I make a commission from purchases made through links in my posts, at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure for more information.
Can you do affiliate marketing without a blog or website? You can definitely do affiliate marketing without a blog or website. However, it does present its own challenges. First, you will need to choose your niche or topic that you want to promote.
What is a niche and how do you choose one?
A niche is a topic. For example: rock climbing shoes, hot sauces, handbags, etc.
Your niche is the topic you will focus your affiliate strategy around. It will be the reason people come to you for help or information on that topic. Want to learn more about how to choose a niche? Check out this blog post!
Once you have chosen your niche you can decide which social media platform you want to use. Social media is an excellent resource you for in your affiliate marketing strategy and most of it is free! These are the top five social media platforms for affiliate marketing.
Social Media Resources You Will Need
- Facebook Groups (free): You can get it here!
- Instagram (free): You can get it here!
- Tweeter: You can get it here!
- Pinterest Business (free): You can get your Pinterest Business account here!
- YouTube Channel: You can get your YouTube account here!
Tip: If you have a smartphone, then you have a camera to make YouTube videos. No extra equipment required. You can always upgrade to a GoPro later.
affiliate marketing without a blog
If you already have a following on social, you can leverage your influence by promoting products or services that are of relevance to your fans and followers. You can use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Pinterest. Make sure to disclose that you may be paid. The FTC requires disclosure of these “sponsored” pins, posts, and Tweets.
For example, if you are going to use Pinterest for affiliate marketing, you will have to follow this FTC rule.
Pinterest Affiliate Link Disclosures
The most important rule you need to remember when adding affiliate links is to mention that it is an affiliate link. In your pin descriptions, Pinterest urges you to always disclose that it is an affiliate link and affiliate networks require it. You can write this within your description or use #affiliate, #Ad, or #afflink at the end of your description. This needs to be done to follow affiliate networks’ rules and abide by FTC regulations.
Failure to do so can get you banned from Pinterest. You will have to check with the other social media platform’s policies on their affiliate marketing rules.
Want to learn more about the FTC rules on affiliate links? Check out this FTC blog post!
Selecting a Affiliate Program to Promote
Most affiliate programs will want to know how you will promote their product. Having at least a one-page website is always better than having none at all. Here is a list of affiliate programs that don’t require a website but will want the address of your social media account. They also provide training to help you succeed because they realize that when you are successful as an affiliate marketer they are successful too. It is a win-win!
- Clickbank: https://www.clickbank.com
- Share-A-Sale: https://www.shareasale.com
- ClickFunnels: https://www.clickfunnels.com
- Sovrn (previously Viglink): www.viglink.com
If you want to learn more check out this Affiliate Marketing post.
Before you spend your time, effort, and possibly money on marketing a brand, service, or product. You should always review their affiliate program’s rules and policies. Better find out that something is prohibited before you’ve invested your time or money in that activity. Breaking the affiliate program’s rules, you could lose your membership to that affiliate program. That will affect your income stream from that source.
How To Promote Your Affiliate Offer
When you choose the product you want to promote you need to get it in front of the right audience. If you are promoting for example dog products you wouldn’t want to be on cat group boards. That would not make sense as it is highly likely they would not be interested. So it would make sense not to waste your time and effort. Get your product in front of dog lovers and there is a very high probability someone will be interested as it may be something they need.
I go into more detail on how to promote your offer in another post, want to learn more? Check out this Affiliate Programs post!
Promote Your Affiliate Offer With A Landing Page or Sales Funnels
You can promote products by creating a page through a landing page builder and then share the link on multiple social media platforms. There is no need for a blog at this stage. A landing page builder is important for creating a professional landing page to promote your offer. Doing this step allows you to collect email addresses, which you should always try to do.
Landing page software enables online marketers to create and optimize landing pages quickly and easily. A landing page is also called a “destination page”, “squeeze page”, or “lead capture page”. It is a web page that shows up when you click on an online ad or an SEO-optimized search result. This landing page displays sales content that is an extension of the link, search result, or ad.
Landing pages are utilized for lead generation. Visitors’ actions on a landing page determine the marketer’s conversion rate. Marketers and advertisers can boost the effectiveness of their online ads by linking their landing pages to search engine marketing campaigns, email campaigns, and social media.
What to learn more about landing page tools? Check out this landing page review post.
Different Types of Web Pages For Marketing |
|
---|---|
Marketing Web Page Type: | What is it and what is it used for? |
Squeeze Page | Also called a lead capture page or landing page, this is a stand-alone web page. It is used to offer one lead magnet, for example, access to a free webinar, or a free PDF download. The goal is to “squeeze” the visitor into a funnel by getting them to provide their email address. |
Bridge Page | A web page that comes after a squeeze page, but before your sales page. It is a powerful way to boost your conversion. Its goal is to drive traffic to your sales page or funnel. |
Landing Page | A designated stand-alone web page showcasing an individual service that you offer. The goal is to make a sale. |
Sales Funnel or Sales page | A series of many web pages. Its goal is to direct a customer towards his or her final sales decision. This works best when there are options to consider before the customer buys. A sale funnel is perfect if you want to offer up-sells or down sales before the customer completes their purchase. |
What is the difference between a sales funnel and a landing page?
Sales funnels and landing pages are easily confused with each other. They have the same end goal of making a sale but serving a different purpose in the stages of a customer’s sales experience.
A landing page is a stand-alone web page created to welcome potential customer traffic sent to it through an online ad campaign. This traffic can come from social media and email marketing initiatives. For example, a customer clicks on an ad linked on Facebook, they will be redirected to a landing page.
This landing page is used for two reasons:
1) Get information from the customer which can be used to market to him or her in the future.
2) Encourage the customer to buy something now.
A sales funnel on the other hand is made up of many web pages that guides or funnels the customer towards his or her final sales. Each page in a funnel is an opportunity to sell additional products or services. This is where you can add in the upselling options.
What to learn more about landing page tools? Check out this landing page review post.
3 Types Of Affiliate Payment Types To Know When You Do Affiliate Marketing
You need first to become familiar with some of the commonly used words such as CPC, CPA, and CPS.
Cost Per Action (CPA)
Cost-per-action or CPA for short means that firms will reward you if a potential consumer completes an assigned task. This task may include; filling out contact details, signing up for a membership, inquiring about a newsletter, clicking on an ad or making a purchase just to name a few. CPAs are quite challenging to use if you do not have entirely active members who continuously follow and like your valuable posts.
Cost Per Click (CPC)
CPC are initials for cost-per-click, this means that you will earn some cash when online viewers visit your affiliate link or ad. CPCs are the most suitable for Pinterest especially if your posts have numerous repins.
Cost Per Sale (CPS)
CPS is described as cost-per-sale. Using CPCs is simple. Your goal is to get the sale. Just think of an Amazon product you may want to promote. If your prospect does not buy you don’t get paid. For you to increase conversions, you should post valuable content from others on your boards to improve the trust with your consumers while boosting your sales.
Selling Physical Or A Digital Products
Selling physical or digital products has become easier with the number of sites you can do it from. The digital products are a sustainable source of income for most monetizers nowadays. You can promote products by creating a page through a landing page builder and then share the link on social media. There is no need for a blog at this stage. A landing page builder is important for creating a professional landing page to promote your offer. Doing this step allows you to collect email addresses, which you should always try to do.
What to learn more about landing page tools? Check out “Tools for affiliate marketing?” post.
Social Media Tools That Save You Time
Decide if you want to post manually or use a tool for posting your offers onto your social accounts. A tool will help streamline your social media presence and makes it easier to manage. I personally like and uses Tailwind as my pin scheduler for Pinterest. However, Tailwind can be used for Tweeter too.
Want to learn more about getting Tailwind? You can get Tailwind here!
Want to learn more about Social media tools? Check out “Tools for affiliate marketing?” post and see the “Social media platforms and tools section”!
I have a system that can help with the step-by-step process in more detail. Click here to learn more about Starting a Blog That Pays system. I have used this system to help countless other women with this process and I can help you too.
Other helpful related posts about blogging …
How To Start A Blog In 8 Easy Steps
How To Choose Your Blog Niche?
Resources to Start Your First Blog
How To Make Money Online
7 Making Money Online Tips: Legal Issues You Should Know About As A Blogger
11 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid That Can Cost You!
Does Google Penalize For Keyword Stuffing and How It Hurts Your Blog’s SEO
How Do Bloggers Make Money Online? The Real Truth!
Why You Are Not Making Money with Amazon Affiliate Program? I Will Reveal Why!
Which Affiliate Programs Should You Choose?
The Best Tools for Affiliate Marketing
How To Do Affiliate Marketing Without A Blog
Best Resources to Make Money Online Without a Blog
I make a commission from purchases made through links in my posts, at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure for more information.
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Really useful post if you cannot continue writing a blog but still want to make some money.
That’s true, this is a great way to diversify your income streams. The more income stream you have the better.
Good to know about the affiliate programs.
Very well organized and helpful article, thanks for the tips!
This is a comprehensive guide for every beginner affiliate marketer and a good reference spot for seasoned ones. Awesome post!
Thank you Ana!
I started with Amazon too and a good first affiliate step in the blog world.
I agree Angela!
this is awesome! I am actually looking for affiliate marketing for my ecom business. There is a lot that I still need to learn about.
I am happy that I could help you out Chad.
I’m a pretty novice blogger and have recently added an affiliate program to my web site. I was hesitant because I like the look of my “clean” website. I am an Amazon user and frequently order my art supplies from that source. Made sense to me to start there. Thank you for posting this because it gave me information that I can consider if I add another marketing program.
Annie, Amazon is a good place to start, when you are just starting out your blog.
Very good to know. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome Nart!
Your article is so thorough. I love your writing style.
Thank you Neecee!
I had never heard of a bridge page before. Seems very useful. Good to know about Pinterest’s rules, I did not know they were so strict.
It is good to know so you don’t get you account suspended.