How to launch your own affiliate network: a step-by-step plan
What to prepare before your first partner: advertisers, offers, a tracking platform, postbacks, hold rules and payouts.
An affiliate network earns the difference between what the advertiser pays and what the partner receives. To keep that margin from being eaten by manual work, disputed conversions and fraud, set up your processes before traffic starts. Here is the order that works best.
1. Advertisers and offers
Start with your advertiser agreements. For every offer, write down:
- the payout model: CPA, RevShare or hybrid;
- the payout for each geo;
- what counts as the target action: sign-up, first deposit, baseline;
- the review period and rejection rules;
- allowed and forbidden traffic sources.
These terms later become offer settings and hold rules, so record them precisely.
2. A platform for the network
Spreadsheets break down at around ten partners. You need a platform that keeps partners, offers with geo payouts, postbacks, hold, payouts and anti-fraud in one place. Look at the pricing model as well as features: per-conversion fees grow with your volume, a flat price does not. See the comparison of popular platforms.
3. Postbacks
The advertiser postback brings the conversion into your network; the partner postback passes it on. Test both with a test conversion before launch. Details are in the article on S2S postbacks.
4. Hold and review rules
Hold is the time a conversion waits for advertiser approval before it reaches the partner's balance. Without it, you pay for traffic the advertiser later rejects. How to choose the period is covered in the article on conversion hold.
5. Payouts
Decide in advance how often you pay, the minimum amount, the currency and the method. Partners choose networks that pay on time and transparently, so publish the payout schedule in the dashboard.
6. Recruiting partners
First partners usually come from personal contacts, industry chats and conferences. Give them a clear dashboard, honest stats and a quick reply from their manager; that matters more than a payout a couple of percent higher.
Summary
You can launch a network in a few weeks if everything lives in one system from day one. PrimeTrack gives you partners, offers, postbacks, hold, USDT payouts and anti-fraud at a flat price; see pricing.