Most people pick an affiliate program by looking at the commission rate. It's the number the program shouts about. So it's the number that gets compared. And it's close to the least important thing on the list.
A 50% commission on a product nobody buys, with a 24-hour cookie and a ₹10,000 payout floor, earns less than 5% on something your audience actually wants. The rate tells you what you'd earn if a sale happens. Everything else on this checklist decides whether one ever does.
Here are the nine checks I run before promoting anything. Roughly in order of what actually matters to a beginner's monthly cheque, not in the order the program's landing page would like you to think about.
1. Would you recommend it without the commission?
This one goes first because it decides everything after it. And because it's the one people skip.
If the answer is no, stop. Not for moral reasons. For practical ones.
Affiliate income runs on trust. Trust is a slow-building asset. One bad recommendation destroys it. You get one, maybe two, before people stop clicking anything you link. And an audience that's decided you'll promote whatever pays doesn't come back.
The strongest affiliate content is written by someone who'd have written it anyway. It reads differently. Readers can tell.
Practical test: could you write 2,000 useful words about this product without ever mentioning that you earn from it? If not, you don't know it well enough to recommend it.
2. Does your audience actually have this problem?
Relevance beats commission rate every time. By a wide margin.
An affiliate link converts when it lands at the exact moment someone realises they need the thing. Which means the product has to sit inside a problem your audience already has, and already reads you about. Not adjacent to that problem. Inside it.
The common failure. A marketing blog promoting a high-commission web host because the rate is good. The audience isn't there to solve a hosting problem. So the link converts at a fraction of a percent, and the post reads like an advert.
3. Recurring or one-off?
This is the check that most changes your income. Almost nobody weights it properly.
- One-off commission: you're paid once. Every month starts at zero.
- Recurring commission: you're paid every month the customer stays.
The maths is decisive. A one-off ₹2,000 commission versus 25% recurring on a ₹2,500/month subscription. The recurring one pays ₹625 a month. It passes the one-off in month four and keeps going. Twenty customers who each stay two years is a very different business from twenty one-off sales.
That's why software and SaaS programs are structurally better than physical products for anyone building a content site. Physical goods pay once. Software pays while the customer stays. Your income compounds instead of resetting to zero.
If a program offers both, take recurring even at a much lower headline rate. Honestly, the compounding does the work.
4. How long is the cookie?
The cookie window is how long after clicking your link a purchase still counts as yours.
- 24 hours. Very short. Fine for impulse buys. Hopeless for anything considered.
- 30 days. The common standard. Workable.
- 60 to 90 days. Good.
- Lifetime. Rare and excellent. The customer is attributed to you permanently, forever.
Match this to the buying cycle. Someone researching accounting software takes weeks. If the cookie is 24 hours, you're only paid when someone happens to buy the same day they read you. Which is a small fraction of the people you actually influenced.
Also check whether it's last-click (it almost always is). Meaning if the buyer clicks anyone else's link after yours, you lose the sale entirely. That's why cookie length matters more than people assume.
5. What is the payout threshold, and when do they pay?
Two ways this quietly costs you money.
The threshold is the minimum balance before they pay out. A ₹10,000 threshold on a program earning you ₹500 a month means twenty months before you see anything. And if the program shuts down, or you stop promoting, that balance is usually forfeited.
The delay is how long after a sale they release the money. 30 to 60 days is normal, covering refunds. Longer than 90 is worth questioning.
Also check what happens to your unpaid balance if your account is closed. Many programs keep it. It's in the terms. It's the sort of thing people read only after it's already happened to them.
6. Is the tracking any good?
You can't fix what you can't see. Affiliate tracking breaks more often than people realise.
Look for a dashboard showing clicks and conversions separately. Sub-ID or tracking parameters so you can tell which page produced a sale. A reporting delay measured in hours, not days.
A program that only shows total earnings is unusable. If you can't see which article converts, you can't do more of what works. And you won't notice when tracking silently breaks. Which it will. More on how affiliate tracking fails.
7. What is the actual conversion rate?
Ask. Or infer it. Programs that convert well usually publish the number. Programs that don't, don't.
The realistic arithmetic matters more than any single figure. If a page gets 1,000 visits a month, 3% click your link (30 clicks), and the program converts at 2%, that's 0.6 sales a month. At ₹2,000 commission, ₹1,200.
Run that calculation before writing 2,000 words. It's the difference between a program worth building content around and one that will never pay for the time.
Programs convert badly when the landing page is poor. When the signup is long. When a credit card is required for a trial. When the price is high relative to the audience. All of those are visible before you commit. Go through the signup yourself.
8. Are the terms survivable?
Read the terms once. Specifically:
- Can you bid on their brand keywords? Usually not. Doing it anyway gets you removed and unpaid — and it is worth reading what a merchant sees when an affiliate bids on their brand name to understand why they check and what they can recover.
- Can you use their name in your domain or handles? Usually not.
- Are there content restrictions? Some prohibit coupon or discount content.
- Is there an inactivity clause? Some void your balance after months without a sale.
- Can they change the rate retroactively? Most can change it going forward. Retroactive changes are a red flag.
The pattern to avoid. Programs where the terms let them not pay you for reasons you can't control.
9. Are they going to be there next year?
You're investing content that takes months to rank. A program that closes in six months takes the income with it. And leaves you with articles pointing at a dead page.
Prefer companies with real revenue. A program that's existed for years. A category that isn't a fad. Be cautious about anything paying far above its category norm. Unusually high commissions are usually funded by unusually high churn or unusually poor products.
Regulated categories: check before you promote
One category needs checking before anything else on this list. The question here is legal, not commercial.
Financial services affiliate programs are regulated in most countries, including India. Earning a commission for referring insurance typically requires registration as an insurance intermediary with IRDAI. SEBI has tightened the rules on unregistered people promoting investment services and making performance claims. Lending referrals fall under RBI's digital lending guidelines depending on how the arrangement is structured.
None of that means you can't write about money. It means the referral commission is the regulated part, not the advice. You can explain how to think about an emergency fund. How debt works. How to read a P&L. None of that triggers registration. Add an affiliate link to a broker or insurer to that same article and the regulatory status of the piece changes entirely.
The same caution applies in a milder form to health, supplements and anything making an outcome claim. Consumer protection rules apply to the promoter, not only the seller. "I was only an affiliate" is not a defence anyone has had much luck with.
The safe default for a content site: promote tools and software. Unregulated. Recurring commission. And the recommendation is one you can make from direct experience. Leave regulated financial products alone until you've taken proper advice on your own position.
The quick version
| Check | Good | Walk away |
|---|---|---|
| Would you recommend it unpaid? | Yes | No |
| Audience relevance | Core problem | Adjacent |
| Commission type | Recurring | One-off only |
| Cookie | 30+ days | 24 hours |
| Payout threshold | Low | High, forfeitable |
| Tracking | Per-page, sub-IDs | Total earnings only |
| Conversion rate | Published | Won't say |
| Terms | Clear, fair | Retroactive changes |
| Longevity | Years old | Brand new, very high rates |
Where to find programs worth joining
In rough order of quality for a content site.
Tools you already pay for. Check whether they have a program. You already know the product. You can write about it honestly. The recommendation is genuine. This is the best source and it costs nothing to check.
In-house SaaS programs. Usually better rates and recurring commission versus networks. Search "[product name] affiliate program".
Affiliate networks. Impact, PartnerStack, ShareASale, and in India vCommission and Cuelinks. Convenient for discovery and consolidated payouts. Rates are often lower than going direct.
Marketplaces. Amazon Associates and similar. Very easy to join. Low rates. Short cookies. One-off commission. Fine for incidental product mentions. Poor as a primary income.
Two mistakes beginners make
Joining twenty programs at once. Each needs content behind it to earn anything. Twenty programs with one article each earns nothing. Two programs with ten articles each earns something real. Pick two.
Choosing before writing. Write about the problem first. See what people actually ask. The right program becomes obvious. And you'll have picked it from evidence rather than from a commission table.
Finally, disclose the relationship, always. It's required in most jurisdictions (the FTC's endorsement guides are the clearest published version, and most other regulators follow the same logic). Most programs terminate accounts over a missing disclosure. It costs you nothing in trust. Readers assume there's a commission anyway. Saying so plainly makes you look confident, not compromised.
FAQs
How do I choose the best affiliate program as a beginner?
Start with whether you'd recommend the product without commission. Then whether your audience has that exact problem. Only then compare commission type (recurring beats one-off), cookie duration (30+ days), payout threshold and tracking quality. The headline commission rate is the least useful number to lead with.
What is a good affiliate commission rate?
It depends far more on structure than percentage. 25% recurring on a subscription usually beats 50% one-off. It pays every month the customer stays. For physical products 5 to 10% is typical. For software 20 to 30% recurring is common, and much more valuable over time.
What is a good cookie duration for affiliate marketing?
30 days is the workable standard. 60 to 90 is good. Lifetime is excellent. A 24-hour cookie only pays when someone buys the same day they read you, which excludes most considered purchases. Match the window to how long people actually take to decide.
Are recurring affiliate commissions better than one-off?
Almost always. For a content site. A one-off payment resets your income to zero each month. Recurring commission compounds as customers accumulate. It's the single biggest structural difference between programs, and the most commonly ignored one.
Can I join multiple affiliate programs at once?
You can. Don't. Each program needs content behind it to earn anything. Two programs with ten articles each will out-earn twenty programs with one article each. The focus also makes your recommendations more credible.
Do I have to disclose affiliate links?
Yes. It's a legal requirement in most jurisdictions. Most programs terminate accounts over it. Readers assume a commission exists regardless. Disclosing plainly costs you nothing and reads as confidence.
Key takeaways
- Commission rate is the least important number. Structure and relevance decide your income.
- Recurring beats one-off, usually even at a much lower rate.
- Cookie duration should match how long your audience takes to decide.
- Check the payout threshold and what happens to unpaid balances. That's where money quietly disappears.
- Tracking that can't show you which page converted is unusable.
- Pick two programs and build depth, rather than twenty and build nothing.
Related reading: affiliate marketing: the practical guide I wish I had on day one, how to track affiliate sales as a complete beginner, and 7 affiliate marketing mistakes that quietly kill beginners.
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