Start affiliate marketing for free without paying anything

How can you start affiliate marketing without paying anything?

You can make money with affiliate marketing for free by using social media to attract an audience. Social media works well for building a marketing list around an interest organically.  You can then promote relevant offers once you have created a following.

Imagine, making $1,000 per week using Twitter. You would be earning $4,000 per month by sending out tweets.

How crazy does that sound?

Believe it or not, people are doing it. You just needed to know the right process for making money online. Most beginners make typical rookie mistakes which prevents them from making any money.

Luckily for you, I’m going to show you the exact steps for using social media for affiliate marketing. You will be on your way to quit your nine-to-five job in no time.

Start affiliate marketing for free without paying anything

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How can I start affiliate marketing with no money?

You can make money for free using affiliate marketing on social media. Select a social media platform and a niche. Consistently produce amazing content and build your following. Once you have a big enough following, send relevant offers for your list to buy.

As you can imagine, making money with affiliate marketing does not happen overnight. However, most rookies make the mistake of thinking it does. Most beginners are anxious to start earning money which causes them to fail.

You need to have patience if this is going to work. I have seen people earn a full-time income in less than a year with social media. Alternatively, I have seen so many people focus on promotion that they never earn a single dollar.

Let’s take a look at the right way to earn money online with affiliate marketing.

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Select a Niche

The first thing you want to do is select your niche. A niche is the focus of your social media efforts in an area of Interest. Your job is to provide content around that interests without straying from it.

For example, you could start a Twitter account around making money in stocks. You could also create an Instagram account around Fashion.

When you select a niche, it needs to be something you’re interested in. If you don’t have any interests then you will lose interest in your idea.

Select a social media platform

Next, you want to select a social media platform that you will focus on. You can always branch out into more, but focus on one for now.  It is really hard to focus on more than one social media platform when you are just getting started.

You should really think about each social media platform. Why are users using that platform?

Twitter is really popular in the money community. You can find all sorts of pages which are dedicated to stocks, Financial advice, and making money online. 

However, money is not the only focus of Twitter. You can still be successful in other niches. For example, you might also be successful in the weight loss niche.

However, Fitness does really well on Instagram. Instagram is really great for visuals that accompany your message. YouTube is also really great for providing visuals to your audience.

Just remember, you will be needing to produce the content for each platform. Therefore, if you select YouTube then you will be responsible for producing videos regularly. Personally, I like Twitter because it is easy to send out a tweet. 

Start creating helpful and valuable content

Most people screw up when they forget to start producing helpful content. At this point, everybody wants to start making money. However, nobody cares about what you are selling. It is time to give them a reason to listen to you.

Imagine walking down the street. Some guy comes up to you and wants to sell you a course that will make you $1,000,000. At this point, most people would tell the guy off.

When you don’t know someone, you put up your defenses. You need to focus on building a relationship when you are trying to sell something to someone.

Now, imagine your best bud walks into the room and mentions the same product. You might actually give him a chance to speak.

Selling to people is no different. You have to provide value in their life so they take notice of you.  Once they have heard enough from you they will become customers.

Therefore, on social media you need to provide the content people want. Give them weight loss tips, inspiration, and motivation to keep moving forward.

You also need to provide this content consistently. You could build a really great relationship with someone and then ruin it all in the course of six months of inactivity.

If you are on Twitter, post 5 to 10 times per day. You should be jumping into conversations and answering questions. Really focus on solving people’s problems.

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Where do I find affiliate products?

You can find affiliate products all over the internet. Generally, using an affiliate Network is one of the easiest ways to find products to sell. Companies like ShareASale, Gumroad, Commission Junction, and Udemy all have affiliate products. 

Some of these companies may require you to have a website. However, some only require you to have a social media following. Therefore, it is important to see what the requirements are for becoming an affiliate.

Maybe, you want to be an affiliate for an electronics store. You can find out if that company offers an affiliate program by visiting their website. Generally, at the bottom of the website you might find an affiliate program or partnership link.

Where can I post my affiliate links for free?

You can post affiliate links for free on social media. However, you are required to follow the social media network’s Terms of Service, affiliate program requirements, and provide an affiliate disclosure.

For example, if you are on Twitter then you may need a Twitter for business account. The only difference is that you have told Twitter you are a business.

The Federal Trade Commission may also require you to disclose business relationships. A disclosure may look like saying the link in a post is an affiliate link or sponsored. Usually, this is to let consumers know when you stand to make money from a purchase.

Obviously, nobody likes to be tricked into buying a product.

You will also need to check the affiliate programs requirements. Some programs may want to dictate how you go about promoting their products. Generally, they are only interested in how you use paid advertising.

Create a list of affiliate products

Once you have built a following it is time to create a list of affiliate products. We are interested in finding products that relate to our niche and have a good conversion rate. Remember, this step only happens once you have built a large list.

Too often, new affiliate marketers want to send their product to their 10 followers. They are basically selling to nobody. These new marketers haven’t even tried to build a relationship yet.

Don’t make that mistake.

Product Relevance

First, a product should have relevance. If your social media account is focused on money then don’t pitch weight loss courses. No one has told you they wanted to lose weight, so why are you sending them this?

However, let’s say you have built a strong following around the stock market. sending a product which helps people find better stocks will have a crazy conversion rate. Every single person on your list wants to earn money in stocks. Therefore, the offer is relevant.

Conversion Rate

Ideally, you can also find a conversion rate before you start promoting the product. Let’s face it. Some products just sell better than others. Knowing the conversion rate ahead of time can help make an informed decision.

Personally, I love ShareASale. ShareASale does a great job letting you know what the typical conversion rate is for a product. 

Another thing you can look at is EPC or earnings per 100 clicks. Let’s say a product has a $30 EPC. I can assume I earn $30 for every 100 visitors to that product.

ShareASale conversion rates

Now let’s assume you have two products. The first product earns $10 per sale with a conversion rate of 25%. The second product earns $100 with a conversion rate of 2%.

Now let’s assume that you have a Twitter following of 100,000 people. Assume 1% of you’re following click the affiliate link. The $10 product would have earned you $2,500 while the $100 earned $2,000.

Therefore, the best products you can promote have a high conversion rate with a high price. However, higher prices usually have a lower conversion rate. Alternatively, a low price usually has a high conversion rate.

Keep in mind, nothing can fix a horrible product. Do your best to avoid bad products. The last thing you want to do is betray your audience’s trust.

How do I create an affiliate link?

Affiliate links are created after you’ve signed up for the program. Generally, you can find a place to generate an affiliate link or copy and paste it. Each program has a different way of generating your link, but they usually have a help page for instructions.

Promote affiliate products

Now you have created a following around an interest and created a list of possible affiliate products. The hardest part of your job is done. However, now you get to have fun and start making some money.

You will still want to provide the valuable free content. Continuing to provide new content keeps your following happy and attracts new followers. Now, you can provide them with the opportunity to buy a program which you already know they are interested in.

Selling your product at this point should be easy. Simply tell them about it and why it would be good for them. Do not spam your link and become over promotional. Generally, it is best to show your link no more than twice per week.

If you managed to find multiple affiliate products then you can rotate through them. You might promote one product one month and the second product the next.

Do not forget to add your required FTC affiliate disclosure.The last thing you want is for the FTC to come knocking on your door.

How to scale affiliate marketing campaigns for free

Once you have seen the process it is easy to replicate. The first time is always the hardest. You can now pick a second niche and add to your existing one.

For example, imagine building a Twitter following to 50,000 followers in the finance niche. Now you can build a second following in the health niche.

Imagine, having an army of Twitter accounts setting tweets you scheduled 6 months ago. Your Twitter account is on autopilot and automatically selling affiliate products. Now, you have time to tell your second Twitter account.

Eventually, you may even make enough money from Twitter to hire a Content agency. A Content agency will create content for your social media accounts for you. Now, all you have to do is pay the content agency and your business is literally on autopilot.

However, you need to take great care to ensure you are hiring a legit content agency. There are a lot of people plagiarizing other accounts to make a quick buck. Your credibility will be ruined if this ever happens to you.

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Summary: Start affiliate marketing for free without paying anything

As you can see, it is extremely possible to make money using social media for affiliate marketing. Unfortunately, starting affiliate marketing is not a quick get-rich scheme. However, with enough dedication you can start to see some profits in less than a year.

The first step is to select a niche. You need to be able to talk about something of Interest. Ideally, you are focusing on something that is of interest to you and others.

You will then want to select a social media platform to tackle. Each social media network has a group of users that focus around a certain interest. However, you can make it work on any social media network.

Start by providing valuable and helpful content that people in your niche would like to hear. Remember, now is not the time for promotion. You can promote when you have a good sized following. 

You can start to compile a list of affiliate products. There are many places to find affiliate products, but affiliate networks are one of the best places. You can also find affiliate products by looking for affiliate program or partnership at the bottom of websites.

Products should be relevant to your audience’s interest. You should also factor in conversion rates if they are known. Don’t spam your product links and remember to disclose your relationship.

Once you’ve grasped one social network, you can branch out to others. Alternatively, you can add another niche to expand your efforts.

John is the founder of TightFist Finance and an expert in the field of personal finance. John has studied personal finance for over 10 years and has used his knowledge to pay down debt, grow his investment portfolio, and launch a financial based business. He is committed to sharing content related to personal finance based on his experience in his career, investing, and path towards reaching financial independence.