SuperdockHow to earn from writing about Mac apps
Short answer. Most Mac app affiliate programmes are not worth your time, because 10% of a $10 app is a dollar. The ones that are worth it either sell something expensive or pay a real share of something cheap. Here is how to tell the difference before you write a word.
Why the numbers are so bad
Mac utilities are cheap by convention. A one-time purchase between $5 and $20 is normal, and a developer selling at that price has little room to share. So the typical programme offers 10%, which on a $9.99 app is 99 cents. Twenty sales earns twenty dollars, for a review that took an afternoon and a video that took two.
This is why so many good Mac writers stopped bothering with affiliate links and went to sponsorships instead. It is not cynicism, it is arithmetic.
The two kinds that do pay
Expensive software with a modest rate. A 20% commission on a $99 subscription is $19.80, and it recurs. This is where most serious affiliate income in the Mac world comes from, and the competition for those keywords reflects it.
Cheap software with a serious rate. A 30% commission on a $7.99 app is $2.40. That only works if the product converts well, which in practice means it solves a problem the reader already has and has a free version they can try in one click. Fewer people compete here, and the keywords are much easier to rank for.
What to check before you join
- The rate, in money, not percent. Do the multiplication. "30%" and "10%" mean nothing until you know the price.
- The tracking window. People read, think, and buy later. Anything under 30 days quietly loses most of your referrals.
- Who actually pays you. If the developer pays by hand, you are relying on them remembering every month, forever. A merchant of record like Lemon Squeezy or Paddle pays you directly and does not forget.
- The payout minimum. A $100 threshold on $2 commissions means fifty sales before a cent arrives.
- Whether there is a free version. Sending someone to a free download converts far better than sending them to a card form.
Writing a review people act on
The reviews that convert are not the enthusiastic ones. They are the specific ones.
- Open with the problem in the reader's words. Not "Superdock is a Dock replacement" but "if you keep a work Chrome profile and a personal one open all day, the Dock shows you one icon for both".
- Show the thing, once. One screenshot of three Chrome profiles as three icons does more than three paragraphs.
- Name a flaw. Every honest review does. It costs you nothing and buys the reader's trust for everything else you say.
- Say what is free. Readers relax when they learn they can try it without paying, and relaxed readers install.
- Disclose the link. Required in most places, and readers respect it more than they punish it.
What we pay, since you asked
Superdock pays 30%, which is $2.40 at the current $7.99 launch price and $4.20 when it returns to $13.99. The dock itself is free forever, including window previews, the Alt-Tab switcher and a dock on every display; the licence unlocks the Chrome profile icons. Lemon Squeezy tracks referrals for 30 days and pays you on the 14th and 28th, so we never handle your money.
If you write about Mac apps, the programme details are here, and the honest comparison of what to look for in any programme is here.
Download free The dock is free. Chrome profile icons: 14 days free, then $7.99 once.
Continue reading
Independent macOS developer and the author of Superdock. I switched to a Mac from Windows, lost the per profile taskbar buttons I relied on, and built the dock I wanted instead. I write these guides from daily use of the apps in them, and I answer the support email myself.