How to Start Affiliate Marketing With No Money

If you want to make money, you should start affiliate marketing on your website today. The affiliate marketing industry is expected to grow to 15.7 billion by the end of 2024 and will only continue to grow.

And odds are you already have taken part in affiliate marketing from someone else. Have you ever used a discount code or promotional code from another site or maybe from your favorite YouTuber?

If so, their affiliate marketing strategy was successful, and you helped them make money. Now, it is your turn to make money by advertising someone else’s products to your audience.

Despite its benefits, affiliate marketing has challenges. It requires time and dedication to build an audience and gain influence.

Affiliates must follow program rules, which may limit promotional methods, and earnings are commission-based, meaning affiliates only receive a fraction of each sale. However, the ability to scale without significant additional investment makes it an attractive option for many.

Today, I will demonstrate how you to start affiliate marketing with practically no money,

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a tactic where businesses will provide affiliate links, referrals, and more to users and influencers. If these codes are used by other people, they will receive a small discount while the sharer will receive a small part of the commission.

An example of this would be when you watch a YouTuber announce the sponsor of the video and tell their audience to use the affiliate code in the description. Every viewer who does this will earn that YouTuber money.

This is not exclusive to YouTubers. Regular websites, social media influencers, and more can take full advantage of the affiliate system.

This benefits the business offering these deals because they will increase their customer base. As long as the customer is happy, they will purchase from that business again even if they do not have a discount code.

That said, some businesses will always make the codes available. It depends on the marketing strategy they are employing.

Affiliate marketing is a booming industry with significant growth and opportunities for both marketers and businesses.

As of 2024, the global affiliate marketing industry is valued at over $17 billion and is expected to grow to $27.78 billion by 2027, reflecting a robust annual growth rate of approximately 10%.

This growth is driven by the increasing adoption of affiliate marketing strategies by brands and publishers, with 81% of advertisers and 84% of publishers utilizing affiliate marketing to boost brand awareness and drive sales.

The industry’s growth is also reflected in investments and market trends. In 2023, $1.5 billion was invested in affiliate marketing across 232 rounds, a 15.38% increase from the previous year.

The rise of influencers has further fueled this growth, with the influencer marketing sector growing from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $16.4 billion in 2022. Influencers accounted for 58% of newly added publishers to the Awin network in the first half of 2023.

However, the industry faces challenges such as ad fraud, with up to 45% of affiliate traffic being fraudulent. This highlights the need for robust fraud detection measures to protect the integrity of affiliate marketing.

Additionally, market dynamics can shift rapidly, as seen during the 2020 pandemic, which affected sales across various sectors.

Why Should You Utilize Affiliate Marketing?

To make money.

Affiliate marketing is a mutually beneficial business model. Both the business and affiliate partner get something out of the transactions, so there is no downside. And when compared to other ways a site can generate income, this is low risk.

For example, imagine starting an eCommerce site. Not only do you need to purchase all of the products you want to sell, but you also need a storage facility to store them, shipping material to ship them, and more.

In comparison, an affiliate marketer has no risk. They simply are given a code and need to convince their audience to use that code. If they do not use it, you lose nothing. If they do use it, you can generate a lot of income.

Of course, most affiliate marketers do not simply try them one at a time. In most cases, affiliate marketers take a shotgun approach where they try to promote multiple products or services and hope one of them is successful.

This also helps them diversify their income so they are not reliant on a single program.

In the United States, affiliate marketing accounts for 16% of all online orders, demonstrating its substantial impact on e-commerce. Major brands report that 5% to 25% of their overall online sales come from affiliate marketing, highlighting its effectiveness as a sales channel.

Additionally, 20% of brand marketers consider affiliate marketing their most successful channel, indicating a high return on investment (ROI).

The average affiliate marketer earns $8,038 per month, with top earners making over $50,000 annually. The revenue potential is significant, with some affiliates earning six-figure incomes through strategic marketing efforts and effective use of SEO, social media, and content marketing.

SEO remains the primary traffic source for 78.3% of affiliate marketers, followed by social networks and blogging.

How to Start Affiliate Marketing with Almost No Money

In all honesty, beginning your affiliate marketing career is not very difficult and doesn’t require any money, but there are some caveats we need to discuss before jumping into the tips.

Obviously, you will need a platform to carry out your affiliate marketing. In many cases, this is a website. Building a website is very cheap, but it is not free. As such, I am not going to be considering the cost of building a website when I talk about it.

Something else to consider is that you’re going to need a device that you can create content on, and the equipment you would need to do it. That said, many people can get away with using a smartphone, but it is a cost nonetheless.

Affiliate marketing programs vary in structure and commission rates. Low-price, high-volume products, such as pet food or skincare, typically offer around 5% commission per sale, while high-ticket items in finance and software can offer commissions exceeding 20%.

Successful affiliates often negotiate bespoke deals for higher commissions and may receive flat rates per sale instead of percentages.

Real-life success stories illustrate the potential of affiliate marketing.

For example, the Amazon affiliate site “This Is Why I’m Broke” earns over $20,000 per month, driven by millions of visitors and a strong social media presence.

Another case study from Contentellect achieved a 410% ROI through strategic SEO and content marketing, demonstrating the long-term potential of well-executed affiliate strategies.

With this said, let’s go over how you can start generating money with affiliate marketing.

Step 1: Understand Your Audience

This probably sounds obvious, but you need to make sure you understand your audience. What are their interests, where do they come from, what is their gender, and so on? This information helps you choose what types of products or services you should try to promote.

Affiliate marketing relies on you being able to sell a product or service to your audience. And trust me you are going to have a lot more luck selling a product your audience is interested in than ones they are not.

For example, if you deal with mostly personal fitness, there’s a good chance that your audience is also interested in it. Thus, you may want to try marketing protein shakes, supplements, or fitness attire.

So how do you find out information about your audience? There are several ways. The first is to use Google Analytics if you are running a website. Google Analytics gives you detailed information on your audience.

This includes their location, age, sex, and more. That said, a more direct way to gather information is to ask them directly. Running polls on your website or social media accounts can help give you a great idea of what your audience is interested in.

After all, they are the ones giving you the info.

Step 2: Pick A Niche

While I mentioned that a lot of websites will take a shotgun approach to affiliate marketing where they try to promote a variety of products and services in the hopes one of them will perform well, that’s not necessarily the best way to do it.

Zoning in on a niche topic, and becoming a figure within that community can be far more lucrative than just throwing darts at a board.

For example, let’s say you produce a lot of content centered around video games. Video games are an extremely broad topic. Do you specialize in a certain genre of games like Shooters, Fighting, Sports, RPG, or something else?

You want to focus all of your efforts around a specific niche within that genre and become a leading figure. That way when you recommend a product or service, it has a lot more credibility behind it.

And when users trust what you are saying, they will be more willing to try out said products or services. So how do you find a niche? Well, you need to do some research. Research search trends, search volume, competition within that space, and more.

Again, this is free to do, and Google will be your best friend as they offer all of these tools for free.

Step 3: Choose An Affiliate Program

Once you have an understanding of your audience and find yourself a niche, you now need to find an affiliate program to join.

This is highly specific to each affiliate marketer, so instead of listing specific examples, I’m going to share what you should be considering when making this decision. That said, if I had to name one, the Amazon Affiliate program is a great choice for many.

Amazon carries most products, is a trusted brand, and most people already use it. It’s a perfect option to consider.

First and foremost, you need to find an affiliate partner that offers the products and services your audience is interested in. And their goals and values should line up with your own. If not, it can rub your audience the wrong way.

For example, if you specialize in web design, you may want to join the GreenGeeks affiliate program so you can recommend a great web host who also cares about making a positive change in the environment.

Once you have found a few candidates that offer the products and services your customer base would be interested in, you also need to take a minute and make sure they are offering you a fair rate.

There are cases where some affiliate programs are just not worth your time when compared to others.

Not all affiliate links offer the same commission rate. In some cases, you may only get a very small portion of the sale, whereas others may give you a much larger slice of the pie. However, commission rates are only half of what you should be looking it.

You should also be on the lookout for the Earnings Per Click (EPC). A strong EPC can outweigh a low commission rate as it is more likely to earn money when users click on the affiliate link.

After all, just having a high commission rate may sound great, but if no one ever buys anything, there’s not much point to it.

Step 4: Choose A Platform to Advertise From

Here is where that caveat I mentioned at the start comes into play. There are several free social media platforms where you can build a following and participate in affiliate marketing. However, you may find out that is not the best route.

Having your own website gives you complete control over the content you produce and the links you include. As long as you use a free CMS like WordPress, the only real cost is the web hosting you’ll need.

Luckily, a month of web hosting will cost less than a cup of coffee. As such, I highly recommend building a website.

Web design has become much easier over the years. Today, you can build a website without writing a single line of code, thus anyone can build one. The only requirement outside of a web host is the time you put into the project.

Also, keep in mind that affiliate marketing’s growth is not limited to the US. It is a global phenomenon, with the US leading at 39% of activities, followed by the UK at 15% and Germany at 11%.

This global reach underscores the widespread adoption and effectiveness of affiliate marketing strategies across different markets. And a global social presence can help.

That said, if you are adamant about not spending a single dollar, social media is your best friend. And you can advertise from multiple social media accounts at the same time. Here are some platforms you can start affiliate marketing on for free.

Facebook

Facebook is the most popular social media platform around the world with over 3 billion monthly users. As such, the potential to make money is quite high. The platform allows users to post affiliate links, as long as they comply with site rules.

It is worth mentioning that while Facebook is extremely popular, the platform doesn’t do great with organic reach. As such, you may find it very difficult to grow or see your posts appear anywhere else.

YouTube

YouTube is without a doubt the most popular platform for affiliate marketing. Most content creators often have a sponsor attached to their videos where they include a short blurb about that product or service.

Now, while YouTube is great at this, it is a very competitive environment. You need to make great video content, which some may argue is not free to do. That said, many content creators do get away with just using the cameras on their phones to make some great videos.

TikTok

Speaking about using the camera on your phone to create video content, TikTok is another excellent choice to start affiliate marketing. Unlike YouTube, the videos are much more informal, which makes it an easier platform for beginners.

The one downside is that the links you add to the description are not clickable. Instead, you need to upgrade to a business account so you can add the link to your bio page. And just to be clear, you can create a business account for free.

Instagram

Instagram is a great platform because it is a highly visual platform that also allows you to write stories, and even create video content. Naturally, this makes it a great platform to start affiliate marketing.

However, similarly to Facebook, you won’t get organic search results like you would with YouTube. That said, Instagram boasts of having the highest user engagement stat of any social media platform, so it is a great choice for affiliates.

X (Twitter)

X is another powerful platform for affiliate marketing. It has an enormous user base and allows users to post text content and upload video content. You can also include several links in a single tweet.

While there have been some mixed signals from the platform when it comes to pricing, it is worth pointing out that users and businesses can still use the platform for free. As such, it is a great platform to launch your affiliate marketing career.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a more professional social media platform than the others we have mentioned, but that puts it in a unique position for you to reach out to entrepreneurs and small business owners.

This can make it a great choice if you are trying to promote services businesses may find useful like web hosting, cloud storage, IT software, and so on. That said, it’s also a double-edged sword as it isn’t great for other kinds of products.

Step 5: Create Content On Those Platforms

Once you have decided on which platforms you will be using, you need to create content for those channels. After all, you can’t just tweet out an affiliate link and hope it goes viral. It won’t, and no one will use it.

Instead, you need to create regular content on that platform. It should be fun, engaging, and be somewhat related to the affiliate product you are trying to push.

For example, if you were in fitness you would want to create posts when you work out or show off your gains.

You want to make sure that this makes up most of the content you produce. You do not want to be perceived as an account that just tries to sell its user’s products. These accounts do not last long.

If you look at any successful affiliate marketer they have lots of content that just tries to build an audience, because that is single-handedly the most important aspect of any affiliate marketing strategy.

If you do not have an audience that follows your content regularly, you cannot advertise affiliate deals to them. It will also make it unlikely that affiliate partners will ever give you an exclusive deal or offer for your audience.

Step 6: Review What Does And Doesn’t Work

Affiliate marketing is not an exact science, in fact, it’s probably the opposite. There are plenty of cases where products that should be a hit with an audience end up not being successful or could even end up damaging a brand.

You need to constantly be aware of what is working for your affiliate marketing campaign and what isn’t. Wasting valuable advertising space can stop you from finding new affiliate programs that may be better for your brand.

If you are not seeing a return on the time you are putting into a marketing strategy, it may just be time to move on to something else.

That said, make sure you have realistic expectations. A lot of people, even with very large audiences, think that just linking an affiliate link will net them a lot of money. It won’t and requires a lot of trial and error testing to find out the best way to get clicks.

And don’t just look internally. Be sure to look at products that other marketers are pushing. If you notice that a lot of people in your space are advertising a certain product, you may want to see why that is.

More often than not, the company probably offers very good rates. If it is being advertised everywhere, you can piggyback off of those efforts. Being flexible is one of the most important aspects of any marketing strategy.

Does Spending Money Help Affiliate Marketing Efforts?

While you can do a lot of things without spending a dollar, it doesn’t always mean it is the best choice.

When it comes to affiliate marketing, spending money on better equipment and tools to advertise products with is a really good investment for a business trying to capitalize on it.

For example, consider something simple like purchasing a video camera, microphone, and better lighting for your recording setup. This costs money to do, but can astronomically improve the quality of the content you create.

Doing so can help you grow faster and show off products in more creative avenues. In other cases, I mention that you can build a website for free, and you can. But if I’m being honest, paying a web developer will turn out a higher quality site.

So, does money help you with affiliate marketing? Absolutely. Can you start affiliate marketing without spending any money? Yes.

Should you? Not really. The more money you put into your affiliate marketing, the better the chances it will be successful. Yet, the investments don’t have to be extravagant in order to see great gains.

It all comes down to the type of content you’re creating and what you can add to give it that extra umph.

Avoid Advertising Bad Products or Scams

You need to make sure you are not promoting bad products or services. Doing so damages your brand, and makes users less likely to take your word about future recommendations you make.

As such, you should try to personally test any product or service you are promoting to make sure it works as described. This also gives you a better understanding of the product so you can better sell it to your customer base.

Not to mention that personal reviews are often the biggest contributors to visitor traffic, whether you have a blog or YouTube channel.

If you notice a product does not work or a service doesn’t live up to expectations, you should not promote it. And unfortunately, in some cases, you might just make a mistake. A product may work for you but ends up not working for others.

If you see a lot of negative feedback, you may want to distance yourself from those promotions to protect the integrity of your brand. If you lose your audience’s trust, your affiliate marketing career is over.

Start Affiliate Marketing For Free Today

As you can see, affiliate marketing is not overly complicated. It simply requires users to build an audience and attempt to sell the products you are advertising to them. Any site or social media influencer can start for free.

There are three main types of affiliate marketing: unattached, related, and involved. Unattached affiliate marketing involves general promotion without a direct connection to the product, often using pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Related affiliate marketing involves promoting products relevant to the affiliate’s audience, leveraging their established following.

Involved affiliate marketing includes creating content that features the product, such as reviews or tutorials, and building trust with the audience through genuine recommendations.

Affiliate marketing’s effectiveness is evident in various metrics. Brands report an average return on ad spend (ROAS) of 12:1, and affiliate marketing is considered “very effective” by 50% of marketers surveyed.

More than half of US and Canadian marketers use affiliate marketing for mid-funnel (consideration stage) and upper-funnel awareness, while 32% use it for post-sale retention and loyalty.

Content creators also benefit, with 58% reporting affiliate commissions as a significant income source.

What this all demonstrates is that the affiliate marketing landscape is diverse, with different niches offering varying levels of profitability. And the most profitable niches include education/e-learning, travel, and beauty/skincare.

Affiliates often choose products based on current trends, leveraging email marketing and diversifying traffic sources to maximize earnings.

With that said, you need to have an audience to be successful. Trying to send out a tweet to your two followers won’t exactly generate a lot of income, thus, it can take a long time before affiliate marketing starts to pay off as it goes hand in hand with building an audience.

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