There are many ways to get started with affiliate marketing. If your goal is to make money online and have fun at the same time, then there's nothing wrong with using one of these methods. You don't need a website or any other kind of traditional advertising tools if that's what you're after. However, before we start talking about how people go about promoting their products through different means, let's take a look at how they actually work.
Affiliates earn commissions when someone purchases something from them via links on another site. There are two main types of affiliate marketing: Pay-per-click (PPC) and cost-per-action (CPA). We'll be focusing on PPC today because it requires less effort than CPA. With PPC, you only bid on certain keywords. When a user clicks on those ads, you receive commission based on how much you paid for each click.
The most common way to promote yourself as an affiliate is by joining a network like ClickBank or Amazon Associates. These networks allow anyone to sign up and begin selling products on their behalf. Once registered, you create a profile where customers will see all available offers. Then, whenever potential buyers visit your profile, you show them relevant product recommendations. This process usually takes place over email and phone calls.
If you want to learn more about this method, read our guide on becoming an Amazon Associate. But the truth is, it's not always necessary to have a website in order to participate in affiliate marketing -- especially if you've got some experience under your belt already. Let's talk about three things you might consider doing instead.
Yes, but first, let me explain why websites are so important. In short, having a static webpage makes it easier for search engines to index your content, which increases traffic and sales. On top of that, visitors who come across your link aren't just looking for information related to whatever you're offering. They also expect to find a good deal, so they're more likely to buy once they land on your page. It's better to spend time building trust between you and prospective clients rather than creating a website.
Here are some alternative options for getting started.
Create Your Own Product Listing Site
One option is to build your own product listing site. For example, you could use WordPress to host a blog where users can leave reviews, add testimonials, share articles, and ask questions. People searching Google will probably end up here, so you'd be able to generate a lot of traffic. Plus, since you built the platform yourself, you know exactly what works well.
You may even decide to monetize your site by adding advertisements. That would give you additional income streams while keeping everything else free. Or, you could opt to charge monthly memberships for premium features such as enhanced security, ad blocking protection, etc. Whatever route you choose, you won't have to worry about hosting fees or maintenance expenses. Just keep in mind that you'll need to invest some time into updating your site regularly.
Use Social Media Networks
Another thing you can try is posting relevant content to social media platforms. A few years ago, Facebook was huge. Nowadays, Twitter has taken its place. Both offer great opportunities for generating leads. And unlike sites like Pinterest and Instagram, you don't necessarily need to pay anything to post your material. So long as you stay true to your audience, you shouldn't encounter too many obstacles.
However, both services do require regular upkeep. Depending on the type of account you set up, you'll either have to update posts daily or every couple days. Also, depending on the amount of engagement you gain, you'll have to pay attention to comments and replies. Still, it's worth mentioning that social media is still a very effective form of promotion.
Get Paid To Write Blog Posts & Article Marketing
In addition to social media, you can also write blogs and submit articles to article directories. While writing a personal note isn't nearly as easy as crafting a professional piece, you can still enjoy the benefits of being known among readers. As far as blogging goes, you can either hire freelancers to help you out or turn to freelance sites like Upwork or Fiverr.
On the latter, you'll be able to find writers willing to write custom articles for $5 - 10. Obviously, it's not going to be perfect quality, but it's definitely cheaper than hiring a writer full-time. Alternatively, you can also check out some of the numerous crowd-sourcing sites that exist out there.
These include Content Farm, Crowdvine, Textbroker, and others. All of them provide affordable rates for high-quality content. What you have to remember though is that you're essentially paying for exposure. So, unless you really love writing, it's recommended that you stick to the aforementioned methods.
Join An Affiliate Program Without a Website
Finally, if none of the above appeals to you, you can always rely on affiliate programs instead. After all, they're often free to join and provide plenty of resources. One popular choice is ShareASale, which allows you to list items from retailers including Walmart, Target, eBay, and Amazon. In fact, you can apply to become an affiliate right now.
What's nice about this is that you don't have to bother setting up a website. Instead, all you have to do is fill out a simple application. From there, you'll be assigned to one of the company's approved affiliates. Since you'll be dealing directly with the merchant, you'll receive higher earnings compared to other forms of advertisement.
So yes, you can indeed sell stuff online without ever needing to establish a presence on the web. Although the initial setup might seem difficult, you can rest assured knowing that you're saving time and effort. Plus, you'll avoid spending countless hours improving your digital footprint or trying to rank properly on SERPs.
Are you interested in learning more? Check out our beginner's guides below.
What Is Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is when someone promotes another company’s goods by recommending them to others or getting paid for doing so.
The person who receives this commission (or referral fee) has no control over which product gets sold. This usually doesn’t matter since it’ll be something relevant to the reader/customer anyways.
People buy from companies because of recommendations like those made on blogs and forums, not because of ads placed on websites.
In order to promote a certain brand, you first have to find the right audience.
You can use social media to help build relationships between yourself and potential customers.
Once you have developed some sort of relationship with your readership, you can recommend specific brands to them.
This is where things get interesting.
If you want to earn more than just commissions, you'll also have to market yourself as well.
It's important that you become familiar with all the rules surrounding affiliate marketing, including privacy policies, terms of service agreements, and copyright laws.
Types of Affiliates
When it comes to choosing a type of affiliate program, you will see three main options:
Pay per click – When you put up links that lead directly to sales pages or landing pages created by third-party vendors, you pay each time somebody clicks on the link and makes a purchase. In return, you receive a percentage of the sale price as compensation. It's very similar to Google AdSense.
There are many ways to earn passive income online and one of the most popular ones involves selling other people's products on your own site. This business model has been around since the very beginning of the internet but it still remains a great way to generate revenue even though there have been some changes over time.
Affiliates can either promote their own product through their own websites or they can use third-party sites that offer commission-based opportunities to promote others' products. While this type of advertising is not as easy as just posting links on social media, there are plenty of platforms where you don't need a website at all.
In fact, you may already know about these companies if you've ever used ClickBank, ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, Rakuten Advertising, Refersion, Post Affiliate Pro or any other similar platform. You might think that using such services would mean giving up control of your content (and therefore potentially losing traffic), visibility and brand recognition, but nothing could be further from the truth.
In this article we'll take a look at how anyone who wants to become an affiliate marketer can do so without having to create a website first. We're going to focus primarily on affiliate marketing opportunities offered by top ecommerce platforms like ClickBank, ShareASale and Rakuten Advertising. However, let me quickly mention that affiliate marketing is also possible outside those three large providers. There are dozens of smaller options available today, including many niche specific platforms that target particular markets.
You probably want to find out more than "how" before getting started. For example, what kind of products will you choose to advertise? Do you only plan to promote digital goods? Will you try promoting physical items too? What exactly does "affiliate marketing" entail anyway? Is it really that simple? Let's break down each step involved and see what you actually get when you work with a company like ClickBank.
1) Decide which item(s) you'd like to sell
This is probably the easiest part of the process because you won't have much competition here. If you're looking for something generic, then there are hundreds of thousands of different products to choose from. But if you want to go after niches that aren't saturated yet, you'll have a better chance of success. It isn't necessary to build a massive audience right away. In fact, starting off slowly can help attract customers that wouldn't normally visit your site or buy your stuff. Once you establish yourself in a certain industry, you can always expand into related areas later.
2) Create a profile
After choosing an item to sell, you'll need to set up a user account on the marketplace provider you chose. Some require a signup fee while others allow you to register free of charge. Either way, once you log in you'll be able to edit your information, upload images, add links and write descriptions. Make sure everything looks professional and doesn't contain anything offensive or inappropriate.
3) Choose a payment method
Once you decide on a price, you'll need to pick a payment option. Most companies give you the choice between PayPal and Payoneer. Both are secure methods of making payments and you can usually deposit funds within minutes.
4) Add additional details
Now comes the fun part -- creating listings for your chosen products. Each listing needs to include both title and description text plus several photos. These can be uploaded directly from your computer or via FTP software. The image sizes must be 300x300 pixels unless otherwise specified. Finally, every good seller adds contact information and keywords to describe their product.
5) Start promoting
The last step is to send emails to potential buyers inviting them to check out your listings. Before sending anything, however, you should consider doing keyword research to ensure that you're targeting relevant terms instead of wasting precious space. Just remember to keep things brief and avoid spammy language.
6) Get paid
If you follow all steps correctly, you should receive sales reports showing the number of clicks, orders placed and total earnings earned. Depending on the service you signed up for, you might also get access to detailed analytics and customer feedback data.
As mentioned above, there are numerous options available to anyone who wants to join the world of affiliate marketing without needing a website. One thing you should note, however, is that affiliate networks generally prefer you to have a website ready to accept your ads. After all, why bother paying a monthly fee when you can simply display sponsored articles whenever someone visits your blog or landing page? The same holds true for banner advertisements.
But that's okay -- there are plenty of other ways to promote products without needing a website of your own. And as a bonus, you can leverage tools built specifically for affiliate managers. Here are four of my favorites:
ShareASale
One of the biggest names in affiliate management, ShareASale lets users manage multiple accounts, track performance metrics and access advanced reporting. All plans come with lifetime commissions ranging from $50 - $500 depending on the package you purchase.
Refersion
Another well known network, Refersion offers unlimited campaigns and provides a robust suite of features designed for managing affiliate relationships. With support for tracking conversions across all major browsers, Google Analytics integration and custom email templates, Refersion is one of the best choices for serious sellers. Plans range from $30/month to $200+/month.
Post Affiliate Pro
Unlike its big brother, ClickBank, Post Affiliate Pro focuses exclusively on providing affiliate solutions to bloggers. Instead of signing up for a full membership, you can opt for one of the two premium packages ($100/mo or $250/mo). These subscriptions provide dedicated staff members, 24/7 tech support and dedicated web hosting.
CJ Affiliate
An oldie but goldie, CJ Affiliate continues to dominate the affiliate landscape thanks to its reliable service and competitive rates. Newcomers often flock to its low introductory fees (starting at $25/year) while long term subscribers enjoy perks like priority customer care and free domain registration.
Yes, absolutely! As long as you stick to reputable companies like those listed above, you shouldn't run into problems. Of course, you'll have less control over your ad campaign compared to working directly with a company like Shopify or BigCommerce, but at least you won't have to worry about building a reputation or attracting visitors with SEO techniques alone.
Want to learn more about becoming an affiliate marketer without a website? Check out our beginner tutorials section below.
If you have been considering affiliate marketing as an alternative way to earn money online or supplement your income, then congratulations – you're on the right track! However, if you are looking for a quick and easy method of making some extra cash from home, then this article will show you how you could be earning money with affiliate marketing even if you don't have a website yet. In fact, there are plenty of ways that you can get started by using one of many reputable affiliate networks.
The good news is that if you already know someone who has a site, they may well offer their own program which allows you to promote them through your existing network. This would give you access to a huge audience who might sign up simply because they trust you and like what they see. That's why we've put together a list of the top five sites where you can start selling affiliate products without having any kind of web presence at all.
Affiliate marketing was once considered to be dead after Google announced its intention to remove AdSense ads from pages containing affiliate links. While this did create quite a lot of concern among advertisers, it didn't last long. Today, most people believe that affiliate marketing works just fine, especially when used correctly. If done properly, you can make money while promoting other companies' products and services – so long as they match your niche (or interests).
There are several different types of revenue sharing agreements between merchants and affiliates. They range from simple commission-based arrangements to more complex multi-tiered models. But whatever type of agreement you choose, whether it's paid advertising or just providing useful content, you must always remember that the ultimate goal is to encourage others to buy something, either directly or indirectly via referrals.
But does it work? Is there really such thing as "no cost" marketing? Well, that depends entirely on how you use it and what you expect to achieve. It also depends on what you mean by "work". There are two main categories of activity within affiliate marketing - direct sales and product creation. Direct sales means generating leads and converting those into customers. Product creation involves creating valuable resources like videos or ebooks about a given subject. Both of these activities require effort, but neither requires a physical address or a website.
Of course, if you want to go down this route, you will need to set up shop somewhere. You'll probably want to find a place where your target market hangs out – be it Facebook groups, forums, YouTube channels, etc. Once you have found your community, you can begin posting relevant articles and blog posts. Then, you can link to products related to the topics you cover. And finally, you can provide value to your readers by offering tips and tricks that help them solve problems. For example, if you write about video editing software, you could share tutorials and reviews. Or if you write about SEO, you could tell readers how to optimize their websites.
As far as the actual commissions go, they vary depending on the company involved, the country where you operate, and the time frame over which you participate. Some allow instant payments, whereas others only take effect after 30 days or longer. As you become familiar with the process, you'll learn exactly how much you stand to gain.
Yes, it does – provided you follow certain rules. One rule is to never try to fool anyone into buying something they aren't interested in. Another one is to ensure that everything you say is backed up with evidence. A third one is to focus on quality rather than quantity.
For instance, let's suppose you're trying to convince someone to purchase a $500 digital camera. You'd better spend half of your efforts explaining why this camera is worth purchasing instead of talking about cheap cameras. Likewise, you should avoid saying things like "this camera costs less than $50", unless you actually know that to be true. Instead, you should concentrate on describing features like the high resolution pictures it takes, along with details like waterproofing, flash memory storage, and built-in GPS.
Another important point is to understand that people buy based on emotion. When you talk to potential buyers, keep in mind that you are attempting to generate emotions that will lead them to action. Remember, people usually act before they think, so you should aim to strike emotional chords that inspire immediate decision-making.
And if you feel like you're getting stuck in a rut, consider switching gears and turning to another topic altogether. Think about what else you enjoy doing and consider starting a business around it. Perhaps you love photography and you could open a photo studio. Maybe you're passionate about cooking and you could turn your hobby into a food service business. Just look around at what you currently enjoy doing and decide on a direction to pursue.
The truth is that almost anything can be turned into a successful internet business if you approach it the right way. So never stop learning and experimenting until your success becomes second nature.
No, it isn't. Even though web traffic continues to decline year after year, millions of people continue to visit websites every day. If you build a brand name, you can leverage that traffic to drive traffic to your offers. After all, you wouldn't dream of asking people to come to your store just because you had a great deal on sale. Why should you ask them to click away just because you're giving away free stuff?
You should also note that search engines like Google have made changes that reward quality content above all else. With each passing month, search engine algorithms become smarter and more sophisticated. Therefore, you shouldn't worry about being penalized for spammy tactics. On the contrary, you should embrace the opportunity to improve your rankings and attract visitors who otherwise wouldn't have seen your content.
In addition, social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Facebook thrive off of user engagement. These platforms are perfect places to showcase your expertise and create buzz around your offers. By utilizing these tools effectively, you can grow an engaged following and establish yourself as a thought leader.
It could be a number of reasons. First, you could have chosen the wrong product category to promote. Second, you could be targeting the wrong demographic group. Third, you could be missing out on key opportunities. Fourth, you could be putting in the wrong amount of effort. Finally, you could be spending too much time focusing on the wrong aspects of the campaign.
To overcome these issues, you need to take a step back and identify the problem area(s) first. Next, you should determine which steps need to be taken to fix the issue(s), including brainstorming ideas for overcoming obstacles. Also, figure out how much time you're willing to commit to your campaigns. Ideally, you should allocate enough time to complete tasks efficiently and ensure that nothing falls behind schedule.
This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to dedicate hours upon hours a week to building your empire. Allocate a few minutes here and there throughout the day, whenever you can spare a moment. Ultimately, the results depend on your commitment level.
Once you have decided what needs to change, you should also define specific goals and milestones that you intend to reach. Write down everything you plan to accomplish during the next 90 days. Break down your objectives into smaller chunks, preferably daily. Take small baby steps towards achieving your bigger picture objective. Don't rush through the process. Be patient and stay focused.
Finally, remember that patience is essential. Without proper planning and preparation, launching a profitable campaign can sometimes seem impossible. Nevertheless, if you stick with your plans, eventually you will succeed.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.