Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money online in today’s digital age and there’s always been this misconception that it requires some sort of website or blog. But if you think about it, isn’t your current internet presence pretty much made up of websites and blogs anyway?
A lot of people have started out using Facebook pages as their main point of contact with potential customers but these days, social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc., are also used heavily by marketers and affiliates alike so they don’t necessarily require a separate website either. In fact, many successful affiliate marketers only use email campaigns as part of their marketing strategy because it allows them to reach more people than any other method. So why does anyone still feel compelled to build a website when all we really want is for someone to read our emails and maybe buy something from us later on down the line?
If you ask me, building a website is overkill and unnecessary. It’s basically like having two phones instead of one – one for personal calls and another for business calls. If you already have a phone number and a way to get in touch with people, then why would you bother getting yourself a second phone? All those extra features and additional costs add no value whatsoever to your life and are just wasted resources. The same goes for creating a website - unless you plan to actually sell anything there (which most newbies won’t), why would you spend time and energy setting up a domain name, installing WordPress, buying hosting space, hiring web developers, designing graphics, uploading images, writing articles…you know what I mean? That’s a ton of work for very little return.
So here are four easy steps showing exactly how you can start promoting products through your existing website without ever needing to set foot inside of Notepad again. This will show you how you can quickly get off the ground with affiliate marketing while saving tons of time and effort. You may even be able to learn from my mistakes along the way too.
The first step in making a website for affiliate marketing is deciding which platform you’re going to use. There are plenty of different options available such as WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, Bluehost, and others. Most of them offer basic templates for free and usually include things like a search bar, header image, page layout, etc. However, if you’re planning on selling physical items, you might need to consider shopping around for better deals on eCommerce software packages. Some good ones are Shopify, Bigcommerce, Magento, Prestashop, etc. They’ll come with lots of pre-installed themes and plug ins ready for you to install at no cost.
Another thing to keep in mind is whether or not you want to host your own site or go with a third party platform. Personally, I prefer self-hosting since it gives you complete control over everything, but it takes longer to setup initially. A hosted solution typically comes with lots of built-in tools and plugins designed to help you market whatever product(s) you choose to sell. For example, Amazon Associates has several great paid subscription services you can sign up for that automatically insert Amazon product recommendations into your posts whenever appropriate. Or check out Affiliorama where you can upload videos of yourself talking about certain products and earn commissions based on sales generated from YouTube views alone. Another alternative is to simply post affiliate offers to your Facebook Page or Twitter account every now and then so viewers who happen upon your posts could potentially purchase them directly from Amazon once they land on your profile.
Once you decide between self-hosted vs. a third party platform, the next choice becomes choosing a theme for your site. Again, this depends on what type of product(s) you plan to sell. If you’re just starting out, stick with simple designs and avoid adding fancy CSS animations or 3D effects. Keep the design clean and uncomplicated. Also, try to stay away from sites that look overly cluttered with ads everywhere. Make sure each section of your homepage looks balanced and interesting enough to hold attention.
Afterwards, you can begin putting together your content. As mentioned earlier, not everyone needs a dedicated website to successfully promote affiliate offers. Many successful entrepreneurs rely solely on email marketing to drive traffic to their sites and generate leads. Therefore, you may want to focus primarily on crafting high quality email newsletters rather than developing full blown websites. Email marketing is easier to implement and less costly to maintain compared to traditional websites. Plus, it doesn’t take nearly as long to write compelling copy in comparison to writing original blog posts.
Now that you have a template, theme, and an idea about what types of products you intend to promote, it’s time to put all three together into one place. To save time, you can opt to use a service called TemplateMonster which lets you customize a fully functional website within minutes. Just enter the URL you want to redirect visitors back to after clicking “Buy Now” and hit submit. From there, you'll see a list of various themes that you can pick from. Once you find one you like, click "Add to Cart" and proceed to checkout. Afterward, you'll receive access to download the files needed to finish constructing your website.
Keep in mind that you don't absolutely need a custom website to start earning revenue via affiliate marketing. If you're looking for a more streamlined process, you can easily bypass the whole website creation process entirely by signing up for a few popular third party apps that automate almost all aspects of affiliate marketing. These apps generally allow you to connect your Paypal account, credit card info, bank account information, and/or Google AdWords accounts and let you manage multiple affiliate listings straight from your mobile device.
For instance, I recently signed up for Clickbank Connect which integrates seamlessly with PayPal to enable you to accept payments right from your website. Then you can immediately send buyers to a specific landing page optimized for conversion rates. You can even specify the amount you'd like to charge for the sale before sending the customer to the merchant.
ClickBank also enables you to integrate its app with your favorite payment processor, including Stripe, Payoneer, Square Cash, Dwolla, Venmo, Flexepay, among others. It's worth noting that ClickBank is arguably one of the top affiliate networks in the world and was founded by Jeff Bezos himself.
Writing articles is probably one of the hardest parts of affiliate marketing to master. Luckily though, it shouldn’t take you much time at all to become proficient at it. There are numerous places to turn towards for inspiration. One option is to visit EzineArticles.com and browse through thousands of articles written by experts in your niche. Try reading a couple of dozen articles and jot down ideas for topics that interest you. Next, head over to Google searches and perform keyword research. Look for words related to your area of expertise that people commonly use in conversation. Finally, craft your article title accordingly.
Here are some popular titles that tend to convert well:
Title 1: How to Start Earning Money Through Affiliate Marketing Without Having Any Experience
Title 2: Why Every Newbie Should Be Using A Website To Promote Their Products Online
Title 3: 10 Tips And Tricks On How To Use Social Media To Increase Your Profits By 1000%
Title 4: 5 Ways To Earn Money With No Money At All... Even If You Don't Have A Computer
Finally, publish your piece and share it across all major social channels. If readers enjoy your story, the chances are they’ll end up purchasing your recommended product(s).
This question deserves a bit of explanation. When it comes to writing your own content, there are certain things you must remember to avoid turning your audience off. First, steer clear of blatant advertising. That means never mentioning a particular brand name or company logo anywhere during your article. Instead, talk about benefits associated with said product and mention how it compares against competing brands.
It's important to provide real value to your reader. People aren't interested in hearing about the latest trends in tech gadgets, celebrity gossip, cat memes, or political debates. They want to hear tips on how to improve their daily lives, get fit, lose weight, save money, fix relationship problems, etc. Always give advice and solutions to questions asked by your readers. In addition, sprinkle in relevant keywords throughout your text wherever possible. Doing so increases the likelihood that your target audience will find your article valuable enough to click on and continue browsing your website.
If you're reading this article then chances are you've heard the phrase "affiliate marketing" and perhaps even tried it out yourself. If so, congratulations - you may be on your way towards making some serious cash online with minimal effort.
But there's something else that most people don't realize when they start their first foray into internet marketing. Even if you already know all the ins-and-outs of blogging or paid adsense advertising, there is still one thing that many newbies overlook which could put them right back at square 1... a website.
I'm sure we've all heard the phrase "you cannot build a successful business over night". The truth is, building any sort of business takes time (even bricklaying). And while you'll likely get better results by putting more hours than money into building up traffic and gaining subscribers, you will also see much quicker returns by spending more money upfront on creating a solid foundation from day 1.
For example, let's say you want to try selling eBooks through Amazon. You might think that you don't need a website because you only plan to sell physical products like books. But once again, you would be wrong.
You may find that there isn't enough demand for your product yet to justify buying a site domain name and hosting fees each month. However, as soon as you start sending out emails promoting the eBook, you'll begin to notice sales starting to come in. As long as you continue emailing potential customers regularly, you should experience exponential growth in profits within weeks!
So here's my question - why exactly does having a website prevent someone from succeeding in affiliate marketing? Is it really necessary to have a blog/website before launching an ad campaign? Do you have to create content for affiliate marketing? What type of website is affiliate marketing? Let's take a look.
Let's face it, writing articles is hard work. It requires research, creativity, and persistence. When trying to market yourself online, you'll quickly discover that many marketers focus too heavily on keywords and forget about the importance of providing helpful information.
Some examples include:
1) How To Find A Niche In Affiliate Marketing
2) How To Make Money With Pay Per Click Ads
3) Secrets For Making Profits From Your Blog
4) 10 Essential Tips For Successful Content Creation
5) 5 Simple Steps To Creating An Awesome Ebook
6) 7 Ways To Get Traffic Without Facebook Or Google AdWords [No Longer Available]
7) 8 Proven Strategies That Will Help You Generate Leads & Sales Online
8) 9 Easy Methods For Building High Converting Landing Pages
9) 12 Things Every Newbie Must Know About Writing Articles On The Internet
10) 15 Secret Techniques Of Copywriting That No One Else Knows
11) 20 Quick Start Guides For Beginners
12) 21 Tactics To Increase Productivity Using Social Media
13) 23 Useful Tools For Writers (And Non-Writers!)
14) 25 Amazing Websites To Learn More About Business, Finance, Investing, etc..
15) 30 Ways To Create A Website And Earn Cashflow Fast
16) 32 Tricks To Master YouTube Video SEO
17) 35 Quick Tips For Better Email List Management
18) 36 Top Mistakes People Are Doing Wrong While Running Their Own Businesses
19) 38 Best Practices For Growing An Audience Using Twitter
20) 40 Powerful Tips To Boost Conversions By Increasing Pageviews
21) 43 Tips For Getting Visitors To Like, Comment, Subscribe, Share, Etc..
22) 44 Tips For Driving Targeted Traffic To Any Site
23) 45 Great Resources For Learning How To Write Articles Online
24) 46 Secrets Nobody Tells You About Starting An Online Business [Broken Link Removed]
25) 47 Ways to Build Trust Around Free Products
26) 48 Ultimate Guide To Search Engine Optimization
27) 49 Ways To Use Pinterest To Promote Your Small Business
28) 50 6 Steps To Become A Professional Writer
29) 51 Secrets Behind Wordpress Plugins
30) 52 Tips For Becoming A Brand Name Author
31) 53 Myths Busted About Startups
32) 54 Myths Busted About SEO
33) 55 How To Grow A Mailing List Without Having To Ask Anyone To Join
34) 56 Myths Busted About Lead Generation
35) 57 Secrets To Attract Customers Through Instagram
36) 58 Why You Shouldn't Give Up After Just 3 Days
37) 59 How To Market Yourself On LinkedIn
38) 60 Myths About Backlinks
39) 61 Myths About CPA Offers
40) 62 Myths About PPC Advertising
41) 63 Myths Busted About Viral Videos
42) 64 Myths About Influencer Marketing
43) 65 Myths Busted About Facebook Advertising
44) 66 Myths About Google AdSense
45) 67 Myths Busted About Affiliates
46) 68 Myths Busted About Affiliate Programs
47) 69 Myths Busted About Article Syndication
48) 70 Myths Busted About RSS Feeds
49) 71 Myths Busted About Direct Response Emails
50) 72 Myths Busted About Email Marketing
51) 73 Myths Busted About Paid Promotion
52) 74 Myths Busted About Banner Exchange Networks
53) 75 Myths Busted About Joint Ventures
54) 76 Myths Busted About Web 2.0
55) 77 Myths Busted About Press Releases
56) 78 Myths Busted About Podcasts
57) 79 Myths Busted About SEO Audit Reports
58) 80 Myths Busted About Mobile Apps
59) 81 Myths Busted About App Stores
60) 82 Myths Busted About Email Subscriptions
61) 83 Myths Busted About Video Hosting Sites
62) 84 Myths Busted About Google Analytics
63) 85 Myths Busted About Twitter Lists
64) 86 Myths Busted About WordPress
65) 87 Myths Busted About Squidoo
66) 88 Myths Busted About EzineArticles
67) 89 Myths Busted About HubPages
68) 90 Myths Busted About EzineAddict
69) 91 Myths Busted About VigLink
70) 92 Myths Busted About JVZoo
71) 93 Myths Busted About Affiliate Summit
72) 94 Myths Busted About Clickbank
73) 95 Myths Busted About Commission Junction
74) 96 Myths Busted About SoloAds
75) 97 Myths Busted About Shopify
76) 98 Myths Busted About eBay
77) 99 Myths Busted About Merchant Circle
78) 100 Myths Busted About ClickFunnels
79) 101 Myths Busted About Squeezepages
80) 102 Myths Busted About Amazon Associates
81) 103 Myths Busted About PayPal
82) 104 Myths Busted About ClickBank University
83) 105 Myths Busted About InfoBarrel
84) 106 Myths Busted About LeadDyno
85) 107 Myths Busted About Wealthy Affiliate
86) 108 Myths Busted About Infolinks
87) 109 Myths Busted About Jvzoo
88) 110 Myths Busted About WarriorPlus
89) 111 Myths Busted About ClickTale
90) 112 Myths Busted About ClickMeister
91) 113 Myths Busted About NinjaOutreach
92) 114 Myths Busted About Instapage
93) 115 Myths Busted About WebSiteCafe
94) 116 Myths Busted About ClickThru
95) 117 Myths Busted About OptinMonster
96) 118 Myths Busted About Elance
97) 119 Myths Busted About Big Cartel
98) 120 Myths Busted About Clickfunnels
99) 121 Myths Busted About Clickkarma
100) 122 Myths Busted About GetResponse
101) 123 Myths Busted About ConvertKit
102) 124 Myths Busted About Sendible
103) 125 Myths Busted About Weebly
104) 126 Myths Busted About Unbounce
105) 127 Myths Busted About Wufoo
106) 128 Myths Busted About CoSchedule
107) 129 Myths Busted About Canva
108) 130 Myths Busted About Fiverr
109) 131 Myths Busted About ClickBank Academy
110) 132 Myths Busted About Clickbank University
111) 133 Myths Busted About Clickfunnels Academy
112) 134 Myths Busted About Kajabi
113) 135 Myths Busted About Teachable
114) 136 Myths Busted About Udemy
115) 137 Myths Busted About Zimride
116) 138 Myths Busted About ClickWheel
117) 139
Many people think they have no choice but to build a website before launching their online business or digital product. This is simply untrue... and it’s one of the most popular misconceptions about building an internet presence in general.
You don’t have to publish your own content to get started with affiliate marketing – nor do you need any fancy design skills. In fact, there are many ways to go about promoting products through affiliates without even having a website at all. Let me show you four options right here.
If you want to learn more about affiliate marketing, check out these resources below that will help take your knowledge to the next level.
The first thing you should know if you aren’t sure where to begin when it comes to creating a website is that you don’t necessarily need to set up your own domain name. You could use Squarespace, WordPress, Wix, Weebly, GoDaddy, Google Sites, HostGator, Bluehost, etc., instead - depending on which platform suits your needs best.
Affiliate networks like Commission Junction (CJ), ShareASale, LinkShare, Amazon Associates, and PayPerClick also offer free websites to new members as well, so be sure to research those companies too. The key point is to find a reliable service provider who offers good customer support and easy-to-use tools.
Yes, absolutely you can! There are plenty of sites available today that allow anyone to quickly create their own site using drag & drop functionality. Some of them include Weebly, Wix, Joomla!, WordPress, Squarespace, and others.
It doesn’t matter whether you prefer Wordpress or another platform because this article isn’t focused around platforms. What matters is finding the right tool for your particular niche market.
In short, you’re going to have to decide between static vs. dynamic pages. Static pages only display information after being loaded by visitors, while dynamic pages update automatically based upon visitor input. Dynamic pages require some technical expertise in order to setup properly, however, which makes static pages a better option for beginners looking to jump into the world of affiliate marketing.
Once you've decided on a solution, you'll then need to choose from templates that other users created themselves, or ones designed by experts. If you're feeling creative, try designing something yourself or picking a template someone else made. It takes time to figure things out though, so give yourself enough room to experiment.
Keep in mind that each company has different requirements when it comes to setting up your account. For example, some may ask you to provide documentation proving ownership of your chosen URL, while others might accept proof via email. Be aware that certain services won't let you register domains unless you already possess one.
This depends entirely on the program you sign up with. Many programs allow affiliates to place banners and text ads anywhere on their websites. Others require specific placements within articles or blog posts.
If you plan to sell physical items, such as ebooks, DVDs, CDs, etc., you’ll probably want to link directly to the vendor’s storefront page.
However, if you intend to distribute digital downloads like software, eBooks, courses, audio recordings, videos, games, etc., you may want to consider linking to third party vendors (such as Amazon) who host your files. These links would direct customers to download locations rather than yours.
While it’s possible to add affiliate links to existing websites, doing so could cause problems down the road. That said, some hosting services will allow you to customize the look of your website by adding additional elements like CSS code and custom images. As long as the layout looks similar to the rest of your site, you shouldn’t run into issues.
What is important is that your website is unique and recognizable among potential customers. Otherwise, they won't feel comfortable visiting again once they discover the competition exists elsewhere.
That means that you should avoid placing affiliate links everywhere on your website. Instead, focus on creating a unique landing page targeted towards specific keywords related to your products. Ideally, this page should contain high quality content along with relevant calls-to-action.
For instance, if you were selling weight loss supplements, you wouldn’t want to advertise every single diet pill under the sun. Your target audience knows exactly what type of supplement they’re searching for, so you’d want to steer clear of generic terms like “weight loss pills” or “fat burning systems”.
Instead, aim higher and highlight a few top competitors who offer effective solutions for losing fat. Then, craft a compelling sales pitch centered on why these products work better than anything else currently on the market. Once you’ve done that, you can direct interested visitors to the appropriate landing page.
No, they really don’t. Affiliate marketing works much differently than traditional advertising campaigns. With paid search, advertisers bid against each other to appear atop search results. On the flip side, affiliate marketing relies on word-of-mouth recommendations.
People trust recommendations over advertisements. And since most businesses now operate exclusively in cyberspace, consumers tend to gravitate toward social media profiles and websites where they regularly interact with brands and individuals alike.
As a result, affiliate marketers can rely heavily on the power of referrals to drive traffic, conversions, and revenue generation. Since it doesn't involve buying expensive ad space, marketing budgets remain largely intact.
But don't worry—you still have options! Even if you don’t yet have a website, you can launch a powerful campaign without spending a penny. All you need is the right mindset and the willingness to follow proven strategies that worked for thousands of successful entrepreneurs before you.
So, keep reading below to see how you can generate income without ever owning a webpage or paying for a web developer.
1) You don't have to use WordPress
So, what does this mean exactly? It means that there are many other options when choosing your hosting platform.
A lot of companies offer shared web hosting plans with free templates built into them so that you end up using WordPress as part of the standard package. These include Bluehost, Hostgator, InMotionHosting, Siteground, A Small Orange, FatCow, DreamHost etc… all of which offer great deals at affordable prices.
If you want something even more basic then check out our article comparing the best cheap hostings sites and see if any of these fit your needs.
In addition, there are also some great alternatives like Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, BigCommerce, Shopify, Joomla!, Magento, Drupal, Prestashop etc…. If none of those work for you then there’re plenty of others to choose from.
There are loads of reasons why someone would prefer to go down the route of creating their own site rather than going through a third party service provider – here are just two examples:
You will be able to customise everything including adding your own domain name (which costs money by the way).
When you make changes to your website you won’t have to worry about paying a monthly fee because you control the whole thing yourself.
Even though there are lots of platforms available, there aren’t too many choices when it comes to themes and plugins.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.