How can I start affiliate marketing with no money?

Many new obstacles have arisen in the last two years that no one anticipated. Unfortunately, for some, this has meant examining your sources of income and deciding to pursue other avenues. Terrifying? Of certainly, but this is a fantastic opportunity as well.

But where do you start? You are aware that affiliate marketing is a large industry with many moving components to consider. Furthermore, you are aware that beginning a business requires capital, which may be in short supply for you right now.

We're here to assist you at ShareASale. We've broken down the expenses of being an affiliate marketer, provided some pointers to get you started, and researched some wonderful free resources to help you learn more about the field.

What is affiliate marketing and how does it work?

Affiliate marketing is a sort of pay-per-click advertising. Publishers, also known as affiliates, help an advertiser, also known as a merchant or a brand, market items and brands. They are paid a commission for each sale that they make.

The system is based on data and linkages that can be tracked. Each publisher is given a one-of-a-kind link or code that identifies the clients who have been sent to an advertiser's website. An advertiser can know who helped them make final sales by keeping track of these clients, and they may reward their affiliates with incentives for their efforts.

Joining an affiliate network like ShareASale makes all of this much easier. We make the process easier by producing unique affiliate links, keeping care of all affiliate marketing data for both publishers and advertisers, and, most importantly, providing a place for the two to connect and build amazing partnerships.

Publishers want their readers to click on their affiliate link and purchase anything. Do you want to learn more? Find out more about affiliate marketing.

Do you need money to start affiliate marketing?

In a word, yeah. But only a smidgeon. There are fees connected with starting a business, which is exactly what you're doing when you become an affiliate marketer. The crucial thing to remember is that everyone has to start somewhere, and even the most successful publishers in the field probably started with very little.

It is entirely up to you and your skill level whether you want to make the costs of entering the sector huge or modest. Establishing your own blog, website, or landing page, for example, is a terrific way to start with affiliate marketing. You might be able to achieve this rather simply if you have some technical skills. There are a plethora of free and low-cost web-building tools available online. For example, a Squarespace website with up to 20 pages costs $12 per month, whereas a Wix Combo Plan is $8.50 per month. WordPress also provides free services, but keep in mind that you'll need to construct on WordPress.org rather than WordPress.com, as the latter has severe regulations against affiliate marketing on these sites. These services provide a variety of themes and are ideal for building your first website. If the notion of doing this overwhelms you, you may always hire someone else to do it for you, which will cost you a little more but will give you piece of mind.

If the hosting firm you choose does not supply ongoing SSL, you will need to acquire a domain name, pay for ongoing hosting, and maybe pay for ongoing SSL.

Without having your own website, you may perform affiliate marketing in a variety of ways. Each approach may come with its own set of fees, which you may be able to balance with affiliate commissions.

Many successful publishers find paid advertising to be useful; nevertheless, this should be a long-term plan to employ once your affiliate activities have gained traction.

Eight tips to start affiliate marketing with no money

1. Build an audience

The most important factor in affiliate marketing success is building a trusting audience. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Creating content around a particular issue that you are passionate about will help you build a loyal and engaged audience, but you must first decide which platforms you will use to do it. Consider the kind of content you're most comfortable producing, whether it's long or short form video, pictures, stylized images, written material, podcasts, email marketing, or a mix of the above.

You should also think about who your target audience is. Of course, people are diverse and utilize a number of platforms, but is there a place where they spend the majority of their time? Younger populations, for example, may spend considerably more time on TikTok, but older demographics may spend more time on Facebook. Investigate the platforms to find which one best meets your and their requirements.

2. Utilize social media to your advantage

Almost every social networking platform now allows you to sign up for free, even if you're a company. This is additional exposure for whichever business you choose to work in.

While we don't advocate just utilizing social media to advertise affiliate links, integrating sponsored posts with other relevant material will increase your audience's trust and visibility. The most effective way to use social media is to use it to grow your ever-valuable following.

Many individuals are unaware that you may contribute to websites and engage with topics without having to have a company page or profile. If you want, you may just use your own profile. You may locate relevant discussions in sites like Reddit, Facebook groups, and the YouTube comments area, where you can offer some fascinating views or remark and drop your affiliate link.

It's critical to be aware of the rules around disclosure if you're utilising social media for affiliate marketing. Many nations and areas require users to disclose funded relationships to their audiences, and failure to do so might result in penalties.

3. Write reviews

A basic notion of affiliate marketing is to positively evaluate a product or brand. As a result, you should take use of review sites. If you are consistent in your review process, people will grow to trust your advice.

The key is to be truthful and only comment on items or services that you have personally utilized.

You may offer honest comments while boosting your affiliate links or driving additional readers to your content by using review style websites or the review portion of a product website. More in-depth evaluations and explanations might be included in your material, as well as affiliate content.

4. Watch the experts

What are the practices of people who have previously achieved success in your chosen field? That's what you should do since it plainly works. Let's be clear: you should never replicate someone else's work. That's an easy way to get banned in the industry and potentially face legal consequences. You may, however, examine successful people's tactics and adapt them to your own needs. How do they communicate with their target audience? What is the sequence of the information on their website? What happened to the buttons? What type of concepts do they discuss? What types of advertisements do they run? These are all excellent questions to ask yourself when you conduct your study and then apply to your own marketing strategies.

5. Craft inviting CTAs

If you're interested in creating and expanding your own website or blog, you should be familiar with the notion of a call to action. In affiliate marketing, strong content that motivates consumers to take action is critical to success. We've gone through how to create effective CTAs that will help you succeed in the field.

6. Tell great stories

Marketing, in any form, is essentially the art of telling a compelling tale. The greatest approach to win over a potential consumer is sometimes not via the cold, hard facts of a product or service, but through the story you create around it. It's not about making things up or spinning fairytales; it's about being welcome, rich, captivating, and engaging. Because there is so much stuff on the internet these days, good storytelling may help you stand out.

7. Be consistent

We've already said it, and we'll say it again: consistency is crucial. If you can't afford to pay for a wide audience's reach, you'll have to create one. The easiest way to do this is to create valuable material on a regular basis. This is why organic gardening takes time.

8. Join an affiliate network

Because affiliate marketing is such a vast sector, doing it alone at first may be exceedingly difficult, especially if you don't have any experience with digital marketing. Joining a network such as ShareASale allows you to look for the perfect partnerships and discover what's available. You can participate in as few or as many as you like.

We're also professionals in the sector and offer assistance to both publications and advertising. By joining us, you'll have access to a wealth of information as well as a competent staff to assist you when you're stuck.

Final Words

Without any money, you may absolutely get started with affiliate marketing; it will simply take a bit more time and effort. What this means is that you have the chance to lay a solid basis on which to expand as a publisher as your business grows.