they could just share ad revenue and fund an affiliate program with it on top. but I doubt this will ever change, so it's better to use & promo alternatives in my opinion. I almost exculsively use @steempeak and link to it. if enough people do it, steemit is forced to change something or slowly die off

edit: steemit could add a dedicated ad-spot which is only paid in steem/sbd, so it could be easier shared with authors