The future of affiliate business

Hi BHW enthusiasts,

a little introduction from me (I'm new on BHW) to discuss and share experiences with the affiliate business. For more than 13 years, I have been active in the affiliate business for paid surveys (mainly for Europe), and I have earned more than $500k in total.

It all began for me with a blog (as a comparison portal) for paid surveys in several languages (English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese on various sites) and even with paid Google Ads. This method (e.g. SEO for Google) died years ago, since the minute you add links from affiliate campaigns to your site, you drop out of the organic rankings. For instance, I had a large number of top 3 positions in Germany, whereas today my site actually no longer exists in Google. Besides, advertising on Google or on social media is throwaway money, as you pay too much for the clicks to be worthwhile. These days, there is a page in my subject area with a top Google ranking that doesn't have a single advertising link, which instead sets up a newsletter to collect users' email addresses in order to send them recommendations (including affiliate links).

So no more successful affiliate marketing without having one's own database of users? But beware, most affiliate campaigns do not allow direct email marketing, i.e. pure email databases without any reference to the contents of a website.

After that, the time came for the traffic shift to social media. FB, YouTube & Co. had the traffic, though, but the situation was completely different. On the one hand, most advertisers (e.g. Amazon) banned promotion on social media, as did the offers for paid surveys. On the other hand, your content no longer performs accordingly, as you previously had involved users on Google who actively searched for your keyword and content themselves, i.e. you met a kind of demand. Yet on FB, for example, any commercial content is always off-topic and not relevant for the rather privacy-oriented users. Plus, advertising on FB today is $5 on average in my segment for a single active user (per lead), which is far too high for a profitable affiliate business.

The last years, I am trying to generate traffic to my pages and content as an advertiser at various CPA networks, and again there are several obstacles. For example, MaxBounty requires a deposit of $2500 at the beginning (I actually tried it), which has unfortunately set the rule for me now: the higher the deposit, the less worthwhile my commitment. I nowadays accept at most $100 as a deposit, but preferably none at all, that way the CPAs are usually more active. Now most CPA networks reject my offers, i.e. they don't even get back to me (e.g. OGAds, LosPollos). Only PropellerAds, for example, is open to all types of customers. So where lies the future of CPA networks for a successful affiliate business? Is this type of promotion also already dead now, as there is no organic traffic anymore?

On a regular basis, I find special campaigns with good provisions, but they are only running for a short period of time or for specific target groups, etc. - but the money stays put!

Hi, thanks for sharing.

Yes, that's absolutely true. Google Ads have become very expensive — CPC is high, and even when a campaign starts performing well, it often gets suspended. Social media doesn’t seem worth it either nowadays.


I’ve been working in affiliate marketing since 2016, and I'm facing the same issue — performance isn’t as good as before. I also have accounts with MaxBounty, OGAds, ClickBank, and C2M, but I’m confused about where to start in 2025.


If anyone has a new direction, strategy, or any helpful advice, I’d really appreciate the guidance.

There are still a lot of opportunities in affiliate marketing, especially with the rise of new social media platforms and innovative advertising methods. With the good strategy, you’re bound to come out on top!

Dear try email marketing with different offer and lucky draw there are may people engaged this kind of cheap marketing pattern hire some one email marketing company, all famous brands use this tactics

Hello, welcome to BHW! Even though I am new here too, I have been in the affiliate business for more than 13 years. I look forward to discussing and sharing experiences with you all.

Affiliate marketing is shifting, and building your own email list is now more important than ever. Organic traffic is harder to get, and paid ads are getting expensive. CPA networks are getting tougher too, with high deposits and fewer opportunities. To succeed now, you might need to focus on building direct relationships with your audience, using new platforms, and diversifying your strategies.

So far everyone is right, thank you for your messages!

You need or should build your own email marketing list. Not a pure email databases without any reference to a content, because most affiliate campaigns do not allow direct email marketing. To date, I have users in my database who have been responding to my emails and generating leads for 10 years. But the number of users is never enough, and I have not users from all countries that I can need . So, I´m searching for new partners. What are good email marketing companies on the base of CPA?

Furthermore, "building direct relationships with your audience" and use "new social media platforms and innovative advertising methods" are good strategies, but too general. Recommend something to users, e.g. via FB, is similar like Blogs - always a good way, but has no longer that power like before. I found a tip on Reddit that is an expert in the forums and gives real tips (including affiliate links) to the users. But that's lots of work, like someone here on BHW who searched out 960 forums & threads to make $1000 in 8 days (he'd like to automate it). So, what are innovative advertising methods?

My affiliate business is an active job, to look for new offers daily and actively select the right one for promotion, etc. Regularly, I find special campaigns with good provisions, but no one has the traffic anymore?

If the deposit requirement on CPA networks is a turn-off, try working directly with affiliate partners for better deals.