Welcome! 👋

We will show you how to get started with Trackdesk. This article walks you through the essential first steps so that your affiliate program is set up on a solid foundation before you start inviting partners.

Before diving into settings, here is the basic flow of the system:

A visitor arrives at your website through an affiliate's tracking link. Trackdesk records the click. When the visitor completes a desired action - such as a purchase - a conversion is created. Based on the conversion type and the affiliate's tier, a commission is calculated. You then review and pay out your affiliates.

Everything you configure in the next steps feeds into this flow.

Use this as your progress map:

The conversion types setting is present in settings in the General section on the Conversion types page. The settings menu is present in the vertical menu in the last position.

Add the conversion types that will define what you will pay your affiliates or what you would like to track. We've added some for you. Feel free to add and customize them.

Conversion types are the foundation of everything else - your tiers, offers, and commission calculations all reference them.

For more information about conversion types, please refer to this article - Conversion Types.

Now it's time to set up how much you will pay your affiliates using tiers. The tiers setting is present in settings in the Affiliates section on the Tiers page.

If you would like to separate affiliates, feel free to add a few tiers. The most common case is to use a VIP tier on top of the default Standard one.

Continue by defining the commission rate of tiers - in other words, how much you plan to pay your affiliates. The commission rate set on a tier is used when an offer is created, to predefine values in the offer.

For more information about tiers, please refer to this article - Tier Settings.

An affiliate program should be legally protected and well-defined. We've prepared a set of terms & conditions with standard practices. Your affiliates will be asked to accept these when they sign up for your program.

For more information about Terms & Conditions, please refer to this article - Terms and Conditions.

Your affiliates will interact with Trackdesk through a branded affiliate portal - this is where they sign up, access their tracking links, and monitor their performance. We recommend setting your program name and logo early so the portal feels professional from day one.

For more information about customizing your affiliate portal, please refer to section General > Branding in the platform Settings.

Before you go live, it is worth knowing how affiliate payouts work. Trackdesk supports payouts via PayPal, Wise, Tipalti, bank transfer, and other methods. You do not need to configure this before your first offer, but it is good to have in mind as you set commission rates.

For more information about affiliate billing, please refer to this article - How Do I Pay Affiliates?.

Now that you have the basics set up, the next step is to create an offer and set up tracking on your website. An offer is the deal your affiliates promote - it connects your conversion types, tiers, landing pages, and tracking method all in one place. Depending on your platform, you will choose from several integration options during offer creation.

Once your offer and tracking are live, you will be ready to invite your first affiliates and start running your program.

Continue in the article How to Create an Offer.