Want to dive into affiliate marketing but lack a website? You’re not alone!
Discover 9 innovative ways to kickstart your affiliate marketing journey without the need for a website. From engaging in online communities to creating compelling digital content like eBooks and YouTube videos, there’s a strategy for every aspiring marketer.
Ninjas Summary
In a hurry? Ninjas has gone through the article and got you the key takeaways!
- Focus on niche selection for targeted marketing.
- Develop an email list for direct affiliate promotions.
- Start a YouTube channel to share niche content.
- Free blogs offer a low-cost website alternative.
- Launch a podcast targeting a specific audience.
- Become a Influencer on a specific platform
- Create a digital magazine for niche markets.
Imagine tapping into vast audiences across forums, social media, and beyond, all while promoting products you believe in. With these methods, you can build a lucrative affiliate marketing business from the ground up, even without a website.
Dive into the guide now to explore these accessible and effective strategies. Start your affiliate marketing venture today and see where it takes you!
Table of Contents
9 Ways To Do Affiliate Marketing Without A Website
1. Post On Forums Or Online Communities
The first method is by actually finding those that are interested in your niche and engaging with them. And that is done with forums or online communities such as Facebook groups.
So first of all you need to locate these forums or groups. Like I said, Facebook is a good starting point but you also have places such as Reddit.
Next you want to join up and start posting.
It’s important that you don’t just spam…
You should actually become a part of the community. Don’t just try and promote affiliate offers. Get in and actually answer questions, be a valued member of the community.
This is going to help build trust with other members and show your authority within your chosen niche.
There will be times that you can slip in some promotions or have links in your signature.
Just remember to check the rules of the forum or community. Some simply don’t allow any kind of promotion.
2. Free Blogs
Now I know this article is about how to do affiliate marketing without a website, so i’m cheating a little with this one.
As you will be creating a website…although it won’t cost anything.
You can register for a free blog from places such as wordpress, blogspot and many more.
These will allow you to create a basic website with limited functionality, but it is a start.
Now I have NEVER really seen these appear in the search results in the last 5 years. (They use to rank well)
So you will want to use a free blog with one of the other methods to generate traffic.
This is normally what I recommend to people that do want a website but cannot afford hosting and a domain name. Make a few sales with a free blog and then invest in your own dedicated website.
3. Create An E-Book
This method is actually pretty simple and doesn’t take too long. Although you are going to still need to put a decent amount of work into it.
You first need to find a topic that people are interested in. Whether this is something you already know about or if you need to use something like Google Trends.
There was a time that I was interested in Calisthenics. So let’s imagine I create an ebook on that. (You want to look at unique angles, to separate yourself from other ebooks on the same subject.)
In that eBook, you would then put in some affiliate links. (I would suggest using redirects you control, so you can update these easily without having to update the ebook)
You then want to get the book distributed. I’d recommend offering it for free so you get more downloads.
Money will be made from the affiliate sales more than a few cents from the actual ebook.
Get it listed Amazon in the kindle store and as well as other sites such as ManyBooks.net.
4. YouTube Channel
YouTube is an excellent way to get into affiliate marketing without a website.
Got your niche? Then plan out a series of videos or livestreams. Get them edited, uploaded onto your channel and start building your audience.
The great thing about YouTube is that you can generate a lot of views and subscribers from within the platform. Focus on a specific niche, do your keyword research and create quality content and soon you will start building up your channel.
You can start making money from it by including affiliate links in the description.
Once you hit 1000 subs and 4000 views in a year, you can then unlock ads and earn some additional revenue that way.
Personally I love YouTube and creating videos…Something I really need to put some more time into.
Ninja Top Tip
No matter which method you choose, go for one that you have an interest in and you enjoy doing. With using traffic sources such as YouTube, you’re going to be spending alot of time editing videos. If this is something you dont enjoy doing, you’ll eventually give up.
So even though niche selection is very important. You should also enjoy the way you promote affiliate products or services as well.
5. Paid(PPC) Marketing
Even though content marketing and SEO is my main marketing method, I have had some decent success with PPC. Mostly focusing on adwords…
Paid marketing can be done through many channels such as Google, Facebook and YouTube just to name a few. It appeals to many because you can see fast returns.
You are basically paying for people to click your ad, so you see instant results. Unlike SEO where you have to wait months and months.
To offset this however, since you are paying for clicks you need to really keep an eye on your costs and make sure you’re making a decent ROI (Return on investment)
This method works well with a website but you can also do it without a website. I would recommend having some form of landing page to collect emails and then funnel them through an email series.
Unless the affiliate program you are with does allow you to direct link..(many don’t actually allow this)
6. Social Media Marketing
Social networks continue to dominate people’s lives, making them a perfect place to advertise products and services. Everytime a new social platform comes out, an entire new way of promoting also starts. Just look at TikTok, it resulted in many platforms now supporting shorter videos.
Now you could just create an account on your favourite platform. Build up your followers and promote related offers. The problem with this is that many people don’t do it right and end up spamming.
The best way is to actually become an authority within a niche, build up trust. Become a content creator or an influencer within a chosen niche.
It does take time to build up that trust and following. The results however can be great, as you can continue to market to the same audience.
You can do it without spending any money as well, it just costs you a lot of time.
7. Email Marketing
Email marketing is something I recommend all affiliates do, with or without a website.
You have probably heard the term “the money is in the list”. If you can build a good strong email list and keep them engaged, it is a real asset.
It’s possible to continue marketing multiple products to the same list and continue generating affiliate commissions.
You just have to bear in mind that you need to have a good solid funnel in place. Its important to build a relationship with your subscribers. This is going to help you build trust, which is what makes people buy from your recommendations.
It is possible to do email marketing without a website. You will however want some form of landing page to collect emails. And of course a reason why they should input their email.
8. Create A Podcast
I remember looking into starting an online radio station many years ago. (this was just before podcasting exploded) It was so confusing on how to do it properly.
Now it’s INCREDIBLY easy to set up a podcast.
Record your show, upload it and you’re good to go. (I know there is so much more to it IE creating a good show, editing, marketing etc)
BUT what I’m saying is that the bar to enter the world of podcasting is not really high. There is also not a massive learning curve
Plus there are millions of listeners….
In 2019 over 155 million people in the United States listened to a podcast. Which is insane!
It’s more than possible to do affiliate marketing on a podcast, without needing a website.
- Pick a niche
- Pick a theme for your podcast
- Hit record
Like everything the first few shows might not be great, but that’s how you improve and get better. (by doing it!) (https://www.podcastinsights.com/podcast-statistics/)
Ninja Top Tip #2
There are a couple of methods that work really well together.
For example, you could create a podcast and also use this content and upload it to a YouTube channel. Having your long form content as a video and also split the content up into shorts.
This could also be shared onto other social channels such as TikTok
9. Create A Digital Magazine
Now this is a method that I do have a little experience with, although I’ll be honest not as an affiliate.
Back in my World of Warcraft days, I created a digital magazine based on the game. Doing guides, interviews and things like that. It did actually get a decent little following.
Now I could have continued building that up and then started selling ad space or even putting affiliate offers in for things like gaming keywords, chairs and other things that my readers would like.
Do people even read digital magazines anymore? Of course they do! (and a lot!)
In 2019 the app Readly reported that 83 million digital magazines were read. (https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/digital-magazines-far-from-dead-83-million-digital-issues-read-in-2019-on-spotify-for-magazines-app-readly/)
Now niche selection is going to be incredibly important, if you go for something so small then the readership would be lower.
And like many methods of marketing, it’s not a case of just publishing a magazine and watching the readers come. You do also need to market it, but it’s fairly low in competition. (Depending on the niche of course)
Tips On Doing Affiliate Marketing Without A Website
Below are some tips to help become successful in affiliate marketing when you’re not using a website.
Choose A Narrow Niche
Depending on the marketing method above, its a good idea to try and narrow down your niche selection.
This is known as “Niching down”.
Lets say you’re looking at doing a website on fitness. This can be quite competitive. So we can niche this down to focus on a sub niche, for example;
- Testosterone booster reviews
- Celebrity workouts
- Fat burners for men
The benefits of niching down is to target an audience that is less competitive. Hopefully making it easier for you to see a good return.
Find Affiliate Programs That Don’t Require A Website
Seems like an obvious one but it is important to double check the affiliate program you are joining.
Many of the higher paying affiliate programs will require affiliates to have a website (or atleast a landing page).
You should therefore check the terms and conditions of the programs you join. Afterall you don’t want to waste time creating reviews of offers you cannot promote.
Diversification
Diversification is important whether you are promoting affiliate programs with or without a website.
Some of the methods above really need to be done together. For example running a podcast would be more successful when combined with YouTube or social media marketing.
I would recommend focusing on one method to begin with. Once established it would be worth branching out into complementary methods.
It’s important to diversify so you are spreading the risk. If you’re using just one method and that stops working, your income stops. By using several methods, if one stops working you will hopefully still be earning from the other method(s).
Final Thoughts
So is it possible to do affiliate marketing without a website? Of course it is!
There are some excellent ways to make money as an affiliate. I do personally prefer to have a website but it’s nice to know there are other options.
I do try to use several of the methods along with my websites, but they would work just as well on their own.
Hopefully this article has given you some ideas and inspiration to get started. Hit me up if you do have any comments or questions.
