Can You Start Affiliate Marketing With No Money?
The question is: Can you start affiliate marketing with little or no money?
I have to tell you the truth..... Of course you can :-)
There are a long list of reasons why people want to earn a second income working from home, and working online certainly ticks many of those boxes. Some simply hate their job others, strive to be independent and wish to work for themselves.
Whether you are looking for extra cash to pay the bills, make car payment, save for the vacation of a lifetime or strive to be independent and get-off the daily grind of having a boss you hate breathing down your neck all day generally making life rather unpleasant, affiliate marketing can definitely help you reach your goal.
What Is Affiliate Marketing and How Does It Work
First, let's get an understanding of exactly what affiliate marketing is ........ and isn't! To put it simply; affiliate marketing is the process of earning money (a commission) for marketing another person's or company's product.
That is, you don't need to own a thing, you don't need to purchase anything and then sell it, you don't need to store any physical products.
All you need to do is let other interested parties buy the product through you, the owner dispatches the item to them and gives YOU some money for doing so! Sound good?
How Do Affiliate Marketers Actually Get Paid
The majority of affiliate marketers will use an affiliate marketing program or network, of which there are many, it is these very networks who do all the administrative work, product delivery, as well as pay the vendors and affiliates.
It must also be stated that these affiliate platforms will take a small cut of any fees generated, however, they do serve a valuable purpose in the online industry.
Is Affiliate Marketing Still Worth it?
It would be fair to say that affiliate marketing can be a quick and inexpensive method of making money without the hassle of actually selling a product.
Hence, as I mentioned earlier, it's of no surprise that hundreds, if not thousands of people worldwide are asking the question 'how can I start affiliate marketing'. It has a very obvious and undeniable draw for those looking to increase their income or generate a second income from home, right now making money online is in strong demand. Plus, you can do it part-time or full-time and it still works....if you do.
For a more detail on the how effective affiliate marketing is currently click the link below to read more
Is affiliate marketing still and effective way to earn moneyZero To Hero
How To Create A Package of In-Demand Products That SELL Like Crazy!
- You Don't Have The Budget !
- You Don't Have The Time !
- You Don't Have ANY Ideas !
Will You Need A Website To Be An Affiliate Marketer?
The answer to that question is, yes! For best practices, you will need some sort of website. The good news is you can get a website for free!
There are many platforms that allow you to create a website for free and use it for affiliate marketing, or anything else.
What I will openly tell you is that you don't get something entirely for nothing.
What do I mean by that? Firstly, on a free website you will have no control over the advertising that appears on your site. The second issue is that you will need to stick to the rules of the platform, no matter how weird they may seem.
Beware, as If they - the owners of the platform e.g Facebook - feel like you've broken any of their rules, they could ban you and lock you out of your site, without giving you any notice.
There are many beginner marketers who have lost their businesses, content, affiliate links and marketing assets, all gone overnight. As a direct result of breaking the rules of the website platform, remember you do not own the site, you are only renting it....albeit at no cost.
Here's is one of the many examples: https://www.astutecopyblogging.com/how-medium-suspended-my-account/
Here's your route to success: Initially, start with a with a blog on a free website platform like:
Note about Medium.com: The platform doesn't allow you to build your own site as such; it allows you to publish your articles on their platform. It must be said that the site gets a lot of traffic; traffic is the lifeblood of any online business.
Medium.com's high traffic and authority gives the keywords you will be tarketing the potential to rank in the search engines and it won't cost you a dime. All you need to do then is .... post another article that contains targeted keywords to get traffic to your affiliate links to start making affiliate sales.
Once one of these websites is set-up, generating affiliate sales and making money, you should reinvest in your new found affiliate marketing business and buy your own domain and hosting putting you firmly in control of your business. You will now be able to create your own website without the restrictions of the free platforms.
You need to buy your website domain name from a Domain Name Registrar like:
How does an affiliate program know you have made a sale?
Very good question, as you only get paid when a customer makes a purchase via your recommendation. You will need to get something called an 'affiliate link'. Affiliate links are supplied by an affiliate program/affiliate networks.
Here are few examples of the many affiliate network programs :
All of these are free to join. If you come across any program that requires you to pay a monthly/yearly subscription to use any of their software/service/etc before they allow you the dubious honour of being able to promote their products STEER CLEAR!
There are tons of excellent affiliate products that you can promote for free without having to jump through hoops.
No Traffic = No Sales!
Ok, so you have a website, you have joined an affiliate program/network and you have your affiliate links.
Now here's the truth:
None of them will make a single cent without sending traffic to your affiliate links!
Traffic is the lifeblood of your affiliate marketing business.
Website/blog traffic provide the audience to your affiliate promotions; it is definitely 'the more the merrier' i.e. the more traffic you can send to your affiliate links the more money you will make, it's as simple as that really.
How to generate traffic to your blog, website or pages.
As the subject of this article is about affiliate marketing without spending any money; paid advertising is a definite no no here.
A second powerful method to generate traffic to your blog, website or pages is to siphon it from high traffic social media platforms such as, YouTube - which is the second most popular search engine on the planet - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. To add to those also aim to generate organic traffic from the search engines like Google and Bing.
The biggest and most important difference between paid traffic vs free traffic is, unlike the instant avalanche of visitors to your pages from paid advertising, free traffic takes time.
You have to appreciate that you will not generate massive traffic overnight. It takes consistent effort generating content that people want to see and or share to see growing results.
Consistency is key here and hence, you will need to create some-form of content on an almost daily basis to get reach, traction and keep up the momentum.
'If you want to save money, it's going to cost you time; if you want to save time, it going to cost you money' - anonymous
If readers find your content useful i.e. it offers solutions to their problems, is informative, offers value - you will build a following relatively quickly and have people clicking on your affiliate links and article post links.
So, if you haven't already got them, create accounts on the different social media platforms, then do the following:
- Start making videos with your mobile phone and post them on YouTube. Don't forget to ask viewers to subscribe and like your videos.
- Set up a Facebook group and a fan page and start posting content.
- Write articles on your niche and post them on Medium.com
- Send traffic to your videos and article posts etc by tweeting about them.
- For graphics, use Canva.com there are a ton of templates you can use and adapt as you wish, no need to be staring at a blank screen trying to think of ideas and best of all it is entirely free!
Important note to remember; as stated earlier regarding free platforms, the same applies to your social media pages, that is:
They are not your web properties, so you're never totally safe with them the owners Facebook or Google or whoever could decide to change everything overnight or worse still ban you from their platform and at the flick of a switch you would have nothing.
The goal is to generate sales until you have enough money to build your own website whilst generating a list of customers. These are YOUR assets.
Let's start your affiliate marketing business
The cheapest way to start is to write, start posting informative articles on Medium.com - embed your affiliate links in the article. Be transparent and inform the reader that you may receive a commission if they buy through your link.
Also, do not sell, instead, recommend or suggest a product that will help the reader with their problem and do not over do it ! Your aim is to help your reader, provide a solution and give value.
If your content is good, curious readers will click on your links and reach the sales page of the product you are promoting, which is exactly what you want to happen.
Point your YouTube videos, Facebook posts (on your Facebook page), tweets, etc. to your Medium article so that you can pre-sell the reader by providing more information and value.
Once you build trust with your audience, your chances of getting the sale will be much higher.
This method of using your Medium.com site is not only free, it also allows your Medium account to become a hub for your online marketing business. It will siphon free traffic from different social media platforms and point them all toward your hub-site's content.
If your readers find your content helps them, it is then only a matter of time before sales start to trickle-in.
The Secret To Success
The number one biggest secret to success is.... Consistency!
Focus on what you want to create, be it a blog post, article post or a video or all three!
Plan and map out how you are going to create them, what they are going to be about etc.
Work at it everyday consistently, if you are in a full-time job, you will have time.... some call it 'me time' or 'chillaxing' or watching your favourite programme series on Netflix etc etc.
These are all distractions ......... which are your WORST enemy, if you want to achieve success something has to give.