Affiliate Marketing without a website
Updated: Sep 5, 2019
Affiliate Marketing without a website is possible with the advent of social media, YouTube and Hub pages. In the past, affiliate marketing was a matter for bloggers with a lot of traffic and a big mailing list. Years can pass before a blogger has built enough traffic and authority to really be able to live.
Many starting bloggers do not have the patience and discipline to get there. If you are one of these people who is not planning to write hundreds of blogs before you see earnings, then this page is more than worth reading. I explain to you how you can apply affiliate marketing without a website.
Choose a niche market per channel
Just like with a blog, it is wise to choose a particular niche. If you want to promote different products from totally different markets on one channel, you are not credible.
Bloggers generally choose also one niche because SEO technology works better than a fragmented site with a variety of subjects. In addition, it is also a lot easier for yourself. You cannot possibly follow the latest trends from 10 different markets.
Niche markets in Affiliate Marketing
To give you a few ideas, I have listed the biggest niche markets below:
Fashion
Online fashion is a huge market and there are many advertisers (webshops) that work with publishers. Because fashion is a fairly broad concept, children's fashion, women's fashion, men's fashion etc. you can consider focusing on a market segment.
The commissions for affiliates are on the low side compared to, for example, software advertisers, but the volume is a lot higher. In this market you therefore need numbers
to earn well.
Health
Health is, just like fashion, both nationally and internationally, a big market. Superfood, fitness, crossfit etc. are popular and a lot is being sought online. Marketers / product developers also see this trend and want a piece of the pie. It is therefore a market with a lot of competition in which distinctive character is extremely important.
The affiliate fees are high for services (eg online waste programs), but low for products (supplements). So first investigate the fees before you decide to dive into something. In the case of supplements, the commissions are usually not higher than 10%. So you have to run serious numbers if you want to get an income from this.
Travel
Travel is huge online. Nowadays many more trips are booked online than in traditional travel agencies. The search volumes are gigantic in the travel and you can easily choose a sub-market. Think of a Facebook page with information about traveling to Asia. Here, too, the competition is high, travel organizations of course are committed to direct deals with consumers without the intervention of publishers. The commission percentages are low, but the order amounts are high and that is why it is an interesting market for publishers.
Energy
Energy suppliers often have multi-year contracts and therefore they are willing to pay good payments to publishers. Most energy suppliers make a distinction in the type of
connection that is being closed. Companies often use more power and therefore the commissions for business contracts are higher.
This is a good example immediately why research is so important. If you have decided to fully focus on the energy market for consumers, but after a while you discover that
companies are more likely to switch and are more sensitive to marketing activities, then you have to change everything to appeal to this market. So first investigate the
commissions and the search behaviour / volume in the market in which you want to get started.
There are many more niche markets that may be interesting for affiliate marketing.
Social media
If you want to apply affiliate marketing without a website, then you probably think of social media soon. This is a legitimate idea, because after all it is about reaching a group of people with a certain interest or a problem. Fortunately, most social media channels allow affiliate links, so get started!
Start with research into the niche market of your choice. First check what the commissions are and how much search volume there is in a certain market. For example, if you decide to start a Facebook page about green smoothies, first look at competitors. These can be competitors with social media channels, but websites and forums are also great places to get inspiration for your page.
After the research phase, it is time to create and post content (text, images, videos, etc.). Organically, you will reach fewer and fewer people on Facebook and therefore you cannot get away from advertising. Advertising does indeed cost money and therefore you have to determine how much traffic and conversions an advertisement produces. For example, if you get 40 euros per successful deal, you ideally spend less than 10 euros per deal, but you can go up to 39.99 euros before you lose.
With Instagram you can reach more people organically, without paying. For example, users can search using hashtags #, if you use them in your post you have a chance to reach the right audience. In addition to hashtags, you can also follow the followers of a competitor so that you get the attention of the right target group.
YouTube
Youtube is an excellent channel for affiliate marketing. There are enough vloggers who have made it their profession. There is often a combination between sponsored videos, affiliate deals and advertisements.
But how did these vloggers come to this point? In the first place, it is important again that you choose a niche with an associated target group. By doing research on this you know which videos are well viewed and how you can respond to them. If you have no idea what kind of videos you have to make, think about product reviews. You can, for example, compare software with each other and (structurally) substantiate the minus and plus points and make recommendations.
You can find a useful list of terminology used in affiliate marketing here.