Part 2
Lever 3 — Modern SaaS Stack
Module 5
Module at a Glance
Reading Time
15–20 minutes
What You’ll Walk Away With
Active affiliate accounts for the tools in your stack, a clear content strategy for promoting them authentically, and the framework for building a recurring commission income stream from tools you genuinely use every day.
L3M5.1
The Most Frictionless Affiliate Income You’ll Ever Build
Most affiliate marketing requires you to research products, develop opinions about them, build enough trust to recommend them, and hope your audience agrees. All of that takes time.
SaaS affiliate marketing from your own stack is different. You already use the tools. You already have genuine opinions about them — what they do well, what their limitations are, what type of person they’re best for. You can write about them from a place of real experience, not researched approximation.
Trust is the currency of affiliate marketing — and your personal stack gives you a trust head start that most affiliate marketers have to spend months earning.
The added bonus: most of the best SaaS affiliate programs pay recurring commissions. Every referral who stays subscribed generates income every single month. Over time, as you accumulate more referrals across multiple programs, these recurring streams stack into a meaningful monthly baseline.
L3M5.2
The SaaS Affiliate Programs Worth Joining
A curated list of programs with the strongest combination of commission quality, conversion rate, and genuine product value — all tools featured in this course.
Hostinger
Up to 60%
One-time
30-day cookie
hostinger.com/affiliates
SiteGround
$50–$100/sale
One-time
60-day cookie
siteground.com/affiliates
MailerLite
30%
Recurring
90-day cookie
mailerlite.com/affiliates
ConvertKit / Kit
30%
Recurring
90-day cookie
partners.kit.com
Canva
Up to $36/referral
One-time
30-day cookie
canva.com/affiliates
Jasper
30%
Recurring
90-day cookie
jasper.ai/affiliates
SEMrush
40%
Recurring
120-day cookie
berush.com
Teachable
30%
Recurring
90-day cookie
teachable.com/affiliates
Kajabi
30%
Recurring
30-day cookie
kajabi.com/partners
ClickFunnels
40%
Recurring
45-day cookie
clickfunnels.com/affiliates
Elementor
50%
One-time
45-day cookie
elementor.com/affiliates
Notion
Per referral
One-time
90-day cookie
notion.so/affiliates
Zapier
20–25%
Recurring
90-day cookie
zapier.com/partners
Midjourney
No program currently
Priority programs — join these first
01
Hostinger
Highest one-time commission in hosting, converts well because it’s often a beginner’s first purchase.
02
MailerLite
30% recurring — every online entrepreneur needs email marketing. Easy to recommend genuinely.
03
Canva
Everyone knows Canva — converts almost on brand recognition alone.
04
Jasper or SEMrush
Strong recurring commissions, high-intent audience of marketers and content creators.
L3M5.3
The Three Content Formats That Convert SaaS Affiliates
Not all content promotes SaaS tools equally. These three formats consistently produce the highest conversion rates for software recommendations.
Format 01
The Honest Tool Review
A comprehensive, first-person review of a specific tool. Covers what it does, who it’s for, your genuine experience, what you like, what you don’t, pricing, and a clear recommendation.
The non-negotiable: honesty about limitations. A review that mentions nothing negative reads as paid promotion. Acknowledging weaknesses paradoxically increases conversion rates — it demonstrates genuine expertise.
Title formula
[Tool Name] Review [Year]: Is It Worth It for [Audience]?
e.g. “MailerLite Review 2025: Is It the Best Email Platform for Beginners?”
Format 02
The Head-to-Head Comparison
A direct comparison of two competing tools. Structure: overview of both, feature-by-feature comparison, who each is best for, pricing, and a clear winner recommendation.
Comparison posts capture readers who have already narrowed their decision to two options — the highest buyer-intent searches in any SaaS category. Someone searching “MailerLite vs ConvertKit” is ready to buy. They just want to be told which one.
Title formula
[Tool A] vs [Tool B]: Which Is Better for [Use Case] in [Year]?
e.g. “MailerLite vs ConvertKit: Which Email Platform Should Beginners Use in 2025?”
⚖️
Ethics note: Recommend whichever tool is genuinely better for the reader’s situation — even if one pays a higher commission. Readers who follow bad advice don’t come back. Readers who follow good advice become loyal, repeat visitors.
Format 03
The Best-Of Roundup
A curated list of the top tools in a specific category. Roundups capture early-stage searchers who haven’t yet decided which specific tool they need — and one post with 7 tools, each with an affiliate link, covers multiple commission opportunities simultaneously.
Title formula
The [Number] Best [Tool Category] for [Audience] in [Year]
e.g. “The 7 Best Email Marketing Tools for Bloggers in 2025 (Reviewed)”
L3M5.4
Building a SaaS Affiliate Content Calendar
Your SaaS affiliate content calendar should mirror your own tool adoption journey. As you discover, configure, and use each new tool in your stack — document it. That documentation becomes content.
Month 1 content plan
Week 1
Tutorial
“How to Start a Blog in 2025: Complete Step-by-Step Guide”
Hostinger + WordPress
Week 2
Review
“Hostinger Review 2025: The Best Budget Hosting for Beginners?”
Hostinger
Week 3
Review
“MailerLite Review: Is It the Best Email Platform for New Bloggers?”
MailerLite
Week 4
Roundup
“The 5 Best AI Tools for Bloggers and Content Creators in 2025”
ChatGPT, Claude, Canva, Jasper
Four posts. Four affiliate programs represented. Every post draws from genuine firsthand experience building your own stack.
💡
Ongoing expansion: Every new tool you add to your stack is a new content opportunity. Every upgrade decision you make — and why — is a post. Every workflow you build using multiple tools is a tutorial. Your business journey is your content calendar.
L3M5.5
Maximizing Recurring Commission Income
One-time commissions are valuable. Recurring commissions are transformational. Here is how to specifically maximize the recurring component of your SaaS affiliate income.
Strategy 1 — Prioritize recurring programs in your content
When you have a choice between a one-time and a recurring commission of similar conversion potential — prioritize recurring. The math compounds dramatically.
50 referrals × $10 one-time
$500 total
50 referrals × $10/month recurring
~$6,000 in year 1
Strategy 2 — Target “sticky” SaaS tools
Tools that become core to a business’s operations have far lower churn rates. Your recurring commissions last longer.
★
Highest stickiness
Email platforms, hosting, core productivity tools
○
Lower stickiness
Experimental tools, tools with strong free alternatives
Strategy 3 — Build evergreen content around recurring tools
A blog post about MailerLite published today will still drive referrals in three years — because people start email marketing businesses every single day. Treat your content about recurring-commission tools as long-term compounding assets. Update them annually to keep them ranking and converting.
Strategy 4 — Email your list about tools deliberately
Your email list converts SaaS recommendations at higher rates than cold traffic because of the trust relationship you’ve already built. Periodic “tools I use and recommend” emails — honest, specific, and tied to the reader’s real needs — consistently generate affiliate commissions from subscribers who are ready to act.
L3M5.6
Tracking and Optimizing Your SaaS Affiliate Income
As your SaaS affiliate content scales, data-driven optimization ensures you’re focusing effort on the programs and content types that produce the most income.
Monthly tracking process
01
Pull click data from Pretty Links — which tool links get the most clicks?
02
Pull conversion data from each affiliate dashboard — which programs convert at the highest rate?
03
Calculate earnings per click (EPC) per program: total earnings ÷ total clicks
04
Identify your top 3 EPC programs — these are your highest-value promotional assets
★
Double down: create more content featuring those programs, add them more prominently in existing posts, feature them in email campaigns
Quarterly content audit
For your top-performing SaaS affiliate posts:
→Update pricing information — SaaS pricing changes frequently
→Update feature lists — tools add and remove features
→Add new sections covering features you didn’t address originally
→Improve the call-to-action placement and copy
A well-maintained review post that has been earning commissions for 12 months has compounded its initial creation value many times over.
Module Summary
Here’s What We Covered
- ✦Why SaaS affiliate marketing from your own stack is the most frictionless affiliate income available — authentic experience, instant credibility
- ✦The priority SaaS affiliate programs to join first: Hostinger, MailerLite, Canva, Jasper/SEMrush
- ✦The three content formats that convert: honest tool reviews, head-to-head comparisons, and best-of roundups
- ✦A Month 1 SaaS affiliate content calendar — four posts, four programs, all from genuine firsthand experience
- ✦Strategies for maximizing recurring commission income: prioritize recurring programs, target sticky tools, build evergreen content, leverage your email list
- ✦Monthly tracking and quarterly content audit process for ongoing optimization
Next up Lever 4: Growth Systems
Lever 3 complete
✅Module 1 — Introduction: What a SaaS Stack Is and Why It Matters
✅Module 2 — The Exact Tools Used by 6-Figure Creators (Reviewed and Rated)
✅Module 3 — Free vs. Paid Tools: When to Upgrade
✅Module 4 — Building Your Lean Starter Stack on a Budget
✅Module 5 — Earning From SaaS: Affiliate Commissions From Tools You Already Use