The core vocabulary of affiliate marketing, in plain language. Bookmark this — every other guide assumes you know these.
Terms
- Affiliate
- A partner who drives traffic and actions to an advertiser in exchange for a payout.
- Advertiser
- The brand that pays for conversions and sets the offer terms.
- Network
- The middle layer (like Profit Ninja) that connects affiliates with advertisers, tracks performance and handles payouts.
- Publisher
- Another word for affiliate — someone who publishes or sends traffic.
- CPA
- Cost Per Action — a fixed payout per completed action (sale, signup, deposit).
- CPL
- Cost Per Lead — payout for a lead, e.g. a form submission.
- CPS
- Cost Per Sale — payout tied to a completed purchase.
- CPI
- Cost Per Install — payout per app install.
- RevShare
- A percentage of the revenue a referred user generates, often lifetime.
- Hybrid
- A deal combining an upfront CPA with ongoing RevShare.
- Conversion
- A completed, payable action.
- EPC
- Earnings Per Click — average revenue per click; the quickest read on offer quality.
- Approval rate
- The share of your conversions the advertiser validates and pays for.
- Chargeback
- A reversed transaction that claws back a paid conversion.
- Cap
- A limit on how many conversions an offer accepts in a period.
- GEO
- The geographic market an offer targets (e.g. PL, US).
- Offer
- A specific campaign with its payout, GEO, cap and rules.
- Landing page
- The page a user reaches after the click, built to convert.
- Prelander
- A warm-up page shown before the offer to raise intent.
- Funnel
- The full path from click to conversion.
Ready to build?
Learn the fundamentals, then run them inside the network.
Join the network
