Affiliate Nerd Out

Dustin Howes hosts a panel with Nancy Harnett (Instantly.ai, ex-HubSpot), Victor Moen (Affilial.com), and Ed Ceballos (EverFlow) on scaling B2B SaaS affiliate programs. Nancy emphasizes auditing existing partners and analyzing funnel data before expanding recruitment. Victor shares strategies for removing low-quality affiliates, reactivating dormant partners, and scaling targeted outreach. Ed highlights building referral programs around loyal customers, using meaningful rewards, and tracking influence beyond last-click revenue. The panel also explores commission structures, ecosystem partnerships, creator payments, and effective affiliate activation strategies.

Subscribe to this channel for more affiliate program growth tactics.
<...

In this Real Talk Friday episode of Affiliate Nerd Out, Dustin Howes and Cristen Evans break down the latest affiliate marketing trends, including industry drama over fraud accusations, the impact of cutting affiliate commissions, and why protecting partner relationships matters. They also share updates on Alfie, AI automation, affiliate program migrations, and an upcoming webinar on modern affiliate strategies. The episode wraps up with a reminder that building relationships starts by saying yes to the conversation.

00:00 Loyalty App Warning Shot
00:44 Show Intro And Banter
01:55 Top Hat Giveaway Stories
03:36 Affiliate Drama And Tattling
05:54 Budget...

In this episode of Affiliate Nerd Out, Dustin Howes sits down with Viktorija “Vik” Ratomske, CEO of Partner Gap, to discuss her journey from business intelligence analyst to executive leadership in affiliate marketing. Vik shares how she entered the industry, the mentors who shaped her career, and why affiliate managers develop powerful skills in negotiation, relationship management, adaptability, and cross-channel marketing. She explains the challenge of being labeled “just affiliate,” the importance of speaking the language of the C-suite, and how to prove the value of relationship-driven work through data. Vik also reflects on what she would do differently and offe...

In this episode of Affiliate Nerd Out (AM to C-Suite Edition), host Dustin Howes welcomes Michael Cole, CMO of Everflow, to discuss how affiliate marketers can grow from affiliate manager to executive leadership.

Michael shares how he got started in affiliate marketing, why many affiliate managers hit a career plateau, and how skills like partner relationship management, fraud prevention, and strategic communication translate into leadership roles. He also explains why affiliate marketing is more than a single channel and how to report results in terms of revenue, pipeline, and business growth.

Whether you're an affiliate...

Dustin Howes is joined by Dan Sweeney and creator Lauren Eckert to recap their experience at the Impact.com IPX Conference in Austin. They share what made the event stand out, including valuable networking, a strong creator community, and insightful sessions on AI and affiliate marketing. Lauren explains how IPX helped accelerate her transition into affiliate partnerships by connecting with top brands and creators. They also discuss areas for improvement, including speed networking, meeting logistics, and scheduling issues, while exploring Impact’s AI roadmap, retail media opportunities, and the future of affiliate partnerships.

00:00 Event Fixes Feedback
00:15 Im...

She moved to Barcelona in 2006 as a glorified executive assistant. 10 years later, she was a CEO.

Jenny Gonzalez had no mentor. No roadmap. No one in her corner. She spotted one guy in the office. Nobody knew what he did. But he traveled the world, made 4x her salary, and had crazy respect from everyone.

That was the affiliate manager.

"I don't know what affiliates are, but clearly it is what I want to do."

The rest is a story worth hearing.

Junior affiliate manager to CEO...

Success in affiliate marketing depends on strong relationships and a solid reputation. In this episode, Dustin Howes and Christen Evans share real-world insights on networking, professional boundaries, and long-term career growth in the affiliate industry.

Dustin explains how reconnecting with his network helped turn a slow week into a major win, proving that warm relationships often outperform cold outreach. Christen discusses the importance of setting boundaries to protect your mental health and maintain productive working relationships.

They also cover networking strategies, handling difficult professional situations, early technology adoption, affiliate marketing trends, and balancing work with...

Can AI really save affiliate marketers hours every week? 🚀

In this episode of Affiliate Nerd Out, Dustin Howes and Cristen Evans dive into how Claude AI, ClickUp, and automation tools are transforming affiliate marketing workflows. From speeding up complex commission reporting and automating documentation to building ICP decks and streamlining daily operations, they share practical ways AI is helping marketers work smarter and scale faster.

They also discuss AI usage limits, productivity hacks, sales mindset shifts, stress management, and how tools like Alfie are changing the future of affiliate program management.

00:00 Usage Credits Pan...

Dustin Howes and Christen Evans dive into the realities of remote team collaboration, leadership, and communication in the affiliate marketing industry. From managing virtual teams and startup culture to navigating misunderstandings in Slack messages, they share practical tips for building stronger relationships while working remotely.

The conversation covers virtual happy hours, team-building activities like Jackbox games and trivia, communication strategies, flexible workflows, and adapting to different working styles. They also discuss affiliate marketing, startup growth, balancing work and life, and the importance of creating a positive remote work culture.

If you work in affiliate marketing...

Dustin Howes and co-host Cristen Evans recap Dustin’s experience at Optimism, praising it as a selective, high-quality networking event with strong meeting scheduling, useful gifts, and standout activities, but criticizing the lack of concrete information about Rakuten’s new integration and strategic alliance with Impact.

Dustin describes the CEO keynote as offering only vague, high-level remarks, frustrating attendees who came seeking clarity, and notes backlash over a private brands-only meeting that excluded agencies. They compare the situation to the ShareASale/AWIN acquisition timeline and discuss concerns about moving brands quickly without clear communication.

Cristen shar...

Rakuten Optimism Review + What We Learned (and Didn’t) About the Rakuten Impact Strategic Alliance

Dustin Howes and Amanda Karr recap their experience at Rakuten Optimism, highlighting the event’s strong networking, centralized venue, smooth meeting scheduling, great hospitality, and standout social events like the 1920s party and pickleball tournament. They also discuss frustrations around the Rakuten–Impact Strategic Alliance, including vague keynote messaging, conflicting transition timelines, and agencies being excluded from the brand-only meeting, while sharing insights on what the changes could mean for the affiliate industry.

The hottest affiliate recruitment tool of 202...

Affiliate Marketing Shakeup: Rakuten & Impact Merger Insights for Agencies & Brands

Dustin Howes and co-host Cristen Evans discuss Rakuten joining forces with Impact and the resulting migration of Rakuten merchants to Impact, calling it a major industry consolidation with an aggressive, wave-based timeline complicated by contracts and unresolved pricing details. 

They explore what this means for agencies and consultants, including fears that Impact’s referrals to agency partners could shrink and concerns about conflicts of interest as Rakuten’s managed-services arm gets “first crack” at accounts and may try to poach agency-of-record relationships. They note potential operation...

Are you still manually hunting for partners like it's 2010? If you aren't using artificial intelligence to handle the heavy lifting, you aren't just working too hard; you're actively falling behind. In this episode of Affiliate Nerd Out, I'm sitting down with a true legend in the performance marketing world, Matt Frary. He's built and exited six companies, and now, he's officially my new boss.

We're pulling back the curtain on Alfie, our new recruitment super tool that's designed to give affiliate managers their lives back. We're talking about saving ten hours of grunt work every single week...

Moving from consulting to a steady job is a big change. In this recent episode of Affiliate Nerd Out #RealTalkFriday, Christen Evans (she/her) and I talked about the realities of that transition—from the relief of a stable paycheck to the risks of poor tracking and why some businesses should wait before launching an affiliate program.

Topics we covered:

1. Consulting vs. in-house stability
2. Tracking mistakes that waste budget
3. Attribution gaps and reporting issues
4. Why some brands should wait to launch

Consulting can feel lik...

In this Affiliate Nerd Out episode, Nedarator Dustin Howes interviews Jorge Barbosa from WeCanTrack about common publisher pain points with Affiliate Conversion Tracking, including lacking aggregation, logging into multiple networks, relying on manual sub IDs, and struggling to attribute transactions to sessions, landing pages, and traffic sources. Jorge explains how WeCanTrack pulls transaction data from networks like CJ, Awin, and Impact into one dashboard with hourly updates, compares performance periods, matches conversions to clicks and traffic sources, and pushes commission and conversion data into tools like GA4, ads platforms, and BigQuery to optimize paid campaigns for real sales, CPA...

Where to Find Honest Product Reviews in 2026 (AI Fakes, Trusted Sources & Affiliate Compliance)

Dustin Howes of Affiliate Nerd Out explains how AI-generated fake reviews are rapidly increasing, making “is this review real?” the wrong question and shifting the focus to whether the source is trustworthy. He highlights review sources that still earn trust in 2026, including Consumer Reports (nonprofit, no ads, large testing budget and possible free library access), Wirecutter (20–40 hours of research per category with a wall between editorial and commerce), Reddit (useful but increasingly gamed), and YouTube reviews that show real product use, while noting AI video...

Stop wasting hours manually updating expired coupons and broken links that frustrate your customers. Pushing traffic to dead deals is a losing game for affiliate managers and publishers alike. Most teams try to manage this chaos with messy spreadsheets and dozens of network logins, but there is a better way to handle your data. You can replace that manual work with a clean affiliate coupon API that does the heavy lifting for you.

In this video, I'll show you how FMTC acts as a central hub for your entire affiliate operation. This tool validates and standardizes offers...

Dustin Howes hosts Affiliate Nerd Out with guest Brook Schaaf of FMTC to explain why an affiliate coupon API matters for publishers and what opportunity cost sites face without it. Brook describes FMTC, founded in 2007, as a coupon and deal feed (plus product feeds and merchant services like Affistash) that powers many large coupon and rewards sites by ingesting offers from 20+ networks and thousands of merchants, then testing, normalizing, and distributing clean, structured data.

They compare FMTC to raw network feeds and scraped coupon sources, noting common issues like broken links, incorrect fields, time zone errors, expired...

Dustin Howes and Christen Evans discuss the hidden costs of siloed marketing teams and the messy reality of affiliate management in this episode of Real Talk Friday. They explain why separating your influencer and affiliate divisions limits growth and causes major communication gaps with creators.

You'll hear about common industry headaches like broken SKU-level reporting and the struggle of backtracking through massive spreadsheets to fix commission errors. Dustin shares a raw story about a Little League meltdown that disrupted his week, while Christen offers practical advice for managing burnout. They also explore how to use AI tools...

Most brands make decisions about influencer marketing based on vibes and gut feelings; however, that approach usually leads to wasted budgets and messy data.

I recently spoke with Tammy Pham, MBA from Inflektion about why tracking performance feels so broken for most e-commerce companies. One brand they work with had a complex funnel where they only paid affiliates after a customer completed a blood test.

Most platforms can't handle that level of detail, so the brand struggled to see where people dropped off.

Tammy explained how event-based tracking solves...

Stop wasting your budget on affiliate programs that sit untouched. Discover how a deep-dive audit can turn a stagnant channel into a massive revenue driver. This week, we're talking about the raw reality of managing big brands and why your best employees should probably have a side hustle.

We break down the exact checklist for a professional affiliate audit, from tracking failures to competitor analysis. You'll see why the "publisher perspective" is the missing piece in most strategies. Plus, we tackle the controversial topic of moonlighting. It's not about losing focus; it's about gaining the skills and...

Many affiliate programs fail because they treat partners like a list of names rather than a human community. Most brands chase big influencers with massive fees, but they often ignore the organic fans already talking about them. Real growth in the health and wellness space happens when you stop buying reach and start building TRUST.

I recently sat with Mark Jacobs from AirDoctor to discuss how they scaled their affiliate success. They focus on science and third-party validation to win over skeptical consumers.

The most important lessons from their approach are:<...

Most B2B companies fall into the trap of hiring creators based on follower counts alone. A person might have 100,000 subscribers, but if those people aren't your ideal customers, you're just throwing money at a megaphone. The real challenge is finding the niche experts who hold the attention of the exact decision-makers you need to reach.

I recently sat down with Sam Cassman from Toksta to discuss how SaaS Creator Stacks are changing the way we identify and vet partners. We explored how moving away from manual keyword searches saves weeks of time.<...

Most brands have no idea what their affiliates are actually saying in their videos. They spend thousands on partnerships but leave the actual content to chance because manual monitoring is a massive time sink. Watching every TikTok, Reel, and YouTube mention feels like a losing battle.

I recently sat down with Haafiz Dossa from Inflektion to discuss how AI is changing the way we handle social listening. We looked at how typical affiliate managers miss out on recruitment and compliance because they can't see the full picture in real time.

...

Being a solo consultant means you are the CEO, the CFO, and the HR department. Christen Evans (she/her) I shared our best tips for handling the isolation and financial stress that come with the job.

Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/gdeWre4G and learn how to build a safety net and stay sane while working for yourself.

Have you heard about Inflektion yet? They are changing the game in Affiliate marketing.The only platform with personalized funnels to scale partnership marketing for brands, agencies, influencers, and affiliates. Catering...

Las Vegas conferences are unique, often leaving attendees drained and distracted. This video offers a comprehensive survival guide with actionable tips on early booking, scheduling, essential gear, professionalism, alcohol management, and maximizing networking opportunities. Learn how to balance professional boundaries and personal health to make the most out of your Las Vegas conference experience. Prepare to go home exhausted but victorious!

00:00 Introduction: Surviving Las Vegas Conferences
00:27 The Unique Challenges of Las Vegas Conferences
01:03 Preparation Tips: Booking and Scheduling
03:08 Essential Gear for Conference Success
04:32 Staying Focused and Professional
05:17 Managing Alcohol and Social Situations<...

Headline: "We want a viral campaign. Also, we have $0 for the budget." 🤡

We’ve all heard it. The CEO dreams of 50 high-quality partners and millions of organic views, all on a performance-only model with zero upfront investment.

In my latest chat with Christen Evans (she/her) , we broke down the hilarity and the headache of managing unrealistic brand expectations in affiliate marketing.

From the "split-screen" tech glitches in Chrome to why you should NEVER turn down a $2,000 vibration plate (even if it just sits in the corner), we covered the real-world grind...

In this episode of Affiliate Nerd Out Publisher Highlight, Dustin welcomes back Lucas, the founder of GoLoot, to discuss their innovative approach to content-based advertising. Lucas explains how GoLoot helps brands drive revenue through performance outcomes ranging from traffic to conversions and sales. With a network of 300 premium editorial partners, Go Loot reaches around 75 million unique shoppers in North America. They offer a variety of ad formats optimized for conversion, not awareness, and work on flexible pricing models such as cost per click, cost per lead, and cost per action. Tune in to learn more about how Go Loot...

Most affiliate programs fail because they are treated like a "set and forget" project.

If you want to scale, your strategy must match your revenue. What works at $1M ARR will break your program at $10M.

I’ve broken down the 4 proven stages of affiliate growth:

Stage 1: Why you should NOT launch under $1M ARR.
Stage 2: Testing the waters with part-time help.
Stage 3: When to hire an agency for speed.
Stage 4: Using a hybrid model to hit $20M+.

Stop wasting money on advanced tactics too early.

Re...

Ending a partnership is never easy, especially when a brand faces a sudden budget crunch. Christen Evans (she/her) and I talked about how to handle these awkward breakups without burning bridges. We have both seen brands pause services right before the holidays because their Q4 didn't hit the mark.

My biggest piece of advice is to avoid holding a program hostage.

Demanding extra payments or blocking access only hurts your reputation in the long run.

Instead, I focus on creating a smooth transition document to help them succeed while we...

In this episode of Affiliate Nerd Out SaaS Review edition, host Dustin Howes is joined by Joe Campanella, CEO of Comply, an AI-powered compliance platform designed to review marketing, sales, and affiliate content for FTC compliance. Joe shares insights on the importance of affiliate compliance, common pain points in the industry, and how Comply's solutions can help businesses proactively manage and monitor their affiliate activities. Learn about the platforms' key features, onboarding process, and the critical role of compliance in protecting your brand from potential FTC violations. Watch the full episode to discover how to safeguard your affiliate program...

Learn how to increase customer lifetime value with a simple text using Warehouse Bob. Brett Fairall
joins Dustin Howes in this edition of Affiliate Nerd Out to discuss boosting lifetime and order value with customers. This Waarehouse Bob Review reveals how their AI-driven platform enhances e-commerce sales by increasing average order value, lifetime value, and retention through innovative SMS and email marketing strategies. Learn how Warehouse Bob’s automated systems offer seamless upsells and exceptional customer service without extra hassle for customers. Brett also shares insights into their client onboarding process and upcoming features, including lead generation and po...

Have you heard about Inflektion yet? They are changing the game in Affiliate marketing.The only platform with personalized funnels to scale partnership marketing for brands, agencies, influencers, and affiliates. Catering to the health and wellness space, this tracking soluition is helping build landing pages for partners in a manner of minutes instaead of weeks. They have social listening to capture all the content your brand is creating so that you can find more partners talking about y

For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

Stop struggling with low Amazon commissions and take control of your affiliate program. In this episode of Affiliate Nerd Out, I sat down with Owen Guetschow from Levanta to show you how brands are scaling their sales on Amazon.

Levanta is a specialized platform that helps sellers build and manage affiliate programs directly within the Amazon ecosystem. If you've felt stuck with the basic Amazon Associates program or find manual tracking too difficult, this tool is the solution you need. You'll learn how to set custom commission rates, automate product sampling, and use accurate data pulled straight...

Stop guessing if that expensive flight and hotel stay actually paid off for your business. Most companies go to conferences, have a few good chats, and come home with nothing but a fat expense report. This episode shows you exactly how to prove your worth to leadership by calculating conference ROI with cold, hard data. We've brought together three industry veterans to share their simple frameworks for tracking reach, relationships, and revenue.

You'll learn how to move past vanity metrics and start connecting every handshake to measurable pipeline. Our experts break down their personal systems for managing...

What if you could track every customer touchpoint and finally stop guessing about your affiliate marketing performance? That's the power we're uncovering today. I'm your host, Dustin Howes, and today on Affiliate Nerd Out #SAASProductReview, I'm reviewing one of my favorite SaaS platforms, Everflow. I consider this the best affiliate marketing platform for businesses. Joining me is Curt Frieden, SVP of business development at Everflow. We discuss everything from platform capabilities to common affiliate marketing pain points.

If you're an affiliate manager, CEO, or founder looking to start or switch your affiliate program, this is the episode...

The true cost of affiliate marketing often gets ignored. Many brands think affiliate is a simple pay-for-performance channel, but the real expenses go far beyond commissions.

In this deep dive, join me, Dustin Howes (Affiliate Marketing Concierge), alongside industry experts Haafiz Dossa (CEO of Inflektion), Brook Schaf (CEO of FMTC), and Jake Fuller (CEO of JB Commerce). We uncover the hidden costs that quietly drain your ROI, from setup fees and technology expenses to team resources and the hidden leaks of fraud and coupon abuse.

We walk you through every stage of the affiliate journey...

The hottest affiliate recruitment tool of 2026 is Alfie. There is a 7-day free trial and a no-risk 30-day money-back gaurantee

Go to Dustinhowes.com/trial to sign up

Have you heard about Inflektion yet? They are changing the game in Affiliate marketing.The only platform with personalized funnels to scale partnership marketing for brands, agencies, influencers, and affiliates. Catering to the health and wellness space, this tracking soluition is helping build landing pages for partners in a manner of minutes instaead of weeks. They have social listening to capture all the content your brand is...

The hottest affiliate recruitment tool of 2026 is Alfie. There is a 7-day free trial and a no-risk 30-day money-back gaurantee

Go to Dustinhowes.com/trial to sign up

Have you heard about Inflektion yet? They are changing the game in Affiliate marketing.The only platform with personalized funnels to scale partnership marketing for brands, agencies, influencers, and affiliates. Catering to the health and wellness space, this tracking soluition is helping build landing pages for partners in a manner of minutes instaead of weeks. They have social listening to capture all the content your brand is...

The hottest affiliate recruitment tool of 2026 is Alfie. There is a 7-day free trial and a no-risk 30-day money-back gaurantee

Go to Dustinhowes.com/trial to sign up

Have you heard about Inflektion yet? They are changing the game in Affiliate marketing.The only platform with personalized funnels to scale partnership marketing for brands, agencies, influencers, and affiliates. Catering to the health and wellness space, this tracking soluition is helping build landing pages for partners in a manner of minutes instaead of weeks. They have social listening to capture all the content your brand is...