Starting a business can cost a lot of upfront money whether it is online or offline. Affiliate marketing is also one of the online business models that do not require a lot of upfront money to start and have the potential to turn into passive income but that’s not our goal, our goal is to start affiliate marketing with no money
To start affiliate marketing all you need is a website which would cost at least $50 but In this blog post, we will find other ways to do affiliate marketing without a website and money.
What is Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a marketing strategy used by businesses to sell their products or services via a third-party individual for a commission.
There are three key players in affiliate marketing. The first is the merchant, the one who creates the affiliate program. Then the affiliate, the one who promotes the product, and at last customer, they are the main goal of affiliate programs.
First, you need to apply for an affiliate program.
When accepted, you will get a unique tracking link.
Create content and strategically place that link in your content. Encourage your audience to buy that product through your link.
When your audience makes a purchase you earn a commission.
Can You Start Affiliate Marketing With No Money?
Yes, you can start affiliate marketing with no money.
You can start affiliate marketing with no money by doing affiliate marketing on social media. 67.32% of affiliates use social media for affiliate marketing.
Since you are starting affiliate marketing with no money creating a website would cost at least $50. You can use the free website hosting tools like Blogger. You can also use Medium to start your affiliate blog.
How to Start Affiliate Marketing With No Money
Making money from affiliate marketing takes time. You have to be consistent on it. Here are the steps to start affiliate marketing with no money.
Step 1. Choose your Traffic Channel
Choosing your traffic channel is the most important part. Some people when starting, choose every social media platform and start creating content for a while and then quit. Our goal is to not quit and become consistent.
Start by choosing one or two traffic channels. My favorites are YouTube and TikTok. You can create long videos on YouTube and then make them short and can also upload them to TikTok for higher reach.
YouTube
YouTube is the second-largest search engine after Google with a monthly active users of two billion.
If you have more than one thousand subscribers and four thousand hours of watch time within one year then you can also monetize your YouTube channel through Ads.
You need to create killer content for YouTube. Place your affiliate link in the description and then encourage your audience to buy that product.
You should always disclose affiliate links due to FTC regulations and show your relation with the product you are promoting.
You can place your affiliate link in the comment section if you are making short videos.
YouTube videos are also shown on the search engine result page (SERP).
You can read our complete blog post on YouTube Affiliate Marketing.
TikTok
Unlike YouTube, TikTok isn’t the second largest search engine but it has over one billion monthly active users out of which 150 million users are from the United States.
So why you should start affiliate marketing on TikTok? It does not have MAUs like Facebook or any other social media platform you might be thinking.
The answer is free organic traffic and higher reach. On TikTok, even awful content can become viral, and killer content can become super viral.
How to place affiliate links in TikTok?
There are following ways to place affiliate links in TikTok
The first is to place it in your profile but for that, you have to turn your account from personal to business.
But what if you want to add multiple links? For that, you can use tools like Linktree.
The second way to place an affiliate link is to add your YouTube channel or other social media platform and then redirect your traffic first to that platform and then to the affiliate website.
The third way is to place it in the video description but there is a problem. TikTok video description does not allow clickable links.
What is the best way to do TikTok affiliate marketing?
The best way to do TikTok affiliate marketing according to me is to create a business account and then start uploading videos.
Then after some time when you have a decent number of followers place a Linktree link in your profile and encourage your audience to purchase that product through your link.
Step2. Select a Niche
Most beginner affiliate marketers try to sell products from multiple niches. You should not try to sell products from multiple niches instead do your research and select a niche that has less competition and high search volume.
When choosing a niche people will tell you to select a niche that you are passionate about but that is not the case all the time.
For example, I am passionate about many things in life but when it comes to affiliate marketing I have to look at it from a business perspective.
While choosing a niche here are a few questions you can ask yourself that will help you select it easily.
- Are there any reputable affiliate programs in that niche?
- Are there people searching for that niche?
- What is the competition in that niche?
Asking a few questions yourself can help you tailor out the niche that best suits you.
Step 3. Create Killer Content
Once you select your niche it’s time to create content. You have to create content that increases engagement and watch time because these two things are important social media ranking factors.
You have to create killer content because that is the heart of successful affiliate marketing. Create content that is relevant to your affiliate marketing niche. Provide value to your audience.
You have encouraged your audience through your content to purchase through your affiliate link.
Steps to Produce Killer Content
For producing killer content you have to understand the platform dynamics. Each social media platform has its unique characteristics. Understand the preferences of your target audience on each platform and tailor your content accordingly.
Make your content visually appealing. Create an attention-grabbing thumbnail for your content because that is the first thing a person will see.
The second thing is to create a hook in the introduction part of the video. Explain what is further in the video.
Write an eye-catching title. Use keywords that create curiosity in the audience and write a detailed description using relevant keywords.
When you start making money out of your business then invest in good quality equipment such as cameras, microphones, and much more.
Step 4. Join Affiliate Program
Once you got a decent number of subscribers on YouTube and followers on TikTok then you should start joining affiliate programs.
Before joining an affiliate program you have to consider the following things.
- Is this affiliate program relevant to my niche?
- What is the commission rate of this program?
- What is the cookie duration of this program?
- Are the products or services the program offers are of high quality or not?
You can read our complete article on How to Join the Right Affiliate Program.
Step 5. Grow Your Affiliate Marketing Business
Once you start making money out of your affiliate marketing business, it’s time to grow it even more.
Hire more people such as scriptwriters, graphic designers, video editors, and more.
Now if you want you can expand to other social media platforms too and can even start your website.
Tap into other niches and diversify your income by joining affiliate programs. Collaborate with influencers to cross-promote each other content. You can also start your product and its affiliate program.
Remember don’t tap into other niches and social media platforms unless you make yourself a complete authority in the first niche.
Conclusion
Starting an affiliate program with no money can be challenging but not impossible. The best way to start affiliate marketing is to start it on your website but that would cost money. In this blog post, we have explained how to start affiliate marketing with no money.
To start affiliate marketing with no money you can start it on social media and other free blogging websites like Blogger and Medium.
The best way to start affiliate marketing with no money is to start it on YouTube or TikTok.
Start it on one or two social media platforms don’t go for every platform and once you have a decent number of followers start joining the affiliate programs.
Once you start making money grow your affiliate marketing business even more by hiring skilled people like video editors, scriptwriters, and more.
