Six Profitable Ways To Promote Affiliate Programs Without A
Website
Affiliate marketing is the most versatile business model on the
Internet.
How else can you have a ready made online business without
spending a dime, or very little, to get it started?
There has been a question asked frequently, most recently at
Lynn Terry's Self Starters Weekly Forum,
www.selfstartersweeklytips.com/forum, "Can I promote affiliate
programs without a website?"
It's an easy answer, but there are some conditions.
Yes, you can build a very strong and profitable affiliate
business without a website. In fact, I think that for most
people just "testing the waters", this is the way to go.
However, you will not be able to sustain your affiliate
business, nor build it stronger, unless you have a website.
So, yes, it's very possible and people do it all the time.
Here's six ways to make it happen.
Write informative articles
By far, the most productive way to promote anything on the
Internet, especially affiliate products, is by writing
high-quality, informative articles, attaching a short author's
resource box at the end, and submitting them to every article
directory you can find.
Articles will do a few things right off the bat that makes this
the best way to promote affiliate products.
# Drive quality, targeted traffic to the merchant's site. #
Establish an "expert" status for you.
When you write articles, and submit them to article directories
like EzineArticles.com and GoArticles.com they list them on
their sites (thus you don't need one) and bring in traffic
through the search engines.
This targeted traffic will read your article and click on your
affiliate link, either within the article or in your resource
box, and be at the merchant's site to browse and buy. You then
earn the commission.
Participating in forums
Forums are networking communities online where people go and can
either ask questions or answer them. A fantastic way to build
connections with other people and promote the products you're
affiliated with.
Of course every forum has a guideline as to how you can reply
and how you can promote products. Most generally it's through
your signature at the end of your post.
You will also want to make sure that you provide relevant
information. You wouldn't want to reply to a question asking
what's the best car wax to use for long lasting sun protection
by pointing them to your pet food supply store. Not only will
your post most likely be deleted, but it wouldn't do any good.
Use other people's websites by being viral
Viral marketing is getting other people to promote your
affiliate products for you. But, this is where one of the
conditions I mentioned at the beginning kicks in.
You must create something; a report, short ebook, video, audio
interview, etc., and allow other people to give it away free
from their website.
For example, Harvey Segal of SuperTips.com has several ebooks
that he has written, one especially on viral marketing, and
gives them away to other people. Inside these ebooks are links
to his site and his products. He doesn't have to do nearly as
much advertising because he has other people doing it for him.
Now for an affiliate it is a matter of creating a relevant
infoproduct (one that deals with the niche of your product),
putting your affiliate links throughout the product, and
emailing website owners if they would give it away on their site.
If the topic is similar they will jump at the chance because it
adds even more content to their site, or they can use it as a
free bonus for subscribing to their newsletter.
Place ads in other people's ezine
The first three tips have all been freebies. You can use them
without spending any of your own money to advertise the products
you're affiliated with. This one actually costs some money, but
if you do it right you will still earn a great deal of profit.
Advertising in ezines is still a major strategy in creating
traffic to your site. However, it does carry a warning.
Research and find the ezine that best fits the product. Ezine
co-op's do not help you generate good, quality, targeted traffic
to the merchant's site. Yes, your ad will be seen by hundreds of
thousands of people, but the majority will have no desire, need,
want, or tingle for the product the ad is for. A waste of good
money.
On the other hand, if you research and find the right ezine to
place and ad with, the people reading it will already have a
desire for it.
For example, you wouldn't advertise fishing tackle in an
internet marketing ezine. But, if you found camping, fishing,
sports, or other mens related ezines... you'd have found a great
match.
A few years ago, when everyone was advertising in ezines, the
costs were sky high. But, now with blogs and a content focus the
prices have come back down to earth and it's now reasonable. You
can profit by placing very good quality ads in ezines.
Do the joint venture thing
Joint ventures are a funny animal. Most people think it's a
"I'll put your link on my site if you put my link on your site"
type of thing. Sometimes it is. But, what if you don't have a
site?
Then you have to be a lot more creative.
Here's something I did recently with a client that I could not,
after much pleading, convince they needed a site so I set out to
develop an advertising campaign for them, without a website.
First, I found a few other website owners who were in the same
niche. In this case it was pet supplies. I offered each of them
a deal where both sides would win out.
I offered the site owners good, quality, original web content if
they would put my clients affiliate text links and a few banners
on these pages. They were all very good traffic sites and I knew
that my client would receive excellent exposure.
Out of the 15 sites I contacted, 11 said yes. Why not...
everyone loves fresh content. After the initial run of new
articles for each site and my client's links were on those
pages, he made a little over $500 in commissions that first two
weeks. Now that there are even more articles with his links on
them, he is making more.
You can do that too. Just ask people if they need fresh content,
for free, and in return you can place your affiliate links on
those pages. It doesn't hurt to ask for a good position on the
home page either.
Google it with Adwords
This one takes a lot more research and very focused common
sense. Google Adwords is a way to get your affiliate links on
Google's first page, without having a site, but it does cost.
And if not done right, and constantly monitored... a lot of
money.
However, there are people, like Chris Carpenter of Google Cash
that have made an incredible amount of money, a fortune really,
just from listing affiliate products on Google Adwords.
But...
Yes, you can successfully promote affiliate products with the
above six strategies, but, like I said, there are conditions.
You must be extremely diligent in your efforts, constantly
monitoring results, and keeping a sharp eye on your costs to
ensure profitability. It takes work, a lot of it, to promote
affiliate programs.
Also, at some point, you will have to break down and create a
website. Your long term success greatly relies on you developing
a prominent and tangible "storefront".
Until then, promote your affiliate programs without a website
using these six strategies.