[Follow Along] My First Break-Even Journey – $100 Budget, Custom Tracker & Push/Pop Testing

[btaliat]

Hey everyone,


After a lot of back and forth over the past year, I’ve finally decided to take real action and launch my first affiliate marketing campaigns. My goal? Start lean, stay focused, and hit break-even as my first measurable success.


This is not about making $10K overnight or launching 50 campaigns at once. It’s about learning the process from the inside out, building some foundational tools myself, and making data-driven decisions on a tight budget.

Background​

I come from a programming background — I’ve been in software development for about 15 years, and during that time, I’ve built and launched two web apps independently. So, I’m comfortable with the tech side of things: scripting, data flows, APIs, automation… all of that.


However, affiliate marketing is still a new world for me. Over the past year, I’ve been slowly gathering knowledge — reading case studies, watching campaigns, and following expert advice. Now, I feel ready to start testing for real.

Project Goals​

This isn’t about scaling to $1000/day. My immediate focus is hitting break-even on a small budget.


Here’s the target:

• Spend my first $100 wisely
• Choose a low-payout offer
• Launch a small, measurable campaign
• Break even or get as close as possible while building experience

That’s it. Simple. Realistic. Focused.

Traffic & Offer Planning​

Right now, I’m still deciding between push and pop traffic. Each has its pros and cons.

• Push: Good user engagement, decent targeting, but competitive.
• Pop: Cheaper clicks, but often lower quality and requires tight filtering.

My gut says to start with pop, since the CPC is lower, and I can test more impressions with less money. But I’ll make that final decision after today’s research session.

Tools & Strategy​

I’m doing things a little differently than most beginners because of my dev background:


Custom Tracker

• I’m building my own redirect tracker from scratch.
• Today, I’ll be writing the first version: just basic redirect and click tracking.
• Once that’s done, I’ll add features like geo/IP/device reporting, and eventually auto-optimization rules for landers/offers.
• Why? Because I want to deeply understand how tracking works instead of relying only on third-party tools from day one.

Spy Tools

• Currently using Adplexity Push — I noticed a lot of push campaigns revolve around adult, CPI, and sweepstake offers.
• Later today, I’ll explore Adplexity Mobile to get a feel for successful pop traffic campaigns and their creative/lander structures.

Affiliate Network: Need Recommendations​

I’m still looking for the right network to work with.


I’ve been talking to a rep at one of the well-known networks. They mentioned that new affiliates only get access to limited offers and would need to earn $300+ from three specific campaigns before unlocking more. I’m unsure whether to proceed with them or start with a more beginner-friendly network.


If anyone has suggestions for a trustworthy network with decent support and fair newbie access, I’d love your input.

What’s Next?​

Here’s my short-term to-do list:

• Finalize my traffic source (leaning pop)
• Build version 1.0 of my custom tracker
• Select a low-payout offer to test with
• Design 1-2 basic landers
• Launch the campaign and start collecting data

I’ll post an update here within the next 2 days with screenshots of the tracker, and (hopefully) some early traffic results.

Any thoughts, tips, or guidance would be very appreciated. Whether you’re a dev, a marketer, or somewhere in between — I’m here to learn from all of you.


Thanks for reading — I’ll see you in the next update.