YES, YOU CAN MAKE MONEY WITH AFFILIATE MARKETING WITHOUT A BLOG OR WEBSITE.
The appeal of affiliation has been growing for some time and the reasons are simple; the economic climate is driving the search for additional income, the “cookie apocalypse” is driving merchants to make better use of their networks and to convert fans into affiliates and lastly, the buying local mouvement is driving people to shop locally. Also, the increasing accessibility of affiliators who prefer to manage a private and 100% controlled ad network than to squander their advertising budgets in the dollar pits that Google and Facebook have become, notably because of the ever higher bids and ever lower performance rates.
So, being an affiliate is a great way to earn a revenue but can one become an affiliate without an existing digital presence like a website or a blog ?
9 WAYS TO PROFIT FROM AFFILIATE MARKETING WITHOUT A BLOG:
(1) Use your social media ecosystem: This option offers the most choice for affiliate marketers looking to make money online without a website or blog. Social media includes Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, Vine Camera, Ask and Answer – ASKfm, LinkedIn, Google, Tumblr, Flickr, Meetup and Classmates and many more fringe ones.
Many of these platforms allow you to place your own affiliate links on your posts, comments and profiles. The key to this option is to be aware of the marketing rules on each platform (by reading the guidelines and policies of each) and follow them to avoid irritating other users and, worse, being banned from them altogether.
Remember that you do not own your social media accounts, you are simply a guest. It’s okay to sell on some of these channels, but focus first on being a contributor and adding value to the community before asking for anything in return. And that’s where the hard work comes in. Only the best contributors earn the big affiliate marketing revenue in social media channels. To win, you have to give.
(2) Reach out through email marketing: You don’t need a website to sell products and services via email. Although having one makes it easier to collect subscribers to your list. In any case, if you have a list of customers, prospects and fans, you can pre-sell and send them to a landing page of a third-party affiliate partner who does the deal for you. If done right, email marketing will give you the best return on investment. Let’s emphasize having lists that comply with Bill C-28.
(3) Create a video channel on sites such as YouTube: creating your own videos is easy today and if you can create instructional videos, tutorials, lessons and/or entertainment that your target audience would find useful, they will find you.
You can then publish your affiliate links on these platforms under the videos. It is important to note that, depending on your market, you will probably find many competitors trying to do the same thing. Hence the importance of thinking strategically before you jump in with no goals.
(4) Revenue sharing social networks: The content revenue sharing model began with sites such as HubPages, but has since expanded beyond text content to include Daily TwoCents, Techulator, Tsu, GetGems, BonzoMe, Bubblews, RedGage and Persona Paper. This model is not without controversy as many content contributors complain of ever-changing payment models, lower than expected payments and late payment issues. Do your due diligence and read user reviews and opinions. Reviews are easy to find, but useful reviews require a little discernment. Another point is that French income sharing sites are rare, do you know of any?
(5) Promote affiliate products directly via paid ads: Some pay-per-click advertising platforms allow you to create ads that land directly on affiliate marketing websites.
Although at first glance it may seem like the easiest way to make money online with the least amount of effort, this is not necessarily true. The PPC (pay-per-click) game is extremely competitive and requires almost constant testing, monitoring and adjustment to make it profitable. But if you can find a winning combination of conversions and revenue versus expenses, you can make a lot of money using this method. This is the basic recipe: customer acquisition cost (CAC) < revenue generated. But you need to know the CAC.
(6) Blog comments and forums: this old-fashioned method can still work, but with all the other options available, the road to online success is difficult. It simply involves posting comments and feedback on third party blogs and forums and using your affiliate link in your signature.
This is far from effective and not a very good option today. Especially because most website owners will quickly identify and remove any third party affiliate links, as they can reduce their own revenue. Even for SEO, this technique leaves a trail of inbound links, which is why bots generate tons of comments automatically. Be smart. Have constructive and relevant comments.
(7) Create your own information product and promote it from other platforms: creating a simple ebook that offers valuable information on a topic is always a great way to make money online. The key to success is to choose a hot topic that people are eager to learn more about, then create compelling original content that sets you apart.
You can embed your own affiliate links in the ebook and even use it to start building your own private list around your topic. You can sell your ebook on platforms such as Clickbank and eBay or offer it as a giveaway or bonus on social media platforms or third party sites related to a topic. If you are lucky and the information is very good, it could go ‘viral’ and be all over the web in a relatively short time.
(8) Write reviews or excerpts on classified websites: classified websites allow you to sell almost anything online. The best known is Craigslist. But there’s also eBay Classifieds, Geebo, Recycler and here’s a listing to sell in Quebec to name a few. Consider writing short snippets of information and reviews about affiliate products and publishing them with your affiliate link. But as with everything else, make sure you know the rules ahead of time to avoid being banned from these sites. Again, a world where English dominates, be selective and strategic.
(9) Retargeting “remarketing”: You’ve probably already heard of retargeting if you’ve been in the online marketing community for any length of time. Retargeting, sometimes called remarketing, is a type of online advertising that allows you to keep your offers in front of “bounced” traffic after they have left a particular website. This is a very effective strategy as 97% of people who visit a website for the first time leave without making a purchase. Retargeting a specific offer to a user who has visited a particular page or site becomes very effective.
The main opportunity lies in audience sharing with partners. If you can negotiate this opportunity, your advertising and efforts could be well rewarded.
THE KILLER QUESTION: HOW MUCH AFFILIATE INCOME CAN I EXPECT?
Merchant offers differ according to the price of the item, the margin and the volume. The more you encourage Internet users to buy products or services at low prices and with a minimum of risk, the more you will be remunerated on the volume. The more difficult the sales are because the cost of purchase is very high or higher, the higher the commissions will be and the fewer sales you will need to make in order to earn a side income. In some cases, commissions are fixed for qualified referrals.
We suggest that you take the time to set your investment time or budget limits, understand your expected conversion rates and customer acquisition costs, validate whether your customer lists can be useful, set your revenue targets and then set up equivalencies in terms of referrals, sales or other.
For example, if you want to get $100 a month, take stock of your resale options and see how many sales you need to make and how much time and money you need to invest to make them. It would also be important to choose merchants you trust, products you have an interest in and want to talk about.
Have a merchant in mind? But, they don’t have an affiliate system in place, Jaffili can give you a commission for any referrals. We already have some active merchants that might be of interest to you. In addition, there are opportunities to use affiliation to counteract labour shortages, both for employers and affiliates.
So, are you going to start to make ends meet?
