7 Ways You Could Start Affiliate Marketing Without A Website
This post may contain affiliate links. If you choose to purchase something through one of my links, I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
You may have stumbled across this post because you’re interested in learning how to start affiliate marketing without a website.
Although I personally feel that having a website is the best choice you can make for your online business as an affiliate, not everyone wants to keep up with the needs of building a website and maintaining it. So for those who may in that situation I want to share some other ways you can work as an affiliate and still make money online without a website.
1. Adding a Forum Signature
Whichever niche you’re involved in you should be interacting with like-minded individuals on niche forums and blogs. This is the best way to get yourself known and to interact with others in your area of expertise.
With this method I’m not suggesting you go around posting your affiliate link on all the threads of a forum and all the comment sections of a blog. What I am suggesting is that you create useful and helpful content within the forums, and have a link to your affiliate product in your signature.
This is the most appropriate way to promote your affiliate link because you’re providing value within your niche, and you’re potentially helping to solve a problem via your signature if someone decides to click on your link.
Take a look a the example below. Here we see that the owner of Marketing Checkpoint forum has included his blog in the signature. So when people see his posts, they may click on his blog link and he gets free traffic. You could do the same with an affiliate link.
I recommend that you only post on forums and blogs related to your niche. Don’t start mindlessly posting your link on any and every place…thats just spamming! Be sensible and provide lots of value for other members. If you can build trust within the forum community, you’re more likely to get people to click through to your affiliate link.
Please Note: Some forums don’t allow affiliate links in the signature, especially if you’re a new member. So I recommend that you purchase a domain for your affiliate link.
Having a domain will mean that when a visitor clicks on your newly purchased domain name, it’ll redirect them to your affiliate link. It’ll also make your link look more professional if you share it anywhere else, and users will be more likely to click on it.
[alert-announce]If you’re looking for an affordable domain provider I recommend using GoDaddy or Namecheap. I have domain names registered with both of these sites, which is why I recommend them. You can even earn up to 51% cashback on GoDaddy domains using TopCashBack.[/alert-announce]
Some examples of forums include:
They don’t like direct affiliate links. Therefore, I recommend purchasing a domain for your affiliate link and directing people to your domain, or as the image below suggests, you can purchase the signature image subscription. (As you can see I made the error of an affiliate link in my signature, so I’ve included the screenshot of the email I received so you don’t make the same mistake)
This is a big forum for online marketers and having your affiliate link in the signature could expose you to a lot of traffic. However, you need to be an established member to be able to add signatures, so in the meantime, keep adding value within the community and helping other users.
Marketing Checkpoint:
This is another marketing forum. It doesn’t get the same amount of traffic as the ones above, but it’s still a good place to advertise your affiliate link, and you can do that as soon as you sign up.
This is an Affiliate Marketing forum, and just like Digital Point, you need to be an established member to have a signature. So that involves contributing to the forum and providing value.
The examples I’ve listed above are focused on the internet marketing/make money online niche, but you can easily follow the same steps using forums in your niche. I just recommend that you read through the forum rules before including affiliate links, and make sure you provide value to which ever forum you are part of. The more active you are on the forum, the more likely people are to view your affiliate link/signature.
2. Giveaway a FREE eBook
The aim of creating and giving away a FREE ebook is to make it accessible to lots of people and to have your affiliate links included in the book. You can get people to share your ebook by offering giveaway rights or Private Label Rights (PLR) etc. If you provide lots of value in your ebook, then you’re more likely to get it shared…especially if you’re giving it away for free.
Some platforms you can share your book with:
Payhip:
You can upload your eBook onto Payhip and then share it with people in your niche.
Social Media:
You could put a link to your ebook on your social media bios, and you could also share your eBook via social media such as Facebook groups and Twitter etc. Be sure to provide value to any groups you join before promoting your content.
Forums:
Above I mentioned adding your affiliate link in your signature. If you’ve created a free ebook, you can add the link to your ebook as your forum signature instead.
eBay:
Although this wouldn’t be giving away the ebook for free, you could even try selling your book on eBay for a small amount and encourage your buyers to share the ebook with others.
3. Create a “Hub” using Hubpages.
If you’ve not heard of Hubpages yet, it’s a site that allows you to create a 1-page mini website/blog. You have the opportunity to create content you’re passionate about without having to invest time/money in your own website. It’s another good way to start affiliate marketing without a website.
With Hubpages, you can create articles, known as “hubs”, and you can add affiliate links to the products you want to promote. This is usually good if you’re promoting an Amazon or eBay product.
Furthermore, you can reach out to others in your niche to increase traffic to your article.
It’s free to join, and you can sign up here, right now.
4. Share Your Link on Social Media
This is a free way to promote your affiliate link and makes some sales online. You could do this in one of 2 ways. You could either put your affiliate link in your social media bio. This will work for any social media account, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc…, then create valuable content for your followers, and encourage them to visit the link in your bio.
Or you could send your affiliate link to other users in your niche via direct messages. There are sites that allow you to automate sending direct messages whenever a user follows you. A lot of people don’t really like automated messages, so at the very least try and make sure the content is valuable.
Overall I personally recommend using the first method as the second method could come across as spammy. Social media websites don’t like this and if you’re seen as spammy you could get yourself banned.
These methods would also work well for promoting your free ebook, as mentioned above.
Top Tip:
Try and use images within your post, as these get the most shares and impressions. They stand out more so people are more likely to click your links and visit your bio. You can use a photo editing program like Canva or Picmonkey to create professional, eye-catching graphics, for free.
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5. Make Youtube Videos
Video has become a very popular form of internet marketing nowadays, so it’d be a really good move for you to branch into making videos on Youtube to promote your affiliate link(s). As usual, provide lots of value in your videos and encourage your viewers to visit the links in your description.
It’s very easy to get a channel started and it’s free too.
If you’re thinking of capturing your face or physical products then you’ll want to invest in a quality camera, or you could use the webcam on your computer.
If you’re going to be recording your screen to review/promote software and websites, then you can use a free software like Screencast-o-Matic (upgrade option is $15/year)…or you could even use the video software available on your PC/Mac. I have a Macbook, so I often use QuickTime to record my screen and my voice.
6. Invest in Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
Pay Per Click (PPC) is a form of advertising that involves paying for the cost of a click. So you only pay when your site/advert gets clicked.
Some of the most popular methods of PPC advertising is through Google AdWords and Bing Ads. I personally would recommend working on Bing advertising because it’s cheaper and there’s less competition in comparison to Google.
You can use a tool like Jaaxy to do keyword research and help you find profitable keywords for your PPC campaigns.
This method will obviously cost you money, but it can be every effective if you know what you’re doing. I wouldn’t recommend this method if you’re a complete beginner as you could lose money if not done correctly.
Note: Wealthy Affiliate offers some in-depth training on this, however, you would need to be a premium member to get access.
You’ll also need to purchase a domain for your affiliate link as Google and Bing doesn’t accept direct affiliate links, especially Clickbank affiliate links from what I’ve heard.
So in this situation, I’d recommend you purchase a domain name for your affiliate link if you want to promote it in PPC advertising.
[alert-announce]As before, if you plan on purchasing a domain I would recommend using a domain registrar like GoDaddy or Namecheap. You can get affordable domains, and it’ll also make your affiliate link look more professional. Don’t forget, if you sign up to GoDaddy via TopCashBack you could earn up to 51% cashback on your purchase. [/alert-announce]
7. Purchase Solo Ad Email Marketing
One further way to start affiliate marketing without a website is to promote your link via solo ad email marketing.
Solo ads are a form of email marketing, but instead of sending the offer to your own list, you’re sending it to someone else’s list for a fee. Usually, the users you buy from have a huge list of targetted subscribers. This makes it easier to promote your offer to the right people.
Using solo ads can also be a good way to build your own list, which you can then promote to…or you could choose to sell your list as solo ads in the future.
One example of a website that offers solo ad services is Udimi. I haven’t used this site personally (although I plan to in the near future), but I have seen others use it and get some good results. Just be aware that this method will also cost money, approximately $25-$200+ depending on the number of visitors you wish to receive, and the cost per visitor that the solo ad seller charges.
[alert-announce]If you sign up to Udimi through my link you can get yourself a $5 discount[/alert-announce]
My Final Thoughts
There you have it…7 ways you could start affiliate marketing without a website. At least one of these methods should help you get started if you don’t want to keep up with the needs of building and/or maintaining a website.
However, in my personal opinion, I would recommend you get your own website to work as an affiliate, as this builds up a web presence for you and trust.
It’s so easy to start a website these days too, and you don’t even need to be technical to get started. You can create a free blog today in about 5 minutes using this free website builder.
In addition, not all affiliate programs and networks will allow you to join them if you don’t have a website.
Affiliate Window is an example of an affiliate network that has companies that won’t allow you to join without a website. Some companies will want to take a look at your site first to see if you’re a suitable person to market their products.
So, by not having a website they don’t have a way to trust you and/or any potential business you could bring them.
You can create a free website today by entering a domain name in the bar below to get started:
If you’re really ready to make your business more professional then you could purchase your own blog/website package with domain and hosting for as low as $1.99/month.
[alert-success]You May Also Like: Self-Hosted Blog vs Free Blog: What’s The Difference?[/alert-success]
At the end of the day, just like having a website, you won’t see results overnight. So whether you chose to have a website, or you choose to use the methods above, you just need to master your chosen method(s) to really get the best results.
What are your thoughts on being an affiliate marketer without a website?
Do you have experience of how to start affiliate marketing without a website? Or do you think having a website is a necessity?
Share your comments and/or questions in the section below. I look forward to hearing your replies.
Don’t forget to share with people that will benefit from this guide.
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