If you want to make money through the affiliate marketing game, you’re looking at some exciting opportunities. It is reported by various statistical aggregators that a heck of a lot of dough is kneaded in this industry. Apparently, its expenditure was predicted to be $8.2 billion in 2022. To get started, you might think you need a website. But that’s not necessary, nor is it the easiest way to get going. In this article, TrafficStars teaches you how to make money as an affiliate marketer without a website.
What is Affiliate Marketing And How Does It Work?
Affiliate marketing is all about customer generation, and the process goes a little like this: you, the marketer, find products or services your audience will like, and you promote them, be it in the form of verticals, social media promotion, press releases, or any number of alternatives. Then, when customers click on the link, sign up to a mailing list, or purchase something, you, the affiliate marketer, are paid a commission. Neat, right?
There are numerous different mediums for promoting affiliate links. You can do it through your own website, social media channels or blogs, or even through a paid traffic source. Having your own website carries benefits such as customer retention, as it provides a familiar ground. The same is true for blogs and social media platforms as they require users to return to your site repeatedly, and generally for you to build trust and brand recognition before reaping the rewards of lead generation.
Paid advertising without a website is a different beast altogether, and not in a bad way. It’s the easiest and fastest way to begin making money as an affiliate marketer. Firstly, it doesn’t require the familiarity and brand recognition that websites and social media pages do. A good way to think of it is: a website’s job is to generate traffic. Marketing without a website is a manner of targeting the traffic that is already there and generating leads that way. Affiliate marketing of this kind does require some expertise, but you can learn on the go. There is a simple 5-step process that will give you a good start in affiliate marketing.
How to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing
#1 Pick Your Niche
This is the foundational step, and nothing’s more important than picking your niche. A bad niche is a castle on quicksand. A good one is a grounding from which every other step will be built. Get right and the bricks will stay put. So, spend some time on this step.
There are many ways to pick your niche. You can base it on personal interests or what’s driving traffic and engagement on the web. Although, it’s advisable to combine the two. After all, if you believe in what you’re selling, it is easier to sell it to web users. Here’s an idea: pinpoint your interest and then check where it falls in popularity. You can find this out by signing up for an affiliate program wherein you can learn all about what’s driving engagement and how your future affiliate marketing endeavors are performing.
To give you some inspiration, some of the most popular affiliate niches right now are Dating, eCommerce, Sweepstakes, Gaming, Nutra, Finances and Crypto, Software and Mobile Utilities, and also Making Money Online, and that last one is a neat little coincidence.
#2 Get An Affiliate Link
The chances of success as an affiliate marketer are significantly raised when you pick a top-tier affiliate program. This is because, with the best program, you will earn more commissions as more leads will convert. The legit companies seek fair transactions with their marketers and will ensure you are paid on time. No scams!
So naturally, the next step is to get an affiliate link. This is done by signing on for an affiliate program. There are many to pick from (CrakRevenue, Mostbet, Zeydoo, AdsEmpire, and many others), so it’s important to do your research and find the best one for your niche not only. It’s important to pinpoint the offers that your audience will dig for. So, don’t get tunnel vision on the high-paying links, as that strategy won’t equate with greater profits if the consumers aren’t interested in the pitch.
Other aspects to watch out for are as follows: what is the program’s reputation? Is the commission rate to your liking? And what is its cost per click? You want to get good rates for your efforts and be with a reputable source. This does wonders for your branding and helps you to budget properly.
If you’re wondering how to find them, sign up for affiliate resources on certain traffic source platforms. They put you on their mailing list so that affiliates can spot you. It can’t hurt, right?
#3 Pick A Traffic Source
An effective traffic source works in tandem with your affiliate link. While having your own website is recommended by many due to total ownership, the ability to leverage your own SEO, and to post and promote anything that you want due to being able to generate your own guidelines, a traffic source can absolutely be achieved without this.
Plus, generating your own website involves the expense of time and budget. And as mentioned previously, you must build viewership before disseminating your content. Other sources are already good to go.
It’s also important to note that your traffic source isn’t necessarily in your control. When you do your target consumer research, you will find out who your audience is, including which platforms they use. This will inform you of where you will need your ad campaigns to cover. With that said, here are a few top-tier examples of website-less traffic sources where you could launch your campaign today.
Facebook has around 2 billion users scrolling down their newsfeeds every day. That’s a happy hunting ground if ever there was one. To do this, you need to find an affiliate program that allows advertisers to launch campaigns through this platform. Alternatively, you can create a Facebook page relevant to your business or organization and then start creating content.
Pinterest has over 442 million users, 78% female, with a general age range of 30-49. It’s a great way to generate leads and promote your creatives in the visual art form. That is its setback, as you can only reach users through images and video. This could be considered a niche demographic.
TikTok
TikTok has over 689 million users and is a great location for conversation, which your creatives can contribute to. If video creatives are your purpose, TikTok is a terrific traffic source. You should bear in mind that, unlike Pinterest and Instagram, TikTok is video-only.
YouTube
With over 2.1 billion users worldwide and 122 million users per day, YouTube is a highly lucrative hunting ground for affiliate marketers. A versatile platform, you can place your content as a pre-roll, mid-roll, or at the end of the video. YouTube cards, community posts, and sidebar description boxes are also ripe for content placement. You can even build your own channel and promote content through the website itself.
TrafficStars
If you want to launch ad campaigns in the hot and rising verticals of Dating, Webcam, Mobile Utilities, or iGaming, TrafficStars is your best bet. Our platform works to bring advertisers and publishers together and now generates over 5 billion impressions daily. What’s better, it has a simple, user-friendly system that allows you to set up and control your campaigns easily.
#4 Launch Ad Campaigns
Once you have your affiliate program running and your sources optimized, it’s time to work on your ad creatives and launch your campaign. There are a few steps worth taking for the most effective campaign.
Pick Your Ad Format
Firstly, you need to decide on the ad format. We recommend taking Popunder, Native, and Banner ad formats in your starter pack. For the first one, you don't need any creatives, which makes it perfect for quick testing. Regarding Native and Banner ads, this is the golden mean regarding ad creatives' complexity, CPM rates, and efficiency.
Add creatives
Building ad creatives requires a combination of creativity and technical skill. Ad creatives can take many forms, including images, videos, and text. It's important to keep the target audience in mind when designing ad creatives and the platform where the ad will be displayed. Additionally, it's crucial to adhere to advertising policies and guidelines to ensure that the intended audience approves and sees the ad. Tools such as Visme and Canva can help create visually appealing banners. Testing and analyzing the performance of different ad creatives can also be useful in determining what resonates with the target audience.
Set up your ad campaign
First, don't run one campaign across multiple GEOs and ad spots. It will be more difficult to analyze your results later. To make your first tests as successful as possible, we recommend using the following setting:
- Launch one campaign on the xHamster spots site id 30 or site id 12 (depending on whether you have a mobile or desktop offer)
- Launch a second campaign for all other spots from the Prime list (by selecting the appropriate whitelist). Then, exclude xHamster ad spots by clicking Edit.
- Launch the third campaign on all remaining spots (adding the same list of spots, but already on the blacklist)
Also, focus on the CPM, as this will determine your budget. TrafficStars begins its rates at $0.001, significantly lower than Google and other Social media networks.
Set Goals and Observe Competitors
It’s important to set goals, otherwise, you won’t have anything to compare the results to. On this level, there is a 3-step process that will set you up well. Firstly, don’t test too many verticals and GEOs at once. Instead, refine your tests. This way, you can track and analyze the results one at a time, which is more effective.
Secondly, keep in touch with your account manager, as they will be able to provide you with indispensable tips on setting up campaigns. Lastly, be patient. Ad campaigns take time to yield their full results. In fact, some verticals require $500 at least for tests to seek out the most profitable approaches.
Use An Optimizer
Some affiliate programs and traffic sources have an in-built optimizer that blacklists underperforming traffic sources and adjusts bids according to your rules. That’s right, and you have the power to design your strategy however you please. This saves time, analyzes each ad spot on its own merits, and optimizes your creatives based on your rules. With TrafficStars, the setup process is easy and user-friendly. You just have to access your account and go through it, and it’s just as simple as setting up your traffic source.
#5 Gain Experience and Scale Results
Gaining affiliate marketing experience and measuring the results is an art form and worth doing for long-term growth and brand-building endeavors. For instance, many marketers get tunnel vision. They focus on marketing efficiency at the expense of marketing effectiveness. This is because so much attention is given to ROI, but as an affiliate marketer, you have the option to grow your operations.
Forums like Afflift and Affiliatefix are great platforms for networking and exchanging ideas, allowing you to learn from others who have already succeeded in the industry. Engaging with other professionals in affiliate marketing can help you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and strategies and provide valuable insights into your own approach. Communicating with like-minded people can build relationships, learn new skills, and ultimately improve your performance as an affiliate marketer.
Conclusion
Becoming a successful affiliate marketer is totally possible without a website. Given all the alternative options, you can have cash rolling in quicker than ever. As long as you nail the niche, and design your creatives and campaign around the needs and desires of your target users, then you are sure to create a pull. The profits made can be used to generate a website in the future, but you don’t have to worry about it at the beginning or even at all if you like the results.
