How to identify the right publishers for your program

A relevant publisher is one whose audience buys what you sell, and whose methods respect your terms. This guide gives you the criteria to recognize such publishers, then the Affilae tools to find them and decide fast.

Start from your goal

The same publisher can be ideal for one brand and useless for another. So pick your goal first, then target the affiliate types that serve it. Each type is described in The different affiliate types.

In Affilae, you set this goal in your program Configuration, in the Match AI Configuration block: Sales & ROI, Visibility & Influence or Traffic & Acquisition. Each one checks its own affiliate types, which Match AI uses to pre-fill its Affiliate type filter, editable at any time.

What makes a publisher a good fit

Six criteria are enough to judge a publisher. For each one, here is what reassures you and what deserves a question.

Find these publishers in Affilae

Use three tools, in this order: Match AI suggests profiles, the Marketplace opens the directory, My affiliates gathers those who found you.

1. Match AI: suggestions made for your program

GENERAL

Dashboard

Messaging

Payments

Programs

TOOLS

Match AI

Reporting

Create a link

Marketplace

1. In the sidebar, under TOOLS, click Match AI.
2. If you manage several programs, select the right one at the top right: suggestions are specific to each program.
3. Browse the cards. The counter under the title shows the number of suggestions selected.

Match AI only suggests publishers who have been active recently, and it hides your current partners by default (the Exclude my existing partnerships toggle). Each card shows the name, affiliate type and country, then followers and engagement rate for a social profile, or monthly traffic for a website. Hover over the percentage score to see its breakdown: Affinity, Performance and Volume.

Click a card to open the detailed profile. The Why this match? section explains, in a few lines written by AI, why this profile is suggested to you. Then read its Categories, Content formats and Interests. The Conversions (90d), Clicks (90d) and Collaborations figures show how experienced they are.

Above the cards, Sort offers Affinity (the profiles closest to your brand), Revenue (those who sell the most) and Balanced, the default setting. The purple button at the top right opens the Filters panel: start with Affiliate type, Countries and Min engagement rate (%).

Found a good match? The Contact button at the bottom of the profile opens the Send a message window (400 characters max). For everything else about the tool, see Match AI: find the best partners for your brand.

2. The Marketplace: the publisher directory

On the advertiser side, the Marketplace opens the publisher directory: profiles validated by Affilae that chose to appear there, minus your current partners.

1. In the sidebar, under TOOLS, click Marketplace: the Publishers discovery page opens.
2. Filter by Categories, Types and Countries, or type a word in Search: it looks through profile names and descriptions.
3. Compare the Type, Countries, Brands (the number of brands the publisher already works with) and Reply delay columns.
4. Click a name to open the profile: description, website, social networks, Unique visitors per month and Pages viewed per month.
5. To write to them, click the envelope on their row (Contact) or the Contact button on their profile: 400 characters max.

To write to several publishers, add each one with the + icon (tooltip: Mass contact), then click the Bulk button, which shows how many profiles you picked: the same message goes to all of them. The Contacted / Not contacted filter then saves you from writing twice. A publisher’s contact details only appear once the partnership is approved.

3. My affiliates: the applications you receive

Publishers who discover your program page apply on their own. By default, their application arrives as Pending: the decision is yours.

1. In the sidebar, click Programs, then your program name, then My affiliates.
2. Filter the table on the Pending status, then narrow it down with Types, Origins (for example Marketplace / direct link or Match AI) and Publisher type.
3. Click a publisher’s name to open their Marketplace profile, then score them with the scorecard below.
4. In the Status column, click the pencil, then Approve and choose their Affiliate group, or Cancel to decline, with an optional reason.

Later on, the Is active? filter will spot the partners who generate clicks (more than 10 in the last 30 days, according to the column tooltip). Each status is explained in Understanding partnership statuses.

A two-minute scorecard to decide

To decide quickly and consistently, score each publisher from 0 to 2 on five criteria.

Our advice: a 0 on methods is enough to rule a publisher out, whatever their total.

Warning signs to watch for

A warning sign is not proof: look closer, or ask the publisher.

• An audience unrelated to your brand. A car website applying to a home decor program brings clicks, rarely customers. Ask how they plan to present your brand.
• Followers without engagement. A big account where nobody comments often sells less than a small, active one.
• Undisclosed incentivized traffic. Rewarding users for a click or a purchase changes the nature of the sales: if their description says nothing about it, ask about their methods.
• Bidding on your brand name, if you forbid it. Make sure your Authorizations and your terms say so clearly, then ask the publisher about their keyword strategy.
• An empty or abandoned site. Blank pages, old posts, broken links: the application may be sincere, but the audience is gone.
• Promo codes shared outside their scope. A code meant for one community that spreads elsewhere blurs your results: assign one code per partner (How to create and track vouchers).

Best practices for your first recruits

• Always open the site or account. A card or a directory row gives you an idea; the publisher’s actual content settles it.
• Answer applications quickly. A motivated publisher who waits for weeks moves on to another program: check My affiliates every week.
• Review your partners after a few weeks. Follow up with those who generate no clicks, and replace those who no longer answer.

Three examples to get you started

Home & Garden, home decor and gardening. Goal: raise awareness before spring. In Match AI, the brand sorts by Affinity and keeps Blogs / Specialised sites, Pinterest and Instagram. The scorecard narrows the list to six publishers scoring 8 or more: two gardening blogs, three decor accounts, one home magazine.

A cosmetics brand. It hesitates between an account with 300,000 followers and a creator with 15,000 highly engaged followers. The Min engagement rate (%) filter settles it: the small community asks real questions about the products. The brand starts with her and assigns her a dedicated promo code.

An online subscription service. It wants sign-ups for its free trial. In the Marketplace, it filters the Emailing and Price comparison / buying guide Types, then writes to eight profiles at once with the Bulk button. It later declines an applicant who bids on its brand name, which its terms forbid.

Related articles

• 10 tips to find affiliates
• The different affiliate types
• Match AI: find the best partners for your brand
• Understanding partnership statuses
• Quickly add an affiliate to your program