If you've never been involved in the world of online marketing, then maybe now is a good time to go into some detail about it.
It doesn't matter if your main interest is making money or just want something new to try out -- there are plenty of ways that can help you learn more about the topic. One of those methods is by becoming an affiliate marketer (or any other type of business owner). You're going to find that many people who have success as affiliates often don't even own websites!
In this article we'll explain why you may not always need one, and how you can still succeed at being an affiliate marketer without owning a site. We'll also point out which types of sites will likely prove most beneficial and helpful when building your brand.
Not really. The truth is, affiliate marketers need a platform to promote their products on. Some prefer to use blogs, while others prefer forums, email lists, or YouTube channels. There are different techniques you could use to reach potential customers. But they all require a presence somewhere where you can advertise your wares.
So yes, you can definitely become an affiliate marketer without having a website -- but you should know that it won't necessarily be easy. That said, here are a few options available so that you can focus on learning instead of worrying about building a home base.
The first thing you must understand before starting out is that affiliate marketing isn't simply a way to make your product appear popular. In fact, it's very much the opposite -- affiliates are typically looking to generate sales through advertising. They create banners, buttons, links, videos, etc., all designed to encourage readers to click them. This leads to traffic, and hopefully, revenue.
When you run ads on someone else's site, you aren't generating direct income from that action. Instead, you're relying on another company to pay you whenever somebody clicks on whatever ad you placed. So, it makes sense that you'd need a place to host these ads. Since that's usually done via a web page, you're going to need one too.
While you certainly don't need a website to sell anything, you should keep in mind that it gives you credibility and visibility as well. If you plan to offer services rather than goods, then having a domain name associated with your name may be helpful as well. A professional-looking website will give off a certain image to visitors, whether you intend to sell things or provide advice. And since you probably won't be able to afford a high-end design right away, it would be wise to build yourself up gradually.
There are several different ways you can approach affiliate marketing without writing a word. For example, you could join a forum in order to meet other users and discuss topics relevant to the niche you wish to enter. Or, you could take advantage of free blogging platforms such as WordPress.com. These tools allow you to easily write articles, post images, and interact directly with your audience.
On top of that, you could look into selling digital downloads or physical products. With eBooks, you only need to upload a file to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, for instance, and let buyers download it themselves. Physical items are easier to ship internationally, though.
You could also consider using software to automate your affiliate marketing efforts. This means creating automated campaigns based on keywords, tracking statistics, and automating processes related to customer support. Tools like ClickFunnels and LeadPages will both come in handy for this purpose.
And lastly, you could sign up for free accounts with Google AdSense or similar companies. While this option sounds simple, it has its drawbacks. First, you won't benefit from search engine optimization unless you use it properly. Second, you'll be limited to displaying sponsored advertisements on your site. Third, you'll lose control over the content that appears alongside the ads.
Social networks play an important role in affiliate marketing because they enable you to connect with potential clients and share information with your followers. Of course, you'll need to maintain a Facebook profile, Twitter account, Instagram feed, or Pinterest board in order to gain exposure. However, you can still earn commissions by promoting other brands' products.
This method works best when you already have a following and trust among your friends. After signing up for various social networks, you can choose to either follow the accounts of fellow influencers or try to build your own list of subscribers within your chosen niche. Then, once you receive permission from the person whose products you're trying to promote, you can add a link or banner to your posts.
Keep in mind that this strategy takes longer to implement. You'll need to devote a lot of energy towards reaching a large number of people, plus you'll need to constantly monitor comments and replies in order to respond accordingly. Also, remember that since you're sharing other businesses' content, you won't reap the same rewards as an independent entrepreneur.
A website hosting service is essential for anyone who wants to grow their affiliate empire. As mentioned above, a blog is great for getting noticed, especially if you're working in a competitive field. Plus, a blog allows you to publish original pieces regularly.
However, if you want to attract quality traffic quickly, you'll want to set up shop on a reliable search engine. Sites like Moz and Ahrefs rank domains according to their popularity, so making sure yours is listed near the top is crucial for gaining recognition.
Then again, if you're interested in monetizing your blog, you might decide to register a.com domain. While this costs extra every year, it ensures that your URL remains unique forever. Plus, you can use SEO tactics to increase rankings.
As far as social networking goes, you should aim to stay active on multiple profiles across a range of platforms. This helps establish connections with other bloggers, marketers, and consumers alike. You can also boost your chances of earning commission by joining groups focused around your industry.
With all of these considerations in mind, you can see that affiliate marketing requires quite a bit of effort. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources out there to help you along the journey. Whether you're considering taking a break from traditional jobs or merely exploring a new career path, it shouldn't be difficult to find something that suits your needs.
Many people wonder if they can learn about affiliate marketing without having a website or even any kind of Internet connection. While the answer may vary depending on your level of experience in online business, there are many ways that you can still get started as an affiliate marketer—even if you don't have a website yet (or ever). This will help you understand why, and how, you should be able to make affiliate sales without one.
The first step toward learning more about affiliate marketing is understanding just exactly what it entails. If you're new to the industry, here's everything you need to know about what affiliate marketing is all about, including information on its advantages and disadvantages compared to other types of selling options such as direct selling and dropshipping. Once you've got some knowledge under your belt, we'll explain how to use those skills to set up a profitable affiliate program using ClickBank and Amazon.
Then, once you've found your niche and figured out which products to promote, you'll want to find a way to bring traffic to them so that you can earn commissions from every sale. That means getting yourself a domain name and building a landing page where visitors will land when visiting your site. We'll teach you how to build your own WordPress website and also show you how to use free plugins to create high-converting websites that convert well into profits. And finally, after setting up your website and building your list, we'll tell you how to choose the right affiliate partners who offer quality products at competitive prices.
So let's jump right in! Here's our guide to doing affiliate marketing without the internet...
Yes, absolutely! The only thing stopping you right now is the fact that you haven't done anything yet. You could try starting by signing up with ClickBank or another reputable affiliate network and then promoting their products. Or you could join a few Facebook groups dedicated to affiliate marketers and see what kinds of offers they post. Just remember that these methods aren't going to give you much exposure outside of the group itself. Sooner rather than later, you'll probably want to invest in a good web hosting service and a domain name.
But before you do either of those things, you'll really want to think long and hard about whether you want to go down the path of trying to become an "Internet entrepreneur." Many successful entrepreneurs never had access to the tools needed to run their businesses until years after they'd already been making decent incomes. They didn't wait around for someone else to lend them a hand and provide the resources they needed to succeed. Instead, they taught themselves through trial and error and eventually built something great from nothing.
If you decide to take that route instead, there are plenty of books available to help you along the way. One book I recommend is How To Create A Profitable Online Business Without Any Experience At All by Aaron Strout. It shows you how to successfully leverage YouTube videos, social media platforms, email lists, Google AdWords, and more to drive tons of targeted traffic to your sites and turn an average profit margin into massive wealth.
You can also check out my article titled What Is An 'Internet Entrepreneur' Anyway?, which explains what being an Internet entrepreneur really involves.
No, but you CAN do affiliate marketing without a website! Blogging isn't necessary for anyone who wants to sell digital goods because all you have to do is host an optin form somewhere on your site and collect emails. Then you simply send subscribers links to whatever product or service you want to promote. These days, it's easier than ever to sign up for email services like MailChimp and receive hundreds of thousands of leads straight to your inbox.
Once again, though, you should keep in mind that building a following and collecting names takes time. Your success depends heavily upon how fast you can get results. If you're looking to make quick cash quickly, blogging won't cut it. But if you're interested in building a brand and becoming known within your community, then you definitely DO need a blog.
In simple terms, offline affiliate marketing refers to affiliate marketing opportunities that are offered directly to consumers. For example, you may be asked to place ads in local newspapers or magazines while offering customers special discounts or coupons if they refer others to your site. Another popular option is to advertise flyers for events hosted by companies whose products you're hoping to sell. Both of these strategies require a lot less effort for affiliates than traditional advertising methods, but they still come with drawbacks.
For instance, most offline affiliate opportunities require that you purchase expensive ad space. In addition, most of these campaigns are limited in scope, meaning that you typically only reach small numbers of potential buyers. Finally, since there's little competition involved, the payouts tend to be lower. On top of that, you generally have to commit to spending lots of time finding places to put your ads.
Absolutely yes! There are several different kinds of affiliate marketing that you can pursue without writing a single word of copy. Some of these include:
Signing up for paid membership sites – Most of these sites allow you to connect your Twitter account or Facebook profile to your profile in order to generate income passively. However, you usually have to spend quite a bit of time researching and selecting products to promote.
Promoting apps – Apps are often used by mobile users, and there are dozens of app development teams competing for attention. As a result, it can be difficult to stand out among the crowd unless you develop a unique strategy.
Creating sponsored posts - Similar to above, except that you don't necessarily have to write any text whatsoever. Sometimes, you just have to submit your link to a sponsor company and hope that it gets approved.
Offering advice – This type of promotion requires very little effort, but is highly dependent upon your ability to communicate effectively. Since your audience has likely heard similar messages before, this approach tends to produce low conversion rates.
There are countless other options for affiliates who wish to avoid the hassle of creating original content. You can always pick a topic related to your area of expertise and begin sharing articles written by others. Or you can focus on specific niches that interest you, and look for products to sell based off of your research. Either way, you should expect that your efforts will yield relatively poor results at first.
It's important to note that affiliate marketing doesn't mean you have to stop writing altogether. Writing blogs, articles, ebooks, and guides is an excellent way to establish credibility and attract readers. When you combine the power of SEO and PPC techniques, however, you can easily monetize your existing content to boost your earnings significantly.
This question comes up a lot, especially given the rise of DIY (Do It Yourself) website builders. Unfortunately, you cannot do affiliate marketing without a website. Even if you were willing to shell out $1,000 for a custom-built site from scratch, you would still need a URL and an address to point it to.
However, you can certainly save a ton of money by buying pre-made templates from professional designers. You'll find plenty of affordable options for both personal and commercial purposes, although you may have to sacrifice design features in exchange for price.
One caveat worth mentioning: Make sure that the template you select supports HTTPS (the secure version of HTTP), otherwise you risk losing valuable search engine rankings due to security concerns.
Again, the short answer is NO! Creating a landing page is crucial for any legitimate online venture. Whether you're launching a product line, a course, or even a physical store, having a solid landing page gives you the opportunity to capture the visitor's contact details and lead them directly to the checkout process.
As mentioned earlier, building a landing page manually can cost upwards of $100 per month, but fortunately there are many inexpensive alternatives that you can use to launch your own landing pages today. You can buy pre-designed templates, rent domains from a third party provider, or use Squarespace as your platform of choice. Each method provides a slightly different user interface, but they all perform essentially the same function.
Finally, if none of these ideas strike your fancy, consider hiring a freelance designer to build you a custom landing page. This is particularly useful if you plan to sell merchandise that needs to be shipped via UPS. Otherwise, you'll need to set up a separate shipping system and handle returns and refunds entirely by yourself.
With that said, don't forget to set aside enough funds for the initial investment in your website. After all, you wouldn't want to waste months of work only to realize that you don't have the budget to finish your project.
If you've been reading our articles on the subject of starting an online business, then you know that building a site is crucial if you want people to visit your page. In fact, most successful entrepreneurs have websites these days -- even those who don't sell anything! But there are other ways to market products or services using affiliate links. And they're easier than ever before thanks to some great tools that allow you to build your sales funnel from scratch right in your browser.
In this article we'll look at four different methods of promoting affiliate links, including ClickBank, ShareASale, CJ Affiliate, Rakuten Advertising, and Post Affiliate Pro. We'll also show you how to use them all together to create a comprehensive strategy to help you grow your affiliate income.
But first, let me explain why having a website matters so much when it comes to being able to make money as an affiliate. You see, while many online marketers believe that their traffic will skyrocket once they get a brand new domain name, that simply isn't true anymore. The reason has more to do with SEO (search engine optimization) than any technical issue. If you can write compelling content about something that interests your audience, you'll naturally rank higher in search results. So unless you already have a popular niche, getting a good keyword-rich domain won't be enough to drive high volumes of visitors.
No one wants to spend time creating yet another boring website just to earn passive income through advertising. That means you probably don't want to host your own site either. Fortunately, the internet provides lots of platforms where affiliates can post free ads to generate leads for their businesses. The biggest problem here is finding out which ones you should sign up for. There are hundreds of options available, and you've got to figure out which ones will provide you with the best ROI. Thankfully, we've done all of the hard work for you by reviewing and comparing each platform below.
A lot of people associate blogging with writing quality content, but that doesn't always mean you need a large following or tons of subscribers. While blogs definitely play an important role in growing your affiliate empire, you don't necessarily need one to begin earning revenue. You could easily set up a simple landing page instead, especially since you wouldn't have to pay monthly hosting fees. Plus, you can still leverage valuable backlinks to boost rankings.
You may think that you need a blog because it helps you attract followers, but that's only part of the story. Having a well-written resource that ranks highly in Google is essential to driving traffic to your landing pages, but you don't need thousands of readers to enjoy success. Just keep in mind that if you choose to go down this route, you'll likely want to focus less on link building and more on content creation.
As far as monetization goes, both options offer plenty of opportunities to earn commissions based on the number of clicks and conversions. All you really need to worry about is making sure you follow Google AdSense rules and stay within the TOS guidelines associated with each option. Of course, depending on your goals, you might prefer writing regular posts rather than setting up a blog. Either way, both options give you ample opportunity to earn money by selling products and services directly from your website.
Social networks aren't going anywhere anytime soon, but that doesn't mean everyone needs to join every network. Not too long ago, it was all about Facebook and Twitter, but now Instagram and Snapchat are taking over the world. Each one offers its own unique benefits, but if you stick to the basics, you shouldn't have any trouble generating some buzz around your content. After all, that's exactly what you'd want to achieve with your affiliate campaigns anyway!
The same holds true for paid adverts. As long as you're staying away from shady practices such as click farms, PPC ads can still deliver excellent results. A quick glance at the top 10 sites listed above shows that several companies like LinkConnector and Commission Junction were founded in 2012, meaning they still haven't had much time to catch on. They're certainly worth checking out if you're looking for alternatives to Facebook Ads, though.
And remember that you don't need to rely entirely on social media channels to make money. Your emails list is still very powerful, especially when combined with email automation software. With MailChimp, for example, you can send targeted messages to specific groups of customers automatically, allowing you to maximize engagement rates and increase overall profits.
When it comes to promoting affiliate links, you don't have to sacrifice your relationship with your current fans. Instead, you can build relationships with potential clients while simultaneously boosting your existing fanbase. This two-pronged approach allows you to reach a wider range of people and improve your conversion rate.
One big difference between social networking apps and email lists is that you can communicate almost instantly with your subscribers. Sending personalized messages gives you a chance to answer questions, solve problems, and provide useful information that keeps people coming back to your inbox. Email marketing also lets you target individual segments of your audience, giving you the ability to segment your mailing list into smaller subgroups. For instance, you can filter out anyone who lives outside of certain ZIP codes or sends fewer than 100 transactions per month.
Another thing to consider is whether or not you should include a call-to-action (CTA). Even though you don't need to post CTA buttons everywhere, they can greatly influence your conversion rates. If someone lands on your page after clicking on a CTA button, chances are he's interested in buying whatever product you're offering. Make sure you put your most relevant CTAs front and center, ideally near the beginning of your message. This makes it clear to prospective buyers what they'll receive if they decide to buy today.
Finally, if you run an ecommerce store, you can take advantage of shopping cart abandonment analytics to find out which items consumers tend to abandon during checkout. You can then add additional incentives to encourage them to complete payment or download the coupon code required to redeem the discount. Once again, this tactic relies heavily on your email list, so make sure you're sending targeted promotions to the right group of people.
Keep in mind that you don't have to limit yourself to traditional forms of promotion. Using video marketing to promote your affiliate links is a proven method that works extremely well. You can shoot videos showcasing your expertise, share helpful tips, and talk about things related to your industry. These kinds of short clips usually perform better than longer promotional pieces, so you stand a greater chance of converting viewers into paying customers. YouTube is perhaps the easiest place to upload these videos, but Vimeo and DailyMotion also have strong communities dedicated to sharing interesting content.
It sounds crazy, but you don't need to become friends with every single person who follows you on social media. When you connect with others via social networks, you gain access to a whole community of influencers, bloggers, and experts willing to support you. Some people will happily endorse your company, while others may share positive feedback about your product or service. Most importantly, you'll discover countless ideas that you can implement to further enhance your bottom line.
At the end of the day, promoting your business is all about providing value to your audience. You don't need to interact with your readers face-to-face, but you should try to maintain open lines of communication. By interacting regularly with your followers, you demonstrate your enthusiasm for your field of study, which increases your credibility as a leader in your industry.
So regardless of which method you choose, the key takeaway is that affiliate marketing will continue to evolve throughout the years. To ensure that you remain competitive and profitable, it's vital that you learn everything possible about the latest trends and technologies. If you plan on running a multi-channel venture, however, you must understand how to integrate various strategies to optimize your efforts.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.