Can You Start Affiliate Marketing With No Money?
To start affiliate marketing with no money anywhere in the world is not as easy as a lot of affiliate marketers out there claim. Though it could be easy for those that have been in the game for some time now, how about the newbies who don’t even know the ropes to become a success in the Affiliate Marketing industry?
In this article, we are going to simplify this process of starting affiliate marketing without spending a dime or even a dollar! So, if you are new to this online business model, never worry we got you covered in this post.
You can make 6 figures monthly even if you are just starting out for the first time. The secret is to follow the easy steps we will be giving you in this post, and you will be on your way to printing dollars perpetually!
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate Marketing is simply, in layman’s terms, an online business model in that you get paid commissions for selling other people’s products. You act as a middleman connecting individuals who would be interested in a specific product to have access to where the product and its details are displayed in order to make a purchase decision.
In this way, if the people you channel to the product page find it interesting (hints a solution to their challenges), and then eventually buy the product, you as the affiliate will earn a stipulated amount of money apportioned to you by percentage.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest businesses you can make money from even on your first day of getting started. In order to effectively implement the marketing strategy for a profitable venture, three parties are considered to be very crucial or vital in this online business.
Hence, in a nutshell, how affiliate marketing works is listed and explained below:
- Product Creators or Sellers
- The Affiliate or Advertiser
- The Final Consumer
Now, we will be divulging each player accordingly in a few paragraphs to get you enlightened on the process that’s involved in this business model. However, these parties are the key factors as to the reason affiliate marketing business is fully utilized profitably.
3 Players In Affiliate Marketing
#1 Product Creators Or Sellers
These are the developers or originators of the products affiliate marketers promote or advertise. They are the ones who own the products you find on any affiliate marketplace; these products could be physical or digital.
Moreso, what they create is designed for a specific market. That’s to say a seller or merchant would develop products that solve the problems of a targeted group of individuals, not for the general audience or market.
#2 The Affiliate Or Advertiser
Another name for this party is the affiliate marketer. The affiliate or advertiser can also be referred to as a publisher and can be a company of individuals with a common interest or a single individual. The affiliate’s responsibility is to promote the Seller’s (product creator) products to potential buyers or customers in a way that persuades them to take a purchase action.
To further throw more light on the subject matter, the affiliate advertises the product to compel the final consumers to pick interest through persuasion. What the affiliate does with the persuasion strategy is that he presents a supposed value or benefit the customer would enjoy from the product if he takes action.
If the customer is convinced and eventually purchases the product, the affiliate marketer will automatically be rewarded a percentage of the revenue accrued.
#3 The Final Consumer
This is the most crucial part of the affiliate marketing business model chain. Without the participation of the consumer, sales can’t be recorded in the business for both the creator/seller and the affiliate.
The final consumers are found on blogs, YouTube, social media platforms, forums, and wherever crowds or audiences are seen on the internet. Now, it is the duty of the affiliate to put these products in front of them via several means utilizing these channels strategically.
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Whatever content you put out there must first provide value to your audience and then point them subtly to your unique affiliate link, if they find it appealing, your customers can click to the landing page of the product, buys it and you earn a commission.
Tools Required For Affiliate Marketing
- Smartphone or PC
- Internet connection
- Affiliate programs
- Requisite knowledge
You only need the above tools to get started and be effective in affiliate marketing without spending a single penny. However, you don’t need to worry about the knowledge part, because you are going to learn about everything for free here in this post.
How To Get Started With Affiliate Marketing For Free
As a beginner, you need to know that there are steps to take in order to successfully launch your affiliate marketing business. And we will be revealing the step-by-step process from start to finish:
- Register with an affiliate program
- Pick a Product
- Set up a promotional platform
- Receive your commission
Let’s look at the detail…
#1 Register With An Affiliate Program
The first step to take when beginning your affiliate marketing journey is choosing an affiliate platform or program. This is an online space or marketplace where the products you will promote as an affiliate are listed.
The affiliate program now groups these products into categories according to niches. What I mean by this is there are specific markets that attend to certain people or individuals looking for a particular product.
That’s to say, these niches are specifically dealing with products that are customized or designed for a kind of people. For instance, there are products that are solely created for weight loss (people that are only interested in losing weight), some for learning digital skills (those who are willing to learn specific skills online), personal finance (designated for individuals interested in making money online), etc.
Hence, there are a few reputable affiliate programs you can leverage to make money online for free. Some of them will require that you apply and wait for approval before doing business with them, while others won’t put you through such stress. As such, I will be recommending the ones you won’t have to apply for before becoming an affiliate.
Instant Affiliate Programs To Join
- ClickBank Affiliate Network
- Nutriprofit Affiliate Program
- JVZoo Affiliate Program
- ProveSource Affiliate Program
- ClickFunnel Affiliate Program
- Siteground Affiliate Program
- Paxful Affiliate Program
- Moosend Affiliate Program
- GrooveFunnels Affiliate Program
- Amazon Affiliate Program
- Fiverr Affiliate Program
- GeneratePress Affiliate Program
- GetResponse Affiliate Program
- AWeber Affiliate Program
- SEMRush Affiliate Program
- Bluehost Affiliate Program
You can apply for any of the above affiliate programs and get approved instantly by going through rigor screening before you are accepted as others do, and these affiliate platforms are highly recognized globally.
#2 Pick a Product
When you are done with registration, the next thing to do is pick a product and promote it. Now, before you go ahead and select any product you see in the affiliate program, you need to understand that it’s not all product that converts.
What I mean is not every product listed on any affiliate program marketplace is sellable (sells easily). You must look at its past performance, conversion rate, and the number of affiliates promoting the product. In a nutshell, some product sells more than others.
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The beautiful thing is each of the products you would find have its own landing or sales page that your potential customers will check out when they finally arrive through your unique affiliate link. Moreso, you must have the following tips on your fingers before picking a product:
- Pick a product with a high conversion rate
- Choose a product you will be proud to promote
- Pick a product with incredible results (known to have a long-standing track record of effectiveness and good reviews from customers who have used the product)
- Pick a product with a sales page that’s impossible to miss a sale (that’s very appealing to potential customers)
- Pick a product in a scorching market or niche (we will talk about this in the next point)
All you have to do is go there to the official website and register. When you have verified your email or phone number as the case may be, navigate to your dashboard, check on marketplace or offers, then click on the product you wish to advance, copy the product’s link attached with your unique affiliate ID and go to the platform you would set up and promote.
#3 Set Up a Promotional Platform
This aspect is very critical to your success as an affiliate marketer. These are channels through which you promote or advertise your affiliate products to your potential customers.
The sole aim or goal of these channels is to drive TARGETED traffic of the audience who would likely take action when you indicate a call-to-action button with your unique affiliate link. Without these channels, then making money with affiliate marketing is hampered.
Furthermore, before picking a channel(s), something very vital must be in place; a NICHE! I already explained the examples of the kinds of niches you can venture into, such as health & fitness, personal finance, pet care, technology, relationship, etc.
Health & Fitness: Nobody wants to be sick or overweight (obese); everybody desires a healthy life to stay longer. Promoting products in this niche will guarantee you sales no matter the condition.
Personal Finance: Almost every individual on the internet wants to make money online, especially young folks. If you promote a digital or information product in this niche, that will teach them how to make money online, you will earn commissions on demand!
Pet Care: According to statistics, the yearly spending of the pet care industry (products) in the United States alone is amassing up to a whopping $100 billion! It’s a very competitive and profitable niche you would not want to neglect looking into.
Technology: The rise of interest in Blogging, YouTube channel monetization, Web development, Coding, and the likes, instigate much concern that creators on affiliate platforms take advantage and develop products that could solve the needs of people who want to succeed fast on the platforms mentioned.
Relationship: The relationship and marriage niche is a very hot one. A lot of singles and married people out there wants to find ways to please their partners and enjoy lasting peace in their relationships. Products that center around this niche sales too.
Be that as it may, there are three hottest niches online, and they are:
- Wealth
- Health
- Relationship
When you have picked your preferable niche, the next is to set up a platform(s) where you will promote your products. Remember, we are dealing with free tools you can leverage to set up your affiliate marketing business online without spending money on building a website or on ads.
Free Platforms To Promote Your Affiliate Products
#1 Free Blogging Platforms/Sites
One of the best platforms to begin with first and foremost are free blogging sites/forums like Medium, Quora, Blogger, Reddit, Nairaland, Google Sites, etc. Now, create an account with any of the mentioned free platforms, set up your profile in a professional way, start curating content and publish.
Moreover, if your niche is health & fitness, for example, carry out keyword research to know the terms surrounding health that people are searching for on Google. You must understand that keyword is the reason your content will be visible online for your audience to read and perhaps take the required action.
So, what you need to do is to discover the pain points of your audience and create content around it, providing the solution, and inserting your affiliate link that will lead them to the product sales page you are promoting.
Something like…
Keyword: Weight Loss
Blog Post Topic: How To Lose Weight Without Exercise Naturally
Something of that nature. Write a blog post to show people how to lose weight naturally without exercise. When you have given enough value (first principle/rule to sell to your customers), then you can suggest a product that can assist them in losing weight faster.
I would recommend Quora, Medium, and Reddit so that you can be sure of driving targeted organic traffic to your product in the shortest possible time.
#2 YouTube Channel
Setting up a YouTube channel for your affiliate marketing business is another great free method to help you drive traffic to your affiliate products.
To be sure, when creating your YouTube channel, you must customize and optimize it to reflect your niche. For instance, still, on the health niche, name your channel to give your audience a pointer to the kind of videos they would be expected from time to time on your channel.
For Example:
Dr. Malik or Health Talk With Dr. Malik (tells your audience you are into the health niche)
When you have picked a channel name, proceed to other customizations and make your channel look professional. Then, start uploading health-related videos like workouts, healthy eating habits, yoga, exercises, healthy routines, and so on.
The next thing is to give a proper description of your videos and insert your link in with a call-to-action command. If you are officially showing your face on your videos and discussing health tips, then also give a call-to-action while talking to your audience; telling them that there is a link in the description of the video they are watching.
You can also take advantage of the YouTube shorts to drive crazy traffic to your products if you know how to optimize them well. Hence, when you have uploaded a YouTube short, give a call to action by inserting your link in the comment section (this strategy has worked for me)!
#3 Social Media
Social media is no doubt one space you will find all kinds of people interacting and promoting their brands. It’s so obvious that a lot of affiliate marketers have leveraged social media platforms to make money without spending a dime on ads.
The following Social media platforms could be of great assistance to your affiliate marketing business online:
Facebook: Set up a Facebook page that centers around your niche. Customize it with profile and cover images, and optimize it to show up or rank on Google. Start publishing posts with appealing images that will spark interest from readers, thereby driving targeted traffic to your affiliate products.
Make sure you add your unique affiliate link to your page where a website link is required. And also include the link in every post you make on your page with a call-to-action.
Instagram: With Instagram, you can set up a very professional profile that will attract your kind of audience. While setting up your profile, insert your unique affiliate link. This link will reflect on your profile when people view it.
Moreso, add a lot of images of the products you are promoting and make them more appealing by writing short descriptions about them.
WhatsApp: Even though is a messaging app, you can leverage it to make tons of sales. What you can do is simply build your list that will view your status every time you update it.
Now, the health niche may not really move with this method (it depends on your location), however, you can take advantage of the personal finance niche and tech to drive crazy sales.
TikTok Videos: TikTok is a great way to drive traffic to your affiliate products. How this is done by uploading videos that pertain to your niche. When you have uploaded a few videos, optimize them with tags to go viral, then insert your affiliate link in the comment section.
#4 Receive Your Commission
The main goal of starting an affiliate marketing business is to generate passive income. The last thing that happens after going through the process and making sales is to get paid your commissions.
However, the payment method and schedule of most of the affiliate programs are PayPal and Net30. Others accept Payoneer, wire transfers, checks, and pay every 7 days. Now, it all depends on what works best for you.
If you are in countries where PayPal prohibits you from receiving payments, you can go with the affiliate platforms that suit your payment method, especially if you are banking with Payoneer.
Wrapping Up
Have you seen that it’s possible to start affiliate marketing with no money? Perhaps that may not be what you have been told, but it’s real!
Lastly, none of the steps we mentioned will work overnight or automatically, because there are limitations to starting an affiliate marketing business for free. Running ads is a massive advantage to making sales on autopilot!
So, if you must succeed in affiliate marketing without spending money, you need to consistently publish articles on the free blogging sites, upload videos constantly, post on social media platforms, and most importantly, know how to persuade people to gladly consider giving your offer a try.
I hope this post helped you in some way. This article may not have given you an in-depth guide on the actual steps, however, it would be great if you do your due diligence to gather more knowledge while getting started.
Please kindly share and drop a comment if you have any issue of concern, or possibly a suggestion to add to the post, you’re welcome!
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