Affiliate marketing through a website or a blog is a time-consuming process. It takes time and effort to create content and months before you get decent organic traffic through your SEO efforts. Plus, it comes with a setup cost, and the competition is tough!
That’s why affiliate marketers are always in search of techniques that will let them make affiliate income without owning a website.
The best way to do that is by making your affiliate links more visible on platforms that you do not own but where you have an account. Essentially, you are sharing your link on places that already have relevant audiences instead of generating exclusive traffic.
Here are some examples of such platforms: Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media sites. However, there are a few ways that let you earn an income without even creating content.
In this blog post, we will discuss all those methods in detail. Let’s jump right in.
9 Effective Ways to do Affiliate Marketing without a website:
1. Use online publishing platforms like Medium/ Blogger.
A website allows you to rank your content on Google which drives highly relevant traffic to your affiliate pages. A blog can help you target a much wider audience base through multiple keywords.
You can replicate the same process through free-to-publish platforms like Blogger. This way, you create the same content – that you would do for your website – but publish it on a platform you don’t own. Medium is another such platform.
So why don’t people publish on these websites and rather purchase hosting? That’s because owning a domain gives your content more authority. Platforms like medium host content across topics. This prevents the platform from developing topical authority. In other words, since the website covers everything, they don’t rank for anything – they’re too generic.
So if you publish on these platforms, you will rank for low-quality keywords that other blogs did not cover.
But on that platform, you will get a fair amount of traction. Over a few months, you can build a following, thus increasing your affiliate income. You can boost your revenue through social media promotions too.
2. Promote your products through YouTube Affiliate Marketing.
YouTube, for visual niches, is a better platform for affiliate marketing than a website. If you are comfortable in front of a camera, can edit videos too, or afford to hire someone to do it for you, YouTube is the place to grow your affiliate market – even if you have a website.
Also, it’s easier to get traffic on YouTube provided you are consistent with your publishing schedule. That’s because niches like lifestyle, health, fitness, cooking, etc, have high search volume on YouTube. You can find your niche’s search popularity using Google Trends.
Incidentally, YouTube is also the second most used search engine after Google. In addition, your videos, even as a new publisher, can be featured in the suggested videos section, increasing the chances of discovery.
Once discovered, you can add your affiliate links in the video description and ask people to check it out.
3. Build a following on Instagram.
Like YouTube, Instagram is a functional platform for visual niches. This ever-evolving platform can host videos of varying lengths that play a crucial role in all the stages of the funnel.
Yet, getting found on Instagram remains a challenge. There’s a flurry of influencers across niches – they have been active for years and have a lot of clout. It’s hard to beat them at their game. However, with Instagram reels, it is possible to get relevant traction.
Another challenge with Instagram is that it allows only 1 link in the bio and none in individual content pieces. This means you can’t host evergreen content because the “link in bio” keeps changing with every affiliate post. So when someone finds your content after a couple of days, once it’s obsolete, they won’t find the relevant URL, and you might lose out on some affiliate income.
4. Pin your focus on Pinterest Affiliate Marketing.
Pinterest is an extremely efficient platform for affiliate marketing. Unlike Instagram, you can host every image on Pinterest with an affiliate link! These images send traffic as long as you don’t pull them down.
In addition, Pinterest is still on its rise. Also, it has a sizable user count, so it’s comparatively easier to get traction. This platform works for most niches but just like other channels, it’s best suited for visual niches.
5. Post your affiliate links on Forum pages.
Forum pages are often considered low-quality content. They rarely show up on search engine results. Plus, affiliate links are often frowned upon by members. However, if you can build a decent following and offer helpful content, you can still make it work.
But remember, your content is only relevant for a day or two before other posts take up the front page, especially on Reddit. However, Quora can be a better option as your content can be sent through Quora’s newsletters that can drive decent traffic to your answers.
6. Create Downloadable Content with Affiliate Links
Without a website, it’s difficult to create rankable content, but you can still craft content in the form of a downloadable PDF, PPT, etc. These assets can contain links to your affiliate products.
You can host the files on free-to-use platforms like Box, Google Drive, or any other cloud storage. People can access them through a unique URL for each asset.
The challenge, however, is with content distribution. To promote links to the assets you will have to post them on Social Media and Forums. Either way, you need to build a following before people click on a link that you share.
7. Host a free Affiliate Landing Page
A landing page is a highly effective way to attract more conversions to your affiliate products. A long-form landing page will help you to convince people to buy the product.
You can either focus on one product throughout the page or sell an info product that enlists multiple affiliate links. For example, you can include a downloadable PDF or PPT that talks about the importance of the products and how they would improve the potential buyers’ lives.
Wix allows you to create landing pages for free. You can then promote the pages through social media platforms and forums.
8. PPC Advertising
We shared many ways to do affiliate marketing without a website, this point focuses more on the content distribution aspect. One solid way to do that is through Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising.
You can run ads on Google search and social media websites and direct traffic to your landing page, or to your affiliate link.
However, some platforms do not allow having an affiliate link as the landing page.
9. Post affiliate links for free on these websites
- StumbleHere.com
- US Free Ads
- ClassifiedAds.com
- Backpage.com
- ClassifiedsForFree.com
Can I be an affiliate marketer without a website?
Yes, you can. There are many ways you can sell affiliate products without having a website or a blog. For example, you can start affiliate marketing on YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. However, some challenges come with it. It’s hard to build authenticity without a platform where you can be a regular.
Conclusion
Selecting your affiliate marketing platform is a very important step of getting started with affiliate marketing. It should align with your personality, otherwise you will lose interest in creating content soon.
In this blog post, we covered 9 methods of affiliate marketing without a website.
Have questions? Put them in the comment section, we will get back to you within a day.
