth, DB, Storage (React Native+Expo)

#mobile #flutter #reactnative

Comments 1

1 min read

How to market tech statups, week 4: LeadGen Landing Pages

Yuliya Karnaukh — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 02:32:24 +0000

Effective lead generation starts with relevance. One-size-fits-all landing pages no longer cut it - especially for technical products like Calljmp, a secure backend for mobile apps. For example, I'm markeiting this product to indie developers, fast-scaling startups, or established app studios, and each segment has unique motivations, pain points, and expectations. That’s why creating tailored landing pages is essential for maximizing conversion - especially for ads.

Let’s break down a strategic approach to segmented lead-gen landing pages, using Calljmp as a real-world example.

Step 1: Define Your Core Segments
Before you design a single page, identify your key audience segments. As mentioned above, for Calljmp, we’ve defined three distinct groups:

Studios & Teams – Production-ready app teams using React Native or Flutter.
Indie Developers – Solo builders looking for simplicity and speed.
Startups – Early-stage companies that need scalable infrastructure without DevOps complexity.

Each of these groups is technically savvy, but they differ in scale, budget, decision-making process, and needs.

Step 2: Craft Unique Value Propositions
Once you’ve identified your segments, map out a specific value proposition for each. Here’s how Calljmp’s landing pages reflect different needs:

Studios & Teams
Headline: “Powerful backend for production apps.”

Supporting copy: Emphasize scalability, collaboration, and smart deployment tools.

Features Highlighted: Access control, backups, edge deployment.

CTA: “Start Building with Your Team”

For this segment, we are selling Calljmp as a serious infrastructure solution—ideal for teams that can’t afford downtime or security issues.

Indie Developers
Headline: “Focus on building, not backend.”

Supporting copy: Highlight ease of use and time savings.

Features Highlighted: App attestation, SQLite, cloud functions—no backend team required.

CTA: “Launch Your App Faster”

This audience wants simplicity. The messaging strips away complexity and showcase Calljmp as a power tool that doesn’t require a learning curve.

Startups
Headline: “Scale faster with less overhead.”

Supporting copy: Focus on growth enablement and operational efficiency.

Features Highlighted: Authentication, serverless logic, storage, mobile-first SDKs.

CTA: “Deploy Without DevOps”

Here, we're positioning Calljmp as a growth accelerator—a tool that allows lean teams to build fast without sacrificing long-term scalability.

Step 3: Optimize Page Structure per Segment
Each landing page should follow a conversion-friendly structure, but tailored to the user’s mindset.

Key Sections to Include:

Segment-specific Hero Section – Lead with a clear, benefit-driven headline that speaks directly to that audience.
Problem/Solution Framing – Address common pain points (e.g., managing backend, DevOps bottlenecks, security) and how your product solves them.
Feature Highlights – Use iconography and short blurbs to break down features that matter most to that segment.
Social Proof – Include logos, testimonials, or quotes from similar users. Studios want to see other pro teams; indie devs want to see scrappy solo wins.

Growth byte: Lead Form or CTA – Keep it simple: email signup, free trial, or demo request—tailored to what makes sense for each group._

Step 4: Drive Traffic Intelligently
Use performance marketing to send the right users to the right page. Match your ad messaging and targeting with the landing page segment. For example:

A Reddit ad targeting solo dev communities should lead to the Indie Developer landing page.
A LinkedIn campaign for startup CTOs should lead to the Startups page.
A product hunt launch aimed at mobile dev teams should land on the Studios & Teams page.

Growth byte: Personalization doesn’t end on the landing page—it starts with your traffic source.

Step 5: Test and Iterate
Use A/B testing tools to tweak headlines, feature order, and CTAs. Platforms like Vercel or Netlify, combined with basic analytics, can give you quick feedback. For example, Calljmp’s modular nature makes it easy to spotlight different features per audience—don’t assume one layout works for all.

You might find that one audience converts better when you downplay technical jargon. And another responds more to case studies than feature lists. Let data shape your final approach.

Final Thoughts
In the crowded world of app infrastructure, products like Calljmp stand out not just by what they offer, but how they speak to their users. Segmented landing pages make your pitch feel custom-built, building trust and reducing friction.

Growth byte: The formula is simple: Know your segments. Speak their language. Solve their problems. And if your backend solution is as strong as Calljmp, the results will follow.

How to market tech startups. Week 3: Ads

Yuliya Karnaukh — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 18:24:12 +0000

If I was asked what one of the biggest challenges of an early startup is, I would say it's bringing relevant traffic to your site. Even more so—traffic that converts. But let’s start from the very basics. There's a great product ready to launch, and there's a website. You’ve launched your product and got your first subscribers. But then the early wave subsides, and you're left with a dilemma: what can you do to bring in steady, qualified traffic that converts?

I’ve already mentioned this, but I’ll repeat it many times over because it’s super important—right after you’ve made your site public, connect GA4, Google Tag Manager, and your CRM - see my previous post about it.

What to do next:

1. Optimize your site.
Even though people say that SEO is dead, it’s really not. With AI search modes and AI in our daily lives, SEO is transforming - sure. Just like all the other marketing tactics we use. But that doesn’t mean site optimization - internal and external - is no longer valid.

Make sure your metadata is in order - titles, alts, etc.
Add a blog to keep content indexed and aligned with your specific semantics. Do semantic search tools like SE Ranking can help you collect your core keywords and monitor performance.
Create company/product listings on all relevant platforms - from Capterra to Google Business listing.
Build a backlink portfolio.
Monitor your site religiously - GA must be your best friend from the get-go.

Growth byte:: If lead generation is the biggest and brightest goal of your marketing strategy, create comparison landing pages - those usually convert best. Set custom triggers in GTM (like click_cta), and regularly check in GA where your converting traffic comes from. Here’s what we can see in GA for calljmp when analyzing conversions.

Run Google ads In the early days of traffic acquisition, simple search ads can play a big role. If you need a better understanding of how to set your ads, use tools like the Advertisement Overview from Semrush or similar to get inspired by what your competitors are doing. The tool also shows you how much they’re paying per click for certain search terms and how much paid traffic those ads generate. This is very valuable info when setting your max budget and keywords. Some tools can even generate ads for you— - at the very least, it’s a good source of inspiration as well.

Here’s a preview of what ads could look like for calljmp:

Growth byte:: Make sure the search term matches the landing page - this significantly impacts your ad rank, which in turn affects impressions and visibility. Also, send them straight to your gated pages - catch the intent right where it is. Some studies suggest that leads in the early stages of their customer journey (those who enter more general queries and looking for an educational content) are now covered by AI overviews. So, bring in the ones with high buying intent. A possible variation (for calljmp) could be: “backend for my mobile app.”

Consider Reddit ads

Depends on the product, of course, but I’m an advocate for Reddit ads for a few reasons:

The audience on Reddit is alive and engaged.
Subreddits are highly segmented based on interests.
Reddit hates links so ads might be your only way to redirect traffic to your product.

Growth byte:: Use the names of your well-known competitors in your ad copy to grab attention. I used to think it wasn’t ethical, but remember where Burger King is always found - right across from McD... so. Also, make sure your ads align with your website in terms of creatives and messaging. Above is a sample of a banner I’m currently running for calljmp.

Thoughts?

How to market tech startups. Week 2: traffic acquisition

Yuliya Karnaukh — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 15:47:12 +0000

Okay, so you've got some traffic and are seeing conversions? Great! But do you know where the traffic is coming from and which channel brings the most qualified leads? Not really? Let's talk about sources and attribution.

As a small startup, you have a lot on your plate - from figuring out who your target audience is, to defining your value proposition, to taking the first steps in promoting your product. For example, at calljmp, we've done TAM and SAM assessment (see my previous post and figured out that our initial marketing steps will focus on using X as a promo channel for both ads and organic efforts, and YouTube as our main content generator. Btw, check out our video library.

By the way, with all the new tech available, you can recreate and repurpose this content in many different ways - from syndicating the video itself across platforms like X, LinkedIn, IG, and others, to cutting it into shorts and reels for video, or turning it into tweets, blog posts, and threads as written assets.

Getting back to traffic acquisition though — my general recommendation here would be to tag, record, and monitor every channel and asset you're using so you can evaluate performance.

What to do:

1. Connect GA4 and create GTM

Get it done as soon as your site is up and running. Create events in GTM and monitor them in GA4 (ChatGPT gives step-by-step instructions on how to create containers, install GTM on your site, and what kinds of events to create).

Create dashboards in GA4 or use the existing reports to evaluate traffic sources and conversions — that’s where your created events come into play.

Why you need Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager:

See who’s visiting your site (location, devices, behavior)
Identify your most engaged users
Track signups, purchases, downloads, or any key actions
Attribute results to specific channels (email, social, ads, etc.)
Compare performance across traffic sources
Identify high-ROI channels to double down on

Growth byte: if you have a lead generating form on site such as "Free Trial", "Request a Demo" or something like that - use form ID in creating events and "form_submit" as a type of event - this way you'll know how many of your site visitors are converting into pre-qualified leads.

2. Connect CRM

There are a few free or affordable options to use in the beginning (HubSpot, Zoho, Streak).

Why you need CRM:

Data management
Lead lifecycle management
Source attribution
ROI calculation

Growth byte: choose a CRM that comes with marketing automation functionality — this will give you the ability to build triggered nurture streams, scoring models (if available), send promo blasts, and deploy other types of marketing communication.

3. Use UTM parameters

Make it a habit to create and insert utm tags into all and every link you are using to promote your product.

Why you need UTM Tags:

See exactly which post, email, or ad brought in traffic
Use source or medium in your URL slug as a lead source in your CRM
Some CRMs can collect info about browsing activity and then pull it into the CRM once the lead converts - hello sources!
Segment traffic in GA4 or other tools: group users by acquisition channel

Growth byte: create a library of UTM tags you're using across various channels when promoting valuable assets such as blog posts, product tutorials, white papers, case studies, etc. This way, you'll have a clear reference of what was used and how it performed.

What do you think? Have questions? I've love to hear from you!

How to market tech startups. Week 1: TAM and SAM

Yuliya Karnaukh — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 16:09:49 +0000

Developing a new product is hard — especially from the perspective of a marketer like me, who doesn’t code beyond light tweaks to an HTML template or a small script on a submission form. Anyone who can turn lines of code into something that functions as a webpage or mobile app is basically a god to me.

That said, I’ve also seen those gods struggle to get a brilliant product off the ground. Sometimes, those gems never make it past the MVP stage.

That’s where marketing either works — or doesn’t.

So what does work? A lot of things. But first and foremost (imo): diligently doing your homework.

Right now, I’m working on launching a new product called Calljmp — a secure backend for mobile apps. It’s a completely new niche for me. MBaaS is a complex space with strong competitors and a highly technical audience.

So here I am, deep in the research phase.

What we did as a team so far (connected with marketing):

I highly recommend doing a thorough TAM and SAM analysis. For example, I was surprised by the range of industries this product can serve. It turns out MBaaS solutions - including Calljmp - are broadly horizontal, supporting mobile app development across virtually every sector.

Notably, banking and finance (BFSI) is the largest vertical using MBaaS - accounting for about 19% of the market in 2023 as banks and fintechs rely on mobile backends for secure apps and digital payments.

Other major adopters include IT/telecommunications, retail and ecommerce, media and entertainment, healthcare, government, and manufacturing - basically any industry that build both customer-facing and internal mobile apps.

This means Calljmp’s potential customer base spans from fintech startups to retailers building shopping apps to healthcare providers with patient apps....Wild, eh?But eventually of course it is for mobile app developers so they can focus on developing apps and not managing servers, databases, or auth flows.

Btw, we just posted a product overview. Do you agree with our market assessment?

What were (are) your first steps?