A common question that people ask when they’re trying to grow their marketing reach is “do you need a website for affiliate marketing?”. To many people, affiliate marketing is often associated with things such as starting up a blog, creating a news site and in general having a place to post your content so that you can recommend products to make use of your affiliate marketing in order to turn a profit. It has become easier and easier over the past few years to create a coherent website so, to the uninitiated, it might seem like a website is mandatory for affiliate marketing.
But it’s not.
While creating a website might be the most common way to approach affiliate marketing, it’s certainly not the only option you have. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at the alternatives that you have to affiliate marketing and how to approach them.
Social Media
Social media is one of the most straightforward and simple ways to approach affiliate marketing. Sites like Facebook and Twitter are functionally the same as blogs. You have followers and you can post messages. People can like your content if they find it enjoyable and they can comment on it. All of this is very much like a blog, which is why using social media is one of the best alternatives to creating a website when it comes to affiliate marketing.
All you need to do is spur up interest in a product, get people talking about it and eventually throw your affiliate link in the mix to draw more attention to it. Obviously, this takes a considerable amount of work to get started and some people will avoid looking at your social media account if it’s spammed with advertisements, but being clever and building up a following or an audience and dropping the occasional mention is a fantastic way to get people on board.
YouTube
Content creation typically involves having a website, but YouTube is an exception. YouTube is all about creating video content that is spread and shared with internet users. If you can create some compelling content and build a brand around it, then you’ve got a good place to start for affiliate marketing.
Many channels focus on unboxings and reviews of products and this is one of the best ways to use affiliate marketing without a website. Every time you receive a product, you can place your affiliate marketing links to it on your video or in the descriptions. The more content you create, the more attention you get and thus the more exposure your personal brand receives.
The hard part of YouTube is simply getting started and finding the right connections. Once you break through that barrier, however, it becomes easy to grow and sustain your income through YouTube affiliate marketing. It might take a lot of time and dedication, but it’s a career worth fighting for.
Email Marketing
Lastly, we can’t forget about email marketing. There are plenty of websites that offer customized lists of emails that you can send your affiliate marketing links to. Much of it might be hidden away with spam filters, but as long as you write a compelling email and customize each one, you’ll appear more authentic and you can turn email into one of the most lucrative marketing platforms you have in your income stream.
The important things to remember to be transparent and diversify the products you’re advertising. If you’re hiding the fact you receive a commission then you could end up in a legal battle due to breaches in the FTC’s endorsement guidelines. If you promote one product too much, then you’re eventually going to see it fall off in favour of new products, hence why it’s important to mix up the products and services that you promote.
While it’s admittedly difficult to get started with email marketing, it’s still one of the most reliable ways of getting involved with affiliate marketing without the need of a website. As long as you find the right products to promote and email the right people, you’ll eventually start turning email into a reliable income stream.
