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Affiliate Nerd Out

Dustin Howes

Partnership marketing enthusiasts and affiliate marketing gurus are sharing their best strategies for affiliate program growth. New guests every week will come to discuss hot topics in the industry and what latest growth hacks working right now.
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  • 29 episodes
  • Avg 19 min
  • English

Episodes 29

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  • Yesterday · 32 min

    The Great Blogging Collapse: Why Affiliate Websites Are Losing Traffic with Daniel Stanica

    Four years ago, Daniel Stanica of Competico started tracking 100 successful blogs. Today, the median blog has lost 85% of its traffic. On this episode of Affiliate Nerd Out, Daniel breaks down what happened and what affiliates can do about it: What wiped out so much organic traffic What the surviving blogs have in common The content Google and AI can’t summarize Whether affiliates should chase AI visibility What Daniel would build if he started from zero today If your traffic has been sliding, this one’s for you. Has AI search hit your traffic yet? Let me know below. 👇 #AffiliateMarketing #SEO #Blogging #AISearch #ContentStrategy #AffiliateNerdOut #Nerdatorium Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month Go to https://dustinhowes.com/alfie to set up your account with a 30-day money-back guarantee For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • October 22 · 28 min

    How To Hold A Full Time Job With An ADHD Brain with Kyrus Keenan Westcott

    Adults with ADHD are 60% more likely to be fired from a job. I’m no stranger to that. In this episode, I sat down with Kyrus Keenan Westcott. He was diagnosed at 35 after spending decades thinking he was just lazy. He blocks time in his calendar for scheduled incompetence. It's one reason he can hold down a demanding job as head of paid media with an ADHD brain. #ADHD #ADHDatWork #Neurodiversity #AffiliateMarketing #AffiliateNerdOut #Nerdatorium Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month Go to https://dustinhowes.com/alfie to set up your account with a 30-day money-back guarantee For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • October 22 · 15 min

    WeCanTrack Live Demo: From Zero to Affiliate Tracking in 15 Minutes with Jorge Barbosa

    I signed up for an affiliate tracking tool live on camera. Never touched it before. 15 minutes later, it was tracking every click on my site. If you’re an affiliate, you know the routine: log into Impact, then CJ, then Awin, then the next one. Check stats. Copy numbers. Repeat. It eats your week. So I brought Jorge Barbosa back to Affiliate Nerd Out (third time, he’s officially a regular) to set up wecantrack from scratch while I drove. In the video, you’ll see: 1. Connecting a network in a few clicks 2. Getting tracking live on a WordPress site 3. Seeing which traffic sources and articles actually drive sales 4. The free bonus feature that could replace a tool I pay $300+ a year for 5. The link trick that made me say, “Oh my God, that’s a huge time-saver” 🎥 Watch the full episode here and see if you can beat 15 minutes: https://youtu.be/PSf1VieO0ZA?si=ASd4_K848XZUyxRO Affiliates, how many dashboards do you log into every week? Tell me in the comments 👇 #AffiliateMarketing #AffiliateTracking #AffiliatePublisher #ContentCreator #wecantrack Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • October 16 · 14 min

    When a Network Makes You Look Bad in Front of Your Biggest Client

    Have you ever recommended someone to a client, then watched them drop the ball right in front of that client? 😬 That’s what happened to Christen Evans (she/her) It was an enterprise brand with millions on the table, and it should have been an easy yes. Instead, she got three weeks of pushback, with the client watching the whole time. The client’s take: “It’s almost like they don’t even want our business.” So how do you fix it without throwing anyone under the bus? Christen and I get into it on this Real Talk Friday. Full episode below ⬇️ #AffiliateMarketing #PartnerMarketing #AffiliateNerdOut #AgencyLife #RealTalkFriday Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • October 15 · 15 min

    The Truth About “Unlimited” Affiliate Software with Martin Demiger

    I have been burned by the word "unlimited" more times than I can count. Most pricing pages promise the moon, right until a surprise bill hits your inbox. So I put Martin Demiger, the founder of Trackdesk, on the hot seat in the Nerditorium. I asked him straight out: what does "unlimited" actually mean at your shop? I am not going to spoil his answer here. But he shared a wild story about a brand begging their best partner to stop sending traffic just to avoid insane platform fees. Imagine telling your best horse to stop running because the barn charges you by the stride. Want to hear his exact math and see where the real ceiling hides? 👇🏻 Listen to the full episode to find out. What is the worst "unlimited" fine print you have ever found? Tell me in the comments. #AffiliateMarketing #AffiliateManagement #SaaS Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • October 6 · 11 min

    How Brands Can Reach 3 Million Asian Shoppers With Buy&Ship - Jeff Unze

    3 million shoppers across Asia want to buy from US brands. Most can't, because those brands don't ship to them. What if you could reach them without changing a single thing about your shipping? I sat down with Jeff Unze, North American GM at Buy&Ship, to talk about how brands are doing exactly that. He also shares which product categories this audience goes after, and why it's not what you'd expect. 👉 Follow Affiliate Nerd Out for more publisher highlights and conversations on growing your affiliate program. #AffiliateMarketing #CrossBorderEcommerce #PartnerMarketing #PublisherHighlight #AffiliateNerdOut #BuyAndShip Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • September 29 · 25 min

    CJU 2026 Review: The Good, The Bad & The Rankings

    I sit down with Brian Blancho from TicketSmarter to break down everything that went down at CJU. We are talking about an honest, no-holds-barred review of the event, covering the good, the bad, and our official star rankings. If you are trying to figure out where to invest your budget and how to recruit affiliates in the performance marketing space, you can't sleep on live events. But is CJU actually worth the heavy price tag? Tune in to hear our raw take on the experience, the ROI, and what you need to know before booking your ticket for next year. We jump into all the major categories, including the networking quality, venue layout, expo booths, food, sessions, giveaways, and standout parties. We also pull back the curtain on some major pain points, like the absolute disaster of an event app and the brutal 15-minute meeting schedule that wrecks your whole day if you fall even five minutes behind. Subscribe to this channel for more affiliate program growth tactics and insider reviews. Start your 7-day free trial and see how Alfie can transform your affiliate recruitment process today! https://www.alfie.io/ Connect with Dustin Howes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinhowes Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month Go to https://dustinhowes.com/alfie to set up your account with a 30-day money-back guarantee For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • September 22 · 14 min

    Affiliate News: Conference Secrets, Q4 Prep & Webinar Takeaways

    It's go time for Q4. 🚨 If your Q4 plans aren't locked in yet, consider this your sign to finalize them this week. On this Real Talk Friday edition of Affiliate Nerd Out, Christen Evans (she/her) and I cover: 1/ Why I'm heading back to CJU after 10 years 2/ The question that made a 10-year industry vet walk away from me 3/ Affiliate leaderboards: motivating or discouraging? 4/ How a 30-minute webinar turned into 60 minutes and 1,000+ views 5/ The one person to follow if you want to know how many days are left until Black Friday 👉 Coming up: my Affiliate Recruitment Masterclass. It's built from interviews with hundreds of affiliate managers about what's working right now. #AffiliateMarketing #PartnerMarketing #Q4 #BlackFriday #CJU #AffiliateNerdOut Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • September 18 · 14 min

    Alfie Just Found 50 Perfect Affiliate Partners in 10 Minutes

    Not leads. Not "maybe" contacts. Full profiles: contact info, why Alfie thinks they're a fit, fit score, traffic type, reach, and even soft signals like age and gender skew. Stuff that used to take me hours of manual prospecting just... populated itself. In this episode of Affiliate Nerd Out I gave a live look at Alfie's new Advanced Campaigns feature, built directly from user feedback. You can now: 1/ Target by influencer type, traffic source, and category 2/ Adjust age/gender demographics 3/ Filter by country I've been in affiliate marketing for a long time, and I genuinely don't know why it took the industry this long to build something like this. It's not just faster; it's finding the right partners, not just more partners. Christen Evans (she/her) and I also dug into Q4 prep, the Rakuten → Impact migration chatter, and a fine jewelry program that's been an absolute rocket ship (30/60/90 numbers included). Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • September 10 · 12 min

    Affiliate Marketing Is Changing: Honey, ShopMy & the AI Revolution

    This week's episode got a little spicy. We're talking about the newest MegaLag video calling out people in our own industry, the ShopMy drama nobody's fully unpacked yet, and why I ditched TikTok for an app that teaches me Claude instead. Plus, I recorded something with one of the smartest AI guys I know, the same guy who helped build out my Claude agents, and it turned into a two-part series. Part one breaks down what AI tools actually matter right now. Part two, we're doing a live build so you can watch exactly how it's done. If you're in affiliate or partner marketing, some of this is going to hit close to home. #AffiliateMarketing #PartnerMarketing #AffiliateNerdOut #AI #Claude #MarketingPodcast Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • September 8 · 14 min

    How FirstPromoter's New AI Assistant Automates Your Affiliate Program with Tautvydas Vasiliauskas

    Ever set a commission rate for your affiliate program, only to watch a partner send you customers who buy the cheapest plan, cancel after one payment, and pocket the payout? You're not alone. I've been there myself, and it's one of the fastest ways to torch your margins without ever knowing it happened. My FirstPromoter review started when I recently sat down with Tautvydas Vasiliauska, Head of Marketing at FirstPromoter, on Affiliate Nerd Out to dig into why subscription businesses need a completely different approach to affiliate tracking than the ecommerce world does. FirstPromoter has spent around a decade building affiliate, referral, and influencer tracking specifically for SaaS and other subscription companies, and Tautvydas laid out exactly where the standard ecommerce playbook falls apart. Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • September 2 · 15 min

    From Affiliate Manager to CMO: How She got $4 million a month and Helped Build a $500M Company

    "Here's $4 million a month. Go figure out what you wanna do with it." That's the only brief Colleen Butterfield got. No roadmap. No strategy doc. Just a number and a deadline. She went from affiliate coordinator to CMO with no MBA and no traditional path. Built a solar company that sold to ADT for half a billion dollars along the way. In this episode, we got into: 1. What it actually takes to go from affiliate manager to CMO 2. Why being good at your job is not a good enough reason to stay 3. What affiliate managers need to start doing now to lead marketing by 2030 She also says something about the affiliate manager role that most people in marketing completely overlook. Worth staying for that alone. Watch the full episode to see why. If you've ever been great at a job you hated, drop a comment. Curious how you handled it. #AffiliateMarketing #CMO #PerformanceMarketing #MarketingLeadership #GrowthMarketing Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • September 2 · 13 min

    Navigating change: Reflections on career growth and role transition

    "Letting go of a role that gave me anxiety every day took longer than it should have." But when it finally happens, you feel the pressure drop in real time. In today's episode, Christen Evans (she/her) and I talked about: - Stepping away from sales and into the work that actually fits - Pinterest acquired TVSci and there's a beta opening for brands doing less than 100K in ad buys - Why being good at something is not the same as being built for it We also get into what happens when the podcast stops getting no's. Watch the full episode to see why. If you've ever stayed in a role longer than you should have, drop a comment. Curious what finally made you move. #AffiliateMarketing #CareerGrowth #ContentCreator #PerformanceMarketing #AffiliateNerdOut Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • August 25 · 13 min

    Stop Playing Small: How Affiliate Managers Can Become Industry Leaders with Lee Ann

    Waited until her mid-40s to start her own business. Now she's telling every affiliate manager to stop waiting. Lee-Ann Johnstone built KonverJ from 22 years in affiliate, starting back when it wasn't even called affiliate marketing. 1. Commercial negotiation is half the battle. Learn it early and everything else gets easier. 2. When you stop learning every day, you start falling behind. She's treating AI like a brand new skill despite two decades in the industry. 3. Planning and strategy should lead the program forward, not be the afterthought after the execution. She also dropped the two questions she asks herself about everything she reads. They change how you process information entirely. Watch the full episode to see why. #AffiliateMarketing #AffiliateManager #DigitalMarketing #CareerGrowth #AffiliateNerdOut Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • August 21 · 13 min

    The Affiliate Fraud Scandal Everyone Is Talking About

    The networks know who the bad actors are. They make money off of them. Christen Evans (she/her) is back for Real Talk Friday. She's a rule follower, and she wants to know why the industry keeps gatekeeping in 2026. Here's what we got into: 1. The networks kinda wanna sweep it under the rug and stay quiet. 2. At my first job, publishers had hundreds of fraud tickets against them. Still in the network. Because they were making CJ too much money. 3. Nobody has the balls to do it. Or legally, they're terrified. We also get into who should be housing all of this and why it's not a 15-minute flash. 👇 Watch the full episode to see why. Ever dealt with a fraudulent partner? Drop it in the comments. #affiliatemarketing #affiliatefraud #performancemarketing #affiliatenerdout #digitalmarketing Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • August 11 · 13 min

    The AI Ranking Strategy Brands Are Using to Dominate with Farzad Rashidi

    ChatGPT is scraping sources to build its answers. The question is whether your brand is one of them. Sat down with Farzad Rashidi, CEO of Respona, to break down how brands are getting cited by LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google AI Overviews. Systematically. Here's what we covered: 1. How Respona builds high-authority citations through targeted listicles, comparison guides, and product reviews 2. Why human editors review every piece of content. No AI filler, guaranteed placements. 3. How agencies are using bulk discounts to resell this as a service at a profit We also get into pay-per-article pricing, API access, and why waiting around for organic mentions is not a strategy anymore. Watch the full episode and drop a comment: is AI visibility part of your 2026 plan? Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • August 10 · 53 min

    DEEP DIVE: Affiliate Management 2.0: The Innovations Winning in 2026

    Want to know what is actually working in the affiliate industry right now? I hosted a live panel with Fred Jean-Barrel from Performance Partners, Mark Goco from All Inclusive Marketing, and Josh Kennedy from Imagine Marketing to break down how to scale programs without relying on tired tactics. We talked about smarter outreach, AI research, and what it takes to win in performance marketing today. If you are trying to figure out how to recruit affiliates who actually move the needle, this conversation is packed with real examples. Forget generic email pitches and spamming coupon sites. We dug into how to soft-pitch premium publishers like Wire Cutter, why paid search is wildly underrated, and how to use data-backed insights to build trust. Watch the full chat to get the exact strategies these agency founders use to scale eight and nine-figure brands. If you want to speed up your process, check out Alfie (https://www.alfie.io/) to automate your outreach and find niche content partners in minutes. Connect with me on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dustinhowes) and let's keep the conversation going. Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month Go to https://dustinhowes.com/alfie to set up your account with a 30-day money-back guarantee For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • August 6 · 15 min

    The Secret Marketing Skill That Takes You From AM to CMO with David Vogelpohl

    My all-time favorite boss told me something once that changed my entire career. "Dustin, you're the best network marketer I've ever met." That's David Vogelpohl. He started by cold-calling computer shops in the late '90s to set up referral agreements. That was his first accidental entry into affiliate marketing. His take on where most affiliate managers go wrong: 1. You're running a business within a business. Most just don't see it that way. 2. The fastest path to leadership is to volunteer. 3. If you're pigeonholed, it's because you're not asking enough questions. This one's for every affiliate manager who's ever wondered where this career can actually take them. We also get into why David calls affiliate marketing the E=MC² of marketing and why you should never be ashamed of what you do for a living. Watch the full episode to see why, and drop a comment if this resonates. Subscribe to this channel for more affiliate program growth tactics. Start your 7-day free trial and see how Alfie can transform your affiliate recruitment process today! https://www.alfie.io/ Connect with Dustin Howes on LinkedIn: /dustinhowes #AffiliateMarketing #CareerGrowth #AffiliateManager #DigitalMarketing #MarketingLeadership Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

  • August 3 · 15 min

    The Future of AI Search: How Brands Can Dominate ChatGPT & Reddit with Ewen Finser

    Someone sees your ad on Meta. They Google your brand. They find a Reddit post from Joey323 saying your brand sucks. That's your entire paid spend strategy gone. Ewen Finser, CEO of ScaleVisible, calls this the villain archetype. And it's more common than most brands want to admit. On this episode of Affiliate Nerd Out, Ewen joins me in to break down how brands can win in the age of AI search, Reddit, and ChatGPT. One of his clients has 2% market share against QuickBooks. They now have 50% parity in AI search. It's becoming one of their top customer acquisition channels. The play? Reddit, YouTube, and tier-two media. Three legs. Build clusters. Build consensus. Get AI to say nice things about you across multiple surfaces. For brands still coasting on old KPIs, watch out. It's death by a thousand paper cuts. You may not even know it's happening yet. If you're running an affiliate program or managing a brand's online presence, this one is worth your time. Watch the full episode and let me know where your brand falls: ghost, villain, challenger, or defender? #AffiliateMarketing #AISearch #RedditMarketing #B2BMarketing #DigitalMarketing #ScaleVisible Alfie: https://dustinhowes.com/alfie and use code DUSTIN30 for 30% off your first month For more tips on how to scale your affiliate program, check out https://performancemarketingmanager.com

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