Believe it or not, having a website is the most popular way affiliates complete their network marketing. If you have a business without a website, you may be wondering if it’s even possible to try out affiliate marketing. 

Whether you’re just starting out or waiting to build a website until all of your ducks are in a row, you’ll love to know that there are several ways to incorporate affiliate marketing without a website. 

Eventually, you will need to build a website to make your business as successful as possible, but until then let’s talk about everything you need to know about affiliate marketing without a website. You’ll read about what exactly affiliate marketing is and a ton of tips and tricks to get you started! 

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

If you own or run a business, it’s important to know all of the most popular ways people are marketing. This will keep you a step ahead of your competition and you can even make money while you sleep! (Yes, you read that right!)

Affiliate marketing is a well-known marketing technique that’s used to increase sales and bring in a lot more revenue online. It will not only benefit you but the people you’re choosing to market the product or service to as well! 

In recent years, as much as nearly 16% of online purchases were because of affiliate marketing. This statistic may not sound like a massive number, but there are trillions of dollars made via online shopping every year. In the United States alone, this number will increase by 10.1% each year, which is around 7 billion dollars!

How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?

Affiliate marketing works when a business finds an affiliate they want to use to promote their product or service. The affiliate will earn a commission, based on the sales they bring in. How does it work? Brands will give out a specific link to these people to give to their friends, family, and online following.  

This link is called an affiliate link and is specific to each person promoting your brand. For example, let’s say you have own a makeup company. You give Jane Doe an affiliate code for her online following to use. 

The shoppers get 10% off for using the code, Jane Doe gets a percentage of sales she brings in, and you receive new customers. All sales are tracked by using the specific affiliate link given to the influencer. This takes the work of three parties; let’s talk about those more in detail.  

The Three  Parties

If you’ve ever heard the saying “it takes a village”, it applies to affiliate marketing too. In order for it to work properly, it will take the work of three parties completing tasks in order for your brand to make a profit. 

1. The Brand Or Business

No matter if you’re a start up company or if you have chain restaurants around the world, you’ll need a product or service to market. A product can be something like makeup, clothing, or a new kitchen gadget. On the other end of things, you could provide a service such as food delivery, home cleaning, or party planning. 

Whichever you choose to do, you might like knowing that you don’t have to play a huge role in the marketing end of things. It’s mostly the responsibility of the affiliate or influencer. You’ll create a set of rules, such as telling them what you’d like them to post, the day and time you’d like it done and, of course, go over the numbers so everyone is on the same page.

2. The Influencer Or Affiliate

Now you have the influencer or affiliate. This person is the one who is publishing the marketing campaign to their online following or sharing their link with friends and family. They are the ones promoting your product, in exchange for part of the profits.

Most of the time, you’ll want an affiliate that has a large following. This will ensure that you’ll (hopefully) get a large number of new customers that love your product and/or service. Another thing to make sure of when it comes to choosing an affiliate is to make sure to find someone that aligns with your brand. You wouldn’t want to be selling a makeup product and having an affiliate like Gordon Ramsey selling your product. 

Make sure the affiliate has a fanbase that’s interested in what your brand has to offer to get the most profit possible from using affiliate marketing. If you have a very niche brand, it’s even more important to find the right person to market your product or service, since they’ll likely have a niche audience as well. 

It’s up to you (and possibly the country you live in) on whether or not you want the affiliate to disclose to their audience if they got the product or service for free and/or are making a commission off the sales. 

Some states and countries, like the United Kingdom, require influencers to announce when something is an advertisement simply by saying so or by using the word advertisement, ad, or advert somewhere in the description or caption. 

3. The Customer Or Consumer

Now comes the most important party: the customer. Without them, affiliate marketing would be pointless and wouldn’t work. You’d just have popular people raving about a product or service with no turnaround. 

When consumers buy something from your company, they’re not only supporting you, but the affiliate as well. Like you read earlier, the consumer will usually get a percentage off. This is an incentive from you through the affiliate to the customer to help bring in traffic. 

You could say there are times when the consumer has no idea that their favorite online personality is trying to sell them something to make a profit, but for the most part, people are aware of what’s going on. This is a big reason to make sure you’re finding an affiliate that honestly loves your product or service, so their fans will as well. 

Things To Note

Affiliate marketing can get complicated, so below I’ve included a couple things to keep in mind when you start using affiliate marketing for your company or brand. 

1. Since you likely don’t have a website (yet), it’s important to explain in detail how you want the marketing exchange to go. You won’t have a website link to give to influencers for them to give to their online following, so make sure you’re sending them to a high-authority place or a brick and mortar location to use the affiliate code. 
2. There are certain rules and policies you need to follow when it comes to affiliate marketing. You should be well-versed enough in it beforehand so you can avoid getting in any hot water. 

You’re investing your time, energy, and company money, along with your brand and whoever you choose as an influencer… read up on the rules and policies to avoid any mishaps. 

How To Make Money Without A Website

Chances are, you clicked on this article to find out how you can use affiliate marketing to make money without having a website. You’re in luck because this section is packed with several different ways you can make a ton of money, without doing much work and not even needing a website! Let’s get into it!

Email Marketing

Whether you have a handful of people you personally know on your email list or you have thousands of email addresses from a target audience, it can be an incredibly useful tool for marketing without having a website. You can use this to promote your product or business, and have your affiliate do the same thing. 

They can also tell your audience that if they sign up for your email list and buy a product or service, they’ll get a percentage off or a free gift via email. There are also email affiliates and if you already use that form of marketing, you could implement that here as well to double the likelihood of gaining traffic and new customers via email. 

Email may seem like a form of technology communication that’s a bit outdated but it’s a thriving area for brands and companies to market their services or products. People will often check their email for codes, sales, or discount codes before doing any shopping online or in person. This is a great way to ensure these customers will choose you versus a competitor. 

Retargeting

Retargeting is a fancy way of advertising to people that click off websites and if you don’t have a website, you won’t have this traffic, but you can still retarget these customers to your brand. When a conversion happens online, an advertisement for your product or service would pop up. 

There are two ways to look at this type of affiliate marketing route: clever or annoying. Some would say retargeting is clever because someone is clicking off that website for a reason, but if there is an ad that pops up for your company and you have something they’re looking for, they’re likely to click on your advertisement. 

Others would say that this tactic is annoying because it’s a pop up. People tend to click out of pop ups without even looking to see what it is. This is because when the internet started to thrive around 2010, pop ups were mostly spam and scams. 

It may be human nature at this point to click off a pop up immediately to avoid any potential viruses to our devices, which can be why some companies don’t like retargeting affiliate marketing, but it is still worth a try, especially if the website is trustworthy 

Social Media

Another great way to use affiliate marketing without a website is through social media. You can have your affiliate or influencer point their audience to your social media accounts to gain a following. Not only does this help increase your audience but you can also sell things on social media.

If you have a specific Instagram just for your product or service, you can use that instead of a website. An important thing about using social media is that you have to be consistent, be engaging, and post quality content. 

Depending on the social media platform you choose, you’ll be able to post daily content, sell your product, advertise your business in a bio, and post daily stories where followers can engage in quizzes, polls, and more! 

People love being heard, which is why it’s so important to be as engaging as possible on social media. This is a great way to use affiliate marketing without a website, but it will take you more time and effort than other tactics, unless you hire a social media manager. 

Get Your Brand To Go Viral

You can also use your product or service to go viral. This can be done with the help of affiliates who boast about and adore your company. Going viral happens rarely, but when it does, it’s quick! Whether you have a fun, new phone accessory that people love or you’ve created a unique service that is new to the market, you can make a ton of money by going viral. 

This is a lot easier said than done. It’s also important to note that if you’re trying to go viral using affiliate marketing, make sure all of your ducks are in a row and you have enough inventory and a big enough team to handle to increase in customers when the moment comes. 

Paid Advertising

Another way you can make money without having a website using affiliate marketing is through paid advertisements. If the program rules okay it, this is a great way to get your product out there and get some extra revenue without doing any of the work yourself. 

You can pay someone who has a large online presence, with an audience that’s your target market, to promote your product. You can have them link to your social media or where they can purchase the product in stores. 

This is a great tool if you don’t have a website, since you won’t need to use an affiliate link as you’re paying them instead of them getting a percentage of the sales. 

Use Video Marketing 

YouTube has over a billion unique visitors every month and it’s one of the best ways to use affiliate marketing. You can have your influencers use your affiliate links or point their following to your Youtube channel. 

On your channel you can show your product or service and how it works. People love seeing visuals and like to see a product actually in use before they spend any money. This shows them that the product works as you say it does and that you’re a trustworthy company. 

Filming equipment isn’t too expensive and you’ll be able to write it off come tax time. If you’re not creative or skilled in the video department, you may have to hire someone or have an intern or film student help with the filming and editing end of things. 

Who Is An Affiliate?

You may not know who is and who isn’t considered an affiliate and that’s okay; we’re here to help. Below is a list of people that are commonly called affiliates. You can use this list to help you find someone to market your product or service with, without having to scour the web for days trying to find the perfect match! 

1. Bloggers – these are people who write blogs and have an audience that comes back every time they have a new post. They’ll be able to write a blog about your product or even advertise it on the side or top of their website. 
2. YouTubers and Instagram Stars – Both of these sets of people are great for affiliate marketing. They can tell their fans about your product and send them right over to you for business. This is great for people that sell things like beauty products or lifestyle essentials. 
3. Large Media Outlets – Since these outlets are already popular, you know you can expect a large customer base. You can advertise on large media outlets via banners or guest blogging on their websites. 

Conclusion

You’d think that if you don’t have a website that you won’t be able to market well and that’s simply not true! Though having a website will make things a lot easier for you, you can incorporate affiliate marketing without a website if you use the tips, tricks, and tactics listed above. 

You are one step closer to partnering with an influencer to get more revenue and a larger customer base. Remember to choose someone with a following who is genuinely interested in your product or service so that they become and remain customers. Now go out there and put these tips to the test to see your business soar!