Prelinker Commission: How the Revenue Share Works

Talking about earnings in affiliate marketing always risks sounding like a promise. So let us be clear from the start: the figures in this article are orders of magnitude, taken from rate cards shared by affiliates. The exact rate card that applies to your account is shown in the publisher area, and it is the one that counts. No earnings are guaranteed.

The principle: a revenue share

Prelinker's main model is the revenue share, often called revshare. Instead of receiving a fixed amount for each signup, you earn a share of what the member spends, for as long as they stay subscribed. This is the opposite of the one-off payments described in our article on CPA, CPL and revshare.

According to the rate cards shared with us, the split looks like this: about 55% of the first month's subscription, then about 45% of each renewal, as long as the member remains subscribed. Extra purchases, such as options or credits, are commissioned too.

A worked example over one year

Take a member who signs up through your link, subscribes at €25 per month and stays for a year. With these orders of magnitude, the calculation gives:

This example illustrates the logic, not an average. Many members leave before a year is up, while others stay longer. Above all, a single member does not make an income: what matters is the accumulation of many subscriptions over time.

Why income builds up over time

A revenue share has one particular feature: every new member who stays subscribed keeps earning you commission in the following months. A well-ranked article that brings in regular signups therefore builds a stream that stacks up. This is what people call semi-passive income: it takes real work upfront, then upkeep. Our page on passive income goes into this nuance.

The reverse is also true: if you stop publishing and your traffic drops, new subscriptions slow down. Members you have already referred keep earning as long as they renew, but the flow of new ones depends on your activity.

What makes your results vary

• Traffic quality. One hundred readers genuinely interested in dating are worth more than a thousand passing visits.
• Offer fit. A seniors offer on a seniors blog converts better than a general offer placed at random. See the dating site niches.
• Your audience's country. Prices and brands vary by country, which is why the smartlink is useful.
• Link placement. A link built into useful content works better than a stand-alone banner.
• How long members stay subscribed. This depends on the brand, the audience and the quality of the matches.
• The consistency of your work. Publishing, updating and testing is what makes the difference over several months.

Tracking your results with a method

To know what pays off, do not settle for the monthly total. Assign a SubID to each page and each campaign, as explained in the article on SubID and postback. You will then see which pages deserve more work and which ones can be dropped.

Mistakes to avoid when talking about money

Never sell a dream to your audience by suggesting that signing up automatically pays off. Do not build your personal budget on hypothetical earnings. And remember that this income has to be declared: see the section on declaring your income. For the payout itself, head to the page on Prelinker payments.

Setting realistic goals

Rather than aiming for a monthly amount, set work goals: number of pages published, content quality, regular updates. Income is the consequence of those efforts, not their starting point. A publisher who puts out useful pages for six months, links them together and improves them based on their statistics is far more likely to see a stream of subscriptions take hold than one who drops three links and hopes for a miracle.

Keep the big picture in mind too: dating affiliation is an audience business. If you do not enjoy writing for readers, making videos or running a community, other activities will suit you better. There is no shame in choosing a path that fits you.

A word on how this compares with other payment models: pay per signup brings faster but one-off income, whereas a revenue share builds up a base of subscribed members. Neither is better by nature. The right choice depends on the quality of your audience, your ability to wait and your cash flow needs.

If you need income quickly, do not count on this activity: it is a poor fit for urgency. Treat it as a medium-term project, funded alongside another stable source of income.

Finally, put this commission in context: the complete Prelinker guide gathers the articles that will help you generate quality traffic, which remains the real variable to work on.