If you're looking for a book on affiliate marketing to get started, this is the only book you need. It is called The Payout Mafia by Niels Zee and James Dooley. 

It has some standout contributions from Matt Diggity, Jenny Gonzalez, Jamie I.F., James Oliver and many more.

In this episode of the Affiliate BI Podcast, host John Wright sits down with Vlad Ghilien, a strategic communications consultant with a sharp eye for brand positioning and content strategy. While Vlad’s background isn’t in affiliate marketing directly, his expertise in communications and branding offers a powerful perspective for affiliates looking to stand out.

Vlad shares why so many affiliate sites miss the mark—not because of SEO basics, but because they fail to build a trusted brand. He explains how mindful positioning, quality content, and a clear value proposition can transform an affiliate site from a churn-and-burn project into a long-term business asset.

We discuss the importance of case studies, video content, and digital PR as tools for credibility and social proof. Vlad also outlines why E-E-A-T still matters in the AI era, and how affiliates can adapt to survive and thrive in today’s search landscape.

Whether you’re managing a large portfolio of sites or focused on building one standout brand, this conversation is packed with practical insights on how communications strategy can drive affiliate growth.

How to reach Vlad Ghilien

• Vlad Ghilien on LinkedIn
• Vlad on Facebook

In this episode of Affiliate BI, John Wright sits down with Joe Hatch, Head of Product at StatsDrone, to pull back the curtain on the complexities of affiliate marketing infrastructure, automation, and data reliability. From building in-house stats tools to integrating dynamic variables, Joe gives a deeply informed take on what it really takes to run a successful affiliate operation at scale.

They kick off by discussing the illusion that building your own stats platform is easy. Joe details the real challenges — from managing over 1,900 affiliate programs across 90+ software types to maintaining reliable data through inconsistent APIs, scraping, and authentication hurdles. He challenges the belief that AI agents alone can solve these problems, pointing out the edge cases and standardization issues that AI still struggles with.

The episode explores practical tools and innovations Joe has been building, including WordPress plugins for Pretty Links and Thirsty Affiliates that simplify dynamic variable tracking. Joe explains how proper click ID management enables deeper analytics and real attribution, turning affiliate sites into powerful CRMs — capable of identifying individual users, tracking their behaviour post-click, and even retaining or reactivating them with targeted offers.

The conversation also dives into hot-button issues like shaving and data transparency. Joe explains the importance of change detection and communication between affiliates and operators, while emphasizing that not all data changes are nefarious.

For tech-savvy affiliates, Joe lays out integration possibilities using tools like Airtable, Looker Studio, Tableau, and the versatile n8n automation platform. They wrap with a discussion on the future of affiliate marketing as it converges with business intelligence — plus a fun mention of Joe’s satirical project, the iGaming Bullshit Generator.

How to reach Joe Hatch

• Joe Hatch on LinkedIn
• StatsDrone dynamic variables
• iGamingBullshitGenerator.com

I hear often that people think that rather than using StatsDrone, they can just build an in-house affiliate stats tracker.

This is a short podcast to explain the nuances of running this type of business. 

The short answer is this, do you want to be a marketing company, a tech company or both? Let us be the tech company and you do what you do best. 

In this thought-provoking conversation, marketing director Martin Calvert dives deep into the realities of SEO and affiliate marketing in 2025. He and host John Wright unpack the hard truths about how affiliate marketing has matured—gone are the days of passive income from generic review sites. Today, success demands caring deeply about every click, maintaining airtight user experiences, and turning one-time visitors into long-term brand followers through data ownership, newsletters, and apps. Martin stresses the importance of affiliate sites treating traffic like a precious resource—nurturing every visitor, eliminating broken links, and doubling down on conversion rather than merely traffic growth.

Martin also examines how AI, business intelligence, and changing search behaviors are reshaping how marketers must operate. The conversation touches on sentiment analysis, internal search on branded affiliate sites, and the crucial importance of developing a strong brand identity—whether that's through tone of voice, authoritative content, or offering truly helpful reviews. They caution against outdated strategies and emphasize the need for experimentation, strategic focus, and understanding local markets. Martin’s takeaway is clear: affiliate marketing isn't dead—it's just growing up. And only the data-savvy, brand-conscious, and genuinely customer-focused marketers will thrive.

How to reach Martin Calvert

• Martin Calvert on LinkedIn
• ICS-digital

Can dynamic variables help detecting shaving from operators?

Based on a conversation I had last week with Armin Aganovic, CRO of Joelsson Media, I realized that click IDs are more valuable than I realized.

That is, operators can't inject fake winning players if you're in control of issuing unique codes within your click IDs. 

At the iGB L!ve Pitch in London 2025, I got asked a tough question by Karolina Pelc which is how does StatsDrone avoid getting eaten by AI?

I have had time to think about that question and digest a better answer and I think this comes down to affiliates trying to get more value out of their existing traffic whether it is staying the same or decreasing. 

In this short solocast, I break down why so few affiliates use stats trackers, what holds them back, and how we can collectively create more product awareness to change that. Spoiler: it requires trust, collaboration — and a lot of purple at conferences.

Is there a need for a new standard when it comes to affiliate data, standards and reporting? 

I think this needs to be done. At the moment, this was attempted by NetRefer which was a great concept except that I believe that this initiative can't exist as a commercial directive but one that needs to be collaborative. When other companies are involved and it isn't owned by a single company, this is where this has potential to take off.

For now, looking to start the discussion with this podcast and a few more LinkedIn posts. 

In this episode of Affiliate BI, John Wright sits down with Mikael Dia, founder of Funnelytics, to break down why traditional attribution models are outdated and misleading. Mikael introduces a contribution-based approach to tracking user journeys and explains how SaaS and affiliate marketers can better understand what truly drives conversions. The conversation explores how to uncover profit leaks in your funnel by working backwards from conversion points and leveraging tools like Funnelytics for journey visualization. They also dive into the disruptive role of AI in analytics and what the future holds for BI professionals and affiliate marketing.

How to reach Mikael Dia

• Mikael Dia on LinkedIn
• Funnelytics.io