Look, would you exchange on manyswap.io or binance.com? I left things unlinked on purpose. The first looks like a rug pull in progress, launched yesterday, high APR (no one staking there), no locked value, Twitter account one month old.
The second is the biggest crypto exchange, with a lot of features (that can be promoted as affiliate), they run a lot of promos by themselves, the owner is very active, on Twitter and social media in general.
I know, i kinda compared oranges with apples (DeFi vs CeFi) but.. let's say, for the sake of argument, we have exchange A which pays an affiliate $5/referral and exchange B which pays $1/referral.
Exchange A is unknown, or it has been hacked in the past or had various issues. Or maybe it's just a simple exchange and that's it.
Exchange B is well known, no problems. Or it has a ton of features: margin trading, futures, options, staking, mining, bridge to DeFi and so on
I'd always take 10 guys at $1 instead of 2 at $5.
Why? Because in time, they might trade again, making me more money long-term. Be that in futures, mining or whatever.
Ok, it looks like I'm actively promoting Binance here lol. Let me pull out my affiliate link now

Pick any big exchange that has lifetime rewards, you will do better long term.
Tip: Coinbase has launched few coins tradable in NY, maybe it's a good angle for you.