Quick answer: where do affiliates actually come from?
The fastest partners are already connected to your business. Your customers convert in days: they bought, they know the pitch, a widget turns them into affiliates in one click. A public program listing also pays off in days, because the affiliates browsing it opted into being found. Creators in your category take about a week if you search by what they earn, not follower count.
A competitor's affiliates take two to four weeks: highest intent, slowest, most delicate. Cold outreach takes a month or more with the lowest reply rate of the five, which is why it is last on this page and first on everyone else's.

