The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 1[Guide]The No-BS Guide For
Affiliate Marketers
The Secrets to Native Advertising SuccessThe No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 2

Table of Contents
Advertising, Without the BS ................................................................... 3"Can I Run This on Outbrain?" .............................................................. 4
Yes, You Can.................................................................................. 5
Top-Performing Verticals........................................................................................ 6
Imagery Insights........................................................................................................ 7
Keyword Insights ....................................................................................................... 8
Landing Page Tips..................................................................................................... 9

Avoid (Content) Rejection ......................................................... 10
Top Spender Spotlight Tips .................................................................................... 10
Reap the Rep Benefits ............................................................................................. 11
Hang Up Your (Black) Hat ...................................................................................... 12

Targeting & Optimization ........................................................................ 13
Native Necessities........................................................................ 14
Analytics Tracking ..................................................................................................... 14
Conversion Tracking ................................................................................................ 15

The Fundamentals........................................................................... 16
On-Target Targeting ................................................................................................ 19
Offer Optimization ................................................................................................... 23

The No-BS Affiliate Advantage ........................................................... 26
Keep the Secrets Coming ......................................................... 27

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 3

Advertising, Without the BS
Affiliate Marketing has come a long way since its PC Flowers andGifts inception circa 1989. Today, this digital powerhouse accounts
for 10% of all eCommerce, globally.
Worth over $6.8 billion in the U.S. alone, with a consistent annual
growth rate of 10%, there are no signs of a downtrend in sight.1
But as a savvy Affiliate Marketer, you already know this.
What you’re really looking for is a way to expand your affiliate strategies,
and ultimately, boost your profits. And we’re here to help you do that.
Enter Native Advertising: A meaningful way to get your offers
discovered by new, ready-to-convert audiences across the open web.
Now, follow along to gain the tactical secrets to native success — no BS.
¹ Forrester; Networks Help Drive Affiliate Marketing Into The Mainstream, February 2016

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 4“Can I Run This on Outbrain?”
The most frequently asked question by Affiliate Marketers.
And hey, we hear you — Outbrain is certainly known to be on the stricter side
when it comes to our advertising guidelines. But as the wise Milton Hershey
once said, “Give them quality; the best kind of advertising.”

High-Quality Ad Experiences → High-Quality Audiences → High-Quality Conversions

General Rule of (Brainy) Thumb: Don’t cut content compliance corners.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 5

Yes, You Can (Run This on Outbrain, That Is)
The beauty of advertising on the open web is that there are no limitations to the types of audiences at your disposal.
And with limitless audiences come limitless interests, giving you room to expand your offer opportunities.

Top Performing
Offer Types:

Fashion & Retail

DatingSearch Arbitrage

App Installs

Entertainment

Insurance

Health & Fitness

FinanceTravelTechNative Reminder:
Native ads are placed within the look andfeel of the natural consumer experience.
Take advantage of this by building an
original, attention-driven narrative withyour content and offers — guaranteed topropel conversions and lifetime value.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 6

Top-Performing Verticals
Vertical ad types matter! Take advantage by tailoring your content accordingly.
And remember, your offers may fit one category, but that shouldn’t deter
you from building content around related, high-performing categories.

e.g. Technology & Internet offer creating content about Health & Fitness wearable deals.

Highest CTRs

Highest Conversions

Health & Fitness

Entertainment

Business & Finance

Health & Fitness

Fashion & RetailTechnology & Internet

Home Services

Fashion & RetailThe No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 7

Imagery Insights
Imagery is everything as it’s the first element to catch the consumers’ eye. Attract attention with our by-vertical insights.
Recommended Image Size: 1200 x 800 pixels.

Business &Finance

Close-up images of money,
women, secret strategies,
and people taking control(i.e. cutting credit cards orin the driver’s seat).

Health & Fitness

Lifestyle imagery emphasizing
eyebrows, hair, and aging, as
well as close-ups of healthy
food, nature, and medication.

CPG

Detailed, up-close imagesof products in use (i.e. neckpillows for travel).

Media &
Publishing

Money-saving and growing
old inspirational moments,
along with featuring accidentprone or cautionary themes.

Fashion & RetailSelf-care images, especiallyhighlighting hairstyling,from coloring to blowouts,
as well as high-contrast,
colorful images.

Technology& Internet

Close-up images of
products in use, car-related
gadgetry, and software.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 8

Keyword Insights
Looking for a way with words? Look no further.
Test these top-performing keywords in your headlines to maximize conversions.

“[E-Book Download] 5 Steps to Get Savvier With Your Investing”

Business & Finance
CPG

stocks | trading | e-books | investing | claims | savings | training
listicles (i.e. 10 Things to know) | change | test

Brainy Tips:• Call out your target audiences

to resonate and gain the click(i.e. “Home Owners”).

Fashion & Retailbest kept secrets | non-traditional | new ways

Health & Fitness

experts | doctors | scientists | food tips | diets | commands (i.e. Try this)• Negative keywords (i.e. “avoid”)

Media & Publishingclaims | rebates | market predictions | win | stocks• Utilize dynamic titles to highlight

Technology & Internet

educational themes (i.e. Find out) | listicles | pets | CBD

perform better than positive.

locations (i.e. city or state) for
extra relevancy.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 9

Landing Page Tips
Gaining the conversion requires more than an enticing ad — you have to keep up the enticement throughout the post-click experience.
And just because your landing page works on social or search platforms doesn’t mean it’ll work for native.
Focus on creating new landing page experiences for the new, discovery-driven audiences you’ll be interacting with.
Here are a few tips to turn lands to leads:

Use Clear CTAs
Provide clear CTAs that are easy to navigate.
And make every link count, driving the consumer
further down the funnel (otherwise, lose the link!).

Get to the Point

Get Personal

Keep it short and sweet— big fonts and shortparagraphs perform well.

Address the reader as “you”
to add a personal touch.

Create a Narrative

Make It Interactive

Don’t direct straight to product pages— build a narrative through content-firstlanding pages and advertorials.

Use interactivity to innovate
and ignite interest such as videos,quizzes, or calculators.

Break Out Campaigns

AB

Be sure to separate landing
pages per campaiagn to gethonest A/B test data.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 10

Avoid (Content) Rejection
Did you know 5% of all our Affiliate-led ads were rejected in 2019?
Let’s avoid this with your content. After all, no one likes being rejected.

Top Spender Spotlight Tips
Avoid sensational messaging such as “Claim Now” or “Shocking”.
• Use identifiable imagery; avoid zoomed-in shots of objects or body parts.
• Look out for absolute words such as “Cure” or “Prevent”.
• Avoid extra excitement, such as all-caps words like “WOW” or continuous exclamation marks like “!!!!”.
• Refrain from the use of celebrity or politician inclusions.
• Don’t use claims or statistics unless they’re fact-based with linked sources or references to prove it.
•

All Affiliates

Health& Fitness

Business& Finance

Refrain from side-by-side “Before & After” images.
• Include proper health disclaimers, where necessary.
•

For Government-backed mortgage offers such as HARP and FHA,
there must be mention of participation qualification.
• Include proper financial disclaimers, where necessary.
•

Affiliate Marketing Site?
Be sure to clearly disclose
any financial relationshipbetween the site andsponsoring advertiser
per governing guidelines.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 11

Reap the Rep Benefits
Without Account Rep:

Account Management: Content Compliance with benefits.
There are countless perks to working with a dedicatedOutbrain Account Rep, from strategic campaign oversightto advanced targeting capabilities.

×

Sensational Alert!
× Melt Away× Take by Storm

Though for Affiliates, the number one advantage is direct
Content Compliance support.
Fast-tracked assistance.
• Expedited campaign launches.
• Avoided (ad) rejection.

Incredible Device to Melt Away Back Pain Takes NYC by Storm•

After all, Affiliates without Reps experience double the amountof ad rejections — 50.4%, to be exact (ask our BI team!).

✓With Account Rep:
New Back Pain Relief Device Everybody in NYC is Talking About

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 12

Hang Up Your Black Hat (And Not-So-Invisible Cloak)
Affiliate-driven rejections often fall into one of the below buckets.
Avert the black-hat, misleading offers — white hat only, please!

×

Website Redirects
e.g. Sending consumers to
third-party webpages or swapping
URLs, not originally approved.

×

Illegitimate Offers
e.g. Offers that can't
actually be fulfilled.

×

Deceptive Practices
e.g. Images pretending to
be a system warning.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 13

Targeting & Optimization
Your compliance foundation is officially certified.
Now, onto the nitty-gritty of targeting and optimization.
After all, as an Affiliate, your most scarce resource is time.
We hear you, which is why our automation-driven
performance tools are crucial to maximizing ROAS.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 14

Targeting & Optimization | Native Necessities
Before you get started, there are two crucial steps to take.

Analytics Tracking

1

UTM tracking is UT-Mandatory for accurate and trustworthy campaign data.
Without this, it’ll be difficult to truly understand and optimize your campaign performance.
But don’t fret — your UTMs can be changed at any time.

Brainy Tips
• Only add UTM parameters in the Tracking

section of your Campaign Creation page
(not within your submitted URLs!).

• Avoid backslashes “/” at the end

Recommended Tracking Code:
utm_source=Outbrain&utm_medium=Discovery&utm_campaign=insert_campaign_name&utm_content={{ad_title}}&utm_term={{publisher_name}}_{{section_name}}of submitted URLs.

• Always use spacers between dynamic

parameters — i.e. {{publisher_name}}_{{section_name}}.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 15

Targeting & Optimization | Native Necessities Cont.

Conversion Tracking
Rip the Pixel bandaid off, Affiliates!
Outbrain’s lightweight pixel is an absolute necessity to track conversions and accessadvanced targeting features (like Conversion Mode and Lookalike Audiences).

2

Can’t place the Javascript pixel orlooking to track offsite conversions?

And we can promise you — your data will never (ever!) be shared.

No problem — server-to-serverto the tracking rescue.

Not convinced? Well, this tool will allow you to...

Try these quick FAQs on for size:

1. Avoid tedious, constant campaign tinkering.

1. Adding UTM Tracking
2. Tracking Multiple Conversions
3. Setting up Server-to-Server Integrations

2. Bypass inaccurate performance tracking.
3. Gain strategic recommendations from a dedicated Account Rep(if you’re ready to move up to a Managed Service!).

Get the pixel, in the “Conversions” section of the dashboard.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 16

Targeting & Optimization | The Fundamentals
Two necessities down, five fundamentals to go.
The Fundamental: There are ultimately two levers that’ll determine
your scale – CTR and CPC. The higher either are, the higher the scale.
Now, onto our fundamental listicle.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 17

Targeting & Optimization | The Fundamentals Cont.

1

Keep It Granular.

Optimize Toward CPA.

Always apply optimizations at the campaign level.
Account-level adjustments are restrictive, unless absolutely necessary.

CPA: Cost Per Action.
Though actions can take many shapes and sizes.
Clicked to Landing Page
• Time On-Site• Watched % of Video• Email Submitted• Lead Generated• Sale•3
2

Don’t Get Too Eager.
Try not to get too optimization-happy too soon.
Before adjustments are made, spend about 3x your CPA goal toensure you have enough data to justify your campaign changes.

Be sure to track all relevant conversion
points, both soft and hard.
Soft Conversion: Form Dropout
Hard Conversion: Purchase

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 18

Targeting & Optimization | The Fundamentals Cont.

Look Back… Window.

4

Set your look-back window to at least seven days,
though 30 days is ideal for longer conversion windows(if your budget allows for it!).
• Smaller budgets require longer windows
given slower data accumulation.
• Consider looking back 60 or 90 days aswell to track meaningful performance trends.

Extra Savvy? Use the API.

5

If you have the technical resources or prefer to utilize
your own tools, then the Amplify API can be used to directly
manage your campaign optimizations and reporting.
It’s as easy as signing up.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 19

Targeting & Optimization | On-Target Targeting
Let’s solve time scarcity with automation, eh?
Here, we’ll home in on the three must-use (automated!) targetingfeatures — unique to the native ad experience — that’ll cut throughthe BS and lead you straight to conversions.

Brainy Tip
Be sure to break out campaigns by platform, and think mobile-first.
Mobile-specific spend makes up half of total Affiliate spending
though drives 65% of clicks at a 48% lower CPC.
Take advantage of those cost-efficient clicks!

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 20

Targeting & Optimization | On-Target Targeting Cont.

Conversion Mode

Brainy Tips
Data, Data, Data

Bid adieu to high CPAs and say hello to Bid Strategy.
Or, as we like to call it, Conversion Mode — given that’s exactly the Affiliate State of Mind thisfeature grasps, strategically auto-optimizing campaigns toward conversions through dynamic CPCs.
Before you can utilize this tool, you’ll need to…
✓ Set up the Outbrain Pixel or Server-to-Server Tracking.
✓ Have at least one active conversion set up.

The more data available, the better.
And hey, if “hard” conversion data islimited, optimize toward “soft” conversion
points and allow our algos to optimize.

Automated Bids
Important to note, Conversion Mode
auto-optimizes section-level and ad-levelbids — campaign scheduling (i.e. dayparting)is up to your by-performance savviness.

✓ Select either “App Installs” or “Conversions” as your Campaign Objective.

Then, it’s as easy as selecting your conversion(s) within
the Budget section of your Edit or Create Campaign page.

A/B Test
Click “Run Experiment” to automate an
A/B test between your bid strategy anda control group of standard traffic.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 21

Targeting & Optimization | On-Target Targeting Cont.

Lookalike Audiences

Discover (and target) new audiences who look similar to yourexisting customers — the people most likely to convert. And higher
CVRs and CTRs while you’re at it — efficiency, at its finest.
Not to mention, for Affiliates, utilizing Lookalikes
boosts conversions 3x and drops CPA by at least 35%.
Similarly to Conversion Mode, you have to have tracking and one
active conversion setup to utilize this conversion-friendly feature.
All of which can be done in the Custom Audiences section ofyour dashboard by quickly adding a Conversion Segment.

Brainy Tips
Simplify: Duplicate

Size Matters

Duplicate an existing, successful
campaign with the addition ofa new Lookalikes segment.

Test an audience size of 15%
to cast a wider net. Remember,smaller audiences are costlier
to reach.

Unique Segments
Consider a range of segments
based on unique pages, fromwebsite visitors to purchasers.

Target and Retarget
Create a pool of consumers
that have visited a certain page(or combination of pages!) but
did not convert, to stay top ofmind and drive the sale.

Launch with a 25% higher CPC
than average to reach a lower
percentage Lookalike segment.

First-Party Data
Give your first-party dataa go by uploading your CRM
data via our DMP partner
platforms. Keep in mind, theuse of first-party data costs
an additional $0.02 per click.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 22

Targeting & Optimization | On-Target Targeting Cont.

Interest Targeting

Outbrain’s secret sauce: Interest-based targeting.
a.k.a. Providing consumers with discovery experiences they
actually care about — all while getting out of the confinesof Search (intent-based) and Social (share-based).
This truer form of targeting will garner higher CVRs and LTVs
and lower CPAs, and is as simple as including (or excluding!)
Interests or Attributes directly in the Advanced Audience
Targeting section of your Edit or Create Campaign page.

Brainy Tips
Patience Is Pivotal

And? Or?

Wait a few weeks of live campaigns
to gain enough meaningful data for
optimized use of this feature.

Be careful with your and/or
conditions. Click + AND for thecustomers to match multiple interests.

Keep It Relevant

Watch Reach

Ensure your ad content andclick-through experience speak wellto the audiences you’re targeting.

Keep an eye on the Reach Estimator
to watch how your targeting affects
your campaign’s potential reach.

Popular Demand

Categorize

The most common Affiliate-used
Interests are Business & Financeand Health — get CPCompetitive.

Select an entire Interest or Attributecategory or sub-category (or mix& match!).

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 23

Targeting & Optimization | Offer Optimization
Necessities: Check! Fundamentals: Check! Targeting: Check!
Now, onto optimization. Keeping with our love for listicles,
here are five indispensable optimizations to oversee.
And remember, if you step up spend to gain an Account Rep, you
can amplify these optimizations (and discover new tricks!) tenfold.
Affiliates utilizing Managed Services see 47% higher CTRs
— yes, it’s worth it.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 24

Targeting & Optimization | Offer Optimization Cont.
Low CTRs and No Conversions?
Pause Ads.

High CPA?
Bid Down or Block Sections.

While it’s essential to launch new campaigns with
5 to 15 ad variations, it’s important to know thatyour campaign spend will likely be driven toward
the top 3 to 5 performing ads.

1

Keep your campaigns competitive.
Over 2k-10k Impressions?

Since you’ve implemented Conversion Mode (right?!),the tool should take on much of the heavy lifting.

2

But, it never hurts to keep an eye on your publisher
and section mix to ensure you’re maximizing ROI.
If CPAs are high, consider lowering your bids
before blocking publishers or sections entirely.

After every ad has served 2,000 to 10,000 impressions,pause ads with lower-than-average CTRs.

Sectional Spend > $150?

The one exception is if you already know which
ads are top-performers from previous tests.

If your by-section spend is greater than $150 with a CPA
3x+ higher than goal, bid down significantly — 30% to 50%.

Under 0.02% CTR?

Sectional Spend > $200?

Pause any ad with a CTR of 0.02% or below. And if your CTRs
remain this low, test new variations to continue driving up your CTR.

If your by-section spend is greater than $200 without
any conversions, then it’s fair to block the section entirely.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 25

Targeting & Optimization | Offer Optimization Cont.
No Sessions? Bid Down or Block Sections, Part II.
Below Set CPA?
Increase Section Bids.

3

4

Again, Conversion Mode should be rockin’ theperformance clock for you here. Though if you
see continuously high-performing publishers
or sections, don’t shy away.

Proceed with caution! Keep an eye out to ensure
your higher bids don’t negatively impact your CPA.

Google Analytics to Perfection
And if consumers aren’t making down-funnel progress,
then down-bid those underperforming publishers or sections.

Increase by 25% to 50%
For top-performers, increase bids by 25% to 50%
to increase the competitiveness of your campaign
within the network and win more traffic.

Just because this metric doesn’t (currently) exist within the Outbrain
dashboard, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be tracking it — especially if
you have limited test budget and conversion data.

Want Lower CPCs? Run Longer.

5#FunFact: Affiliate campaigns that run forsix months or more have 20% lower CPCs.
Longevity → Cost-Efficiency
If you have the budget to maintain longer campaign durations, and your offers
have open-ended timelines, consider always-on campaigns to watch costs dwindle.

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 26

The No-BS Affiliate Advantage
ROI. Scale. Quality.
All limitlessly available to direct response-driven marketerslike you, natively.
And with the highest digital audience reach in the world(surpassing Facebook!)1, Outbrain is the go-to native partner,
guiding the digital discoveries of billions of consumers.
Get started creating your own native narrative (or takeyour campaigns a step further, if you’re already amplifying).
Questions? Get in touch — we’re always here to help.

88%

U.S. Digital
Population Reached5.7xHigher Impressions
Than Social

20M

Gained Conversions
Per Day

55+

Countries in
the Network

Happy Amplifying, Affiliates!
Comscore; Comscore Media Metrix® Key Measures, April 20191

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 27

Keep the Secrets Coming
The secrets don’t have to end when this guide does.
Subscribe to our blog for constant informative content (like these highly-trafficked articles!).

How to Get the Most from Attending
Affiliate Marketing Conferences

5 Types of Content That Every
Affiliate Marketer Can Use

Top Affiliate Conferences
to Attend in 2020

The No-BS Guide For Affiliate Marketers | 28

Authors:
Lauren Pica

Bryan Hernandez

As the brains (and voice!) behind much of the Outbrain
brand communications, Lauren spends her days ofmarketing scrappiness doing everything in her power
to gain and retain happy customers.

Putting the success in Customer Success, Bryan
spearheads digital marketing strategies by day,and whips up homemade ice cream in NYC by night.

Head of Marketing, North America

Director, Customer Success,North America